Software:Putt-Putt Joins the Circus

From HandWiki
Short description: 2000 video game
Putt-Putt Joins the Circus
2002 cover art
Developer(s)Humongous Entertainment
Publisher(s)Humongous Entertainment[lower-alpha 1]
Programmer(s)Brian Pulliam
Artist(s)Edward Pun
Composer(s)Scott Lloyd Shelly
SeriesPutt-Putt
EngineSCUMM
Platform(s)Macintosh, Windows, iOS, Linux
ReleaseMacintosh, Windows
July 11, 2000[1]
iOS
October 4, 2013
Linux
May 29, 2014[2]
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Putt-Putt Joins the Circus is a video game and the sixth installment in the Putt-Putt series. It was developed and published by Humongous Entertainment in 2000.

Plot

Putt-Putt and Pep are traveling to Apple Valley to see B.J. Sweeney's Big Top Circus. On the way, they find a hungry goat blocking the road to Apple Valley, as well as the train tracks where a train named Roll-Along Cassidy is trying to deliver sawdust to the circus. Putt-Putt coaxes the goat off of the tracks with a flower bush, but the goat eats his circus ticket afterwards. Realizing their predicament, Cassidy decides to give Putt-Putt and Pep a ride to the circus, saying that B.J. Sweeney might be able to help them.

Upon arriving at the circus, Putt-Putt learns from B.J. that all of the circus' acts are having problems. He shows Putt-Putt a piece of paper, showing the performers of the five main performers: Honko the Clown, The Flying Porkowskis, Phillipe the Flea, Reginald the Lion and Katie Cannonball. Putt-Putt volunteers to help around the circus, which Sweeny agrees to.

After Putt-Putt helps all the acts, B.J. Sweeney rewards Putt-Putt by letting him perform in the circus. At the end, Putt-Putt presses a button that opens a curtain, and all the five main circus stars perform their tricks, ending the game.

Gameplay

Putt-Putt Joins the Circus uses the same mechanics as its predecessors including Putt-Putt's dashboard interface and some minigames included. Throughout the game the player must solve characters' problems and unite all five circus actors.

Development

All backgrounds, characters and animations were hand drawn.[3] Between May 11 and 13, 2000, the game had debuted at E3 in Los Angeles.[3]

Reception

Critical reception

Reception
Review score
PublicationScore
PC MagazineStarStarStarStar[4]
Awards
PublicationAward
Dr. Toy, Institute for Childhood Resources10 Best Software/CD-ROM/High-Tech Products for 2000[5]
Dr. Toy, Institute for Childhood Resources100 Best Children's Products for 2000[5]
National Parenting Publications AwardsGold Award[5]
Parent's GuideChildren's Media Award[5]
Children's Software RevueAll Star Software Award[5]
Choosing Children's SoftwareBest Picks Award[5]

Putt-Putt Joins the Circus was well received and earned a number of awards around its year of release.

Commercial performance

During the year 2001 alone, Putt-Putt Joins the Circus sold 82,400 retail units in North America, according to PC Data.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Putt-Putt® Joins the Circus™ from Humongous Entertainment® Offers Big Top Fun for Children of All Ages" (Press release). Humongous Entertainment. July 11, 2000. Archived from the original on November 20, 2000.
  2. ↑ "Putt-Putt Joins the Circus on Steam". Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/app/294690/PuttPutt_Joins_the_Circus/. Retrieved November 8, 2017. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Latest Adventure Starring Everyone's Favorite Purple Car Available in June". Humongous Entertainment - News. 2000. Archived from the original on November 20, 2000. https://web.archive.org/web/20001120142200/http://humongous.com/parents/Pr/More/News/putt_putt_circus.html. Retrieved November 8, 2017. 
  4. ↑ Angela Graven (October 3, 2000). "Angela Graven reviews Putt-Putt Joins the Circus". PC Magazine. https://books.google.com/books?id=Jbft8HXJZwQC&q=%22Putt-Putt+Joins+the+Circus%22&pg=PA230. Retrieved November 8, 2017. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 "Putt-Putt Joins the Circus - Awards". Humongous Entertainment. Archived from the original on April 18, 2001. https://web.archive.org/web/20010418050809/http://www.humongous.com/asp/character.asp?pageWord=Putt&content=GameAwards&productID=04-19983. Retrieved November 8, 2017. 
  6. ↑ Sluganski, Randy (March 2002). "State of Adventure Gaming - March 2002 - 2001 Sales Table". Just Adventure. Archived from the original on June 19, 2002. https://web.archive.org/web/20020619111456/http://www.justadventure.com/articles/State_of_Adventure_Gaming/Mar-02/sales2001.shtm. 
  1. ↑ The iOS release was published by Tommo. The Steam release was co-published by Tommo and Night Dive Studios.
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.[18]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
  18. ↑ "An update on MobyGames leadership". 2025-02-13. https://www.mobygames.com/forum/3/thread/269628/an-update-on-mobygames-leadership/#post-269628. 
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