Pogeymanz: The Game is a video game under development by Ultimate Ridley, based on the webcomic of the same name and by the same author. The game is being developed using Game Maker 8.1 (the actual program called Game Maker), and is meant to serve as a sort-of ending to the webcomic.
The game is divided into separate campaigns, each with their own unique levels, gameplay mechanics, bosses, and stories. So far, only two have been completed, but the author is working on a third and plans there to be a fourth.
The general gameplay style is that of an overhead Platform Game, similar to the old The Legend of Zelda titles. However, each campaign has different gameplay mechanics, with each playable character having their own unique abilities.
- In the first campaign, you play as Shadowkilla 762. He can literally do nothing other than walk or die, but there are external gameplay mechanics that are rare if present at all in the others, such as ice (which speeds you up), sand (which hinders your movement), Torkoal (which can be pushed around, can kill certain enemies, and can cross lava unscathed), etc.
- In the second campaign, you play as the ever-famous Irish Hitmonchan. Unlike Kabutops, Hitmonchan can actually attack enemies and dash around in a manner similar to Kabutops traversing ice; however, the attacking is rather limited, as Hitmonchan can only kill a handful of enemies. Enemies and bosses have become more complex and engaging, while the campaign also makes use of JRPG-style cutscenes, something that was absent in the Kabutops campaign. What's more, the Hitmonchan campaign gives us an outsider's look at what the Valley of Noobs is truly like, whereas Kabutops travels through tamer environments while in the Valley.
- The third campaign, which is still under development, is to feature the easily-annoyed Registeel. Gameplay is to be even more complex, with Registeel capable of firing a charge-able Flash Cannon and dash with an additional momentum mechanic.
- The fourth campaign, which has yet to be elaborated further upon, is to feature the Carbos-addicted Garchomp.
You can download the current version here
. Bear in mind that it is a huge file!
This game contains the following tropes:
- Backtracking: The majority of the Kabutops levels require you to backtrack large portions of entire rooms just to collect an item to open up the next portion of the room.
- Big Boo's Haunt: "The Ruins" level cluster features only Ghost-type Pokémon, has an eerie purple haze covering each room, and perhaps the most telling, it plays the infamous Lavender Town theme in the background.
- Blackout Basement: "The Restricted Wing" level cluster is covered in darkness.
- Boss in Mook Clothing: In the third room of the "Valley of Noobs" level cluster, you meet a Porygon-Z who seems defeatable (as it appears to be the boss of the area), until you learn that it is unreachable and can sweep the entire room vertically and horizontally (but not both at once).
- "The Ruins" ends with a room with slowly developing hazards (i.e. the enemies build up as you progress through the room) and a creepy Dusknoir that, once you reach a certain portion of the room, begins to unleash wave upon wave of purple fireballs. They're easier to avoid than Porygon-Z's room-sweeping beams, but you're still being consistently harassed by a Haunter and three Duskull while maneuvering around slow-as-molasses Dusclops and avoiding the Dusknoir's fireballs. You complete the room by accessing Dusknoir's chamber and reading a spell from a book that summons a few Mismagius to dispatch the Dusknoir and reveal a new path further down into the ruins. This may be a bit dodgy for an example since it's made more obvious that Dusknoir is a sort-of boss, but then again he just serves as more of an additional hazard in the room, so one might see him as a mook as well.
- Break Them by Talking: Hitmonchan verbally kicks Troll Rampardos's ass at its own game by simply saying things about Rampardos that it cannot deny.
- Cheat Code: The game gives the player access to the cheat console right off the bat, but you need to know the method of accessing the cheat console first. You need to press and hold [Control]+[Shift]+[S] (in that order!) to make cheats available; you'll know it worked if you hear a chime and a little box that says "CHEAT" appears in the upper left-hand corner. Pressing [P] advances a room, pressing [O] sends you back a room, and pressing one of the number keys will send you to the corresponding boss. In the original version, before the Hitmonchan campaign was completed and released, the cheat console was restricted to a "developer's edition" as the author would use the cheats to skip over levels he wasn't working on. However, as of the Hitmonchan version, he made the cheat console available to all, but added a button combo to access it.
