The following game looks simple, but it has a lot of potential, with promised updates to came in the near future. I found myself returning to this game (which is rare for most of the free games I've tried) and really enjoyed it in small doses.
Island Hopping: (5.28Mb)
Island Hopping is a 3d retro-arcade style platformer developed by Praetorian Studios originally for the 17th Ludum Dare competition. Since then, the game has been constantly added to and improved, getting ever closer to the point of a complete game. We can't bear to wait anymore and grabbed the latest build to take a look at what the game has to offer right now.
Basically the game plays by putting you in first-person view of a running man, who is constantly sprinting forward in the direction he is facing, and required to navigate treacherous waters by hopping between mounts of dry land. The only controls you have are the ability to jump using the Spacebar, and the ability to change the direction he is facing using mouse movement (a.k.a. mouselook). This creates endless excitement using a formula of fun not unlike the well-known game of Canabalt. The objective is simple: don't hit the water. The player will attempt to navigate through an ever faster path of island that vary in size, shape, and point value. When you inevitably hit the water, your distance and score (among other statistics) are sent to a high score leader board, though this can be turned of from the set up screen which opens up on starting the game. There’s quite a few options including antialiasing. The graphics are crisp looking and sufficient for a game of this nature. I personally enjoyed the ever increasing pace and found the game rather addictive.
The game further augments this by implementing a exhilarating scoring system. Your base score is determined by the distance you have travelled without falling into the water. On top of that, islands are color coded into green, red and grey - landing on the green ones add to your score (consecutively landing on them rakes up a combo multiplier), red islands subtract from your score, and grey ones do nothing. This feature adds a layer of spatial planning to the otherwise timing-focused game, and commendably adds new depth to a tested formula.
The visuals are spartan, and at the same time very visually pleasing. It likens itself to a Tron-like world, where all geometry are rendered in wireframes, with only the title informing us that they are "islands". This, coupled with the futuristic font family, gives the game a sleek, polished feel despite being accomplished in 48-hours, and is a very smart decision on the developer's part.
The game is controlled by the mause, however the initial set up screen and main menu makes use of the cursor keys and enter. Once you enter the game play screen the mouse kicks in. But despite all my complains, I still love this game. It is simple, easy to pick up and endlessly addictive. It even features an online high score table that drives you even further to achieve that impossible record. Without further ado, hop over now and try the game out for yourself.
Edited reference accessed HERE July 2010
Point scoring:
Different colored islands give different points:
Green - 500 points (Can be combo-ed together for an extra 250 points per island)
Grey - 50 points
Red - take away 500 points
Orange - 50 points (Contain a score bonus {750, 1500 or 3000 points}, multiplier {2x,4x or 0.5x})
(May also contain a Ludum Dare related easter egg)
Controls:
• Mouse Move: Look/Aim (IMPORTANT: As stated before, the direction you're looking affects your trajectory so aim down to speed up your fall and make shorter hops, or aim up to travel a bit further).
• Mouse Click (Left or Right), Any letter key, Ctrl, Alt, Space, Enter, Shift, Up Arrow: Jump (and reset after a failed run)
• Left/Right Arrows: Change menu options
• Enter: Select menu option
Possible features in the next update:
• New gametypes
• New islands
• Better UI and menu (we're using a GUI library this time, so expect actual mouse control for the menu)
• Better leaderboard integration (we've noticed and deleted a few glitched/cheated scores... there will be better verification to prevent illegitimate scores)
• Fine-tuned physics and mechanics
• Changes to the art style (we want to keep system reqs minimal, but some changes would be nice)
• Support for other OS's (Linux is likely and OSX is possible)
• A map editor (this is a big maybe, but as the programmer, this is the most exciting feature for me...)
Video:
http://www.moddb.com/games/island-hopping/videos/island-hopping
Download:
You can download Island hopping HERE
