ShapeOut 2016: Extreme Fast Forward
This game is from the old Ludum Dare platform. You can try viewing the original page on Web Archive
(may not load correctly).
(may not load correctly).
Update 19/04: We uploaded the 32bit executable with a slight change: when you complete the game, you get a credit screen instead of having the game simply restart (it was somewhat confusing). Otherwise, the game is exactly the same. Enjoy !
The game works under both Linux and MacOS X if you compile it yourself (these are the platforms we used for development.). If we are courageous, we might even package a MacOS binary, who knows.
IN CASE OF PROBLEM: Please let us know. You can post a comment or leave a bug report on github. Join the log.txt file too. We will try to fix any issue ASAP.
-----
For a cleaner Readme (with MD), see:
https://github.com/draklaw/shapeout
Extreme Fast-Forward is the latest installment in the very overrated (and, as of yesterday, thoroughly non-existent) ShapeOut franchise. It is a racing game that involves speeding over various planets in an improbable shape-shifting death engine build from scrap parts tied together by unreliable techno-beams. It would have been made 20% cooler with a fast-pulsing elctro soundtrack made by an obscure and edgy group (whose name would likely suffer a bad case of mixed-case-1337), but so far we didn't find the budget for that.
What remains is speed. We've got that covered, don't you worry. Also, shape-shifting. We're still not sure what good it will do you at this speed, but you absolutely can change the shape of your ship. As long as you still have a ship.
The goal of the game is to score as many points as you can, by collecting shiny pellets. The faster you go, the more points you earn per pellet. However, the faster you go, the less time you have to dodge incoming obstacles and catch pellets.
You can accelerate as much as you want, or slow down to a minimal speed. You can move up or down within the screen to avoid crashing into walls and catch pellets with your ship. You wan also change the shape of your ship: spread your modules wide to catch as many pellets as you can, or shrink your ship to squeeze through tight passages.
If the core part of your ship hits a wall, you die, and have to start over. You can however survive the loss of some (or all !) of your modules, though it will impede your ability to score points. A ship with missing bits may also prove somewhat harder to control in a pinch. Finally, note that hitting a long wall from above or below will not necessarily kill you. It will however void your warranty, and likely ruin your paintjob.
They keys are mapped as follows:
* RIGHT - Accelerate
* LEFT - Brake
* UP - Climb
* DOWN - Dive
* X - Stretch
* W - Shrink
* ESC - Quit
* SPACE - Skip dialogs
All of this probably doesn't matter, since we've been told the success of a game does not hinge on its gameplay (or story), but rather on its marketing budget, and its mo-capped, explosion-packed unskippable cutscenes. Sadly, we don't have either.
In the year 2016, Louis Reno, a genius tinkerer born in Aquitaine (in the southwest of France) built a powerful prototype device which basically broke physics by moving very fast. The details are unimportant, what matters is that it happened at the end of the spring. Somewhere in early summer, we all got our flying cars, and every band of teenagers on the planet had the means to kickstart their own space program. Racing as a sport became ubiquitous, as the world started looking more and more like something out of a Fast and Furious movie (except in space). Somewhere in late summer, a large galaxy-wide racing tournament was organised. This is where our hero enters.
Jude Broh, an all-american white 30-something wisecracking ace pilot, quickly became famous by winning race after race. However, as he was in the middle of his final race, about to win the tournament, some kind of catastrophic failure occurred in his ship engine, leading to a horrible, traumatic accident. He still has flashbacks and all. Jude left the racing scene, started drinking, and fell out of the spotlights as his rival, Régis Veule, went on to win the tournament.
A long time has passed since then. Régis has become a multi-billionnaire galactic playboy, five times champion of the FFGCC (Fast-Forward Galactic Cup Championship), and sips on champagne while displaying a Colgate smile for the cameras. Meanwhile, Jude still bitterly remembers the day his life went to hell, is woken up by nightmares in the middle of the night and drinks cheap booze all day. Few people remember his former glory; after all, it's been, like, almost three months. Maria Taneev is one of them. She just knows it was a setup, but has never been able to prove it. Jude, for one, seems past caring.
Things would have stayed that way forever... until one day, Jude was woken by a call. A mysterious voice made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Money. Fame. Girls. A shot at removing that stupid smile from Régis' face. A new, top-of-the-line racing ship. All he had to do was get into the last tournament of the year, and win. Jude would not believe a word of it. He didn't even care. He said "no" (with some added expletive), and hung the phone.
It doesn't matter. He's gonna do it anyway. And win. And probably bang that Maria chick too. That's how that kind of story goes. Let's get racing !
