[HTML5 Game Novel] Hummingbirds

[logan.scodini]

I created a game a few months ago, but wasn't happy with it. I found myself with some time on my hands these past few weeks, so I decided to continue working on the game. I must say, I'm proud of how it looks now. Feel free to give me some feedback; I'm still tinkering with some of the mechanics, so it's a work in progress.


www.hummingbirdsgame.com



Click this link to play the game. No Download Required - Compatible For All Devices.

• Adult Themes: F/M, F/F, M/M, BDSM and mind games.
  

Blogspot: loganscodini.blogspot.com



Synopsis: Sometime in the Near Future



Scientific breakthroughs and geopolitical conflicts have rocked the world these past few years. Fortunately, you have enjoyed a relatively peaceful life as of now, far away from trouble.


That is, until one particular morning, when someone decided to annoyingly knock at your door…

A Game Novel



Hummingbirds is an adventure/romance game novel for adults; you will create your character and control its actions in a realm ruled by money, danger, and seduction.


This game is distributed as a Web App; it is compatible with the browsers of any device (mobile or PC). Please visit the Instructions submenu of the Game Options for more information about this, including saving your game on Cloud Storage.


You may also change the appearance of the game and sound options in the Game Setting submenu.


Hummingbirdswas designed with the Twine engine (twinery.org), and is based upon the Sugarcube game format (by TM Edwards).


Disclaimer



This game is solely intended for the entertainment of a mature audience; it contains graphic description of violence and sexual themes. By clicking on the following links, you confirm that you are authorized to access such material in your current location.

 

[dndw]

The hefty customization of the engine is really impressive. I like the combat system, though I would like to be able to see more of what the opponents are doing, not just the special moves Edit: just played in on desktop, this is another thing malfunctioning on mobile. Also, the bars don't work well on mobile; they have no fill. If you look closely you can see a vertical line where the color should end, but that's it. Looking at the screenshots, it's likely color simply doesn't work at all (unless you intended it to be all black-on-beige). This was all using Dolphin Browser, if that makes any difference.


I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes!

 

[karunama]

Alright, I'll give my thoughts.  I tried the earlier iterations some time ago, and the look is indeed improved since then.  For people that don't know what to expect, I'll summarize in a list.


---The good;


An interesting storyline, albeit not what I was expecting.  Still, the content that I saw kept my attention while I was going through it.


The general interface does indeed look good, is quite readable and approachable, and the basics of the stats were quite simple to understand.


---The Bad:


There isn't much content and what content there is is interspersed with monetization efforts that struck me as both intrusive and disruptive to the experience.


Said efforts force you to stare at the same screen for what seems like ages while you wait for the one button you actually *want* to click to let you do so.


The scene transitions can't be skipped and don't match the visual quality of the actual interface.  I would go so far as to say that they look blatantly ugly, and it feels jarring to have to sit through something like that after getting used to the generally attractive interface.


---Other Thoughts:


This is closer to an interactive novel with a couple of gamey aspects than most of the content you'll find here,  The story is interesting, but somewhat sparse.  That said, if you're looking for something to get off to or don't want to do a lot of reading, pass this by.  There aren't many sex scenes and this is quite text heavy.  I liked what I saw, but there wasn't much to see unless I shelled out some cash.  In fact, at the end, there were more 'premium' scenes than anything else.  Still, it was enjoyable for what it was, and probably worth keeping an eye on *if* more content is added regularly.


One last thought; the way the combat was explained early on, i was expecting BDSM/rape scenes if I lost a fight, but that's not the case.  You just have to do the fight over again until you win.  Kinda disappointing, but w/e.

 

[logan.scodini]

Thanks for your review. I'm ashamed to say I never heard of the Dolphin browser before; I non-officially support Chrome, Firefox and Safari. Thus, I'm happy to hear you managed to play the game (1) on a mobile device and (2) on a browser I didn't even know existed. - Updated: I did install Dolphin Browser on my Nexus 7, and from I could see it's working as intended. Updated again: No, you are right, there are some stuff not working. Sorry about it, but I don't have the manpower to support this browser. Are you talking about the inside colored halo of the links (which aren't filled, it's intended)?


Furthermore, the melee engine is the first one I designed (last year); I like it but hope to do much better for the gunfight engine (coming in Chapter 2, slight spoiler).


Thanks for your review; I'm happy you underlined that there isn't that much content yet (around 30k words for the public section). I'm working hard to remedy to this.


Also, I'm not going to lie; I hope to provide a lot of content to those who pledge to me on Patreon. In fact, I would be very happy to have this reputation, since a lot of people have been burned by those who promised a lot and delivered almost nothing to their patrons. So yeah, I will continue to give my best to those who trust me with their money; that's my value proposition.

 

[dndw]

There isn't much content and what content there is is interspersed with monetization efforts that struck me as both intrusive and disruptive to the experience.

