Palokärki - Birb Game

You play as a Black Woodpecker, who is out looking for bugs to collect and take back home. Find a suitable tree to land on and peck at the tree bark to reveal what is hiding underneath! Tip: Be careful about the angry trees that want to be left alone!

Background

The idea came to us when we were out on a walk in the forest and saw a Black Woodpecker chipping away tree bark from a big spruce, just as in the game. Turns out woodpeckers remove the bark to make it easier to reach bark-beetle larvae under the surface of the tree. The beetles lay their eggs in spring-summer, and the eggs hatch in winter, when they provide a good source of nutrition for the bird. It was a nice coincidence because we were trying to come up with ideas for a Trijam-game jam!

This was our first time in a game jam, and Holodoxical's first time with game development, Fikaa's first collaboration. It took us 4-8 hours to create (Illustrations <4, game development ~6-8). We really tried to make it under 3 though x'D. Our cat Amadeus kept us company the whole time.

Controls and Goals

Game controls: AWSD to move. Esc to leave scenes. Space to interact (enter a tree, peck and pick bugs).
Goals: Collecting 10 bugs while avoiding pine cones thrown at you. Blue bugs are for collecting, pink bugs heal one health (max. health 5).
Some barks are peckable and some not, you can tell them apart by their colour.

Credits

The game is made by Fikaa and Holodoxical. Sprites and assets by Havina Ru. 
Made on Unity.
The gothic-pixel font used in the cover/banner and also in the game are Alagard.