Flight in the Dark
*Contains cursing, some claustrophobic elements, heartbeat sounds, some minor flashing lights, animal violence and animal death*
This game was made for the HawkZombie "Who killed HawkZombie" game jam. The bird dies in this one folks!
But on top of that, I wanted to make a game about a quiet aspect of our world. One in which we are not allowed to think of ourselves as beautiful. And I'd like to tell you, dear player, reader, whoever you are - you are beautiful. You're pretty. You're good. Even when you fuck up. Even if you have to hear it a hundred times a day to believe it.
"Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul. That sings the tune without words, and never stops, at all." -Emily Dickinson
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took me embarassingly long to play this. just fantastic.
something i've noticed with your games is that you REALLY nail the "feel" of everything. the dinginess, the creepiness, the darkness... it's all so deliberate and well executed. the flashes of black, the pauses in the text, or simply the writing feel carefully considered and make for a piece of art with a very clear vibe and an even clearer voice.
the art? freaking great. the sprites are both impressively detailed and very simple and readable, from the muddy waters and dangerous-looking gas (great use of yellow there!), to the minecarts and crystals, to the beautiful character portraits... your art style is great and it honestly feels like it got even better with this game (also the sound effects, goddamn they were phenomenal).
the themes were extremely compelling. it's rare to find games that tackle these things, or to be as relatable as this. because i related so, so much with a lot of the feelings the protagonist has, or even word choices the game took. it makes you feel like you're not alone. and it's not only the themes; the way it's presented is also great with the intermitent narration and visual storytelling (btw, since i have no idea who hawkzombie is, i'm guessing a lot of the story is references that i'm not getting lol. but in a weird way that kind of enhanced the experience? like it forced me to pay attention to the subtleties and small character moments to understand what was going on).
i guess the cart-pushing mechanic is a little tedious, and the music gets repetitive after a while. and maybe it's a reference or just cause of lack of time but the villain triplets was such a silly concept it kinda took me out of it? idk, that's really all i can think for stuff i didn't like. it's just nitpicks lol.
this was quality stuff. between it and your other games i've tried, you've really solidified yourself as an amazing artist and developer :>
beautiful game.
Heyy!! Thanks for giving it a go!! This was a fun one. Huge challenge. I rly double booked myself with jams and this one overlapped with another. You’re definitely not missing any context, there is no real context haha. Hawk zombie is a streamer who does a lot of indie games and he did a jam where he was supposedly retiring his bird mascot, so the only premise was the green bird must die. I took extreme liberties if anything making the green bird just a conure and not a sentient zombie figure haha. But when I read “the bird dies” my first thought was canary in a coal mine and I ran with that idea.
The bad guys thing is so funny haha. Ur completely correct and I just plumb ran out of time lol. My long long term plan for all of these quicky game jam games is to circle back maybe next year and remake them all one by one in a new engine, im thinking GoDot, and make them perfectly, with no rushing and the like. So for now I forgive myself shortcuts and weird quirks haha.
Self doubt and self worth issues is something (unfortunately) a lot of us creative types struggle with. I’m sorry it resonated, really. For me writing out my issues like this really helps me. Now, quite literally, whenever I’m being too self negative I hear Hawk the streamer go “Bwak Pretty Boy Tweet Tweet” and it makes me smile haha.
Thanks for ur kind words and time!
The game froze on me here but I love it so far---beautiful art, unique concept, and cool writing. Really awesome