“One misty morning, high in the mountains, a small, scaly anteater and devoted young monk travels from his centuries-old monastery to a nearby mountaintop for his daily meditation. As Pangolin makes his way through the thickening fog, he loses his bearings and stumbles upon a surreal landscape filled with colorful curved slopes, purple trampolines, and teleporting targets, beckoning him to take a world-hopping journey of exploration and self-discovery.”
Sounds like a platformer? You’d be surprised. This vivid, surreal indie ios game by the 2-man devteam at Feedtank, is …NOT a platformer. In fact, it’s the very antithesis of a platformer. You don’t control this loveable anteater who looks like a bowling ball. Rather, he is entirely at your mercy as you bounce him around the world with trampolines.
That’s right, TRAMPOLINES.
Screenshots from Pangolin
I’ll confess: I’ve always wanted to make a game like this. Feedtank beat me to it. There’s all sorts of hazards for him to be bounced around. No, it’s not awkward at all. You get to literally draw trampolines, with the multi-touch making it easier. Where the little anteater bounces to is entirely upto you. Imagine Nokia’s Bounce games crossed with pinball. You frantically lay trampolines and watch as he flies through the air, bounces off a wall and … whoops … spike. Have a look at the official trailer to see how it’s done on the iPhone.
Our attempts were clumsier. As you can see, the whole game has a cheery watercolor-esque vibe to it The multi-touch works very well, and the gameplay shown in that trailer doesn’t really do the game credit: there’s tons more obstacles, plenty of art, a very simply and beautiful menu. The watercolor vibe fits in superbly with the whole theme. It’s a lovely indie with catchy gameplay, and some hilarious tricks can be cooked up with those trampolines. Fancy playing squash with Pangolin? Go right ahead.
Pangolin’s funded entirely by the guys at Feedtank, so no: no ads, no annoying nag screens redirecting you to stuff you don’t need. I like the way they’re marketing it – it’s practically shareware: there’s ten levels for free and forty more for purchase. Unfortunately, Feedtank is struggling with visibility at the moment. It’s understandable. Especially given the amount of Angry Birds ripoffs and vibrator apps on the AppStore. My recommendation? Download it. Try it. If you’re like us, you’ll like it. Then buy it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Yudhanjaya Wijeratne (@yudhanjaya), Master Chief and legendary warrior. Actually, he’s the founder of IndependentGaming.net. In real life he’s a journalist for Readme. When he’s not writing, he’s over at 4250games, building games and tinkering about. He has a love of all things indie and a PC that has seen better days. His favorite games are Pharaoh, Deus Ex, Halo and Iji.
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