birdbell by PaperAeroplane555

made by PaperAeroplane555 for Ludum Dare 49 (COMPO)

THE BIRDS AND THE BELLS i'll just copy the description from the itch.io page :p

and probably the most fun ludum dare i've done despite being literally 2 days before my exams start do NOT ask why the game's setting is so random it was purely derived from game mechanics ok

play as some horse who really hates birds for some reason!

kill all birds to finish the level!

all while every single block you touch is unstable and crumbles beneath your hooves!

BIRD

-flies

-gets stomped on

BELL

-drops without support

-makes a really loud noise but this game has no audio

(which is a shame cuz i think this game will benefit a lot from having sfx)

SCAREDCROW

-whiter than a bird even though its a crow??

-gets scared by the sound of the bell

OAT PELLET THING

-grants you one charge of NEIGH

-NEIGH can toggle between the states of the blocks

-can have up to 3 NEIGH charges (but that doesn't happen as of now)

ANDDD HORSE (?)

-you (?) apparently

-because i came up with the idea of "aha what if its like un-stabling so its removing horses from stables" because i didn't want to do another platformer game

-but i ended up having a better idea

-but i still wanted to use the same sprite so here you go i suppose

-hooves on first?

MADE FOR LUDUM DARE 49 in 48 HOURS!!!

Link	https://paperarrow.itch.io/bellbird
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/birdbell

Ratings

Overall	21^th	4.13⭐	25🧑‍⚖️
Fun	22^th	4.152⭐	25🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	19^th	4.217⭐	25🧑‍⚖️
Theme	78^th	4.152⭐	25🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	168^th	3.717⭐	25🧑‍⚖️
Given		22🗳️	24🗨️

Feedback

Dobryn

03. Oct 2021 · 23:30 UTC

Given your interpretation of the theme, this is the nicest play on words since the history of playing on words, may be ever.

I feel like if the game was left more abstract then one could just describe it anyway they like. Good luck for the exams you mentioned on the page.

LDJam user 237913

04. Oct 2021 · 02:12 UTC

You have my points +3 Internet points for that write up. Thanks for submitting!

LDJam user 127637

04. Oct 2021 · 03:21 UTC

Not sure why but on downloading the build on Google Chrome it is saying that a virus has been detected and then can not play it.. :cry:

🎤 PaperAeroplane555

04. Oct 2021 · 03:37 UTC

@dobryn haha thank you!! its the first time i only came up with the name of the game towards the end of the second day

@doc-kaos damn really??? thanks so much for reading lol

@mahjoub i think on the download tab at the bottom you can click on the upward-facing arrow and keep the file instead of discarding it.

LDJam user 127637

04. Oct 2021 · 03:46 UTC

Yeah thanks, I tried that but even this did not allow the download.. might be coming from my security settings

Shootboots

04. Oct 2021 · 04:38 UTC

damn i had really hoped that there were sfx. I could almost hear the thump noise when you jump on a bird :). Graphics are simply and adorable. Unfortunately it kept on crashing midway through the game so i could never finish it :(

hammerfrenzy

04. Oct 2021 · 04:44 UTC

Once the bell was introduced I was very impressed how it fit with the theme. The platforming also felt quite responsive. Good work!

Diego Escalante

04. Oct 2021 · 05:17 UTC

I thought I had run into another game in this compo about a crow! But this game turned out quite different. I thought it was a pretty simple game at the beginning, especially with the minimalistic visuals. But by the time I got to the bells I was quite amazed at how good the design is. Really cool mechanics, I dig it a lot. There's also a TON of levels, so you got quite a lot done! I think if I were to improve something, I would definitely add some sounds, and zoom in on the levels (everything was quite tiny on my screen). But in any case, this game left me impressed! Well done!

🎤 PaperAeroplane555

04. Oct 2021 · 07:56 UTC

@shootboots haha thanks for playing!! ughh yeah i was also planning to have a sound effect when the blocks get destroyed/repaired and the bell ring too but when i tried it just didn't sound right so i ended up not putting it in. maybe if i spend more time i can probably get the sounds i want i guess

also how was it crashing??? is it when something specific happens or its random??

@hammerfrenzy thank you! honestly when i started making the game i didn't have any intention for the bells at all but i guess it was a good decision in the end :>

@diego-escalante thanks for the feedback!!! i am quite proud of the amount of levels i made haha (and as a matter of fact i completely forgot some level ideas i wanted to put in and i only remembered until the day after it ended -.- which explains the postjam version lol)

and i also agree that its quite tiny :p

Shootboots

04. Oct 2021 · 08:00 UTC

@paperaeroplane555 every time 30 seconds in without fail, it just uexpectedly closes but i think thats a problem on my end haha

OctahedronSoftware

04. Oct 2021 · 13:26 UTC

I was impressed after just the first 15 seconds in the game, I really like this one. It looks nice and has good mechanic. Shame there are no sounds, perhaps you could add some postjam?

caudatecoder

04. Oct 2021 · 15:10 UTC

I love the minimalistic design of the game, look clean!
The puzzle design is really good too. It gets hard pretty fast though, smoothing the difficulty curve could help IMHO.

