Difference between revisions of "Flying Guts"

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{{box
 
{{box
 
|header='''''Flying Guts'''''
 
|header='''''Flying Guts'''''
|file=[[File:flyingguts.png|290px|border]]
+
|file=[[File:guts-title.gif|290px|border]]
 
|text=
 
|text=
 
'''Release type:''' [[Shareware|Freeware]]<br />
 
'''Release type:''' [[Shareware|Freeware]]<br />
'''Release date:''' March 20, 1995<br />
+
'''Release date:''' March 20, [[1995]][[Category: 1995]]<br />
 
'''Levels:''' 3<br />
 
'''Levels:''' 3<br />
 
'''Author:''' [[Marty Valenti]]<br />
 
'''Author:''' [[Marty Valenti]]<br />
 
'''Related games:''' none
 
'''Related games:''' none
}}You have to remember when [[Game-Maker]] was popular. This was the period of ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Donkey Kong Country'', and CD-ROM multimedia games like ''Night Trap'' and ''The 7th Guest''. In that brief period before everyone fell in love with the polygon, the mass media and industry consensus was that schlocky digitization and sex and gore were the future of the medium. Thus we have the ESRB that we know and ignore today.
+
}}[[Game-Maker]] was popular during the same period as ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Donkey Kong Country'', and CD-ROM multimedia games like ''Night Trap'' and ''The 7th Guest''. In that brief period before everyone fell in love with the polygon, the mass media and industry consensus was that schlocky digitization and sex and gore were the future of the medium. Thus we have the ESRB that we know and ignore today.
  
This was also the era of ''Doom'', though whereas today we mostly remember it for its meticulous design and providing a template for the whole FPS genre to come, its original touchstones were its ultraviolence and its contribution to “virtual reality” — which somehow the media stirred in with the digitization and multimedia nonsense.
+
This was also the era of ''Doom''. Whereas today we remember it for its meticulous design and the template it provided for the whole FPS genre, its original touchstones were its ultraviolence and its contribution to “virtual reality” — which somehow the media stirred in with the digitization and multimedia nonsense.
  
So impressionable youth as we all were, Marty Valenti decided to digitize himself and throw himself into a world comprised of ''Doom'' samples and textures. He really put a lot of work into his theft; he unwound the Doom .WAD file, found all the best imagery and sound effect, then meticulously converted it all to a format and resolution comprehensible to Game-Maker. And then he got someone to take dozens of photographs of him in various stages of walking, running, and dying, cleaned up all the photos, downsampled and adjusted them again, and animated a character sprite out of them.
+
So, riding the zeitgeist, [[Marty Valenti]] decided to digitize himself and enter a world comprised of ''Doom'' samples and textures. He put some real mettle into his plunder; he unwound the ''Doom'' .WAD file, found all the best imagery and sound effects, then meticulously converted it all to a format and resolution comprehensible to Game-Maker. Valenti then got someone to take dozens of photographs of him in various stages of walking, running, and dying. He cleaned up all the photos, downsampled and adjusted them again, and animated a character sprite out of them.
  
And it does animate pretty well. It also moves about as well as any platformer character in a Game-Maker game. Jumping mechanics aren’t the easiest thing to get right, and Valenti gets them spot-on. Even the control scheme is sensible, spreading the game’s five weapons across a series of two-key bindings: Z and X, A and S, Q and W, and so on.
+
[[File:flyingguts.png|thumb|320px|Having a gored time in ''Flying Guts'']]
  
For all Valenti’s effort, I’m not sure how much art there is to ''Flying Guts''. He did a great job with the item sprites, but when you pick them up you get digitized quotes from ''Bill & Ted''. The levels are designed pretty well, but thanks to his effort in stealing and showcasing id’s textures there’s almost no variety from level to level. And frankly the game’s gore component gets old within about ten seconds. Still, wow. Think of how this game would be at least as good (and probably better) with wholly original sounds and visuals, and marvel at the determination involved.
+
The character does animate pretty well. It also moves about as well as any platformer character in a Game-Maker game. Jumping mechanics aren’t the easiest thing to get right, and Valenti gets them spot-on. Even the control scheme is sensible, spreading the game’s five weapons across a series of two-key bindings: Z and X, A and S, Q and W, and so on.
  