- Cloudcuckooland: The Valley of Noobs is very much this. Deoxys warned Hitmonchan that "the rules you have come to know mean little here". The Valley features an odd techno track (the Battle Factory theme), has enemies with noob-ish messages given upon your death flying about, and has a background image that quickly alternates between various meme images, with the troll face appearing more often than the others.
- Confusion Fu: Rampardos is probably the first hostile in the game that is programmed to behave randomly and unpredictably. (Apparently Machamp and Gallade are also programmed to randomize their next move, but it's much more controlled than Troll Rampardos)
- In the Valley of Noobs and Overtroll Wasteland, this trope is in full throttle. The Valley of Noobs features about four different main enemy types that have different behavior as far as speed and friction goesnote that are programmed to spawn randomly at various points outside the map and then launch themselves in a random direction, alongside up to four Kecleons that are programmed to bounce off boundaries and change their direction after a period of time. The Overtroll Wasteland literally spikes this up by having four enemy types that each have advanced behavior driven by several randomized variables, and two of the four (wave-unleashing Mr. Mime and random-launch-and-sometimes-explode Koffing) are liable to spawn anywhere in the room; of the other two, Psyduck switches between glitching around and either shooting a massive water bubble or rocketing downwards with its claws and Seaking is liable to change direction and jump out from under (making it deadly on contact) whenever it damn well pleases.
- Surprisingly, unlike before when Hitmonchan's attacking capability was more or less only useful on bosses, all enemies in the Overtroll Wasteland except Seaking can be killed by Hitmonchan... you just have to time it right. Koffing can be killed when it is preparing to launch in a random direction (it is also vulnerable to the Mime Jrs unleashed by Mr. Mime); Psyduck can be killed if it's just fluttering around or when it had just shot a bubble (but the bubble will kill Hitmonchan either way), but never when it is doing its claw attack; and Mr. Mime (not Mime Jr.) is always vulnerable to Hitmonchan, it's just that part of its behavior is that it immediately pulls up a Barrier to protect it from all sides (if you can kill it before this, however, it will not be able to unleash its attack). Even more surprisingly, these vulnerabilities barely decrease the difficulty of this area.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: At one point, a Kirlia (a Pokémon that looks very feminine) asks Hitmonchan to look after its daddy. Then, Hitmonchan says "Sure thing, lass". Cue the Gender Reveal.
- Endgame+: When you defeat the final boss in Kabutops's campaign, a small off-hand message among the credits tells you to type in a short code on the title screen for a "surprise". It grants access to the Hitmonchan campaign. If you know the code, you can use it before ever touching the Kabutops campaign.
- Everything Is Trying to Kill You: You were afraid to touch that Torkoal the first time too, weren't you? Considering by that point the player is used to everything being deadly to the touch, it's totally understandable.
- Funetik Aksent: Hitmonchan retains his thick Irish brogue, as otherwise he just wouldn't be Irish Hitmonchan.
- Have a Nice Death: When you die, you hear the "failure" theme from Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald accompanied by a message. The messages change based on which enemy killed you, and which character you're playing as.
- In the Kabutops campaign, the messages are usually very quick jabs or hit-and-run insults presumably given by Devinus.
- In the Hitmonchan campaign, most of the death messages are given by Hitmonchan, who spouts an undermining insult about the enemy that killed him. Some, particularly most boss death messages and later enemy messages, are given by the boss/enemy that killed him. The latter are usually humorous.
- Gallade's death messages are particularly humorous, taking biting attacks at Hitmonchan's heritage true troll-style.
If killed by the physical attack (which is a sword lunge): I apologize for cutting you shorter, leprechaun.If killed as Gallade jumps down a ledge: Obviously, you are too drunk to have noticed that I am jumping down. You should get your alcoholism looked at.- There is even a one-time chance to get killed by touching a Beldum in the "Restricted Wing" level cluster; only one Beldum is not blocked by glass, and touching it gives two silly death messages. (In general, the Beldums seem to act like the turrets from Portal)
Beldum (when touched without charging laser): Intruder has approached. Initiate seduction subroutine?Beldum (when touched while charging laser): Already charging laser. Subroutine cannot be overruled.- The noob enemies in the Valley of Noobs level cluster each give a message that the usual noob would, varying from claiming to have a disorder to spouting spambot messages in Leet Speak.
