Thanks so much Drelbs!! Currently working on some things you can only see in-game hehe, nevertheless I finished and pelican and seagull variation, I'll be posting those later on today
I love the 'VR' modes in the new version. Hard to use in the pub of course, you look like you're taking a photo, but great if you're sitting in a swivel chair.
That's a great idea! yeah the 'VR' is pretty cool and definitely experimental I bet people started posing in front of you while you used it, hehe
Thanks a lot TrueBlou! Means alot, some animal takes quite a while (depending on the size) The finished product should have around 10-12 different biomes and ALOT MORE ANIMALS, been working on animals none stop , specifically animations.
I'm back from my road trip and the Radius Festival in Vienna. The festival was really cool, I met a lot of cool devs, and Fugl got a lot of attention and attracted a lot of players. It was very interesting to see how people took to it, I think the controls work pretty good now, most were flying pretty good after a few tries. Even the people who didn't play that well, thought it was very interesting and nobody was very concerned with the lack of proper gameplay. I think Fugl has the potential to be something really special, and I can't wait to get back to the programming. I was also on the live show they streamed on twitch, I will post a link when they upload it to youtube. I just want to remind people that I want to move all testers over to Testflight as it's a much better tool for me, as I can see who has installed each version on what devices. I also would love more testers: [email protected].
Some first impressions: I briefly struggled with the controls quite badly, crashing a whole lot. It's immediately a cool experience though, which was more than enough to persevere and fully engage. A few minutes in, controls are totally fine and more than that - very enjoyable. I can do a few laps of the canyons, and started attempting to fly through tiny caves (only survived a couple, but it was fun). The overall experience is fantastic. It has a really lovely sense of freedom and once I got used to the controls it's a joy to glide around. I like the graphics. I'm not much of a voxel enthusiast (not anti-voxels, either), but I always appreciate good use of color and a nicely constructed space, no matter what the art style. Fugl definitely has that. It's beautiful to look at and really nice in motion. As for ideas: Immediately I thought there should be an introductory zone where people can get a feel for movement very safely, and then let them advance as they're ready. It's so satisfying once the controls sink in, but practicing is currently quite a chaotic experience. I also had a few mechanic-ideas while playing it, maybe things that could be experimented with.. First I thought there could be a distinction between rocks and foliage. The difference could be that foliage deflects you, and only rocks kill you. This could give you a lot of level design control where a long canyon-run could be given varying levels of danger by placing shrubs or leafy outcrops on rock walls - and the canyon could often be quite narrow (IMO this feels more fun sometimes) but without a majority of people instantly crashing (as much). Perhaps hitting leaves frequently in a short space of time would have to cause increasing disorientation so you'd eventually crash anyway. If done right - say the deflections were "aimed forward" and sort of assisted in prolonging a fun flight, You could really build a lot of close encounters and close fly-bys that aren't as likely to be an instant end-of-run event, which also leaves you freer to introduce other compelling kinds of adversities or challenges if you have anything like that in mind. I'll have a think on gameplay (goals etc) and see if anything comes to mind. I kinda like the idea of just pure exploration and taking in areal views to locate specific things, maybe a specific tree, something a bird would naturally be very good at. It could even just be sorta like Journey - but instead of a mountain, you're always looking for this one next tree, through all the different biomes, until you find.... the thing. Thanks for letting me test it. It's great and can't wait to see how it evolves.
Happy you liked it, it's all about the flying! We have been wrestling our heads with ideas for a tutorial, but have drawn blanks for now. The final structure of the levels (biomes) will have a progression from very easy to hard, so I think that is enough. I'm thinking of making a short tutorial video with on-screen thumbs to explain the controls, I think that might work best. I have been dabbling with this idea of a introductory/tutorial zone, one idea is a virtual space with grids so you can see where you are flying, but nothing to crash into it. It seems a bit abstract though. The other idea was a giant tree wih a big nest, a more "natural approach", where you would have to successfully navigate your way down to a goal. But it feels a bit gimmicky. I don't know if any of these ideas click with you, or you think a video will suffice? I agree that it should be a distinction between rock and foilage. I want to try to solve it by removing foilage blocks and adding particle effects, so you will get this very nice feeling of crashing though the foilage. I could also make the foilage passable and just add particle effects when passing though. It might be better. A small defelction is worth a try as I agree there should be some penalty for going trough foilage, maybe also a speed reduction. Anyways, good catch, it needs some work, that's for sure! The main game will be a journey that progresses from easy to hard environments, with a lot of enviromental hazards, like wind, whirlwinds, falling boulders, lava, etc. There will be two modes, one story mode and a free roam, where you can fly freely in the environments you have unlocked in story mode. I really want the game to be about flying and mastery of the controls, nothing more, but we're planning to put in some special, rare, collectibles in living form (not so say to much, hehe), but their function has not been determined yet... Sure, thanks for your very detailed feedback and ideas, much appreaciated!
My personal preference over videos is a series of interactive things to practice or a space where you can get a feel for manoeuvrability. Part of the problem to solve is the information of what the controls are, but then the extended player-intro has to cover an opportunity to practice with that info. In Hyperburner I start the player in the "holosim" but turn crashing off, instead just flashing the screen red and resetting the "avoid collision for X seconds" timer. I felt it would give players as much time as they needed to master the steering without the jarring experience of the rapid crash/reset loop. I don't think a holographic grid world would be right for Fugl though (just my personal thoughts), because I think it would be better to hold onto the beauty of the free bird experience - especially as the first experience. I was thinking there might be a way to accommodate it in a more open space within the game's world. Maybe you could be very high in the sky, practicing how to weave through clouds. When the player is ready to begin the game, the bird simply dives into the beginning area.
I got two jellyfish at the beach today. Do these models mean that the Fugl bird will be able to dive under water?
I think it's a great idea to use clouds, as they have a defined geometry, but are non-leathal. I'll surely try it out, it coudl be the first biome.
