Colorfly by Zelos

Screenshots



Description
The journey of a small butterfly trying to bring color to the universe.
This is my first completed game ever (and my first participation in the Ludum Dare). I spent most of the time working on the music, so the gameplay is pretty basic. I tried to make up for it by making the game a small textless adventure that can be completed in one go.
But don't forget: The end is inevitable.
Have fun!
Links
Game & OST: https://soulforge.itch.io/colorfly
Source Code: https://github.com/DVonk/Colorfly
Contact
Mail: contact@soulforgegames.com
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/colorfly |
Ratings
| Overall | 88th | 3.807⭐ | 173🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 362th | 2.918⭐ | 173🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 235th | 3.234⭐ | 173🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 422th | 2.895⭐ | 174🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 123th | 3.861⭐ | 175🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 3th | 4.595⭐ | 170🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 12th | 4.211⭐ | 173🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 50🗳️ | 70🗨️ |
The gameplay is simple but the atmosphere keeps the exploration interesting for the time it lasts. Could have had some more elements to add difficulty maybe, as it seemed a bit too straightforward, but I suppose it's not necessary.
Oh another question. Was it intended that you only have to finish one 'tree' on the maps where there are several? I finished all of them anyways, but it didn't seem to change anything.
And bonus points for the pun on the title.
I was actually surprised that this was a compo, and not a jam.
The actual game play is really simple but enjoyable. Really chill! (Until you start getting chased by the big butterfly that is)
P.S. Thank you for the feedback on my game! I Really appreciate it! Feels wrong to criticize your sound effects when mine are so horrible, but hey :sweat_smile:
@iak
The rotating wing is actually a bug. I used Spriter Pro for the first time and this is how it came out and I couldn't fix it in time, so I just left it in. I think it looks pretty funny though.
The one tree thing was intentional, so you don't have to finish everything to move on. I wanted to have a different ending based on the trees you got, but you know - no time. So it just says how many you got. :)
@christian-koch
That's actually a pretty severe bug. I could reproduce it and made a bandaid-fix by adding bigger box colliders around the screen. Thank you for letting me know!
@Gurbx, @Tommyflower
You kind of touched a point with the SFX I'm not too satisfied with, but just didn't have the time to change.
I already spent 8 hours or so on the audio part of the game and really needed to get on with programming, so I just left it like this. Would definitely be the first thing I'd change though if I still had time. Music and SFX just didn't mix as well together as I hoped.
Game itself is a bit easy, but it fits the vibe you're going for.
Well done! Thanks for sharing!
Reminds me of games like Flower. :)
The music was pretty. Though in the ending song I just kept thinking about this:
https://youtu.be/12R48a6DNz8?list=PLCgAiCry9o3qIFF1AUivzlGnpGC5R36Qa&t=32 :grin:
Also really liked the music, and the fact that it changes mood during the playthrough. I think that really sold the game for me. I find it pretty impressive you were able to make all that music during the compo. Good job!
Great graphics, sound, and concept! Surprised to see the various types/modes in a LD Compo game. Heck of a job all around! Colorfly me impressd :)
Beautiful music, very serene and calming in parts, sad and moving in others. Set the feel of the game so well.
The intro gave me goosebumps.
The animation, colours and movement suited the style so well. The game said a lot without using any words.
That evil butterfly music! :O Alas I couldn't get away from it at the end, I was actually feeling sad about that.
A beautiful game, and it feels so complete and well polished! Very impressive.
I just wish there would have been more of a resolution at the end.
(even though it might just have gone over my head ;) )
More of a nitpick but i would say that some of the autoscroll sequences could also have been a bit shorter.
Much feels.. much greatness.. much beauty..
You really did a great job on this one!
p.s
You really got the music perfect! ^^
I especially love the background music, though it clashes sometimes with the SFX notes for tree-building. The game also has nice pacing (switching between tree planting to evil butterfly chasing you). To nitpick, the butterfly speed felt a bit awkward on the horizontal sidescroller section. Also, I'm not sure if it's possible to escape the evil butterfly at the end. Overall, I really enjoyed the experience. Thanks for making the game!
