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Girl Power is a modern game made with YoYo Games' Game Maker that takes it's inspiration from many games like Pac Man or Space Invaders, and is a set of standard games like Chess, BlasterBall, and the remade Space Invaders, which are called "zones" or "challenges". It also has a distinctive interface showing Juile and her friends, and Campbell School in the background, also the in-game map that shows the Pendant Jewels show at the bottom of the screen, which are now taken over by the Magic Orbs from the second episode. But in the second game of the series, that was discontinued. The new game this time sticks to Platform type games, and the characters received a new makeover. Plus some of them were renamed, like Chaos the genie was simply named Genie. A lot of other new features were introduced in the second game.
Girl Power
Developer(s) Arcade-kids Limited
Publisher(s) Arcade-kids Limited
Distributor(s) Chuck Gunns
Engine Game Maker
Version 3.2.4.5
Platform(s) Windows
Release date(s) 26 October 2010
Genre(s) Arcade/Platform
Mode(s) Single player
Rating(s) Not rated
Media/distribution Free download
Contents [hide]
1 About the game
2 The Plot
3 Future Releases
4 Gameplay
5 The Arts
6 Characters
6.1 Julie
6.2 John
6.3 Alieno
6.4 Zach Techno
6.5 Dr. Rhof
6.6 Squeal
6.7 Decoe
6.8 Natalie
6.9 Daisy
6.10 Allen
6.11 Genie
6.12 Marlie
6.13 Jack
6.14 Mickey
7 References
8 External links
[edit]About the game
The games in the series are made with Game Maker, a game development software created by Mark Overmars that is hosted on YoYo Games' website. The series started in late 2010, with the first opening. But the game contained a lot of errors, as the music would keep playing even if other musics are, which could irritate the user. The story wasn't understandable, as in the next scene, Julie talks to her friends, and later on left the room unnoticed, but this still didn't make sense, as the teachers would've heard them. Plus, the game wasn't always exciting, as there was no music, no enemies, and the graphics weren't always neat. Arcade-kids Limited[1] changed all that. Since in the second game, Girl Power 2: The Magic Orbs, music was added and the graphics were smooth and neat. In the Christmas Edition of the second game, a lot of new improvments were made. There were improved graphics and music, and there was a bonus room added. It had an aquarium, which users can look at the fishes, a store that uses Amazon.com[2], a link to Arcade-kids' facebook page, YouTube channel, and their official website. Currently, there are two video games in the series.
[3]
[edit]The Plot
Girl Power In the first episode, the setting is Julie is in a classroom with other students, but Dr. Rhof, who was once a mean teacher gives only her some hard, complicated schoolwork. He then left the classroom for a coffee break. Julie is relieved, and then she sees her friends peeking from the classroom door, and tell her to come with them. She goes with her friends, which they escaped, according to the story. When Rhof returned he couldn't see Julie anywhere. He then gets angry, and sends his enemy team to find them. During their escape however, they are confronted by other teachers, who give them challenges they have to face in order to pass through. In the end, they somehow got teleported in space where they then meet Dr. Rhof, and later defeat him, and then went back to Earth inside the schoolbus to go home.
Girl Power 2: The Magic Orbs The plot is the Earth is peaceful, and Dr. Rhof and his accomplice, Zack, were fired. More of his team, Decoe and Squeal, (which are his primary ones) are still with him. Rhof and Zach plan to build an enemy station, one that was half the size of the moon, capable of firing a huge laser to destroy Granfow Island. Alieno, the Martian alien, agreed with the plan and all five of them start the project. Later, Julie and her friends walk into the glorious sunroom in her house, and are practically talking about the gardens, until they spot a bright twinkling behind a building. They are curious, so they go check it out, and when they arrive there, they see a man crawling from some branches. He told them that Dr. Rhof had stolen the magic orbs, and that they generate a powerful ring that can wipe out anything once it's activated. Julie told him Rhof had built a huge weapon. The man warned the team that if he collects and powers up all the orbs, and once Rhof activates that ring, he will then have the abiliity to fire a huge laser that will envelope the entire planet and divide the Earth into several peices. (Though this wasn't said in the story, nor the part about the aliens being created and sent to Earth.) Dr. Rhof returns with a new plan to destroy Granfow Island. He went in his creation room and had created all the aliens and blasted them down to the planet through a laser, but the laser had also erased all the world's colors. Then he returned to Earth to find the Magic Orbs, and stole them. But soon after on his way to his hideout, his companions had dropped the orbs and fell off the ship. Now Julie and co. must find the orbs within 24 hours, otherwise the planet will be destroyed. They get teleported again to space, except this time in Rhof's Enemy Station, where above the same place, in obviously the same spot where Rhof's previous invention was destroyed. Julie and co. roam the station in search of Dr. Rhof. They finally find him, and tell him that his invention is going down, and he tells them "It's too late, because Earth is being destroyed", finished off with a victorious chuckle. But in the end his machine is destroyed and Julie and co. are teleported, before the ship falls and crashes on the planet, back to Earth in her house's living-room, watching Dr. Rhof and his team get arrested by the police.
