Dino Run
Encyclopedia
Dino Run is an independent Flash game created by PixelJAM
and XGen Studios, in which the player steers a dinosaur through increasingly dangerous side-scrolling landscapes to escape an impending wall of doom. The game uses simple pixel art
and 8-bit sound to replicate the style of 1980s arcade games. Recently, an improved version of the online game called Dino Run SE was released and can be bought for $3, on the Macintosh
, PC
, and Linux
.
is controlled with the arrow keys
. The object of the game is escape a wall of doom called the apocalypse (a quickly moving wall of ash debris caused by meteor
s) and to make it to a 'dino sanctuary' alive. Along the way, the player can choose to collect eggs and devour bones to advance their dinosaur's evolution. There are four levels of difficulty
.
or goal, they receive awards of bones, DNA, and points for your stats, as well as a trophy. Trophies can be viewed in the awards section of the stats menu, and they come in three levels depending on the level of skill the trophy was achieved with: Bronze
, Silver
, and Gold
.
- These are collected by the dinosaur. The player receives 1 DNA for every 8 eggs collected.
Dactyl Egg - These drop from pterodactyls as they fly. They are worth ten normal eggs.
Super Egg - These are collected for milestones. Collecting a super egg gives you a bonus of bones and DNA.
DNA
- DNA is collected to evolve the dino. You can upgrade the speed
, acceleration
, jump
, and strength
.
Bone
s - Bones are collected by the dino when he eats up smaller creatures or runs through a dinosaur skeleton. With bones the player can purchase extras such as desktop wallpapers, demos, and MP3
s.
Flowers - These give you various bonuses. Duck to collect the Speed bonus, Jump to collect the Jump bonus and run normally to collect the strength bonus.
(The Raptor) - This is the main character, which you name and control (and customize if you donate to PixelJam). He can also be upgraded by collecting DNA.
Stegosaurus
(Stegos) - These dinosaurs walk slowly away from the wall of doom. The player must jump over them to get pass them.
Triceratops
(Triceras) - These stampede
, often in large groups. The player must jump over them to avoid being trampled.
Parasaurolophus
(Paras) - These quick orange dinosaurs run faster than the velociraptor. The raptor can jump on their backs to pass other dinosaurs. They will crush any eggs they run across.
Ankylosaurus
(Ankylos) - These appear very rarely. They are blue and move their spiked tails up and down. If the raptor is on the tail when it moves up, the raptor is flung forward.
Pteranodon
(Dactyls) - The pterosaurs fly above the player and drop dactyl eggs. Pterosaurs can sometimes pick up the dino and carry it for a short distance. (Pteros) - These red-hot Pterodactyls fly in the opposite direction (right to left) low to the ground and try to hit the Raptor, knocking him back.
Brachiosaurus
(Brachis) - They are usually stuck in tar pits. They do not move but can be climbed to jump onto hills.
Diplodocus
(Diplos) - They appear in level five and in some speed runs. They stretch their necks to help the dino across pits.
Compsognathidae
(Runners/Lizards) - These tiny little dinosaurs can be gobbled up by the raptor.
to the dino sanctuary. It has four levels of difficulty
.
Easy - In Easy there are six levels, level one, level two, level three, level four, level five, and apocalypse. The dino sanctuary here is a small cave, containing some edible Compsognathidae and a few other raptors, and a nest of eggs.
Medium - Medium renames the Easy mode's Apocalypse to Level Six, and adds a new, more difficult Apocalypse after it. The levels become longer and harder than in Easy. It has one more super egg than in easy. The apocalypse level now has a secret entrance
to a bonus level. The dino sanctuary at the end of this level is larger and has a small cave corridor leading to it, and it contains many other dinosaurs and also many Compsognathidae who have a spawn point. There are lots of eggs too. Also, in medium and hard mode there are secret survival options, through a hidden entrance. One is simply a cave, while in the other you must jump into a light, by a floating dino symbolic of god. The screen then changes to paradise, which is an island with no doom wave.
