Review Fix chats with Indiana Rodent and the Raiders of the Lost Cheese Creator Pieter Simoons for his thoughts on what might end up being the best platformer ever created on Adventure Game Studio.
Review Fix: What was the inspiration for the game?
Pieter Simoons: I like platform games, and I’ve been thinking of writing one for several years, I just hadn’t gotten around to it. In many platformers, the hero dies immediately when he touches anything, so a weak protagonist like a mouse seemed fitting. Plus mice are cute. The hat came later, when I was making a narrow escape in a test version, and felt this called for the famous first notes of the Indiana Jones theme.
Review Fix: What games did you play as a kid? Did they influence this one?
Simoons: I’ve played lots of classic platformers including Super Mario World, Commander Keen, Sonic, and Rayman. Out of these, Mario is the most obvious influence.
Review Fix: Indiana Jones has an epic fear of snakes. What is your character scared of?
Simoons: When Rody starts out, he’s not afraid of anything! Except cats. But there aren’t any in the game. After completing several levels, he’s developed a healthy fear of spikes and hedgehogs. Especially hedgehogs.
Review Fix: What was the creation process like? How was using AGS beneficial to the process?
Simoons: The creation of platforms and enemies was rather easy; on the other hand, I spent a lot of time getting slopes and jump physics to work right. Also, designing and polishing the levels took quite a bit longer than expected. AGS offers some convenient shortcuts like the GUI designer and the sprite manager; it is also versatile enough to work in a variety of non-adventure genres.
Review Fix: What’s your favorite element of the game?
Simoons: I like how it offers a variety of different challenges. First, there’s the difficulty modes (that add more platforms on easy, and more spikes and enemies on hard). Second, there’s the hidden blue cups in each level. And third, there’s a par time you can try to beat. So there’s lots of things to find and try in the game.
Review Fix: What would you change?
Simoons: Because it’s hard to please everyone with jump physics, I’d been thinking of adding a second character that jumps in a different way. But I only thought of this after the game’s release.
Review Fix: Who will get the most out of this game?
Simoons:Anyone who likes platform games, regardless of their skill at them.
Review Fix: What are your goals for the game?
Simoons: Aside from the obvious (to write a platformer in AGS), I wanted to have a retro style, to introduce something new in every level, and fast gameplay. Most importantly, I want to have the kind of difficulty curve where players want to keep trying at an obstacle until they get it, and once you’ve completed the game and play the first level again, you’ll see how much better you’ve gotten.
Review Fix: How do you want it to be remembered?
Simoons: As the best platform game for AGS. If enough people like it I’ll probably make a sequel and/or a level editor at some point.
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