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Why is Happy Wheels shutting down? - wedgeeither - 06-07-2021
Happy Wheels is a ragdoll-physics-adventure based Flash game created by Jim Bonacci and launched in June of 2010. Players control a selection of various, unique characters with their goal being to get to the finish line, activate a trigger that triggers victory, or collect a required amount of tokens while avoiding being splattered across the level by many hazards and obstacles. Users may create and share their own custom scenarios using the expansive level editor, play some of the over 10 million already-existing user-made levels, or take a look at some of the featured levels – the best levels in the game. The game is most notable for its dark sense of humor and its large amounts of blood and gore. The full version allows you to go to the up-to-date version, while the demo stays on v1.10, with limited features.
Jim Bonacci was motivated to make the game out of disappointment of other ragdoll-physics games. In an October 2010 interview, he stated that “No one was making their ragdolls die properly. They’d usually flop around harmlessly or in some instances have the same canned animation over and over.” Originally, Happy Wheels was made for fun between Jim and some friends, it only contained Wheelchair Guy, and the first level, Happy Green Hills. After it gained some popularity, he made it into what the game is now, and published it to his website on June 4th, 2010.
The demo version of Happy Wheels has been available on many sites including Newgrounds and OneMoreLevel, but you can only play the full version of the game at Total Jerkface (Jim Bonacci’s website) since June of 2010. The mobile app was released for iOS devices on August 19th, 2015, and for Android on January 25th, 2020. On December 28th 2020, a JavaScript remake was uploaded on the Total Jerkface website. Jim Bonacci has also been working on a Sequel, but it is unknown when it will be released.
Story
This is the first public version of the game, so please allow some time for the remaining bugs to be ironed out. Though I still love flash, what’s great about this version is that it performs very well on mobile devices. However, this release does not yet include on screen mobile controls. If you’re desperate to try it out on your phone, a bluetooth keyboard works very well. Though I mentioned previously that the game would now run at 60 fps, some of the heavier levels definitely bog down at that framerate. It is already possible through a setting though, so perhaps I could host a 60 Hz version on another page for those with super beefy processors. Aside from that, Happy Wheels JS should be pretty close in every way to the original. The database of users, levels, and replays remains the same. The only thing lost is the impending doom of the end of existence.
Development
Featured levels are accessed by pressing “PLAY” on the Happy Wheels main menu. Featured levels are assumed to be levels of great quality, entertainment, originality or innovation, but Jim has not explained his system for choosing which levels should be featured. Some levels may be featured to showcase a new addition to Happy Wheels, such as DC metro station, which demonstrates the glass panel, and Viking Revenge 3, featuring the harpoon gun. Demo versions of Happy Wheels only feature a few of the first featured levels. Some of the more popular featured levels are BMX_Park II, Obstacle Course?, Happy Green Hills, Speed bridge, Laboratory 1, and half of doolie’s Dawn of the Dead Series.