Hard - Hard levels are longer and more difficult than in Medium. The sanctuary here is an enormous cave, containing a large amount of spawning Compsognathidae, worms and other dinosaurs, and also has a long cave corridor leading up to it. Many nests of eggs are here.
Insane - Insane adds a short level after apocalypse called "Beyond Apocalypse". The dino sanctuary for this level is a large, snow-globe-like spaceship containing every single dinosaur in the game except for the Diplodocus, each species having its own platform except for the two massive brachiosauruses which stand at the bottom. This sanctuary has many nests of eggs, edible Compsognathidae and also has the largest super egg in the game inside it on the Ankylosaurus' platform. After you beat insane difficulty, the snow-globe spaceship will appear in the background on the main menu, floating in the sky behind the raptor, and the Planet D Speedrun will be unlocked for playing.
s recognizable from challenge mode, and they can have different kinds of sanctuaries depending on the run. Items such as super eggs and
bones can still be collected. The levels of difficulty are the same as in challenge. when all speedruns are completed on medium, hard, or insane, the player unlocks a crown of bronze, silver, or gold for the raptor to wear as a hat.
PixelJAM Games
PixelJam Games is an independent video game studio. One of their games, Gamma Bros., was nominated for "Best Web Browser Game" at the 2007 Independent Games Festival.-Games:...
and XGen Studios, in which the player steers a dinosaur through increasingly dangerous side-scrolling landscapes to escape an impending wall of doom. The game uses simple pixel art
Pixel art
Pixel art is a form of digital art, created through the use of raster graphics software, where images are edited on the pixel level. Graphics in most old computer and video games, graphing calculator games, and many mobile phone games are mostly pixel art.- History :The term pixel art was first...
and 8-bit sound to replicate the style of 1980s arcade games. Recently, an improved version of the online game called Dino Run SE was released and can be bought for $3, on the Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
, PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
, and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
.
Gameplay
The dinosaurDinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
is controlled with the arrow keys
Arrow keys
Cursor movement keys or arrow keys are buttons on a computer keyboard that are either programmed or designated to move the cursor in a specified direction....
. The object of the game is escape a wall of doom called the apocalypse (a quickly moving wall of ash debris caused by meteor
METEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
s) and to make it to a 'dino sanctuary' alive. Along the way, the player can choose to collect eggs and devour bones to advance their dinosaur's evolution. There are four levels of difficulty
Difficulty level
In general usage, difficulty level refers to the relative difficulty of completing a task or objective.In computer and video games, the term specifically delineates the ease or difficulty with which an average user may complete a game or a part of a game. Arcade games as well as many early console...
.
Milestones
When the player completes a certain milestoneMilestone
A milestone is one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road or boundary at intervals of one mile or occasionally, parts of a mile. They are typically located at the side of the road or in a median. They are alternatively known as mile markers, mileposts or mile posts...
or goal, they receive awards of bones, DNA, and points for your stats, as well as a trophy. Trophies can be viewed in the awards section of the stats menu, and they come in three levels depending on the level of skill the trophy was achieved with: Bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
, Silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
, and Gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
.
Cheats
These are codes that you can activate to have a certain something to get a finish to the level.- Super Strength - calcium
- Mega Jump - leapinliz
- Top Speed - dinoracer
- Goodbye Doom - explore
- Low Gravity - astrosaur.
- Boulders = Balloons - goofballshi
- Hat Code: don8tosaur (revealed to users who donate)
- Extra Hat Code: totinos
Mods
Unlike other cheats, these make it more difficult to navigate through the levels. You get an end of level bonus when the mods are enabled.- Lights Out - goodbyesun
- Meteor Storm - smokey
Items
EggEgg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
- These are collected by the dinosaur. The player receives 1 DNA for every 8 eggs collected.
Dactyl Egg - These drop from pterodactyls as they fly. They are worth ten normal eggs.
Super Egg - These are collected for milestones. Collecting a super egg gives you a bonus of bones and DNA.
DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
- DNA is collected to evolve the dino. You can upgrade the speed
Speed
In kinematics, the speed of an object is the magnitude of its velocity ; it is thus a scalar quantity. The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance traveled by the object divided by the duration of the interval; the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as...
, acceleration
Acceleration
In physics, acceleration is the rate of change of velocity with time. In one dimension, acceleration is the rate at which something speeds up or slows down. However, since velocity is a vector, acceleration describes the rate of change of both the magnitude and the direction of velocity. ...
, jump
Jumping
Jumping or leaping is a form of locomotion or movement in which an organism or non-living mechanical system propels itself through the air along a ballistic trajectory...
, and strength
Physical strength
Physical strength is the ability of a person or animal to exert force on physical objects using muscles. Increasing physical strength is the goal of strength training.-Overview:...
.
Bone
Bone
Bones are rigid organs that constitute part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals. Bone tissue is a type of dense connective tissue...
s - Bones are collected by the dino when he eats up smaller creatures or runs through a dinosaur skeleton. With bones the player can purchase extras such as desktop wallpapers, demos, and MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
s.
Flowers - These give you various bonuses. Duck to collect the Speed bonus, Jump to collect the Jump bonus and run normally to collect the strength bonus.
Characters
VelociraptorVelociraptor
Velociraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur that existed approximately 75 to 71 million years ago during the later part of the Cretaceous Period. Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in the past. The type species is V. mongoliensis; fossils...
(The Raptor) - This is the main character, which you name and control (and customize if you donate to PixelJam). He can also be upgraded by collecting DNA.
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus is a genus of armored stegosaurid dinosaur. They lived during the Late Jurassic period , some 155 to 150 million years ago in what is now western North America. In 2006, a specimen of Stegosaurus was announced from Portugal, showing that they were present in Europe as well...
(Stegos) - These dinosaurs walk slowly away from the wall of doom. The player must jump over them to get pass them.
Triceratops
Triceratops
Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur which lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, around 68 to 65 million years ago in what is now North America. It was one of the last dinosaur genera to appear before the great Cretaceous–Paleogene...
(Triceras) - These stampede
Stampede
A stampede is an act of mass impulse among herd animals or a crowd of people in which the herd collectively begins running with no clear direction or purpose....
, often in large groups. The player must jump over them to avoid being trampled.
Parasaurolophus
Parasaurolophus
Parasaurolophus is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived in what is now North America during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 76.5–73 million years ago. It was an herbivore that walked both as a biped and a quadruped. Three species are recognized: P. walkeri , P. tubicen, and the...
(Paras) - These quick orange dinosaurs run faster than the velociraptor. The raptor can jump on their backs to pass other dinosaurs. They will crush any eggs they run across.
Ankylosaurus
Ankylosaurus
Ankylosaurus is a genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur, containing one species, A. magniventris...
(Ankylos) - These appear very rarely. They are blue and move their spiked tails up and down. If the raptor is on the tail when it moves up, the raptor is flung forward.
Pteranodon
Pteranodon
Pteranodon , from the Late Cretaceous geological period of North America in present day Kansas, Alabama, Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota, was one of the largest pterosaur genera and had a maximum wingspan of over...
(Dactyls) - The pterosaurs fly above the player and drop dactyl eggs. Pterosaurs can sometimes pick up the dino and carry it for a short distance. (Pteros) - These red-hot Pterodactyls fly in the opposite direction (right to left) low to the ground and try to hit the Raptor, knocking him back.
Brachiosaurus
Brachiosaurus
Brachiosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Jurassic Morrison Formation of North America. It was first described by Elmer S. Riggs in 1903 from fossils found in the Grand River Canyon of western Colorado, in the United States. Riggs named the dinosaur Brachiosaurus altithorax,...
(Brachis) - They are usually stuck in tar pits. They do not move but can be climbed to jump onto hills.
