The Daily Click

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Author:	David Newton (DavidN)	Submitted:	3rd March, 2006	Favourites:	1
Genre:	Platformer	Downloads:	306
Rated:

Edited By David Newton (Wong) on 03/03/2006

Treasure Tower started life as "Random Platform Game Experiment" last summer. The objective of the game is to get to the top of the tower by going through a series of short rooms which are randomly selected from a room bank. A sort of platform Wario Ware, if you like.

While in the tower, the clock is constantly running - it starts at 36 seconds, and running into obstacles such as spikes or the ghosts that inhabit the towers will temporarily speed it up, making progress more difficult.

Time can be restored by finding food, which appears every three or four rooms. Treasure can also be collected for points - there are fifteen tokens in every room, though there are also nine special "treasure rooms" with more (one of which features in the demo).

The demo tower lasts for twenty rooms and has a bank of 40 possibilities to choose from, so it may be a few playthroughs before you see all of them. The full game features ten towers, and I'm aiming for 200 rooms (170 of them are complete at the moment).

I'm also planning to include some bonus rooms created by members of the community - to all those who replied to the forum post a while ago, I haven't forgotten! Comment if you're interested in providing a few.

Most of the soundtrack is composed of ragtimes by Scott Joplin, and they were sequenced by Warren Trachtman (although admittedly he hasn't replied to my email asking for permission to use his sequences yet). The rest of the music, the graphics and the program are by me.

The controls are the standard Click-game setup: Left and Right move, Up and Down toggle switches, Shift jumps. Game controllers are also supported if you select them from the title screen. More details of the game are explained in the tutorial that you'll get when you start the demo tower.

There's also a preview for the full game at the end of the demo. And it features the Fish Polka written by Lee Jackson. If that doesn't get you to download it, I don't know what will.

Review This Download

http://wired.st-and.ac.uk/~wong/treasuretowerdemo.zip (2.7 mkb )

Posted by steve

3rd March, 2006

wow, this is brilliant!
Great game design.
Reminds me of an old spectrum game called Jet-Set-Willy (except this is much faster paced)

Posted by Mruqe

3rd March, 2006

Interesting game. I gave it a try and reviewed. Looking forward to the complete thing. Even though I'm not a big fan of run-against-the-clock games. Thumb up.

Posted by Zapper

3rd March, 2006

This is a great demo! The levels look great, and the time keeps it exciting I think, and the music is super!

I did notice 2 strange things though, when I pressed P by accident on the title screen, it said that I had completed the demo version, maybe you had this as a debug test command and just forgot to take it out?

And also I pressed F2 a couple of times to restart it and a few of the times, I got strange red writing under "Treasure Tower" that looked like a hidden code or something! It seems to do it once in every 5 times or something, how snazzy!!!

Posted by

3rd March, 2006

Great game I just wish it did't have the math level
I HATE MATH

Posted by Mruqe

3rd March, 2006

"P" stands for PREVIEW, I daresay.
And I got that strange klingonish letters too.

Posted by Dr. James MD

3rd March, 2006

I liked this. Certainly a game to look forward too. Maybe it was just the demo but I beat it on the 2nd go. A little easy.

I know its a huge fundamental shift, but how about you stick some lives in there. When the clock runs out you lose a life and get pushed back 5 or 10 levels. Or maybe not. After writing that down I don't like it anymore

It is a very fun game. I did get the virgin WarioWare feel of having to analyse a level for a split second before pressing any buttons.

The music is great

even though the title music just screams Crystal Towers, unless it's supposed to?

Posted by Zapper

3rd March, 2006

Yeah I'm still wondering what they mean, hmmm!

Posted by alastair john jack

3rd March, 2006

very well done

Posted by axel

3rd March, 2006

Classic

Posted by Mruqe

3rd March, 2006

Waaah! I actually did bother to get 10 000 points and unlock the Collector Mode - just to find it's not there in the demo version.

Posted by AndyUK

3rd March, 2006

very nice.
I hope some of the later rooms are a little more involving though since you can just dash through most in this demo.

Posted by

3rd March, 2006

Awsome game David! I beat the demo and found the Shieled of Alaster 1000 point bonus! Anyway this game has Lovely Level desighn! And the game is fair and fun! Awsome job,Thumbs up.

