Tony & Me
Release type: Freeware
Release date: 1993
Levels: 3
Author: Don'Pan Software
Related games: Gridline, A-J's Quest, Zoom the Super Bear, Sushi-X Breaks Loose, Operation Killbot, Dungeon Erghuck
Tony & Me was meant to be a Double Dragon style brawler — not the most sensible option for the given tools, but I was willing to try — but what it was really about was its protagonist’s real-life ambitions to get laid. That, and to demonstrate what a tough dude he was.
I suppose I could have gone any direction with this game. Were I a little more clever I could have undermined the premise with some lampoonery, or used it as an opportunity to try some new techniques that would pan out in later projects. Instead, I just chose to get it over with.
I brought over the melee combat from Gridline, but in interest of simplifying the controls and out of sheer apathy I condensed the attacks down to one button. The results are underwhelming. The character will close his eyes, extend both arms, and then depending on which direction he had been walking, a fist or a weapon will appear at the end of one arm. When I write it out like that, the animation sounds more interesting than it is. In practice, it comes off as lazy. Which is accurate.
Likewise the enemies are borrowed wholesale from Gridline and A-J's Quest, which confirms the game’s dating if my vague memory and extrapolation of the game’s mechanics weren’t enough. The backgrounds are mostly from Sushi-X Breaks Loose, which in turn largely borrows from A-J's Quest.
One new element is the character sprites. I think by this point I was tired of rehashing the Sample template. It was too recognizable, it was too limited, and it just wasn’t original. Also, I may have chosen to demonstrate to my associate the character design process. If that was the case, then I can understand why I may have begun from scratch — especially as by this point I felt I had a grasp of basic animation.
Of note is that my associate insisted that I include myself as a playable character — inspired, perhaps, by the variety in Final Fight or Streets of Rage. My implementation was, for whatever reason, to position the player as a ghost or angel who has the opportunity to be revived as either of the two characters -- complete with voiceover about his predicament.
Since the engine only supports one player at a time, and since there is no practical difference between the characters, the effect of the choice is somewhat diminished. I chose to distinguish the two threads by swapping out the monsters (he gets Gridline; I get A-J’s Quest) and by changing the ending. Play as him, you get a happy ending. Play as me — well, you just play a level and then stop.
Later on I removed the parts that made me feel icky, changed around the identities of involved parties (both he and the particular girl he had in mind), and adjusted the mechanics enough to allow the game to sort of stand alone. None of it helped, though, and the game sat on my hard drive for a decade and a half.
Contents
Story[edit]
Tony was walking down the street, earlier today, just minding his own business. Then it happened. He got a vision of some elf gal trapped in an ol', delapidated house.
Tony rushed over to my house, to ask for help. Help? What? Hey, what are you jabbering about? 'T ends up he knew the exact location of the place. I tried to explain that elfs didn't exist, but as soon as I did, a UFO crashed right out on the street. Immediately, thousands of weird creatures popped out and scattered throughout the town.
All right, maybe the elf thing isn't as far-fetched as I thought. All right, I'll go. It seems like we should call a SWAT team, or something, though. It's NOT safe out there, in cramped alleys with aliens chasing after you. But all right, I'll go. I don't have anything to do today, anyway.
Instructions[edit]
- Left, Right: Walk those ways.
- Down: Duck.
- Up: Jump up.
- Up-left: Jump left.
- Up-right: Jump right.
- Space: Attack.
Credits[edit]
________ |CREDITS:| -------- /=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\ |Designed with Game-Maker, a | | product of Recreational | | Software Designs. | |=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-| |Special thanks to: | |=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-| |RSD | |Creative Labs | |The Frontline BBS | \=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-/
Availability[edit]
This game was not distributed in any form.
Archive history[edit]
Tony & Me was retained as part of the archive from the game's inception.
Links[edit]
Interviews / Articles[edit]
Misc. Links[edit]
Downloads[edit]
- Tony & Me (571.0 kB)
- Selection map (6.3 kB)
- Level 1 (Tony) map (15.1 kB)
- Level 1 (Me) map (14.4 kB)