Game has nice, relaxing atmosphere, cool soundtrack and bright graphics. Those trees look kinda creepy for me though.
It was last game which i decided to review today, like that it gave me some relaxation at the end of the day :3
By the way, the initial organ-y + piano section in front of the planets reminded me of the scenes in Final Fantasy 4 where you watch scenes in space. Similar music and vibe, the tenor sample in the end brought back memories of the Opera House in Final Fantasy 6 and BGM01 gave me Zelda: OoT memories. Nice.
Do you have a link to any of your other work? Much obliged. I have listened to the track "Sidescroll" several times now and it really is very good, the best in this game I think, once the bass line and drums are added I am reminded of tracks from Chrono Trigger (on the SNES). One minor niggle I have about it is that the strings in the beginning of the track sound a bit MIDI-y or something, not sure what it is, though later in the track that is less apparent. Anyway, again, great work!
That's... all I gotta say really. Very nice work!
@wildmusketeer
I'm actually not satisfied with the sidescrolling sections as well. I had the butterfly going faster at first, but it was way too easy. So I sped up the camera, but then it would end way too soon, and I wanted the song to play out. So I ultimately just decided on making the butterfly a bit slower. It's not perfect, but at least it goes well with the 'relaxing experience' theme I was going for.
@JayTord
The end is inevitable, yes. I planned for a level between the last one and the outro that wrapped up the story, but I just didn't have any time left. So it does seem a bit abrupt now unfortunately.
@zenmumbler
Well, with the amount of music I have in here I didn't have much time to mix it properly and use the right instruments, but I appreciate your feedback!
I haven't released anything else yet, but I have a Kickstarter campaign for a Megaman-like music album coming in the next few weeks. I'll tweet about it at @SoundOfMes if you're interested.
As others have said before the gameplay could have been a bit more challenging but considering the other components of your game i have to say it was really a pleasure to play it, now i am relaxed and ready for the bed :D great job doing all of that during the compo :)
There could be a level of difficulty as mention by @loktar and others, but i enjoyed the simplicity and
meditative experience. A more comprehensive flying animation would be nice. Overall love the game and the music especially. (I do music too lol)
If you can, check out our game. Thanks!
The "boss" battle surprised me and was a nice touch. Would like to see more, good job and good luck!
It does kind of show where your focus went though, because the gameplay, while pretty due to the simple and colorful graphics, isn't too engaging. It feels a little more like minigames meant to be contained within a larger game, rather than the core of a game, as if the gameplay is kind of just there as an excuse to tell the story and use your music.
Besides that though, this game is definitely the one with the best overall presentation of the ones I've seen so far. The music really made it feel like I was playing a game with high production value. It was a very calming and soothing experience overall, overshadowing the drawbacks of the lacking gameplay.
The boss was a really nice touch as well, it was for sure the only parts of the game where I felt engaged by the gameplay. I liked how its animation seemed like a more jagged version of the players animation, which coupled with its colors gave it a sort of harrowing feel. The way the game ended took me by surprise too, and it led to me actually sitting around for the credits just enjoying what I just experienced.
Exceptionally solid entry! Of what I've seen so far, I think this one is a top contender for sure.
I missed two trees and got the *bad* ending I guess. I simply cannot be bothered to play again. It is a slow and mostly trivial experience, when it comes to challenge. There is no decision making, no quick thinking required, just these small dexterity challenges between the even simpler flying around stages.
I can see what you are going for, but it sure could have used some more thought on the interaction side of things.
All in all it felt like a well-thought-out, consistent experience with enough variety in gameplay to hold the attention.
Cheers!
Played the game twice, completing it 100% on the second attempt. I wish I could save my lovely winged friend.
The graphics are simple but very nice, I think it's very obvious you put a lot of efforts on the audio part because it's quite good. The mechanics, despite tits simplicity I think that are good, just make the transitions shorter and motivate the player with the goal somehow and I think it will improve a lot. Nice game.
