Fluffy Ralph

Fluffy Ralph

Release type: Shareware
Release date: 1993 (original release)
Levels: 10 (in final version)
Author: A-J Games
Registration bonus: Ralph II: Earth is Near
Registration price: $30
Related games: A-J's Quest, The Bounerim, Ralph II: Earth is Near

Ralph is an orphaned chicken-duck who dallies as a consulting detective. What complicates this task is that the only word he seems to speak is his own name.

As with Zoom the Super Bear, Ralph is spun off from the Andrew-Jonathan comic strip. He made only a single bizarre appearance in the comic, and in the game his backstory is very different to what I imagined elsewhere.

Focusing fire in Fluffy Ralph

For the game I transplanted Ralph to a world where all life forms are projected from precious green crystals, and gave him a range of surreal terrain to navigate in his search for a portal to Earth. Since Ralph was a detective, the mechanics were based around searching for objects and using a magnifying glass to focus disrupting beams of light at enemies. The crystals must then be cracked to prevent the monsters from reforming. If Ralph should become sufficiently injured, it is revealed that he too is in fact a crystal-based creature.

Of all my Game-Maker games, Fluffy Ralph is probably closest to RSD’s intended use for its game engine. It’s a top-down, vaguely Zelda-like action adventure. There’s nothing complicated or subversive in the mechanics. Ralph was just a simple game to develop. I even borrowed many of the graphical elements from Zoom. Perhaps this lack of a struggle shows in the design, as compared to some of my other games very little feels out-of-place.

I’m unsure how far the game traveled, but I have received comments. It seems that people remember Fluffy Ralph, and remember it favorably. As usual the later levels become needlessly difficult, but presumably only a few have known that torment.

This game underwent a bunch of revision when Game-Maker 3.0 came around. In particular all of the menus and interfaces got an overhaul.

- [Azurelore Korrigan]

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(Overview)	Fluffy Ralph	Ralph II
Fluffy Ralph series

Story

Ralph's home village, abandoned and freaky.

Welcome to the world of Noniyan, where a being's life force is held inside a green crystal and anything can happen.

Enter Fluffy Ralph, Otherwise known of as Ralf, a tiny chicken-duck with a taste for mystery.

Ralf has heard of a far better place, virtually forgotten in Nonian for centuries.

Ralf is captivated by elders' tales of this place. He wants to be there more than anything.

One day, Ralf made up his mind. He was going to find this place, no matter what it took. He was going to go to paradise -- Earth.

Instructions

Ralph's enemies simply don't carrot all.

If you press the up, down, right, or left arrow, Ralf will walk that way. The space bar reflects light off of your magnifying glass, and "P" picks things up.

Equipment

There are many items in this world which are useful to Ralf. Here's the lowdown on them.

Magnifying Glasses: Using these, you can focus a beam of light at an enemy.

Double Time Shoes: Run twice as fast when you slip these on.

Keys: Use these to open the chests other stuff is kept in.

Green Crystals: The remains of some creature. When an organic life form dies, it leaves its life force crystal behind. These last forever, unless broken.

Sweet and Sour Chickenduck

1s, Os, Xs: Strange structures of metal and plastic which have been left all over the place by some unknown creature. They may have special powers to chicken-ducks.

Chests: Mostly everything is stored away in chests so it won't be damaged. Of course, it's nearly impossible to get anything out again, but . . .

In Case You're Confused

Throughout Noniyan, there are many devices out of which monsters repeatedly pop, from some unknown location.

Ralph needs to destroy these devices on his way in order to progress.

Round Summary

Ralf Starts off in his own village. He has heard that in one of the buildings there is a secret entrance to a dungeon, far below. This dungeon is the link between Noniyan's countryside and the Lands of the Surreal. At the end of the Lands, a rip lies, according to the elders' tales. This rip takes one through the dimensional barrier. On the other side of the barrier. . .paradise awaits.

1. Forest Village
2. Dungeon Central
3. Pillow City
4. Gardens R Us
5. Tea for Thee
6. Boxundrum
7. Sky
8. Psychodelic
9. Exitway
10. Limbo is Nice!

Helpful Hints

• Remember, Ralf only has one life to live. Be careful with him.
• Breaking Life Crystals snags points for you.
• NEVER leave a level without the neccesary item.
• Get used to the lag time between when you press the space bar and Ralf shoots.
• Find the exit to the level before you do anything else.
• Save your game every time you find something.

Credits

Do not adjust your picture.

GRAPHICS:

Aderack

SOUNDS:

Aderack

ENGINE:

RSD

TESTING:

M.O.S.H.

No Peach Jam

NOTE: The music is just some PD stuff Aderack found, used until we get MOD support.

Availability

This game is distributed in the shareware directory of the Game-Maker 3.0 CD-ROM.

During the early 1990s the game was available for download from GameLynk's Frontline BBS.

The game also seems to have been made available on several shareware compilation CD-ROMs. More precise details TBD.

Archive History

Fluffy Ralph was retained as part of the archive from the game's inception.

Links

Interviews / Articles

• The History of A-J Games, Part Two

Misc. Links

• Play Fluffy Ralph online

Downloads

• Fluffy Ralph (1.6 MB)
• Level 1 (Forest Village) Map (201.1 kB)
• Level 2 (Dungeon Central) Map (96.0 kB)
• Level 3 (Pillow City) Map (48.9 kB)
• Level 4 (Gardens R Us) Map (104.3 kB)
• Level 5 (Tea for Thee) Map (151.8 kB)
• Level 6 (Boxundrum) Map (104.4 kB)
• Level 7 (Sky) Map (145.9 kB)
• Level 8 (Psychodelic) Map (47.6 kB)
• Level 9 (Exitway) Map (2.7 kB)
• Level 10 (Limbo is Nice!) Map (33.2 kB)