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[medieval]

Good evening gentlemen

One day I started drawing a random mockup because I wanted to make a game.


Now, instead of an epic adventure that I first wanted it to be, it resulted in an atmospheric little thing in which you basically just fly around.



And here's the demo.

Download Build 1

I need some opinions on random things that should happen around the map. Just basic animations, no spectacular things. Try to come up with things that would still keep the atmosphere intact.

I am also searching for someone who could do music and/or sound effects. I am looking for some calm and ambient music. Something like the music featured in Psychosomnium. Please post it up here if you can do music or sound for this game. Because, who knows. You might get free beer from me .


Update
New demo available! It's not a whole lot of a difference in terms of mechanics, but a vast improvement on presentation.

Download Build 2

[kyn]

You really need to have mosquitoes flying around the lamp bulb

And I really liked the controls for some reason, someone should make a game like this

[medieval]

Gentleman surprise to the right

[policedanceclub]

The gentleman should totally light up when you land on his tophat.

[___]

I like where this is going.  The controls are exactly what I thought they'd be.

[Don Andy]

This could be a very cool exploration game, but I think there should be more "small" things, like (as already said) flies/mosquitoes around the lamp, maybe a few critters walking around and stuff like that.
Maybe if you hang around long enough at the bush, it gets eyes and shuffles left off the screen.

Oh, and it took me about a minute to figure out why the cat isn't responding to my controls, until I figured out I was the bird.

I'll read all of the first post next time, I promise.

[PDF]

You need stars and a few moons(It's always better to have more than one); and maybe some snow for a better looking environment. Also, the cat should be able to eat you.

[agj]

This is really promising. I'd love it there were no goals at all, please don't stray from that. I really like how the bird hops when he's walking!

You're using some form of collision detection that's too precise, though; the bird can actually get stuck in mid-air here:



Some gentle gradients could look nice for the background; some black clouds moving, a flickering of the light in the lamp post, leaves falling from the tree as you go through it and a gentle shaking of the branches, a couple (not too many) blinking stars in the sky... Those could add to the atmosphere.

[J. Kyle Pittman]

Very cool.  I love the silhouetted art style.  The individual non-scrolling screens, each with its own unique props, reminds me of games like Bubble Ghost.  Very interested to see where this goes.

[William Broom]

The invisible walls at the edges felt a little surprising to me. I wouldn't have minded so much if they were at the very edge instead of a little way in.

Other than that, I like it. With more details and music, it could be a very interesting... thing. It's not really a game, is it?

Suggestion for event: If you flap too frequently, the bird gets tired and falls to the ground for a moment.

Also, can you give me a general idea of how you do that lighting effect in GM? I want to do something similar for myself.

[moshboy]

Definitely pretty cool and the controls do feel just right but I do think this needs some sort of objective to make it a proper game. A flight based exploration game would be kinda cool but if you think that's too cliche, you could go for something else like an adventure or a puzzler.

[medieval]

Also, can you give me a general idea of how you do that lighting effect in GM? I want to do something similar for myself.

Very simple. I made a yellow-ish (RGB: 255, 255, 25) square with a white core, and used an alpha mask to make it look like lighting.

I also just got home, so I can get back to work again.


Also, I am still looking for a musician who can make a soundtrack, and perhaps sfx.

[undertech]

This is very atmospheric indeed. The sparse style is very pleasant. Kind of reminds me of OOTW.

The cat is too friendly. Maybe some tension?

[William Broom]

Yeah. You could steer clear of objectives but still make it possible to die...?

And thanks for the tip on lighting.

[Cagey]

Or maybe add side effect sort of objectives and remove the ability to die. By side effect objectives (maybe objectives is the wrong word... events is probably more suitable) i mean things that happen depending on where you fly/land and when. Like if you interupt a conversation at a certain time, you change the outcome.

The cat could just knock you out of the sky instead of killing you. Seems more appealing to me.

Love the style so far, but definately its definately begging for more interaction.

[medieval]

Thanks for the comments everyone, I would love to add some of those suggestions.

But see, I am.. well, I have always done relatively simple things in game maker, or tried to make it as simple as possible. But always when it would come to advanced, techy stuff I always got stuck on a random bug where I could be observing all the code for days and still not finding the problem, or a solution for that matter.

So... I don't know. I need some kind of mentor or something, I just can't seem to go in the right direction when it comes to making games.

And I am afraid to crash and burn again.


EDIT: In other words, another GM coder with a little more experience in the tricky stuff would be so helpful.

[GregWS]

Quite liked that build, and I'm not sure that a lot more detail needs to be added; maybe some (slowly) animated sprites or something.

If you haven't played it, go and download Knytt Nano now; your idea really reminds me of it, and I think it's minimal "find stuff" (not powerups) gameplay could work in your case too.  Here's the link: http://nifflas.ni2.se/forum/index.php?topic=3877.0

[acidBatterie]

love it, mmm, yes, mmm, good...wait...mmm, yeah, like it...
btw, we are your mentors

[monoRAIL]

It's like joust without lances. Or flywrench without the constant dying.
Use SFXR and make all your own sounds effects.

[medieval]

Things are progressing. Slowly, but definitely progressing.

I have ironed out most of the collision glitches (although it might look weird, and the fixes brought other collision problems), have added some clouds, stars, slopes, insects.

The issue where sometimes a pixel was cut off which made it lose all its low-res essence, is something that I can NOT fix; it's Game Maker's fault.

And architekt, that's not really my goal; What I want to do, is let the player go from point A to point B (the very right), and while doing so, you observe random things that happen.

I have music now, made by michael!


So yeah, just to inform about the progress.