Bluebird by cjm

[raw]
made by cjm for Ludum Dare 46 (COMPO)

Keep your baby bluebirds alive by feeding them flies. But look out for hawks!
You are the bird in the center of the screen. Use the left/right arrows to navigate. Catch gnats by running into them, and feed them to your chicks by flying over the nest.

There are two green bars on the bottom of the window. The top one indicates how hungry your chick is. If this gets too low your chick starves and you lose.
The bottom one indicates how bit your chick is. Once this is full, the game is over and you win.
Press the space bar to start over.
If you bump into a hawk you also lose.

Special thanks to @meelo for hosting the game online.

Ratings

Overall 1011th 2.75⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Fun 918th 2.7⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 890th 2.8⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 798th 3.325⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 965th 2.55⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Humor 818th 2⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 938th 2.526⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Given 14🗳️ 8🗨️

Feedback

jpv
20. Apr 2020 · 14:57 UTC
Tried to run it, got `libm.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.29' not found`. Probably the SDL 2 issue. A few more instructions or better packaging would be appreciated (and is allowed post compo IIUC).
🎤 cjm
20. Apr 2020 · 15:14 UTC
@jpv Thanks for reporting.
I'm assuming you have libc installed?
If so could you try `$ ldd bluebird` and send me the result? Thanks.
jpv
20. Apr 2020 · 15:38 UTC
`libc6` didn't work.

It's been a bit since I've messed around compiling something on Linux directly, so I followed the instructions on your bitbucket + dependency chasing.

I'm on Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS.

Built and installed https://bitbucket.org/jlm/lib2d/src/master/, had to install `mesa-common-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libsdl2-dev` to get that to build.

For the game:

```
$ git clone https://jlm@bitbucket.org/calebmrshl/ld46.git
```

And then I realized my CMake was out of date and accidentally started an OS upgrade. I'll try again when that's done and see if I can get it to run.
🎤 cjm
20. Apr 2020 · 15:55 UTC
@jpv sorry about that. If you want to cancel the upgrade, you can probably turn down the `cmake_minimum required`.
I just tested it and it works down to cmake version 2.6
LyghtningWither
20. Apr 2020 · 17:33 UTC
Could you upload this for Windows, if possible?
🎤 cjm
20. Apr 2020 · 19:04 UTC
@lyghtningwither I'll try, but I don't really know much about Windows, so it probably won't work.
I was able to compile the game with Emscripten, so you can play it in a web browser.
I included a link to the output. Unzip it, the open a command prompt and do
```
cd Downloads/bluebird-web
python -m http.server 8000
```
Then open a web browser and in the search bar type `localhost:8000`.

I wasn't able to get the text working for it so I'll write it here:
There are two green bars on the bottom of the screen. You may need to scroll down a bit to see them.
The top one indicates how hungry your chick is. If this gets to low your chicks starve and you lose.
The bottom one indicates how big your chick is. Once this is full, the game is over and you win.
press the space bar to start over.
If you bump into a hawk you also lose.

The other option is to compile from source.
LyghtningWither
20. Apr 2020 · 19:09 UTC
Thanks! I'll try that.
Clayton Does Things
20. Apr 2020 · 21:13 UTC
The web version needs to be hosted to be played on anything except linux. You can host it locally with nodejs but no one will do that. There are many services that will host it for free (like heroku) and maybe itch.io - I'm not sure.
TheOmelet
22. Apr 2020 · 12:44 UTC
Nice little game :) I just miss something like hawks chasing you and you outsmarting them mechanics as the catching flies becomes a bit repetitive and not that challenging. Btw I wouldn't try this game if it weren't for you commenting on my game as I usually don't try out the games that aren't web hosted - I'd say that since you already have a web build not hosting it somewhere is a missed opportunity.
🎤 cjm
22. Apr 2020 · 17:54 UTC
@theomlet Yeah, it really needs that. I was thinking of adding some obstacles and making the hawks only able to turn in wide angles, so you can 'hide' between trees and make the hawk fly right past you.
I also only play the online games; it seems like the few that aren't web hosted are only available for Windows. :wink:
My dad does have an all-purpose website, but it's not working just now. So if it starts working anytime soon I'll definitely host it there.
I could use a game hosting site, but I don't think the game's really worth it.
meelo
24. Apr 2020 · 04:27 UTC
I found this rather pleasant to play - there wasn't much of a challenge (except for one near miss with an eagle), but it felt nice to fly the bird around. I think even a change as simple as "make the game longer, and make eagles spawn more often as times goes on" could really make this a lot more fun - the controls seem to lend themselves to something like that, since they feel very intuitive, but are a bit unusual, which could make the challenge of planning a course through danger quite interesting.

Also, it wouldn't be any trouble to me to host the WebAssembly version of your game on my site for the duration of rating period - let me know if you'd like me to. (My site is currently very empty because I was mostly motivated to start one to host my own WebAssembly entry... though I do have other plans in the not-so-distant future for the site)
🎤 cjm
24. Apr 2020 · 20:48 UTC
@meelo I'm glad you liked it. :)
Thanks for the offer! I just uploaded a new web file and that fixed the non-rendering text (or rather worked around it by pre-making images of text and rendering those), so if you would host that and send me the URL I'd gratefully add the link.
meelo
24. Apr 2020 · 21:13 UTC
@cjm Here's a link to the new web file on my site: http://www.themilobrandt.com/bluebird/
blobo
25. Apr 2020 · 18:20 UTC
Hm, neat game! I wish there was a title screen so the game doesn't start immediately after it boots up, but this was a pretty solid game for your first Ludum Dare!
fancypants
29. Apr 2020 · 06:47 UTC
Nice game, it's kinda fun when you get into it. One thing that can be improved, gameplay-wise, is not to have hawks spawn too close to the nest when starting a new game. I got into some situations where the game started with a hawk right in front of the bird, which was impossible to avoid.
ryan123rudder
04. May 2020 · 06:18 UTC
pretty good! only things i would change, is maybe making the bird controlled with the mouse, and adding in some sounds and music
Capital-Asterisk
07. May 2020 · 00:05 UTC
Oh heck yeah birds, and there's linux too. Getting that same libc error, and reinstalling a new libc is going to break everything else. It needs lib2d.h, but I can't find it anywhere. Ended up just playing the emscripten version.

This game feels like a top down version of the NES game "Bird Week"

Pretty ambitious to do this with C and without much of a engine, enough for me to not complain about anything. Nice work.
🎤 cjm
07. May 2020 · 02:09 UTC
@capital-asterisk Yeah, on second thought it probably isn't such a great idea to try reinstalling libc.
I compiled it on Ubuntu 19.10; not sure it that has anything to do with it.

Oops...I guess I forgot to mention that. I guess I said it in the source code readme and didn't think to do so here.

You can find lib2d.h at https://lib2d.com.
Just clone lib2d into bluebird's root directory and the cmake file should find it.
Neg99
07. May 2020 · 17:44 UTC
Nice game. Would have been nice to have an arrow to where the nest is so that you can find your way back. Otherwise, great game Well done.
Convg
09. May 2020 · 12:27 UTC
Cool game. I agree with Neg99 that an arrow would be helpful, and maybe make the bird a bit more maneuverable, but overall nice work. Good entry :)
🎤 cjm
10. May 2020 · 13:01 UTC
@blobo @fancypants @ryan123rudder @capital-asterisk @neg99 @convg
Thanks for the feedback everyone!