Frog, The Collector

FROG, THE COLLECTOR

...::: What People Are Saying :::...

"Because Frogs F@#%ing LOVE Fruit" - halibabica

"After playing the updated version of the game (with levels!), I can see that Frog, the Collector has become a much better game... While the gameplay is still rather simple, it is much more enjoyable now." - kentona

...::: Gameplay, Features and Comments :::...

Frog, The Collector is a game loosely based around the concepts of the arcade classics Frogger and Pacman. You play as the eponymous Frog, a decidedly hungry chap who believes that the easiest way for him to gather food is to collect the scraps of fruit that bored, bratty children and stupid, unwashed truck-drivers throw out of their windows when they get bored of staring at the tarmac in front of them. Unfortunately for Frog, this means dancing with bumpers, frolicking with hubcaps and jumping past tyres...

"But a frog's gotta do what a frog's gotta do!"

So-called "features" include graphics styled on the arcade classics Pacman and Frogger; an arcade-nostalgia inducing soundtrack created by FoxSynergy; five levels of car-dodging fun; a digit-seperation system you can steal to create your own score displays; the constant thought, "What will happen if I max out the score bar!?" because not even the developer knows; your 5-a-day fruit requirement; and the possibility I will get sued in the next couple of weeks!

...::: Reviews, Images and Downloads :::...

Read Reviews Here: http://rpgmaker.net/games/980/reviews/
View The Image Gallery Here: http://rpgmaker.net/games/980/images/
Download The Game Here: http://rpgmaker.net/games/980/downloads/

This looks fun. I'll move it to Finished Projects

Frog, The Collector Mk. II

The new version includes levels that require you to reach certain scores to get passed. This adds some sort of direction to the game and so should make it more playable. This change stems from the criticism the game originally got when it came out. Difficulty adjustments have also been made to make the game less frustrating and more fun. The previous difficult level was a little too high and made the game too annoying to play for a long period of time, really.

A New Game+ feature has also been added for when you complete the game. This enables the player to carry on playing on a "Free Level", a level that basically lets them continue playing without any further breaks so they can try and rack up the highest score possible. Essentially, you unlock the original game, albeit with lower difficulty.

Also, there are now credits. They are obviously the most important addition to this game!

Considering this spawned from a minigame in my main project (my dystopian, cyberpunk RPG Sore Losers, which will be fully released soon), I think this game is pretty decent. It's definately worth a try, and other people agree:

Frog, the Collector is an old arcade-style Frogger clone with a twist.

The Graphics:

Super retro. The game doesn’t look much better than its age-old ancestor. This isn’t a bad thing, though, but rather adds to the experience of playing. There’s nostalgia in those old solid colors. My only gripe with the graphics was that the grass on the roadside was of a higher resolution than everything else, and that the lanes on the highway weren’t marked at all.

The Sound:

Not too bad. A nice confirmatory *ding* occurs every time you pick up a fruit, and the only other noise is you getting your froggy butt run flat. But, I can’t help but feel that a different sound would be better for the frog getting hit. It currently sounds like a rock slide, which would’ve made sense if the frog was the size of a deer or something. I think a big nasty *SQUISH* noise would be both more fitting and more entertaining.

The Music:

A bit strange. The game has a number of different tracks, but none of them are really fitting to the setting. Then again, the old Frogger games didn’t have a BGM at all. Even though the songs don’t really match what’s happening, I didn’t mind it much. It’s like turning down the sound on a game you’re playing and letting your media player run random songs instead. Or perhaps like listening to the radio in your car?

The Story:

You collect fruit to feed your poor froggy family. It’s so touching…

The Gameplay:

Very true to the classic. You control your frog (who I assume is small in spite of being the same size as a car) and hop your way across the highway. But this time, the goal isn’t merely to get across, but to collect the pieces of fruit that appear in the road. Yes, fruit. In the road. To feed to your frog family. There are four different fruits, and each is worth a different number of points. Collecting one causes another to appear someplace else. The stage advances when a certain score is reached. Of course, you have to watch out for the traffic and avoid getting squished the entire time. I was surprised to discover that the traffic changes patterns depending on the stage you’re in. At the start, the time of day is stated, and the speed and number of cars is reflective of that time.

