Very nice and polished game :). I especially liked the small details, like the particles when you graze the floor.
I only think it takes too long to get a power-up. It took me quite a while to get one, and I only ever got the ‘feather’ (maybe I’m just bad :P). I think it would be nice if at least the time to the first power-up were shorter so one could ‘try’ more of them. It’s what makes the game unique, after all.
Thank you! What’s your average score?
At first, I made it so you could collect power-ups earlier, but then I worried it might make the game too easy. Probably not though — I’m just too well-trained
I’ve now made power-ups easier to get if you want to try it again (they appear after a random range of 10–15 pipes instead of 15–25)!
I think it’s a very well done game, but it’s too difficult right from the start.
My advice would be to reduce the size of the bird (or at least the size of the bird’s hurt box), and reduce the height that the bird goes up when you click.
Then start with bigger gaps in the pipes and reduce the size of the gaps gradually.
And maybe start the game with a heart and have power ups show up earlier.
My opinion is that a game, even an intentionally difficult one, should start very easy and then ramp up the difficulty gradually so the player can get acclimated.
Thanks for the feedback! I’ve been thinking about adding a difficulty option on the title screen.
Many friends couldn’t score at first during playtests, but once they got used to the physics, they started averaging around 50 points. That’s something I love about flappy-likes: I always joke they’re the Soulslikes of arcade games, lol.
I didn’t add progressive difficulty because the game relies on flow, and even small changes in physics can break that. A difficulty option feels like the best compromise
I’m not suggesting that the physics should change during gameplay. I suggested two separate things: 1. that the gaps between the pipes are wider at first, and as you progress you get to pipes with smaller gaps. That would give time for the player to get used to the physics before getting to more challenging gaps. And 2. that the height by which the bird goes up when you click is decreased - this would be a permanent change, with no gradual difference during gameplay.
It’s up to you, of course. I’m just giving my opinion as a player. I played several times and never got a score above 20 something, with very short runs. I would be willing to play longer but got annoyed by the difficulty, which would feel less frustrating if there was a gradual increase instead of already starting very hard. So overall the game wouldn’t need to be easier, just the beginning of it.
And remember that it’s very common for developers/level designers to underestimate how hard their game is to other people, because they are constantly testing it, so have a lot of practice and know how everything works so know exactly what to expect.
Nice job, but what @amarc said is exactly what I was thinking when I played it.
The bird jumped so much that you end up skirting the bottom as much as possible. I don’t remember the old flappy being quite like that.
Although I liked your implementation, I also felt this:
So I had a few goes, smiled at the particles on death first time it happened, but quit early because of frustration. A factor also being the tiny screen, and huge bird.
So just supporting what @amarc said, as that is exactly the experience I had too.
PS For your first game you have created a lovely piece though, great job. Well done.
@amarc@pauldrewett thank you guys, really. Yeah, I definitely underestimated the difficulty ahah. I’ve played so much that it feels almost easy to me now. But I don’t want it to be frustrating, and the idea of making it easier at first, gradually becoming more challenging, is really appealing to me at this point.
One way to implement this could be that, after passing a certain number of pipes, you “move to the next level”, and the game tells you it’s getting “harder” (possibly in different ways).
Another approach (which could also open up interesting possibilities, like semi-permanent power-ups) would be not dying instantly upon hitting a pipe, but instead losing HP. That would allow for things like slow regeneration power-ups, and other mechanics as well.
Yeah, kinda. The HP system would let me do so much more with it rather than just one extra heart, but for now I’ll stick to adjusting the difficulty (which I already did, published, and refined the code fo, so please give it a try!). I also fixed some bad tweaks I had made.
I’ll be adding tons more power-ups and maluses over the next few days, plus some nice music (though that needs a bit more time since I have to compose it, lol).
I think the earlier power-up improves it quite a bit.
I think you other changes might have made it to easy now. I got 93 at the first try now that I played it again. Before that it was more like ~20 :P. I actually liked it a little bit better before, it had more of the ‘I can do better - let’s try again’ effect. Now I feel like I’m already ‘done’ after the first run. I think making it harder if you get further might be a good idea.
