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downfall+ cartridge release :: initial info, background and story


sh3-rg

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post-25413-0-56578600-1393773733.png
*** Post edited with ordering details ***
(please view in HD for less lossy image and higher overall video quality)
downfall+ is a single player arcade-action gravity/platform survive-em-up. Use the left and right buttons on the d-pad to guide Barry from platform to platform, avoiding the open depths below and the dreaded scanline zero above as you journey deeper into the unknown. Collect candied fruits and sushi treats for bonus score. Backdrop colour changes denote level increase, more devious platform layouts and larger rewards for collectables gained. Three power-ups can be found to aid your quest: Jet Pack, Balloons and Jump Shoes. Use B to activate. When you hear "bankowanego" your power-up is about to expire - be prepared! Rotary controls, Pro Controller shoulder buttons and Heiko mode are also available to those who dare. The cartridge supports BJL file loading (BJL cable required) and Jagtopia CD bypass via button presses at boot for quick and simple access to these extras.
post-25413-0-90151800-1393773580.gif post-25413-0-10936200-1393773611.gif
For info on how the release will get under way, either read through or skip to the bottom of this post. There are no lists and no pre-payments or pre-orders, just wait a little while and we'll offer all the info you need in this post, cheers.
Some background to the release:
downfall was originally a quickly created game we made in under two weeks as a last minute AC2011 party release, we supplied it in a number of formats so as many people as possible could get to play and we also released the source code. Later that year, GGN ported the game to the Atari Falcon030 computer. This port took advantage of the Falcon's extra memory (4-14MB vs jaguar's 2MB) and hard disk space to allow for massively enhanced background visuals. The gameplay remained largely unaltered, but the port allowed for optional Power Pad rotary control (somewhat experimental).
CJ approved of the enhancements and vowed to one day remix downfall with prettier, more Falcon-like visuals. As downfall became the game most people requested in cartridge form and kick-started a glut of similar games on other platforms we kept that idea on the back burner until recently. It was clear people loved this simple little game!
So what we ended up with was downfall+. Gone are the 5 rather 'wooden' parallax layers of the original and instead we have something with an equivalent of 128 independent scroll depths, making use of the tool GGN created for designing the Falcon's level backdrops, giving a very smoothly textured backdrop appearance. Further to this, the results were post-processed to give a real-time lighting effect and further depth/highlighting of the rock face (this is more apparent when playing on a large screen rather than viewing the video or gif above). The sprites were reworked into something more in-keeping with the new game branded as a SuperFly DX prequel.
The Sinister Developments sound routines have been left by the wayside and now the game benefits from the use of U-235's remarkable Sound Engine, and with it the added bonus of rotary controls as per the Falcon game. Support for the Pro Controller's shoulder buttons is also present if you prefer exercising your index fingers to a left-thumb work out. The music from the original is still present in-game, but the title screen, along with its new rather psychedelic look, has a great track from 5o5 - parts of which you can hear in the trailer. RaptoR also pops its toe in there to help with some minor enhancements.
downfall+ is a 4MB ROM supplied on Jagtopus cart. It supports high score saves and also webcodes for the Reboot website. While our QR code generation for high score entry via smartphone is ready (it was initially planned for inclusion in SFDX!) we simply ran out of space to include it in this release due to the asset requirements of the game, but it will be implemented in future games. downfall+ is only made possible for us due to the 4MB cart size of Jagtopus.
"Heiko mode" from the Falcon game is implemented as an option for downfall+. This game mode does not alter gameplay whatsoever and is just a graphical variation inspired by CD-i's amazing and legendary Jaguar downfall video.
The game will not be released as-is in digital form. If people really, really wish to have a digital copy for their skunkboards as opposed to a physical cart or the freely-available-for-personal-use original downfall, then our best advice would be to pester RGCD as they already have a system in place for this with C-64 and adding Jaguar binary sales should be trivial. For us though, that's not something we wish to pursue.
downfall+ story - edited highlights: more or less strange than the original story? You decide!
downfall+ is the prequel to SuperFly DX and tells the story of Young Barry. In the days before he became a super-star everyman super-hero, before he met and fell in love with Kylie, before he learned to equip rocket boots and to fly space ships, all Barry wanted to do with his life was eat candied fruit and occasional sushi delicacies. If he could engage in these activities while dabbling in a spot of spelunking, even better.
Barry lived for candied fruit. Oranges, Grapes, Water Melon - he adored it all. If it was sugar-encrusted and came from a tree he was all over it. Deep in the Fruity Forests, Barry discovered the Sweet-Smelling Caves of Almost Certain Doom. While that name initially put him off, his inquisitive nature got the better of him and he ventured inside. It was in these caves that he honed his parkour skills, deftly leaping from one ledge to the next in search of stashes of Fruit Candy, stowed away by the mysterious Fruit Candy Fairies. Little did Barry know that his penchant for these crunchy caches would lead to his ultimate downfall(+).
...
As Barry fell deeper into the unknown depths below, he decided right there and then that if he did indeed ever make it out of this predicament alive, he'd much prefer to do so on a rather more steady incline. He'd most certainly had enough of this vertically scrolling backdrop for one lifetime and instead dreamt of the day he could take a rather more horizontal approach to mid-air navigation...
* * * * * * * * * *
The bottom line:
post-25413-0-80886400-1393773683.png
downfall+ cartridge with label and insert, supplied in universal case (see Elansar/Orion collection for examples), packaged in sturdy mailing box:
GBP£45.00 + s/h
As above but with CD-R copy of original game, old-style Reboot release in small case (see Beebris) - essentially the same as the ejagfest micro-release release in 2011:
GBP£60.00 + s/h
s/h details:
  • UK 1st Class Signed For £5.00
  • Europe Small Packet - proof of sending but no signature, no insurance and at your risk £6.00
  • Europe International Signed For Small Packet, insured to value of item £12.00
  • USA Small Packet - proof of sending but no signature, no insurance and at your risk £8.00
  • USA International Signed For Small Packet, insured to value of item £14.00
  • Others - please ask

