Fugl: A flappy first play of the early access bird 'em up
Winging it
I've been keeping an eye on Fugl [official site] for a while now - it's a beautiful swoopy bird game/experience set in a voxel world. The emphasis is on relaxation and the feeling of flying, but there's also exploration and a metamorphosis mechanic where you fly or land near things to take on their appearance.
It's just moved to early access while the team continue working on the game so I've finally had a chance to try it out! There are some bits which are rough round the edges - I'd assume because early access - but I've still had a good old flap, so I figured I'd show you my swoopings in a video. I've also made sure to cut off before later biomes in case anyone feels that's spoilery...
In case you're interested developer, Johan Gjestland, popped up in a previous comment section to talk about the choice of a voxel landscape. You can read all of his responses in said Fugl comment section but this is the bit which I found most interesting (it's a response to a reader criticising the voxel aesthetic):
"I'm sorry the voxel look throws you off, but I assure it's not the point of the game. Point of the game is the flying. The voxel works however to enhance the feeling of flight, as you need a good sense of scale to get a good sense of speed, and voxels are a very good scale since they're all uniform blocks. So as soon as you establish the scale of a voxel, its easy to infer the scale of anything and that works really well for the mind to give you a great sensation of moving through space."
It's early access so all of the usual caveats apply. You can peek at the Steam Page for the full list of what's currently in the game and what they intend to add. The level creator sounds interesting and I'm hoping to enjoy the fruits of the performance improvements and optimisation. Top of my list is easier taking off from the ground, particularly the water surface as the latter is currently "sticky" and a bit glitchy so I've been relying on the reset button!