FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD55 → High-Bird 2: The Summoning

High-Bird 2: The Summoning

By rolferm

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall2543.1423
Fun3302.5723
Innovation3342.5223
Theme3332.4223
Graphics1623.5423
Humor1852.7722
Mood1303.5023

Comments

framboisedodue 2024-04-15 09:53

I like the aesthetic of the game but I really couldn't manage to understand where I was supposed to go :( It lacks a bit more direction I think ?

rolferm 2024-04-15 15:18

Hi @framboisedodue, thanks for trying it out. There are some little dots that shows the way, but really I just wanted to make a walking simulator so you got like 95% of it :)

m0zrat 2024-04-15 19:03

Didn't quite get it, but nice vibes!

fnelix 2024-04-15 20:40

Cozy little walking experience! I liked the walking/beatboxing-loop and of course the bird, is he wearing a trenchcoat?

rolferm 2024-04-16 08:51

@fnelix, originally the protagonist was supposed to be a detective, so obviously trenchcoat required. But then something happened and I felt like making a forest walk simulator instead.

rpgwanderer 2024-04-16 11:02

The music and the visuals are very soothing :) It sends me back in time more than ten years ago and reminded me of Proteus :)

sharploaded 2024-04-16 17:34

I really like the visuals, but it was a bit hard to see, mostly had trees right in front of the camera. Including the laughing outtake was charming the first time, not so much the other 10 times :) Nice mood! I do feel, however, that some of that came from the music, so have to subtract a bit from the mood rating. Good job, overall!

cagibi 2024-04-16 18:50

As a fan of unshaded+fog aesthetics, looks like it was put to good use there! I managed to find the summoning circle very quickly on my first time, then I aimlessly walked for 2 minutes in a random direction. The biggest enemy is those trees blocking the view. I guess fixed camera placement can be very hard to get right on such a hilly terrain.

yellow 2024-04-17 01:56

88881222.gif Maybe next time, Jam, I can also try 3D games. The randomly generated maps are quite interesting! I've played ten rounds consecutively and finally found myself on an isolated island. Hahaha! Well done!

rolferm 2024-04-17 05:52

@rpgwanderer, thanks! Proteus was an inspiration for me!

@sharploaded, fair enough, it turns ai is good at generating ambient piano tunes, so I did spend a ridiculous small amount of time on that part. I should have spent more time on the walking sounds, but it was late.

@cagibi, Thanks for the feedback. I find mysel navigating between the trees to keep the camera clear. I should just have increased the near component of my perspective matrix.. oh well... :smile:

@yellow, Thanks for playing! You definitely should, it's not as hard as it sounds. This time I wrote my own 3D code, but previously I had some very good experiences with Three.js. My terrain generator has a problem where it might place either you or the mountain in the middle of the sea. Sorry about that! :sweat_smile:

denvil 2024-04-17 18:38

I did not really get what your suppose to do as the game was in warp speed. little click and you were on other side of the map (at least it felt like that).

rolferm 2024-04-17 19:40

@denvil, this is something I saw on Mac Pro with a 120 hz screen on google chrome. Maybe you could try a different browser? I tried to fix it, but I cannot test it myself.

denvil 2024-04-17 19:48

@rolferm Gave it a another try by dropping screen from 240Hz to 60Hz. This fixed the speed. Now it was playable :thumbsup:

magnusfurcifer 2024-04-18 02:44

I found the mountain a few times then go teleported to an island that I couldn't get off of :D I liked the diegetic guidance that you added with the little whisps, that was a nice touch and visually the game looks pretty!

burnedkirby 2024-04-22 08:36

This game has a relaxing vibe to it, thanks to the music and fog. Funny easter-egg with the audio there, but the pitter-patter-voiced sfx is a little harsh on the ears sometimes. A little difficult to navigate and to view the world, but once I figured out the wisps, it was just a matter of time to find the destination. Good work!

linus-lindberg 2024-04-26 14:36

Nice little game, I love the art style it's very cozy. I player four levels before stopping (is there an ending?). Sound design is very nice too. I really wish I could walk diagonally, but that might have been an artistic choice. Well done!

joeshanahan 2024-04-27 14:31

I love the aesthetic of this, and the whole vibe is really nice and chill. Unfortunately, I think the way procedural generation has been used here has only contributed negatively, making an endless world where you can walk for five minutes and everything around looks exactly as it did when you started. Procedural generation is at its best when it can provide variety, but here it's just infinite amounts of sameness. That doesn't make an enjoyable experience to walk around in, and I couldn't tell while following the breadcrumbs if I was following them forwards or backwards, so had to give up eventually.

I think this art style and even the gameplay, would work a lot better with a handcrafted world. Even if there was just a single level, it would be better than having multiple that felt like they had no-one hand crafting it to be an interesting experience.

joeshanahan 2024-04-27 20:25

I uploaded my playthrough to YouTube, I hope it's useful to you in some way!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc_7N6a2p5g

ajpl 2024-04-27 21:10

Fun little walking game. Note to self - people tend to not read instructions - took me some time before i noticed the "wisps" - but only after restarting and randomly founding the first mountain :sweat_smile: Walking sound was top notch, and including whole, uncut version added a lot to positive humorous vibes :smile:

fupi 2024-04-28 01:52

Super pretty game! Would be better if the camera was a bit farther away, or lower down, so that the trees didn't constantly clip into it. The walking sound is amazing and i'm glad you included it uncut xD The wisps kinda looked like they were everywhere, and not leading to any path, took me a while to figure out that I actually needed to go where the wisps were "pointing" with their 2 square end instead of following them like a trail x) Eventually i managed to find a mountain and I'm glad I did cus the animation and sounds of the ritual are also very funny. I like this game! Feels very homemade and cozy.

neontropics 2024-04-29 21:35

Nice graphics and mood in this game!

I like the walking simulator thing it has going. The walking speed is a bit fast and it's a bit hard to see where you're going - I think halving the speed would be nice. It also seems like the walking speed isn't really affected by elevation, it'd probably be more satisfying to just walk around if it was quicker going down hills than up them.

I also didn't find the mountain until I read the comments as I initially followed the dots as a trail, but thankfully the mountain was super close when I restarted and came back to it.

myse 2024-05-04 00:11

Super cute visually, but a little confusing since I saw wisps all around me and couldn't really understand where to go :( I got to a summoning circle though but I got yeeted from there immediately