User:Athena Hawkins/test2

BowieQuest is a platform game developed and published by scorpistar⭐ for the Wii U console. Released on July 12, 2014, it is the first title developed as part of the Zaxinian Lifts and is therefore the first to feature Bowie alongside various other characters. The game follows Bowie and his family as they chase down the evil monkey overlord Endal and attempt to stop him from converting the land into his own mechanical empire, which he wants to use to rule the galaxy.

BowieQuest is somewhat of a tribute to retro video games, featuring fairly simplistic controls but balances it out with challenging gameplay. BowieQuest has rather cartoonish graphics, taking notes of style from Yoshi's Story as well as the video game Toy Story. The game is designed to be played by anyone of any age, but the game specifically targets the child demographic above all else.

Following the Nintendo Switch presentation shown on January 13th, 2017, BowieQuest was announced to be ported to the console with little to no changes beyond bug fixes. It was released later on March 3rd as one of its launch titles. As promotion for the TimeStrike Neo, it was ported and released there.

As with other early titles, it was re-released by scorpistar⭐.

Plot
Foiled year after year in desperation to steal all of the Western Village's bananas for himself, the infamous outlaw Endal decided it was the last straw and set his Eastern Jungle homeland on fire, tricking Bowie into thinking he was deceased and prompted him to check out the area, having taken advantage of his good-natured heart. Quietly, he sneaked away to a rather isolated and dangerous location while all the teddy bears were stunned, building a large urban area as an all-new habitat for bears and monkeys alike to live in. He eventually sent hypnotic televisions from the base into the village, driving many teddy bears to move out and make the move to the nearby station, taking trains to the Ironworks.

When Bowie arrived, he found the western village in chaos and in control by monkeys, and that everyone was missing. Upon entering the mayor's home -- in fact his wife Flare's -- he found a hypnotic television and that his family was under control by Endal. Having poked their cheeks, he broke their hypnosis and asked what happened on a piece of paper. Flare shrugged and replied that they needed to get moving, or even worse things will happen. Just then, monkey guards infiltrated the home and kidnapped everyone but Bowie, who managed to make an escape. The bears eventually all separate from the guards and began moving towards the station, hoping to make a quick trip to Endal's latest fiasco.

A confrontation at the end of Western Forest revealed Endal, now a monkey overlord wielding a cape and mechanical foot, piloting a large mech, having said that the teddy bears have no chance of defeating him then and that they will witness what he called "doom". The monkey was narrowly defeated, forcing him to retreat to the Chalky Station, and for the rest of the game the player would be following Endal all the way down to his home base. Windi was always behind family and was working her way to catching up to them. At the Ironworks level, all the characters will be reunited as they take on Endal's last couple of mean machines.

At the final battle in the Ironworks, Endal claimed that he would turn the entire world into a machine and that life would benefit off of the new, rusty world, and additionally claimed that the Ironworks was "only the beginning of the new Industrial Revolution". Not wanting Endal to take the whole planet apart, Bowie and family engaged in battle with the monkey overlord and they emerged victorious despite all the odds. Upset by his defeat, Endal challenged Bowie to a fair duel in the Western Forest, and threatened Bowie to follow the rules. Depending on if all the Platinum medals were collected or not, Endal would either unveil a secret plan or flee.

In the extra level, Bowie and his family go through Endal's mechanical space colony together to stop him, but it became up to Windi to defeat Endal and bring his reign of terror into an end. Upon Endal's defeat, the colony fell down to Stitchonia and smashed into the Ironworks, with all living organisms fleeing before the explosive impact. The destruction of the Ironworks resulted in a clean-up project only managed by Endal and his monkey team, having had to clean up all the pollution and destruction they caused to the galaxy. Bowie's family had safely evacuated the giant station before its fate and landed back in their Western Village home, earning the player a happy ending.

Adventure
Adventure Mode is the main mode for the player, from here the player can choose a storyline and play through it, going through ten levels using three overworlds. The objective is to defeat Endal, the evil monkey overlord that threatens the peacefulness of the Western Forest and the galaxy Stitchonia as well. Adventure is also the only mode available initially besides options, and also Bowie is the only one selectable from the beginning. As the player progresses through Adventure and the game's bulk, they'll unlock the rest of the characters and also unlock more modes for themselves.

