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[[quoteright:324:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Glider_7261.gif]]

A series of Platform/{{Macintosh}} arcade games by John Calhoun. Players navigate a paper airplane past an assortment of lethal household objects, using the ubiquitous hot air vents to stay aloft.

''Glider'' (versions 1 through 3, 1988-1991) was a simple shareware game for the original monochrome Mac. The house was a corridor 15 screens long, with version 2 adding backgrounds to what had all been {{White Void Room}}s, and version 3 adding a cat as a FinalBoss.

''Glider 4.0'' (1991) added optional color art, a LevelEditor, and a multi-story house with many new items. This was a commercial release through Creator/CasadyAndGreene, who later published an ExpansionPack. It was also the most ported of the series, showing up on [[Platform/IBMPersonalComputer Windows]] in 1994, on the Platform/AppleNewton in 2002, and as an Platform/{{NES}} cartridge in 2008. [[https://web.archive.org/web/20091119104205/http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/04/04/the-nes-finally-gets-dlc-thanks-to-retrozons-glider No, really.]]

''Glider PRO'' (1994) was designed to be "Glider 4.0 times ten. Everything would be up a notch or two." Players could now leave the house and check out the neighborhood, and [[GameMod modders]] could craft total conversions. No detail was left unimproved, from the TV sets (which played animations) to the clocks (which showed the correct time).

''Glider Classic'' (2011) brings the premise back to basics, guided by a "Colorforms" aesthetic. [[http://www.softdorothy.com/Glider.html It's out now]] for [[Platform/MacOS OS X]] and UsefulNotes/{{iOS|Games}}.

When the series' former publisher Casady & Greene went bankrupt, all rights to their ''Glider'' releases reverted to John Calhoun, who declared them {{Freeware}}. You can find them on Mac and PC {{Abandonware}} sites.

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!!These games contain examples of:

%%* OneUp: Paper.
%%* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer
%%* AirVentPassageway: Ducts.
%%* AttractMode
* AutomaticLevel: "Hands-Off House" for ''Glider 4.0'', and "[=AutoPilot=]" for ''Glider PRO''.
%%* BenevolentArchitecture: Floor vents.
%%* BigLabyrinthineBuilding
%%* BlackoutBasement
%%* BleakLevel: Slumberland's graveyard.
%%* BodyArmorAsHitPoints: Aluminum foil.
%%* CatsAreMean
* ChimneyEntry: The chimneys of the roof background are often made into transporters.
%%* CobwebJungle
%%* CollisionDamage
%%* ConsoleCameo: The Macintosh Plus and Classic.
* ControllableHelplessness: Spiderwebs, unless you have batteries or rubber bands.
%%* ControlRoomPuzzle: The "[=SpacePods=]" house.
%%* CoolGate: Mailboxes.
%%* CoOpMultiplayer
%%* CycleOfHurting
* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Glider 4.0'', as described by [[http://macscene.net/home/features/news-archives/item/dreaming-of-a-thousand-room-house-the-history-and-making-of-glider macscene.net]].
--> The game now felt somehow [[JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourVocabulary darker and edgier]], like the house secretly had it in for you, and all was not well in the magical Glider-land. The rooms became more claustrophobic, fraught with danger, as though you were leaving the playground and entering a war-zone.
%%* DepthPerplexion
* DisneyOwnsThisTrope: Apple initially blocked ''Classic'' from the App Store for depicting, in homage to the game's roots, a Macintosh model that had been off the market for 19 years. If the decision hadn't been reversed on appeal, Calhoun was [[http://www.softdorothy.com/Blog/Entries/2011/9/28_Glider_Classic_-_Art_That_Never_Was.html prepared]] to drape a sheet over the Mac in protest.
* DownloadableContent: The first NES game to support it, thanks to a flashable cartridge.
%%* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles
%%* ExpansionPack: ''More Glider''.
%%* FlipScreenScrolling
%%* GottaCatchThemAll: Magic stars.
* GustyGlade: In ''4.0'', rooms with windows open to the storm.
%%* ImprobableWeaponUser: Rubber bands.
%%* InstantArmor: Foil.
%%* InvisibleWall
* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: You can silence it by turning off a stereo.
* LevelInReverse: The MagicMirror in the ''Glider PRO'' room "Looking Glass" leads to an upside-down version called [[SdrawkcabName "ssalG gnikooL"]].
* LighterAndSofter: ''PRO'' replaces the dilapidated, stormbound atmosphere of ''4.0'' with a sunny palette, cheery music, and a wide-open environment.
%%* MacroZone
%%* MagicalMysteryDoors: Ducts.
%%* TheManyDeathsOfYou
%%* MarathonLevel: Slumberland's sewers.
%%* MisbegottenMultiplayerMode
%%* MutuallyExclusivePowerups: Batteries and helium.
%%* NintendoHard
%%* NitroBoost: Batteries.
%%* NoticeThis: Sparkles.
* NotTheFallThatKillsYou: Touching the floor is ''always'' fatal.
* OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo: ''Glider PRO'' was a tongue-in-cheek dig at the trendy "Pro" suffix for software.
%%* OminousFloatingCastle: "Castle o' the Air".
%%* OneBulletAtATime
%%* OneHitPointWonder
%%* PathOfMostResistance
* PinballScoring: Some houses have copious quantities of clocks.
%%* ProjectileToast
%%* PuzzleBoss: The cat.
* RatchetScrolling: Only in the shareware versions.
* RecoilBoost: Shoot bands backwards to get a slight boost.
%%* RespawningEnemies
* RespawnOnTheSpot: You reappear on the same screen.
* SaveGameLimits: Resumed games are ineligible for high scores.
* ScoreMilking: Possible by looping through the same few rooms repeatedly in ''2.0'', or by camping out to shoot enemies in ''4.0.'' (Whenever Calhoun learned of players Score Milking by such tedious means, he would remove the point incentive for those actions in a subsequent release.)
* SequelEscalation:
--> Glider 3.0 -- 15 rooms
--> Glider 4.0 -- 62 rooms
--> Glider PRO -- 403 rooms
%%* ShoutOut: Creator/TSEliot, Creator/JRRTolkien, ''ComicStrip/LittleNemo'', [[Literature/LandOfOz the Land of Oz]], ArtNouveau, [[Series/LetsMakeADeal Monty Hall]]...
%%* SlidingScaleOfLinearityVsOpenness: Level 2.
* SlipperySkid: Subverted: spilled grease makes it ''safe'' to land on surfaces, and you can stop on a dime.
%%* SpringJump
%%* StarShapedCoupon: Magic stars.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: From "Demo House": "THERE'S NOT A SECRET ROOM DOWN HERE!".
* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: It's possible to accidentally skip an entire section of Slumberland, and lose its star.
%%* UpdatedRerelease: ''Glider PRO CD'' and ''Glider PRO X''.
* UtilityWeapon: Rubber bands can flip switches.
* UntitledTitle:
** The LevelEditor in ''PRO'' will name any newly created room "Untitled Room." The editor gives a count the number of rooms not renamed from this default when saving a house, which gives users an incentive to change every "Untitled Room" to something else, even border rooms that aren't meant to be accessible but may be partly visible in 9-room mode. (The default house "Slumberland" names such border rooms "Darling.")
** Slumberland contains a room called "This Room Has No Name".
* VariableMix: ''Glider PRO's'' music slips into a holding pattern if you're stuck in one room too long. The return of the main theme when you make it out is cathartic.
%%* VentPhysics
%%* VideoGameFlight: Helium.
%%* WaterIsAir: Underwater scenarios.
%%* WhenAllElseFailsGoRight

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