Ostrich Runner (2004)

## The Game

Ostrich Runner (Russian: Страусиные бега) is a cartoony racing game where the player takes control of an ostrich, competes with other ostriches and gathers eggs on the way. The game was released in shareware and physical forms.

### Story

The game takes place on an Earth-like planet in the shape of an egg, inhabited by sentient animals, mainly ostriches. Oneday, the evil human Professor Kosmoglux, who has a base on this planet’s moon, decides to steal the ostrich eggs so he can build an army from the next generation of ostriches and take over the planet. He sends his assistant of an unknown species to the planet of ostriches. At nighttime, the thief sneaks into houses and puts the eggs into his sack, but as he rushes back to his spaceship, he doesn’t notice that a hole has appeared in the sack. The eggs fall out, forming a trail. On the next day the parent ostriches see their loss, and the strongest and fastest ostriches are sent to chase after the thief. In an attempt to stop the ostriches, Professor Kosmoglux hypnotizes other animals.

The ostriches eventually stop the thief as he’s approaching his spaceship, and hand him over to the court. The protagonist ostrich uses the spaceship to get to the moon and runs to the professor’s hideout to confront him. The ostrich is victorious, they fly back home where they get awarded, continue living peacefully with their family and are well-treated by other ostriches.

### Gameplay

When starting a new game, the player must select one of the 9 ostrich models, and one of the 3 difficulty levels which will determine how many eggs must be collected and slightly affect the opponents’ AI.

**Playable Ostriches**

In most levels, the player must run and jump 3 laps around the map and finish first, while collecting a specified amount of eggs and trying not to lose all their health, otherwise they have to start over. There are 7 opponents. The maps are full of various obstacles, varying from logs and holes in bridges to cartoon hands with mallets and magical flying boots that chase the player.

The game also includes 2 multiplayer modes: split-screen with 2 players and LAN with up to 6 players.

### Levels

1. Village
2. Next Village
3. Highland
4. Green Wood
5. Dark Swamp
6. River City
7. Pirates Island
8. Treasure Island
9. Sphinx Desert
10. Oasis Desert (race from point A to point B)
11. Canyon
12. Mountain Alley
13. Dark Caves (race from point A to point B)
14. Snow World
15. Iceland (race from point A to point B, no egg requirement)
16. The Moon (race from point A to point B, no eggs, not accessible from the map)
17. unnamed boss level (non-race level, no eggs, not accessible from the map)

**Level Loading Screens**

VillageNext VillageHighlandGreen WoodDark SwampRiver CityPirates IslandTreasure IslandSphinx DesertOasis DesertCanyonMountain AlleyDark CavesSnow WorldIcelandThe Moon**Level Screenshots**

VillageNext VillageHighlandGreen WoodDark SwampRiver CityPirates IslandTreasure IslandSphinx DesertOasis DesertCanyonMountain AlleyDark CavesSnow WorldIcelandThe Moonthe boss level
### Collectibles

The game has a fairly small selection of collectibles, all of which respawn. Different power-ups can be used simultaneously.

* Egg – The most important collectible. Most levels require the player to pick up a certain amount of eggs. The opponent ostriches also collect them.
* Red Cross – Extends the player’s health by 1 feather (1 HP). Health can be increased beyond the starting amount.
* Shield – Protects the player from damage. However, if they get hit by anything, they’ll do a backflip, land on their feet and briefly pause in place, after which they’ll have to gain speed again. Expires after a short while.
* Shoe – Increases movement speed. Expires after a short while.
* Spring – Extends jump distance. Expires after a short while.

EggRed CrossShieldShoeSpring
### Production

#### Unused Content

The game's installation folder contains different kinds of content not present in the game.

One of the playable ostriches was going to be a mage. His illustration is in JPG format instead of TGA.

Level files include arenas, which were going to have eggs to collect as well, but not much else is known about them.

The music folder contains the file menu.ogg, which doesn't play anywhere in the game. The Main Menu uses Track04.ogg instead.

#### Beta

Beta builds of the game featured different levels, playable character models and HUD.

The game's files contain SplashFinish.tga, which has screenshot thumbnails and text inaccurate to the final game.

**Beta Screenshots**

## References

Manual (direct download): https://www.speedrun.com/resourceasset/7jkrg

Beta screenshots: https://vgtimes.ru/games/ostrich-runner/screenshots/

## Trivia

* The names of some levels are misspelt on the map.
* If the player quickly takes damage two or more times in a row, a laughtrack often plays.
* In Pirates Island, the gorillas dropping treasure chests are some of the most dangerous enemies in the game. The chests not only make the protagonist dizzy but also deal a massive amount of damage.
* In Canyon there's an ostrich parody of Mount Rushmore.
* An earthly animal shouldn't be able to live on the moon from the way it looks, yet the protagonist ostrich, without any special equipment, can breathe and doesn’t seem to suffer from extreme temperatures while being there. The gravity also isn't any different.
* A lunar rover can be seen on the moon, which resembles Lunokhod 1 and spells out "СССР" (USSR) on its side.
* Despite the fact the game has playable female ostriches, the protagonist is always referred to as “he” in the story.
* The images for the two blue similar-looking ostriches are named ChooseBuum and ChooseBuumWinter. In the manual, they're called Double O Ostrich and Altitude Ostrich respectively and described as different characters. Their in-game models also have slightly different colors.
* The game is child-friendly, however its manual contains the expression “kick ass”.

### Technical

* The map is skipped between some levels.
* The game’s 2D images can be viewed and soundtracks can be listened to in the game’s installation folder > Data > folders Textures and Music.
* The player can set a custom resolution by going to the game’s installation directory, opening the file settings.con in Notepad and writing their own values into the fields “set ScreenWidth” and “set ScreenHeight”.
* The game is full of glitches.
	+ There's a common bug where the NPC ostriches get stuck running into walls.
	+ Animals may twitch and quickly float up.
	+ Pirates Island has a hidden path leading to a hole in the ground, which should take the player to a bonus level. But when that level's loading screen appears, the game stops working.The start of the secret pathThe bonus level entry
	+ The monkeys in Pirates Island and Treasure Island throw coconuts which appear to freeze in place, but their hitboxes are functional, making it appear as if you get hit by the clear air. They may also hit you from behind.
	+ Even if you run in the correct direction, there's a chance of the "wrong way" message popping up.
	+ If you use shortcuts in Treasure Island, the game tends to get confused whether you’re running in the correct direction or not.
	+ According to the story, the eggs that were brought to Kosmoglux’s base hatched, the new ostriches are already under his control and they’re supposed to defend him in The Moon. However, no enemies appear in the level.
	+ The boss level ends shortly after beginning without the player really doing anything.