The only problem I had with the gameplay was that you can’t tell exactly where the cars are and whether or not they’ll hit you. RM* is a bit weird with its hit detection, and the game is on a square by square setup. I think if there were traffic lines outlining the highway lanes (and square grid setup), this problem would be alleviated. As it is, the blackness is too vague for my liking.

This game is meant to be a minigame in Sore Losers, but it’s not too bad as it is. On it’s own, I have to give it a…

6/10

Somebody over on Gamejolt pointed out to me that the V1.1 download over there didn't include the RTP, or at least they weren't able to open the game because they were getting an error regarding the RTP. I've therefore updated the V1.1 download to include the RTP so that this shouldn't happen in the future. Same goes for the download on RMN.

I'm actually fairly sure that the download did include the RTP, but it was a long time ago when I uploaded this game so I could've been wrong. Que sera, sera...

I haven't heard of this game on the net in forever. I still have it on my computer and play it once in awhile, since it's quite entertaining when you're looking for something more arcade like, that you don't have to invest hours of time in.

That's cool to hear

Didn't think anyone would bother keeping it around for too long after playing!

honestly, awesome of you to make sure the links don't die and stuff even on work from 2009. good on you!

honestly, awesome of you to make sure the links don't die and stuff even on work from 2009. good on you!

Honestly, RMN does most of the work for me by hanging around like it does. But if people bring me small bugs like the RTP being missing then that's easy to fix.

NEW DOWNLOAD! VERSION 2.O! GET IT HERE!

What The Hell Is This Update?

This game came out way back in 2009 and there's basically been two updates since then. One was when I cut down the soundtrack because the download was far too large for such a simple arcade game, and the other was an update to make sure the RTP was included with the game so that it would be easier for people who aren't unfamiliar with RM2K3 to play it. This update isn't like either of those updates, because this update is a pretty big overhaul of the graphics and sound present in the game.

For a long time I've wanted this game to move away from using ripped graphics towards something that, whilst still very much styled around games like Frogger and Pacman, uses graphics that I could call my own. I also wanted to move away from using a soundtrack that contained licensed music towards something available under a creative commons license, whilst also moving towards music that would fit the arcade feel I was going for better than what I originally used. The thing is that I've never really had much drive to make those changes, but now that I have I'm pretty happy with the results:

They're not the best in the world, but at least they're not rips any more!
I mean, I think they look better than they did before, but I'd obviously think that since I'm the one who made them!

In addition to wanting the game to use graphics that I could call my own, people with a very good memory will realise that I've made a conscious effort to address the criticisms that Halibabica had in his very old review of the game. This is why I've made the addition of road-markings to the highway, and the addition of "a big nasty *SQUISH* noise" when Frog gets run over by a vehicle. I thought that both of those comments were very astute observations for Halibabica to make and I should've probably addressed them much sooner than this.

Why Are You Doing This Now?

Like I said, I've been wanting to make these changes for a long time, but I've never really had the drive to do it. Why do I have that drive now? Let's just say I've had an idea for a sequel to this game, and so that's what's driven me to make the updates that I have. I don't want to feel guilty for continuing to use blatant rips if (and I say "if" because it might never happen) I decide to make said sequel.

Additionally, although I was always quite pleased with how this game turned out given that it was originally a throwaway project based around a minigame present in Sore Losers, it would be slightly sad if I didn't try to make it as good as I think it can be. That isn't to say that I now think it's super-awesome-amazing and that it should be getting 5-star reviews from everyone, but it's definitely a more cohesive product than it was before.

Conclusion

Not much has changed about the gameplay, but I do think the graphical tweaks help make the game much more fun to play and that the sound changes make the game more entertaining than it was before. And if not "more entertaining", they certainly make the style more consistent.

I don't expect boatloads of people to be downloading this since it never had that many downloads in the first place, but thanks for reading and I hope that anyone who does play enjoys the updates

very cool game for that time...