Difference between revisions of "Froggy Story"
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}}''Froggy Story'' is a noble experiment, that succeeds in a distinctive style and tone despite its author's general lack of commitment or faith in the project. | }}''Froggy Story'' is a noble experiment, that succeeds in a distinctive style and tone despite its author's general lack of commitment or faith in the project. | ||
| − | The idea -- several ideas before Hasbro's high-profile resurrection of the series -- was a side-scrolling version of Konami's ''Frogger''. To test out the concept, Pierre Martin ripped some sprites from | + | The idea -- several ideas before Hasbro's high-profile resurrection of the series -- was a side-scrolling version of Konami's ''Frogger''. To test out the concept, Pierre Martin ripped some sprites from [[PPP Team]] favorite ''Fury of the Furries'', grabbed background tiles from ''[[Badman 2]]'', and tossed together a couple of ''Commander Keen'' inspired levels. |
The real concept here was in the frog's motion. Normal movement involved small, precise hops to the left and the right. The frog also has larger hops, to clear obstacles, and a slightly gratuitous tongue move, allowing him to eat flies. Of course the player can just steer the frog right into the flies instead, but why knock the move. It's amusing, and it adds charm. | The real concept here was in the frog's motion. Normal movement involved small, precise hops to the left and the right. The frog also has larger hops, to clear obstacles, and a slightly gratuitous tongue move, allowing him to eat flies. Of course the player can just steer the frog right into the flies instead, but why knock the move. It's amusing, and it adds charm. | ||
Revision as of 18:56, 7 April 2014
Release type: Unknown
Release date: October 18, 1995
Levels: 3
Author: PPP Team
Website: Bilou Homebrew's Blog
Related games: N/A
Froggy Story is a noble experiment, that succeeds in a distinctive style and tone despite its author's general lack of commitment or faith in the project.
The idea -- several ideas before Hasbro's high-profile resurrection of the series -- was a side-scrolling version of Konami's Frogger. To test out the concept, Pierre Martin ripped some sprites from PPP Team favorite Fury of the Furries, grabbed background tiles from Badman 2, and tossed together a couple of Commander Keen inspired levels.
The real concept here was in the frog's motion. Normal movement involved small, precise hops to the left and the right. The frog also has larger hops, to clear obstacles, and a slightly gratuitous tongue move, allowing him to eat flies. Of course the player can just steer the frog right into the flies instead, but why knock the move. It's amusing, and it adds charm.
There are a few logistical issues. Due either to the controls or the slapdash testground provided, the frog can't jump high enough to clear certain obstacles or collect certain tchotchkes. Part of the concept was for our amphibian to leap from land to water, and thereafter to swim freely -- but of course characters don't work that way in Game-Maker. The solution -- a quick fade-out when the character hops in the drink -- is functional, if a little distracting.
Although the game could have been salvaged -- with original graphics, a few control and level tweaks, and a bunch of attention to terrain transitions -- the result likely would have been tenuous. It would have worked, but you'd have seen the cracks in a way that you don't in the best of PPP Team's efforts, which tend to play very well with the limits of RSD's engine, preventing the edges from showing too sharply.
As it is, Froggy Story' is a fun little footnote. It was an experiment worth exploring, even if it didn't really go anywhere.
Instructions
Froggy is your hero.
Use the key 4, 6, 7, 9 to move
In water, use 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 to swim
- & / to eat
To have more energy jump to the fly
Watch out for the flying monster (bird, bat...)
Watch out for the swimming monster (piranha, medusa...)
Credits
Game designed by Piet
Sprites and pond-themed plants are (C) Kalisto and come from the Fury of the Furies game.
Background
Sylvain Martin:
- Oh, "our" good old Frog Story mini-game... I never really considered it as a "release", to be honest. My brother wanted to run a platformer based on the Frogger arcade game, but virtually all the gfx were ripped from Fury of the Furries by Kalisto. I think it happened between Badman 2 (ground blocks are clearly a mere re-colouring of the graveyard) and Badman 3.
- We experimented with hop-by-hop movement (as with Grungee), which was producing extremely annoying gameplay. Then we ran into the trouble of allowing Froggy to swim in water while hopping on the ground and we just couldn't have it working, as you can guess. So the project died.
- Except for the pink ground and grey stones, everything else should be viewed as an attempt to master LBM-to-RSD conversion toolchain more than anything else.
Archive history
Long considered lost in one of PPP Team's big data purges, on August 14, 2012, Froggy Story was located -- to the surprise of all -- on one of Pierre's old FTP archives. The game was salvaged, slightly tweaked to allow it to run properly, and added to the archive.
Links
- My RSD Game-Maker Years (Bilou HomeBrew)
- Low resolution screenshots: #1, #2
- Play Froggy Story online
Downloads
- Froggy Story (159.3kB)
- Froggy Story 2012 control patch (5.9kB)