PS: That busty girl on the cover, piloting her ship in an unrealistic, sexy pose ? It's Maria. She's not actually a pilot, she's your mechanic. We put her here to try and boost sales. We're interested in knowing if it works, but we don't have the budget or lack of ethics required to implement data collection. So just tell us if it did.
The game works under both Linux and MacOS X if you compile it yourself (these are the platforms we used for development.). If we are courageous, we might even package a MacOS binary, who knows.
IN CASE OF PROBLEM: Please let us know. You can post a comment or leave a bug report on github. Join the log.txt file too. We will try to fix any issue ASAP.
-----
For a cleaner Readme (with MD), see:
https://github.com/draklaw/shapeout
ShapeOut 2016: Extreme Fast-Forward
Extreme Fast-Forward is the latest installment in the very overrated (and, as of yesterday, thoroughly non-existent) ShapeOut franchise. It is a racing game that involves speeding over various planets in an improbable shape-shifting death engine build from scrap parts tied together by unreliable techno-beams. It would have been made 20% cooler with a fast-pulsing elctro soundtrack made by an obscure and edgy group (whose name would likely suffer a bad case of mixed-case-1337), but so far we didn't find the budget for that.
What remains is speed. We've got that covered, don't you worry. Also, shape-shifting. We're still not sure what good it will do you at this speed, but you absolutely can change the shape of your ship. As long as you still have a ship.
Gameplay
The goal of the game is to score as many points as you can, by collecting shiny pellets. The faster you go, the more points you earn per pellet. However, the faster you go, the less time you have to dodge incoming obstacles and catch pellets.
You can accelerate as much as you want, or slow down to a minimal speed. You can move up or down within the screen to avoid crashing into walls and catch pellets with your ship. You wan also change the shape of your ship: spread your modules wide to catch as many pellets as you can, or shrink your ship to squeeze through tight passages.
If the core part of your ship hits a wall, you die, and have to start over. You can however survive the loss of some (or all !) of your modules, though it will impede your ability to score points. A ship with missing bits may also prove somewhat harder to control in a pinch. Finally, note that hitting a long wall from above or below will not necessarily kill you. It will however void your warranty, and likely ruin your paintjob.
Controls
They keys are mapped as follows:
* RIGHT - Accelerate
* LEFT - Brake
* UP - Climb
* DOWN - Dive
* X - Stretch
* W - Shrink
* ESC - Quit
* SPACE - Skip dialogs
All of this probably doesn't matter, since we've been told the success of a game does not hinge on its gameplay (or story), but rather on its marketing budget, and its mo-capped, explosion-packed unskippable cutscenes. Sadly, we don't have either.
Story so far
In the year 2016, Louis Reno, a genius tinkerer born in Aquitaine (in the southwest of France) built a powerful prototype device which basically broke physics by moving very fast. The details are unimportant, what matters is that it happened at the end of the spring. Somewhere in early summer, we all got our flying cars, and every band of teenagers on the planet had the means to kickstart their own space program. Racing as a sport became ubiquitous, as the world started looking more and more like something out of a Fast and Furious movie (except in space). Somewhere in late summer, a large galaxy-wide racing tournament was organised. This is where our hero enters.
Jude Broh, an all-american white 30-something wisecracking ace pilot, quickly became famous by winning race after race. However, as he was in the middle of his final race, about to win the tournament, some kind of catastrophic failure occurred in his ship engine, leading to a horrible, traumatic accident. He still has flashbacks and all. Jude left the racing scene, started drinking, and fell out of the spotlights as his rival, Régis Veule, went on to win the tournament.
A long time has passed since then. Régis has become a multi-billionnaire galactic playboy, five times champion of the FFGCC (Fast-Forward Galactic Cup Championship), and sips on champagne while displaying a Colgate smile for the cameras. Meanwhile, Jude still bitterly remembers the day his life went to hell, is woken up by nightmares in the middle of the night and drinks cheap booze all day. Few people remember his former glory; after all, it's been, like, almost three months. Maria Taneev is one of them. She just knows it was a setup, but has never been able to prove it. Jude, for one, seems past caring.
Things would have stayed that way forever... until one day, Jude was woken by a call. A mysterious voice made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Money. Fame. Girls. A shot at removing that stupid smile from Régis' face. A new, top-of-the-line racing ship. All he had to do was get into the last tournament of the year, and win. Jude would not believe a word of it. He didn't even care. He said "no" (with some added expletive), and hung the phone.
It doesn't matter. He's gonna do it anyway. And win. And probably bang that Maria chick too. That's how that kind of story goes. Let's get racing !
PS: That busty girl on the cover, piloting her ship in an unrealistic, sexy pose ? It's Maria. She's not actually a pilot, she's your mechanic. We put her here to try and boost sales. We're interested in knowing if it works, but we don't have the budget or lack of ethics required to implement data collection. So just tell us if it did.