Trial
In Trial, the player can select any stage they already completed individually without having to play through Adventure mode. The player can choose Time Attack and get through the selected stage as soon as possible, Score Attack to obtain the highest score they can get, or Practice to prepare for a stage. In Practice, the player will have unlimited lives, and the level they're currently trying to work on in Adventure mode is selectable. For the former two options, the player can post their time and score records online and prompt friends to beat them. There are three leaderboards available; friend leaderboards, regional leaderboards, and worldwide leaderboards.

Challenge
If the player chooses Challenge, they can log onto Wi-Fi and take on any of three selected challenges from TimeStrike's website, and the challenges change monthly. Some challenges will task the player with fighting a boss without getting hurt, or not defeating any enemies while moving through the Ironworks. The first three-hundred people who complete a challenge will be rewarded with special items from TimeStrike, like technical demos for future games. On the Nintendo Switch, the system was revamped so that every previous challenge was available from the start and that prizes no longer include money.

Options
Through options, players can change sound settings, test their controller to make sure it works properly, look through logs of in-game enemies or listen to the game's soundtrack. In addition, they can delete their save file and restart from the beginning, or copy it to other files. It is also through here where the player can choose whether or not they get notifications about new challenges from TimeStrike or other players topping them in the time / score attack records.

Gameplay
BowieQuest is designed to be accessible to everybody, meant to be easy to play and enjoy by people of all ages. That being said, the game is notorious for some sharp increases in difficulty as the player progresses throughout the game. The objective of each level is the same; get to the level's end whilst taking advantage of the plethora of twisting and labyrinth-like routes of each stage. A lot of levels have paths that have varying levels of speed and difficulty, although easier, high-speed routes are less common and are subtly hidden from the player. While general gameplay remains largely the same throughout the game, the game's playable characters each have their own quirks and style.

Upon starting the game, the player can select between any of four game files, and can copy/delete them at will. Once a file is chosen, it will be saved into the system memory, and will continuously save as the player progresses in their adventure. The player must configure settings before diving into the game, having to choose the overall difficulty (Beginner, Intermediate, Expert) and choose if they want to have tutorials and maps on or off. The player can choose before starting up a file if they want to go fully solo or have the option for co-op.

If the player pauses the game, they'll have access to a large-scale map detailed with paths. Grey paths have been unexplored, while paths that have been explored are colored with the character's respective one. Paths that have been explored by other characters in the game are marked with gold. If the player has come across a Platinum Medal, it will be added onto the map for future references and possibly future "speedruns". Of course, maps will only display if they've been enabled by the player before starting the game.

All levels are labyrinths of sorts, featuring multiple winding and crossing pathways that often split apart and lead into different areas of the huge stages. Very often, routes designed for different characters overlap and go behind one another, connecting every bit of level together. In some cases, some characters will share pathways and passages, some characters going up passages that others go down. To prevent wasting space, almost all space that a level has is taken up by level design and scenery, but tries to help out the player by having the occasional directional signs.

Each level has lots of candies and medals spread throughout them as collectible objects. They float and rotate in the air and serve different purposes. The candies restore health to the player and come in generic shapes such as lollipops and chocolate bars. If a character is hit with an attack by any enemy, they will comically fall backwards and be temporarily invincible, giving the player time to run away. The bears use a continuous health measurement system; if it's emptied, the player will lose a life and fall off the stage in a fairly humorous manner.

While medals serve as the game's in-game currency and are used to purchase items from the shop. They come in three varieties; Bronze, Silver and Gold. Bronze Medals are the most common but are worth less than the others; while Gold is the most rare yet worth more than the other two. Silver Medals are balanced, being not too common, not too rare, and having a rather average worth. Platinum Medals are unique; there are only 50 of them all in all and will help open up the final level for the player to access once all are collected.

At the end of every level, unless the player is playing as Windi, Endal will descend from the ceiling in a contraption of his, donning a silly disguise that perfectly matches the level's theme. Endal will then proceed to attack the player and try to defeat them. The player is required to try and exploit the weaknesses of his machines and then give it all they got to damage him. Once his health meter goes down to zero, the machine will explode and Endal will fly away, save for the series of final boss fights. It's not always Endal that happens to be the boss, but the general rules still apply.

