News from Pettson and Findus (computer game)
| News from Pettson and Findus | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | Oetinger interactive | ||
| Publisher | Oetinger | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
September 29, 1999 | ||
| platform | Windows , Mac OS | ||
| genre | Point-and-click adventure | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Mouse (pc) | ||
| system advantages preconditions |
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| medium | CD-ROM | ||
| language | German | ||
| Age rating |
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News from Pettson and Findus is a video game that focuses on the characters Pettson and Findus by Sven Nordqvist . The game, which can be assigned to the genre point-and-click adventure , was published in 1999 by Oetinger-Verlag for Windows 3.1 , Windows 95 and Mac OS .
Game content
The game is played on Pettersson's farm, with a focus on the kitchen garden around the house . The player does not have a fixed character, instead he can move the tomcat Findus freely over the map with the mouse. The map runs in a circle around the house and is divided into sections representing a kitchen garden and containing themed mini-games. For example, an egg hunt game with the chicken Prillan can be played at the chicken coop . In addition to Prillan, the game also includes other typical characters from the world of Pettson and Findus, such as the Mucklas . In the mini-games Findus sits on the edge of the field and is no longer controllable, instead the focus is on the respective game. In mini-games, seeds, tools and gold prizes can be won, which are kept in the garden shed. The garden shed is the only building that Findus can enter next to the greenhouse and the chicken coop. The seeds obtained in games can be planted in a vegetable field. In order for the seeds to develop, the field must be watered, weeded and fertilized. When Findus has explored all the games in the yard, the gate to the underworld opens next to the entrance to Pettersson's house. Findus has to walk through a system of corridors and solve puzzles. In each corridor system there is a gate to a puzzle room that is guarded by a beetle. In the end, Findus finds the gardener who tends the vegetable field. Freeing the gardener is a certain aim of the game, but apart from that, the game can still be explored and played freely.
Game sections and mini-games
Sections of the game starting from the south counter-clockwise . Some mini-games can be played at different levels of difficulty.
Pettersson's home
The game begins at Pettersson's house by choosing a memory animal that saves the game. Pettersson sleeps on a chair in the shade of the house. Next to the house entrance is the gateway to the underworld.
Woodshed
The Mucklas live behind the woodshed and can be played in a game in which they have to be assigned to their home based on their statements. Another mini-game includes a gramophone that can be used to listen to three records.
Vegetable fields
Various plants can be sown in individual fields in the vegetable field. The plants need to be watered and weeded regularly. Corresponding tools are located next to the garden shed, in which prizes received in the game such as tools and seeds are stored. In order to get water the rain barrel has to be filled up. In the corresponding mini-game, Findus Dragonflies must shoot the water out of its anchorage with a stone so that it falls into the water barrel. There is a greenhouse next to the vegetable field. There, imaginative plants can be built from different parts. There is neither a fixed goal nor prizes.
Compost heap
The compost heap borders the greenhouse on the right, and the large head of lettuce , which plays a role in some of the puzzles , is also striking . There are three mini-games for the compost heap:
In the first mini-game, the player controls a Muckla character who wants to visit her grandmother. The ways to get there, made up of branches, are provided with numbers that have to be calculated using a math problem. The Muckla figure walks the way to the next crossroads, where the next branch has to be calculated . The opponents in the game are snails that randomly crawl along the branches. The goal is to reach the grandmother without touching a snail. If you touch a snail, the game is lost.
The second game is a solitaire potato setting game. Here the player has to plant potatoes on a field based on a field so that only one potato remains. The potatoes can jump from hole to hole on the playing field. When skipping one potato with another, the skipped potato is planted. As soon as one potato can no longer be skipped by another, the game is over. The game is only won if only one potato is left.
The third game is a fertilizer collecting game. The game is played as Muckla with a wheelbarrow who has to catch the droppings of the chicken Prillan. After eating, Prillan excretes in the direction of the wheelbarrow. Small mushrooms and animals like worms that grow randomly out of the ground serve as food. With a click of the mouse, the Muckla can duck so as not to get feces in the face. If the Muckla is hit by the droppings, it can be thrown to the ground by this.