But like this I was able to try some more power-ups, and they were all fun and unique (I liked the ‘on fire’ one). Again, it’s a very polished experienced, especially for a first game :).
Thank you! The biggest challenge for me now is creating a game experience that feels right for everyone. I personally like it harder, but I’m already implementing incremental difficulty!
As you progress, scrolling speeds up and pipes spawn closer. I’ll post an update when incremental difficulty goes live!
PS: Too easy now? Maybe I need a difficulty selector?
In my opinion a difficulty selector is essential for virtually every game. Sometimes people want an unchallenging ‘play’ that is easy, a turn last ages and ages, and you get to see the full scope of all the features. Then sometimes you want to play it as the author intended. And when you get good at it, you sometimes want to have a go at a really difficult challenge.
So yes, three levels is usually enough. Easy, Normal, Hard. Although sometimes four is good too, Easy, Normal, Hard, Legendary.
Usually it is just a case of changing a few variables in a game settings file, but it can be more complex to implement. But if you do it from the start it is easier to do than to retro-fix it. Also highscore tables become a bit more complex too which can be a bit of a pain.
Think of ‘easy’ as a learning and practice tool. It should not be boring, just very easy to not die. Since retro fitting this is a pain, perhaps leave it for your next game.
For now, I’ve just pushed a big update that adds the incremental difficulty @amarc@pmoosi.
After a few more playtests, I’ll see if it makes sense to add a more linear difficulty option too!
I like the new additions like the moving pipes and pipes with spikes! Now you can just fine tune the difficulty ramp (perhaps it’s a bit too much on the easy side now still) and fun features/power ups. I’d download this game on my phone if I could, for sure
Nice update (got ~200 this time). I like the way you make the game harder (the spikes and the moving pipes). As with the power-ups, I think you could introduce them earlier. I also think that the difficulty could increase more when you go on (e.g., bigger spikes/spikes on both ends, faster moving pipes, …). For me the game is the most fun when it’s challenging. As it is right now I have to ‘get through’ 50 or so pipes before it start getting more ‘interesting’. But maybe that’s just me - I have played the game already ~10 times after all, so maybe I’m already to used to it.
As for difficulty settings, I think, it depends. I don’t fully agree with @pauldrewett, that every game should have a difficulty setting. If you have difficulty settings, I think you should design them carefully. Just increasing e.g., the health of enemies, often makes the game not harder in a fun way. Instead it makes it just frustrating/boring, since it just takes longer to kill enemies. So if you have difficulty settings, usually multiple aspects have to be adapted so they all work well together and still be fun. You might even have to add content. And, depending on the game, this can be a lot of work and it might not always be feasible to implement properly.
I don’t think that for a Flappy-Bird-like a difficulty setting is required. Almost the whole point is that it is frustrating :P.
I do, however, think that it’s good when a game is accessible. Celeste e.g., has some nice accessibility features, that make it playable for a lot of people, even though it is hard (Assist Mode - Celeste Wiki).
@pmoosi
Yeah for flappy bird you are right. I did say virtually every game, not every game though.
It definitely depends. Again you are right.
I also suggested to @Moizlyc that maybe this is something to leave for his next game too.
True, it is a fast game where turns don’t last that long. Again you are right. The fun is dying quick and getting better. But too quick and too hard too fast can also just be annoying. Getting that ramp-up right to hit that fun sweet spot takes lots of play testing. And that is probably true of all games.
But you also sound like you have this game down to a tee. Personally I find flappy bird quite hard TBH. I don’t know why. It’s not like I don’t play other fast paced games. I suppose flappy bird was never really a game I played very long. I have probably played more of @Moizlyc version than the actual original
Edit: Just had 5 goes. Best score 24. OMG I am awful at this game! I did get a ghost power up though - that helped a lot
Engine: Godot 4.x
Sprites: Pixquare
Sound effects: bfxr