Most interesting, I think, is the protagonist. As far as Game-Maker goes, I think I’ve only seen three instances of a fully digitized player character: the Muybridge lady of Sheldon Chase’s [[Woman Warrior and the Outer Limits | games]], the rather disturbing ''[[Time After Time]]'' and ''[[Reptalia]]'', and Marty Valenti’s efforts. Of the three, Valenti’s are the best-executed (so to speak), and probably the most inspirational. Based on his efforts here, it would probably be feasible to design a whole Game-Maker game out of original photographed material. I don’t know why one would bother, but it could turn out pretty well.
+
[[File:Valenti.png|center]]
  
==Instructions==
+
For all Valenti’s effort, it's unclear how much art there is to ''Flying Guts''. He did a great job with the item sprites, but when you pick them up you get digitized quotes from ''Bill & Ted''. The levels are designed pretty well, but thanks to his effort in purloining and exhibiting id’s textures there’s almost no variety from level to level. And frankly the game’s gore component gets old within about ten seconds. Still -- consider that this game would be at least as good (and probably better) with wholly original sounds and visuals, and then marvel at the determination involved.
 +
 
 +
Perhaps most interesting is the protagonist. As far as Game-Maker goes, there are only scant known instances of a fully digitized player character: the Muybridge lady of [[Sheldon Chase]]’s [[Woman Warrior and the Outer Limits | games]], the rather disturbing ''[[Time After Time]]'' and ''[[Reptalia]]'', and Marty Valenti’s efforts. Of those three, Valenti’s are the best-executed (so to speak), and probably the most inspirational. Based on his efforts here, it would probably be feasible to design a whole Game-Maker game out of original photographed material. Whether the payoff would be worth the effort is unclear, but it could turn out pretty well.
 +
 
 +
== Instructions ==
 +
 
 +
[[File:Guts1.png|thumb|320px|Level 1 of ''Flying Guts'']]
  
 
Press F1 at any time to get this instruction page.
 
Press F1 at any time to get this instruction page.
  
===Key controls:===
+
=== Key controls ===
  
 
Use '''left''' and '''right''' arrow keys to walk right or left.
 
Use '''left''' and '''right''' arrow keys to walk right or left.
Line 32: Line 38:
 
Use the '''up-right''' or '''up-left''' arrow keys to jump left or right.
 
Use the '''up-right''' or '''up-left''' arrow keys to jump left or right.
  
===Shooting:===
+
=== Shooting ===
  
 
first weapon:
 
first weapon:
Line 54: Line 60:
 
To drop a weapon press '''backspace'''
 
To drop a weapon press '''backspace'''
  
==Credits==
+
== Credits ==
 +
 
 +
Backgrounds..........Marty Valenti
 +
Enemies..............Marty Valenti
 +
Weapons..............Marty Valenti
 +
Character............Marty Valenti
 +
Sounds...............Marty Valenti
 +
Title Screen.........Marty Valenti
 +
This Space Available.Your Name Here
 +
 
 +
== Availability ==
 +
 
 +
This game is known to have been distributed on local bulletin boards, contemporary to its development. Any other distribution is unknown.
 +
 
 +
== Archive History ==
 +
 
 +
In the late 1990s, ''Flying Guts'' was discovered on an early Web archive of DOS software. It was located and identified largely through recognizing the standard Game-Maker file extensions. The game has since been retained as part of the Archive.
 +
 
 +
== Links ==
 +
 
 +
<videoflash>8C_YNOKWo0w</videoflash>
  
Backgrounds.........Marty Valenti
+
=== Interviews / Articles ===
  
Enimies..............Marty Valenti
+
* [http://www.diygamer.com/2010/06/gamemaker-archive-easy-lifting/ Easy Lifting (DIYGamer)]
                   
 
Weapons..............Marty Valenti
 
  
Character............Marty Valenti
+
=== Listings ===
  
Sounds...............Marty Valenti
+
* [https://archive.org/details/FlyingGuts_1020 archive.org entry]
 +
* [http://demu.org/resource/FlyingGuts_1020 demu.org entry]
  
Title Screen.........Marty Valenti
+
=== Misc. Links ===
  
This Space Avalible..Your Name Here
+
* '''[http://www.aderack.com/game-maker/java/guts.php Play ''Flying Guts'' online]'''
  
==Downloads==
+
== Downloads ==
  
* [http://www.aderack.com/game-maker/downloads/guts.zip Flying Guts]
+
* '''''[http://www.aderack.com/game-maker/downloads/guts.zip Flying Guts]''''' (517.2 kB)
 +
* [[Media:Guts1.png|Level 1 map]] (126.5 kB)
 +
* [[Media:Guts2.png|Level 2 map]] (158.8 kB)
 +
* [[Media:Guts3.png|Level 3 map]] (70.5 kB)
  
