Platypus II

Moby ID: 69017

Description

Platypus II is the sequel to Platypus. Just the like the original game it is a horizontally scrolling shooter where the player controls an aircraft to protect the inhabitants of Mungola from the invading Collosatropolians. The game largely has the same mechanics as the original game, but the original developer was not involved. The game supports up to three players working cooperatively on a single screen.

The game consists of five worlds split up into five levels each. The ship can be hit multiple times and there are credits to continue playing when all lives are lost. There are different difficulty levels and at the start of the game one of four shooting configurations can be chosen. Defeated enemies often leave behind fruit for extra points. The game still has the star system, where defeating an entire squadron is rewarded with a star. There are different colours and each type provides a new, temporary weapon such as a laser beam, rapid fire, rockets, spread fire and more. The colour of the star can be changed by shooting it before picking it up. Sometimes balloons appear carrying crates. Shooting these is rewarded with side cannons, money for more points or an extra life. At the end of the fifth area of a level a boss needs to be defeated.

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Average score: 65% (based on 3 ratings)

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Trivia

Development

The rocky development history of the original game can be read in the Platypus trivia section. When this sequel was released in 2007 by Idigicon with very similar visuals and mechanics, people on the indiegamer.com forums wondered about the legality of the sequel and the involvement of the original developer Anthony Flack. Even though he is credited in the game, he was not involved. He wrote two posts in reply:

October 2007

I appreciate the sentiments, people. But yes indeed, I did sign the original contract a long time ago (seven years? Eight?) - not only was it before I had met any other indie authors, but it was also before I had become aware of the downloadable games industry (such as it was in those pre-portal days) at all, if you can believe it. Heck, I'd only just recently gotten connected to the internet myself. The game was initially a CD-ROM release, remember.

Really, the most surprising thing to me is how this little game is still kicking around so many years later. But like the original game, the wheels were set in motion for this sequel a long time ago. Idigicon are certainly within their rights to make one, and I have long expected to see it appear. So I feel like I've already been through all the motions, so to speak.

Certainly I do give a lot of thought to what the customers will think; that was a large part of what made me put the extra effort in with the original game all that time ago. But you know, this isn't a CD-ROM in a shop any more; and in the end this sequel will live or die by the shareware ethic - try-before-you-buy. If people like it then that's well and good; if they don't then they can leave it.

Still, I daresay everyone involved would agree that the situation up to this point could have been handled better. But it's all old news now, based on long-passed decisions, and I'm looking forward to the future. Really, I have effectively been inactive in the games business for several years, but they have been productive and busy years for me in other ways. But I'm hoping to be back with a bang soon enough. The fact that Platypus still has legs so many years after I made it is encouraging at least, and maybe it too will receive a fitting epilogue one day. I still have affection for it; all in all it wasn't too bad for a first game...

Anyway, don't feel bad on my behalf; I'm feeling quite cheerful today.

November 2007:

I've never called for people to stop selling Platypus and really, I wouldn't ever have wanted anyone to boycott it. I made the game for people to play, after all. And I knew when I made it that I wasn't going to get any royalties, but I still tried hard and I still wanted people to buy it! I saw it as an my apprenticeship in a way, and that's exactly what it was, really. I didn't expect to be able to get a better deal than what I got, because I had no track record at all. Would you give a heap of money to someone with no training or industry experience, who'd never made a game before? Well, now I have made a game, and the only reason anyone takes me even half-seriously today is because I can say that. Sure, I should have asked for conditions that would have covered these eventualities, but who knew? Live and learn.

What really surprised me was:

  • That half-a-decade later it would still be seeing fresh releases
  • That it would be developed by other people without my involvement
  • That half-a-decade later I still would not have released my second game!

It's certainly been a lot of fuss over such a simple little game though, hasn't it? Honestly though, I was upset about this, like, a year ago. Now I'm not. I've never been a victim, except perhaps of my own self-inflicted perfectionism, and I'm happy to bear that particular burden. I will probably always end up working harder than I'm getting paid to do, since that's just the way I am, but my life has not exactly been tragic and I'm far from helpless.

Soundtrack

Just like the original this game's soundtrack includes remixes of C64 tracks by famous game composers. Permission was granted to use songs from these original games.

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  • MobyGames ID: 69017
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Sciere.

Additional contributors: Chris Abbott.

Game added October 22, 2014. Last modified July 16, 2023.