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Fruitware Debuts New ST Game |
Four-F will immediately be compared to the popular Lynx and PC game, Chip's Challenge. The goal is the same: Wander the many levels collecting items to make your way to the next level. There are many icons and traps that you must avoid, including the negative point bonus, invisible blocks, moving blocks, reversing controls, and others. However, there is one thing that separates Four-F from Chip's Challenge: You cannot backtrack as each block you move leaves behind another impenetrable block!
Four-F Features
Four-F also features some neat things that make it stand above Chip's
Challenge. First of all, there are two modes: Random and Contest.
The Contest mode features 100 pre-designed levels to complete. Each
level is even more dastardly than the last. Random mode throws you into
a completely randomized maze and a certain point value must be achieved
before you can move on to the next one.
Another great feature is that you can add .NEO and .PI1 files to the main Four-F directory. When you choose the Fill-In mode, the image will be drawn on the screen as you move Fruitman around the maze.
Four-F has a built-in screen saver called R-Gon (Random Polygons). It's basically the same as the Mystify screen saver familiar to Windows users, but R-GON gives you more control of the polys than Mystify does.
Last, but certainly not least, Four-F has a BUILT-IN level editor! How else do you think all of the levels were created? A great feature of the level editor is the ability to play the level without having to exit the editor to run the main game. This has saved me hours of development time! Of course, to FIND the editor, you'll have to complete the 100 Contest levels!
There are many other little touches in the game. Passwords to save your progress, an animated high score table, melting screens, and the ability to change the controls between the mouse, joystick, or keyboard! Everything but the kitchen sink was thrown into this game!
A Little History
Four-F was started in 1993 using the then popular STOS Basic program.
I coded the main game in only two weeks, but spent a great deal of time
afterwards tweaking and polishing the game. It
was about 95% completed when I moved on to other things. Music and a few
levels were really the only thing keeping the game from completion.
That, and the game was 'trapped' on my Atari ST's hard drive.
Then I recently discovered that I already had a copy of the source code on my PC's hard drive! So I got back into the swing of things, and Four-F will, for good or bad, be released in 2001!
So, take a look at some screen shots of the game, and then email me to let me know what you think!
Screenshots
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The Fruitware logo. Pretty cool, huh? ;-) There's even a little animated sparkley on the "S" in "presents." |
Here's the title screen. Here you can Start the game, go to the Options screen (right) or get Info about the game. |
The options screen. The little graphic changes depending on the type of game you choose. |
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| This is an in-game shot of a Random mode game. The pink blocks are the ones left behind by Fruitman, the main character. These blocks can be changed into many different colors. | Here is level 4-1 from the Contest game. Try to collect the fruit without backtracking! The white icons allow you to take 5 steps without leaving a block behind. This is necessary to complete this level. | This is the same level 4-1 from the previous picture, except the game is in the 'Fill-In' mode. Each step you take will fill in just a little more of this picture. I wonder what this is a picture of? |
Four-F will be released soon! It's very likely that the source
code will be released shortly thereafter. Keep checking The Atari
Times for more info about this fun new Atari ST game!