SkiFram: A SkiFree-Like

Controls: LEFT, RIGHT, and SPACE to Jump if going faster than 3 m/s!

Won Best Gameplay at Historically Accurate Game Jam 10! Nice!

Historically based on the last expedition of famed Arctic explorer Fridjtof Nansen, who in 1895 attempted an expedition to reach the North Pole via his ship Fram, and a planned 620-kilometer ski through freezing cold temperatures to reach the North Pole.  The Fram Expedition didn't reach the North Pole but only reached about 86°14' North before turning back, at about 480 kilometers. This was still 314.1 km beyond Greely's previous Farthest North mark. In an earlier ski expedition, Nansen's team was the first to cross Greenland. 

This is the basis for the wooden goggles power-up, a tool Nansen learned to use from the Inuit.  In his book, he described how they made it hard to ski, so he decided an improvement to the traditional Inuit design would be to add vertical slits that allowed them to see their feet but still assisted with snowblindness.  A polar bear also attacked the Fram expedition, the crew spotted the tracks of an arctic fox, and on June 13th, walruses attacked and damaged their kayaks.  This was the inspiration for these obstacles.  While reaching 620,000 meters is virtually impossible in the game, it is technically a victory point, representing how far the Fram expedition would have had to ski to reach their goal. The SkiFram main theme music, by Gavin Walker, is based on the Norwegian national anthem, which was written in Nansen's childhood.

The gameplay is based on SkiFree, a single-player skiing game created by Chris Pirih, and released with Microsoft Entertainment Pack 3 for Windows 3.0 in October 1991.  It was a game I grew up playing and it amazed me how much fun a simple, silly skiing game could be. 

Credits:
Game Design, Programming, Sprites, and SFX:  Zachary Marrs https://www.mnzproductions.com/

Music:
"SkiFram Theme" by Gavin Walker https://walkermusicandscoring.godaddysites.com
"Ski Trip" by Katie Rupinski https://www.katierupinski.com/

Team Manager: Magnus Lindh