After a million years, my new game has finally come out. Introducing ESCAPE FROM PUPPY DEATH FACTORY, a game that has you playing as a dog from outer space who has returned to Earth to rescue a bunch of puppy dogs from a mysterious facility whose purpose is kind of spoiled in the title.
The game started off as a collaboration between Glen Forrester and I and was a spiritual successor to his previous game, SSSHIFTY, and features a familiar block swapping mechanism. Though the partnership was dissolved amicably over creative differences, I continued to develop the project on my own, introducing a Redder-esque exploration element, and tons, and tons of puppies.
The game was created for Adult Swim, who were an absolute joy to work with. I’ll write more on the game later, but for now, you can click this link to play the game!
July 21st, 2011 at 8:51 pm
Dearest Podunkian,
I sequence broke your game by going through a wall.
I am attaching a screenshot to further taunt you.
Sincerely, Linkshot.
First we swap with that solid square block.
http://i.imgur.com/udjOA.png
Then we press Right.
http://i.imgur.com/4389H.png
Then we press Right again!
http://i.imgur.com/CI9EM.png
Voila!
July 21st, 2011 at 10:55 pm
Amazing game Arthur!
needs more “the underside”
July 21st, 2011 at 11:36 pm
@linkshot: hahaha, whoops, i don’t know how that slipped past us. we were pretty good about making sure none of those sorts of block configurations were left in the game, but i guess we forgot that one. but hey, it’s not like there’s much sequence to break in the game anyways, haha. USE THAT BUG TO YOUR ADVANTAGE. GET A MASSIVE SCORE.
@kaz: thanks. just watch the splash screen over and over and keep on wishing a wish.
July 22nd, 2011 at 1:21 pm
frustrating but great game Arthur glad to know you are still making games that are complete
July 22nd, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Thank you so much for this amazing game! I just killed a few hours finishing it. Puppy Death Factory is truly outstanding in freeware-browser games. I just love the dynamics with the block swapping, which gave some very interesting and partly very challenging riddles. Challenging but not unfair, since the difficulty stemmed from timing, plattforming and riddle dynamics and not cheap tricks. So many great ideas, nearly every level seemed something unique in its own right… (SPOILERS AHEAD) I played the whole game including the endboss (why a Kim Jong-Il caricature? It seemed a bit out of place, but alas, I had a chuckle out of it). The ending might suggest that you are at least opening possibilities for a “Kitty Death Factory”. If you do please include some means of traveling around the map other than solving the same puzzles again and again. When one did not find the means to rescue the puppy right away or simply forgot one you had to backtrack through numerous riddles on the map again, walking in the same old dead-ends (the map didn’t much help in this respect) and solving the same harsh timing riddles with a similar amount of death as the first times. Some means of teleportation, at least to a few already visited points would be grant.
Tl;dr: Thank you so much for this great game
July 22nd, 2011 at 11:40 pm
huehuehue hue love the metroid-suit on the dog, looks… shoopah!
and what andra said, yes.
#1 most original,
Tl;dr poops magoops, ya’ll
July 23rd, 2011 at 12:11 pm
The game rocks, ever plan on releasing the soundtrack?
July 23rd, 2011 at 3:04 pm
The Redder comparison is interesting because I was thinking about the game while playing it. Anna Anthropy made a big deal about the level design but EFPDF greatly surpasses it. Fantastic game.
July 30th, 2011 at 4:44 am
I absolutely LOVED this game. Best game I’ve played in weeks. And I’m with “Idiotman”, we absolutely NEED the soundtrack.
July 30th, 2011 at 8:00 am
entering two different screens at the same time through a corner results in a memory leak
July 31st, 2011 at 4:54 am
not cool man my mother was a kim jong il
August 1st, 2011 at 12:42 am
It was indeed a cool game. Really, very well made, and pretty fun to play – I have to get back to it to continue. Anyway, uh… How’s that Underside comin’? LOL – Sorry, but I had to ask.
August 1st, 2011 at 10:20 am
I think he’s voiced it pretty strongly that he has no interest in continuing it, and that if enough people want it, they can just use that dev tool packed in, collaborate, and make it themselves.
Though that’s just what I’ve interpreted.
August 1st, 2011 at 8:11 pm
hell
I’ll finish The Underside as an unwritten moonsong to arthur
August 1st, 2011 at 8:14 pm
hah moonsong
funny
August 4th, 2011 at 1:17 am
“Oh yeah, oh baby – you got the puppy.”
Best line ever. And music. Release the music for this. And Sombreros.
Also, is it a requirement for every game on AS to have “totally psychedelic man” rainbow effects? I’m starting to notice a pattern here.
August 5th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
@LinkShot – Yeah, it looks like it won’t be finished. Also, that sounds like a good idea. I’d play a finished mod.
August 7th, 2011 at 9:09 pm
Mr. Podunkian PLEASE READ.
I tried to search you up on Google and FaceBook. I can’t seem to find any way to contact you other than this. I don’t know what your email is, so this is my last resort.
