TCSoft / 01 / Road & river arcade

Croak

Five homes. One very busy road.

Five lanes of traffic. Five lanes of river. Five homes to reach. A single-screen crossing game with a very determined frog.

BBC Micro + Commodore Amiga · Dreamcast in development

See it in action
01Illustrated green spotted frog leaping off a floating log across a sunset river, with turtles, water lilies, a dragonfly and a stone road bridge behindCroakRoad & river arcade
Box / poster artwork concept · View poster

A little frog. A long way home.

There’s a safe patch of grass on the other side of the road. Beyond that, logs and turtles carry you across the river. Beyond those: home. It sounds simple until the first lorry arrives.

Hop through five traffic lanes, time your river crossing, and fill all five homes to finish a level. Then do it again, a little faster.

Take the scenic route

Green dragonflies reward a well-timed hop over the river. The golden dragonfly hovering over the road is worth an extra life, but make sure you don't get run over.

One more crossing

Three lives, a ticking clock and a high score worth coming back for. The BBC version remembers your best score on a writable disc. Pause when you need a breather; the traffic will wait.

Screenshots below show the BBC Micro and Commodore Amiga versions. Cover artwork is an illustration, not a representation of the in-game graphics.

From the machine

See it in action.

Screenshots are emulator captures shown through MAME's CRT shader (for the Dreamcast, the same crt-geom-deluxe shader in RetroArch).
Select one to enlarge it, then choose Clean for the original capture.
The videos are the emulators' own, with no shader.

Croak / BBC Micro · 25 seconds, played by hand in the MAME emulator · no CRT shader · with sound

BBC Micro

Game released · shop opening soon

BBC Micro Model B. DFS disc edition.

Croak gameplay with a frog, five traffic lanes, river logs and five home bays
Gameplay / BBC Micro
Croak title screen on BBC Micro
Title screen / BBC Micro

Controls Z / X: left / right. Colon: up. Slash: down. Space: start. P: pause. Escape: return to title.

Digital edition: SSD disc image. Physical format: 5.25-inch floppy.

Commodore Amiga

Game released · shop opening soon

PAL Amiga 500 edition, targeting 512 KB chip RAM. Joystick in port 2 or keyboard.

Croak on the Amiga with colourful traffic lanes, river logs, turtles and five frog homes
Gameplay / Commodore Amiga
Croak title screen on Commodore Amiga
Title screen / Commodore Amiga

Controls Joystick or cursor keys: hop. Z / X: left / right. Semicolon / full stop: up / down. Fire or Space: start. P: pause. Escape: title.

Digital: ADF disc image. Physical: 3.5-inch floppy. High scores last for the session.

Sega Dreamcast

In development

The same road and river, rebuilt in real 3D.

  • Three views, switched with Y: follow, third person and stadium.
  • After game over, watch the run back from any view.
  • A sampled-piano soundtrack.
  • Cheats entered on the D-pad.
  • Played on a real Dreamcast.
Croak's Dreamcast title screen: the 3D frog sits on a lily pad beneath the yellow CROAK lettering, with trees on the far bank and the high score, controls and copyright line below
Title screen · work in progress · Flycast emulator capture
Croak on the Dreamcast in the follow view: the camera looks down from behind the frog on the central verge, with yellow cars on the road below and logs and turtles on the river ahead
Follow view · work in progress · Flycast emulator capture
Croak on the Dreamcast in the third-person view: from low behind the frog on the central verge, the river of logs and turtles stretches ahead to the homes, with trees and a village on the skyline
Third-person view · work in progress · Flycast emulator capture
Croak on the Dreamcast in the stadium view: the whole board from high above, with cars, vans and lorries on every road lane, the frog on the central verge, and the river and homes beyond
Stadium view · work in progress · Flycast emulator capture
Croak on Dreamcast in third-person view: a 3D green dragonfly hovers close to the camera in the foreground, its four pale wings spread and its long green abdomen trailing, while the frog sits on a floating log beyond it, with turtles and logs on the river, the hedged home bays and a village on the skyline
Dragonfly close-up, third-person view · work in progress · Flycast emulator capture
Gameplay · 79 seconds, played by hand · work in progress · Flycast emulator capture · with sound

Work in progress. Pictures are captured in the Flycast emulator. Formats, prices and dates will follow.

Shown through a CRT shader (crt-geom-deluxe).The original emulator capture.