User:Schplurg/Daredevil Dave: Motorcycle Stuntman!

Daredevil Dave: Motorcycle Stuntman! is a 3D action video game developed by United States-based M-Digital Media, in which you are a stuntman who must jump his motorcycle over various hazards in order to complete his world-wide tour. Highlighting the game are Dave's spectacular crashes which can actually earn the player points in a special secondary game mode.

The game was first released for Apple's iOS in May 2010. Daredevil Dave: Motorcycle Stuntman! received much critical acclaim, and was a top 10 overall app throughout the world in the Apple iTunes App Store.

Gameplay
In Daredevil Dave: Motorcycle Stuntman!, players embark on a world-wide tour as a motorcycle stuntman who must leap his bike over various hazards, such as a row of buses, a tank full of angry sharks, helicopters with the rotor blades spinning, a canyon, and many others. The player is awarded a cash prize for each successful jump, and may also receive a bonus prize for precision. Should Dave miss a jump and crash, he will need to pay for his own medical bills.

The player must analyze each jump and set the angle of the launch ramp, then calculate the correct speed. Since the game is in 3D, the player views the game from Dave's perspective, sitting on the actual motorcycle. The player can choose from different views when the bike is in the air, or can remain with the "on the bike" view until either completing the jump successfully, or crashing.

The crashes, a very popular aspect of the game, feature advanced Ragdoll physics where Dave will tumble helplessly after falling off his motorcycle. The crashes became so popular that an additional game mode was added, called "Injury Mode", in which the goal is to get the highest medical bill possible by crashing Dave in creative ways on all of te jumps. The medical bill shows a detailed list of injuries including broken toe, bad headache, partially severed arm, broken back, and numerous others, some of which are quite humorous.

Players can share their highscores for Worst Crash, highest Tour score and highest Injury Mode score, using AGON Online.

Daredevil Dave features a lot of humor as well as action. Dave is a charismatic ladies man with a lot of guts, but without a lot of intelligence. The voice of Dave is featured throughout the game through either screams of pain as he crashes, or witty one-liners in the game menus as well as after crashing. Phrases like "Ladies can't take their eyes off of me", "This jump looks a lot easier than it's going to feel", and "You know what they say about long handlebars..." add much to the Dave, and the game's, character.

Development
M-Digital Media was founded in 2009 by Mike Massei, an independent game designer. After deciding to target the iPhone and iPod Touch (or iOS) devices, he began work on a bowling game. After some time, he pondered the idea of a game featuring ragdoll physics, as the genre seemed very popular with iOS gamers. Soon, the idea came of combing a character remeniscent of famous motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel with ragdoll physics, as well as a lot of humor began. Thus, Daredevil Dave: Motorcycle Stuntman! was born.

Mike Massei enlisted the help of Douglas Doherty, who became the voice of Daredevil Dave. From an interview on the website Touchaholics.com:

"...what really brings the game to life is Dave himself. Humor is a big part of this game, from Dave’s witty one-liners in between jumps to his cries of pain as he crashes. I have to give credit here to Douglas Doherty, who is the voice of Dave. He did a fantastic job and injected his own humor into the character. He really brought Dave to life which elevated the game exponentially."

M-Digital Media operated on a shoestring budget until Daredevil Dave was released on May 11, 2010 after about 6 months of development.

Reception
Reviews, Radio, C-Net, App Store, Rankings