Ricci's Cow Hunt
I barely knew the fellow in the central role. He was a class clown; he liked cows; I worked from there. It began as a single level: character, item pickups, background. Whereas the sprites are Deluxe Paint beasts, the level is built from a small collection of simple bitmapped tiles. I drew them dot-by-dot in RSD’s Block Designer tool, then reskinned the first level of A-J's Quest. The results were clean and bold, and stood out better than many of my gradient-fill blocks. Compared to, say, Crullo, this simple level looked and felt vibrant.
It’s not that I set out to be different; I set out to be lazy. I designed a character based on a slight acquaintance because I was bored, and I wasn’t about to invest the time and energy to build a real game around him — so I puttered in the easiest and quickest tools to hand. It just turned out that a lack of ambition equaled a decrease in affectation. I wound up concentrating more on the task at hand than the process that I had built up, and my basic sensibility took control.
So I had one level down, and it was kind of nice. Next step? Design another level — a completely different one, with a new tile set. Then another, and another. For over a year I continued to putter with Cow Hunt, adding new levels as the muse struck. When I had ideas for a new technique, I would pull up Block Designer, whip up a few tiles, then turn them into a level. Gradually the game became rather like an Ikea show floor; every level served to suggest a new way to mold and paint particleboard. There was nothing to the game besides touring from the entrance to the exit, but it was a pleasant journey.
I installed the game on the computers in the school lab. Whenever there was an update, I would make an announcement in the autoexec.bat files. I don’t think anyone really took care of those machines, as I got away with murder. As time passed I noticed unfamiliar names in the high score lists; it seemed that people were playing. With an apparent audience, my ambition grew. My levels grew more complex, with reversed control schemes and hidden passages. Thanks to this feedback I also realized the game’s object. There were few threats or serious obstacles, but it took a dedicated player to collect all of the cows. Every cow lent the player 100 points. Thus, the game was all about score.
How novel. Since Pac I had been trying to break or sidestep the engine’s location-based objective structure, and to backpedal to something more basic. Something pre-Miyamoto. Here it happened by accident, in a game that I hardly cared about, after I had given up on serious design.
Something else kind of happened. Since the game’s mechanics are so simple as to be almost nonexistent, the level design wound up pretty focused on the character’s abilities. Since the goal in any level was just to show off some new concepts before sending the player off to the next tile set, the design wound up focused more on exposition and forward momentum than on interrupting and frustrating the player. Cow Hunt is one of the first games I made where the player is free to poke around without judgment or severe consequence.
More than once I have heard the later, more confined levels compared to Mega Man. Although that series tends to typify judgment and severe consequence, I think I see what they meant. Peril or no peril, the clean bitmapped backgrounds and the forward momentum make Cow Hunt feel more like a real game than some of my greater efforts. There is a familiar sort of rhythm and flow, and the player feels prepared to handle every next beat as it comes.
I think on some level I noticed this rhythm, as late in the process I added the first level of Super Mario Bros. as a secret area (an area that would later form the basis of Jario!). There’s little to do here aside from run and hop to the exit, but I guess that was the idea. I think that I knew I was approaching something primal, or fundamental, about game design. What that was, I couldn’t have told you. I doubt I would even have described it that way. I just knew that things were working strangely well.
Contents
Story[edit]
Galen Ricci has decided to go on a trek through the planes of the bizzare to find cow souvenirs.
Instructions[edit]
- Left Arrow: Walk Left
- Right Arrow: Walk Right
- Home (7): Jump Left
- Up Arrow: Jump Up
- PgUp (9): Jump Right
Collect cows. Each cow gives you 100 points. Stop the cow eaters in round 3. The only goal is to see who can get the most cows. It's like a party game; you can invite everyone over and see who can get the highest score.
Credits[edit]
Graphics, Sounds, Etc.:
Character is:
- Galen Ricci
Game Engine:
Autor's Note:
- I just thought the cow idea was weird enough for a really dumb game.
Archive history[edit]
Ricci's Cow Hunt was retained as part of the archive from the game's inception.
Availability[edit]
Available on several shareware compilation CD-ROMs, including:
- Software Vault: Games 2 (January 1995)
Links[edit]
Interviews / Articles[edit]
Misc. Links[edit]
Downloads[edit]
- Ricci's Cow Hunt (445.2 kB)
- Level 1 Map (94.5 kB)
- Level 2 Map (125.7 kB)
- Level 3 Map (146.2 kB)
- Level 4 Map (196.3 kB)
- Level 5 Map (104.4 kB)
- Level 5a Map (17.9 kB)
- Level 6 Map (167.4 kB)
- Level 7 Map (132.6 kB)
- Level 8 Map (174.2 kB)
