Jump Jack

Jump Jack

Jump Jack is a fascinating Jump & Run computer game that offers a lot of fun and surprises. In order to keep Jack in a healthy condition and to stock up on ammunition, you have to collect as many bonuses as possible. In addition to the bonuses, there are also extra lives to be found. Abundant save-points guarantee long lasting motivation, because it is possible to restart in the middle of a level, depending on the current amount of lives. A player needs condition as well as cleverness to skillfully defeat all the boss monsters in game.

History of origins

Originally, Jump Jack was planned as a sequel to Monster Hunt, a Jump and Run game for the old  Atari home-computer. But by 2005 another company released a game called Monster Hunt so we had to alter the plan.
The hero Maxi from the good old games was changed to Jack because that name was already established through other games, we had released. In 2006, the first few versions of Jump Jack clearly showed signs of their predecessors:   

background concept pattern	background concept pattern	background concept pattern

Alpha Version	Alpha Version	Alpha Version	Alpha Version

 
They were a lot less cute and had kind of adult themes and stories.  By today, only early alpha releases remind us of those times.
 
We managed to release a completely revised version of Jump Jack in 2007. The appearance of Jack, the hero, was widely changed. Jack was no longer a brawny ruffian, but more of a juvenile greenhorn. Also, every enemy and all the bonuses were changed as well to better fit in the new theme and story. But at the end of the day, it is worth mentioning, that the new juvenile theme was never used again after release.

Aim of the game

Slip into the role of young Jack and take a journey through arcane worlds...
Jack's girlfriend Josi was kidnapped by an evil dragon and you have to make your way to Vulkania, the place of the dragons lair, to overcome all the obstacles to finally defeat the evil dragon and rescue her.

Story

It is Jacks birthday. He is away in town because his girlfriend sent him shopping under a false pretence in order to prepare a surprise for his special day. She said her hamster Alfred would need a new wheel and her aunt Mimi lost her crochet needles.
Josi is happily busy with the preparations for Jacks birthday party. She is alone in the garden waiting for the cake on the window sill to cool down. Humming a song, she does not realize that the evil dragon was coming closer because he smelled the delicious scent of her cherry-vanilla cake, still cooling down the the window sill. The dragon is angry because he wasn't invited to Jacks birthday. This is not very surprising, because Jack and he aren't exactly best friends...
Time for revenge is now. He suppresses to let off a steam cloud from his nose and envisions a double-victory against his worst enemy:  Kidnapping his girlfriend and having a delicious cherry-vanilla cake for dinner!

His opponent Jack is nowhere to see so the dragon takes the chance and catches the completely surprised Josi. Then, he leaves a loud hiss and a huge ray of fire burns down the whole house and garden. He did not forget to save the cake, though when he went back to his ugly dragons lair. His right claw is tightly holding Josi and the cake is in his left one.  Josi is yelling for help loudly, but nobody hears her...

When Jack returns with the hamster wheel and the crochet needles, he realizes, that his home has burned down to the ground. The place, his birthday celebration was supposed to take place, does no longer exist. Even worse is, that Josi has disappeared, too. He drops his shopping bags and looks down to the floor. Then he recognizes traces that seems all too similar - was his worst enemy here? Should the one, whose name he'd rather not pronounce, have gone too far this time? Being enemies is one thing, but attacking the opponents friends is another.  
Jack has to take a decision: He has to make his way to the den of evil to rescue Josi. He simply has to take this long and dangerous journey, no matter how many obstacles lay between him and Josi. His journey is going to take him through the mountain of evil, the dark forest, the valley of marsh and finally Vulkania, the home of the evil dragon.

After a long and hard journey full of perils, he finally arrives in Vulkania to take the ultimate fight against his enemy. Fate is fortunate when, after a hard fight, he defeats the dragon in his own lair. Then all of a sudden he hears a voice, that could only be Josis. And when they finally get out of the dragons lair, he tells her that he'd really like to catch up on the missing birthday party.
Jack brother was late for his birthday party and picked them up on their way back home - but that is another story...

Story line

Jack’s girlfriend is kidnapped by an evil dragon. When Josi disappears Jacks takes the long and hard journey into the dragons lair to defeat his enemy and rescue Josi. But before he finally reaches Vulkania, the place of evil, he has to fight his way through the mountains of evil, the dark forest and the valley of marsh.

Each of these areas is full of traps and dangerous enemies, that are hidden in every possible corner. Jack has to overcome all this obstacles before he can take an attempt to defeat the evil dragon to rescue his girlfriend Josi and take her home again.

Plot

The game plays in four worlds with multiple levels.

  

 
 
 
 
 
 

The first world.	The second world.	The third world.	The fourth world.

Extras

There are a lot of collectable extras in Jump Jack. Those extras come in two categories: bonuses and score-increaser. 
Score-increaser are self-explanatory and here is a list of available bonuses:

extras	extras	extras	extras

Enemies

Each plot and world has its own enemies. Enemies scale with difficulty level, they get more dangerous and more aggressive when the difficulty level raises.
 
Enemy choice from level 1: 

Enemy level 1 - alpha version	Enemy level 1 - release version	Enemy level 1 - release version	Enemy level 1 - release version

Jack can defeat enemies by jumping on their heads. Beware - hitting an enemy when jumping from great heights can be deadly.
He can also defeat his foes by shooting stars at them. Stars are not unlimited, though. Ammunition has to be collected during the course of the game, to be stocked and prepared for the right moments to use it.

Traps - Acid Pits

 

traps 1	traps 2	trap door

 
You will stumble upon traps and acid pits in every level of the game. Those are always deadly! If Jack dies from such a trap and has any remaining lives, he will continue from the last save point.

Controls

Controlling Jack is quite simple. You can use either the keyboard or a joystick. The settings are done from within the game.

Jack can run, jump, climb and duck. There are some places in game where you have to take a platform or an elevator. You have to jump upon them.

Collecting extras is easy, just run over them. There are some extras that has to be destroyed before they reveal their secrets, e.g. treasure chests.

Save points

Save points world 1	Save points world 2	Save points world 3

 
There is a different amount of save points in each level. Save points are activated by walking over them. If you die, you will continue from the last save point if you have any remaining lives left. Those points are often right in front of extra hard passages in game, so take them as an indicator for danger.
 
 

Trampoline

Trampoline world 1	Trampoline world 2

 

Ports

Jump Jack was ported for MAC and Linux, but not yet released. An eventual release, or a release in the near future, is highly doubtful.