Game:Surlaw Armageddon
From OHRRPGCE-Wiki
| Surlaw Armageddon | |
| |
| Developer(s) | Surlaw |
| Website | Super Walrus Land |
| Release date | 11/16/2008 |
| Genre | RPG |
| Download | Download from Slime Salad |
| Credits | Soundtrack | Secrets | Walkthrough | |
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Surlaw Armageddon begins years after Walthros, after the cast has drifted apart and the world has calmed down. Bob Surlaw awakens in a house that isn't quite his, in a world that becomes more and more disturbing as he explores it. He travels through time and dimensions, through life and death, and explores a variety of worlds plagued by the minions of a mysterious King.
[edit] Background
Surlaw Armageddon is part of a larger series of games that started with Walthros in 2000-2002. All related games are downloadable at Super Walrus Land. Surlaw Armageddon can be enjoyed on its own, but is enhanced by playing the older games in the series. There is an Appendix on the main menu in game that explains more details of the world to newcomers.
Walthros is a world where floating fish, dinosaurs, and giant monsters are the most common citizens. Bob Surlaw is a Walthrosian Fish who worked as an explorer/archaeologist before a strange event in local ruins set him on a course that would forever change his world.
[edit] Author's Notes
These notes, further explaining the game, come from the Readme file included with it and were written by the game's author in November 2008.
Walthros was originally a comic that I wrote and illustrated in 1992 about goofy sea creatures that went on epic and largely ridiculous quests, most of which amounted to nothing. The original storyline involved searching for color to brighten up the black and white world the characters lived in. I made these comics for about four years before moving on to other things, but I always kept the characters in my mind.
Two years later, 1998. I discovered the OHRRPGCE, a simple, easy to use game maker that focused on Japanese style RPGs. I started working on games using this, and eventually released an RPG version of Walthros in 2000. It would be two more years before I finished this game, but the result was satisfying, if rough. The graphics aren't impressive, but the art design is unique. Not a whole lot of RPGs have floating fish and winged seals as lead heroes.
Four spin-off games were later released: Walthrus: Return of the Crystals, a lovingly hideous parody of the original game's world and of RPGs in general, Super Walrus Chef: War of the Food, a "cooking RPG" starring Walthros super-star Walrus Man battling rival chefs to pay his rent and buy phat bling, Gato Sucio, a joke game made for a Terrible Game Contest that followed the plot of the original comics but infused them with rather filthy (and somewhat embarassing) jokes, and Surlaw Armageddon, a project that I didn't really know where to take at the time.
The idea of Surlaw Armageddon was to take the light-hearted characters of Walthros and fling them into a horror game. It was originally going to be a joke, but I really started to enjoy the atmosphere I'd developed and the direction the world was going in. I released a very short demo in 2006, and sat on it for about a year before getting back to work on it. As of writing this, it's 2008, I'm finally serious about finishing it. A lot of things have changed, been cut, and gone in directions I never expected them to, but it's become the most engrossing game I've worked on. I don't expect everyone to like it, and there are a lot of elements I know some people will dislike from the start (lots of people hate 10 minute cutscenes, I've never had a problem with them. Then again, I'm a Metal Gear fan). It's become a very personal project.
The goal of Surlaw Armageddon was to take all of the games, comics, and spin-offs and form some sort of coherent connection. Stephen King's Dark Tower series has been a massive and, to fans of the series, blatantly obvious influence. The original plan was to write the game as a Dark Tower parody, and plenty of elements of that are still there, but it's begun to branch out on its own more, and feels more like a strange, hybrid alternate history Walthros merged with King's story. I'm not above having my characters in game ignore the fourth wall and make fun of this connection.
Where the game will go next, I can't say yet. I've had the ending in my mind for a long time now, and I've had a good idea about the three heroes Bob Surlaw would meet since I began, but a lot of what's in between is hazy. I know I've enjoyed working on it, and I hope at least some people will enjoy playing it, and I sincerely hope it doesn't take another ten years to finish.
[edit] Reviews/Articles
- Commentary, HamsterSpeak #10
- Review by Uncommon, HamsterSpeak #10
- Review by Pepsi Ranger, HamsterSpeak #24
[edit] Related Games
- Walthros - The original game that introduces Bob Surlaw and company.
- Walthrus: Return of the Crystals - A parody of Walthros and RPGs in general.
- Super Walrus Chef: War of the Food - A Walthros spin-off starring Super Walrus Man.
- Gato Sucio: The Quest for Color - A parody of the original Sky Flyers comics.
