Clyde & Zeke
The Game-Maker 3.0 release deadline was quickly approaching, and A-J Games wanted to get in one last game: a simple demo, to show how monsters could also be used as helpful partners. With a look out the back window, the developer spied a lake full of ducks. So there was a theme: one duck following another duck. Why not.
The developer found a photograph of a duck, and shrank it down to 20×20 pixels. It was going to be swimming, so it didn’t need much animation. They whipped up some actually pretty decent marsh tiles and imported them from Deluxe Paint. Add a single adversary — a paper boat — and a single pick-up — a school of fish, which restored health. The developer then quickly threw together a maze level. Find your way from A to B; use your AI partner to protect you. That’s it.
The game only took a day or two to finish and send off. Although RSD received it before finalizing the CD, it arrived late enough to miss appearing on the disc. No great loss, but it is sort of curious.
