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[reetva]

"This is it, guys. We're going to break out tonight!" This game will have an amazing, compelling story, with maybe a little heart-string tugging along the way. It will be a "story-time game"  and will almost certainly be episodic, with the first episode released for the competition.*
The game will be a 2D puzzle platformer, with some great challenges. Expect plenty of laughs, along with some tragic-- Oops! I won't go any further than that. As you can see from the title screen, the game will be done with a classic 8-bit style. Now, you may be wondering about the "Tropical" part of the title. That will be revealed eventually. For now, wait for some mock-up screenshots, to be followed by real screenshots.

*Here's to hoping I can keep those semi-promises!

Progress Report: I should have a real screenshot up by either late today, or mid-day tomorrow. I have completed the concept phase, so expect some decent information to come along with the screenshot.

[Ivan]

Yay, another platypus game!

[reetva]

Yay, another platypus game!

Eeks! I forgot about yours! Well, if someone makes another platypus game, there will have to be a special Platypus category. May the best platypus-loving independent game developer win!

PS: Mockshot time!

[Massena]

Yay, another platypus game!

I'm liking your enthusiasm and all, but you do have to work on those tiles.
Goin' great besides that!

[deadeye]

I'm liking your enthusiasm and all, but you do have to work on those tiles.

Nonsense.

[reetva]

Yay, another platypus game!

I'm liking your enthusiasm and all, but you do have to work on those tiles.
Goin' great besides that!

I'm in the process of redoing/actually doing all the art, (the new platypus art is done, so he looks like a platypus now! Hooray!) so you can expect some "quality" stuff. The trees will stay, though (now with defined outlines!).

PS: Platypus Time!



By the way, his tail is tucked in his outfit.

[reetva]

Woohoo! The engine is complete, so I can move on to the level design. Expect a great new game mechanic, too.

[György Straub]

methinks platypussies are correct.

[Derek]

Awesome!  You're really blazin' on this.  I like the new sprite, too - very cute!  Reminds me of the Hamburglar.

But unfortunately, Firefox is correct in this case: you can almost always add "-es" to the end of "-us" words.

OCTOPUSES
CACTUSES
PLATYPUSES
etc.

[reetva]

Awesome!  You're really blazin' on this.  I like the new sprite, too - very cute!  Reminds me of the Hamburglar.

But unfortunately, Firefox is correct in this case: you can almost always add "-es" to the end of "-us" words.

OCTOPUSES
CACTUSES
PLATYPUSES
etc.

Wow, really? It doesn't seem to think that "cactuses" is a word, though. Huh. Anyways, you can probably expect a plethora of small physics-y puzzles after approximately a month-or-so. I've decided to sort-of drop the episodic idea, mostly because my story ideas got too out of hand to be contained in any amount of games under 15. Sadly, once I come up with an idea I can never let it go (hint, hint).
There will, however, be level packs, as indicated above. Also, I have some bad news, and some good news, to be said in that order. The bad news: There will be bugs for the competition version. The good news: There are only one or two that I have noticed, and they will very rarely affect gameplay, if at all. One of the bugs involves my usage of an engine primarily used to make 3D games. My "models" are extruded versions of the 2D pixel-platypuses and what-not. This means that, for some reason, when you place enough force on a physics prop it rotates for approximately half of a second. Fortunately, this is caused by another rare bug, which occurs when your bill is in between two physics-upped objects. The two objects go flying at crazy speeds for 0.2 seconds. This usually happens when you have a circle on top of a rectangle/square. I'll edit this post a bit later to show a new art asset. I've been working for about 3 hours on the game. Then I went off to type this post. I think I deserve a break.

PS: I like your comparison to the Hamburglar.

[Shoot-em-upper]

But unfortunately, Firefox is correct in this case: you can almost always add "-es" to the end of "-us" words.

Actually, for the overwhelming majority of "'-us' words", the plural suffix is "-i".  That is because they are generally derived from Latin, and "-i" is the Latin plural suffix for masculine nouns of the second declension.  In this case, the suffix is "-pus", from Greek.  As such, the acceptable plural forms of "octopus" and "platypus" are "octopuses" and "platypuses", respectively - whereas the plural forms of words such as "fungus" and "cactus" are "fungi" and "cacti".

[Derek]

I'm pretty sure that "cactuses" and "funguses" are correct, even if Firefox doesn't think so!  Wikipedia and Dictionary.com back me up on this one.

But "cacti" and "fungi" are also right.

In other words, everyone's right!

[Smithy]

The plural of platypus is platypi.

[deadeye]

The plural of Platypus Bandit is Platypus Bandii or Platypus Bandites, wikipedia says either is okay.

[reetva]

Level creation is to be started tonight. I can give you a general outline of the scenes (levels) you'll hopefully see for the competition:
Prison: Make a daring escape to the outside world!
Filthy, filthy Lies: Your friends aren't your friends anymore!
If you're not careful...: Extra dynamite in this level!

You'll definitely see the prison, I can say that much.

Oh, and did I mention dynamite? Yes, I think I did. Here's an explanation: In real life, dynamite explodes over time or via remote detonation. In this world of anthropomorphic platypuses, it goes off when something touches it. However, considering that this is a challenging, but non-punishing, game, so you'll never encounter  a game over screen. Instead, you will respawn, with no changes to the level. You're probably thinking, "Wow, that sounds like crap," but keep in mind that there'll be some pretty challenging levels down the road. As the game progresses, you may get frustrated. In fact, I'll do my best to make you scream profanities. Try to remember, though, that when you make mistakes, they'll usually have hilarious results, especially in multiplayer.* That brings me to one last thing. When the level editor(!)* gets introduced, you can hopefully expect collaborative building.

*Multiplayer and the level editor will not be included in the initial release.

[Μarkham]

Will this game have any boxen?

[reetva]

Will this game have any boxen?

Come again?

[Montoli]

Will this game have any boxen?

Come again?

Boxen is clearly the plural of box.  As in.  "I have one x-box.  You have seventeen x-boxen."

[deadeye]

I was going to make a joke about Wius and Wii, but instead I'm going to derail this thread and say "Hey reetva I'm looking forward to your game."

[reetva]

Oops. Super Smash Bros. Brawl will almost certainly delay the production of this game. Sorry, guys. On a lighter note, Lucas kicks ass.