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[Vallar]

Hi all,

I have been toying around with this idea of a game similar to Journey in tone but instead of controlling a character you control a bird flying through the environment. Another close example is the VR game from Ubisoft called Eagle

I have been working slowly on this game for a while now and I think I believe mechanics wise it is there. Aesthetics wise it is still prototype everywhere. Anyway, I thought I'd post here and get feedback on what I have so far.

Controls:
You use W and S for tilting up and down the bird (now looks like a plane for prototype reasons). A and D to go left and right. X will invert the axis. F to hover in place (but the camera is still fixed in hover mode). Q and E are used to control how fast you go with Q reducing speed and E is the reverse. When you dive you go up to 2x fast depending on your dive angle.

Things to be aware of:

• This is supposed to be a multiplayer game like Journey, however there are no multiplayer specific mechanics yet so you can create a room and play by yourself if you want. If you'd like to check who is playing, press the Refresh button at the top right and it will list available rooms. Click on the room to join
• This is very early. So practically not much  to do aside from flying, picking objects and watch them disappear when you hit the purple portal like objects.
• You'll see two types of objects in addition to the level. The first one is a blue-like crystal which you pick up. Has no use now, later has use. A purple like object is the second. If you collide with it, you'll freeze for 5 seconds and it will remove all your collected lights. Again, no point now, but use will come later.
• Everything is up for change, but the main direction of the game is Journey/Flower like gameplay so no action, no shooting, nothing. You control a bird in an environment kind of thing.

Feedback I am after:

• How does the flying feel? Any specific reason you're attributing to this feeling?
• Did you find any bugs? What are they?
• If I change the placeholder "level" and put in a proper world, how do you imagine this world?
• What kind of art style would you expect the game to be in?
• If this is a coop only game (no action, no killing stuff, etc...) what bonuses for playing with someone would you expect to find?
• Anything you want to add?

Recent patch notes and changes:
You can find the latest update and its log in this post.

Where to play:
You can find the game here


Thank you very much for your feedback and the time you took to play the game.

[Vallar]

Game has been updated quite a few times since I last posted and here are some update logs:

• Collision detection changed now so wings can be factored in
• Pressing F now will enter hover mode and you can't control your bird any more (previously you could but it didn't move)
• Entering hover mode (through collision or through pressing F) will trigger the hover camera -- intended behavior unlike the previous camera
• Max speed has been increased and default speed slightly decreased
• Fixed bug with you being able to go through floors
• Diving effects (particle effects + speed increase) should now trigger at a higher dive angle than it was previously

You can try the new version with the same link in the OP. Would appreciate feedback on the update if possible.

Thanks.

[Vallar]

Uploaded another update. This one is pretty short:

- Added mouse support. Now you can fly either with WASD/arrow keys or using mouse only. To toggle mouse controls, for now, press "M" and press it again to turn it off. WASD/Arrow keys are the default control. Might change it later.
- Fixed some lighting issues and increased the light bias a bit. Should slightly be better.
- Added performance tracking, if anyone is having performance issues, please let me know what they are (screenshot would probably be best to capture all info).

Thanks.

[jbarrios]

Hey Vallar.  I had a chance to play your game.  I recorded it and these are my thoughts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iqvTf4jiPs&feature=youtu.be


- The gameplay feels good.  I like the flight mechanics.

- I had a hard time judging distance of the object.  That may be because the level is all white.

- I didn't understand what the purple objects did.  It seems to just stop my bird.



All in all it's a good start.  I'm looking forward to how this game evolves.

[Vallar]

Hey Vallar.  I had a chance to play your game.  I recorded it and these are my thoughts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iqvTf4jiPs&feature=youtu.be


- The gameplay feels good.  I like the flight mechanics.

- I had a hard time judging distance of the object.  That may be because the level is all white.

- I didn't understand what the purple objects did.  It seems to just stop my bird.



All in all it's a good start.  I'm looking forward to how this game evolves.

Thanks a lot for both trying the game and recording yourself while playing it. This is so helpful. I agree with your comment about judging distance. The last month or so (ever since I released this for testing) I have come to notice that judging distance in 3D is pretty hard. 3D loses the sense of "definitiveness" that is available in 2D where there is no 3rd axis to mess with your judgement. Your comment however with the level entirely in white could possibly have something to do with it. Currently experimenting with a few things to make it easier to tell the distance between the bird (now looks like a plane) and whatever is in front of you.

