Ravenhaul
Welcome to Ravenhaul, the kingdom's premier bird mail service!
Queen Isadora III needs a high performing avian delivery service, and you are the right one to make her happy!
Get birds, get patrons, get contracts - Work hard, peck hard, enjoy your hard earned kernels, that's how we roll in bird county.
Controls:
- WASD / Arrow Keys = move/fly
- E = use
- Q = drop
- Space = jump
Overview:
- take delivery items from the window area and bring them to a bird to send them off
- accept new contracts and patrons at your desk
- buy new birds at the bird merchant
- raise your reputation to unlock special perks and new patrons
- stock up on food when prices are low to save a buck
Important: if you want to rate the game for Ludum Dare, be sure to download Ravenhaul_1.0_Jam_Submission. The other versions are "post-jam". They are not fundamentally different and still the same game, but have a better balance, better usability, better display of information and small features added.
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Comments
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This seems to be a hidden gem after scrolling through thousand horror games here. I love this game, the design, the music, the game play, everything. Thank you for creating this.
Btw, somehow my character kicked parcels and letters into the contract room or departure hall, I couldn't pick up these parcels to deliver so I had to pay the penalties many times. Hopefully the developers will take note of this point
do the birds die if you dont feed them
No. If you don't feed them, you will automatically buy the necessary seeds at the end of the day at whatever the market price is. Always best to keep an eye on it and buy low so you aren't forced into buying at an expensive time!
the game have save?
No, not currently, see comments below where the dev has responded to previous request for it: https://itch.io/post/10230462
ty
i don't know how to carry two letters, pls someone teaches me how to do it
You can upgrade your birds to gain the ability, or you can buy one from the seller who has the ability
I upgrade my bird to carry two letters but I give it a letter, my bird just flies away, I can not give it another letter
It has to be a letter from a contract with multiple letters. Give the upgraded bird one of the letters, and it will take a second one on its own.
It only works for single deliveries that have multiple letters, e.g. some of the Irongate Blacksmith deliveries. It won't let them do two different single-letter deliveries at once.
men, I'm not blind to not see it, I wait but my bird does not take the second letter, my bird has that ability but it does not work. If it works why do I need to ask
Sometimes on itch.io I find deep strategy games with cool concepts but lacking charm. Sometimes I find games that are very polished visually but that lack content.
More rarely I find game that do both, and today was one of these days. Thanks a lot for this game, I love every minute I spent on it!
New comment for new version! :)
I installed the PostJam version (dated: 2023-05-23) using the itch.io app on Windows 10.
First general comments: WOW, this is way different from the previous version... a lot more streamlined and with some information management made significantly easier, though I will note that the extra information and how some of the old information now matters more means the information handling load is pretty heavy, though due to the extended play time (WITH NO SAVE) caused by the need to get each patron on the list rather than skipping some is useful for teaching more about how the system work and working on that muscle memory but also makes it less likely that I have a play session long enough to finish the game... so the end game will not get play tested or only one or twice I'm afraid.
I'll also add that the absolute need to get the range numbers right due to tightening up the speed and distance requirements make it possible to stuff yourself going onto a new patron... I couldn't deliver anything for the smiths for ages because I had to save up for birds that could do the work and the fastest apothecary note was also a long term saving project (made worse because I over committed due to not realising that one of my crows didn't have the range and not correctly sequencing things).
I appreciate being able to see how my birds are flying as well as being given times for sleep and return though the jump in speed of sleeping between minimal and short is rather big, no? It definitely makes getting some birds to minimal or just not bothering to upgrade that at all and going for speed as long as they have enough range. I think overall this part of the game is the hardest as I've already had to sell one bird (and extend my playthrough) because the upgrades I made didn't match what I later needed from said bird - I like that it was feasible to do this but maybe not the reason (a lack of information about what ranges are actually needed - can I suggest that either the birds' and delivery items' range be listed in the same way as sleep and not to require exact numbers (do these birds really count the exact kms they fly?? or change the patron list to include a maximum range in numbers for them?) Also see below...
Bugs:
I can no longer get trapped in the shop thanks to every overlay screen properly pausing the action and time and note being able to click on the shop once it is leaving *yay* but I did get trapped in the shop when I went to sell a bird, then hit cancel without selecting a nest (I planned and then decided against selling a bird right then) the overlay screen went away but I could not click on anything or us keys when later started causing beeping, as if they were being queued? However I accidentally pressed right click and everything started working again... so not a soft lock unless you don't know to press a button never used in the game! ;)
The predicted arrived time for one note said I would be late but my bird made it anyway... I sent it just after it ticked over from being unlikely to arrive in time but never-the-less it made it just fine... so the predictor is inaccurate despite having three possible outcomes; arrives in time, might arrive in time, definitely won't - I didn't have a choice with that one as I had a spare bird and it would be late with any other I might send it with hence sending it anyway...
I went into debt by almost a 100 credits when I bought the kernel silo upgrade for 500 credits when I had over 850 credits... it looks like it charged me for the grain I already had in the silo as well as the silo upgrade?
I ran out of time to test more but I am worried that I will have to sink a lot of time in to discover why herons have such long ranges even though so far that is useless as the only long range deliver is a note that has to go super fast (and therefore by pigeon).
Anyway, the PostJam version is way better overall even though it might have become worse in one or two ways and also exacerbated the lack of saving quite a bit!
Best wishes and although I hope for more updates to this I am just happy that you appear to enjoy your work here enough to stay in contact with your players! :) - it seems to be a little rare and unfortunately a lot of those who do also don't seem to have the time to do much about bugs (especially in anything but their most recent game *sigh*).
