C-Dogs, the sequel to Cyberdogs, is a shoot 'em up video game where players work cooperatively during missions, and against each other in "dogfight" deathmatch mode.

C-Dogs
Platform(s)MS-DOS
Release1997
Genre(s)Action
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer
Screenshot of C-Dogs gameplay

Gameplay

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In C-Dogs, players play through a number of campaigns, made of a variable number of missions. Each mission has a selection of weapons, and different objectives, such as killing enemies, collecting items, destroying objects, or rescuing a hostages. The campaigns can be played by a single player or with one cooperative player. Other features include color-coded keys to access locked rooms, friendly characters, and neutral civilians that the players are penalized if attacked.

C-Dogs also includes a 2-player, split-screen deathmatch mode called "dogfight": players attempt to kill each other for a fixed number of rounds, and the player winning the most rounds wins. Players can be controlled by keyboard, joysticks or gamepads.

Compared to Cyberdogs, C-Dogs includes the following enhancements:

  • Multiple campaigns - 5 included, with user-created missions available for download online. Missions also include short story-driven briefings.
  • Different level layouts
  • Deathmatch mode
  • More NPC types: friendlies that attack enemies, hostages, and neutral civilians
  • Custom campaign editor
  • More weapons, including different types of grenades

However, the feature to buy and sell weapons and ammo between levels was removed.

Development

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The creator of C-Dogs, Ronny Wester, released the precursor to C-Dogs, Cyberdogs, in 1994. The popularity of Cyberdogs and the limitations of its 16-bit protected mode motivated Wester to write a sequel, which was released between the years 1997 to 2001 as freeware.[1]

Open source

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In 2000 Wester released the Borland Pascal 7 source code of Cyberdogs (minus some libraries he had licensed) on his website.[2] In 2002, Wester released the source code of C-Dogs to the public. As of June 2007, Wester no longer maintains a website for C-Dogs but the game continues to live on via the C-Dogs SDL project hosted on GitHub. In April 2016, Wester released the game assets as CC-BY.[3]

C-Dogs SDL

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Following the source code release in 2002, Jeremy Chin and Lucas Martin-King ported the game to SDL and released their work under the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later as C-Dogs SDL. The open source software port contains a number of enhancements to the original C-Dogs, including high-resolution support, local multiplayer up to four players, enhanced graphics and LAN multiplayer. In October 2015, C-Dogs SDL was updated to SDL2.[4] Version 1.0.0 released on August 21, 2021, with support for Wolfenstein 3D and Spear of Destiny missions.[5]

Ports

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With the source code availability and the initial SDL port, the game was ported later for many platforms: Android,[6] GCW Zero,[7] GP2X,[8] Dingoo,[9] PlayStation Portable,[10] Dreamcast,[11] Nintendo DS,[12] Wii,[13] Amiga OS,[14] UIQ3 devices such as SE M600, P1i, P990, and Motorola RIZR Z8.[15]

Reception

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Hardcore Gaming 101 reviewed C-Dogs in May 2017.[16]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Cxong/Cdogs-SDL". GitHub. 3 January 2022.
  2. ^ Cyberdogs dogs_src.zip (archived 2000)
  3. ^ "C-Dogs (SDL) Datafiles README". GitHub. 2016-04-16. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
  4. ^ SDL2 ported, drag and drop on cxong.github.io/cdogs-sdl (25 Oct 2015)
  5. ^ "Classic run and gun game C-Dogs SDL 1.0 adds support for Wolfenstein and Spear of Destiny". GamingOnLinux. 2021-08-23. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
  6. ^ C-Dogs - Google Play Store
  7. ^ Dingoonity
  8. ^ "C-Dogs2X". Archived from the original on 2009-04-13. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  9. ^ C-Dogs2X
  10. ^ cdogsPSP
  11. ^ C-Dogs SDL DC
  12. ^ C-DogsDS
  13. ^ C-DogsSDL_Wii
  14. ^ aminet.net
  15. ^ "AnotherGuest". Archived from the original on 2006-05-03. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
  16. ^ "C-Dogs - DOS, Linux, Mac, Windows, Android (1997)". Archived from the original on 2017-09-29. by Mike MacDee on hardcoregaming101.net (May 25, 2017)
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