There are only two 'monetization efforts', which are just links to the creator's Facebook and Patreon page: one at the end of the prologue and one at the end of current content. The last one takes a while, yes, but the first is only a few seconds. That's not really such a problem, is it?

Updated again: No, you are right, there are some stuff not working. Sorry about it, but I don't have the manpower to support this browser.

I was just about to upload a screenshot. Well, it doesn't matter much anyway, I also have Chrome installed. Oh and the enemy messages do display, they just don't fit on my screen.

 

[karunama]

There are only two 'monetization efforts', which are just links to the creator's Facebook and Patreon page: one at the end of the prologue and one at the end of current content. The last one takes a while, yes, but the first is only a few seconds. That's not really such a problem, is it?


I was just about to upload a screenshot. Well, it doesn't matter much anyway, I also have Chrome installed. Oh and the enemy messages do display, they just don't fit on my screen.

I have many virtues, but I don't count patience among them.  I consider my own time to be the most valuable resource I am capable of bringing to bear.  With that in mind, like I said, I found the first effort to be annoying and intrusive, but not horrifically so.  The second one on the other hand, that was blatantly absurd even by normal standards, let alone by the standards of a person who values time efficiency the way I do.  'Rage inducing' was the phrase that immediately leapt to mind.  That said, what really bugged me was that after I sat through that long ass annoyance, I found a bunch of locked 'premium' content and not much else.  To be honest, it felt like an insult.  Like he had purposely attempted to waste my time so i would spend money to recoup the temporal investment.


I'm not saying I think that he really intended such a thing.  He might have, he might not.  I'm not a mind reader, but I like to give people the benefit of the doubt.  I am, however, saying that that's how it felt to me, and that for many, once that feeling of being insulted sets in, whether it was intentional or not is utterly irrelevant.

 

[logan.scodini]

I have many virtues, but I don't count patience among them.  I consider my own time to be the most valuable resource I am capable of bringing to bear.  With that in mind, like I said, I found the first effort to be annoying and intrusive, but not horrifically so.  The second one on the other hand, that was blatantly absurd even by normal standards, let alone by the standards of a person who values time efficiency the way I do.  'Rage inducing' was the phrase that immediately leapt to mind.  That said, what really bugged me was that after I sat through that long ass annoyance, I found a bunch of locked 'premium' content and not much else.  To be honest, it felt like an insult.  Like he had purposely attempted to waste my time so i would spend money to recoup the temporal investment.


I'm not saying I think that he really intended such a thing.  He might have, he might not.  I'm not a mind reader, but I like to give people the benefit of the doubt.  I am, however, saying that that's how it felt to me, and that for many, once that feeling of being insulted sets in, whether it was intentional or not is utterly irrelevant.

You lost 63 seconds of your life during which - I think you probably failed to notice in this rage-inducing moment - rolled the credits of everyone whose efforts helped me create the game, which is why it lasts so long and why I lock the game until their names/info is finished displaying.


Yeah, video games are collective efforts, and I wish I could pay those people with money (because that's how you pay the rent), but I can't for now, so until then that's my way of thanking them.


Update: Here, I now plainly state this and how long it will take until you can continue the game and read three alternatives epilogues availalble for the first chapter of a game you didn't have to download or install (how's that for time efficient?). Also, the game provides you with the full experience of your character, only the content involving the npcs or world events is found on patreon.

 

[Scarebear]

The game's changed a lot since the last time you posted here.


Not much of a fan of visual novel-esque games personally. In addition, the walls of descriptive text burned me out pretty quickly since there was nothing particularly lewd to keep me going. 


The time jumps between pages were jarring. Months go by and I have no more understanding of how the game/world works. 


And I felt like I was being overloaded with a bunch of characters that I was supposed to care about but ultimately was annoyed by. 


I'll add that I also found the being unable to click to the button to continue after the prologue super annoying. It gives me the impression that either, a) I've reached the end of implemented content or b) my computer's having trouble loading some game aspect. If it were giving me some new information, I might not mind as much but it's just a patreon page and a fb page. 

 

[logan.scodini]

Patch Notes 2016-08-11


I listened to your feedback and changed a few game mechanics, which should improve most people experience.


Thank you for helping me make the game better.


Easier Fights Option:


Added an option in the game settings to trigger easier fights:


- You deal 10% more damage


- You gain one dose of your current healing potion


- You gain 20% swiftness


From my preliminary testing this should resolve most issues people might have had with combat being too difficult.


Cutscenes Skip Option:


Added an option to skip the current cutscene. Note: this might trigger little sound quirks/music, which shouldn’t be too bad anyway.


Other Changes:


- Removed the hard delay to continue the game at the end of the prologue, and reduced the one at the end of the first chapter to 48 seconds (because I’m a monster who feasts upon your tears).


