Previously known as 'A Game About A Bird'!!
table of updates:
click to be taken to the post with the applicable update
day 1 - beginnings of a sprite, a run cycle, and a map layout. discussions of grappling mechanic.
day 1.2 - a sketch of the ripped bird
day 1.3 - gifs of the grapply scarf struggle
day 1.4 - i should go to sleep but oh my god i made the grapply scarf work
day 2 - i made some tiles
day 2.2 - refined the grapply mechanics, goal update, EDIT: the grapply displays properly!!!
day 3 - level design, a lil
day 4 - more level design, layer shennanigans
day 4.2 - layer shennanigans work!!
day 4.3 - title page sketch
day 4.4 - hidden caves?!?
day 5 - infel has insomnia and drew a face by accident
day 5.2 - the first npcs, title screen wip
day 6 - soon, the level will be complete
day 6.2 - title screen complete!
day 6.3 - wandering npcs
day 6.4 - dialogue!
overview
Hydra's Mouth is a game about a simple one-armed bird, Helvetica. They are perfectly ok with being plain. Never taking off their beloved scarf, Helvetica has been content to go about their life in routine.
Until they wake up somewhere completely unrecognizable, without their safety scarf.
Anyone who goes to sleep safe in their nest one night, only to wake up naked and afraid inside a strange tree in a strange place is sure to panic, and Helvetica does. Being whisked away is not plain, and does not make for a simple life! They find themselves in a forest that always seems to be locked in nighttime, however an ethereal glow from the sky and clusters of 'stars' provide enough light for Helvetica to be able to see and find their way around. The environment is not shy of growing its own light sources either!
Some of the locals Helvetica meets (who scare them quite a bit) refer to this place as 'The Hydra's Mouth'... Helvetica assumes it's because of the strange topography. They hope.
Hydra's Mouth is going to be a platformer, where you play as Helvetica trying to traverse their way back home, or wondering if there's even a home to return to!
I hope to make it a simple version of a larger, more fleshed out version that I will create in the future. I have been thinking about this game for a while. This is going to be my very first game ever! So I am trying to keep things simple. However, since I am a visual artist, I would love for this to be a visually striking game. Once the gameplay is there, I intend to focus my energy into creating a lush world that people will be excited to explore.
The game will feature my personal characters, people who meet Helvetica on the way. Whether they're helpful or not is up for debate, but Helvetica is pretty intimidated by all of them!
assets
i plan to create everything myself. it will be in pixels. here's my baby placeholder for helvetica, featuring their old design! they were meant to be vaguely corvid, but while experimenting, i found a finch look suited them very well!
and here's the current sprite for helvetica!
goals
to commit at minimum two hours a day, daily, over the course of the jam until reasonably complete prototype exists
to learn my way around Construct 2
design the level
design a bunch of pretty art assets!
get Helvetica home!
