New: Single player mode and browser play

I spent some time extending this old game from the 2018 Global Game Jam. To be honest, not because it has been played a lot here, but just because I really like it. I'm still surprised by the depth of the game play, for a game with so few different mechanics. And playing it together with a friend is just incredibly fun (at least, if you like your fun to be of the slightly frustrating kind ;-) ). Sometimes, a game jam idea just works out really well. 

I think the main thing that has been keeping plays down (other than my lack of marketing of course) is accessibility. That motivated the two main features in this update: the game now has a single player mode (in addition to the local two player coop), where one player controls both birds. In addition, the game can now be played in the browser!

Surprisingly, 96% of the old two player levels are still playable in single player mode. However, some of them are quite a bit harder... For that reason, a few new levels have been added: replacement levels, and a few more introductory levels to smooth out the difficulty curve. Nevertheless, towards the end, you might still want to ask a friend to help you through some of the harder levels. ;-) I promise though that all levels can be done, even on hard mode. (Do you like a challenge...?)

Regarding technology: the game was built in a custom C# engine, built on top of OpenGL, glfw and SoLoud. To port it to html5/WebGL, Bridge.NET was used, which transpiles C# to javascript, and exposes all kinds of html5 functionality (WebGL, and much more). What an awesome tool! Too bad it's not under active development anymore... Of course javascript is quite a bit slower than C#, so some optimizations were needed. Just adding sprite batching, to reduce draw calls and move the heavy load from CPU to GPU, turned out to be enough to make it smoothly playable even on some slower laptops. (If I'm wrong, please let me know in the comments.)

Some html5 features are not supported in Bridge.NET, like using game controllers and advanced web audio (syncing different tracks). So if you want to play this game with controllers (still the best way), or if you want to enjoy the custom adaptive soundtracks, you should download the executable, and play on Windows (controllers are also not supported on Mac). No problem is unsolvable however, so maybe this will be addressed in a future update.

Indeed, no game is ever truly finished, you just stop working on them... Or not, as it seems in this case. On top of the current to-do list: adding a score system for the achievers and the speed runners. If you have other suggestions, let me know in the comments!

I think this game has come a long way from it's humble game jam beginnings, with just two levels. Although the core game play is still the same, post-game-jam additions include many new levels, custom adaptive soundtracks, a menu system, minor game play features, some graphics improvements, and now two big accessibility improvements... Enjoy!

(P.S. I will probably add some more old game jam remasters here in the coming months, so if you're interested, keep an eye out for updates...)