If enabled upon starting up a file, a second player can follow behind the primary player with the press of the start button on their own controller, able to follow them around and help defeat enemies and stuff. New varieties of paths open up with two players as the two can work together to get to all-new locations. For example, Bowie can toss his partner with his rope and Ashe can bounce under a player to launch them very high. If player two falls too far behind, they will catch up via comical means.

Overworld
Within BowieQuest, there are a total of three overworlds: Sunny Springs, Rainy Ravine, and Thunder Tower. Each of these worlds holds three levels for the player to explore, with a fourth being shared by Rainy Ravine and Thunder Tower. In the overworlds, the player can purchase items from Ace, who is often hidden behind a building and obscured from the player's vision. Alternatively, they can talk to other teddy bears around and related characters. From here, they can take on the game's challenges set up by Bowie's brother, Sabeuxo. The worlds are viewed in a Paper Mario-like perspective.

Sunny Springs is a peaceful location that hosts Western Village, Chalky Station, and Sapphire Quarry. The levels here are fairly easy and don't have much of a challenge. The player can often find money lying around or slot machines located near the Western Village's entrance. Rainy Ravine is a location constantly in war, hosting Ember Woods, Midnight Ruin, and the Underground. Levels have moderate difficulty and have much trickier puzzle bits. It is in the Rainy Ravine where the player can learn history about the Stitchonia galaxy. Thunder Tower is the last hub world, but it can only be accessed by chasing Endal's train to it in the level Railroad Chase. The player must clear Dangerous Rapids and Undersea Labyrinth before being able to access the last level; the Ironworks. These levels are extremely tricky and expect the best skill from the player

Specific playstyles
Each character within BowieQuest is unique, and they are quite different from the other playable characters despite sharing plenty of moves in common. The different characters start at different points in the levels, take different routes from each other quite often, and have access to different rooms. It is necessary to complete each character's story before being able to play the last one, which involves every playable character.

Bowie is the easiest character to use, having average statistics and gameplay, and everything with him is basically straightforward. However, he does offer a little complexity in his variety of tools. Ashe is a slower, gimmicky character who must solve puzzles to move from place to place. Flare is a very fast character who can speed through any stage, but must endure the high number of obstacles in her path. Windi is a stealthy, ninja-like character who must avoid being spotted, for she cannot do much against enemies as she tries to catch up to Bowie and the others.

To see the separate gameplay styles and elements of the different characters, see here for Bowie, here for Ashe, here for Flare, and here for Windi.

Controls

 * Please note that the controls are just the default settings on the Wii U version and that most of the game's button mappings can be changed through options.  BowieQuest features simplistic controls.

Conceptualization and direction
BowieQuest was conceptualized by game director Athena Hawkins at a young age, at the time wanting to make video games much like those from the Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog franchises. The earliest work ever done with such an idea was Hawkins dragging Bowie through her home as a small child and lifting him above obstacles and around corners. She also experimented using two other teddy bears that later became the basis for Ashe and Sabeuxo, but they largely worked like Bowie himself. The idea of a teddy bear-themed game was dropped early on as Hawkins went to play other games, having lost interest in the idea of creating a video game.

At the age of 10, when her family moved across the United States, she found all three teddy bears and began experimenting with them again, but put them in an RPG-like setting against an animal that heavily resembled a Yukon wolf, who would eventually be replaced by a monkey that would later become known as Bananas. The ideas were notably more complex and varied than her previous ideas in the past, but the ideas remained fairly generic; the teddy bears worked very alike one another and were battling monsters based off of food. One of the concepts, Appleton, made it into the final working of BowieQuest.

After Hawkins' grandma personally handed her and her siblings three extra stuffed animals, she immediately used them for her Bowie project. The three animals were two extra teddy bears and a stuffed monkey, with the bears named Samantha and Shelia and the monkey being named Bananas. "Bananas" replaced the wolf antagonist and took up the mantle as the series' antagonist, and continued holding this position up to the game's official release years later. Inspired by Pokémon, Hawkins gave each teddy bear a unique element to use in combat, which would have aided the series' early RPG focus. The name of the project at the time was Bowie Adventure.

