RagDoll Development

Gamasutra is running an interview with Mark Healey, developer on the Bullfrog title Dungeon Keeper and, more recently, developer of the Steam-powered beat em' up RagDoll Kung Fu. From the article: "GS: Were you influenced by any gesture interface work in particular? MH: Yes. I remember playing a demo where you could push crash dummies down some stairs, I forget what it was called, maybe it was 'Stair Dismount' or something like that. I almost got a little buzz that you could be like a puppeteer. " Update: 12/06 23:49 GMT by Z : Oops. It's on the Steam service, not made in the Source engine. Wrong (tm).

Comments

Porrasturvat

[TripMaster Monkey]

From TFA:

Yes. I remember playing a demo where you could push crash dummies down some stairs, I forget what it was called, maybe it was 'Stair Dismount' or something like that.

Mark is of course referring to the venerable Porrasturvat (Stair Dismount), which can be found here, along with Rekkaturvat (Truck Dismount) and many, many Porrasturvat mods.

Re:Porrasturvat

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

The TripMaster Money formula:
1. Quote from the article
2. Add a one or two-line inane comment
3. Flip a coin to decide whether or not to use that fu*king anime smile
4. Post a link to another site because obviously the great TMM *always* knows about other links (aka Google)
5. Wait for the boot-licking monions to come in and mindlessly click "Informative" when they see the author without even looking at the post itself
6. ???
7. Karma!!!

Well, since you seem to have figured out the formula, why don't you try it? Slashdot needs more TripMaster Monkeys. If you avoid "quoting from the article," you're rarely on topic. And you may consider your opinions "genuine insight," but most people don't want to hear your unrelated rants.

I was going to mention Porrasturvat (a fun game, I can attest), in much the same manner, until I realized someone else had. That information is relevant to the article. I didn't even notice that the poster was TMM until you pointed it out.

TripMaster Monkey only has name recognition because of his sig. Pick a couple of other good Slashdotters and "stalk" them for a few days - they'll be modded as high as TMM. And have you looked at his comment history? He too has plenty of comments left at 2.

And yes, I have mod points, but since the Porrasturvat post was already at 5, I wasn't going to mod it. (Actually, I probably wouldn't mod anything that's just a relevant link past 4.) If you have excellent karma, you'll get mod points often enough that you can counteract the TMM effect - not by downmodding him, but by looking for other insightful posts.

And I'm not afraid of giving my username.

~Geoffrey

Re:Porrasturvat

[antdude]

Also, here. Very popular in demos scene.

Source?

[thebudgie]

From what I've read about Rag Doll Kung Fu it isn't actually based on the Source engine, but is in fact a standalone game. The only thing it has to do with Source is it being available through Steam.

BlackShades

[KaosConMan]

If you enjoy Dismount, check out BlackShades -- http://www.icculus.org/blackshades/ One of it's unique features is the rag-doll skeletal animation. I found the game play to be cute, graphics to be lacking, but the animations very cool.

Most important question

[nzodd]

Unfortunately, the interviewer failed to ask the most important question.

Does Mark Healey have stairs in his house?

Stair Dismounter

[neo]

Probably one of the most addictive games ever made and yet it was rediculously simple. More games need to come out with bodies just dangling around in death throws.

Re:Rag Doll Kung Fu?

[josteos]

Its entertaining for a bit, but I found it hard to control. Once I figured out how to control it, I was able to make it to the final level in one sitting. Lost its replay value right there.

The "cut scenes" are funny - Mark Healey & friends (badly) acting out their wannabe kung fu dreams. The game was innovative, fun to play, surprising, hyperkinetic and funny. I didn't try multiplayer so I can't comment on it.