That's really wonderful, everything feels so great. The music is incredible, and the gameplay still feel great.
Can't believe it's your first finished game!
One of my favorite entry so far, and my favorite compo entry for sure!
Can't wait to see you next LD! :)
It has many pros: the gameplay, audio, overall nice atmosphere. As for cons: a felt like the butterfly moved too slow and it was hard to control when playing the screen-scrolling parts of the game. And also a little extra features for the gameplay would be great.
The soundtrack is amazing, as well. If you enjoyed working on this, you should consider devolping it further!
The graphics are very pretty also. I was wondering: why vould the right wing flip when you turn sideway? It felt a bit weird...
The gameplay was a bit too simple for me though: the sidescrolling part was too long.
My only complaint really is looking back it feels like growing the trees with color didn't actually accomplish anything. I know some triggered portals, but could I have simply skipped most of them still completed the game the same? I know the game is minimalist as far as UI goes, so adding a points system or something probably wouldn't be ideal, but some way of tracking your impact on the game world and making it feel like you're making a real difference would help I think.
The only thing is that I don't really see how it fits the theme !
Congratulations.
Unfortunately, I only managed to get 28/30 trees.
If you would like to try our game, here is a link:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/42-mikronikus
Feel free to leave some feedback!
Some notes:
- Great visuals, especially the butterfly himself, and some little things like the transition when you SHOOM between bubbles is great.
- The gameplay is frankly a bit boring. I found myself more or less just wandering aimlessly until I had what I needed.
- Great music and sound. It would be nice if the music and gameplay were synchronised in some sense, this game seems like it would really benefit (especially in the side-scrolling stages). It has potential as a relaxing music-game type.
Overall very polished! Great job in just a couple of days. :)
not sure if i really understand the game's plot or how it fits the theme.
The gameplay, while simple, is enjoyable enough. Enough at least to warrant enjoying more of the atmosphere.
Keep up the good work!
The music is great, the graphics are nice and clear. The only thing I truly disliked in this game were sidescrolling sequences, which felt unnesesary, since there doesn't seem to be any penalty for missing orbs and trees.
This game is a winner. I don't think it fits the theme really well, but fuck the theme.
The music, the colors, everything. I love it. Congratulations!
In case you're interested in feedback: when you grab those orbs and the trees grow, there's aditional sound. I think that sound should complement the music. Otherwise, it breaks the atmosphere. Maybe you thought about this and couldn't fix it in the jam time.
You've got my five stars.
My advice - Take this game as your future project and take it Post-LD ;)
A bit of glitch in bufferfly movements and some music is being mixed in between. And the levels could have been made bit more interesting
Otherwise ...Great Job !!
24/30 Trees were planted.
Outstanding music
Outstanding execution
The only thing I can nitpick is that I don't really see a strong connection with the "Small world" theme; and for the Graphic part, the butterfly characters could be a bit more detailed than simple gradients.
Overall an outstanding theme.
My only gripe was that some of the side scrolling segments dragged on a little too long – I think it would have been nicer to have split those up into smaller sections interspersed with more of the ring-based levels, and maybe 1 or 2 more segments featuring the antagonist.
I like the mood of it very much and I personally think that the graphics together with the sound are selected very tasteful. Hope to see more simple games of this kind!
Just two minor things, I would have liked a bit of variation with the sound that plays if you plant a tree, just two or three different samples would have been great. Also the fast "fly out" animation of the butterfly does pull me out of the experience a bit.
Other than that this is just a great experience! (Yes, I know I used the word "experience" already but it is just the best word to describe what I felt playing it! :smile:)
The game play was simple and relaxing, but in my opinion I think the side scrolling parts could have been left out and instead focus on the part with the worlds. Having to build all the trees in a world may have made more sense to me, at the moment there doesn't seem to be any point in doing so besides the score at the end (which I got 23/30, not sure if that's good or not).
Overall this game's audio is great, and the visuals are nice too but the game play itself wasn't very engaging.
Had a nice atmosphere to it too.
