Alan!
Release type: Freeware
Release date: February 6, 1994
Levels: 4
Author: Adam Tyner
Related games: Bear Fun Show, Alan B-Day, Alan '95, Alan '96
Adam Tyner seems to have produced both Alan! and Alan B-Day in early 1994, in celebration of Alan Caudel's birthday (and in response to Caudel's two earlier presents). Of the two games, Alan! is the simpler and apparently the earlier effort.
Whereas the later birthday games are all side-scrolling affairs, Alan! is a top-down action-adventure game in the close model of Sample. It basically consists of a large contained field, scattered with landmarks, items, and enemies; find a Nerf bow and collect arrows to defend against zombie hands, Adam's "fierce attack dog," Mr. Bear, and other strange foes; find a keycard to unlock the laser barriers; unlock the laser barriers to find three presents; bring the three presents to the roped-off area to the southeast, for a strange conclusion.
Alan! is a rudimentary and often awkward game, that makes a good case for itself as Tyner's first-ever Game-Maker project. As a potential first project, however, there is a surprising amount of ambition here. The first level is a selection screen, allowing a choice of character: Alan Caudel, or Mr. Bear. (Possibly this split explains the Alan B-Day/Bear Fun Show double feature: for the next project, two games with the same resources instead of one game with two branches.) They play largely the same, but it's a complicated way to start off.
The ending, also, is... confusing, and possibly does not work the way it was intended, but boy is it a surprising and unobvious use of the tools. There is a sense of technical adventure at play here, that must be applauded.
Although Tyner would only rarely return to this model of design, it is worth observing that one of his most advanced games, Bone!, is in design terms nearly a spiritual successor to Alan!. Even the titles share some DNA.
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Story
N/A
Instructions
Find the CARD KEYS to open the BARRIERs and collect your PRESENTS!
Press
- SPACE or ENTER to shoot a NERF dart,
- left and right to go left and right,
- up and down to walk up and down,
- p to pick up stuff, and
- d to drop stuff.
Have fun!
Credits
by Adam Tyner
'Nuff said.
Availability
This game is not known to have been distributed in any form, prior to its addition to the Archive.
Archive History
After an earlier wave of rediscoveries, on July 13 2011 Alan Caudel provided another archive of previously missing Game-Maker material, including the following:
Links
