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[axcho]

Today I made my first actually fun prototype with Flixel! Yay!

I made it to test out the controls for a one-button flying game.

It's for a project I'm working on with the artist brontosaurus. The landscape of pillars is based on his Pixel Skylines 01 piece. The birds came about as I wondered what sort of creatures might live in such a landscape.

Active Sketch 04 - Pillars

Click the window to start, then click the mouse button or tap the space bar to flap your wings. If you hold the button down, you will dive.

tap - flap wings
hold - dive
none - soar
collide - perch

To reverse direction, perch on a pillar by flying into it. When you lift off again, you will be flying in the opposite direction. Every ten seconds, a new swarmer appears. It's quite a sight when you have a hundred of them on the screen at a time.

You can reload the page to get a new environment to play in.

I would love to hear your feedback on the prototype. Any thoughts on what to change? What you like about it? How it might be developed into a full game?

Let me know. Thanks for trying it!

[Titch]

I -definitely- would like to see this developed into a full game. The one button flying is nifty and feels really good. The only thing is it would be nice to be able to change directions in the air somehow. Or have places to perch in the upper area so you can switch direction by going up rather than down.

[biomechanic]

I usually have no patience for that type of non-game playthings but this one had me hooked for some reason and I've spent a good portion of my coffee break just tapping space.

That said - I'm not going to play with it any more, simply because I need some gameplay in my games. I would suggest adding some time honored game elements like possibility of losing and score (e.g. points are added for each second player is alive, randomly spawning extra life / score multiplier pick-ups, you lose a life and all multipliers on hit, you lose 1 (or 2, or x) multiplier level on perch).

[fefranca]

I would love to be able to change directions, other than that great job, it feels right. I like the nose diving when you hold space

[Adam Atomic]

YES this is quite rad!!  I highly recommend finishing and submitting to Gamma IV

have you thought about being able to eat up the enemies by diving?

[axcho]

Thanks everyone, for the feedback and suggestions! I'm really glad to hear that you've found it so compelling.

The only thing is it would be nice to be able to change directions in the air somehow. Or have places to perch in the upper area so you can switch direction by going up rather than down.

Great idea - maybe there could be giant airships above, or even a cave environment in addition to just pillars...

I would suggest adding some time honored game elements like possibility of losing and score (e.g. points are added for each second player is alive, randomly spawning extra life / score multiplier pick-ups, you lose a life and all multipliers on hit, you lose 1 (or 2, or x) multiplier level on perch).

Yeah, this was just a prototype to test out the controls. For the actual game, there will definitely be losing and score and all that. I was thinking of turning it into a side-scrolling game with a bigger playing area, maybe where you have to collect or deliver certain things between different places? And of course survive angry swarms and eat delicious prey animals and such...

I would love to be able to change directions, other than that great job, it feels right. I like the nose diving when you hold space

I tried one approach to changing directions in midair - that is, switching directions after a dive but it didn't feel right. I like Titch's suggestion about having objects in the air that you can perch on. I will try that.

YES this is quite rad!!  I highly recommend finishing and submitting to Gamma IV

have you thought about being able to eat up the enemies by diving?

Thanks, I was thinking about Gamma IV, because the whole one-button thing. Is it possible to detect Xbox 360 controller buttons with Flixel?

I was definitely thinking of making it possible to eat certain enemies, maybe even in groups of other fliers like dolphins herding swarms of mackerel... But I also like the idea of being able to attack by diving! Someone else also just suggested that to me, actually, and I think it could work really well.

I also got the suggestion that maybe you could be collecting food for your baby birds. I like that. I could go watch some Planet Earth episodes for inspiration, maybe...

[axcho]

I've been experimenting with the control scheme.

I've just uploaded an alternate version, where you can reverse direction in midair, still with just one button. Flapping is slightly more powerful, as well. There are also some scattered blocks in the sky above.

Please try it out and let me know how it compares with the original version. How does it feel? Is it confusing? Frustrating? Liberating? How could it be improved?

Active Sketch 04 - Pillars 1.6

Thanks!

[lithander]

I don't know how the game would feel if you actually had to steer the bird into a specific direction. Might be frustrating controls then. But right now it feels awesome. I've spend like 10 minutes playing the new version. I think what makes it so fascinating is that the game isn't precisely controlable. It's a bit like a sandbox packed with interactive elements that challenge you to explore and master them... the magic might be that you never really get the hang of it, never reach a point were the bird gets fully controllable. Also I found myself making up my own goals. Like "eat" the birds of the flock. Or avoid them. Or reach the top of the highest pillar.

Inspiring!

[axcho]

I don't know how the game would feel if you actually had to steer the bird into a specific direction. Might be frustrating controls then. But right now it feels awesome. I've spend like 10 minutes playing the new version. I think what makes it so fascinating is that the game isn't precisely controlable. It's a bit like a sandbox packed with interactive elements that challenge you to explore and master them... the magic might be that you never really get the hang of it, never reach a point were the bird gets fully controllable. Also I found myself making up my own goals. Like "eat" the birds of the flock. Or avoid them. Or reach the top of the highest pillar.

This is very helpful feedback, thanks. I should keep this in mind! It's not always about having full control...

Thanks for the thoughts.

I've just updated the new version with faster midair turning - does it feel like an improvement? (you may have to refresh or clear your cache to see the update)

[luc]

I like the faster midair turning ! Much better flow. You could also lower the X velocity after each turn (perhaps the bird could fall after 2/3 turns ?).
Really curious about the next versions.

[axcho]

I like the faster midair turning ! Much better flow. You could also lower the X velocity after each turn (perhaps the bird could fall after 2/3 turns ?).
Really curious about the next versions.

Thanks for the suggestion - I've made an adjustment to that effect, and I think it feels a lot nicer now. I've updated the prototype - refresh and try again! It doesn't fall, but it stays in a tight sort of spiral, which is both quicker to change direction and slower in velocity, so it's easier to manage.

Let me know what you think!

[axcho]

Okay, new control scheme, yet again!

I've updated the original prototype with the ability to turn by double-tapping.

I'd really appreciate it if you could try it out and let me know how it compares with the other version. Thanks!

Update:
Original prototype reverted. Double-tap version posted separately.

[luc]

I like the double click for turning (still it's quite hard to get it) but now I find the hovering a bit artificial compared to the other behaviors of the bird.
Leaving the automatic turning might do the trick. Perhaps adding more distance between turns still, the bird doesn't seem to fly in circles, more doing a quick 180°.
I enjoyed the fact you could reach the sky and then prey/hover on top of the other birds.
Keep it up

[axcho]

Leaving the automatic turning might do the trick. Perhaps adding more distance between turns still, the bird doesn't seem to fly in circles, more doing a quick 180°.

Thanks for the feedback. Hmm, I wonder if part if it may simply be an animation issue. In 2D it doesn't make a lot of sense to do circles, if the idea is to mimic the feel of a bird circling along a horizontal plane.

One person compared it to a leaf floating to the ground. At the moment it does seem more like that than like a bird flying...