In order to purchase, please send a PM to sh3-rg, let me know which options you have chosen and your PayPal email address and I can send you a payment request. Remember, prices are in £GBP sterling and that's how we'd like payment, please. You don't have to pay the PayPal fees, but if you feel like it there won't be any complaints :0) I'll be sending games out every Saturday following payment, or earlier when possible.

Better photo of an original downfall ejagfest microrelease, thanks to CJ:
post-11520-0-53049000-1393995382.jpg
The reason for the two options is that we are looking to use this downfall+ release to liquidate our game-production investments and re-invest in larger quantities for a full-scale release of Rebooteroids. When we realised what can happen with a limited release of sought-after titles between runs, it was decided in order to do Rebooteroids "properly" and to be fair to everyone, we'd need ample supply of hardware materials up front (the lead time for flash carts isn't trivial). This is in-keeping with our "self-funding" ethos and also allows us to put out a game that has been the most requested for a cart version re-release. We make no secret of the fact that by purchasing the more expensive option, you're not only getting a nice extra collectible copy of the original, but you're helping us see Rebooteroids released either sooner, more fairly or both.
It'll be 1 copy per person to be as fair as possible to everyone and sales will take place either here via PM, jagware.org PM, NexGam.de PM or facebook message. We don't have a store front at this time and do not wish to put up an all-access PayPal Buy Now button. The side-effect of this is that it potentially deters any non-fans looking simply for a quick investment opportunity. Basically if you're active in the community you're all set. We can't promise that things will work this way in future due to the nature of online store-fronts and the volumes future releases might see, but for now at least we're happy to do things the way we always did, person-to-person.
* * * * * * * * * *
downfall+ ©2014 Reboot/Jagware. A jagwareboot production.
Brought to you by: Cyrano Jones, GGN, sh3-rg, Neo_rg, mSg_rg, 5o5, Sauron, Shaun, LinkoVitch, remowilliams, christos, partycle and probably some other xunts you remembered and we didn't (sorry!).
PUSH. THE. BUTTON.
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Nice effort guys. Not sure I'll get it as I tried the regular Downfall and it just didn't seem like my sort of game, but it looks like a nice release.