Diplodocus
Diplodocus
Diplodocus , or )is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a Neo-Latin term derived from Greek "double" and "beam", in reference to its double-beamed chevron bones...
(Diplos) - They appear in level five and in some speed runs. They stretch their necks to help the dino across pits.
Compsognathidae
Compsognathidae
Compsognathidae is a family of small carnivorous dinosaurs, generally conservative in form, from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods. Compsognathids lie at or near the origin of feathers—skin impressions are known from four genera, Compsognathus, Sinosauropteryx, Sinocalliopteryx, and Juravenator...
(Runners/Lizards) - These tiny little dinosaurs can be gobbled up by the raptor.
Challenge
Challenge mode is a single-player mode in which the dinosaur must run through levelsLevel (video gaming)
A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...
to the dino sanctuary. It has four levels of difficulty
Difficulty level
In general usage, difficulty level refers to the relative difficulty of completing a task or objective.In computer and video games, the term specifically delineates the ease or difficulty with which an average user may complete a game or a part of a game. Arcade games as well as many early console...
.
Easy - In Easy there are six levels, level one, level two, level three, level four, level five, and apocalypse. The dino sanctuary here is a small cave, containing some edible Compsognathidae and a few other raptors, and a nest of eggs.
Medium - Medium renames the Easy mode's Apocalypse to Level Six, and adds a new, more difficult Apocalypse after it. The levels become longer and harder than in Easy. It has one more super egg than in easy. The apocalypse level now has a secret entrance
Secret passage
Secret passages, also commonly referred to as hidden passages or secret tunnels, are hidden routes used for stealthy travel. Such passageways are sometimes inside buildings leading to secret rooms. Others allow occupants to enter or exit buildings without being seen...
to a bonus level. The dino sanctuary at the end of this level is larger and has a small cave corridor leading to it, and it contains many other dinosaurs and also many Compsognathidae who have a spawn point. There are lots of eggs too. Also, in medium and hard mode there are secret survival options, through a hidden entrance. One is simply a cave, while in the other you must jump into a light, by a floating dino symbolic of god. The screen then changes to paradise, which is an island with no doom wave.
Hard - Hard levels are longer and more difficult than in Medium. The sanctuary here is an enormous cave, containing a large amount of spawning Compsognathidae, worms and other dinosaurs, and also has a long cave corridor leading up to it. Many nests of eggs are here.
Insane - Insane adds a short level after apocalypse called "Beyond Apocalypse". The dino sanctuary for this level is a large, snow-globe-like spaceship containing every single dinosaur in the game except for the Diplodocus, each species having its own platform except for the two massive brachiosauruses which stand at the bottom. This sanctuary has many nests of eggs, edible Compsognathidae and also has the largest super egg in the game inside it on the Ankylosaurus' platform. After you beat insane difficulty, the snow-globe spaceship will appear in the background on the main menu, floating in the sky behind the raptor, and the Planet D Speedrun will be unlocked for playing.
Speedrun
Speedruns are single-level games that can be purchased and played in the options/speedruns menu. This menu also allows the player to switch between challenge mode and Speedrun mode. Speedruns contain landmarkLandmark
This is a list of landmarks around the world.Landmarks may be split into two categories - natural phenomena and man-made features, like buildings, bridges, statues, public squares and so forth...
s recognizable from challenge mode, and they can have different kinds of sanctuaries depending on the run. Items such as super eggs and
bones can still be collected. The levels of difficulty are the same as in challenge. when all speedruns are completed on medium, hard, or insane, the player unlocks a crown of bronze, silver, or gold for the raptor to wear as a hat.
Multiplayer
In Multiplayer Mode, you can create an account, sign in, or play as a guest. Games are created on one of three available servers, Dino Central, Stoneyville, and Bonedocks. You can also communicate in the game servers, either by private chat, or in the chat box.External links
- PixelJam.com
- Xgen Studios.com
- Interview with Pixeljam about creation of Dino Run from TheHappyMedium
- XGen Studios - Online Flash Games - Dino Run: Multiplayer Edition