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Pigeon Meltdown

A topic by Alfred Alves created May 10, 2017 Views: 593 Replies: 2

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Hi,

I have been testing out game development workflows and here is my second attempt to do something. I worked on this game for about 4 weeks and would appreciate some feedback. This game is a modified version of a global game jam idea from the year where the theme was "Ritual" (a forgot which year it was).

Pigeon Meltdown is a shooter game where you have to compete against other pigeons for popcorn in a square. You have a machine gun that you can use to achieve that goal, but it's bullets are made of popcorns and you have to use it carefully because you need 50% or more of the day's total popcorn count to level up. Each day that you survive, more pigeons appear and more popcorns are thrown, the goal is to set or beat a highscore.

Gameplay video:

You can download it here https://aalves.itch.io/pigeonmeltdown

AlexDeviator7 years ago

Hi.

First of all sorry for bad english.

Now, i've played it for a while, It's a neat game but it kinda lacks complexity and features, if you're planing to extend it further ofcoarse.

Here is how i'd have done it:

1) A square game field (althought i would prefer circle) and instead of one granny - many people that are standing or walking by the borders of it, throwing popcorn.

(people can be simple meshes or even sprites - doesn't really matter). Randomizer will pick each time a different person to throw popcorn.

2) Camera probably should always be positioned and locked behind your pigeon's back and rotate along with his rotation. Keeping the same downward angle will help to avoid the need of modeling anything beyond game field itself.

3) Gameplay mechanics:

a) no machinegun - immersion breaking (well if we're taking about immersion at all, no offense), player's pigeon should have more distinctive pallete.

b) to prevent enemy pigeons from eating popcorn you'll have abilities like "push", "scream" and "sprint"(or smthn like that)

"Push" (would have cooldown, strength and stun duration parameters) will push back nearby pigeon (that was positioned in front of your pigeons head) and stun him for a little while. The higher the level the more stronger versions of enemy pigeons will spawn and pushing them will be harder/not so efficient.

"Scream" (long cooldown, radius, scatter duration) will affect all pigeons in certain radius causing them to scatter for a certain duration and thus alowing you to get popcorn while they are distracted.

"Sprint" (cooldown, duration of effect, walking speed boost) increases your speed for a short amount of time (1,5-2 sec), also during sprint if you run into some pigeon he will roll away like bowling bowl and get stunned for a while, but also slowing you down a bit.

d) when you complete a level, all % of score above 50% will be transfered to you as skill points. Between levels you can spend them to upgrade parameters of your abilities (such as upgrading strength of "Push" will grant you more chances agains stronger version of enemy pigeons and etc)

And so, the core game mechanics of the game will be:

- smart game field navigation;

- strategical timing and use of abilities;

- strong motivation to perform better in current level to gain more skill points;

Well, hope it helps :)

Alfred Alves7 years ago

Hi. Thank you very much for the feedback, it means a lot!

You gave some very interesting ideas here, I personally loved your point of view on number 1.

I must admit that the machine gun thing was funnier / better in the original idea (it featured a chicken defending itself from people). Anyways, I will definitely take notes on everything you pointed out here. Maybe update the game a little, but most of it will help me shape my next project for sure.

Again, thank you for playing it and thank you for sharing your thoughts. I hope to hear more from you in the future, I'm totally gonna check out you games and if I have something to add I'll drop some comments as well.

Cheers.