Paracaidas
Combine charming graphics and addictive gameplay with daredveil stunt-diving, and what do you get? Besides the occasional man-shaped hole in the ground, you get an entry from our 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition.
Paracaidas ("parachute" in Spanish) is from Scheletro, a very talented newcomer to our competitions. It's the tale of a dedicated stunt performer who is never satisfied until he has either safely missed his target, or mysteriously closed his parachute and plummeted to his death.
Using only the [spacebar] you must drop a skydiver from a passing plane, and again with the [spacebar] you must open his parachute at just the right time to achieve the target, taking into account the wind speed and direction. You get more points the longer your chute is open before landing, and a bonus multiplier for how close you get to a bullseye. For extra bonus points you can try to collect a shiny gold star that is randomly placed on the screen.
You can continue to replay the game as long as you continue to hit the target. Miss the target and the game is immediately over. You can also inexplicable close your chute with [spacebar] which almost always results in your death, and of course the game ends then as well.
Analysis: This is one of the simplest games I've played in quite a while, yet I found myself coming back to it again and again. The graphics are charming and delightful, especially the satisfying hole in the ground you make after putting away the chute too soon. I was initially unimpressed with its "replay" value, but had to give Scheletro credit after I had been "replaying" his game for about 20 minutes straight.
My main problem with the game is with the ability to close the parachute: it's completely worthless. It seems its only value is to quickly finish an obviously failed jump, and in that it excels. It would seem natural to be able to lose the 'chute and drop a few feet onto the target, if the wind were about to make you overshoot it, for instance. That doesn't even work though since a drop of only a few inches without a parachute is still instant death. It seems too intentional a feature to be so pointless, yet I fail to see its value. Perhaps Scheletro was also a victim of running out of time, as were a few other of our entrants?
This game was actually really fun. Great animation and sound, and the replay theme was integrated nicely. One suggestion would be the ability to turn the parachute back off (and not die), but I can see how this could make the game too easy.
It would be very unrealistical also. A parachute jumper just cant refold his parachute once it is out...
Altough they still can stirr, once its out :-)
Nice. Not too complicated, but rather fun to play.
The game could use some polish in a few areas, though...
1) The music gets rather grating after a very short period of time, but there is no way to turn it off.
2) A bit of proofreading for the English instructions might be a good idea. (I did a double take when I saw the American and British flags, by the way. I didn't notice any difference between the two sets of instructions--I'm guessing this was done not to offend anyone.)
Other than that, it would be nice to be able to control the parachutist with mouse clicks, but that's just personal preference. Pretty good for a quick game.
(Since I am in a helpful mood, here's how I would tidy up the English instructions:
"Bonus: 10 stars will start the bonus round.
Drop your character from the plane and guide him to the platform.
You can play again if you land on the platform.
The longer your parachute is open, the more points will be added to your score when you land on the platform.
Your score will be multiplied depending on where you land.
The speed and direction of the wind is displayed here."
I realize that replacing "replay" with "play again" removes the theme word, but in plain English the original sentence would seem to indicate that you can replay the jump you just made (as you would replay a video) every time you land on the platform.
Hope that helps.)
I really like this game. There is just one thing, though - I am old and blind, and can't see the teeny tiny capital letters. For instance, where it said "Press B to go back to main menu" after losing a game, I thought it was an S, then a G... I am shortsighted, so normally don't have a problem reading text on a screen, but that particular font is not that great.
Other than that, beautiful design and fun gameplay.
I just wonder, didn't I play this game, in exactly this way or very very similar already a year ago or two?
But for the hell I cant remember the title :(
@ Fuzzygrid: It's not as unrealistic as you might think. A parachutist can cut off his first chute, then deploy the safety chute. There have been several people who saved thier own lives in this fashion.
As for your second comment, I seem to recall having played something very similar as well.
For my own observation, this is hardly an implimentation of the replay theme. In fact, if the ground was red (I.E. Lava) then you'd just be playing untill you died in the lava. It allows you to just keep playing and earning points untill you miss a jump, which, to me, isn't replaying, it's continueing the game.
Just as my two cents, this wouldn't be worth an entry in a competition based on the theme replay. It's a fun little thing, but not as replay.
Deadl0ck: This is just a guess, but I got the impression that the designer is not a native speaker of English. If that is the case, it is possible that he interpreted the term "replay" a little differently. Not that I have any say in the matter, but I'm willing to cut him a little slack.
I think this is a great little game, that I found very diverting for 10 minutes or so - to my mind the definition of a "casual game."
