Turtle Tailgate
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Controls!
Arrows to move
Z to confirm
Enter for menu
How to play!
Don't crash into turtles and avoid starfish and sea urchins!
Collect hearts for extra lives!
To score points, stay behind turtles for as long as you can, but don't forget to dodge them at the last moment!
The score multiplier decreases if you are too far away from the next turtle. Keep the multiplier high to score more points!
Are you fast enough to keep up?
Tips and Tricks
* You don't need to hold the arrow keys. Just tap the direction of the lane you want to switch to and you'll be moved there automatically.
* If your fingers are fast enough, it is possible to stay in the space between lanes for a short while. That will help you avoid seemingly impossible obstacles:
* You can often squeeze through very tight gaps. Take note of the size of the character's hitboxes:
* In the first stages of the game, a heart spawns whenever you get 1000 points. Don't forget to collect these extra lives, as their spawn rate decreases in the later stages.
Credits
I made this game by myself during July 2022. The game was completely made in Pico-8, a fantasy console that's limited by design. You can learn more about it here: https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php
If you want to grab the Pico-8 cartridge for this game, you can do so from my profile on the Pico-8 BBS: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?uid=45642&mode=carts&sub=2#m
What inspired me was Krystman's (https://krystman.itch.io/) Pico-8 Shmup tutorials on the Lazy Devs YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/LazyDevs), especially when he demonstrated how to create a parallax scrolling star field. You can see that I implemented that sort of thing with the bubbles in this game. I ended up not making a Shmup, though, but I think I'll try it out someday in the future.
The main song of the game is a rendition of Misirlou, a folk song from Eastern Mediterranean countries. I wanted it to sound more like Dick Dale's arrangement of it, which is quintessentially surf rock, but I don't think I've succeeded in capturing that impression. The song is still catchy, though, but some people may feel like it doesn't really fit a marine setting.
Thank you so much for playing! I made this game for the fun of it, but consider making a donation if you enjoyed this little toy I've put together for you.
License
This game is released under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Here's a link to a summary of the license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Comments
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I love how the game felt just right to play! The controls felt really good. I also loved the game's overall aesthetic and the variety of hazards to avoid felt really good
Thank you! :D I'm glad you enjoyed it!
had another go at this...the fish is so funny=) i love it
I'm so glad you enjoyed this game :D I myself, even having played a lot to develop and test, keep coming back to try to get a higher score.
what a fantastic little project , visually striking with all the effects too ! exactly enough to be super appealing and not too much so it gets distracting . I particularly like the bubbles when you're "drafting" behind the turtles !
I think the risk/reward with the multiplier is a fantastic edition too ! really clever design here all around <3
Thank you so much! :D About the "drafting bubbles" I almost didn't include them in the final game, but I felt like something was missing without them. It's a small touch but really makes it more visible to the player that something is hapening when you are behind the turtles.
I'm glad to kept them in ! really effective stuff <3
The music makes it compelling, great entry!
Thank you! I was trying to something similar to surf rock, but I don't think I've achieved that sound. Still, it's a cool track and I'm glad you enjoyed it! :D
Fun game! I like the risk element of trying to hold in the tailgate position for as long as you can before dodging and the parallax effects are nice too.
Thank you! Balancing the risk/reward factor was a lot of fun. Initially, I wasn't going to add the bubble effects, but they made things more interesting in the end :D
Duck
Quack!