Nice use of the color palette.

Well this is cute abstracted fun!

Good but controls are a little sticky, Daffodil. Try jumping straight up and then holding the LEFT or RIGHT button, they are ignored. Most platformers will let you glide or fall in the direction you are holding the arrow.

Don't know if anyone's noticed. This cool code has got the MOON orbiting EARTH above too showing you are on a foreign planet. :)

Hey dw817, thanks for the feedback!
I understand what most platformers do. My thought process here was that you are a magpie, and air control comes from flapping your wings. As well, one of my design pillars was that there is no air control at all once you jump (which I dialed back with the wing flapping mechanic). I also wanted the player to have to commit to their jumps prior to jumping, to discourage the sort of twitchy air correction common to many game following the Mario school of platforming. I understand that this is a problem for many people, and could even be called "bad design", but I really wanted to stick to my pillars here. I'm also of the ideology that the mechanics don't necessarily need to be immediately accessible to the player, leaving the player room to improve their skill and dexterity within the system that at first seemed arbitrarily challenging.

It's hard to respond to this sort of criticism, because I recognize that the system isn't as polished as it could be, and I want to improve that within my pillars, but I also recognize that the movement system is frustrating to those expecting conventional platformer controls, and I definitely don't want to change the movement just to make it as immediately comfortable as other platformers.

Once I got the hang of it, I thought the physics were fine. Runnin' around, jumpin' and flappin' and stuff. (Though I still need to go back and conquer that final doggo.)

What I think would really make it gravy would be a change of controls- one button to grab/drop, and the other to jump/flap.

Ever since smash bros I've felt up-to-jump is only a distraction. When I'm busy moving l/r, I don't have time to fiddle with pressing, holding, or releasing up. (especially when the timing of it all makes so much difference, not to mention when I'm on a dpad)

yeah I think the game is beautiful (i love the surreal aesthetic) but I can't really play it 'cause it uses up to jump and that is really awkward/difficult for me, especially 'cause I am a gamepad-user :\

No, that's fine. You've actually worked it so LEFT and RIGHT movements are not possible without actual flapping up while descending. That does indeed make it a unique and challenging platformer. :)

I love it! Five stars! Couldn't figure out that last bit though...

Great game! So far, I can only get up to 19 happy faces. There's two question mark crates I've yet to figure out.

If you get 21, something cool happens

I know you said cool, but I was not expecting that.

Very nice.

I finally got the last two!! I actually almost missed the something cool. I didn't notice it at first. Are you planning to make any more levels?

I got this dog stuck in the ceiling. Is there a consolation prize?

Also, I really enjoyed this game. The controls are unusual, but I really like the physicality of it. You can steer in the air only if you flap your wings, and dogs maintain momentum when you throw them. Cool ideas!