Hurdles

Hurdles

Release type: Shareware
Release date: ?
Levels: 10 (in demo version)
Author: Roland Ludlam
Website: Studio Walljump
Registration bonus: Complete game
Registration price: $5
Related games: none

There are records of half a dozen attempts to contort Game-Maker’s engine into permitting a traditional space shooter. Despite the odd moment of brilliance, none of those attempts has been successful. In his simplicity, and in his slightly shifted goals, “13 Year Old Wiz Kid” Roland Ludlam almost makes it work.

Ludlam describes Hurdles as “A game of timing, and skill.” Although it takes the basic form of a shooter, there is no actual shooting — rather like a side-scrolling F-Zero or OutRun. Instead, the game consists almost entirely of dodging back and forth to avoid obstacles and collect bonuses. The dodging itself is a bit unconventional; to move up and down, you use the left and right arrows.

Also notable is that the intended goal is not so much to finish the game as it is to collect as many points as possible — a bit of a novelty for Game-Maker. Hurdles may in fact be unique on that point. (So to speak.) Game-Maker has a built-in high score table, and score is one of the major default counters, yet the engine tends to lend itself more to action-adventure games than to arcade action, making the score table a bit extraneous.

Hurtling to glory in Hurdles

The game is one of a handful to include an in-game menu system; hit start, and the game dumps you into a stage select screen. Available are stages 0-3, with 0 being a sort of training level, and — for the utter novelty of it — a music test. Ludlam put some not-insignificant effort into the latter, with custom visuals — some of them digitized from photographs — to accompany each .CMF file. Why he bothered, considering that none of the music is original, is unclear. Splendid show of effort, though!

Exploring the soundscape of Hurdles

For the main challenge, Ludlam provides dozens of lives. The goal, again, is to be challenging but not necessarily to limit the player’s progress. And the game is tough, and fast-paced. Every level seems to be built with hard right-leaning gravity that the engine just barely keeps up with and that gives the player just enough reflex time to dodge around obstructions. Each level is distinct, and some of the visuals are rather gorgeous. You’ll even find the odd bit of faux parallex scrolling.

Despite all this effort, Ludlam seemed to have little interest in presentation. He didn’t bother with a story or a title screen. It’s all about the content here — and the content is some of the most original, for its part, you’ll find in a Game-Maker game.

Instructions

Hurdles, A game of timing, and Skill.

Roland Ludlam.

To play Hurdles it is very simple, roll up by pressing the left key, and roll down by pressing the right key. The goal in this demo of the full game is to reach the end of the courses (3), and collect as many points as possible.

Hurdles requires VGA, and about 512 K. SB, And Joystick are also available. TO enable joystick press F8 during play. Button1 rolls up, 2 rolls down,

Have fun. It's tough!

Credits

Coding: Game-Maker 2.0

Graphics and Animation: Roland Ludlam

Sound: Roland Ludlam

Links

• The World Wide Haystack (DIYGamer)
• Roland Ludlam on Liight and the Hurdles of Game-Making (DIYGamer)
• Hurdles (DOS Museum)

Downloads

• Hurdles (242.8 kB)