Stick Soldiers

The "Stick Soldiers" series is a duo of keyboard-based, side-scrolling deathmatch shooters in which players control a pencil-drawn stick soldier with various weapons—ranging from the Uzi to the Grenade Launcher, Sniper Rifle, and Flamethrower—to destroy other stick soldiers in their attempt to reach the specified frag limit. In "Stick Soldiers 2" (abbreviated as "SS2"), rankings are point numbers, while the original "Stick Soldiers" ("SS," or "SS1") has rankings as titles, with the first being "Cadet" and the last, "Fragmeister." Both games are very simple and addicting, although some declare that they eventually become repetitive. It is possible to create different sprites for all three games, and the second allows modification of weapon attributes, new weapons, and new sounds, as will the third, which will bear even more support. A third Stick Soldiers game was in slow development for some time beginning shortly after the release of SS2; the project has since been abandoned.

The webmaster for the first two games' websites was "SuperRoy" (Andrew Vehlies). SS1 and SS2 were created by AdmiralBinary, now known as "fonger" (Tim Cowley) — who handled the games' C++ coding — and anti_ (Dylan Allison), the main artist and mapper of the games. Cowley left the team soon after releasing SS2, having Andrew Russell replace him, and BlackjacK (real name unknown) replaced SuperRoy as webmaster. Allison remained, creating images and level graphics, and Russell hired six new programmers to the team, which has since disbanded.

tick Soldiers 1

, where its production was enthusiastically observed. It used modifiable bitmap images and supported deathmatch with a primitive one-way CTF mode, later receiving (as a separate download) a red-vs.-blue Team version as another executable file. According to Cowley, it took only a few weeks to develop.

tick Soldiers 2 Alpha

The SS2 Alpha, which malfunctions on some computers, was an early version of "Stick Soldiers 2" with four playable maps, the default being "Alias," and contained features which were ultimately removed in the final version of the game, including a one-time RPG secondary function for the M4 Carbine, and the ability to endlessly float. Crouching forced players to remain stationary, as the crouching animation had not been completed in the Alpha version.

tick Soldiers 2

The next game in the series, "Stick Soldiers 2" is a considerable expansion upon SS1, in that soldiers' movement is smoothly animated instead of using static bitmap images. It also adds more weaponry and versatility in modification (allows weapons' attributes and sounds to be changed instead of graphics alone), bears a much more versatile map editor, and many more features, although some game features found in the first Stick Soldiers game (such as ricocheting bullets, the helmet powerup, and the popular Flak Cannon weapon) were not included in SS2. Many fan-made weapons, maps, mods, guides, and other miscellaneous files can be downloaded from the official [http://www.andrewrussellstudios.com/ssfiles/ Stick Soldiers Files] .

The development of SS2 took about 6 months, and was halted by a hard drive crash that destroyed the only existing copy of the game's source code. Though no longer called "alpha," the last release was, according to Cowley, not nearly complete, but Tim Cowley has nonetheless moved onto other projects ever since.

tick Soldiers 3

"Stick Soldiers 3 has since been canceled. See the corresponding [http://www.andrewrussellstudios.com/ss3/forums/index.php?topic=3424.0 topic] at the official messageboard."

"Stick Soldiers 3" was the next installment, rumored to cost roughly $20USD for the full version. Information on its features released to the public included the following:
* Aiming to be controlled by the mouse and a targeting reticule, and keys can be manually configured.
* Internet/LAN multiplayer capability, and mods can be distributed online.
* Game modes such as Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. It was rumored that a sort of King of the Hill game mode would be available as well.
* Map structure consisting of polygons, unlike the other SS games' boxy terrain.
* A free, external stand-alone map editor released alongside SS3 for fans to create their own maps.
* Complete restructuring done-from-scratch since SS2.SS3's release date was unknown for years; Russell hired six programmers since development had been progressing extremely slowly, but the staff since continuously declared that work is progressing rapidly. Some speculated that the game would be released by roughly mid-2007, though after a comment by Andrew Russell himself, most Stick Soldiers forum members believed the true release date was around 2008.

On 26 August 2007, the development of Stick Soldiers 3 was [http://www.andrewrussellstudios.com/ss3/ canceled] , as announced by staff leader Andrew Russell.

External links

* [http://whitespaceunlimited.com Whitespace Unlimited]
* [http://andrewrussellstudios.com Andrew Russell Studios]
* [http://andrewrussellstudios.com/ss3 Stick Soldiers 3 homepage]
* [http://www.andrewrussellstudios.com/ss3/forums Community messageboard]
* [http://www.andrewrussellstudios.com/ssfiles The Stick Soldiers Files]
* [http://www.andrewrussellstudios.com]