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One Hell of a Bird's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Narrative | #3896 | 2.333 | 2.333 |
| Artwork | #4948 | 2.758 | 2.758 |
| Creativity | #5357 | 2.909 | 2.909 |
| Audio | #5468 | 2.394 | 2.394 |
| Enjoyment | #5835 | 2.424 | 2.424 |
Ranked from 33 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
The game features you in a constant one-minute death loop, and in its endgame, makes you loop a repetitive task.
(Optional) Please credit all assets you've used
Credits are featured in the game itself; I did everything but the sound effects, which were all sourced from freesound.org.
(Optional) What would you like to be called if GMTK features your game?
SoftServeDemo and Abigail are both fine options.
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Comments
Good work. Had fun. Maybe the music is a bit weird.
Thank you! I'm not much of a musician, ahaha... I didn't want to do something royalty free, though, so I toughed it out.
wasn't sure what i was supposed to do
Understandable! I could have maybe included a few more signposts. There are items for you to find while exploring around a dungeon, and an exit that requires 3/4 of the items to get through.
Cool metroidvania styled game, I was quite excited to hunt down the items however I found the respawn mechanic to be a little bit unintuitive. There's a lot of punishment for exploring and trying new things. If I've managed to gather some upgrades and then I think "I can probably make this jump now" and I screw it up, having to restart from scratch hurts. I understand though that your looping mechanic relies on the return to the bird cage to remain alive and stash the items for the future. Often though I'd die to other threats before my health would drain enough to be an issue and that was a hard restart.
The movement felt smooth though! And jumping around, especially the triple jump, felt like it gave enough air control that you could do a lot with it. I also love a good set of hidden breakable walls slightly out of the way and the desire to explore far enough to see what's beyond them. Nice work!
Thank you for the kind words! I tried to make the hazards relatively sparse and lenient, but alas- game jam lack of playtesting will be game jam lack of playtesting. I'm glad you enjoyed regardless!
I wasn't expecting a metroidvania and it was really entertaining! The use of the theme was creative, but losing all of the progress if I couldn't make it back in time was a bit frustating, especially because the map is big and I wanted to explore it at my own pace.
Overall I enjoyed the game and had a fun time! Great job!
Thank you! Needing to be careful with exploration was an intended part of the game, but I can definitely understand wishing you could take it at your own pace.
That's a super cute jump animation if I saw one! Also appreciating effort put into level design. But the difficulty is brutal xD I don't feel like I can get anything more than the runes.
Thank you for the kind words! And very fair- the risk with making a toughie is that some people can't or won't want to beat it. I hope you enjoyed regardless!
Very true, and the risk is even greater on the jam with limited time. I think to craft an experience that gets more players into the zone and motivated to keep replaying takes time. And artistic polish can help a lot. On the other hand, this type of 'start from the beggining' challenge is reminiscent of oldschool games. And certainly some people are more receptive to challenges to begin with.
Really cute game! Absolutely love the rotating animation
Thank you! Doing the art in this game was a weird time, but if nothing else, I am really happy with the jump. It's so silly.
I really like the concept of a time limited metroidvania game, but I think starting the player over from the very beginning upon dying is quite brutal, especially since the player doesn't know what's coming up ahead. I think keeping items even after death outside the birdcage would make this a more pleasant play. But aside from that, very cool and fun game, I really like the spinning when the player jumps lol
Thank you for the kind words. I understand the brutality of starting from scratch, but the game isn't ultimately that long and I believe knowing what's up ahead is half the battle, so recollecting your items after a death shouldn't be too bad. Perhaps you have a point, though.
Nice take on the time limited exploration theme, a bit unforgiving, but short enough to still be enjoyable. Except the diamond wall, that was rather too repetitive.
Diamond wall definitely was repetitive, yeah. If I could go back I'd do it again in the exact same way anyway. Make it so you could only hit one slice at a time, if anything. Thank you for the kind words.
I see potential in the concept and the three flaps and screen transitions are pretty nice, but some of the traps seem very unfair and it's quite annoying to have to walk all the way back when you die every time. Keep it up though!
Thank you! Duly noted on the traps, though I'd hoped that the speed of the character would help mitigate any major frustrations.
I enjoyed the exploration aspect and trying to bring things back to the birdcage-- and remembering how I had come. A mini-map might come in handy, but I'm guessing that the aesthetic of the game was to be a bit brutal and have you rely on memory. A very clever and fun little platformer!
Thank you!!! And you're right on the money- you're supposed to have to take the time to explore and figure out where you'll need to rush to. Maybe there'd be value in an unlockable minimap if it were bigger, though...
I enjoyed the speed-runner feel to the game as well as the main idea. Sometimes my multiple jumps just wouldn't work while I was playing. Well done on making a game for the jam!!!
Huh! Weird! First I'm hearing about the jumps not working- could be that you're hitting the spacebar too quick? Probably my bad for not including a slight delay or something- either way, thank you for the kind words!
Yeah could be after it stopped working I slowed down my jump speed and it was still only one jump. Players always find a way to break a solid mechanic 😭 Sidenote: The bird sprite is so cute!!
A nice platformer! I was confused after leaving the cage area. There is no clear objective or path to follow, so you might look to limit the map. Overall a nice game for the jam!
Thank you! Exploration is very much intended to be a part of the game. Any paths you could take will lead you to something one way or another- it's all about using the time you have to figure out where you need to go and then doing it in the next loop. Maybe I could have included at least a little signage, though. Either way, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
it really a good game I like it !
If possible, can you please vote my game and leave a comment too.
This is a really fun Metroidvania! One suggestion though: Maybe the countdown mechanic could be tied closer to core gameplay? It has potential to feel more unique.
Thank you! I don't intend to work further on it, but I'm nevertheless interested in what you mean. The idea with the countdown was for the player to go out exploring in minute-sized chunks to learn the map and where they have to go- though if I had the time, that probably could've been improved by a larger, more elaborate map.
Great game! Had a fun time progressing through the dungeon. I like how the loop was incorporated!
Thank you dearly!
I like the metroidvania style you're going for and it's really fun to race back to the cage with limited time. The spinny jump animation is also really funny. My one complaint is that there's no checkpoints so one misstep leads to restarting the entire game. But besides that, I really like it.
Thank you! The lack of checkpoints was a very conscious decision- it's a bit brutal, but I think it adds more than it retracts.