[edit]Future Releases
Arcade-kids Limited discussed on their blog about releasing Girl Power 3. They said they might make it a 3D game, while others said about having animated cartoon clips in the new game. The expected release date is somewhere near mid 2012. But that is subject to change. Until then, new versions are coming, and the game is already getting popular. YoYo Games[4] rated the second game 5/5 starts, and so did BrotherSoft. The Christmas Edition has major updates, as there is smooth animation and lively music. Also the character gallery was debuted in December 28, 2011.
Arcade-kids has also recently announced that the planned release of Arcade Genesis is starting in a few weeks, and popular games of the company will be in the game. Julie would make a cameo appearance, so would any other character. Until then, the standard edition of Girl Power: The Magic Orbs is starting in a few weeks.
[edit]Gameplay
In Girl Power 1, the user is shown the story, and later shown the GranFow City. Then the user is open to the first level where it is supposed to be "Hairstyle", with Julie, who hold a big rectangular box with a purple border and orange background, introducing them to the game. In Hairstyle, you can customize the lady's hair with three different types of hair. Then the player is shown the map, with blue stars and a man standing on different ones until reaching the top, each time after completing a challenge. Then in the "Food" you see the same one showing you about the Food challenge. You simply click on the candy bars and all the customers disappear. After that challenge, you are sent to the library area of the school, where you have to collect all the jems to proceed on to the next area. You keep going to different areas of the school until you reach the final level of the game.
Cover art for Girl Power 2
In Girl Power 2, the player has to collect all the color bottles to restore color to the level (and the Orbs), while avoiding enemies that come your path. The types of enemies are as follows: Warriors. These types of aliens can kill you if you get too close or stand in their way. (In the Christmas version these were dressed as Santas. Pirates. Same thing as knights, except they have better plans for killing you. (Also dressed
up as elves in the Christmas version.) In both the games, if the player dies the game or level restarts. The first episode is when the player dies he or she is sent back to the main menu, while in the second episode the current level the player is on is restarted, resetting any progress in that particular level. For both episodes, there are unlimited "lives". So the user can "die" as many times as he/she pleases, making it impossible to end the game, or have a "Game Over" screen, until the release of Girl Power 3.
The World Map of GP2
[edit]The Arts
The company published drawings of the characters for any fans of the game. The link to the library is http://arcadekids.deviantart.com/ The drawings were made by Arcade-kids Limited, but have restrict rights on the work, which meant the user can't publish without the company's consent, and the user couldn't absolutely edit and reproduce the drawings, nor use them in the person's own works, as Arcade-kids could sue them for copyright infringement.
[edit]Characters
There are fourteen characters in the game. In the first game there were only six, until seven more were introduced in the second video game, including Zach Techno, Marlie, Jack, Daisy, Allen, Goldie (renamed to Natalie,) and Alieno.
[edit]Julie
Julie is the main protagonist in the games. She is a 12 year old girl with many friends like Jack and Marlie, and enemies Dr. Rhof, Zach Techno, Squeal, Alieno, and Decoe. She is seen in Girl Power 2 in her greenhouse with all her friends. She also has man pets like a snail, gooey ball made of oil on the inside, and over twenty more fantasy pets.
[edit]John
John is the second character in the game. He is an experienced person who knows all about the island, and Rhof's evil plans. He is 10 years old, and has the distinctive logo with a "J" and lines going around it. He has made his first cameo appearance in Girl Power, being that he originally had his own game before, called John's Quest, a game similar to this, only it was discontinued due to high levels of criticism, and it being trapped in development hell, Arcade-kids decided that he should still appear in Girl Power. His older accomplices however were not in the game, as having [them] in the game would drop the game's popularity.
[edit]Alieno
Alieno is a Martian alien who is a pilot of the Resistance. He is Rhof's sidekick, often buying and selling him equipment and supplies for his new inventions. He made his initial debut in Girl Power 1, but wasn't in the second game, as Arcade-kids believed that having him in Girl Power 2 would be "too drastic and overwhelming", and as for explanation, he died shortly in space during a war between the Resistance from planet Mars, and the Alliance from Alpha Centuari, another star system near the the Solar System.
[edit]Zach Techno
Zach is a highly advanced computer geek who makes special add-ons and codes for Rhof to innovate (and later advance) his technology. He was originally a computer teacher, until he got fired by the principal, which drove him mad, since he always had a beloved connection with computers. This eventually led to the creation of techno-bots (or system viruses), that have caused the world-wide Y2K10 bug, a bug which can potentially damage and cause serious malfunctions with any electronic equipment, such as televisions, laptops, and high-tech billboards. Examples of this is, when computers display the date and time, instead of April 10, 2010, it displays April 10, 2510.