First of all, I really love this new game you made. Awesome concept, Nitrome-style art which is AWESOME, and it all plays smooth. Best ending ever by the way.
Now for why I really need your attention. The Underside. It is currently under the “Under Development” section, but is it really still being worked on? I just need to know if it’s scrapped or still under development. I don’t really mind you taking a long time. Delay it as much as needed to make it perfect. It looks phenomenal so far.
I’ll check back here to see if you replied. Thanks for reading.
August 8th, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Daniel S.,
Dood, his email is [mrpodunkian@gmail.com]. You probably missed the “contact” section under “about”.
Hope this helps!
And might I add, WOW! This is an amazing game. Took me back to the days of Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages. Of course, got the best ending.
Anyway, love this game! Can’t wait for further installments from your wonderful mind.
~Squarehead
August 13th, 2011 at 10:53 am
Despite my numerous grumbles about *ahem* underside *ahem* and etc, I found this game to be a marvelous timekiller. tho I never actually beat it. :p
August 13th, 2011 at 9:56 pm
Awesome.
ps: one n
August 13th, 2011 at 11:44 pm
The Underside is a better game. I imagine.
August 16th, 2011 at 3:38 pm
@ squarehead: i found his email right after posting. uggh.
well, i emailed him and he didn’t reply yet, so it’s good to have a comment here about it too. he’s bound to check ONE of the two places.
it’s pretty evident that he is developing the underside, but i think he might be treating it as a casual development. as in, he doesn’t want the pressure of his fans pushing him to finish the game, and soon. maybe that’s why he isn’t releasing information on it.
i hope he takes all the time in the world on it. it just needs to come out in my lifetime, and i’m satisfied.
August 18th, 2011 at 1:23 pm
I played this through to the end today and really enjoyed it. There seemed to be the odd map error – a down-up transition in the south-west isn’t marked, and a non-existent westward transition is – and there’s an area in the Hydroponics in a corner of another screen where you can jump up into a room that I’m not convinced actually has any space to jump up into – but I’m just marking those down for the record, it was an excellent game. I hope the ending implies you’re thinking about a sequel.
August 18th, 2011 at 7:33 pm
It was very fun, but I’m still waiting for the underside.
August 21st, 2011 at 4:46 am
Hahahaha, it’s a curse, The Underside curse! You will make wonderful games to the end of your days, but forever people will hound you about The Underside!
It’s a classic blunder, like starting a land war with China, beginning a game with more charm and potential than any following it!
Still, I love it, great job! I love every game you make, but you know we’ll always be waiting for The Underside.
August 23rd, 2011 at 3:14 pm
Awesome game! I enjoyed all of it.
I also found a bug like the first one posted, the walking cats, swapping with one at the right moment when they leave the screen lets you get stuck and jump screens quickly.
August 24th, 2011 at 3:15 pm
Wheressss the soundtrackkkk?!
September 4th, 2011 at 10:25 pm
I found what appears to be a glitch, though I guess it could be an Easter egg deliberately put into the game. Whatever it is, I think it belongs in these comments, though I doubt I was the first to discover it.
It’s in the Packing Facility. It involves two rooms: the room where two puppies on a conveyor belt are in danger of getting squashed, and the room adjacent to this one on the right. The rooms:
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/5259/1theroomsinquestion.png
I noticed that the grey pipe in the top-right of the room with the two puppies resembles a grey pipe you can enter and pass through in the sewers. The sewer pipe:
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/6854/2similarpipe.png
So I tried to see if I could make it to the Packing Facility pipe, from the room adjacent to it on the right. I set up that room like this:
http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/2972/3setup.png
After swapping with the rightmost can in my configuration, the arrow block it was adjacent to moves left and crushes the skull bomb against the wall on the left. The explosion breaches the wall. Then it is just a matter of building a can stairway to the previously-inaccessible chamber. The result looks like this:
http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/1880/4result.png
After you pass left into the pipe, however, you are quickly “pushed” to the right and back into the room you came from. Apparently, the pipe is “full” with tiles that are “solid” and non-swappable. This final screenshot shows Laika in the impassable pipe:
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/4162/5cannotpass.png
It is because Laika ends up “inside a wall” that I suspect this is a glitch and not an Easter egg.
Anyway. A very good game. Thanks for making it, Arthur (and for making it free).
October 4th, 2011 at 3:07 am
I can’t wait for you to make something original!
October 10th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
@BFIII
That is amazing. Did you try pressing Right after going in there? If I remember right based on the glitch I posted, it should push you over to the puppies, when timed to pass through the crushers, of course.
October 14th, 2011 at 6:27 am
I LOVE THE GAME *Woof Woof*
January 19th, 2013 at 2:38 pm
Exactly where is the feed button, so I can sign up for your updates?
April 30th, 2013 at 12:27 am
I love this game so much that I played through it twice!
Spoiler:
I just found out something I hadn’t thought about: does the ending change if you don’t get the General’s kitten before beating him?
Kudos