Spelunky
Encyclopedia
Spelunky is an indie action adventure game created by Derek Yu
and released as freeware
for Microsoft Windows
and Xbox 360
. The player controls a spelunker
who explores a series of caves while collecting treasure, saving damsels, and dodging traps. Version 1.0 was released on 1 September 2009, along with confirmation that the game would be coming to Xbox Live Arcade
. The source code was released on December 25, 2009, along with Version 1.1.
) and items.
Enemies include animals like bats, snakes and spiders of varying sizes, other characters, and monsters like yeti
, man-eating plant
s and ghost
s. The player can collect many items, mainly gold and jewels which add to the player's score, but also useful objects including bombs, guns, climbing gear and archaeological artefacts. Some of the latter have supernatural abilities, including kapala
s, hedjet
s, crystal skull
s and golden ankh
s, though many of these special items can only be gained through secret methods, like combining other items together. Some items may be purchased or stolen from shops scattered about the caves, though the shopkeeper becomes a powerful enemy if you steal from him.
The player can also encounter damsels in distress
trapped in the caves, who can be picked up and carried to an exit. Successfully doing so returns health to the player. It's possible to unlock the damsel as a playable character; gameplay is identical, except that the player encounters spelunkers to rescue. Another unlockable character is the "Tunnel Man", who possesses a mattock
instead of a whip.
The XBox Live Arcade version of the game will introduce local multiplayer (co-op and deathmatch) for up to four players. There will be at least three additional explorer characters.
Spelunky also includes a level editor, in which players can create their own non-random levels to share with others.
, it also adds elements from the roguelike
genre, including randomly-generated levels, a lack of save points, frequent and easy death, and discovery mechanics. It draws equally from the 2D platformer genre, including real-time interactions with enemies.
The spelunker himself is a caricature of traditional pulp heroes, with a notable similarity to Indiana Jones
; he wears similar clothing, and his default weapon is a whip. For this reason he is sometimes referred to by players as "Indie" (a pun on the Jones character's nickname and indie games) or "Iowa Jack".
s, of the original game. Most of these are available via the forums on the web site for Derek Yu's video game company, Mossmouth, where a list is maintained of finished mods. Significant or popular mods include:
There is also a Spelunky launcher which allows easier use of different mods.
The spelunker is one of several indie game characters who can be unlocked and played in Super Meat Boy
. Referred to as "Spelunky" in Super Meat Boy, the character has the special power of explosive jumps (referencing the bombs he carries in the original game), and he is exclusive to the Xbox Live Arcade
version.
Derek Yu
Derek Yu is an independent game developer, game artist, and blogger.While he may be best known for his early work on freeware titles such as Eternal Daughter, Yu continues to make games...
and released as freeware
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
. The player controls a spelunker
Spelunker
Spelunker has several meanings.* In Caving, "spelunker" is sometimes a term for a person who explores caves.* Spelunker , a 1983 video game for various systems, including Atari and Nintendo....
who explores a series of caves while collecting treasure, saving damsels, and dodging traps. Version 1.0 was released on 1 September 2009, along with confirmation that the game would be coming to Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
. The source code was released on December 25, 2009, along with Version 1.1.
Gameplay
Players control an unnamed adventurer, known as the spelunker. The aim of the game is to explore underground tunnels, gathering as much treasure as possible while avoiding traps and enemies. Levels are randomly generated and grouped into four increasingly difficult "areas", each with a distinctive set of items, enemies, terrain types and special features. Later areas contain better treasures, plus secret locations (like the City of GoldCity of Gold
-Myth and legend:*Quivira and Cíbola, two of the mythical seven Cities of Gold*El Dorado, Mythical city of gold**El Dorado *City of the Caesars, Mythical South American city of great wealth...
) and items.
Enemies include animals like bats, snakes and spiders of varying sizes, other characters, and monsters like yeti
Yeti
The Yeti or Abominable Snowman is an ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology...
