{"author_link":"\/author\/mshopf\/","author_name":"emmes","author_uid":"60595","comments":[{"author_name":"blohod","author_uid":"61724","time":"Dec 14, 2015 @ 3:47am","epoch":1450064520,"text":"great job, hope I get some online play eventually"},{"author_name":"jcmonkey","author_uid":"57798","time":"Dec 14, 2015 @ 4:32am","epoch":1450067220,"text":"a nice game."},{"author_name":"paraboxx","author_uid":"64955","time":"Dec 14, 2015 @ 4:37am","epoch":1450067520,"text":"Cool idea controlling so many at the same time."},{"author_name":"dekart","author_uid":"14826","time":"Dec 14, 2015 @ 4:59am","epoch":1450068840,"text":"Well done, interesting gameplay. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to try it multiplayer, but still a very interesting experience.\r<br\/>\r<br\/>Few thoughts:\r<br\/>* there are too many obstacles, birds are not able to fly smoothly, which makes the first impression of being trapped\r<br\/>* it's better to separately mention controls, outside of the long text (nobody reads long texts) - they're hard to notice. I've found them from the second try.\r<br\/>* some background music (even simplest, generated) would set a mood and fill silence."},{"author_name":"freddyw9","author_uid":"51146","time":"Dec 14, 2015 @ 5:12am","epoch":1450069620,"text":"Really good, lots of potential there."},{"author_name":"Magicolo","author_uid":"44592","time":"Dec 14, 2015 @ 5:15am","epoch":1450069800,"text":"Was cool... or was it.... oh yeasse ith waze."},{"author_name":"danieldsj","author_uid":"60805","time":"Dec 14, 2015 @ 6:10am","epoch":1450073100,"text":"Very creative."},{"author_name":"chr15m","author_uid":"1719","time":"Dec 14, 2015 @ 6:52am","epoch":1450075620,"text":"wow awesome, great html5 implementation!"},{"author_name":"emmes","author_uid":"60595","time":"Dec 14, 2015 @ 6:02pm","epoch":1450115820,"text":"Thanks for all the great feedback :-)\r<br\/>\r<br\/>@dekart: regarding your points (thoughts greatly appreciated!):\r<br\/>* The many obstacles are actually by intention - I tried with less, birds flock too much then so it's getting difficult to kill any at all without being killed oneself\r<br\/>* For the controls I could add a splash screen on &quot;Ready\/Set\/Go&quot; on first time invocation - already wanted to do that, but time didn't permit\r<br\/>* Yes, background music would be awesome. Didn't have time, didn't check the tools, etc. pp. There's a hum in the background, repeating every 3 seconds, but maybe its volume is too low."},{"author_name":"hexagore","author_uid":"34027","time":"Dec 14, 2015 @ 7:40pm","epoch":1450121700,"text":"Wow, doing a client and server as a compo entry? :) Always risky for a jam but you added AI as well so thanks for that!"},{"author_name":"JamesMowery","author_uid":"64932","time":"Dec 15, 2015 @ 6:28am","epoch":1450160580,"text":"Nice work. I will say the sound effects in the beginning were quite jarring, especially when I didn't know what was going on. But once I figured it out, the game was actually quite fun. I enjoyed it! Nice work on doing multiplayer too!"},{"author_name":"psychonull","author_uid":"31386","time":"Dec 15, 2015 @ 2:20pm","epoch":1450188900,"text":"Great idea. Really fun game!"},{"author_name":"Trasevol_Dog","author_uid":"51405","time":"Dec 15, 2015 @ 5:28pm","epoch":1450200180,"text":"Very nice idea! Would love to see this with hand-designed levels or maybe a simple procedural level generation!!"},{"author_name":"Jupiter_Hadley","author_uid":"27744","time":"Dec 15, 2015 @ 7:10pm","epoch":1450206300,"text":"Well made game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 34 compilation video series, if you&rsquo;d like to check it out :) https:\/\/youtu.be\/G4-JCtlxKuU"},{"author_name":"CodeNMore","author_uid":"33942","time":"Dec 15, 2015 @ 8:17pm","epoch":1450210320,"text":"This was awesome! I like the concept a lot."