Ragdoll Runners

Ragdoll Runners is a physics-based track-and-field game where you control the two legs of an athlete independently. Compete in 8 events of different types: sprint, long jump, triple jump, hurdles. The signature mechanic is two keys for two legs, so victory comes from timing and mental discipline rather than mashing the keyboard like in most athletics games.

At first the running and jumping looks disjointed and creates funny situations, but as you improve the movements grow closer to those of true champions and the satisfaction climbs with them. A third key controls leaning forward at decisive moments (finishing a sprint, completing a jump, clearing a hurdle).

Game modes include Solo against increasingly strong opponents, Splitscreen for 3 friends on the same computer (gamepad supported), and Online competition against world records and friends' records. Challenge mode pits you against increasingly strong leaderboard records, and Daily Contest gives a limited number of daily attempts to score points in the Octathlon. Importantly, this is very different from QWOP.