[[Category:Game-Maker games]][[Category:Platformers]][[Category:Digitized graphics]][[Category:Marty Valenti]]
+
[[Category: Game-Maker games]]
 +
[[Category: Freeware]]
 +
[[Category: Marty Valenti]]
 +
[[Category: Side-scrolling]]
 +
[[Category: Platformers]]
 +
[[Category: Insertion games]]
 +
[[Category: Digitized graphics]]
 +
[[Category: Gore]]
 +
[[Category: Old discoveries]]
 +
[[Category: Complete games]]
 +
[[Category: United States]]
 +
[[Category: California]]
 +
[[Category: DIYGamer]]

Latest revision as of 04:21, 6 August 2017

Flying Guts
Guts-title.gif

Release type: Freeware
Release date: March 20, 1995
Levels: 3
Author: Marty Valenti
Related games: none

Game-Maker was popular during the same period as Mortal Kombat, Donkey Kong Country, and CD-ROM multimedia games like Night Trap and The 7th Guest. In that brief period before everyone fell in love with the polygon, the mass media and industry consensus was that schlocky digitization and sex and gore were the future of the medium. Thus we have the ESRB that we know and ignore today.

This was also the era of Doom. Whereas today we remember it for its meticulous design and the template it provided for the whole FPS genre, its original touchstones were its ultraviolence and its contribution to “virtual reality” — which somehow the media stirred in with the digitization and multimedia nonsense.

So, riding the zeitgeist, Marty Valenti decided to digitize himself and enter a world comprised of Doom samples and textures. He put some real mettle into his plunder; he unwound the Doom .WAD file, found all the best imagery and sound effects, then meticulously converted it all to a format and resolution comprehensible to Game-Maker. Valenti then got someone to take dozens of photographs of him in various stages of walking, running, and dying. He cleaned up all the photos, downsampled and adjusted them again, and animated a character sprite out of them.

Having a gored time in Flying Guts

The character does animate pretty well. It also moves about as well as any platformer character in a Game-Maker game. Jumping mechanics aren’t the easiest thing to get right, and Valenti gets them spot-on. Even the control scheme is sensible, spreading the game’s five weapons across a series of two-key bindings: Z and X, A and S, Q and W, and so on.

Valenti.png

For all Valenti’s effort, it's unclear how much art there is to Flying Guts. He did a great job with the item sprites, but when you pick them up you get digitized quotes from Bill & Ted. The levels are designed pretty well, but thanks to his effort in purloining and exhibiting id’s textures there’s almost no variety from level to level. And frankly the game’s gore component gets old within about ten seconds. Still -- consider that this game would be at least as good (and probably better) with wholly original sounds and visuals, and then marvel at the determination involved.

Perhaps most interesting is the protagonist. As far as Game-Maker goes, there are only scant known instances of a fully digitized player character: the Muybridge lady of Sheldon Chase’s games, the rather disturbing Time After Time and Reptalia, and Marty Valenti’s efforts. Of those three, Valenti’s are the best-executed (so to speak), and probably the most inspirational. Based on his efforts here, it would probably be feasible to design a whole Game-Maker game out of original photographed material. Whether the payoff would be worth the effort is unclear, but it could turn out pretty well.

Instructions

Level 1 of Flying Guts

Press F1 at any time to get this instruction page.

Key controls

Use left and right arrow keys to walk right or left.

Use the up arrow to jump straight up.

Use the up-right or up-left arrow keys to jump left or right.

Shooting

first weapon:

  • X: shoots right
  • Z: shoots left

second weapon:

  • S: shoots right
  • A: shoots left

third weapon:

  • W: shoots right
  • Q: shoots left

fourth weapon:

  • V: shoots right
  • C: shoots left

fifth weapon:

  • F: shoots right
  • D: shoots left

To pick up a new weapon press Enter

To drop a weapon press backspace

Credits

Backgrounds..........Marty Valenti
Enemies..............Marty Valenti 
Weapons..............Marty Valenti 
Character............Marty Valenti
Sounds...............Marty Valenti
Title Screen.........Marty Valenti
This Space Available.Your Name Here

Availability

This game is known to have been distributed on local bulletin boards, contemporary to its development. Any other distribution is unknown.

Archive History

In the late 1990s, Flying Guts was discovered on an early Web archive of DOS software. It was located and identified largely through recognizing the standard Game-Maker file extensions. The game has since been retained as part of the Archive.

Links

Interviews / Articles

Listings

Misc. Links

Downloads