, man-eating plant
Triffid
The triffid is a tall, mobile, carnivorous, prolific and highly venomous fictional plant species—the titular antagonist in John Wyndham's 1951 novel The Day of the Triffids and Simon Clark's 2001 sequel The Night of the Triffids....
s and ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
s. The player can collect many items, mainly gold and jewels which add to the player's score, but also useful objects including bombs, guns, climbing gear and archaeological artefacts. Some of the latter have supernatural abilities, including kapala
Kapala
A kapala or skullcup is a cup made from a human skull used as a ritual implement in both Hindu Tantra and Buddhist Tantra...
s, hedjet
Hedjet
Hedjet is the formal name for the White Crown of pharaonic Upper Egypt. The crown was white and, after the unification of Egypt, it was combined with the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, with the delta to form the Pschent, the Double Crown of Egypt...
s, crystal skull
Crystal skull
The crystal skulls are a number of human skull hardstone carvings made of clear or milky quartz rock, known in art history as "rock crystal", claimed to be pre-Columbian Mesoamerican artifacts by their alleged finders. However, none of the specimens made available for scientific study have been...
s and golden ankh
Ankh
The ankh , also known as key of life, the key of the Nile or crux ansata, was the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic character that read "eternal life", a triliteral sign for the consonants ʻ-n-ḫ...
s, though many of these special items can only be gained through secret methods, like combining other items together. Some items may be purchased or stolen from shops scattered about the caves, though the shopkeeper becomes a powerful enemy if you steal from him.
The player can also encounter damsels in distress
Damsel in distress
The subject of the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden, is a classic theme in world literature, art, and film. She is usually a beautiful young woman placed in a dire predicament by a villain or monster and who requires a hero to achieve her rescue. She has become a stock character of fiction,...
trapped in the caves, who can be picked up and carried to an exit. Successfully doing so returns health to the player. It's possible to unlock the damsel as a playable character; gameplay is identical, except that the player encounters spelunkers to rescue. Another unlockable character is the "Tunnel Man", who possesses a mattock
Mattock
A mattock is a versatile hand tool, used for digging and chopping, similar to the pickaxe. It has a long handle, and a stout head, which combines an axe blade and an adze or a pick and an adze .-Description:...
instead of a whip.
The XBox Live Arcade version of the game will introduce local multiplayer (co-op and deathmatch) for up to four players. There will be at least three additional explorer characters.
Spelunky also includes a level editor, in which players can create their own non-random levels to share with others.
Influences
Spelunky draws heavily from La Mulana and Spelunker for its visual styling, character design, gameplay elements and general mechanics. Essentially a dungeon crawlDungeon crawl
A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games in which heroes navigate a labyrinthine environment, battling various monsters, and looting any treasure they may find...
, it also adds elements from the roguelike
Roguelike
The roguelike is a sub-genre of role-playing video games, characterized by randomization for replayability, permanent death, and turn-based movement. Most roguelikes feature ASCII graphics, with newer ones increasingly offering tile-based graphics. Games are typically dungeon crawls, with many...
genre, including randomly-generated levels, a lack of save points, frequent and easy death, and discovery mechanics. It draws equally from the 2D platformer genre, including real-time interactions with enemies.
The spelunker himself is a caricature of traditional pulp heroes, with a notable similarity to Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
; he wears similar clothing, and his default weapon is a whip. For this reason he is sometimes referred to by players as "Indie" (a pun on the Jones character's nickname and indie games) or "Iowa Jack".
Other Versions
Since the game code was made open-source, community members have created many modified versions, or modMod (computer gaming)
Mod or modification is a term generally applied to personal computer games , especially first-person shooters, role-playing games and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not standalone software and...
s, of the original game. Most of these are available via the forums on the web site for Derek Yu's video game company, Mossmouth, where a list is maintained of finished mods. Significant or popular mods include:
- Spelunky 1.2 - a community-made update intended to fix bugs present in version 1.1.
- Spelunky Editor Plus - an improved level editor.
- Magic Signs - designed to work with other mods to allow easy addition of new items and other elements. It also includes a new level editing system, different to Spelunky Editor Plus.
- Tastes Like Spelunky - replaces the protagonist with ManTrap, a carnivorous plant enemy from the original game. ManTrap seeks food instead of treasure and can gain special powers by eating items.
- Spelunky Portable - a portablePortable applicationA portable application , sometimes also called standalone, is a computer software program designed to run independently from an operating system...
version of the game that allows your high scores to travel with you from one computer to another. - Basketball mods - several mods make use of a basketball sprite that Derek Yu included in the game code, but never implemented. Some of these introduce a basketball mini-game to the menu screen or dungeon.
There is also a Spelunky launcher which allows easier use of different mods.
The spelunker is one of several indie game characters who can be unlocked and played in Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy is an independent video game designed by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes and developed by Team Meat. It is the successor to McMillen and Jonathan McEntee's October 2008 flash game Meat Boy. Super Meat Boy was released on the Xbox 360 through Xbox Live Arcade in October 2010, on...
. Referred to as "Spelunky" in Super Meat Boy, the character has the special power of explosive jumps (referencing the bombs he carries in the original game), and he is exclusive to the Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
version.