The Story
Starting the Game
Game Controls
Actions
The Faller
Once a Pingu is out of the entrance, he will be falling to the ground. As a Faller he can't do anything but just obey the law of gravity. If the Pingu falls for too long, he will gather too much speed and so won't survive on hitting the ground. So be careful and keep an eye on the height of objects from which they can safely fall.
The Walker
If the Pingu has fallen from the entrance and safely reached the ground, the Pingu will turn into a Walker. The Walker is the state in which the Pingu will be most of the time. As a Walker the Pingu simply moves in the current direction in which he is facing. He will walk in this way until you give him a command to do something else. However, if the Pingu reaches an obstacle that he cannot walk up or through, he will turn around and walk back in the opposite direction.
The Digger
When a Pingu is turned into a Digger, he starts digging/drilling a vertical hole through any object that Walkers would otherwise walk on. A Digger continues digging a hole until there is nothing below it to dig, in which case the Digger will fall, or the Digger hits a solid object, such as metal.
The Basher
A Basher is the horizontal equivalent of a Digger. A Basher bashes out a tunnel through any object that is ahead of it. It stops bashing when there is nothing ahead to bash, a solid object has been reached, such as metal, or there is nothing below the Basher. In the latter case, the Basher will fall.
The Miner
The Miner can be considered to be a combination of a Digger and a Basher. Whereas a Digger only goes down and a Basher only goes forward, the Miner goes down and forward in one movement. This results in a tunnel going diagonally downwards. Like a Digger and a Basher, a Miner stops if there is nothing to mine, a solid object has been reached or there is nothing below the Miner. In the latter case, the Miner will fall.
The Blocker
The blocker stops at its current position and then starts to command other Pingus which reach him to change their direction. No Pingu can thus pass a Blocker. Instead they will turn around and head in the other direction.
The Bomber
Sometimes when you have to stop a Pingu or have to create a hole, but have neither a Basher nor a Miner, there is no way other than to turn a Pingu into a Bomber. The Pingu will start a countdown once he has turned into a Bomber. He will continue his current action until the countdown reaches zero. On zero being reached, he will inflate and then explode. The explosion will create a hole in the ground and destroy anything that is near him. Thus a Bomber can be used to either make holes or to remove Blockers or other Pingus that are in the way.
The Bridger
A Pingu turned into a Bridger will start to build a small bridge. It will not be a large bridge and goes slightly upwards. In most cases this will be enough to reach a higher point or to pass a deep hole in the ground.
The Climber
A Pingu that has learned the ability to climb will be able to climb on vertical objects which normal Pingus cannot climb. The Climber will climb to the top of an object that would normally block his way. Once at the top, he will turn back into a normal Walker. A Pingu that has learnt the ability to Climb will always keep it, you can see which Pingus can climb and which can't by the little [c] in the info box that appears if you place the cursor on a Pingu.
The Floater
Like the Climber action, the Floater action will also stay with the Pingu once it is applied. This time you can see which Pingus can float by the little [f] in the info box of the Pingu. A Pingu that can Float will use his propeller-hat to reduce his falling speed during a fall. Once he has his propeller-hat on, he will be slow enough to not die on hitting the ground. So the Floater action protects the Pingu from high falls, which a normal Pingu would not survive.
The Jumper
A Pingu that gets turned into a Jumper will gather all its power and start a single large jump forward. He will not jump very high, but pretty far and pretty fast. He can thus reach other platforms or get past situations in which he can't stay too long in one place.
The Slider
Once you give a Pingu the command to become a Slider, he will jump on his belly and move forward with a lot of speed. But be careful. To get the speed, the Pingu needs a perfectly flat stretch of ground. On bumpy terrain, a Pingu cannot slide very far. The Slider is at its best if used on icy ground.
Tactics
Reverse a Pingu without using Blockers
The usual way of stopping a Pingu from walking off a deadly cliff is to use a Blocker. However, suppose there are no Blockers available. How can the direction of a Pingu be reversed so that it walks in the opposite direction? Here's how it could be done.
- Turn the Pingu to be reversed into a Digger.
- Let the Digger dig a little bit.
- Turn the Digger into a Bridger.
The Bridger should eventually stop building while still within the hole, reverse and then walk out of the hole in the opposite direction of the bridge.
Releasing a Blocker without killing him
To release a Blocker in a non-destructive manner, use a Miner to dig away the ground underneath it.
Mine the other way
If you have a Builder, a Digger, and a Miner, and you want your Pingu to mine down and to the opposite direction of that which it is facing, try this trick. Turn it into a Digger momentarily, and after it's down four pixels or so, turn it into a Bridger. It will attempt to build its way out of the pit, but then turn around after two or three steps. Now you can have it mine in the opposite direction.
Getting one Pingu out
If you have a Blocker holding in your Pingus, and want to get just one Pingu past it without blowing it up, build a bridge that would go over the Blocker's head. Then watch the Pingus falling off the end of the bridge. As soon as one falls past the Blocker, make the Bridger a Digger. This stops the rest from getting past.
Zig-Zag stairs
If some Pingus are stuck in a pit, they can be freed by numerous Bridgers planting stairs in a zig-zag pattern upward. Each Bridger starts building to the left from the top of a right slanted staircase (which has run into a wall), and vice versa.
Path-finder Pingu
Use one Pingu to blaze a trail across the screen, and then release the others once the route has been completed. Often the Path-finder is an Athlete (Climber and Floater) but not always. If the screen has several trapdoors then you probably need one Path-finder per entrance. In the latter case it's best to try and deal with each trapdoor separately; trying to handle them all at once and skipping from one to another is usually doomed to failure.
Building Steps
If a group of Pingus need to fall down from a high structure, and you don't have enough Floaters, you can use a Digger Pingu to create a step for them. If the drop is twice as far as the Pingus can fall, or thereabouts, Have the Digger tunnel down right at the edge of the cliff, and then stop half way. You can stop it by turning it into a Builder. Then the Pingus will fall twice, once to the step the Digger made, and then to the ground below. If the drop is farther than that, you can use multiple Diggers, staggering them Creating a series of steps.