Posted by Reno

3rd March, 2006

Ten out of Ten stars. Can't wait till it comes out. Anyone try it with a joypad? It is more fun that way

Posted by gustav

3rd March, 2006

fun! thumbs up.

Posted by Xenoc

3rd March, 2006

i'm going to download this as soon as it comes out

awsome fun and one of the most stressfull games i've ever played

Posted by Individual Thought

3rd March, 2006

is it me or does the title say "Back to the Future".

Posted by GrieferSutherland

3rd March, 2006

great demo, this game shows a lot of promise and polish

just needs a time attack mode where it's the same set of levels every time, so you can compare your score vs a friend's. as it is you couldn't ever really compare scores.

Posted by Retired Kliker Lazarus

4th March, 2006

Awww...I want more. RELEASE IT NOW.

Posted by Retired Kliker Lazarus

4th March, 2006

So addictive...can't stop. HATE YOU...

Posted by UF Comtec

4th March, 2006

Wow, I'm glad I gave this one a chance...! Addictive and fun. Thumbs up!

Posted by DaVince

4th March, 2006

I got the crown of Radix... And some more strange items every time I finished the game.

Nice game, can't wait to see the full version!

Posted by Fragasnap

4th March, 2006

Yeah, I found Radix's Sword and Ring, and I stole Circy's Eye

I thought the music was pretty annoying, but luckily, I can just replace them with my own.
Anyway, great game, can't wait until it comes out.

Posted by AndyUK

4th March, 2006

i dont think the ingame music suits it very well.

Posted by GHX YK2

4th March, 2006

love it

Posted by Mruqe

4th March, 2006

Ok. I've finished the demo many times now. I think, I know all the 40 rooms included. And...

I have a BUG TO REPORT. Well... not really a bug, It's rather a glitch. When the charater is on a moving platform that is pushing him towards a wall (there is just one level where that's possible) he can get stuck in the said wall. Then, he will start moving up inside the wall and eventually come out on the top. It's nothing, I don't even think you should bother to fix it. It's just for the record.

And... You got me addicted. I stated in my review that I don't generally dig run-against-time games. That's still true. It's just YOUR game that became an exception. I still think that 8/10 is a fair note, though.

Also - I'd like to design some levels for the game. But I don't know if it's been made in TGF or Media Fusion. If it's in MF, I won't be able to help you. I only got TGF and can't afford MF. If it's ni TGF, let me know - I'll be happy to contribute.

regards

Posted by The Chris Street

4th March, 2006

Wong I'd be happy to make some levels for you

Maybe even a whole Tower Of Circles.

I don't really think that 200 stages would really be enough. It sounds a lot on paper, but you've included 40 in the demo alone - 1/5 of the total.

Posted by Airflow

4th March, 2006

That was fast and furious.

I'd like to make one level. I havn't got MMF but if you give me some specs I might be able to send you a .gam with some tiles so you can just about copy and paste.

Posted by Mruqe

4th March, 2006

Thank you for trying to be helpful, Phizzy.

Posted by Retired Kliker Lazarus

5th March, 2006

I...can't stop...playing...

Damn...your black heart...Special...Agent...Wong Bald....

Awesome game.

Posted by Retired Kliker Lazarus

5th March, 2006

By the way, I'd be intrested in making a level, if that'd be okay?

I don't know if you're still accepting peoples.

Posted by patrik

5th March, 2006

Yeah.. Hey.. Im not going to as nice as the rest.. But You can work on the graphics And perhaps make a acustom Movement.. but hey.. I havent done a game this good myself.. so its good

.. But yeah... Great job with it but if you get the time.. Make some better graphics... sry man.. but thats how i feel

Posted by Zapper

5th March, 2006

Isn't it custom movement already?

Posted by The Chris Street

5th March, 2006

I found the Derriere Of Alastor.

It is a custom movement, you dolt! And while I think the graphics are ok (could do with improving, but its Wongs style), I have to say that I don't really like the presentation of the game. The text, really, is so WordArty

Posted by David Newton (DavidN)

5th March, 2006

That's the trouble with WordArt - it's so obvious that you're using it. I'm afraid that graphics in general aren't exactly my strong point!

A couple of other answers:

To everyone wanting to make rooms - I'll email you with the details that I sent out a couple of days ago. Like Phizzy said, you can use the MMF1.5 demo if you haven't got the full version. Thanks for offering to help!

patrik: As Circy said, the movement isn't the default platform one (you'd certainly notice if it was) - this is the first of my games in which I'm using the Platform Movement Object.