},{"author_name":"emmes","author_uid":"60595","time":"Dec 16, 2015 @ 2:51am","epoch":1450233960,"text":"Thanks for all the positive feedback :-)\r<br\/>Will check your games in the coming days, too!\r<br\/>\r<br\/>@Trasevol_Dog: Hey, good idea! Hand-designed levels would be a definite plus.\r<br\/>The screen is actually procedurally generated, but only by very simple means. I had more ideas, but again, it was lack of time for implementing these...\r<br\/>@Jupiter_Hadley: Great, good to see that :-)"},{"author_name":"dlowe","author_uid":"25082","time":"Dec 16, 2015 @ 3:38am","epoch":1450236780,"text":"Very, very neat idea! I think this has a lot of potential. As it is currently, I think the chaos of the initial melee makes it feel luck-based instead of skill-based. If I survive the initial melee with more birds than my opponents, I win. The AI is also probably over-aggressive. But these are pretty minor points: on the whole, this is a very neat, very original game. Thanks!"},{"author_name":"DrFallos","author_uid":"61003","time":"Dec 16, 2015 @ 12:12pm","epoch":1450267620,"text":"Great game! Simple and smart project! Thx!"},{"author_name":"mockthebear","author_uid":"16447","time":"Dec 16, 2015 @ 6:25pm","epoch":1450290000,"text":"I would to love play with another one, but nobody came XD\r<br\/>actually its a good idea, srsly! fun game!! will you continue the dev?"},{"author_name":"HardlyDifficult","author_uid":"64009","time":"Dec 16, 2015 @ 11:36pm","epoch":1450308660,"text":"Multiplayer!  Well done."},{"author_name":"Robber","author_uid":"29159","time":"Dec 16, 2015 @ 11:37pm","epoch":1450308720,"text":"very original!"},{"author_name":"rd127p77","author_uid":"39898","time":"Dec 17, 2015 @ 12:19am","epoch":1450311240,"text":"Pretty Fun."},{"author_name":"emmes","author_uid":"60595","time":"Dec 17, 2015 @ 1:07am","epoch":1450314120,"text":"@dlowe: Yes, you're right, it feels this way.\r<br\/>@mockthebear: I plan to, but life is pretty tight with time slots ATM. I will post updates if I do.\r<br\/>\r<br\/>Actually, the way the game was originally planed (and not executed due to time restrictions) would have felt less luck-based. I guess."},{"author_name":"careless","author_uid":"32413","time":"Dec 17, 2015 @ 1:48am","epoch":1450316580,"text":"Really enjoyed the game, would be cool to try it out with multi players.\r<br\/>\r<br\/>Nice simple but neat graphics, cool retro sounds and nice controls.\r<br\/>\r<br\/>Had a look at your timelapse video also, thanks for sharing :D"},{"author_name":"timeshapers","author_uid":"62149","time":"Dec 17, 2015 @ 6:38am","epoch":1450333980,"text":"Oh man, this is awesome. Saw it on Jupiter Hadley's channel and had to give it a go.\r<br\/>I feel the one thing this game is missing is some kind of objective to fight over, otherwise the dominant strategy seems to be running away and letting the other AIs fight it out.\r<br\/>Also wondering if you've tried boids flocking algorithm? Could make it feel more natural."},{"author_name":"cxsquared","author_uid":"23711","time":"Dec 17, 2015 @ 4:16pm","epoch":1450368660,"text":"Really cool idea and great gameplay. I'm a little sad I couldn't find another online player but it was really fun."},{"author_name":"PowerSpark","author_uid":"38755","time":"Dec 18, 2015 @ 12:32am","epoch":1450398420,"text":"It's playable with others? Cool!"},{"author_name":"emmes","author_uid":"60595","time":"Dec 18, 2015 @ 1:04am","epoch":1450400340,"text":"@timeshapers: can't do standard boids flocking, because the birds all fly in the same direction...\r<br\/>There is a (rather sophisticated) flocking algorithm in place, I just didn't ramp it up too much, you should basically do the flocking yourself by running some birds into walls and letting the birds further away close up :-)\r<br\/>Unfortunately, the AI isn't that... smart yet. All AIs should actually team up against you, but it doesn't always work that way...