510WP0K3 (Slowpoke): im vry slo, plz dont crtsze me im sensitiveM 461 K 4 RP (Magikarp): H 3 Y /\/\4N 1 F 0 UND 4 R 34 LLY 600D S173 4 D0\/\/NL 04 D 1 N 6 /\/\U51( & M0\/135 FR 33!!!111- Then there are the Kecleon Trolls, each of which spout controversial remarks about varying subjects if you touch them. See Joke Character below.
- Injured Vulnerability: Salamence in Kabutops's campaign can only be defeated with an Ice Beam delivered after it is incapacitated by the Aggrons.
- That said, it never gets up from incapacitation and waits for you to worm your way around the room to get the PokéBall that releases the Ice Beam-shooting Octillery in the first place.
- Scizor, Machamp, and Rampardos in the Hitmonchan campaign. You have to get Scizor to touch a Weedle before damage can be done, Machamp must be hit by a flying Skarmory before you can hurt him, and Rampardos needs to be damaged by a Voltorb's explosion before you can swoop in for a hit.
- Invisible Monsters: Par for the course in the "Ruins" level cluster; Haunters and Duskulls both have disappearance built into their animations, but they'll still kill Hitmonchan if they touch him regardless of whether or not they're visible.
- Involuntary Group Split: Wordof God says that this is why the game is divided into several campaigns, each focusing on a different character from the comic.
- Apparently a bit of Nonlinear Storytelling as well, as Kabutops's campaign is meant to take place last while Hitmonchan's takes place first and Registeel's apparently takes place after Garchomp's (even though Registeel's is supposedly the one unlocked when you beat Hitmonchan's!).
- Joke Character: The Kecleon Quartet in the Valley of Noobs. They aren't as overpowered as many other examples of this trope, but they exist purely to spew troll-ish remarks on varying subjects, from video games to recent social issues.
- Lethal Lava Land: The next-to-last level cluster in Kabutops's campaign consists of mud, sand, lots of lava, you, and a Torkoal to traverse it all.
- Long Song, Short Scene: Although the game reuses tracks from various Pokémon games, many of these tracks are amazing, and then they're cut short. For example: the Trainer Battle theme from Ruby/Sapphire can only be heard for a few precious seconds during a cutscene before being cut short and never appearing again.
- Monsters Everywhere: You have no idea.
- Mook Debut Cutscene: Troll Rampardos makes his first appearance before you fight Scizor.
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Nintendo Hard: Played despicably straight. Although dying just means restarting the level, and the game lets you save as often as you want and load back with just the press of a key... let's just say you will need that quick-save feature. The later levels of both campaigns, especially Hitmonchan's, are downright unforgiving. - Nostalgia Level: The final level cluster in the Hitmonchan campaign only has 1st Generation Pokémon as enemies. (Except Mime Jr, which is a pre-evo of Mr. Mime introduced in Gen 4)
- One-Hit Kill: All playable characters die instantly by touching something they shouldn't have.
- Sanity Slippage: Around halfway through Hitmonchan's campaign, a Hariyama is destroyed by Troll Rampardos. Later on, in the Valley of Noobs, Hitmonchan finds Hariyama devoid of any mental faculties, believing itself to be a "bouncy little Magikarp".
- Save the Princess: The general plot of Hitmonchan's campaign, although not quite a princess, as he is bound and determined to rescue his laddy.
- Scenery as You Go: The Valley of Noobs level cluster has bridges appear as you walk on certain spots.
- Space-Filling Path: Both campaigns are filled to the brim with this, forcing you to collect items to remove obstacles, which often guard more obstacle-removing items for you to collect.
- The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: You're now in a place called the "Overtroll Wasteland". The area is filled to the brim with unpredictable enemies. The background music is an epic re-orchestration of the Team Rocket Hideout theme. This is clearly The Very Definitely Final Dungeon.
- Unique Enemy: Team Nubzorz grunts appear as an enemy in exactly one room and never appear again.
