Fox World
Release type: Incomplete
Release date: 2001
Levels: 10
Author: Robert Brandon, John Brandon
Related games: Foxy Dimensions, Fox Party
The second of three Foxy games. This recognizes that although the original Foxy Dimensions didn't quite work as a fighting game it had potential as a platformer, so (as with Terra, etc.) it uses many of the same resources to explore that notion.
So for Foxy Dimensions, John Brandon produced a wealth of resources in aid of a design concept that Game-Maker does not lend itself to. With that in mind, his brother Robert observed what did work about Dimensions and decided to remix the materials with a different aim. If Foxy Dimensions wouldn't work as a fighting game, what about a platformer?
The resulting game, Fox World, is a bit more on-point. Though still unfinished, it's smaller in scope, and a bit more refined. It comes off as sort of a test ground: so, what if? As it happens, yes, World nudges closer to something functional. Now the game overtly seems to be about exploring the world (Fox World), rather than picking a fight with a macro-driven AI opponent.
This is a strength, as the worlds are very pretty and intriguing places to inhabit, yet it's a strength that the game does not do much to capitalize on. The levels are mostly copied straight over from Dimensions, with little in the way of new sympathetic architecture. Some of the AI opponents still roam the levels, though it's not as consistent as before. The characters have received some tweaks and feel even better to control, yet there's not much for them to really do aside from search for the exit.
That's all fine; this isn't a finished game. Fox World is just an assembly of mostly-existing material, to see how the material fits in this particular arrangement. As it happens, this arrangement probably is more sympathetic to the material's strengths than the original configuration was. Had John and Robert doubled down and built on this framework, they could have wrung a pretty neat game out of it. In its existing form, Fox World is more about potential. You can play with the toys, make them walk around the playset, and dream about what adventures they might have had.
| Previous | Current | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Foxy Dimensions | Fox World | Fox Party |
| Foxy series | ||
Contents
Story[edit]
N/A
Instructions[edit]
On Numerical Keypad:
- 7/8/9: Fly/Leap Upward
- 4/6: Fly/Run Laterally
- 2: Swoop Downward
- 5: Defensive Move
Attacks:
- T/Y: Blade Attack
- G/H: Projectile Attack
- F/J: Melee Attack
- B/N: Beam Weapon
Moves differ by character. Some characters may have unlisted moves.
Credits[edit]
Designed by
- John and Robert Brandon
Engine and Tools by
- Recreational Software Designs
Compiled by
Background[edit]
John Brandon:
- I think this was going to be a 2D side scroller featuring characters and graphics I had created for Foxy Dimensions.
- This was a split on the Foxy Dimensions project when it became clear it would never be a good fighting game, and yet we had made some good (by our standards) graphics for it. The game itself is mostly a graphics and character showcase. As with many of our games, my brother and I liked making characters, and we liked making levels, but we didn't particularly like making monsters or stuffing a level full of them to do a typical GM style platformer.
Availability[edit]
Prior to this archive's online presence, this game is not known to be publicly available.
Archive history[edit]
On January 21st 2010, Rob Brandon pseudonymously responded to a Reddit thread with a passing comment about Game-Maker. When pressed about his history with the software, he replied that all of his games were stored on a couple of defunct computers, either inaccessible or destroyed.
Over 31 months later on August 23th 2012, John Brandon commented on a YouTube clip that he had found an archive of his and his brother's old games. The next day he composed a long e-mail describing the contents of a jumbled collection of gameware files, adding up to an ostensible sixteen games. All of the games were in pieces, many of them incomplete.
Over the next five months, through regular consultation, the games were all reassembled as well as the materials would permit. The games were reconstructed or otherwise recovered on the following dates:
|
|
Links[edit]
- Older clip (YouTube)
- Play Fox World online
Downloads[edit]
- Fox World (159.4 kB)
