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Happyponygate London, Ontario

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This game or project has been cancelled since 2nd November 2008. Details are available here.
The Happyponygate London, Ontario title screen

The Adventures of Bouapha 3: Happyponygate London, Ontario (also referred to as AoB3 or Happyponygate) was an action game under development by Hamumu Software and was intended to be the third addition to the The Adventures of Bouapha series. Though the game was first announced in a Hamumu.com journal entry on November 20, 2007[1], the project's complete name was not revealed until January 26, 2008[2]. The game had no certain release date, though a 01/01/2008 journal entry had stated that a release would happen "soonish"[2]. On May 7, 2008, Jamul had announced that the game would likely be in a playable state approximately by June 15, 2008[3].

The title of the game was a reference to a game of a very similar name developed by Flagship Studios and a Hamumu Forum in-joke.

On November 2, 2008, the game was officially cancelled[4] and will not be made anymore. No playable version was released of it.

Contents

[edit] Plot[5]

Happyponygates have opened around London, Ontario (why this happened is in the game, and you will find out when you play!). In case it's somewhat unclear, Happyponygates are rainbow colored happy portals that lead to the dreaded Happy Pony Land With Strawberry Waterfalls And Gumdrop Trees. Happy Ponies and their minions are flooding out and taking over the city, forcing everyone to be happy all the time. The RCMP has set up a perimeter around the city, but nobody can go inside. They are evacuating everyone who was trapped inside, of course.

Conventional weapons are completely useless against the ponies - yes, red hammers included! So what options remain? Does Canada simply lose its finest metropolis?! No, as a last resort, they call up Bouapha. He is of course world-renowned for "handling situations." So, he shows up, and sees what he can do.

[edit] Gameplay

Happyponygate London, Ontario was an action/RPG game in which the player took control of Bouapha and had to make use of different (upgradable)[6][7] weapons and items[7] to complete different kinds of missions, all of which had different objectives[8]. Completing certain missions would have moved the plot along, others would have only grant you points, the usage of which is so far unknown[8].

By defeating various monsters, the player gained experience points, which allowed them to level up; for each level they gained, the player would be awarded a Skill Point, which could be spent on improving a certain type of skill set[9] (see Happyponygate Skills). The maximum level that can be reached in the game was going to be 99, thus equalling a maximum number of 98 skill points to spend[9].

[edit] Internet Features

Unlike previous Hamumu games, Happyponygate London, Ontario was going to be played online and would have enabled players to log in with their Hamumu.com Dumb Account; although online play would not have added multiplayer functionality, it would have enabled your profile to be saved online, made it possible to chat with other players currently playing the game and enabled world-wide events to take place, in which multiple players would have had to work together towards a certain goal, like a certain number of monsters being defeated world-wide.

Other internet features which Jamul had considered putting into the game were player housing and the ability to trade items with other players.[10]

[edit] Marketing

Unlike many games, the full version of Happyponygate London, Ontario was going to be made available for free ("Free" version). However, by paying a certain amount of money, the player would have gained access to additional user interaction features, including making and playing new levels and accessing shops for buying and selling items ("Paid" version). Paying an additional fee would have granted the player access to the "Deluxe" version of the game, which Jamul had described as a "collector's edition" and would have include bonus features like a special colouration for the player's character (suggested by Coolguy in the Happyponygate Collector's Contest[11]).

Jamul had confirmed that, although the game will be played online, there would have been no monthly fees involved.


Follow-Up Fact:


Although HPG was cancelled, Jamul was able to apply the marketing concepts listed here for the platform game "Costume Party". The main, basic game and levels for free (and must be played online through a Dumb Account), but one can buy the "Creator's Pass" (to create levels and earn awards) and expansion packs (to play levels with new tiles and new characters). See http://hamumu.wikia.com/wiki/Costume_Party

[edit] References

  1. ↑ http://hamumu.com/journal.php?archive=200711
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://hamumu.com/journal.php?archive=200801
  3. ↑ http://hamumu.com/journal.php?archive=200805
  4. ↑ http://hamumu.com/journal.php?entry=1225639599 - "I am very sorry that I am canceling this game. But canceled it is."
  5. ↑ http://hamumu.com/journal.php?archive=200801 - The plot was revealed in a Sat January 26, 2008 journal entry and was quoted exactly as it appears there
  6. ↑ http://hamumu.com/journal.php?archive=200805 - Mon May 12, 2008 journal entry
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 http://hamumu.com/journal.php?archive=200806 - Fri June 27, 2008 journal entry
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 http://hamumu.com/journal.php?archive=200805 - Tue May 20, 2008 journal entry
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 http://hamumu.com/journal.php?archive=200805 - Thu May 15, 2008 journal entry
  10. ↑ http://hamumu.com/journal.php?archive=200805 - Fri May 23, 2008 journal entry
  11. ↑ http://www.hamumu.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16391&page=3
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