The Endangered Death Falcon by dingotime

[raw]
made by dingotime for LD33 (COMPO)
The Endangered Death Falcon

Controls:
You need to feed you nestlings. Fly down, grab cars and people, and then drop them on your nest.
A and D to aim your falcon
W to flap its wings
Mouse to aim and grab with its talons (hold mouse to hold onto prey)
Space bar to do a quick turn

Tips:
It's probably easier with a mouse than a trackpad (for aiming your talon).
Your falcon has limited stamina so you can't just flap your wings constantly - you'll need to glide whenever possible.
Picking up people is harder than picking up cars, but your nestlings like them better.
If you play in full screen, choose your native resolution (otherwise there is a mouse aiming bug in Unity).

Story:
When humanity colonized the planet Falco IV, they hunted the death falcon to near extinction. Fortunately, laws have been enacted - protecting the death falcon and forbidding anyone from interfering with its natural feeding behaviours.

Tools:
Unity 5
Puppet2D Unity (for 2D skeletal)
TextMeshPRO Unity (for fonts)
Photoshop + cheap Monoprice tablet
Sound effects recorded with Blue Snowball, edited in Audacity
Music played on tin flute

Ratings

Coolness 71% 3
Overall 3.53 189
Audio 3.33 189
Fun 3.42 204
Graphics 3.33 333
Humor 2.97 344
Innovation 3.74 83
Mood 3.38 211
Theme 3.35 500

Feedback

wavertron
24. Aug 2015 · 07:02 UTC
Wow, that was great. Took a while to master the flying and being mindful of the talons, but that was really neat. Towards the end I was swooping down without flapping, scooping up a car and that had a nice graceful feel to it. Yeah its needs some refinement, but for 48 hours Compo, awesome work. And the music was gravy, really set the mood.
SvenFrankson
24. Aug 2015 · 07:05 UTC
Nice one ! Now trying to get the music out of my head.
IndigoWolf
24. Aug 2015 · 07:10 UTC
Good, solid entry, enjoy it alot :)
namrog84
24. Aug 2015 · 07:12 UTC
That really was great and fun
guoboism
24. Aug 2015 · 07:18 UTC
The flute BGM really gives the feeling of sadness of a near-extinction race...Personally pick
Tuism
24. Aug 2015 · 07:20 UTC
I really enjoyed the flying mechanic, it feels pretty good to master the flying and swooping, though something about it is a bit under-tuned... But that's okay, it's great for 48 hours!

The music fit the eagle thing well too :)

It was just a bit strange that you can pick up a car easier than people :P

Good work :)
peterthehe
24. Aug 2015 · 08:02 UTC
Nice flight physics. The music is so catchy it's unreal. DUH DUH DUUH DUH DUH DUHHHHHHHHHHH DUH DUH DUUH DUH DUH DUHH
GeeItSomeLaldy
24. Aug 2015 · 08:04 UTC
Took a bit of getting used to the flight controls but was quite fun when you got the hang of it.

Couldn't play for too long though, the music is just nasty D:
jk5000
24. Aug 2015 · 08:13 UTC
Both the graphics and the music is great. But to me it is too difficult to control of the flying.
Mizipzor
24. Aug 2015 · 09:11 UTC
An interesting idea with a similar (but better) control scheme than what I did. The handpainted vector graphics looked cool, I especially liked the animation of the bird. The gameplay is challenging but rewarding, though it's easy to abuse the ground by landing softly and recharge stamina. The music doesn't seem to fit and I cant figure out how the theme applies here (at all). All in all, very good.
qkerguelen
24. Aug 2015 · 16:01 UTC
Controlling the falcon was realling challenging, it reminded me of QWOP, so it was quite fun.
highlyinteractive
24. Aug 2015 · 17:28 UTC
I don't think the new laws will help! Glad I'm not a death falcon

