Airlanders: Dyro's Adventures

"A revolution in toys and video games!"

- Snowtendo

Airlanders:Dyro's Adventures is a video game that was published on September 7th, 2011, in the USA. In other places it was published on September 14th, 2011. The game took around 15 months to create, and 1 month to advertise. The game was a big hit, and sold thousands of copies. One of the things that made it so popular was that players could buy figures in reality, and play them in the game. The figures have to be put on a cube, called the "Portal of Magic". The "Portal of Magic" connects to the player's Vii using a USB port on the back of the Vii. Interestingly enough, the figures literally carry all they're data with them. So players can play with their character, upgrades and all, and play somewhere with the game and the Portal of Magic.

History
Airlanders: Dyro's Adventures was a video game idea by Handles Zimmer, the brother of Heimlich Zimmer. Handles had just finished his studies on video game programming, and music composing. He was a major fan of the old Dyro Games, that featured a purple dragon named Dyro. However, the Dyro Games were failing. The company that owned the game series went bankrupt, and ended up selling the games to Treats For Don. However Treats for Don did nothing with the game series, and left it alone for a year. After that Acting Vision bought the game series, hoping to create a whole new game in the series. However the idea died out when the employer who suggested it died of Fat. Handles Zimmer at that time had been hired into Treats for Don, as a music composer. In 2009, while waddling past a meeting room, Handles heard the CEO mention Dyro the Dragon. Handles stopped, and listened to the conversation. He waddled into the room, and suggested that they should make a whole new game for the Dyro Games. The CEO became curios, and listened to Handles. Handles told a whole story about this whole other universe, filled with weird creatures called Airlanders. Included in the Airlanders was Dyro himself, who was the leader of the group. After Handles explained the whole game, the CEO immediately told one of the company's artist to meet up with Handles and draw some drafts of the characters. A day later three character drafts were taken to the CEO. The characters in the drafts were Dyro, Trigger Mad, and Grunt Gill. Trigger Mad was a western-themed gremlin, that loved weapons and gold;Grunt Gill was fish that shot harpoons, and had a slight Castillan accent. The CEO then set up an entire team, including Handles, to make the first five levels of the game. The team was given a budget of 6 million Coins, and five game developers. Two months later, the first five levels of the game were complete. The CEO played it himself, then had his chick play it. Both of them agreed that the game was awesome, and then the CEO made a official team to work on the game. In no time Airlanders:Dyro's Adventures was well underway to becoming popular. Commercials on kid's TV channels, billboards, and other forms of advertisement attracted a large group of chicks to the game.

Description
In the game the player actually plays a role in the game. The player is described as the "Master Portaler". The Master Portaler is someone who commands all the Airlanders, and tells them what to do. The Master Portaler watches over the "Beam of Light". The Beam of Light is a device that uses all the "elements" to create light for Airlands.

The storyline of the game goes like this: An evil penguin named Madness assembles a large army of trolls, and creatures called drows. Drows are a subspecies of trolls, and are very creative. The drows first appear in the third level, when the player has to find a jet engine in the Drow Sky Docks. Madness had used a device to destroy the Beam of Light, and then captured the Airlanders. He banned them to Earth from Airlands, and on the way there the Airlanders shrink and freeze. And the current Master Portaler, Neon, is killed. In the game he appears as a giant floating head in ghost form. Neon helps you throughout the game, especially in mini-games and the first level. Once the all the Airlanders are banned to Earth, Neon quickly appears to an average chick as a ghost. The chick is an reference to the player themselves. Neon tells them to an Airlander on the Portal of Magic, to save a village being over-run by little, green creatures named Biters. Through the game the players have to collect certain elements, and rebuild the Beam of Light to destroy the growing darkness. Once the Beam of Light is finished, and the darkness is gone, the players must chase down Madness in a large underground maze. The maze includes enemies, and X-Airlanders. X-Airlanders are used by Madness to destroy the original Airlanders, after he used the X-Virus to make them. X-Airlanders look like the original Airlanders, except they are one color and slightly stronger.

Non-Playable Characters
Here is a list of characters that cannot be bought, but play an important role in the storyline of the console game.

Locations
There are 22 levels/chapters in the console game, and there are also four Quest Packs. Quests Packs are special packs that that have levels not featured in the game alone. Quests Packs are very rare, and hard to find. Each one comes with an Airlander, and the object, that when placed on the Portal of Magic, appear as a level in the game.



Here is a list of all the levels (in order of storyline):


 * 1) '''Overran Island
 * 2) '''Dangerous Island
 * 3) '''Drow Sky Docks
 * 4) '''Windy Castle
 * 5) '''Oil Island
 * 6) '''Pirates' Cove
 * 7) '''Leviathan Islands
 * 8) '''Great Eye Castle
 * 9) '''Rock Village
 * 10) '''Tree Forts
 * 11) '''Tumbling Trees
 * 12) '''Troll Factory
 * 13) '''Goo Plant
 * 14) '''War Zone
 * 15) '''Dangerous Catacombs
 * 16) '''Cadaverous' Lair
 * 17) '''Spider Citadel
 * 18) '''Mines of Miners
 * 19) '''Lava Pools Railway
 * 20) '''Silver Vault
 * 21) '''Arden Armory
 * 22) '''Madness' Castle



Here are a list of all the Quests Pack levels:


