Spear Bird by renrok

[raw]
made by renrok for Ludum Dare 57 (JAM)

:notebookwithdecorative_cover: Story

You are a hungry-hungry bird! But there is plenty fish in the sea... all for you to eat! - Dive into water and skewer fish with your beak. Dont forget that your air is limited! - Fly out of the water to get more air and launch fish up. - Catch fish in the air to eat! The more you eat - the higher the points you get! - Evolve your bird with upgrades to dive even deeper for tastier fish!

:video_game: Controls

  • A/D -- rotate
  • Space -- accelerate

gameplay-v1-1.gif

upgrades-v1-1.gif

:art: Made by team ToxicOtter

@alexhonor - gamedesign, programming

@MoonDweller - gamedesign, programming

@renrok - art

@RuinGato - art

@Slava-Che - sound design, music

Ratings

Overall 125th 3.976⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Fun 98th 3.964⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 138th 3.833⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Theme 256th 3.963⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 81th 4.429⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Audio 136th 3.89⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Humor 127th 3.713⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Mood 222th 3.915⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Given 35🗳️ 27🗨️

Feedback

karbirus
07. Apr 2025 · 23:28 UTC
I really liked what you did with the theme!! fun game :)
bakuzen
08. Apr 2025 · 02:30 UTC
The spear bird is such a whimsical little guy, I adore him :) The overall mood of the game is really fun, diving into the water and getting multiple fish in one go is really satisfying. I ended up dying a few times just because I failed to turn around to the surface in time, but once I got the hang of it it was a blast just flying and diving around to get the upgrades ^^
Poshaus
08. Apr 2025 · 02:56 UTC
Loved the artstyle and the gameplay found it quite hard haha maybe need to practice more.
SoundJammer
08. Apr 2025 · 16:24 UTC
Забавная игра. Со вкусом нарисовано. Спасибо за веселый геймплей! Желаю успехов на джеме! =)
Fernando Puig
08. Apr 2025 · 20:46 UTC
I love this! The art is understated, the song is catchy and the humor is all there. Played this one over and over for a while. Great work!!
chelC
09. Apr 2025 · 01:40 UTC
The art is so clean on this, and it plays really well!! I don't know if you are particularly rewarded for going deep, but i would kind of like to explore the deep ocean in an artstyle like this :) catching the fish out of the air was difficult but felt great when I managed it!
Adamwigs
09. Apr 2025 · 01:42 UTC
I really liked the game play loop here and the art was really nice! Loved leveling up my bird. I think the only two notes I would have is that if you accidentally hit space when the upgrades pop up, you don't get a choice and also there didn't seem to be a lot of value in going deeper! Would be so much fun if you keep working on it and the types of fish get crazier the further you go. I'd probably sit and play this for wayyyy too long.
daniel
13. Apr 2025 · 20:54 UTC
Super strong visual design, everything about this feels really polished. Really like the progression with depth/fish size/upgrades making you want to keep going. My favourite arcade-type gameplay this jam so far. A full-screen button would be a great addition to better appreciate the art!
bartholomheow
13. Apr 2025 · 20:58 UTC
Fun game, a bit difficult to control for me.
Haoro
13. Apr 2025 · 22:41 UTC
![LePoisson.PNG](///raw/0dd/d2/z/6c2b5.png)

Really good game, I played the Jam version and it was really nice, just too bad the upgrade are a little long to get and fish don't respawn. Keep up the good work ! 😁
gifarre
13. Apr 2025 · 23:45 UTC
Love the game, no comments, great job!
enmarimo
14. Apr 2025 · 00:13 UTC
That's a really good game, well done! I love the overall design/art style and animations, but I felt the bird was a bit difficult to control (I played the jam version)
Ammonit
14. Apr 2025 · 05:31 UTC
Great concept! Very nice graphics and solid controls! I think adapting it for tablets would make the controls even smoother and way more fun to play.
LDJam user 388314
15. Apr 2025 · 15:50 UTC
Very cool game!!! ( ᐛ )

I played the old and new version!

- - -

Old:

Very interesting graphics of the game. I really like it!

You get stuck in the left wall, but you can fly away from there

![2025-04-15_17-55-58.png](///raw/adc/e5/z/6c385.png)

The fact that there is a system of points, multiplication and pumping is worthy of respect! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

Different fish change the balance of the game a lot! Excellent!

The multiplication system is strange, I want to see X1, not X0.5

The music is stupid, but funny :)

- - -


New:

I like "Fish watar bounce", it's funny!

I like that they made breathing in a circle and inversion every time you choke

It seems to me that there is less air, no?

The problem with the wall is still there, even the fish are dumb

![2025-04-15_18-05-23.png](///raw/adc/e5/z/6c386.png)

You can save there, funny

![2025-04-15_17-53-55.png](///raw/adc/e5/z/6c387.png)

I just noticed it now :)

![2025-04-15_17-55-28.png](///raw/adc/e5/z/6c389.png)

- - -

Overall I liked the game, you guys are great!

