Spelunky

“Surprisingly, the search yielded no results,” I read, after I typed the word Spelunky in the “Search Site” column . It is really amazing, because I was sure that I got acquainted with this game thanks to Habr. Now, perhaps, I will think that the link to the game I dreamed about in a good dream. The search will not lie, I hope, so I still write this post.

Moreover, there is a good reason: in early September, the first version of the game was finally released (before that, it means that versions were released with the number <1).

I propose to start downloading the gameright now. It weighs only 11 megabytes. You still have to download it after you read the post, so you can do it right away. (I draw your attention to the fact that at the moment the game is written only for Windows . I hope someday Linux users, Mac users, and even the characters of The Difference Engine will be able to play this game without any problems and emulators)

So, Spelunky. I suspect that the name of the game comes from the word "spelunk", which means "explore the cave, engage in speleology." This is what we have to do: we will turn into a small pixel man, change into a pixel suit (which will allow local princesses to confuse us with Indiana Jones), take pixel ropes, bombs and a whip and go down to the pixel cave. It was not by chance that I repeated the pixel adjective so many times - graphics became one of the first reasons why I fell in love with this game.

Speaking of love and princesses, the main goal of the game is not to save the princess (there will be several of them), but to get to the farthest corner of the cave and find there ... I will not spoil your pleasure, I’ll better give you another reason to play the game.

In the dungeons it will be possible to meet not only princesses and enemies, but also ... baleen sellers. You can find them in storerooms, where they, if desired, will exchange gold for bombs, cords, weapons or other useful gizmos.

As long as the eyes enjoy the scenery, and the hands with gameplay, three words spin in the mind: "randomly generated levels." Yes, at Spelunky, like in Nethack, once the levels are different every time! This allows the game not to bother VERY long. It will force you to train your willpower - it’s not so easy to break away from the game. I just can’t understand why the great idea of ​​such level generation is still not somehow used by large game developers. Or have I not been following major developers for a long time? The randomness of the levels affects the complexity of the game very well: you will not be bored to play. Each time you willy-nilly have to deal with small puzzles or fall into traps that are visible from afar, but at the same time quite insidious.

The wonderful design, thoughtful gameplay and the spirit of the old school give the game such a luxurious charm, which would more than be enough for a dozen modern large-scale game projects.

By the way. If for some terrible day you get tired of playing Spelunky for some reason, you can try to stretch your pleasure and use the built-in level editor, or levels that other players have done.



The game’s developer is a man named Derek Yu , a graduate of the University of Berkeley, the administrator of the popular TIGSource for indie gamers , and the author of several other wonderful games (I'm OK, Quibble Race, Diabolika II, Mean Cuisine, Eternal Daughter).

Along with the release of the first version of the game, he launched a website where you can download the latest version and where it is announced that you can soon get a version of the game on the X-Box and some other bonuses.

That's not all. All sorts of secrets are hidden in the game (in the levels themselves) and several mini-games (in the ratings room, which we see after death). I will not spoil your pleasure by talking about what is hidden there and how to get there. Just give a link to the Spelunky-encyclopedia , where you can find out everything you need.

Finally, I recall the link:

Download Spelunky v 1.0

Good luck!