\r<br\/>\r<br\/>And yes, it's really a shame that everybody tries the game at different times, so you can't find somebody to play with ;-)\r<br\/>I'll probably update the server to show an estimated number of players looking at the landing page, so you can estimate whether there's a chance that someone will play a multiplayer game with you..."},{"author_name":"emmes","author_uid":"60595","time":"Dec 21, 2015 @ 9:11am","epoch":1450688760,"text":"I updated the server to notify visitors about potential multiplayer games in order to increase their possibility; as the game hasn't changed at all, I consider this to be within the rules.\r<br\/>I also added a Readme and a License to the source distribution."},{"author_name":"publicidadeba","author_uid":"63879","time":"Dec 23, 2015 @ 2:34am","epoch":1450837740,"text":"I got the most gangsters birds in the skies bitches! Loved this one!"},{"author_name":"HeyChinaski","author_uid":"11211","time":"Dec 23, 2015 @ 10:47pm","epoch":1450910520,"text":"Nice original idea. Would love to play it multiplayer."},{"author_name":"LoneStranger","author_uid":"203","time":"Dec 27, 2015 @ 7:48pm","epoch":1451245380,"text":"Very well made. Feels and sounds a lot like a classic arcade game. Only thing I would think is a drawback is the collision with the blocks. It felt too &quot;sticky&quot; to me, and I think they should slide a bit more along them so I felt like I still had some control even though they were slowed down. Great job."}],"images":["ld34\/60595-8f7d7003bc8165da81fc8dbb2ca61373.jpg","ld34\/60595-afbd9b791e8eebd22833163f08f5f9fd.jpg"],"links":[{"url":"http:\/\/mepool.de\/bob.html","text":"Web"},{"url":"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/2015\/12\/15\/birds-of-borg-post-mortem\/","text":"Post Mortem + Timelapse"},{"url":"http:\/\/zuse1.efi.fh-nuernberg.de:8002\/gamedesign\/bob\/birds_of_borg.zip","text":"Source"}],"metadata":{"g_key":"6382","g_author":"60595","g_event":"LD34","g_eventkey":"31","g_subevent":"COMPO","g_urlkey":"6374","g_title":"Birds of Borg","g_status":"UCHK1","g_place":"244","g_commentcount":"32","g_site2_node_id":"0","g_hide":"N","g_has_icon":"Y","g_rqueue":"0","g_random":"0"},"nds":[],"node":null,"orig_images":["http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/compo2\/\/511439\/60595-shot0-1450058323.png-eq-900-500.jpg","http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/compo2\/\/511439\/60595-shot1-1450058323.png-eq-900-500.jpg"],"text":"We are Birds of Borg\r\nResistance Is Futile\r\nYou Will Be Assimilated\r\n\r\nWe are Borg. We are one mind. We all fly in the same direction.\r\nWe are directed by left and right cursor keys (or A and D).\r\nWe are strongest attacking together.\r\nWe regenerate when we are not under attack.\r\nWe are in the internet. If we choose to do so.\r\nWe are green. Prey ist gray. Other Borg are colored differently.\r\nWe will assimilate them. All of them.\r\n\r\n\r\nBirds of Borg is a HTML5 web game written with phaser with a node.js\/express\/socket.io based server, both client and server written from scratch.\r\nIt's best to be played with Chrome (also tested in Firefox). It has a single player mode with AI opponents, and there is an internet based multiplayer variant for 2 to 5 borgs. Due to time constraints the node server only supports trivial match making, as soon as enough players enter the same mode (2 players up to 5 players), a new game is started.\r\nI have no idea how well the node server scales, please bear with me that a 48h multiplayer game isn't completely tuned ;-)\r\n\r\nThe \"growing\" theme was supposed to be supported as well, but I'd rather wanted to submit a reasonably working game than one with the game design changed in the last minute... It is 2 button only, though!\r\n\r\nHave fun, and vote!\r\n\r\n\r\n21.12.2015 Update: I updated the server to notify visitors about potential multiplayer games in order to increase their possibility; as the game hasn't changed at all, I consider this to be within the rules.","title":"Birds of Borg"}