By Kieron Gillen on June 18th, 2009 at 4:57 pm.
I wanted to get the final part of the Magnetic Family Board Game obsession out the way today, but things have been cheerfully broken. So instead, let’s fill in time with a little more webgame timewastery. When forwarding this to me, Simon Parkin said that I had to give it to day 5, after which, there’s no turning back. He’s entirely right. Again. It’s called Learning to Fly and it’s the story of a penguin, offended by a wikipedia page, who tries to prove he can fly. Maybe if he gets a glider. And attaches a rocket. And… well, it’s alternates between trying to maximise your flying while having the constant motivation of knowing whether you win or fail, you’re getting cash towards the next delivery from the ACME school of penguin-flight. Good fun.
18/06/2009 at 17:01 Ian says:
Played this last week. It was good but I couldn’t manage to get the last goal or two.
18/06/2009 at 17:02 Kieron Gillen says:
The last goal is fucking me up. I can get to about 5500.
KG
18/06/2009 at 17:09 Serondal says:
I played this until I got all the upgrades ect. I didn’t even know there were goals involved :P
18/06/2009 at 17:10 Reggie says:
Loving the Foo Fighters references, Kieron. I never had you pegged as a fan.
18/06/2009 at 17:12 Mr Chug says:
The result when you do is something of an anticlimax. Played this one to death despite that, think the quickest I managed was 22 days.
18/06/2009 at 17:27 SmallGods says:
*SPOILERS!!! (I guess…)*
The trick Mr Gillon, is to drop straight down to about 2-3 meters above the sea, aim ever so slightly upwards (3/4degree…things…), and then just boost only when your speed drops, in very short bursts – should be easily possible to keep your speed over 100mph without any effort at all.
That should see you sail over the magic 6000..
*END OF FILTHY FILTHY SPOILERS!*
18/06/2009 at 17:31 B. Marley says:
i played it 4 times, and i beat it in 27 days… twice
perhaps i shall play it again?
18/06/2009 at 17:36 Mihai says:
Beat it in 31 days. Really nice take on the “hit the penguin” games.
18/06/2009 at 17:46 Kieron Gillen says:
SmallGods: Yeah, that’s what I figured. Wasn’t persisting with it enough as I have to go out :)
Reggie: Loved the first 2 albums, then kind of drifted away. In a “I’ve had enough of them” way rather than a fall of quality. Always glad to see ‘em around.
KG
18/06/2009 at 17:53 Man Raised By Puffins says:
For the 6000ft target I just aimed the glider slightly nose up to gain altitude then kept boosting just shy of the red line, after the fuel ran out I started trading altitude for speed and finished up with a couple of skims.
Not a bad time waster, polished it off in about 24 days.
18/06/2009 at 17:55 Sam says:
What I did for the 6000 was to start off using about half my rocket fuel to gain height and speed at about a 45 degree angle upwards. Then I angled just downward to maintain speed and used the rest of my fuel accelerating to ~200. One bounce, and I just barely got it.
18/06/2009 at 17:56 LeFishy says:
I did it! The ending is… I got it in 42 days because I didn’t really pay attention to the redzone thing.
Reminds me to remind you about the AaaaaAAaaaAAAA pre-order and super pre-order demo thingy. It is out.
18/06/2009 at 17:59 Dorian Cornelius Jasper says:
And always pay attention to your Wind Resistance stat. Don’t boost too hard or else you’ll be wasting fuel while the resistance picks up and you won’t be gaining enough extra speed for it to be worth it.
This and fidgeting with flight angles to maximize distance and minimize resistance. That’s what the endgame’s all about.
18/06/2009 at 18:07 Gabanski83 says:
Beat it in 32 days.
2% or 3% seems to be a good resistance point.
18/06/2009 at 18:11 Nathan says:
24 days… slow day at work. I just use half the rocket to get as much height as I can, then use it later to get more height, and I try and keep my air resistance at 0%, and you should be sweet. The most important boosts are the height and your glider.
And watch out for walls.
18/06/2009 at 18:14 Fat says:
Yeah, the resistance is what you want to look out for when going for the 6000 feet achievement… not that there’s much reward for it. :(
Was hoping for a NASA shuttle or something to strap to my back.
Took me 31 days. Coulda shaved many days off it but i was stubborn and was like ”IM SAVING UP POINT FOR [X] EVEN THOUGH I CAN AFFORD CHEAPER THINGS”. I’m sure skipping on the cheapies didn’t do my record any good.
18/06/2009 at 18:20 Ging says:
I played this on kongregate a couple of weeks back – I got past the 6000 point by getting fairly high off the launch, then sitting at about 2% and tapping the boost when my speed dropped beneath about 120.
