birdsong by Managore
It's finally time to leave the nest.
The whole wide world sprawls out before you (conveniently squeezed into just one screen), waiting to be explored. Can you learn to fly?
////// CONTROLS //////
Keyboard:
> A / D or Left / Right — Move
> W or Up or Space — Jump
> R — Retry (suicide)
> Enter — Make Nest
> Esc — Exit (progress lost)
> Alt + Enter — Toggle Fullscreen
> M — Mute
> Backspace — Refresh Screen
XBox Controller:
> Left Stick or D-pad — Move
> A or D-pad — Jump
> Y — Retry (suicide)
> B or Start — Make Nest
////// HELP //////
Please note that:
> Unfortunately, the compo build doesn't save if you exit the game. The post-compo build does save, and if you want to completely reset the game, press and hold L+D for three seconds until the game exits.
> The game is quite demanding and might run slowly on older PCs. Closing other programs may help slightly.
> If the screen goes white (for example, after alt-tabbing) try pressing Backspace to refresh the screen. This shouldn't happen but the solution is there in case anyone needs it.
> If you get "FATAL ERROR in Vertex Shader compilation", please go here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=35
If you're having trouble:
> Each stick you collect lets you build a nest (at shrines marked with an 'S'). When you die, you restart at the most recently visited nest (marked with a tick). Some areas are very hard to beat without having nests to act as checkpoints, so collect sticks when you can reach them.
> There are five upgrades to find which improve your jump height or give you special abilities.
> Throughout the world are seven gems. What happens if you collect all of them?
> If you're stuck, here is a map: http://imgur.com/5HVKRRC.png
////// ABOUT //////
This is my fourth Ludum Dare entry and, wow, this one was a struggle to complete on time! I've always loved Metroidvania style games but I've never managed to finish making one before. The game was made using Gamemaker:Studio, jfxr and FL Studio. The game uses just four colors, part of the CNES-88 64 color palette by Arne.
I hope you enjoy the game and I'd love to hear what you think!
By Daniel Linssen (@managore)
The whole wide world sprawls out before you (conveniently squeezed into just one screen), waiting to be explored. Can you learn to fly?
////// CONTROLS //////
Keyboard:
> A / D or Left / Right — Move
> W or Up or Space — Jump
> R — Retry (suicide)
> Enter — Make Nest
> Esc — Exit (progress lost)
> Alt + Enter — Toggle Fullscreen
> M — Mute
> Backspace — Refresh Screen
XBox Controller:
> Left Stick or D-pad — Move
> A or D-pad — Jump
> Y — Retry (suicide)
> B or Start — Make Nest
////// HELP //////
Please note that:
> Unfortunately, the compo build doesn't save if you exit the game. The post-compo build does save, and if you want to completely reset the game, press and hold L+D for three seconds until the game exits.
> The game is quite demanding and might run slowly on older PCs. Closing other programs may help slightly.
> If the screen goes white (for example, after alt-tabbing) try pressing Backspace to refresh the screen. This shouldn't happen but the solution is there in case anyone needs it.
> If you get "FATAL ERROR in Vertex Shader compilation", please go here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=35
If you're having trouble:
> Each stick you collect lets you build a nest (at shrines marked with an 'S'). When you die, you restart at the most recently visited nest (marked with a tick). Some areas are very hard to beat without having nests to act as checkpoints, so collect sticks when you can reach them.
> There are five upgrades to find which improve your jump height or give you special abilities.
> Throughout the world are seven gems. What happens if you collect all of them?
> If you're stuck, here is a map: http://imgur.com/5HVKRRC.png
////// ABOUT //////
This is my fourth Ludum Dare entry and, wow, this one was a struggle to complete on time! I've always loved Metroidvania style games but I've never managed to finish making one before. The game was made using Gamemaker:Studio, jfxr and FL Studio. The game uses just four colors, part of the CNES-88 64 color palette by Arne.
I hope you enjoy the game and I'd love to hear what you think!
By Daniel Linssen (@managore)
| Windows | https://www.dropbox.com/s/qp8i2lkqjaq5ttn/birdsong.exe?dl=0 |
| Windows (post-compo, now saves progress) | https://www.dropbox.com/s/wbs94wxnhij88lt/birdsong%201_0_2.exe?dl=0 |
| Source | https://www.dropbox.com/s/drpohw9taqnp5k4/birdsong%20SOURCE.gmz?dl=0 |
| Original URL | https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-31/?action=preview&uid=3479 |
Ratings
| Coolness | 91% | 2 |
| Overall | 4.59 | 1 |
| Audio | 3.94 | 34 |
| Fun | 4.27 | 4 |
| Graphics | 4.55 | 9 |
| Innovation | 4.37 | 16 |
| Mood | 4.32 | 13 |
| Theme | 4.80 | 1 |
Lovely work! I absolutely love the way you made this game :D
Maybe we should do a collab one day? :)
A really really impressive job. Well Done!
