Marley's Quest

Marley's Quest

Release type: Incomplete
Release date: June 7, 1996
Levels: 35
Author: Matthew Saul
Website: Chronically Unemployed
Related games: N/A

With Marley's Quest Matthew Saul's goal seems to to have been exploration for the sake of exploration. There are no particular goals here, and there is no way to complete the game -- yet the game isn't classed as unfinished. It would appear that this is just the way it's meant to be; an open-ended platformer adventure, that you play just to see what you can find this time around.

Accordingly, the game is laced with secrets throughout its entirely nonlinear level structure. Many of those secrets are pathways to territories new; some provide the character with bonus abilities, which in the best Metroid tradition in turn often open up new paths to the player.

The secrets are hit-and-miss. Sometimes they make just enough sense that when you stumble across them there's that frisson of discovery -- why, of course something was buried there! Other times, it's more of a bafflement. Combine this with the hit-and-miss surreal art style, and the game can feel messy.

That is possibly the greatest conundrum of Marley's Quest. Often it seems like a total mess, with arbitrary logic and slapdash execution -- and then you hit on something that speaks of a deeper, unseen order. A decision that seems random will turn out to have been carefully planned for an apparent purpose.

The effect is rather that of an uncomfortable dream. There is a sort of a guiding reason behind the game, but at times the muddle of odd connections can be impenetrable. Although Marley's Quest lacks the discipline and clear design path of Saul's other game, Popa, it conveys a certain stream-of-consciousness creativity that, here and there, can spark the imagination.

Story

Download Marley today!

Now you must understand that life was pretty good for Marley in Sputterville. Summers were long, winters were really short and it was sunny 283 days of the year.

One day, Marley was out on a little jaunt when he came across a hill. This wasn't just any ordinary plain hill, the hill was rising and falling at 5 second intervals.

Being the bored and curious fellow Marley was, he jumped on the hill...

Then the hill fell... and fell until he finally ended up in a cave with an opening.

Being the bored and curious fellow hewas, he came out the opening and onto a hill much like the one he had fell through. This was kind of a strange place. A river flowed nearby, and there seemed to be a building to the south.

"Hmmm...." he said.

"I wonder what this place is all about?"

Instructions

On numerical keypad:

• 7 - Jump left
• 8 - Jump up
• 9 - Jump right

• 4 - Walk left
• 6 - Walk right
• 2 - Duck/Down (Only in UFO)
• 1/3 - Shield

• . - Super Jump
• / - Throw

•  ;/, - Special power

Objectives

Just make your way through all the mazes without getting killed.

You sometimes will need to find keys to unlock doors.

There are quite a few secret areas.

Hints

There are many bonus areas strewn about the game. To find one, you usually hove to go to areas that look deserted. It's mostly a luck factor. The rings you get will help you stay alive.

If your screen displays this game very poorly, try typing config at the dos prompt and changing the graphics chip. If none of the settings work, then we're sorry. Game-Maker doesn't support the video cards of all PCs very well.

Credits

Thanks for playing!

This game was written by:

Matthew Saul

This game is freeware so give it to your friends or tell them about my website

Background

Matthew Saul:

Welcome to Marley's Quest! This game has 256-color graphics and SoundBlaster sound as well as tons of 8-way scrolling levels. ...and the best part about the game is it's fun and it's free!

Marley's Quest is a platform game I made up awhile ago. You have to dodge enemies and throw hammers at them. There are also special powers hidden within the levels. Lots of enemy types and even a casino zone to blow off your cash. This game is a great buy. Actually, it's free!

The game consists of lots of little worlds (and a couple of big ones). It has more than 40 levels in all. There is no way to really beat the game but you will have enough fun trying to find all of the levels. Once you beat a set of levels, you go back to the map, where you can find more levels.

For those of you who have played the game! Note that there are quite a few levels you can go to in the map room. Here they are...

• The Block World - Enter the bottom-right building
• The Desert/Underground World - Walk on the hill
• The Water Mini-World - Swim around the bottom of the river
• Castle-Mania - Cross the bridge and keep going left
• Brick Mini-World - Cross the river and go up and to the right
• Casino Zone - It's on an island in the river

The best world to start out in is the Desert/Underground world... look out for the special bonus items... pick up extra keys because they open the door to cool stuff...

Also, for a quick shield, visit Block World. You'll have to watch out for lots of lava and spikes though!

When you have gotten lots of rings, head on to the casino zone and spend the money on extra lives and other goodies.

Invisibility won't protect you from everything.

Note: Since there is no way to beat this game, the winner is the person who's number one on the top-10 score list.

Archive status

In late 2010 Matthew Saul's old GeoCities site turned up in several Web archives of the now-defunct Web hosting service, linked from one of Alan Caudel's own GeoCities pages. Although several images were archived (now preserved on this page), the downloads were unavailable. After several months of on-and-off Web sleuthing, on November 23, 2011, Matthew Saul was contacted at his eBay account, and his two games Popa and Marley's Quest were provided.

Links

• Non-Famous (Internet Archive)
• Play Marley's Quest online

Downloads

• Marley's Quest (486 kB)
• Graffix (Prototype) (168 kB)