These concepts remained largely the same up until Hawkins turned 15, removing the "food monsters" and overall RPG elements from the core concept of the project, but retained the elemental powers of the teddy bears and the plot's skeletal outline. The teddy bears were given unique advantages and disadvantages so to separate them from each other. Each was given a unique ability as well. However, the concepts were poorly conceived by Hawkins' youngest sibling as well as some of her other friends at the time, and Samantha was especially criticized as showing "female oppression" with her use of a frying pan and being one of the few female characters in the project. This is the first time the name "BowieQuest" was used for the project.

To combat the criticism and supposedly fix up the whole thing, Hawkins once again changed the direction of the series, renaming multiple characters and making the atmosphere dark and gritty in comparison to the project's previous incarnations. Guns were added as were multiple dark themes, designs became more malevolent and the project quick edged towards a much more mature theme. Despite compliments on improvements to general gameplay, the general direction was still criticized for being confusing and then for becoming "edgy" for no reason. After years of planning out the project, Hawkins put it to a halt, but would come back to it later in a year and a half.

Nearing the age of 17, Hawkins quickly threw together a completely new project. Bananas, renamed Endal in that project, created a huge city known as the Ironworks and was set on dominating the world using secret weapons and huge machines, with the goal being to stop him. The idea of the project being a game was temporarily scrapped, and Hawkins made it into a cartoon pitch. While the idea was liked a lot, Hawkins decided that it didn't work for her and she scrapped the project once more, returning to the project in just one more year to create a game out of it again, but with multiple changes to the formula.

Over the age of 18, Hawkins developed the final concept of BowieQuest, making it a child-friendly platformer game with unique gameplay styles between four playable characters, with the objective being to stop Endal from world domination and industrialization. The game took a notably more western approach, with Bowie and family becoming the managers of a town in the Western Forest. Endal became both an overlord and a reckless outlaw, and his objectives almost remain the same. The project was developed not to rival the gaming giants, but to be a retro-appeal title with multiple references to classical Nintendo games as well as several games from the classic side of the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

Gameplay development
Confident that the game would sell well if done right, Athena Hawkins formed an independent video game company named TimeStrike in 2011, assembling a team of roughly forty people to work on the game. The game originally was going to use sprites and was intended to look like a game one could play on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System or the Sega Mega Drive. However, the team couldn't exactly replicate Hawkins' needs, unable to create a base game that successfully targets the child demographic. Ditching sprites, Hawkins moved the team into hand-drawn animation, wanting to bring a taste of "good old cartoons from the early twentieth century", taking inspiration from the likes of Looney Tunes and Popeye.

Hawkins set up a tough challenge for the team; to sport a yarn-like and papery look for the worlds and levels while also making it look hand-drawn. She decided that the game should also have a retro appeal to it, having simplistic gameplay and controls, yet making each character different and fun to play as like one would expect in modern titles. The slowly growing development team avoided using 3D models in fear of them decreasing the overall quality of the project, as 3D models "tended to be rather messy and ugly when used incorrectly or out of place" in the words of the game's director. Hawkins decided to give the player many routes to discover, with paths twisting in and out from each other so that there'd be no unused space or wasted material anywhere within the levels.

In very late 2012, to test to see if the game would appeal to the youngest of children, Hawkins set up an experiment and invited some friends to her headquarters with the aim of seeing if the game was appealing to their children. Much to Hawkins' pleasure and excitement, the test succeeded, and the development team boosted work on the game, finishing up the level concepts and enemy designs. By this point, TimeStrike's company contained at least a hundred and twenty people, many of which were working on the BowieQuest project, with concentration being put onto various other new projects too, for Hawkins believed that BowieQuest would pave the way to success.

The musical score for BowieQuest was greatly inspired by the 1993 video game Sonic the Hedgehog CD, somewhat trying to replicate the bouncy and moody tracks of the Japanese score. However, the game has its own share of pop and rock music greatly inspired by the American score for that game. A good portion of the tracks are metal in style or generally creepy. According to Hawkins, some of the more "weird" themes were inspired by the 1994 video game Earthbound ' s soundtrack. She also said that the inspired themes also added to the general "retro appeal" of the project, and hoped that players would find similarities between certain tracks.