A top entry for sure! I love the way you implemented all the game in a single screen. This trick deserves an special award! :)
But is there a way to get the stick below the level before one learned to fly?
I actually thought of something similar at first, but I thought, eh, that'll look like crap. You proved me wrong. Good for you. Bad for me ;-)
Also I wouldn't have made such a winner out of it. Full Score!
Getting the wings was so satisfying! And the audio was a really nice touch!
Groydis: T-thanks. Luckily I removed the lice feature at the last moment.
koujaku: Thank you!
DrHahn: I might write up a short explanation of the shader, since I'm really happy with it and also since it's relatively straightforward.
Franklin's Ghost: Thanks!
Alexandre Szybiak: The maze is intended to be easier to solve while you're not in it, but you're right, and I would have liked to have more features that relied on the effect. I had plans to include enemies that shot bullets at you from far away, but I didn't end up with enough time to add those in, and actually I'm not sure how well they would have worked.
fullmontis: Glad you finished it. I might work on a post-compo version with a save feature.
Joris: Unfortunately I don't think I could avoid that, but thanks for sticking with it for half an hour.
elliottd, Steven Colling, naufr4g0: Thank you all!
rnlf: The "floor" thing happened by accident, but I loved the effect and had to leave it in. There's definitely no way to get the stick underneath the world until you get your wings, it's there to let you build the final nest at "the end". I would have really liked to see your implementation of this idea! It's always so cool to see how other people make use of the same concept.
Jupitron: Thanks!
eruditespirit: I'm really sorry to hear that. The only thing I can think of is to take a break every ten or so minutes, but I know that isn't a great solution.
duon44: Yeah the game gets pretty damn challenging, thanks for checking it out!
andrewkennedy: Thank you, glad you finished it.
Quikding: Thanks!
rabbit: Oh bummer. What's the error? It might be that you need Direct X 9.0c, which you can get here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34429 If that's not it, I'll see if I can add a fix in.
- The screen distortion effect made it really hard to judge distances.
- The collision detection felt a bit off at points, possibly due to the screen distortion making it hard to judge distances.
- In some cases with obstacles requiring precise movement, I felt like I was moving too fast, with no way to be more precise in my movement.
Again, minor things. This was an outstanding game, and it's incredible that you pulled all of this off in just two days.
best game i ever played, thats what
seriously though daniel get outta here
I don't know if this error is the same one rabbit got, but I did install the DirectX component you linked to and that didn't fix the problem.
I was really hoping to play this! I'll check back again to see if there's a fix.
The only criticism I can think of is that some people might be put off by the difficulty, but that is clearly their own problem. Wouldn't be surprised to see you win this one as well :D
- Daniele
I didn't finished it because i don't like so much platformer.
I frigging love the overlay effect and the level desing.
It's a shame I'm not a fan of platformers but it managed to hold my attention for longer than expected.
What makes this so good is the level of polish and attention to detail.
Excellent.
Thank you.
I really wish I'd thought of this, this is just fucking.. genius.. groaaar. God damnit.
Just too good, literally grinning my face off just at the thought that you've done this.
It's always hard to come out with a good metroidvania in so little time, but you did a perfect job, well done!
The game frustrates at times. I think the combination of the fish-eye distorting distances, limited checkpoints, and extremely sensitive movement made it feel that way. I thought I needed to build all the nests to beat the game, but I wish I saved more sticks for that bottom-right wall-jumping area!
Still, I'm determined to beat it eventually!
The only improvements I could see are maybe reduce the player collider width a little bit and giving the player a little bit more maneuverability while jumping.
I got a little stuck leaving the first wall jump pit. Oh well! I'll play this again a bit later. Liked the checkpoints but wish you made the nest sprite larger.
I feel funny saying this given the game I submitted, but I'm not really a fan of hardcore precision platformers where you have to make the jumps just right. However you did a lot to alleviate the problem. The nests were of course huge, but just as important the retry loop was instantaneous. I was frustrated at an early set of jumps I kept having to repeat but the ambiance was so strong and the friction of retrying so light that I did keep it at where I might normally have moved on. I had this experience several times - frustration, continuing in spite of myself, reward.
