So my friend today randomly said "hey try this new game beta I got" and it was Fugl, which I only discovered through this thread a day ago! So I got to play it and after a bit of a learning curve (he had the speed set to high) I got the hang of it and it was amazing! Emailing you now...
I've got one idea for the app icon, you could put the title screen logo on it, maybe even with a picture of the first biome behind it. Just my opinion though. EDIT: I was looking back at some of the previous pages and wanted to know if those other bird models will be in the final version.
Glad he's liking it, he just got it. I never got any mail from you. Did you send it to [email protected]?
I think we'll like to try to keep the icon a bit clean, but it's not finalized yet, so it's good with input... Don't you like the current one? I hope to have different birds, but it's not top priority at the moment...
Hey there! I'm back from some exams, so now I have some time to give feedback again. Glad to see that you have some reliable regulars though. The game deserves them! Just downloaded and tried out the new build and OH BOY, what sound does for a game! The whole world is so much more alive, when you can hear eagles screaming, fish splashing and the wind howling. The sounds obviously still need a lot of tweaking (the crash sound is, ummmm, quite pronounced), but flying around in this beautiful landscape just got at least double as good. The different types of fog are amazing. The cave biome went straight from being my least favorite to being the one with the most personality. I agree with whoever I saw comment that it would be nice with some of them green crystals/mushrooms again. I know I spoke against them earlier, but I think the addition of the other colors of mushrooms solves the problem. Oh, and did I spot a lizard in there somewhere? Hadn't seen those before! The flying has gotten better than ever, which is an impressive feat considering the already high starting point. I actually like turning the speed up to max. It's unusable in the caves, but wonderful for canyon gliding. I appreciate that you turned down the default sensitivity, I think it'll make it easier for beginners. It's fun to collect the collectibles, but they seem a tad too gamey for me. I think it's mainly the fact that they're floating and spinning, that makes them scream "this is a game" at me. Which is fine for some things, because no one who has ever played Mario will mistake them for anything else than collectibles (except for the fact that they're birds), but I think it subtracts from the natural theme that the game has. Maybe if they were something attached to the ground that it would somehow make sense flying through or into? Like a pile of leaves that gets blown into the air, or withered branches hanging down from cliffs that break when you fly into them. Or something more outlandish, just less gamey. Also, it seems like they pile up in groups with large spaces in between the groups: I wanted to comment on this earlier but forgot. I think the small width of the biomes makes them feel a bit too similar, and kind of restricts your freedom because you only see new stuff in one direction. So I strongly support a 512 voxel width if it's feasible with the engine. I don't know about the length, but I feel like the biomes could partly benefit from being a bit shorter. I think you are stuck in one biome for just a tad too long right now, especially if you don't much care for one of them. But half length seems way too short, especially when you're going max speed. One thing that could add a stronger feeling of variation would be if the biomes changed slightly after the first half of the biome. Like if there were suddenly a color of trees that wasn't there before, or a different color crystal, or a different type of rock, or it started snowing in the second half of the ice biome (Okay, I know that one isn't a small thing). It would make it less likely for people to tire of a biome I think. Btw, it just crashed on me. I switched to the game on my phone, started flying, flew with max speed into a wall in the grassy biome, and a second after the impact, it crashed. Thought I'd let you know Nice list. Have you considered having some biomes with some man-made structures in them, like ruins? It could be cool to have something similar to how Flower blends the human world and nature with windmills and electrical towers. Did you move the camera back a bit? I like it! I thought the bird took up a bit too much space as it was before. You're quite productive! This was a nice batch of updates to return to
Private alpha is closed! The private alpha is closed for now, as I have no more udid slots. I will submit the next version to Apple and use Testflight from now on (for new testers). So there is still possible to test the game for new testers, but the iteration time for them will be much slower (as Apple needs to review each major update). The testing though the website will of course continue like always, I just can't take on any new testers this way.
It's good with feedback on the icon! I like it too, it's pretty simple and stylish. We might tweek the colors a bit, but I'm think we're pretty much settled on the motif.
Ok, had a chance to sit down and play it a bit more tonight. Overall I think the flying/exploration is really, really solid, so job well done on that. I used and preferred the default controls. My first thought when seeing the game was that tilt controls would be best, but I tried it and wasn't a big fan. Played for maybe a half hour or so tonight? Found a number of different biomes including caves and ice world. Noticed the little bird tokens you could pick up and could only figure out that they make you fly faster for a bit--maybe they do something more that I'm missing. As far as feedback, here are the main things: -Wish the trees had no collision, or at least not for the leafy parts. Want to be able to fly really low through the trees/forests! -In general, I want it to be possible to recover from crashing/nicking a corner. Obviously if it's a head on collision there should be no chance, but when you graze something it'd be nice to keep the flight model/controls in tact for if the impact force is under a certain threshold so that I can recover from it. -Not a huge fan of returning to the menu every time I crash. I understand why you do it, but it just feels like it could be streamlined a bit. Right now you crash, tap the screen to bring up the menu, then tap again to start flying again. Would be nice if it was a single tap and you didn't show the menu (maybe have a tiny menu button temporarily pop up in corner). I guess then you'd lose the panning mode where you can pick when you want to start flying again. -Not sure what further plans you have for the art, but I feel like maybe the color palettes could be better/more interesting to make it stand out? Feel like it needs to differentiate itself from Minecraft/et al a bit more in the colors (and maybe env/post fx)?
Thanks, and sorry for the late reply, been digged in with the latest update. It was just an experiment, they're gone in the lastest version. Yes, it might seem unfair at times, but not checking for collision at the trees will introduce a lot of nasty clipping. I'm not sure I won't it, but I could try it out to see how it feels... Yes, I agree, but it's hard to implement with the current setup. I'll give it a shot though! It could be an option for sure to disable that. Hmm.. All the coloring is work in progress, but can you be a bit more specific here? How does it feel like Minecraft, I don't understand?
0.7.0 is out! Ok, it was much more work than anticipated, but the update is ready. New stuff: 1) Double width worlds (and half length). 2) New biome: Tropical islands. 3) Reworked all biomes to fit the new width and refined them. 4) New animals: Dolphin, rockfish, catfish, deer, bambie, monkey, pelican and orca. 5) Reduced memory requirements 6) Removed the spinning logos that you could pick up 7) Reduced speed overall 8) Reduced soaring length a tiny bit As always, looking forward to your impressions!
New update is great, bird really feels weighted and you can nearly feel the bird being pushed around by the wind, also really like the new biome. Would like to see the collectables back, but maybe in a different form, like a plant or fruit that you can swoop down and eat, I also thought the boost effect was really nice, maybe the effect could be implemented to start when you go into a dive or something. Keep up the great work.
I just closed the open alpha as I don't have any UDID slots left, but I will continue testing though testflight. Send me an email at [email protected], and I'll keep you posted!
Thanks, Yes, all the good things about the collectibles are coming back, I promise! Good ideas with plants/fruits! The I just couldn't have the speed boost with the current set-up as the engine couldn't keep up with the tesselation, but I realize the new width is not going to work out very well. There is just too many performance issues (especially on the iPhone), so I'm switching back. I'm super commited to a rock steady 60 fps and a mix between going really slow and really fast!
loving the 0.7! The tropical islands is my most relaxing biome now, and it has a perfect "prepare for summer" mood! Astonishing dolphins leaping out of the water Want to have a drink in hand, lie on a stretcher and play The bird does feel slower, but nothing i can't get used to!
I made a little pause playing this gem due to "too many updates" incredible work you're performing. Just a minute ago i dove down into these beautiful and challenging caves of pandorra...wow!