![2025-04-15_17-12-52.png](///raw/adc/e5/z/6c38b.png)

![2025-04-15_18-19-17.png](///raw/adc/e5/z/6c38c.png)
JHax
18. Apr 2025 · 12:04 UTC
The art style is gorgeous! There's a really nice meshing together of mechanics as well, and it's great to have so many different paths for upgrading things. Great fun!
LDJam user 301295
18. Apr 2025 · 15:43 UTC
Great art style and sound, you definitely hit the mood just right. I do wish I could perhaps control him with a mouse, but then again the skill ceiling is part of the appeal. One question though, did you not publish this on itch.io somewhere? I'd love to be able to play this fullscreen.
Good job!
ditam
18. Apr 2025 · 16:21 UTC
Just wonderful. I played the jam version, and it was already so polished! Absolutely loving the monochrome aesthetic and the silly concept. One of my favourites this jam, I had lots of fun with it.

+1 vote for fullscreen mode.
LDJam user 4886
18. Apr 2025 · 18:12 UTC
Very cool! Difficult to control at first but the whole thing is pretty solid indeed!
xpoho
18. Apr 2025 · 18:30 UTC
Nice and funny game ^_^
designernap
18. Apr 2025 · 19:26 UTC
Lovely loop here, great fun and has that "one more go" feel to it. Nice work!
Tygrak
19. Apr 2025 · 09:30 UTC
This is amazing! Very nicely polished overall. Cool gameplay, very nice take on the theme. I love the two tone artstyle.
Tygrak
19. Apr 2025 · 09:30 UTC
This is amazing! Very nicely polished overall. Cool gameplay, very nice take on the theme. I love the two tone artstyle.
ShadyShade
19. Apr 2025 · 14:05 UTC
Cute funny game! :heart:
She Wrote
19. Apr 2025 · 18:09 UTC
This game is amazing! The simplistic art is very charming, and the gameplay works mostly perfectly. The jellyfish, feel a bit unfair — I never felt like there was enough time to dodge after they appeared on-screen. The gameplay can be frustrating at first, but the more you play, the more you get used to it, and the more fun it gets. Well done!
knarf
19. Apr 2025 · 18:49 UTC
Awesome game, the inspiration from Luftrausers is palpable but that's a very nice take on the theme and realisation :) I really like this minimalist yet super readable visual approach, and the idea behind the main mechanic. Scored around 4600 in the end but I could still have gone deeper with a little more concentration :) The game feels very juicy and polished, music was cool and sfx joyful.
Something I notices that made my plays harder was that I didn't know when the menu pop to show me updates so I often blasted space key and take something without knowing what it is.
Very cool relaxed game, well done !! In the top games !
EZduzzit
19. Apr 2025 · 18:50 UTC
Everything is fantastic about this game! It's fun, the art is great, sounds are funny and cute!
Jake G
19. Apr 2025 · 19:54 UTC
I love the black & white / inky style of the game. Always impressive to see such a tight vision for a game in 72 hours. Super fun concept, I love the upgrade system, and the challenging controls give it a whole skill-based element. Great submission!
Yorsh
19. Apr 2025 · 21:02 UTC
Cool concept, art style and sound work well with the gameplay. Controls feel a little heavy/slow I'm not sure but it could probably feel better in some way. Level up system is a nice addition. Great work!
kaba
20. Apr 2025 · 05:53 UTC
I love everything about this! :heart_eyes:

A novel idea (I like how you don't just bring the fish to the sufrace but actually have to catch them mid air), great art style, fun music! The game's a little challenging at first but that just makes it so much more satisfying once the mechanics click and you get the hang of it.
Phasmantic
21. Apr 2025 · 03:12 UTC
I love the game and the concept! The art is great too. The only thing that I had a bit of trouble with was figuring out the controls. I liked the upgrade system, and the different fishes that were included. Overall great game!
MoD_Wiz
21. Apr 2025 · 09:47 UTC
What a lovely idea and execution!

It plays very well and looks extremely stylish with this monochromatic look! It's also very polished.

Sound and music is cute.

My hight score is 3255 so far.
OadT
21. Apr 2025 · 15:03 UTC
Oh wow, the sounds with the different voice lines and the effect on the music when under water are fantastic! Together with the great graphics its a very polished game!

One thing that could be improved is better displaying the remaining air, but I saw that thats already fixed in the post jam version :smile: Another thing I think would be nice is some indicator where the flying fishs are when they are off screen. Otherwise the controls feel great and the game is very fun once you get the hang of it. Also all the upgrades feel like they are beneficial. Very cool entry!
LDJam user 381180
22. Apr 2025 · 18:27 UTC
![Capture d’écran 2025-04-22 à 20.22.15.png](///raw/cf0/d5/z/6c650.png)

Not a huge score, got my eyes bigger than my stomach, but funny little game :) The SFX are good and I like the idea of inverting the black and white between oversea and sea. I like the progression indicator on the top right corner. Thanks!