The purple object is just a test mechanic, it is supposed to be some kind of location you drop the crystals you collected at. At the moment it freezes you, removes all the orbs and does nothing else. In the game it will affect the world around you.

Thanks again for trying this and hopefully in an update or two, I could fix the distance problem

[Vallar]

Posted a new update for the game and here is the update log:

• Added an options menu to the match making. It is only available during matchmaking only. You can set invert axis, using mouse or keyboard or mouse sensitivity within it.
• Removed keybindings that tied to options.
• Now you can change speed with the mouse wheel as well as Q and E
• Mouse rotation has changed and is slower now (previously you could instantly rotate up to 180 degrees).
• Fixed a bug where all dive effects appeared on all clients. Now they are local only.

[nerdi]

Unfortunately it does not appear to be available on Itch.io anymore

[Vallar]

Unfortunately it does not appear to be available on Itch.io anymore

Ah sorry about that. I forgot to update the original link when I changed the title of the game on itch.io. Should be working now.

[nerdi]

Ah, thank you for updating the link
Unfortunately I can't seem to play any of the WebGL games on this PC. Downloadable games run fine, but any time I come across a Unity WebGL game it freezes up or is super laggy. Not sure why, it only happens on this computer, but runs fine on my much lower spec Chromebook. I must be missing something on this pc

[Vallar]

Ah, thank you for updating the link
Unfortunately I can't seem to play any of the WebGL games on this PC. Downloadable games run fine, but any time I come across a Unity WebGL game it freezes up or is super laggy. Not sure why, it only happens on this computer, but runs fine on my much lower spec Chromebook. I must be missing something on this pc

Interesting. Can I ask you to share the specs and what browser are you using? I have had accounts of people not being able to run it on Chrome on Win 10 and same people on Win 10 running on Firefox just fine. Yet others say they can't run it on Firefox but can run it on Chrome (again on Win 10 and same versions).

[nerdi]

Ah, thank you for updating the link
Unfortunately I can't seem to play any of the WebGL games on this PC. Downloadable games run fine, but any time I come across a Unity WebGL game it freezes up or is super laggy. Not sure why, it only happens on this computer, but runs fine on my much lower spec Chromebook. I must be missing something on this pc

Interesting. Can I ask you to share the specs and what browser are you using? I have had accounts of people not being able to run it on Chrome on Win 10 and same people on Win 10 running on Firefox just fine. Yet others say they can't run it on Firefox but can run it on Chrome (again on Win 10 and same versions).

Ha, you nailed it!
Windows 10 Chrome, but it's not just your game. It's pretty much every single WebGL Unity game that won't run on this (or EXTREME lag), but they run flawlessly on my Chromebook using Chrome. So I don't think it's the browser, I think it's Windows 10. I'll try Firefox now

[Vallar]

I wonder if it is a problem with your VGA card? I know it only needs about 40 MB RAM maximum. It also has a cap at 200 MB so it shouldn't be intensive.

[DonnyFromGordonCity]

I had a quick go of it.

It ran well in Chrome on my first generation surface pro - Windows 8.

My first time, I didn't know what to do. I didn't fully read the notes. Then I figured out to create my own room.

Second time, I kind of got stuck on the ground and eventually hit refresh. After that, I got the hang of it.

I think a game like this would be driven heavily my the core gameplay and the overall aesthetic independent of any goals, powerups, etc. I'd be trying to determine how I can create a sense of scale and exploration.

Regarding the hover mode, I've debated with myself about birds in my own projects. Does it look off if a bird is flying in place?

Overall, I think it's a good foundation and interested to see how it develops.

[Vallar]

I had a quick go of it.

It ran well in Chrome on my first generation surface pro - Windows 8.

My first time, I didn't know what to do. I didn't fully read the notes. Then I figured out to create my own room.

Second time, I kind of got stuck on the ground and eventually hit refresh. After that, I got the hang of it.

I think a game like this would be driven heavily my the core gameplay and the overall aesthetic independent of any goals, powerups, etc. I'd be trying to determine how I can create a sense of scale and exploration.

Regarding the hover mode, I've debated with myself about birds in my own projects. Does it look off if a bird is flying in place?

Overall, I think it's a good foundation and interested to see how it develops.

Thanks for trying the game and providing feedback. Definitely helps.

Might I ask if you have uBlock running on your Chrome?

