Browser Game Pick: How to Raise a Dragon (Gregory Weir)
Gregory Weir has done it again. How to Raise a Dragon follows the rise and potential fall of a mythical beast from hatching to distilling fear in the hearts of pitiful humans. As you'd expect from a Gregory Weir game, there are multiple endings depending on the direction you decide to take.
Your first steps into the world determine your dragon's colouring. The second part (adolescence) is all about deciding what kind of special power you want to spew from your dragon's mouth. Will you be a fiery tryant raining down destruction or be a kind soul? There are a few different options to choose from.
Finally, at full grown state, it's time to interact with humans. Again, how you decide to handle yourself makes all the difference. Once this is all done, there's a final twist which marks out the ending once and for all.
I'm not sure if this is where Greg got his inspiration from, but once the game has been played through once, the menu system all goes a bit Spore-like. It's possible to choose which stage to start from, and what kind of colour/power to have (as long as you have previously unlocked them).
Anyway, it's all brilliantly done. So... go play! It's at Armor Games.









Comments
Nice game.
I did a dragon that breath flowers :D
And my hero died, killed by the Flower dragon.
If that's not awesome...
Posted by: hide | June 26, 2009 1:37 AM
Fun :).
But my hero killed my flower dragon. That was sad.
Posted by: Lucaz | June 26, 2009 2:29 AM
Ok, this time the hero and my necromatic guardian dragon were friends.
Peace.
Posted by: Lucaz | June 26, 2009 3:04 AM
My first dragon was a reclusive guardian. befriended it with gold.
I've actually managed to trigger a bug in the 3rd phase (Adult Dragon), when a breathless dragon ate every human and made their home at the castle. this was done while trying to get the remaining "dragon personalities"
Here's the list of personalities and locations
personality:
Fertile
Fiery
Necromantic
Rampaging
Reclusive
Wild
Location:
Guardian
Tyrant
Watcher
Scourge
Posted by: Zeta | June 26, 2009 3:07 AM
Nice. Can you explain how to get each one :)?.
Posted by: Lucaz | June 26, 2009 3:39 AM
Damnit Zeta, you beat me to the bug. I was about to post that.
Posted by: David | June 26, 2009 3:44 AM
Spore was indeed the inspiration for the replay system. Good spotting!
Zeta and David's bug has been tracked down. The fixed version should go up on Armor Games soon.
Posted by: Gregory Weir | June 26, 2009 6:39 AM
Was gonna be a good dragon, and totally didn't expect the necromancy thing, but I went and killed and resurrected everyone after that.
Posted by: Dracil | June 26, 2009 7:43 AM
I cant use the breath (c) :(
Posted by: Baz | June 26, 2009 3:05 PM
Played through it and ended up befriending my dragon. Liked it a lot, will definitely play again.
Was a little disappointed that I didn't get to go into a final stage with hero riding on dragon's back.
Posted by: Tom Sennett | June 26, 2009 4:04 PM
I enjoyed making everyone a zombie and then slaying the dragon.
Posted by: Anthony | June 26, 2009 4:56 PM
I liked it, but I find that too manz of the actions yield too few results. For example it doesn't seem to matter much if I heal the "master" or just burn him in his bed, and while there are different outcomes in the Adult and final stages, I was disappointed that it's not more than a "label". What you do in adulthood doesn't have much effect on the following stage, and what you do in the final stage doesn't have any effect apart from giving you one of only 3 different texts.
More specifically, I think there should be more texts, explaining what exactly you turned into, for example what the difference between a wild guardian and a fiery guardian is, or have different kinds of friendships depending on the kind of dragon. Also, more visual "links" to the previous stages.
Anyway, that's not to say this game is bad, not at all. It's nice to play through once and twice, but I think it loses its appeal. Though, I guess it's just natural for a unique little game like this one to very much expandable.
So, here's hoping that this will not only be a nice game, but also inspiration! :)
Posted by: MisterX | June 26, 2009 11:03 PM
I actually ment to say that it loses its appeal _after only one or two play-throughs_, whereas playing more often to see all the possible results could be made much more interesting.
I should really read my posts a bit more carefully before posting them.. :)
Posted by: MisterX | June 26, 2009 11:06 PM
lemme start by saying i love greg's work. i read and listen to most of what he posts around. i really loved the majesty of colors.
this game, however, i find rather lukewarm. it's definitely an interesting exercise for designers, but not very compelling, i feel, for players.
Posted by: phx | June 27, 2009 9:58 AM
Great game, nice idea :) I created a helpful guardian dragon first which then became friend with the hero. And then I played a necromantic evil dragon who killed the hero. Really nice :)
Posted by: jonas | June 27, 2009 1:52 PM
Does eating the different coloured foods during the hatchling state affect anything besides your colour? Eating the different foods during the adolescence state affects your breath power, but what about the hatchling stage?
Posted by: Anonymous | June 27, 2009 4:02 PM
Really liked this one :)
My first run ended up with a dragon that protected the village and a hero that was a friend of the dragon.
Posted by: pardoman | June 28, 2009 7:23 AM
how do you get the wild personality? i tried everything!
Posted by: poptart_121 | July 2, 2009 5:49 AM
Get Plant breath. Hold down C for the entirety of your adult life. Wild means you make things grow indiscriminately, plant, field, dead deer, buildings...the lot.
Posted by: Frosty | July 5, 2009 6:18 AM
My Tyrant scorched me *giggles*
Posted by: Anonymous | August 8, 2009 8:52 AM
Tee hee... my hero befriended my fiery tyrant dragon. I've unlocked every colour, title, personality and breath power on this game. It's easy and fun.
Posted by: not telling | August 16, 2009 4:13 PM
cool game
Posted by: Anonymous | November 30, 2009 2:30 AM
fetf
kljz
Posted by: Anonymous | January 29, 2010 3:54 PM