But I must admit that I eventually gave up when I got stuck in a pit where I had to wall-jump through down a shaft with spikes on the side. After perhaps 100 tries I had not yet even touched the final wall that looked like the hardest jump, and so my despair that I would never succeed got the better of my. That and my hand cramp.
I respect the difficult although it prevented me from seeing the rest of the game, which was my loss.
Even the sound was really well done, the ambient background sound really added more than I would have expected, that's never something I think to add to my own games.
What an entry - you're setting the bar a little high for the rest of us here, don't you think?? My legs hurt from jumping.
PS - will buy strategy guide ;)
The whole idea and how to fit a lot of content onto one screen (though to be honest the mechanic would work fine even if everything didn't fit on the screen) was just brilliant.
Its always a strange feeling to see a game like this, I doubt given an infinite amount of time I ever would have come up with such a concept. At first it may have even seemed like a visual gimmick, a quirky play on the theme but it was only once playing -- tracing my eyes horizontally across the breadth of the world to work out where I should head to next -- that I realized how brilliant the concept was.
Starting the game up in the late evening, accompanied only by a wash of detuned saw wave drones, I began my journey; any hopes of getting an early night were lost when I realized I had been playing for an hour and had only obtained 4 orbs. I found some parts almost frustratingly difficult, but not once felt the desire to stop playing. I'm not sure what it was: the wonderfully unique concept, the lovely pixel art, the subtle effects and juice of it all or simply the inability to save my progress, but I wasn't going to stop playing until I had won.
Its difficult to say much more beyond raw praise, I'm impressed by such a game regardless of the time span it was made, but given that this was made in 48hours I'm left a little lost for words.
Overall incredible work, I enjoyed essentially every moment of the experience.
Great take on the theme; Simple, easy to pick up character controls; Great looking retro art style; Great level design and quite a decent size area to explore! The higher jump unlock mechanic that allows you to reach new parts of the level is a great addition too.
Great job on this - aren't 2D platformers awesome?
Thanks for this experience, as a game designer you just teached me a lesson.
Great work again.
The best part is how much it kept surprising me...there were so many moments where I was like "how the hell am I going to get over there?" but for every one of those moments, there was another moment of realization that allowed me to proceed. Having the entire map laid out in such detail (however small depending on distance) always gave me enough information to figure things out. I never got frustrated with dying because the checkpoint system was so clever (and if I did get into a mildly frustrating situation, it was because I used my sticks unwisely...all my fault). I'm really struggling to believe this wasn't rigorously playtested over years of development...it's just so polished and perfect.
I didn't expect to find my game of the year on here...but, well...here we are. :O
but I got this error message, and I had already download the DX9.0c. But it still shows:
FATAL ERROR in Vertex Shader compilation
ShaderName: shader_distort
D3DXCompile failed - result
at gml_Object_o_game_control_Draw_64
hissssssssss, tppr2046: I'm really sorry it isn't working. Could I get you to try this link as well? http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=35
Amazing visual, I love it!
Are you shitting me? How is anything this good.
I just feel like the fullscreen doesn't fit with 16:9 screen however ô_o
Graphics are awesome, really nice interpreation of the text, nothing to say :)
Really fun game too, perfect amount of challenge.
Awesome exploration storyline.
Awesome level-design.
Awesome visuals.
Wow! Man, you made fantastic game as usual. I enjoyed it a lot. Thanx.
One gripe is the lack of feedback on some things - for example when an enemy is "invincible" you should be able to tell - shots go through them without me knowing why. I'd like to know their "grace period"
And an online leaderboard too! Instant classic :)
My only serious critique of the game would be that it was possible to get stuck without any sticks in that 1-way gauntlet near the middle-bottom; I had some serious "I wanna be the guy" moments there, where I just had to buckle down and perfect 3 save spots worth of precision platforming to get through. The ability to cycle between nests, say by hitting reset while on a nest, would have helped me try another challenge while I searched for other sticks.
Earning the wings was quite a hard journey, so you really feel proud once you can fly!
Perfect game, well deserved 5 stars :) Congratulations!
Only bad thing for me was, I couldn't tell when I was picking up a stick, or if I had any, how many I had. So, I couldn't get very far. But I really want to spend more time with it and figure out this game's secrets.
Mind blowing. I dont even know hoe that shader is possible.
Very impressive!
This is amazing =D
This game is legendary, and I love it a lot! :D
This is just perfect. I loved both the visuals and the audio. Both create such an awesome mood and the use of the theme is just awesome!
