Good Morning Bird

Good Morning Bird is another audacious step toward learning how to completely integrate all aspects of a game into the game's mechanics themselves.  In this case, we're talking about the music.  Yes, that first sentence wasn't just an expertly crafted amalgamation of words, it also contained a pun!  The last game on the list to try this (or at least the last one I remember) was entitled Audacity.  That game pulled off the whole "2D music platformer" thing decently.  Its main flaws were that the notes that played when you picked up stuff were just a bit out of sync with the rest of the "song" and that there was no save feature (grrr).

Good Morning Bird seems to have fixed both of those.  There were only a few moments when the notes were out of sync (but that's to be expected for a game this experimental), and the game is short enough to not need a save feature.  So, is this it?  Have we reached an apex of game design? Has the perfect platforming musical experience been crafted?  Well...no, but hey, Good Morning Bird is a damn good try.

First off, let's talk visual design.  There are no graphical glitches and the game is decently colorful and exciting.  I'm not an artist, but I daresay any problems you may have with the visual design are personal preferences.  I, personally, loved the visual design.  There's something about that half-egg on legs that makes me go "daww."

Next, game feel.  This is where the game took a big misstep for me.  Your hitbox is a bit larger than it should be, and enemy patterns are just a bit too fast.  The snakes are the worst culprits.  They bounce merrily up and down so fluidly and so rapidly that it's a huge pain to time your passage over or under them accordingly. Not to mention, your character is just a bit too slow, giving that feeling of "come on, hurry up, dammit!" when you bear down on the right arrow key hoping, to no avail, that the little birdie will get a move on.

If you can get past that, though, Good Morning Bird is a neatly wrapped, fun experience.  That's all for now.  Until next time, stay musical.

Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25907