Great game & really innovative concept. Lovely music too!
uvwar
24. Aug 2015 · 17:33 UTC
Awesome! The flying mechanics were really grating on me at on point but I eventually figured out how to be a little more efficient with my flaps. Might be interesting to have people with umbrellas or using lightpoles etc to 'hook' yourself on things as you skim by instead of having to pinpoint close your talons on a person.
kidando
24. Aug 2015 · 17:58 UTC
hahaha. This was pretty intersting. Your background music was really nice. did you compose it yourself? I think the game rocks and has potetial to be massive. It reminded me of QWOP. Congrats on submitting your game!!!
gene-z
24. Aug 2015 · 18:20 UTC
Good work, Nice gameplay, great idea
teknic
24. Aug 2015 · 18:23 UTC
playable. the talon control is interesting, if awkward.
Darkhaul
24. Aug 2015 · 18:29 UTC
Wow, that was really good! Its a great idea I'd love to see it go further the gameplay felt really good apart from the quick turing, that could maybe use a little work but overall its awesome
Thalikoth
24. Aug 2015 · 18:40 UTC
A bit hard to control at first, but very fun.
peterkirk
24. Aug 2015 · 18:41 UTC
I found it hard to control and kept slamming into the ground. Maybe go a bit easier with the stamina.
I felt the music really set the mood.
🎤 dingotime
24. Aug 2015 · 18:44 UTC
Thanks for comments! I agree that controls could be better - I got them "good enough" and went on with the rest of game. Once you get used to them they aren't too bad, it's kind of fun to glide around, managing wing flaps, I think. If I worked on it more, the first thing I would try changing would be to eliminate the mouse aim talon grab (things too small/moving too fast for it work well).

@Mizipzor Theme applies because you are a giant bird who eats people... I didn't go any deeper than that ("the monster" vs. "a monster")
@kidando Yes, I did music myself. I recorded myself playing tin whistle for 10 minutes, cut out the worst 98% of it and added reverb.
conormn
24. Aug 2015 · 22:37 UTC
Brilliant game all around!!!
fullmontis
25. Aug 2015 · 12:32 UTC
I really really like the controls in this. They feel quite realistic, especially how the bird takes speed when floating. they are hard to control but they are not too hard to get used to. Very well designed.
Zccc
26. Aug 2015 · 15:20 UTC
This is my highest voted game until now. It's just so beautiful! The controls were great, I really felt the freedom of movement like a predator bird, and the wind carrying me under my wings. And the flute joining it was great. Congratulations on the great game!
Zccc
26. Aug 2015 · 15:22 UTC
For some reason I can't visit your profile page, I really need to bookmark you :)
🎤 dingotime
26. Aug 2015 · 18:00 UTC
@Zccc Thanks, I fixed my profile page (I had never made a post on the main page of Ludum Dare - I made a new post about my game, and that seemed to force my profile page into existence)
architect404
26. Aug 2015 · 18:27 UTC
fun stuff! not easy to control at first, but the swooping death runs are very satisfying when you succeed! charming graphics and cute bird noises. great work!
K.Chplr
26. Aug 2015 · 18:29 UTC
The game becomes really fun once you master how to fly. With slightly better physics it could be quite addictive.
Sergi Montaner
26. Aug 2015 · 19:48 UTC
Complicated but the mechanic felt robust and well thought.
I feel thet seing someone play skillfully at this game must be an acrobatic spectacle.
bloomingbuds
26. Aug 2015 · 23:24 UTC
Hahahah, nice one :)
I love to see innovative games, which are not easily classified into the usual genres. 5 stars in innovation!
Brightstar
02. Sep 2015 · 09:07 UTC
Great game. Swooping down and capturing food for my young is satisfying. The music seems appropriate, like it's from a nature show. The setting is pretty neato too.
ALobker
03. Sep 2015 · 12:26 UTC
Very fun to play.
Erlend Aakre
03. Sep 2015 · 13:16 UTC
I loved the controls! really cool concept and execution, only thing I had an issue with was the music
Omiya Games
03. Sep 2015 · 21:31 UTC
Well, that's one way to be a monster, I guess. Love the hilariously absurd premise. The serene music provides a nice ironic contrast to the morbid action going on.

The controls are pretty wacky, and the gliding took a while to get a good grasp of. I think those areas could be greatly improved.