[Beta] Birdy

[Orkahm52]

If you have a spare moment or two I'd appreciate it if you could playtest my new game. The programming, art, music, sound and level design was all done by me so feel free to critique every aspect of the game that needs critiquing.



Birdy

All suggestions, critiques and bug finding greatly appreciated.

Warning: I had to put it on my free website (hosted way out in Australia!) cause I couldn't find anywhere better to upload it. Sorry if it's a bit slow or doesn't work at all.

Update: I have made the help more detailed and comprehensive with some simple diagrams. The help is now automatically displayed when you press play if you haven't yet completed a level.

[Ray Beez]

I'm confused. Is this a beta or just a concept prototype? I flapped around and collected the eggs in level 1 and then flapped around some more with nothing to do. I even flapped into outer space where I couldn't see the bird.

I like it! I like the music, the old graphics and the controls. But... is there more? Does a level end?

[Son of Bryce]

You have to land in the nest to complete a stage. That's not very clear, need to explain that in a "how to play" screen when you hit start or something like that.

[Orkahm52]

Yep there's much more. As Son of Bryce said, you have to land in the nest, which means you have to go above it and down into it. I might add a little diagram when you first start.

Thanks guys.

[bluemagica]

nice job, i liked the game, especially the trap level..... but the flapping sound was kindof annoying for me. Anyway it's quite addicting game. keep up the good work!

[Orkahm52]

Thanks bluemagica, I changed the flap sound to something more subtle and (hopefully) less annoying.

At the moment Birdy doesn't keep score. Would it be a good idea to add it cause gamers these days are all highscore junkies? It's not at all hard to implement, the only reason I haven't added score yet is because having numbers up on the screen all the time doesn't really match the style of game I'm going for. Any thoughts?

[bluemagica]

wow great.... i also like how the rock/boulder/meteor/whatever breaks.

As for score I personally have no interest in it, rather i would see how many levels I could solve....but yeh, most casual players would want a highscore thing. I would suggest adding a timed challenge mode for those highscore fanatics, where the time taken to solve the level determines their score.

oh, and another thing, if it's not too much trouble, could you let us name the birdy....it is really fun.

[Orkahm52]

Thanks, I was tossing up making a complicated script for when the boulder's break, but I ended up just making a simple animation. Glad to see it's not bad.

Time attack sounds like a great idea. Maybe after you've completed a level, an option for time attack appears down the bottom of level select.

For naming the Birdy, do you mean like in RPG's where they get to type a name for the main character? That would be easy to do, and would be handy for the new time-attack highscore system. I was thinking of allowing you to select your birdy's colour when you start the game. A bit gimmicky, but it would make sense if you can name it too. Don't tell anyone but a colour changing system is already coded in, thanks to some secret cheat codes.

[bluemagica]

I thought about the color changing earlier, but I think any other color won't really go with the game's graphics. but it will be fun anyway. also how about something really hard to do? level sharing? after you design a level, it gives a code, which you can mail to your friends and challenge them to beat that..... haha, that might be going a bit overboard.

But as of now, if only naming and time challenge is introduced, it will be perfect.

[Orkahm52]

Actually it already has level codes! While in the level editor, press the save button or type ctrl+s and a dialog box will pop up with the code.

Here's a basic level:

0,0.4,0.8,1/0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0/0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0/0,4,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0/0,0,0,5,5,2,5,5,0,0/0,99,0,5,0,0,0,5,0,0/0,0,1,5,1,1,0,5,0,0/0,0,0,5,5,3,5,5,0,0/0,0,0,10,0,0,0,0,0,0

Or did you mean store each level in a database and give the creator a tiny level reference number that the game uses to pull the level from the database. Cause that would be hard to do.

[bluemagica]

I meant exactly that....database stored level info. the current level editor shows the info alright, but it will be hard to share.

[amcotterill]

Orkham52

First off i would like to say good job on a nice game. I plays really well with no probs with fps, easy to learn fun to play. I think this will really please the real puzzle addicts out there. Im not into the artwork that much but thats doesnt matter. When i loaded it up the music suprised me abit, i thought it was rather strange for the type of game, i assumed it would be something a bit more bubbley or brighter but once i was playing it,it suprisingly good puzzle music and didnt get repetative or annoying. So good job on that.

All in all i like...

A few things that notice that i think put a downer on it. Not knowing if you have collected all those things, so a counter would be nice showing how many left to collect.
Also the collision detection againts those spiky things, something a little more pixle perfect would be nice, i kept hitting the invisble box around the spikes and not the actual spikes and took a bit to get used to. Not a big thing but it took a but to get used to.

Cheers,
Aaron

[Orkahm52]

Bluemagica, unfortunately, yeah, a database would be too hard to do ( I have the knowledge but not the resources ), but I've been thinking about implementing a compression system to make level codes shorter. It wouldn't be as good, but it would certainly be better than how it is now.

Amcotterill, thanks very much for the kind words How the game is now, you don't need to collect all the shiney things to pass, I only really put them is as a little guide. (which is why there's no score) I could make it that you do have to collect them all but I'm worried it would make the game to fiddly. Perhaps I could instead make an achievement/award for getting them all?

I might have a look at pixel perfect collisions, but I've never really done anything like that before, so it might be a whole lot of work for little gain (only counting this particular game). But yeah I'll definitely look into it.

[amcotterill]

I like the idea of an achivement award. I know kongregate use such things as well as highscores but as you said before you dont want to use highscores. Thats all good, i think achivement awards are a good idea though, gives people other objectives instead of just rushing to the end. Or you could make that another achivement, collecting them all, finishing in a certain time, and even perfect finish withough dieing.

It probably would require a fair bit of time to get it all working so i guess you got to think is it worth it in the end. Could always take the idea's in for the next game.

[D.O.C.]

I thought it pretty good, a bit repetetive though. And i ran into this bug on level 4 where as soon as i started, the birdy tilted all the way to the right until it hit the bomb. It fixed itself after a while, but it was still kindof annoying.

I do like the originality of it all. Ive never seen a game quite like that. And the music was really good

[Orkahm52]

...And i ran into this bug on level 4 where as soon as i started, the birdy tilted all the way to the right until it hit the bomb. It fixed itself after a while, but it was still kindof annoying...

Hmm, that's a weird bug. I can't think what caused it. Possibly something to do with the browser or the keyboard? The code for tilting is so simple I don't think it could be the cause. Thanks for the bug report, though, let me know if it happens again.

...i think achivement awards are a good idea though, gives people other objectives instead of just rushing to the end.

Yeah, it adds a degree of replayability, too. Your achievement ideas are great, I'll think about adding them once the speed run system is done.

Hmm, I fear Birdy will not be finished until 2010. Too much "real life" stuff coming up. Ah well I'll give it my best shot. Thanks to everyone who's tested Birdy and given me ideas so far.