18/06/2009 at 18:22 mysterylobster says:
I wish you could go beyond 6000. I was still cruising when I reached the end.
The game was good, but I had more fun with the kinda similar Hedgehog Launch.
18/06/2009 at 18:35 B. Marley says:
wow… i tried again, and guess what i got:
27 days! again!
is it possible to get anything else?
18/06/2009 at 18:57 sbs says:
Sure you can Bob. Can I call you Bob? I got 48.
18/06/2009 at 19:00 aeiowu says:
I did it…
18/06/2009 at 19:03 Sam says:
Just managed 21 days on my second try (had 31 on the first). I really should be getting back to work now.
I could *maybe* shave a day off of that since I screwed up one of my flights early somewhat, but I will be seriously impressed if someone manages under 20.
18/06/2009 at 19:08 Jeremy says:
I just rocketed myself kinda uppish until I reached dark blue space, then sort of just up n downed it until I hit 6k. I’m not a talented pilot apparently :)
18/06/2009 at 19:13 Hobbes says:
‘For All the Crows’
‘This is a Caw’
‘Terns like these’
‘Storked Actors’
‘Monkey Finch’
Thanks, I’m here all week, try the fish.
18/06/2009 at 19:20 Carra says:
This was a pleasant 30 minutes :)
18/06/2009 at 19:21 B. Marley says:
@mysterylobster:
just tried hedgehog launch, i find they’re about the same
fun-ness
btw, i got it in 11 days in hedgehog launch second time
18/06/2009 at 19:23 AlexW says:
I assumed that “Reach 6000 feets”, since there was already a distance record, meant “Try to reach orbit”. This I attempted for a couple of days before giving up and doing the (pitifully easy) right thing.
18/06/2009 at 19:24 Noc says:
Re: the spoilery, spoilery end:
I DO kind of wish that instead of being a cutscene, they actually had the wall on the stage. So you get an “ah, crap!” moment before smashing into it, instead of the “oh, I guess that’s funny” cutscene.
Put me in the mind of Kiwi!, though, which is a good thing.
18/06/2009 at 19:42 Skolem says:
I managed 22 days first try. My tactic was just boost and climb up high, also getting your speed up, until the boost runs out in one big hit, and then just glide as effeciently as possible the rest.
I enjoyed it.
18/06/2009 at 19:50 Kua says:
50 days ^^
18/06/2009 at 20:08 zergl says:
I thought, “WTF, RPS posted a dupe?” until I realized that for once I played an awesome flashgame before the RPS Hivemind found it. :D
Wasted an afternoon on it a few weeks ago and I have to agree with Noc, the ending could’ve been executed differently.
It was kind of a meh moment for me. =/
18/06/2009 at 20:20 Dave says:
I prefer Hedgehog Launch myself, but this one was fun.
18/06/2009 at 21:04 The_B says:
Took me 40 days. Which is probably quite poor, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Also – I absolutely loved seeing the Foo’s live at V Festival a couple of years ago, they’re one of my favourite bands, and LTF is one of my favourite songs.
18/06/2009 at 21:07 Scott says:
You can do the skimming the surface bit, or you can be a man and use all your fuel at the beginning and get up to about 200+ feet, then coast at 0-5% resistance, got me to about 7k+. I made it to 5896 on the first level with that ^_^
18/06/2009 at 21:29 Gnarl says:
That was great until the end, when it became all sad and depressing.
18/06/2009 at 21:32 The_B says:
Mmnngh…mustn’t…make…sex…joke…
18/06/2009 at 21:54 Warduke says:
29 Days and 7434 as my best distance after I beat it..
18/06/2009 at 21:55 Warduke says:
You can keep playing after you beat it btw…
18/06/2009 at 22:18 Guhndahb says:
Okay that was just such a charming little premise that I couldn’t resist trying to help the little guy even though flash games usually don’t do anything for me. It took me 31 days but I didn’t read any recommendations so I guess I’m kinda middle-of-the-road. Fun little diversion though.
18/06/2009 at 22:21 Wisq says:
27 days here too. Fun game.
18/06/2009 at 22:55 Simon Parkin says:
Hobbes:
Monkey Wren, surely?
18/06/2009 at 23:00 mysterylobster says:
Yeah, I didn’t know I could go back after winning and get past 6000. My best score is $11,500, can anyone get $12,000?
18/06/2009 at 23:03 Brulleks says:
@Gnarl
Yeah, I didn’t like the end either. Was a bit of an unnecessary deflation after the whole joyful tone of the game.