When you hit the ground you can just tilt the plane up and it will get out of the ground. At first when you collided, I'd reverse your flying direction. Not sure if the current solution (when colliding you hover and can control the plane fully still) is better. What do you think?

When you say "independent of any goals, powerups, etc.", are you perhaps referring to a completely free experience? Like just flying around exploring the world and its fauna for example? So instead of a linear level design, it is more open?

Glad to see you liked it, overall

[DonnyFromGordonCity]

No uBlock on my Chrome or any other add-ins.

I think your current approach regarding collisions is probably best. Most realistic would be to fall to the ground but that would get tedious.

I'd have to give a bit more thought about free roaming vs linear. I think there are benefits to both approaches.

One idea might be to allow to progressively to fly at higher altitude.

[Vallar]

No uBlock on my Chrome or any other add-ins.

I think your current approach regarding collisions is probably best. Most realistic would be to fall to the ground but that would get tedious.

I'd have to give a bit more thought about free roaming vs linear. I think there are benefits to both approaches.

One idea might be to allow to progressively to fly at higher altitude.

I see. Thanks for your answers. Might I ask what do you mean by "progressively to fly at higher altitude?" Like do you want the speed to be reduced as you tilt your bird up and must for example flap wings to climb up?

[Mr. Jam]

I like the idea of this game.

The flying felt good and would definitely be fun when there is more to explore and collect. The options menu is a little bit hard to read against the background, maybe you could darken the text or put a box behind it.

Just out of curiosity, do you have any plans for what the bird should do when it is flying into the ground? I just don't like how it sticks to the ground when you're flying downwards. Maybe you could make it shift to it's upright position so you could continue flying after crashing or it could transition to a resting state and stop until the player is ready to continue flying again.

It looks like a good start so far, keep up the good work.

[Vallar]

I like the idea of this game.

The flying felt good and would definitely be fun when there is more to explore and collect. The options menu is a little bit hard to read against the background, maybe you could darken the text or put a box behind it.

Just out of curiosity, do you have any plans for what the bird should do when it is flying into the ground? I just don't like how it sticks to the ground when you're flying downwards. Maybe you could make it shift to it's upright position so you could continue flying after crashing or it could transition to a resting state and stop until the player is ready to continue flying again.

It looks like a good start so far, keep up the good work.

First let me thank you for trying out the game and providing feedback. It helps immensely!

Definitely planning to flesh out the options menu and make it look much better. I am sorry the looks are off and it is hard to read, I'll fix that and release a new build ASAP.

As for hitting the ground; I have been debating about this for a very long time -- since the first version really. Basically I thought of 3 options so far:

- The one you mentioned, just reverse the direction of flight. This was in the first few builds and got changed later. It was OK, but I am not sure if everyone liked it. Some felt it was comical (as sometimes if you hit the ground in an acute angle you end up colliding between grounds until you tilt your head up).

- The second thing you mentioned; like the game Vane, when you're near the ground you auto land. Can't move around. If you hit any flying key, you just fly upwards. However multiple people expressed that this probably will get tiring and boring pretty fast (every time you hit the ground, you gotta wait for animation to be finished to land then the same till you fly again).

- What we have now, basically just stop mid flight.

My personal preference was the first one. At least it made me feel as if the bird took the reigns from me and switched direction because it didn't want to slam into an obstacle. I am leaning heavily on the first one.

What do you think? should we go back to the first one?

[Mr. Jam]

- The second thing you mentioned; like the game Vane, when you're near the ground you auto land. Can't move around. If you hit any flying key, you just fly upwards. However multiple people expressed that this probably will get tiring and boring pretty fast (every time you hit the ground, you gotta wait for animation to be finished to land then the same till you fly again).

I personally don't think the landing transition would be an issue. I like this option the best, being able to land on something feels like a thing a bird character would naturally do. Plus if it's a multiplayer game it's an additional option for players to group up together along with hovering in a cluster.

[Vallar]

I personally don't think the landing transition would be an issue. I like this option the best, being able to land on something feels like a thing a bird character would naturally do. Plus if it's a multiplayer game it's an additional option for players to group up together along with hovering in a cluster.

I guess you may have a point. I guess the current system could just stop you from rotating and allows you to levitate. Not a whole lot implement -- unfortunately until I can get a model for the bird in + animations, hard to tell in tests. Thanks for that though, I think this is what I'll do once I get the mode + animations.