Sat 27 Jun 2009
Frantic Franko DEMO Release!
Posted by Igor Hardy under Games & Game Design, Workshopped, games & demos
[9] Comments
Frantic Franko: A Bergzwerg Gone Berserk is a funny albeit twisted little piece about a nasty dwarven warrior (axe and all that) and his quest for revenge. AND it sports the mysterious bag of junk conversation system.. (more in-depth summary here)
This is also a Kafka-inspired story which will make you wonder if Franko is just another manly, invincible hero, a mad introvert genius, a primitive brute, or a complete psycho? You can download the WIP demo here or here. (UPDATED 01.2010) And follow Franko himself.
The game offers:
0) hack, smell and bite your way through problems
1) a persuasive dwarf’s bag of junk conversations system – you can physically modify and expand your conversation interface!
2) alternative puzzle solutions
3) Bone Death Paean special feature
4) jumping, flying and hacking with an axe 
5) hand-drawn visuals in stunning SVGA
Controls:
- action choices via Verbcoin (keep pressed the mouse over a hotspot)
- right click for inventory
- F5/F7 – Save/Load game
All puzzles have proper hints and there are also alternative solutions to some of them. It’s all quite non-linear, but don’t be overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that one can try and enjoy the freedom to do some really crazy things (some cool ones are completely optional).
So if you still haven’t started yet, good places for downloading are found: here or here
A walkthrough for people who give up easily is available here.
The tentative date for the full version is end of the year 2009.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t run with AGS 2.72, which is the latest version available for Linux since the its maintainer abandoned it and Chris Jones still holds his idiotic “Nooo, I won’t open source AGS because somebody might take my code and claim it’s theirs!” position.
/not bitter at all, no siree!
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Recently someone took over the work on the Linux port: http://www.bigbluecup.com/yabb/index.php?topic=37968.0
There’s still a long way to go though.
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Oooh, that looks indeed a bit better. Thanks.
I still have no sympathies for Chris Jones though
. I wish he would just get over it and join us open source devs. We seriously could use an open and cross-platform adventure engine with an active community.
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Yes – he’s very silly for saying that. If his code was “stolen” before then he needs to realise that the GPL is legally binding and he can sue.
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Guys, whatever the reasons are one shouldn’t demand from other people to reveal publicly ideas and works that they don’t want to. That’s like intruding basic privacy.
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But information wants to be free!
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Information wants to be free in the sense of not belonging to a specific person, or a group of people, but not in the sense that I have to tell you everything you ask me about, and to show you all I’ve written, even if I don’t like to do that. Either respect my feelings, or find another way to obtain that information, or find a similar one that suits your needs.
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Don’t you think Franko is too nice of a guy
. Somehow for me Franko resembles Sam and Max combined with an inch of self criticism – a feature which Sommie and Maxie lack with their surreal self confidence. This speaks for itself how well developed a character Franko is. Story, dialogues and narration are all first class.
Who will we get to meet in the full Frantic story and what they would got to say is definitely an interesting question.
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The new port is now ready to use. Go for it, Linux fans!
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