The Dink Network

Dink Racer

From the COTPATD project.
January 3rd, 2003
v1.00
Score : 5.0 fair
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Christiaan
Bard They/Them Netherlands
Lazy bum 
Dink Racer... I had this idea for a while too, bit then I realised it just wouldn't work. The gameplay would be too boring and would just be no fun. Now, Joeri has actually made a Dink racing game, and I must say, it isn't all that bad what he made out of this.
The scrolling tiles are nice, and the idea of dodging rocks are basic, and remind me of these classic handheld games.
It is nice you can grab gold, to be able to get some sort of high score, which adds replay value.
So far so good, but there are just some things I didn't like at all.

First of all, graphically, the game fails to impress, hardly even passing 'average'. All levels look just the same.
Next, the rocks. A good idea - rocks on a road, but again, every level is the same, same rocks, only more of them.
Also too little music.
Like I said, you just can't make a very entertaining Dink Racer, it would just grow boring.

Some suggestions though, a perfect Dink Racer would be like this game, but then:
- Have different graphics for different tracks
- Have more music
- Not only rocks, but other things as well (cars?)
- Hall of Fame, or something like that

With all these things added, I would give Dink Racer somewhere near the 7, which isn't even a great score. Just forget the race genre, make rpg's -or at least fun genres- and no racing titles.

GRAPHICS 5: Not very good. Too little variation is fatal for a game like this.
SOUND 6.5: Not too bad, but just too little, which adds to the boredom.
GAMEPLAY 5.5: Somewhat fun, though way too repetive.
LASTING APPEAL 4: Grabbing gold is a good idea, but too little variation makes the game virtually boring.

TOTAL: 5.0

Not a bad attempt at a race game, but could be improved heavily
September 24th, 2002
v1.00
Score : 6.0 fair
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Binirit
Peasant She/Her
 
It was a nice surprise when I saw this arcade-like game, and it was indeed fun playing it.

Map and graphics: The map is done nicely, as is the title screen. The road really gives the impression of speed.

Good: The piles of gold are somewhat similar to enemies; you get experience points for them, and you enter a new level once you have a certain amount of points. You also get more lifemax with every new level.
When I played the game for the first time I thought you could only move from left to right and vice versa and since I was close to the top of the screen is was quite hard to dodge the rocks. But then I discovered that you can move Dink in all directions – it is fun seeing Dink slide down without moving - and that made the game real easy. After level 4 it gets a bit harder, but not much. But you can choose the difficulty level by standing real close to the top of the screen or instead all the way down at the bottom of the screen.

Not so good: I encountered a bug: after loading a saved game the game crashes. And the first time there was no music. And you can not load a saved game when you restart the game (after the game crashed); only when you get killed you can load a saved game. After a while the game gets boring and I quit after reaching level 4.

Fit for: If you want to play a fun arcade game for a couple of minutes, this is the one to download.
September 19th, 2002
v1.00
Score : 5.5 fair
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Simeon
Peasant He/Him Netherlands
Any fool can use a computer. Many do. 
Well, the whole idea is to get the gold and avoid the rocks. There are a few things that could be done for a possible next version but I'll first tell something about this version. Dink walks on a road and he has to get the gold. Each time you get gold, you also get experience and you can go up a level. There are more rocks on the road when you've reached a higher level but that's about it. However, the rocks don't move at the same speed as the road so they look like moving rocks, not like rocks that are really there. The game never gets hard, there are just more rocks to avoid.

This version doesn't offer much, only the basic concept of the game. The game does what it should do but it feels a bit like it isn't really done. For example, it would've been nice if there was more variation in the rocks and landscape. The game would be much nicer if there are trees and bushes. Of course, these should also move. Then you can think of things like more things to pick up, not only gold but also things like the characters of 'Dink Racer' and if you got them all, you'd get more gold if you've reached the end of the level. The levels could end somewhere, like Dink should do only five levels on a screen, then he could be teleported to an other landscape (like snow), to keep the game interesting. And what about the gold? Perhaps Dink can buy Boots somewhere so he can walk faster, or special power-ups to remove rocks. I mean, a later version could be much more than only the basic concept and it's an arcade game, so why not?. The author could also think about High Scores. The game would load the savegame with the scores and the player could try to get a new high score. Gee, looking at what I just wrote, this version really isn't great

There's also a bug and it happened when I died. Don't worry, that's just to test the game, the game is very easy so it's not really possible to die. Anyway, I just walked into the very first rocks and died. I didn't get any gold or anything, so I also didn't achieve something. I continued the game at level 1 but then Dink just freezes (he doesn't idle, he just freezes).
I should also say that there are some minor errors in the readme. The game should be started with Dink.exe -game racer (not with -game dink) and there's only one new midi, not two. Also, the author's e-mail is incomplete.

It's a nice start for an arcade game but it could be much more. The score I've given is just for this version, if the author makes a better version, the score could easily go up.
February 27th, 2006
v1.00
Score : 5.0 fair
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CastMan
Peasant He/Him Brazil
Some day I'll finish my mod... Some day... 
It´s like the old arcade game, you have to avoide the stones and grab the gold.

Map: Only one block repeating,repeating,repeating... 3.0
Story: The game don´t have one 2.0
Graphics: Only a road,(Black with white stripes)in a block with grass...5.0
Good: When get faster the game is funny. 8.0
Overall: 5.0

The game is good for a couple minutes.
December 8th, 2004
v1.00
Score : 6.8 fair
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Glennglenn
Peasant He/Him Norway
GlennGlenn doesn't want a custom title. 
This D-Mod is actually pretty cool, but it isn`t a game you can play for hours, actually I played it in 5 minuttes and then I quited the game because it was so boring. But what this D-Mod will get good scores on is the scripts. The scripts were compiled so I couldn`t see them, but I know when I see a good scripted D-Mod. and it isn`t easy to make this kinda D-Mod
September 16th, 2004
v1.00
Score : 2.0 horrible
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DinkKiller
Peasant He/Him United States
The world could always use more heroes 
It's like an old arcade game. Avoid the rocks and get the gold. Zzzzzzzz. Not my idea of fun though. It's cool and entertaining for 5 minutes or less. Please do a favor and don't download this.

Story What story? It's an arcade game. Sheesh 0.0
Map Same over and over and over and over. 0.0
Graphics Not too bad but not much 3.0
Midi's One midi playing forever 1.0
Overall 2.0

Please doooon't download this. It's a waste of your time.
September 10th, 2004
v1.00
Score : 1.5 horrible
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Krazy
Peasant He/Him
 
In this Dmod you run around a badly drawn black board with falling lines collecting gold that falls down and avoiding rocks also fall. It's extremly boring. Not recomended to anyone
August 24th, 2003
v1.00
Score : 6.5 fair
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SimonK
Peasant He/Him Australia
 
An arcade style DMOD in which Dink is running along a rock trying to avoid rocks and pick up gold. And that’s about it. It quickly gets tedious.

I wasn’t impressed with the road graphics, nor with the fact that the rocks and gold moved at a different speed to the white line markings. I think a road that is paved or dirt would’ve been better and more suited to Dink’s graphics. Also rocks that bounced or other rocks hitting more stationary ones would have been interesting, and what about slippery spots like mud or something, plus picking up other objects like speed boots or something like them to help in slippery spots.

Oh well, it was interesting for a couple of minutes.

6.5 out of 10