My only suggestion for improvements would be to use the left mouse button to control the game rather than the space bar - it makes it much easier to play in the office undetected!
HI
Yeap, Im from mexico, so I took the word replay as I understood, replay or play again, but also at the end I add a replay on the screen of the stadium, I mean if you die youll see the replay of your fall and if you land out youll see that
Thanks for all your comments
Fun little game with good graphics and simple gameplay. I kind of like it, but I'm wondering whether it's really an implementation of the "replay" theme as well. OK, so the game is over if you hit the target, but like Deadl0ck said, it seems more like continuation than replay.
I'd also like to see a mouseclick control option.
Also, it's too easy to continue (albeit with a lousy score) by opening the parachute at the last second. It would be more challenging if there was a "point of no return" after which the player splats even if the chute opens.
i like it. so far, out of all the games in the competition, this is the one i keep playing while i sit on hold waiting for my clients to pick up the phone
I would have liked to be able to steer with the L and R arrow keys...
And I too would have liked all mouse clicks. (Or at least to be able to continue playing with the space bar, instead of having to move the mouse to "play" every time I died (very frequently...I'm hopeless!)... or maybe "c" to continue playing rather than go back to the main menu...
I liked this one - the graphics and audio reminded me of old C64 games, especially Summer and Winter Olympics.
But... why no hi-score table!?
This one has "something"...it's the one I keep coming back to to try again..
There is that element of " just one more go..." to see if you can improve on how you did the last time...
It's got a few niggles, but hey! You can't please everyone all the time.
Oh...an you CAN mute the music...hover the mouse at the top of the game screen, and a grey bar drops down...click on the loudspeaker .
This one is super. I'd like to be able to use the mouse instead of the space bar.
It impressed how much time that I have been playing it!
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Esta super chido, solo me gustaria que se pueda usar el mouse en lugar de la barra espaciadora.
Me impresiona el tiempo que he pasado jugandolo!!!
That's the Ballblazer music! Well, a loop anyways. I'm amazed I recognize it...
It's alright, but I remember playing it on Atari when it was called
Skydiver
What is coming of JIG?
Nearly everything that is on the front page in the last 2 weeks has been recycled. This game was shown on the front page 3 months ago and all the others are following.
[Edit: The games from CGDC3 were never reviewed before, and we promise everyone who enters our competitions that we will give each one a proper review. So, please have patience while we give the kind people who participate their due attention. Thank you kindly for your understanding. -Jay]
I'm with you, 198x.
I am SICK TO DEATH of seeing YET ANOTHER RE-REVIEW of a game from GDC3. Every time I think you've gone through them all, you start up again.
JIG folks - If you don't have something new to post, don't post!
Please! Really. Please.
[Edit: The games from CGDC3 were never reviewed before, and we promise everyone who enters our competitions that we will give each one a proper review. So, please have patience while we give the kind people who participate their due attention. Thank you kindly for your understanding. -Jay]
You made a post on the entries to the contest. You then made individual posts on each game in the contest, in which you at least talked about them even if it wasn't "a proper review". You're now, weeks later, going through and doing individual reviews...
It's fine that you're giving individual feedback to the people who entered your games. It's fine that you're giving them big full reviews, and making a full real post about it.
It's frustrating to come to this site, looking for something new to play, and see ONE new game mentioned in the entire week. And have it keep happening two or three weeks in a row. And weekend downloads don't cut it, when they're all only demos where the full game has to be purchased.
Only 1 new game in the past week?
I count 18, and that's not including the CGDC3 entries.
I'm sorry that you're feeling frustrated, and thank you for understanding. We are trying to wrap up the reviews from our 3rd competition before the 4th one begins, which will likely be Tuesday this week.
I concur with the review that - for a simple game - this can drag you in once you master the timing of jumping and deploying the parachute. In terms of gameplay, I agree with Suho1004's comments about the music: a short clip can get very annoying quite quickly.
For future development, perhaps some different environmental factors would be an idea, such as new hazards (deadly model planes perhaps?) or variable windspeeds.
On another noter, I'm disappointed to see some comments criticizing this site for reviewing games that wouldn't even exist were it not for the hard work and dedication of the developers (many of whom produce these efforts in their spare time). And the hard work that Jay and the reviewers put into creating the competitions for everybody's enjoyment!
Disclaimer: I'm an occasional JiG reviewer but was not involved in reviewing CGDC3 entries and am posting in a personal capacity.
I seem to remember playing this exact game online somewhere a year or so ago. same graphics etc.
on the positive note- my 4 year old loves it.
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