- Faster transition to display the Game Options menu. I’m reluctant to modify the fading between the scenes at the moment, since they help to provide an even experience by smoothing out asynchronous calls to the server.


PS: Gosh do I love web app programming. I can change everything about the game in a few minutes and the most recent version is automatically loaded by the players in real-time (on browser reload in worst case).





Text to inform the player (it also appears upon defeat)





Easer fight option





Skip Cutscene option

 

[Miscellaneous Forum Viewer]

Sweet Jesus. All those words highlighted in white, while easy to read, almost burned my retinas. I don't know if it's just to dark in my room but damn.


As to the game, it's alright. Could use a LOT more erotic content though, if you're goin' for a porn game. If you're just goin' for a kinda erotic storybook though it's fine.

 

[Nephilim_Anunnaki]

My only problem is combat (I suck)


Let's see if the easier combats now...

 

[rotor]

I'm glad to see you didn't abandon this, in all honesty I was a little worried previously. The new engine is really nice, I look forward to see what you do with it.


Some questions:


1) Do you think it would be possible to add a way to go back a play previously cleared chapters? With so few save slots, I'd appreciate this. Of course, you'd probably want to disable any stat/item gains on repeat playthroughs.


2) You mentioned in the previous topic that you had developed a sex wrestling gameplay system (and I seem to recall a demo version of it being available?). I notice that it doesn't seem to be present in the current version of the game. Do you still intend to include it? Personally I hope so, because I like that type of content.

 

[LaserSpecter]

From what I've played so far, it is well done. Instructions are clear and gameplay is fun. The only thing I would have to say that disappointed me is the lack of sex scenes, although I suspect that reserved for later chapters. Anyways, I love the game so far. I can only hope good luck in your development of it.

 

[MotoKuchoma]

There used to be arena in this where you had all kinds of kinky opponents with lewds sprinkled in. That was cool. This is really boring. The story wasnt really drawing me in and I only played on because I was hoping I'd get sandboxy free play thing from before later.


btw I stopped reading the actual story once I got into the castle because Billy's and redhead's technobabble was really dreary and boring. I also sorta missed why I was supposed to care that french girl was missing. They set up some sort of sex game out in the woods and they don't come back in the evening, why would I even think something was wrong? Why couldn't he report it to the society? If they say everything is fine, why wouldn't it be? etc.


This story outline IMO takes itself way too seriously and tries to fit fantastical super powers into realistic terms and that just doesn't work. I hope the rest of the game is more fun.

 

[logan.scodini]

I'm glad to see you didn't abandon this, in all honesty I was a little worried previously. The new engine is really nice, I look forward to see what you do with it.


Some questions:


1) Do you think it would be possible to add a way to go back a play previously cleared chapters? With so few save slots, I'd appreciate this. Of course, you'd probably want to disable any stat/item gains on repeat playthroughs.


2) You mentioned in the previous topic that you had developed a sex wrestling gameplay system (and I seem to recall a demo version of it being available?). I notice that it doesn't seem to be present in the current version of the game. Do you still intend to include it? Personally I hope so, because I like that type of content.

1) Is it feasible: yeah, everything can be coded since I'd only have to add conditionnal checks to prevent rewriting of game data. However, I'm overloaded with things to do so I'm not planning to do this for now.


Still, you know that you can easily save your game in files, right? They work really well, especially since you can save them on cloud to play on any other device.


2) https://fenoxo.com/forum/index.php?/topic/4464-html5-sexy-arenaadventure-guardians-of-the-crown-jewels/


I think a lot of people will like that game better, it's basically the melee engine of Hummingbirds with sexy stuff added. Win/Lose all lead to (skippable) sex scenes. I wanted to release Hummingbirds first since it's a way more complex game, but I believe I will get a lot more request for that one.


In more details: I dedicated my work upon creating real-time javascript combat, which is a lot harder to implement than you might think (way more complex than turn based, especially once you attempt to support mobile devices). Also, I didn't like the final implementation of the wrestling game; it was hard to understand and not as much fun as I thought. All in all, I think Night games does a better job of a detailed fight simulation than I can/wish to do. Hummingbirds and Guardians are more focused upon real-time reactions rather than perfect strategic choice.

 

[Scarebear]

btw I stopped reading the actual story once I got into the castle because Billy's and redhead's technobabble was really dreary and boring. I also sorta missed why I was supposed to care that french girl was missing. They set up some sort of sex game out in the woods and they don't come back in the evening, why would I even think something was wrong? Why couldn't he report it to the society? If they say everything is fine, why wouldn't it be? etc.


This story outline IMO takes itself way too seriously and tries to fit fantastical super powers into realistic terms and that just doesn't work. I hope the rest of the game is more fun.

+1


I stopped reading after thinking I was going to get into something sexy with the security guard only to get blue balled and thrown into a fight with some character I didn't care about.