Fountain
At the fountain there is a frog pond and beehives that can be used:
On the frog pond, three water lily leaves swim in a row, over which a frog tower has to be moved according to the principle of the towers of Hanoi : The frogs sit on top of each other in decreasing size, but can only be moved individually. A frog can only be dragged onto a larger frog. The aim is to move all the frogs from the left over the middle to the right lily pad, and in doing so achieve a tower shape again.
The beehive includes a bee race. The player has to steer a bee from flower to flower across the playing field to the big sunflower. The difficulty is that the directional information has to be entered from the point of view of the bee and does not correspond to the direction of view of the player.
Joiner's shed
The chicken coop adjoins the joiner's shed with an outdoor chicken enclosure and a pile of junk.
The egg hunt game can be played on the junk pile. Prillan hides eggs in various niches in the junk (e.g. in old shoes, cans, rain gutters, etc.) The aim of the game is to find as many eggs as possible. The game is played against time and the egg monsters. Eggs found land on the edge of the field and can be placed in the egg basket, but this takes time. If the eggs are not placed in the basket, the egg monsters can eat them. Egg monsters hide on the playing field in places where eggs can also be hidden.
The model railway stands next to the heap of junk. Tracks, buildings and plants as well as predefined landscapes can be built here, which can be traveled by trains. Landscapes can be saved and loaded. There is no predefined goal and no wins in this game.
The chicken escape game is available in the last bush in front of the chicken coop. The aim of the game is to get the chickens from the hen house to scratch the potato field. The playing field consists of a labyrinth of bushes and hedges, over which the chickens are dragged with the mouse and in the middle of which there is Pettersson's radar system . The radar beam rotates in a circle across the playing field; if a chicken hits the radar beam, it will be caught by Pettersson's hat and will be eliminated from the game. The chickens can hide under bushes with red berries and remain invisible to the radar. When three chickens have reached the potato field, the game is won.
The underworld
The underworld is located below the kitchen garden of Pettson and Findus. After playing all of the mini-games mentioned above, a Muckla appears, holding picture fragments with letters ready. These fragments must be assigned to different parts of the garden. At the end, a word for a solution must be formed from the letters so that the guardian to the underworld releases the gate. The gateway to the underworld rises from a stone next to Pettersson's house. The player receives a backpack from the gatekeeper to collect items.
The underworld consists of a total of seven corridor systems, which are connected to one another via a puzzle room called a dungeon . The gait systems become more complex with increasing progress. Within the corridor systems there are objects that are useful for solving puzzles, such as a music box that plays a melody that has to be recreated in a bell tower. In front of each dungeon there is a beetle guard who demands a toll before they release the gate to the dungeon. Usually these are food and drinks. In the dungeons, the gate to the next corridor system must be opened by solving a task. In some rooms, built machines help to open the door, in other rooms you need previously collected tools, for example to set a combination of numbers for the door lock. In the last dungeon, the gardener must be freed, who can effectively relieve the player of the task of gardening. After the gardener has been freed, the player ends up back in the garden on the vegetable field.
Game representation
The game runs in VGA graphics mode with a resolution of 640 × 480 pixels and 256 colors. The graphics are two-dimensional and are viewed by the player from a bird's eye view. The six game sections (excluding the underworld) are visualized in six different images in which Findus can walk around. The perspective cannot be changed, nor is it possible to switch between two non-contiguous game sections. So you can't reach the well from the house without first walking past the carpenter's shed, or the woodshed, the vegetable field and the compost heap. The game environment in the underworld and in the mini-games is built on the same principle. The player can interact with the game world at predefined places, for example, on the vegetable field, vegetables can be watered with the watering can. Apart from that, the game world is completely static with the exception of the game characters. All characters are visually and acoustically animated. Pettersson only appears in mini-games as an explanation of the same.