A solid game, good job!

mvasko2

04. Oct 2021 · 15:57 UTC

Amazingly creative level design, great job! How many levels does this game have?

I don't really have anything to criticize. Draw some nice graphics, add sounds and music and you can sell this thing :wink:

Oh and good luck with the exams!

pdotjpg

04. Oct 2021 · 16:52 UTC

Hey, just chiming in to let you know that I'm also getting a virus alert (for both versions). Windows Defender is doing it. Maybe it's useful information for you.

🎤 PaperAeroplane555

05. Oct 2021 · 09:21 UTC

@octahedronsoftware thank you so much! yeah getting some people to playtest they got stuck super easily lol, i'm already working on a version that has probably more 'balanced' levels

@mvasko2 damnn thanks so much!! i am still trying to learn sfx design and how to make music :p but i will definitely continue to try and experiment hahah. thanks for enjoying my game!!! it has 20 levels (postjam 22 levels) btw

@pdotjpg sighh yeah its a persistent issue for clickteam fusion .exe files for some reason and i put it in the install instructions section. just press 'more info' and 'run anyways'. still trying to find ways to get around that so sorry about that :p

EDIT: so after more research i found out that for this game engine it will always trigger a false positive for antivirus systems, and the only way to really go around that issue is to sign a digital certificate, which is incredibly expensive :p

however i found out theres an option to build the program so that it can make a "install program" so its a wizard, but it looks super sketchy and i dont know if people would want smth like that to happen (since it looks pretty similar to trying to pirate a game cough cough)

Jonah_SRG

05. Oct 2021 · 13:06 UTC

This is so cute and clever! I love the minimalistic monochrome pixel art here, it's very readable and the sprites are nice. The behavior of the bells breaking all adjacent platform blocks and hitting everything as they fall to the bottom is clever, and the puzzles built around it are thoughtful. The addition of the "scaredcrow" adds some faster platforming challenge to the mix. I do miss the auditory feedback here and I think that would be a great addition down the line. The instability of the ground fits the theme, and I suppose the horse character goes along with it, though the abstract mechanics mean the character could be just about anything. One of my favorites so far, really well done!

🎤 PaperAeroplane555

05. Oct 2021 · 14:03 UTC

@jonah-srg thanks so much!! when i came up with the idea for the bell i simultaneously came with the idea of the scaredcrows and i think i am quite proud of that idea lol. and it did make level design a lot more fun (like the 3rd level after those birds were introduced hehe)

i also plan to add sfx once i have the time. i already made a few sounds but i still need to tune them right :p thanks!!!

Reiqy

05. Oct 2021 · 20:18 UTC

Wow, this game is pretty great. The mechanics are very well crafted and the levels are interesting. I like how you need both skillful platforming and logical thinking to get through them. I also enjoy the artstyle of the game. Some of the later levels are also pretty damn difficult.

LunacyEcho

07. Oct 2021 · 16:38 UTC

This is a really cool puzzle game! It seems like such an obvious mechanic to come up with but I'm not sure I've ever seen it before in this kind of context--AND it fits the theme so well! The level designs were wonderful, and I thought they were just the right difficulty too. Is there a way to adjust keybindings in the game? One thing that I thought impacted my performance a bit was that A/D/K was not a super intuitive keybinding for me; I would probably have had a smoother go if there had been WASD or arrow keys options, although maybe I was just too dumb to find the option! Would love to see a version of this with sfx. Great work!

Elektroney

07. Oct 2021 · 16:40 UTC

I really enjoyed the visuals, theme, and voice acting. Only problems I had was how easy it is to get hit multiple times without ever touching the ground and how you can get dinged constantly by some of the effects just pushing you into something when it starts. The platformer controls felt good though.

Mathiouza

08. Oct 2021 · 00:37 UTC

The game is really cool. The puzzles are really clever and the mechanics too. Some levels were just a bit frustrating though because the solution was simple, but the execution it requires was a bit too much I think.

I really like the aesthetic too.

Really great job! :clap: :clap:

Masaru

08. Oct 2021 · 13:46 UTC

Very nice puzzle game ! I didn't see all the level, I'm... bad at puzzles... I got to the 4 birds and 4 bells level, there's something I'm missing, I can't get further, but anyway, very well done ! It's a shame there's no sound...

Epiphaner

08. Oct 2021 · 16:12 UTC

Nice game, good levels too! Although I gave up a few levels after learning to neigh, it was a fun few levels.
The controls felt pretty tight, so nice job on those. I also liked that the birds would look in the direction you're coming from, nice little touch there!

nanolotl

09. Oct 2021 · 03:21 UTC

This is genius

autumnalHeart

10. Oct 2021 · 00:28 UTC

A very cute game! It was very fun.

RIBOUT Horace

10. Oct 2021 · 14:07 UTC

I absolutely love everything in this game ! I didn't finish it but I will, it's really elegant and cute and the artstyle match perfectly the precision needed ! To make that in a jam timing was really incredible ! Congrats !!!

Brusi

19. Oct 2021 · 18:44 UTC

Cute puzzle platformer with interesting mechanics! I like it how every feature is built upon all the previous ones and creates a nice variety of puzzles. Connection to the theme (unstable=floors that disappear) was nice. Good job!