Link to the game in progress: itch.io (plays in the browser)
password: CS377G
FLOCK is a solo game about bird migration. You lead a flock across a branching map and try to get as many birds as you can to the far shore. On each flight the birds sit on a small grid. A bird with another bird diagonally ahead of it drafts and pays no stamina. If it doesn’t, it pays 3. Weather and predators come in from the front, and each turn you have 4 energy to spend on cards and moves.
It’s a digital game now that you can play from start to finish: a short tutorial, then a full run across three acts.
Figure 1: Turn 2 of 3 in a flight with four birds. The shaded columns are a storm, and every bird shows what it will lose before I end the turn.
Lucas played the first digital version on November 4. He wanted movement to be a basic action, and he found Slipstream so strong he used it most of the time. Both are fixed. Any bird can move now for a little energy and stamina, and Slipstream can only be used once per flight. I also put the weather forecast right on the grid.
After that I added the roguelike parts. Birds grow as they survive flights, and you pick their growth paths. You learn new cards between flights, and a new bird only joins you at the end of each act. When you lose a bird, it’s gone for good and gets remembered on a memorial screen. I want people to get attached to the flock they have.
At our meeting on November 6 we agreed the biggest balance problem was a snowball: when one bird dies, the rest are much more likely to die too. So now, after a loss, the flock closes ranks and exposed birds pay 2 less for that flight and the next.
Since then I’ve been working on the first ten minutes. The tutorial starts every lesson with birds in set positions, but it accepts any move that helps, so there’s more than one right answer. Ending a turn takes one click now, and the next turn starts on its own, like Slay the Spire. You also pick a fourth bird at the end of the tutorial.
Questions for feedback:
- The tutorial is required the first time, and it points at the next move without locking you in. Is that the right amount of hand-holding, or is it still too long before the real game starts? How does it compare to the way Into the Breach teaches new players?
- A new player now gets a fourth bird, but a casual player will still lose birds early. Should the first run be gentler than the rest, or should losing a bird early just be part of it?
- Losing a bird is permanent. Does that make you care about the birds more, or does it just feel like a punishment?