18/06/2009 at 23:23 Davee says:
I did it in 26 days on my first try I belive. Good game with a sad ending :’(
18/06/2009 at 23:36 Man Raised By Puffins says:
@ Hobbes:
Hey, Johnny Lark!
Ain’t Tit the Life
Walking After Emu
Ballad of the Beaconsfield Mynas
Beakout
My Whip-poor-will Brain
Overdiver
19/06/2009 at 00:15 RC-1290'Dreadnought' says:
24 days. It’s always sad when you earn a lot of money and you have nothing to spend it on.
19/06/2009 at 02:27 Hypocee says:
I always just spent all my fuel straight up – every foot of altitude is multiplied by your glideslope while horizontal airspeed bleeds from air resistance, so that seems optimal to me whatever the optimal glideslope happens to be. Got past 6000 on my first try, but I’d fully upgraded due to some trouble getting speed goals. I wish the skipping was more significant, it never seemed worthwhile to me.
19/06/2009 at 03:07 joe says:
Finished it completely, but IMO Hedgehog Launch was funner.
19/06/2009 at 03:21 Pace says:
18 Days. I’m not sure if I should be proud of that accomplishment, or perhaps worried at the time I put in to learning to fly a penguin.
19/06/2009 at 03:30 Oliver says:
I must be playing a different game or something… I’m giving up after 100 days. My best distance seemed to asymptotically approach 2200 feet. No matter what I did (tried every trick from this thread), flying any farther seemed utterly impossible. I suck. :(
19/06/2009 at 03:44 Vinraith says:
@Oliver
You can best that without ever doing anything but feathering the rocket thrust. Seriously, just don’t touch anything but the space bar.
19/06/2009 at 05:24 Lukasz says:
i somehow managed to beat it in 14 days once. how? no frigging idea.
15 days is a repeatable record though.
@Oliver 2200 feet?? with everything upgraded? That must be a record.
19/06/2009 at 09:15 dave says:
I hate it. With a passion. Fantastic Contraption all the way
19/06/2009 at 09:24 nikos says:
The ending was lame.
I finished it in 20405 days. What’s with this anyway?
19/06/2009 at 11:24 Riotpoll says:
27 days on my first go, nice little time waster.
19/06/2009 at 12:17 RLacey says:
I’m obviously insanely poor at this game, because I still can’t get the 6000 feet thing. Gah.
19/06/2009 at 12:21 MD says:
Have you tried some of the tips in this comment thread? I was rubbish at it too, but if you just copy a proven strategy the execution isn’t hard. It’s really not worth it for the sake of seeing the ending though, and if you have to ‘cheat’ you lose the satisfaction of being awesome at penguin flight,
19/06/2009 at 12:26 RLacey says:
Well, I’ve tried pretty much every strategy listed here, and always end up with about 5700 feet. To be honest, I think I’ve already lost the satisfaction of being awesome at penguin flight. But hey, I’m sure that eventually someone will release one of these games and I’ll find I’m anything other than exceedingly poor at it :).
19/06/2009 at 12:40 Rei Onryou says:
A good lunchtime laff. 31 days I think. Serves me right for saving up for the big guns. I wish at the end he updated the Wikipedia entry. Would’ve been more epic.
Also, I didn’t think it possible to make so many bird puns out of Foo Fighter songs. Truly RPS is full of win.
19/06/2009 at 12:56 teo says:
Guys, it’s really not hard
Just boost as you come off the ramp, point your nose a 15-25 degrees upwards and make sure you don’t go in to the red (but stay close to it. Go into a steeper climb if you go into the red). Once the boost runs out just do a very long descent down to the water and glide your way home (no bounces needed)
Someone already made a tutorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxVtUzbB6kk
19/06/2009 at 18:29 odd parity says:
I also ended up at 31 days! :-) Good fun, disappointing ending. I coasted to 6000 following a sine-like pattern over a limited height, boosting every once in a while if my altitude or speed dropped too much.
19/06/2009 at 20:13 Paul says:
I assumed when I read “reach 6000 feets ?” with an s at the end, that I’d be reuniting with a colony of 3000 happy penguins. Gaping missed opportunity.
20/06/2009 at 00:41 MD says:
Paul: same here! Which made the actual ending doubly disappointing.
21/06/2009 at 09:44 Pestilence says:
36 days here. Took me a while to get the hang of it but a very fun game. So sad.
23/06/2009 at 18:01 DrChi says:
This game was cool, I wasted far more time on it than I care to admit. I had never played Hedgehog sling either, also awesome for mindless amusement.