 * 1) '''Pirate Oceans
 * 2) '''Dark Crypt
 * 3) '''Dragon Cliff
 * 4) '''Snowy Kingdom

Development
The game took close to two years to make. The game was a major challenge to the team "mostly because of it's size, and the need to make it good," said Handles Zimmer in a interview. The team had to find a way to make the Airlander figures be read by the Portal of Magic, and there were many troubles with it. At first the team decided to use a scanner, but that failed. Then Handles came across a great discovery, Radio-frequency identification was offered by a group of dorks from Dorkugal. The team tested out the RFID's in the figures, and it worked great. Alone with the video game version of the game, Treats for Don also made an online version of the game. The online version allowed players to use their bought Airlanders in the game, and play fun mini-games. Though the online version didn't get worked on as much as the video game, and was published with loading problems, and other glitches.

Music
The music was made by Handles Zimmer himself. He made all the music using a computer program, and made all the music for all versions of the game. He even made the sound effects for the different versions. His music was very good, and everyone loved it. So Handles Zimmer decided to make a soundtrack for Airlanders, and sell it on certain online stores. A fan made a whole PengTube channel for the music, which can be found at: http://www.pengtube.com/user/AirlandersMusic.

Artwork/Graphics
The artwork and graphics was done by a team of 3D designers, and cartoonist who had also done graphic work on other Dyro games. Cartoonist were needed to make the cartoon clips in the game, that showed at the end of each chapter/level. The cartoons were important to tell the story, and were very hard to make. The cartoons made the video game very original, and funny. The cartoons were so good that some players have requested that Treats for Don make a movie based on the game. Handles Zimmer is thinking about it, and many rumors are spreading that he's already started working on a movie.

One of the major art projects of the game was the remake of Dyro. Treats for Don was allowed to remake Dyro, but to keep some similarities. Handels decided that Dyro should look more like a punk, to match his new background. However the concept art (left image), was not accepted because it was too different than the original. So they decided to make Dyro look younger, and better for the modern community of gamers.

Versions
There are several different versions of the game on different devices.

Online-Version
In addition to the video game, an online version of the game was created. The online version is a virtual world, where players can play with their Airlanders and decorate a house. The online game also has a different name, Airlanders:Dyro's World. The online version allows players to play mini-games whenever, and to battle with online friends with their Airlanders. However, the online version has several bugs. Loading errors, and sprite graphic mistakes are the most common glitches. Many don't like the online version, and don't bother with it.

Snowtendo 3DS Version
The 3DS version of Airlanders is majorly different from the console, and online game. In the 3DS version there's a different storyline, and villain. The villain's name is Lugless, who appears as a floating mask every time you encounter him. Like Madness, Lugless is actually a tiny little creature. He's really just a green reptile, who wears big, thick glasses.

The storyline in the 3DS version is completely different. The story goes as this: Lugless is using the power of the Darkness to invade a group of islands in Airlands, called the Emonion Islands. The Emonion Islands is a separate nation from the Airlands monarchy, and is run by a wise council called the Hugoses. Lugless has captured the members of the Hugoses, except for one. This one penguin escapes Lugless' evil, and goes to the Airlands monarchy. There he finds the Airlanders after they had defeated some pirates. The Airlanders go to the Emonion Islands, and find out what Lugless is doing. Lugless has forced the Hugoses to build him a giant ball of gems, that can shoot lazers in any direction. However, several gems are missing from the ball. The Airlanders have to find the gems before Lugless does, and must use the gems against him. After a play has found the gem for the level, Lugless will appear as a black, floating head and try to shoot the Airlander with lazers.

The 3DS version is a lot harder, and more violent then the console and online versions. It's very hard for younger chicks to play, and is too violent for some.

Reception
The video game has received mixed ratings. It's average rating is 6 stars, and the highest rating it has got is 9 stars. Many gaming stores, and companies love how the game has continued the Dyro Franchise. Gaming Dot gave the game a 8.5 star, and Snowtendo called it "A revolution in toys and video games!". These good ratings make the game very popular, and made it the #1 Game of 2011. Old Dyro fans generally gave the game negative ratings, due to the entirely differeny genre to the series(which are usually 3D platform games)

Sequel

 * Main Article: Airlanders: Flight of the Heroes.

On February 18th, 2012, Treats For Don CEO Jerry Whites announced at an interview that a sequel to Airlanders: Dyro's Adventures was going to be released in December. After that, the company progressively revealed concept art and sneak peeks of the game. On March 19th, Jerry announced that the sequel would be named Airlanders: Flight of the Heroes. He also announced that the game would be based in the skies of Airlands, and players would pilot their ship around, defeating mafias and other evil gangs. In April, Jerry also announced that Madness would make a comeback, and play a key role in the storyline of the game.

Trivia

 * Everything here is a parody of Skylanders:Spyro's Adventure.
 * Their website is at: www.airlanders.com.
 * The game will also create a whole new line of figures to buy, that are 50% bigger than the original figures.
 * Some think that Madness is a parody of Penghis Khan.
 * In fact, Penghis Khan owns the game.
 * Penhigs Khan also laughs when the cartoons of Madness run.
 * When Penghis Khan loses a level, he smashes the game with a mallet.
 * The game has a Chitter, and Beakbook account for advertising.
 * The cover for the game is missing an "S" at the end of "Adventure". But not many people have noticed it.