Palladia: The Game
Release type: Incomplete
Release date: July 1, 1996
Levels: 2
Author: Alan Caudel
Website: DummyDuck.com
Related games: N/A
Alan Caudel's gameography is a shotgun blast of experiments; most quite ambitious, most unfinished. Although the greatest portion of these experiments is conceptual (e.g., Jet!, Adventure), some are narrative or stylistic. Palladia is the start of an ingriguing superhero-themed game, apparently based on one of Caudel's comic book ideas.
The player controls a muscle-bound fellow in a mostly brown costume named Jackal (or perhaps it's actually a humanoid jackal, wearing a mask?), with the power to generate sparks and the ability to fly... well, more like swim through the air. The controls are rough, but promising. Not many Game-Maker games allow flight in a gravity-based side-scrolling environment.
The real star of Palladia is its environment. Level one is full of inscrutable yet memorable details, like the blood-red platforms jutting at a perspective from a dark, circuit-crossed backdrop, its blue patterns ending in dangling red uvula-like forms. Against this scene, ambiguous black silhouettes harmlessly menace the player. It's unclear what's going on here, but the scene is imaginative in its malevolence.
Level two switches tacks to present a vertical cityscape. As in a few other superhero games, Jackal can fly around the side of a building, the ocasional window broken or ajar from an apparent inferno. As Jackal flies through the billowing smoke, he leaves a trail. It's a good scenario, and immediately feels exciting to explore -- yet it's unclear quite where Caudel was going with it, as there's not much to see beyond a screen or two and not much to do within those screens.
That's the basic impression that Palladia leaves behind: a very cool, promising game that fairly well demands to be played -- yet is so early in its development that there's barely a game to play.
Contents
Story
PALLADIA #15
PAGE ONE
Splash page
(Panel one): Talk show host looks at empty chairs with floor still smoking and says-"Where...what...oh God!" Title in lower right corner: "Fallen Idol"
PAGE TWO
Two rows of three panels each.
(Panel one): Side view of Channel pushes himself up and moans. Blood trickles down his chin.
(Panel two): Off-panel voice from behind Channel-"Solstice." Channel quickly turns his head around.
(Panel three): Channel seems to recognize the name Solstice and has a look of intense fright on his face.
(Panel four): A shadowed hand with a laser pistol blasts Channel.
(Panel five): Channel's head is seen on the ground with blood dripping from all over.
(Panel six): High overhead shot of Channel, unconscious in a pool of blood.
TRANSITION
PAGE THREE
Two rows of three panels each
(Panel one): Overhead shot of Jackal in a similar position in an arena
(Panel two): Jackal leaps up and his hands glow with energy.
(Panel three): Paradigm grabs Jackal from behind.
(Panel four): Jackal throws Paradigm over his back
(Panel five): When he hits the ground, Paradigm divides into two
(Panel six): Overhead shot of Jackal surrounded by the 2 Paradigms
TRANSITION
PAGE FOUR
Two rows of three panels each
(Panel one): Overhead shot of Landslide surrounded by Rift and Freestone.
(Panel two): Portal opens from under Landslide's feet and she begins to fall in
(Panel three): Landslide flips out of portal, kicking Rift
(Panel four): Freestone grabs Landslide, choking her
(Panel five): Landslide screams and Freestone is enveloped in a purple aura
(Panel six): Freestone flies up (in upper-right) as backshot of Landslide with glowing hands up in the air
TRANSITION
PAGE FIVE
Two rows of three panels each
(Panel one): One Paradigm thrown by Jackal in pretty much the same position as PG4PN6.
(Panel two): Other Paradigm punches Jackal in the face
(Panel three): Jackal snarls kind of and hand glows with energy
(Panel four): Back view of Paradigm; Jackal seen through the space between Paradigm's legs
(Panel five): Side view of Jackal firing energy blast
(Panel six): Paradigm falls down, defeated
TRANSITION
PAGE SIX
One row of three panels and one panel taking up rest of page
(Panel one): Shows steel wall
(Panel two): Freestone thrown through wall in P6P1
(Panel three): Landslide walks through hole in wall, stepping on Freestone
(Panel four): 90O shot of Landslide by fallen Channel
Instructions
- Spacebar: Flex double-spark
- Y: Fire spark beam
- P/D: Pick up/Drop items
On numerical keypad:
- 7/8/9: Fly left/up/right
- 4/6: Stride left/right
- 2: Dive downward
- 1/3: Run down-left/down-right
Credits
Designed by Alan Caudel.
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
Downloads
- Palladia: The Game (92 kB)