The game was officially revealed to the general public in E3 of 2013 using TimeStrike's press conference, where they also announced that they had multiple other games under the works. They showcased BowieQuest's first three levels and showed off the gameplay of Bowie, Ashe and Flare, leaving Windi out of the scene for the moment. Said conference also unveiled bosses END-01 and END-03, and showed shadows of multiple NPCs, which included Sabeuxo, Ace, Fudgebuckets, Thomas, and one of the extra playable character Windi. The multiple modes of BowieQuest were also explored, with the Adventure and Trial modes particularly highlighted. Hawkins announced that it will be available for the Wii U in either mid-2014 or later that year.

Multiple ideas didn't make it into BowieQuest. For example, upgrades for the characters were intended to be in the game, but they were scrapped and most of them were made into default abilities for the cast to use. Elemental attacks and combo chains were also intended to be used, but they were considered "pacebreakers" and they were scrapped, although Flare retains being able to use fire in several of her moves. Online multiplayer, minigames, and miniature puzzle games were also discussed, but they were all equally removed from the game as Hawkins feared that they would break the game's pace and weren't "very necessary to begin with".

BowieQuest was finished in May of 2014, and was released to the Wii U on July 12th that year following some bug fixes and graphical polishing. It sold well and helped with TimeStrike's presence in the gaming market.

Style
BowieQuest is specifically designed to appeal to a young audience, with very colorful environments and family-friendly enemies, sporting a look that's inspired by crafting and knitting material, featuring lots of yarn and papery scenery. The game has a look that's not too distant from that of Yoshi's Story, although the graphics in BowieQuest are for the most part realistic and don't take place in a storybook. Despite the kid-friendly nature, the game still has a few violent approaches meant to appeal to adults, such as fluff exploding from enemies on defeat and scary, yet subtle global messages.

The stage design for BowieQuest is all over the place, using Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Metroid Fusion in particular as its inspirations for stage design. The levels of the game have loads of different pathways that twist and turn around each other, and are designed to appeal to the pace of any player, from speedrunners to new players. The faster areas of the game are more straightforward and are normally a breeze to cross, while the slower areas are focused around puzzles and often contain hidden routes for the player to explore. The huge, sprawling level design is supposed to imply the overall size of the in-game universe, Stitchonia.

Instead of using models or 3D graphics, BowieQuest makes excellent use of a high-definition, hand-drawn look that borrows design inspiration from various old 1930s cartoons. The game has a lot of retro appeal to it; for example, the majority of Endal's machines are styled after classical Nintendo bosses, but with a catch; he tends to make hybrid fusions of them, often rendering them unrecognizable. There are numerous other references to other Nintendo franchises, such as enemies based off of Goombas and balloons that bear striking resemblance to the Kirby character.

The game's soundtrack is, for the most part, quite atmospheric yet upbeat in tone. Each individual tune and sound effect blends in well with the game's overall feel, being filled with bouncy and moody tracks. A lot of the music falls under pop and rock genres, and there's even hints of rap here and there. Some music is metal in style, but those tracks aren't too common to come across in the game and are done in such a way that they still fit in with the other tracks. BowieQuest also has its fair share of foreboding or otherwise creepy tracks, but they are more common closer to the game's climax.

Levels
Each of the game's ten levels are quite unique, having their own tilesets and gimmicks to separate them from the others. Levels "evolve" as the player gets closer to the end, often featuring background changes, new tiles, and new obstacles to face, and potentially brand-new enemies. The music will also change, often being a more upbeat or emotionally challenging theme that usually ends with a great, powerful climax. While the amount of levels is rather small, they are so large and full of secrets so to add lots of replayability to the game.

Bestiary
Throughout the game, the teddy bears encounter a slew of different and unique enemies, although some are just variations of old foes with new tactics or stronger designs. There are one hundred enemies overall, separated into classes of four, and the bestiary tracks down where these enemies reside and gives off a bit of flavor text regarding them. The bestiary exists in-game too; if Bowie comes across an enemy and defeats it, it will be logged into his notebook later for the player to view whenever they hit pause. All entries in this list are enemies that can be defeated, unless noted otherwise.

