Extreme Herder

When Balthazar is on the prowl, looking for a meal, no petpet is safe. Samrin the Kacheek, a simple but determined shepherd, must see all his petpets to the safety of their pen before Balthazar makes short work of them!

Mr. Balthazar, what big teeth you have!

How to Play

The object of the game is simple: you must herd all the petpets into their pen to complete the level and proceed to the next. At the start of the game, there are four doors through which petpets can be deposited, and four teleporters to help you navigate more efficiently. Starting at level 5, one teleporter is removed per level, so there are none starting with level 8. Starting with level 9, one door is removed per level, so there is only one door starting with level 11.

While the game is not timed, speed is important. Balthazar moves continuously and will eat any petpet that gets too close to him. There is not much variety in the mapping or layout of the levels, with the exception of the increasing number of petpets and the decreasing number of doors and teleporters. Samrin has three lives. If Balthazar eats him or eats a petpet, he loses a life. Once he loses all three...it's game over!

Controls

The controls for this game are simple. Use the arrow keys to move Samrin. To pick up a petpet (or a powerup), simply navigate towards it and 'run into' it; Samrin will automatically pick it up. To drop the petpet, use the spacebar. You can't pick up more than one petpet at a time, so drop one before you attempt to pick up another. To slide the petpet into the pen, run up to an entrance/door, and the petpet will be safely inside. The teleporters or portals, which are at the ends of the game screen and help you to get to different parts of the screen, operate in the same way.

Game Elements

There are two power-ups that can be used:

Boosts Samrin's speed temporarily

Freezes Balthazar temporarily (stops appearing on level 16 onwards)

Both power-ups stop appearing within a level once there is only 1 petpet left to save. If the speed orb is activated close enough to the end of a level, its effect will carry over into the next level.

Scoring

Each petpet is worth 1 point, which is awarded when you get the petpet safely into the pen. petpets with gold stars above their heads are worth extra points, so be sure to herd those first if you can. The bonus petpet value starts at 2 points, and increases by 1 point every three levels. In the first five levels, you also get a 'save-all' bonus for saving all the petpets in a level.

Save bonus petpets first, and freeze Balthazar whenever possible!

Level Guide

After level 16, the conditions remain the same as level 16 except for the bonus petpet value, which continues to increase by 1 every three levels indefinitely.

The earliest level at which you can obtain an avatar-worthy score of 250 points is level 22.

Strategy

At the start of each level, make sure you are somewhere near the upper left corner of the screen. This is where Balthazar emerges from, so if there are any petpets in his vicinity you can quickly usher them to safety. Don't stand too close to the corner of the screen—you may get eaten!

Balthazar will never directly target Samrin. This makes it easier for you to cut corners around him carrying petpets—he won't eat you unless, again, you get too close. Use this to your advantage.

Note that Balthazar will also turn away once you rescue a petpet that is near him, even if you haven't deposited it into the pen yet. So if you are ever in a situation where you are holding a petpet and Balthazar turns away immediately to aim for one that is very close, don't hesitate to drop the petpet you are holding and go rescue the one that is in imminent danger. You can always put the other one in its pen later.

Quick Tips

• Do not go out of your way for powerups, just nab them as you stumble upon them, wherever convenient.
• The orb/speed powerup may be difficult to handle if you aren't 100% confident with controlling Samrin, but the snowflake is always useful.
• It's easy to forget the teleporters are there, since the first few levels are not too difficult. However, if you are ever in a tight spot, they do come in handy.
• There is no control to pause the game, but if you need to take a break, after you grab the last petpet do not put it in the pen. Because Balthazar will only chase petpets and not Samrin, he will lumber off (sometimes out of view) once he's seen there isn't anything else to eat.
• Type freeze at any point once per game to freeze Balthazar. This cheat works like the snowflake, even on levels where the snowflake does not appear!