[edit]Dr. Rhof
Dr. Rhof is an evil genius who has dominant accomplices like Zach, Alieno, Squeal, and Decoe. He flies a box-shaped airplane with a red, plaster walls, a blue, soft carpet, and pockets on the walls that are used to store the Magic Orbs. He has an IQ of 236, and is often always in any kind of aircraft; he was never out of his vehicles before. Dr. Rhof, is similar to Dr. Eggman and Dr. Robotnik. He has yellow triangular doublets with a red jacket, with a purple zipper going down it. He has a brown belt with a golden buckle, and gray shoes.
[edit]Squeal
Squeal is a fluffy squirrel with cat-like features, and is one of Rhof's henchmen. He has a yellow body with a green tail, and soft, orange ears. He is about 1 ½ feet tall, whereas he is the same height as Natalie and Mickey. He is also cheeky and silly, and is Decoe's friend. In the ending of the second game, he is seen standing by a police car in handcuffs saying "Get these things off me!", only to get a harsh reply from a policeman yelling "NEVER! On the car!!".
[edit]Decoe
Decoe is a 5 ½ feet tall robot who is also another one of Rhof's henchmen. While his job is to monitor the Magic Orbs, he often fools around with them, having that he and Squeal dropped the Orbs. Dr. Rhof doesn't appreciate his foolishness, and instead summons them to find the orbs that they dropped. He initially debuted in the first game, and is based on the other Decoe from Sonic X. He is seen in the ending of the second game resisting arrest from a policeman.
[edit]Natalie
Natalie is a small, pink car who wears red shoes with orange straps, (she originally had boots with white lines going through them), and is one of Julie's best friends. Often she takes a ride in one of her friends' backpacks, and so does Allen and Mickey. In the first game, she is seen in the title screen running from Squeal, and in the second game where in the ending she is seen comforting in the backpack while watching the news of Dr. Rhof's arrest.
[edit]Daisy
Daisy is a small, magical fairy that can do amazing things, like summon gifts. She is 6 years old, which is half of Julie's age, whom she is 12 years old. She was redesigned, as with all major characters, for Girl Power 2. She is also another of Julie's friends, and is seen flying around watching Rhof's arrest, and in the close-ending where the Power Ring is generated after collecting all the Magic Orbs. She has flowers on either side of her shoes, has an orange-red hair, with an orange flower, and a black skirt and white shirt, and has blue wings.
[edit]Allen
Allen is a small, white round egg who is too fragile to move around without being carried, therefore he must stay in the backpack for traveling. He is also Julie friend, and his composition is not that of a regular egg; he is only made of clay on the inside, while his shell (as his skin) is that of a regular egg. He is smart at some times.
[edit]Genie
Genie is a knowledgeable genie who knows as much as John, and they both work together to solve Rhof's secret plans. He is Julie's friend, and is a bit sensitive when it comes to people like Decoe and Squeal, who make fun of him because of his shape. But his friends always defend him, and when all the orbs are collected, he has nothing to worry about.
[edit]Marlie
Marlie is John's younger sister, being 7 years old, and has a lot of talent. She is Julie's friend, and the two of them are very close friends, since they have been from the 1st grade. She was originally from John's Quest, the discontinued and eventually cancelled game that received too many negative reviews. She is now in Girl Power, with a lot of improvements. She was redesigned for this game, and eventually, like all other major characters, will get yet a second redesign in the third upcoming game.
[edit]Jack
Jack is a hard-working boy who is the same age as Julie, and is a private detective for Julie's "Power-UP" team. He, along with Genie and John, are on a mission to learning Rhof's evil plans and alerting the team if such plans arise. With them, Dr. Rhof is always beatable, and wear a maroon hat, with a brown, sleeved shirt, and blue jeans. His secret catchphrase is "Go get it", and often is seen in comical cut-scenes. He is also Julie's friend.
[edit]Mickey
Mickey is a small, gray mouse with a green shirt, maroon pants, and orange eyes. He is as small as Allen, and doesn't like walking around all the time. He enjoys riding in Julie's backpack, and likes to relax. He is 5 years old, and is Julie's friend. He, along with all the characters, with be redesigned and improved, in the third upcoming video game.
[edit]References
^ Arcade-kids Limited, a website and company owned by Chuck Gunns
^ Amazon.com, Go to Amazon.com
^ [1] Girl Power's official Facebook page
^ The site that hosts Game Maker, and where the game was released
[edit]External links
Arcade-kids.com
Arcade-kids Gallery
Arcade-kids Facebook page
The official Girl Power Facebook page
The Arcade-kids Blog