Bosses
At the end of every level, a boss battle will occur, the case usually being Endal dropping down from the ceiling in a machine styled after classical Nintendo bosses. During the fights, Endal cries out battle quotes as he tries to bring down the player. These should be treated like huge enemies, only with lots more health and variety in their strategy. Once all health is brought down to zero, Endal will give up and retreat.

In Windi's story, the boss line-up is quite different until she reaches the Ironworks. The bosses she faces up to that point are unique and only faced by her, forcing the player to exploit her various talents in order to bring down these powerful foes. However, the general rules still apply; depleting all of a boss' health will bring it down, allowing Windi to continue on forth.

Challenges
In Challenge Mode, the player can take on any provided challenges from the TimeStrike company to earn special awards, such as tech demos for upcoming games, very rare items that are only released by that company, and in some cases real money to spend on the Nintendo eShop. However, only the first three-hundred people who complete the challenges will earn big prizes, or people that break the world record in terms of score or time. If the challenge is completed otherwise, then the player will likely receive a free version of an expensive item in BowieQuest or secret information about the game's development and characters. The challenges change monthly, with all three being replaced every first day of the month.

On the Nintendo Switch, the system was revamped so that every challenge was available at the same time and winning each challenge earns you a tech demo or a BowieQuest-related product. As there is no competition for prizes anymore, players can no longer receive the $8.00 bonuses. Completing all challenges on the Switch activates a secret trigger that adds a brand-new epilogue to the game, being in-fact a trailer for its sequel.

Shop
The non-platinum medals the player obtains throughout the game can be used to purchase items from a shady Beorn named Ace, who tries to convince the player that she is indeed a teddy bear. Behind any one shady building, the player can locate Ace, who will literally unfold a shop up from the ground, put her hands on the counter and lay out three of her items for the player to see. If the player talks to Ace, the player will be able to select and purchase items assuming that they're able to buy them. Items come in all sorts of varieties, from one-time power-ups to permanent statistic boosts which can be enabled and disabled at will.

Ballot
On September 21st of 2014, TimeStrike updated their website to include a sole ballot with the aim of figuring out the most beloved characters and stages. According to director Athena Hawkins, the results will be used as future reference in terms of crossovers and potential continuation of BowieQuest's timeline. BowieQuest's future, according to Hawkins, is somewhat dependent on the given results, as the team doesn't want to develop a sequel to the title right away and wants to work on a mini-project before working on such. TimeStrike is hoping that votes are spread out almost evenly among the stages so to give them a challenge later on.

Here is the ballot.

Trivia

 * BowieQuest's name was meant to have a sub-title to it, such as "Rise of Endal" or "Nature vs Machine". However, the simple name "BowieQuest" just stuck, because director Athena Hawkins wanted everything to be "simple" and not "overly complicated for no apparent reason".
 * The humor style was shaped by old cartoons, especially by Looney Tunes and a lot of classic Hanna-Barbera shows.  Some of the style is also reflected off from the television show The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, although this is only reflected in the character of Endal and his two servants.
 * Initially, BowieQuest was intended to be much grittier, as shown in a sneak peak for the game.  This was negatively received however, and overwhelming dislike caused TimeStrike to tone down the game severely, only saving a few of its elements.  It went from a first-person shooter to a simple platformer within two months.
 * The use of multiple characters with varying playstyles was inspired by Sonic Adventure, which featured four main playable characters with different functions and gameplay styles.  However, BowieQuest works to make sure that none of these characters are a chore to play or "overly frustrating".
 * The cast of playable characters have different abilities and gameplay styles which were inspired by other Nintendo characters.  For example, Bowie has simple and easy use to gameplay, similar to Mario.  Ashe has gimmicky, puzzle gameplay filled with mosnter slashing, much like Link.  Flare has gameplay that's supposed to reference that of Sonic the Hedgehog.  Lastly, Windi's segments are meant to be similar to those of Zero Suit Samus.
 * According to director Hawkins, the enemy names were intentionally awful: "They were purposefully bad because Endal himself is lazy with names.  It's supposed to appeal to the more childish humor of the game.  If I were developing anything different, I would have been more clever with names."