Stick Soldiers

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The Stick Soldiers series is a duo (soon to be a trio) of keyboard-based, side-scrolling deathmatch shooters in which you control a pencil-drawn stick soldier with various weapons (uzi, grenade launcher, etc.) to destroy other stick soldiers in your 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 think they eventually become repetitive. Andrew Russell Studios is currently developing Stick Soldiers 3 ("SS3"), which will cost anywhere from $15 to $20 USD for the full version, as it is shareware (although it does not have any time limit to playing; only certain features are restricted). It is possible to create new weapons, sounds, and sprites for all three games, and the second allows modification of weapon attributes, as will the third. The new version will have fully colored maps, online multiplayer, more game modes, and many other features.

The webmaster for the first two games' websites was SuperRoy (Andrew Vehlies). SS1 and SS2 were created by AdmiralBinary, now 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 (name unknown) replaced SuperRoy as webmaster. Allison remains creating images and level graphics, and Russell has since hired six new programmers to the team.

1 Stick Soldiers 1
2 Stick Soldiers 2 Alpha
3 Stick Soldiers 2
4 Stick Soldiers 3
5 External links

[edit] Stick Soldiers 1

The first Stick Soldiers game proved to be a major hit at Gamedev.net, where its production was enthusiastically observed. It used modifiable bitmap images and supported deathmatch and a primitive one-way CTF mode, later receiving (as a separate download) a red-vs.-blue Team version as another executable file.

[edit] Stick Soldiers 2 Alpha

The SS2 Alpha was an early version of Stick Soldiers 2 with one playable map, containing many features which were ultimately removed in the final version of the game, including a one-time RPG secondary function for the M4 weapon. It does not work for some computers. Alias is the map when you first enter, but after pressing "Esc," open up the console by pressing the tilde key and entering the word "maplist" without the capitals and quotation marks, the game will show a list of maps. To use a map, type in "map <mapname> <number of bots> <type of game e.g. ffa>" without the quotation marks E.G. map ssdm1 22 ffa. After typing this in the console, it should open up a map with 21 bots and you in a FFA game.

[edit] Stick Soldiers 2

The next game in the series, Stick Soldiers 2 was a considerable expansion upon SS1, in that the soldiers' movement was smoothly animated instead of using static bitmap images. It added more weaponry and more modability, allowing weapons' attributes and sounds to be changed instead of graphics alone, having 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 and maps, and full mods can be downloaded from the official Soldiers Files.

[edit] Stick Soldiers 3

This article or section contains information about an unreleased video game.
It is likely to contain information of a speculative nature, and the content may change dramatically as more information becomes available.

A screenshot of an SS3 map

Stick Soldiers 3 is currently a work-in-progress and will be shareware, rumored to cost roughly $20 USD for the full version. However, a definite price has yet to be announced; the only official price range up to now is between $15 USD and $20 USD. The free, shareware version will not have any time limits for playing, but those without the full version will lose out on some features. Information on its features released to the public includes the following:

Aiming will be controlled by the mouse and a targeting reticule, and keys can be manually configured.
SS3 will have Internet/LAN multiplayer capability, and mods can be distributed online.
Game modes such as deathmatch and Capture the Flag will be implemented. It is rumored that a sort of King of the Hill game mode will be implemented as well.
Map structure will consist of polygons, unlike the other SS games' boxy terrain.
A free, external stand-alone map editor will be released alongside SS3 for fans to create their own maps to share with fellow players.

SS3's release date has been unknown for years; Russell hired six programmers since development had been progressing extremely slowly, but the staff declares that work is progressing rapidly. Some speculate that the game will be released by roughly mid-2007. A forum joke is that it will be released sometime before 2008.