Mruqe: I'll definitely have a look at that bug, as I've had someone else report it as well, though I haven't been able to reproduce it myself as yet.

GrieferSutherland: That's a decent idea - I'll have a think about it.

About the music - Perhaps I'll include an alternative music mode if the rags are annoying. It involves quite a change to the program, though, so it's not the best solution, but for now you can replace the files for yourself. =

And as for the title screen strangeness - The "hidden message" is meant to be there, but I'm going to leave it up to you to discover what it means. DOS game veterans should have an advantage in recognising it.

And the pressing of "P" to jump to the preview was indeed something that I forgot to take out. Putting the Konami Code in on the title screen works as well.

Posted by AndyUK

5th March, 2006

I would really like to make some levels too, however the MMF1.5 demo doens't seem to work on my pc anymore.
Well if i can get it to work, i'll make some levels for you. Because i'm like that.

Posted by Radix

5th March, 2006

*You're* the one that stole my shiny shit wong? I guess I have to download this now.

Posted by patrik

5th March, 2006

Hey again.. after i read what you said i played the game again.. And i waas wrong.. It is a custom movement.. Sorry My bad...

Posted by Mruqe

5th March, 2006

Ok. So... I downloaded MMF demo. Installed it. Looked at it. Got scared of the crappy interface. I defenetly don't have time to learn that tool - not without quiting my job

Call me lame if you like. No levels from me I'll guess - sorry.

Posted by David Newton (DavidN)

6th March, 2006

MMF can be daunting at first, but once you get past the interface you'll appreciate it's a lot more powerful.

Posted by DistantJ [FZ Games]

6th March, 2006

MMF only takes a few minutes to get used to and nowadays I could never go back to CnC - most of the stuff I achieve in my games is just not possible in CnC. It's not a crappy interface at all, it's far more professional and useful when you know where everything is, just people refuse to take a minute to get used to it.

Anyways David as I said before I'll do you a level, or some levels. I played this with a gamepad on a TV, and really thought it was clever.

Posted by Mruqe

6th March, 2006

Anything that isn't intuitive I would call crappy. MMF's interface is not very intuitive. But to be frank - TGF and even KnP have a pretty twisted interfaces as well. I feel comfortable in them because I got use to them (I first bought KnP like 10-11 years ago).

I'd like to learn MMF. Really - I do. I just know I don't have time right now. Maybe when I finally get some vacation... And when full version MMF gets more affordable

Posted by Radix

6th March, 2006

There's nothing wrong with the MMF interface. It's--holy shit--different from TGF, but it's pretty standard for this sort of windows app. It's not perfect, but neither was TGF. If it takes you any longer than half an hour to get a reasonable handle on you should be trading in your keyboard for some colourful blocks.

Posted by The Chris Street

6th March, 2006

Just like how MMF2 will be different to MMF

I've made three very green levels so far

Posted by Mruqe

7th March, 2006

And then again - I should also trade my job for a sandbox and my wife for some cool matchbox cars

That WOULD buy me some more time to spend on clicking. I do hope I'll have vacation soon so I can get into MMF... Thanks for verbal support of the noob, guys

Posted by David Newton (DavidN)

7th March, 2006

I'd actually disagree with Radix in the simplicity of picking up MMF - it feels very awkward at first, particularly the picture/animation editor, especially if you've been using TGF for years.

If you spend a while in it, then you do begin to realise how much sense it makes. It's not totally obvious how to do the things that you're used to, though - things that helped me were setting the view of objects in the Level Editor sidebar to "small", realising that holding down Ctrl while dragging items will duplicate them, and using Shift-Click to pick up colours in the picture editor.

Posted by Airflow

8th March, 2006

If you think I'll help you by downloading 30mb of MMF again you can go somewhere-nice.

Posted by Radix

8th March, 2006

Didn't you resist converting to MMF for ages Wong? I think you just talked yourself out of it. I'd been using TGF since it came out and had no more trouble with picking up MMF than I would any other new program of that level of complexity. You can't expect to jump right in and be as proficient as you would be in TGF because it's a different app. Otherwise it would have been a patch.

Posted by sylzayz

17th April, 2006