The Curious Incident of the Bird and the Fish by coyyonce

[raw]
made by coyyonce for LD30 (JAM)
The Story
Once upon a time, a bird and a fish happened to see each other from their respective worlds of the sky and the sea. The bird was immediately jealous of the fish, who did not have to deal with the sun's heat. The fish was also jealous, for he could not go above the edge of the water and into the sky.

Each one secretly hoping to be like the other, they stayed near each other to see if they could learn to be like the other.

However, sometimes friendships can product terrible consequences...

How to Play
This game can either be played with one player or two players. If playing with two players, one player can use the WASD keys and the other can use the up, down, right, and left arrow keys. It is also possible to play alone, thought it can be rather difficult.

Credits
Coy Yonce, Mantis Digital Arts, Programming and Design
Scott Meier, Mantis Digital Arts, Additional Art Assets and Design

Kerri Coombs, Living Midnight Design - http://opengameart.org/content/sprites-from-porcupop

http://open.commonly.cc

http://opengameart.org/content/fish-pack

Heather Lee Harvey - EmeraldActivities.com & http://opengameart.org/users/emerald

Zander Noriega - http://opengameart.org/content/dragged-through-hellfire

http://opengameart.org/content/creature-sprites

http://untamed.wild-refuge.net/rmxpresources.php?characters

"Puzzle Game 2" by Eric Matyas Soundimage.org - http://opengameart.org/content/puzzle-game-2

Ratings

Coolness 47% 1319
Overall(Jam) 2.74 672
Audio(Jam) 3.00 401
Fun(Jam) 2.72 560
Graphics(Jam) 2.64 652
Humor(Jam) 3.14 146
Innovation(Jam) 3.00 393
Mood(Jam) 2.67 596
Theme(Jam) 3.23 351

Feedback

AlbertoSM
26. Aug 2014 · 00:51 UTC
Well it's kinda hard to notice when something is good or bad in this game. I could understand that the jellyfish should be bad, but a balloon doesn't look threatening :/ So the tone of the game is confusing. Good narrative tho.
modwizcode
26. Aug 2014 · 04:26 UTC
This was hilarious, I like what happens when you .... Completely unexpected, but GREAT!
Lord bobyness
26. Aug 2014 · 04:27 UTC
Good background story, but I didn't like the game itself, it just felt really random. The fish and bird collide and now i'm a snake thing in hell? I came intrigued by the story(it fit the theme and was elegant in it's own way) but left confused(the interactions ranged from counter intuitive to just strange, take the balloon/jellyfish example from AlbertoSM).
Shmackson
26. Aug 2014 · 04:41 UTC
I like the challenge of controlling two character at once, pretty unique.
Lacaranian
26. Aug 2014 · 04:42 UTC
Ha! The collision. Didn't see it coming.
LTyrosine
26. Aug 2014 · 04:44 UTC
Amazing idea, Amazing music, nice graphics, but the game itself requires more work. Proper collision handling and slower gameplay should turn this into a much better entry.
vulpineblazeyt
26. Aug 2014 · 04:45 UTC
I liked the graphics and the overall feel of the game, and I found it a little challenging. I wish I'd have thought of adding music to mine!
🎤 coyyonce
26. Aug 2014 · 05:04 UTC
@vulpineblazeyt - Thanks! I appreciate the comments. Glad to see that it was a bit challenging.
🎤 coyyonce
26. Aug 2014 · 05:04 UTC
@LTyrosine - Thank you! Really happy to have that feedback. I agree on the collision handling and slower gameplay. Will be working that for the next iteration of the game.
🎤 coyyonce
26. Aug 2014 · 05:05 UTC
@Shmackson - Thanks. It was a cool idea, but took some interesting code to make it happen correctly. There's still some issues to work out.
🎤 coyyonce
26. Aug 2014 · 05:05 UTC
@Lacaranian - Haha! Yea, I love it.
🎤 coyyonce
26. Aug 2014 · 05:06 UTC
@Lord bobyness - Thanks for the feedback. I do agree with you regarding the story versus the actual gameplay. We intend to keep working on this one to get that connection a bit closer and to ensure it's cohesive. Thanks again!
🎤 coyyonce
26. Aug 2014 · 05:07 UTC
@modwizcode - Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
🎤 coyyonce
26. Aug 2014 · 05:07 UTC
@AlbertoSM - Thanks for the comments. I agree with you as well. We definitely need a bit more of a connection between the story and what actually happens in the game.
zdonkeyx
26. Aug 2014 · 05:15 UTC
LOL the hell part caught me by surprise. Extra points for humor!
🎤 coyyonce
26. Aug 2014 · 05:18 UTC
@zdonkeyx - Thanks! That's what we were going for. Happy that you found it and enjoyed it.
PeteGrammarman
26. Aug 2014 · 05:23 UTC
Since when are balloons a bad thing!? I LOVE BALLOONS. Anyway, the game was hard to control due to the lack of friction/stopping, but I could see that as part of the challenge. Also the fact that you can lose one of the characters as the camera follows the other is a problem. I did love the art and concept though.
🎤 coyyonce
26. Aug 2014 · 05:34 UTC
@PeteGrammarman - Agreed. A better choice of obstacles is probably in order. I also agree on the camera. We'll be working on improving both the obstacles and the camera following for an updated version. Glad you enjoyed the art and the idea!
stephenhaney
26. Aug 2014 · 05:36 UTC
Pretty entertaining. Some odd tone, as others have mentioned. Some art assets feel higher quality than others. I was playing alone, so it was definitely difficult, but that's to be expected.

I was certainly entertained! I love the change of pace of the secret ;) Also, the story is a really good spin on the theme.
🎤 coyyonce
26. Aug 2014 · 05:40 UTC
@stephenhaney - Thanks! I think for future versions we may change the secret a bit so it ties into the story a bit better - along with removing some of the odd obstacles. I appreciate the feedback!
elkiwydev
26. Aug 2014 · 09:49 UTC
I don't get it.. The first part is so buggy for me.. The fish keep looping the jump animation without ending it and the bird die randomly..
🎤 coyyonce
26. Aug 2014 · 14:04 UTC
@elkiwydev - Thanks for the feedback. As the one who created the game, it's hard to realize that the controls can be difficult as I've played it so often. We definitely need to tweak the jump animation. I think that the bird dying randomly is a matter of the colliders on the objects in the air being too big. We'll get that fixed.
IAmSpencer
26. Aug 2014 · 20:43 UTC
I liked the idea of it, also the 'hell' part was freaking crazy, lol, good job
🎤 coyyonce
26. Aug 2014 · 20:58 UTC
@IAmSpencer - Thanks! We're happy that you enjoyed playing through it.
TeamQuadratic
29. Aug 2014 · 01:26 UTC
Difficult when played along, but seems like an interesting idea.