 

For folks in North America, £45 is about $75 US, £60 is roughly $100 US.

http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=60&From=GBP&To=USD

Edited by ls650
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Downfall is one of my favorite games... The news had me hook up my Jag-CD yesterday to play. My brother stopped by and he tried it.

Fell in love with the game and we played for a solid two hours. When he went home he downloaded a Jag emulator and the Downfall rom so he could play.

I really want to get this cart, $75+ is a bit much though, so hopefully I can swing it when the time comes.

Excellent work, looks great.

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Nice effort guys. Not sure I'll get it as I tried the regular Downfall and it just didn't seem like my sort of game, but it looks like a nice release.

 

For folks in North America, £45 is about $75 US, £60 is roughly $100 US.

http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=60&From=GBP&To=USD

 

Hmm, not too bad, I had expected worse considering how the exchange rate had shifted since last Summer, it's back up towards the highest it's been for quite some time again.

 

Downfall is one of my favorite games... The news had me hook up my Jag-CD yesterday to play. My brother stopped by and he tried it.

Fell in love with the game and we played for a solid two hours. When he went home he downloaded a Jag emulator and the Downfall rom so he could play.

I really want to get this cart, $75+ is a bit much though, so hopefully I can swing it when the time comes.

Excellent work, looks great.

 

Just keep playing the one you have, it's essentially the same game and infinitely cheaper ;0)

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This looks great!

 

Is the music the same as in the original Downfall?

Thanks. Seems I left some info out, already got some questions in PM and now here :0)

 

Music in-game is same, music on titles is same as video. We added 5o5 powa to mSg's and U-235 makes it all sound so much better :D OT updated.

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Why does it say BJL + Jagtopia in the video?

 

Chris

 

d'oh, yet more info missed and shortly to be added to my OP :D

 

The cart supports BJL loading and Jagtopia CD bypass (hold buttons on boot, not a menu option, for quick access).

 

Sowwy :0)

 

 

would you also sell a rom for skunks?

 

This I actually did mention (I hope!). We could ask RGCD if they would be prepared to handle this as they do it for their C-64 games. I will DM james@RGCD and explore the possibilities. But be aware that so far we have -always- released stuff either at the same time or some time after, we try to be as fair to everyone as possible and want our games to be played by as many as possible while keeping everything financially viable. With downfall+, the original game is still very much the same experience, if you're not a collector or superfan, that will probably do for now and if we do let someone distribute a ROM in such a way, there's every chance we'd also release it on our site at some quiet point down the line, just because that's what we do :0)

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I've added the s/h details and info on how to order to the OP, here's the info for those of you keeping up with the thread:
downfall+ cartridge with label and insert, supplied in universal case (see Elansar/Orion collection for examples), packaged in sturdy mailing box:
GBP£45.00 + s/h
As above but with CD-R copy of original game, old-style Reboot release in small case (see Beebris) - essentially the same as the ejagfest micro-release release in 2011:
GBP£60.00 + s/h
s/h details:
  • UK 1st Class Signed For £5.00
  • Europe Small Packet - proof of sending but no signature, no insurance and at your risk £6.00
  • Europe International Signed For Small Packet, insured to value of item £12.00
  • USA Small Packet - proof of sending but no signature, no insurance and at your risk £8.00
  • USA International Signed For Small Packet, insured to value of item £14.00
  • Others - please ask

In order to purchase, please send a PM to sh3-rg, let me know which options you have chosen and your PayPal email address and I can send you a payment request. Remember, prices are in £GBP sterling and that's how we'd like payment, please. You don't have to pay the PayPal fees, but if you feel like it there won't be any complaints :0) I'll be sending games out every Saturday following payment, or earlier when possible. Packing boxes are on order and will hopefully arrive in plenty of time for this weekend.

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