You can't catch me!
My 2600 projects are piling up like the snow that hasn't been falling here, despite freezing weather and predictions from meteorologists. But the analogy doesn't work without snow, which one must shovel away in layers, starting with the freshest layer first. So imagine four games piled up, Superbug on top, with Twisty Passages, RallyB and Zirconium II all below. I did work on some snow (if you catch my drift) and the work snowballed into a new game idea. Superbug is parked for a while, Twisty Passages is lost in a maze of complexity and limitations, RallyB went up in smoke and Zr2 lost its luster. I promise this is the last shiny object, and that there aren't any more puns in this paragraph.
This game is based on the children's story, the Gingerbread Man, and while the game should be appropriate for children, it's not child's play - it should be plenty challenging for adults. I assume the story is old enough to be public domain.
Anyway, I'll post the binary - it's 8k and will not grow any larger (think Econobanking). There are 16 levels, 3 minor bosses and one final boss.
Level 1: You're in the oven. Pick up the oven pans and use them to extinguish the fire creatures so someone will open the oven, and then you make your escape into the house. Watch out for the burners!
Level 2: You're in the house. Collect the balloons and float up to the roof. Watch out for the dog and cat.
Level 3: You're on the roof. How are you going to get down? A nearby tree maybe? Look out for the cats and the pesky mother bird that is seeking food for its fledgling.
Level 4: You're in the trees but you can't get around them. Don't touch the fledgling for too long or you may upset its mother. How do you get out of the woods? Maybe the falling leaves, the exposed tree root and worms can help?
Minor boss: A pig wants to eat you. Throw what you can at it. Also, you have managed to tick off the mother bird, who now really wants to make a meal of you. Later bosses might include a horse and a cow, but I haven't managed to make any with just 8 pixels.
So you've discouraged the boss from eating you, but alas, you have been caught and put back in the oven to cook a little longer, and the heat's been turned up!
If you can work your way through 19 screens, you may get to match wits with the wily fox... Well, not yet, with this version, I have no idea what you'll see since this screen isn't finished.
The basic gameplay is there, and it took two months of working an hour or three a day to get there, but there's no score, you have infinite lives and time, there's very little sound, and overall the game needs polishing, but I think I will actually finish this one. If I do, it will be my first independent homebrew!
If anything is too easy, too hard or just freakin' impossible, let me know. If there are bugs, please tell me. Sprite suggestions are welcome, especially an 8-pixel, double- or quad-width horse, pig and cow, but not for the cats, which I am quite proud of...
EDIT: minor changes in file below:
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