Very impressive for a Compo.
What I would really love to see is a variation in the trees depending on the makeup of orbs that are used to create them as well as perhaps a change in the butterfly (either wing colours or glow/trail) depending on the orbs you pick up. You probably thought of these things but just didnt have time but I thought I would give my 10c! :)
Once again, well done on the game!
A very good entry.
However, I didn't get to plant some of the trees and really couldn't figure out why (I though I'd managed to get all of the orbs).
A great feel on the whole (visuals were nice as well), congrats!
The graphics also fit the overall mood of the game very well. Though the turning of the wing sometimes looks a bit odd.
The gameplay itself wasn't that revolutionary, but it was solid enough to create a very beautiful atmosphere. Great entry!
Even if the gameplay is just about collecting stuff it is very relaxing and feels very good to control the butterfly through the universe.
Concerning the game being easy I got 29/30 trees planted in my first round. I’m totally going to play this game again.
Overall this is something I personally find very enjoyable because of the relaxation, the aesthetics and the mood. Thank you so much for this experience and good luck in the future!
Have an awesome day, and I hope to see you in the next jam!
// Isak (one half of [LiquidBrain](https://ldjam.com/users/liquidbrain/))
I don't think the butterfly wings mechanic is weird, rather I think it's fits well with everything else.
Great work!
SFX is not good as your music but still good compare to other games(i play so far).
Hope to see you again next jam.
Needless to say the music was magnificent! I got carried away in the game even though the gameplay was rather simplistic. I think the difficulty level was good because this game felt more like a experience that could only truly be appreciated if you could focus on the aesthetics and music.
Very relaxing game. If there was a rating category for presentation I would totally give this game a five in that category, I knew from the start that I would enjoy the game with the intro scene and music. It felt like a movie at first.
Excellent work, I hope you win in the music category and I hope to see you in the next ludum dare event :)
FWIW, I recommended your game to the Mrs. Of course, I also recommended Floppy McFloppyFace, so... :wink:
Loved the graphics and sounds! :)
However, I wish the gameplay was less simple (lacked challenge and felt a tad repetitive; fortunately, there are several different segments that helped diversify the gameplay).
I love how there is an "antagonist" :)
I was able to plant only 28 trees though :o
Also, a nitpick: I really wish the sound when building a tree wasn't always the same. All the sounds of this game are beautiful and pleasing to hear, but this one lacked diversity (just changing the pitch each time would have helped)
Somehow, it nearly made me cry, probably because the music is very moving.
Thank you for this amazing experience.
Congratulations on a fine piece of art!
Congratulations =)
Okay, first my thoughts:
1) you're either a good pianist or can program piano music well, but I assume that's you playing, awesome compositions.
2) don't try to deny it, you took acid :D I don't even car how you managed it, but it's perfectly psychedelic.
Music has the same vibe some Japanese piano soundtracks do... There's sadness and melancholy in there, but very delicate, not the western in-your-face kind. I love it.
It has the playstyle of 'Flow', and holds well. I'd have some suggestions, but they're just in case you'll be developing this further (please do!), they're at no point criticism for a game with compo restraints.
- in updated version, music could fit thematically - now, in some cases, especially when there's more melancholy in background music, the happy feedback music seems a tad out of place (while still perfectly good in itself)
- put some more restraints / challenge on the player. Make it harder - after all, game is the only medium who refuses you the access to further parts if you're not good enough. Don't be afraid, it won't discourage the players - your world is so entrancing we *want* to see more.
- some screen shaders could help make it even better looking and more dreamlike / surreal.
You managed to make a great soundtrack and SFX, tell an absolutely out-there story and encapsulate it all in a game. That's just awesome. I hope we'll see it developed further!
Cheers, and stay awesome!
Well done!
Are trees procedural? If yes -- I'd recommend to make more natural "grow" animation for them and make their appearance more random. Like in Eufloria game, for instance.
Here is my playthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9WRqIAtbrU
I'm not sure was it a real game end or I just failed it :smile:
Thank you :butterfly: