Shanna
Release type: Shareware
Release date: August 15, 1994
Levels: 1 (in demo version)
Author: Angelo Felix
Registration bonus: Full game
Registration price: $10
Related games: Firefall
On its own merits, Shanna is a rather unassuming, cleanly presented platformer. You’re a knight off to find the eponymous lost little girl.
Although the game isn’t all that ambitious, Angelo Felix exhibits a better-than-average mastery of (very early) Game-Maker’s quirks, has his own voice, and manages to paint a game that is enjoyable on its own terms regardless of the whole Game-Maker thing. Rather like Mark Hadley, Felix does such a good job in avoiding the typical pitfalls and complications and tropes of so many of his peers’ games that Shanna hardly feels like a Game-Maker game. It’s just simple, charming, and itself.
The visuals are mostly original, and for their part are both striking and appealing. Something about the world that it paints, with its spare yet well-defined, slightly surreal imagery -- the occasional enormous sunflower, the confusing leaf monster sections, the chunky red bricks, the classical way the scores drift up from slain monsters -- exhibits a refreshing spirit. With just a little a nudge and some polish, this could get really interesting.
Yet there is a bit of trickiness at work; some of the monsters and weapons appear to have been borrowed from Firefall. It’s not hard to tell the original, if you’ve used Deluxe Paint and have a grasp of VGA palettes. It's unclear why Felix felt compelled to borrow the sprites, as he has such a lovely visual style of his own, and frankly Shanna is a much better game than Firefall. You will notice, though, that Felix put some effort into hiding the theft. He only borrowed the animation frames he needed, and then altered them a bit to match the game’s style. If anything, his edited axe is more attractive than the original.
Granted Felix and Firefall Softwarez may well be the same entity, but it seems unlikely. Their visual styles are quite different, as is their external software. Shanna’s title screen is an EGA job probably assembled in Paintbrush or something similar, and Firefall’s is a complex Deluxe Paint project. Consider that Firefall came first, and the downgrade in tools would be peculiar.
Contents
Story
Shanna A cute little pig-tail girl was out running around one day with Mandy when her good friend Te'Tare got lost, ....she had to find him!! So, off she went... Well it's not right for a little Princess to be alone in 'Scard Land... So you Lance?, set out to find her...
...Hope 'Scard Don't get her or Backwards...
Instructions
File:Shanna-Try1-try1.png
Rescue Shanna!!!
Here are the controls:
- Left arrow (4) -Move left
- Right arrow (6) -Move right
- Slash (/) -Climb Up
- Up arrow (8) -Jump up
- Down arrow (2) -Climb Down
- PageUp (9)-Jump diagonly right
- Home (7)-Jump diagonaly left
- SpaceBar - Throw the Axe
Joystick Recomended...F9 Sets it and F8 Turns it on
Save (F5) often!
Credits
Graphics.........Angelo
Story............Angelo
Music..RSD and Creative Labs
My Teacher.......Ernesto Perez
Special thanks to :
- Ernesto
- RSD
- Creative Labs
Adios.. HECHO EN PUERTO RICO !!!
Links