Yep, all I want to say, is mixed in the comments! XD
I think that the moment I realized that you could modulate the height of your jump AND the speed of your descent when wall-jumping down that one shaft with the spikes was when I knew this was something extra special. The one-screen shader is a fantastic idea (and only made me a little bit sick!) but you backed that idea up with Metroidvania gameplay that is absolutely rock solid.
Amazing job.
Great level design and graphic style!
Awesome!
Now about the effect... it is nice, but it really is pretty much just aesthetic, and doesn't affect much of the gameplay. It was actually a bit annoying for me, because it left this quite big area in my peripheral vision where every now and then I notice an enemy or something moving and get distracted. It's makes a very interesting visual, but I didn't thought it made the game any more fun per se, in fact I'd rather play without it.
1) a small leeway timer for detecting walljumps (letting the player hit away from the wall, and still be able to walljump), and
2) removing "up" as an input for jump on the D-pad, since it can misfire when hitting left / right for walljumping.
Again, amazing game!
The game is extremely fun; difficulty was spot on, with some nice trick jumps; controls felt really tight and precise and the overall mood was amazing. After playing this, I must go back on my opinion that there wouldn't be any interesting and innovative use of this theme. You've proved me wrong.
(if not for the theme) A similar effect could be achieved by using a minimap... but it wouldn't be quite the same thing. I could stand in one place planning my next target, but also move around looking at what was to come. There were no surprises, at no moment, but this didn't make the game less interesting, not even easier. And I find that funny because every other metroidvania introduces you to new areas slowly, making o backtrack quite a lot. Of course, time probably didn't allow for much, but having the entire map visible from the start didn't make this a worse metroidvania... It was a amazing game.
Congrats!
This entry is bittersweet for me. We both had the "Metroidvania in one screen" idea, but dang if you didn't pull it off way better than I did, haha. It's one of those rare entries that I find it hard to quit playing until I finish it. Excellent work!
The game itself is well crafted, sort of standard, but everything is solid and helps to reinforce the main fish-eye attraction. One thing though, I was under the impression for a while that after building a nest you had to press the "s" key to activate it as a spawn point due to the s below each save point. I think a non-letter symbol would be a nice substitute so that it isn't confused as a key that requires to be pressed. Aside from that I found everything intuitive and straightforward to pick up and understand.
Seriously, I just can't comprehend how you something that good, that polished, and that huge in 48 hours.
I spent a lot of time in fruitless searches after unlocking the 7th gem because I didnt notice that each gem was spawning a platform. I was thinking one was missing and I needed the 4th air upgrade to go top.
The physic was perfect and I was in love with the big jump after the wall jump upgrade, when you have to fall in the hole from the top. It gaves me some vertigo feeling, very unexpected from a 2D platform game.
I think your magnify effect is not just a tool to respect the theme it also gives a whole new dimention and change perspective when you have to :
- look for a specific point :
- jump to a high point and keep track of your path
- fall in an abyss dodging spikes.
I'm usually fond of 4 colors gameboy style palettes but I think this game would have benefit from a larger palette. It would have let you design some area with specific colors improving the player ability to identify a zone and search for it later on the map.
Now, goods points :) : I really like your shader effect. First Is very stylistic, seconds it's a very useful feature in term of game design. And it's awesome how we can make a huge map feet in one screen with this effect !
Well done!
you are master ;]
(however, there are some little glitchs if you don't use all the branch).
Overall - amazing game! It feels extremely polished, and the level design feels incredibly well thought through. There were some occasions where I felt like I perhaps took the wrong way (most notably I was stuck in the same place between 15:15 and 30:10 in the video). I'm very impressed with how you chose to place things just out of reach - that shows great knowledge of level design and the game mechanics. It took me quite a while to realize that there was a HUD and what information there was there, since it all kind of melted together with the map. All things considered though, I'm absolutely blown away by this. Talk about taking the concept to an entirely new level. And it's not just really cool, it's useful as well, since you've always got the entire (except when in the corners) map available at all times! It's absolutely incredible that you managed to stir this up with this level of detail in just 48 hours. I love the game (and you for making it). Thank you very much! And Merry Christmas :)
The ending was a bit of an anticlimax, but whatever. It was a good run.
5 of 5.
Amazing game, even if I didn't play anymore once that happened due to wrist pain
The quality of the platforming is comparable to Super Meat Boy.
It also has very nice touches like the small random floaty things and the small birds on the left.
Very nice that you dampened the jump sound the pure 8-bit sound would be too sharp.
The only criticism I have is this: it seems to be required to restart (r) when collecting the reward for the 7th (bottom) trial since it is not possible to get back up normally. I guess this may be fixable by putting one-way floors in above that reward.
A well-deserved gold!