<3
Thank you so much, wow! It is rare to get this extensive feedback, i appreciate it. The save function is dearly missing, i agree. We love Ravenhaul and would like to continue with it and improve it, but right now we don't have the time to do it. Just too many games on our plate. We do this for a living, and we take the freedom to make a jam game for a week 2-3 times a year, but we can't put in much more time because they are free games and we can't work extended periods for free. So, i can empathize with devs needing to move on to their next game. We have 18 games on itch and 2 more on steam, and even if i love them all, we can't keep working on them all.
To the feedback: don't worry, without a save and some bugs around the later stages can be a bit straining to reach. I'd love for you to be around if we eventually can continue working on the game (making it into a full release). My hope is that we can do that next year, but plans change a lot over time.
I really like the suggestion of not having a numeric value for the distance. That would make it a lot more accessible i think, easier to understand, while providing the same challenge. It is a direction question too, whether it is a more hardcore management game or more on the cozy friendly side.
I do like that you met some challenge with finding or training the right bird - this is exactly what i wanted from the patrons, to pose a challenge to your birds. Some later patrons have long ranges or big parcels as delivery, which you need the herons for.
You are welcome to the feedback... I generally try to give feedback to all the devs of games I try and especially ones I play regularly, especially in the review but sometimes in the comments too if there is a lot but some of it might be easy to change. I'm happy to help out as I myself would love to develop games and contribute to a few but I have so little time and my origin was as an alpha tester of computer games so this is just a little light exercise for my mind (I am genuinely suprised I missed reporting the source of my copy of the game and not checking the version! But at least that little wrinkle is easy enough to fix :)
I didn't realise you had so many games but then there are always more platforms, right?
As to you feedback responses; I'm glad I was able to suggest something helpful and maybe these bug reports might make it a little easier to put in fixes. As for the patrons, I like the mechanic but I found it harder to stomach because I just don't have the time to dedicate to a whole run through, especially with the increased time due to having to mess a little to get exactly the right bird... I suppose over time as I play again and again I will develop a more streamlined understanding of the game systems and so not have so much trouble but by then I guess I will be much worse at spotting issue and wrinkles in the game since I'll be accustomed to them :/ - this is what always causes issues towards the ends of games if one is not careful with ones testing (as so many AAA titles can atest!)
All the best with your new projects and I'll just hang a little hope that some of the issues with this one can be ironed out in time :) <3
begging for a save function 🙏 i LOVE this game
Right, this is an amazing game but could be so much better if there were not so many weird GUI issues, bugs and two odd choices.
GUI: Mixing the mouse and keyboard feels weird to start with and gets downright horrible later on with lots of birds, even the keyboard is objecting since pressing two keys at once often/always locks the vertical movement out and you slide awkwardly along the horizontal. Having to go to the bottom and then to each bird (especially pigeons) for each message (even when messages are grouped) is cute to start with but gets frustrating fast with lots of messages and birds... I spent more time giving messages than I did anything else in the game and paying attention to deadlines was not worth it beyond half-way through the game... make sure your birds are upgraded and just send them with the right size package plus don't take on the apothacary or the other short deadline patron... not worth the trouble because there is too much time just trying to get message to birds in the roost.
Bugs: Upgrades to birds cost nothing despite what it says. Birds taking twice as long as they should (occassionally but impactfully in the case of multi-parcel deliveries, especially with the queen given the hit to reputation is at least twenty well sent packages... plus the time it takes to do so given the decline in reputation over time. Looking at the bird seller screen when they leave the page makes it so you can't leave that page ever again... this is a HARD RESET BUG. Kernels seem to jump in price by ten times once you go into buying them individually (whatever the price marked) - I was within days tens of thousands in debt due to having run out of kernels... no the price being charged for kernels was not matched by what was being charged automatically. Going into debt doesn't end the game? It is not possible to leave debt though as the cost of kernels far outstrips your ability to make money.
Design choices: keyboard plus mouse. no save function. little to no information on the main stat in the game (reputation), it seems to be impacted by debt status, failed packages (by a huge degree) but not improved for delivering early or for larger deliveries (because four stork delivery a day ahead of time is entirely normal for a forge!?! Never mind four note deliveries over 1400kms on the same day - and that wasn't even a short deadline!?!?)
I have to say this feels a lot like a game that was always playtested from beginning to end (given the lack of saving this is even less surprise) and therefore the start of the game experience is very good and then the end of game experience is a terrible mishmash because little problems magnify to become big problems because the choice of "difficulty" curve was "all of them" (more packages, more reputations to maintain, more birds, less time (caused by a slow and inefficient UI) and way too much information that just can not be parsed in time... I would challenge you to create an automated bot to play this game to the end without having the same issues as human players (which given their speed suggests that the mechanics of the game themselves are the problem, not human skill).
Anyway, I have to say that this game starts out great and I could see it doing well in competitions where completion is not necessary but remember that fans will complete your games and may not stay fans if the game drops off in quality as one progresses through it... this is a real problem in clicker games, time blocking games and AAA games that playtest only the first few hours of their games because after that no refunds are possible.
All the best and keep on improving :)
Thank you so much for the extensive feedback! Just so i can understand the feedback correctly: Which version did you play? browser or downloadable? Post jam or jam submission?
We made the game in 3 days and then took a few days of that week to balance, polish some things and fix some bugs. From the description it does sound a bit like you played the jam submission.
Apologies for entirely forgetting to specify my system information. I installed the game using the itch.io app in Windows 10 which I believe usually makes it the latest available version of the app... but I've just double checked and it looks like it defaulted to the Jam version, so yes, I will need to double check this lot - apologies... I be back to you with what I can find once I've played the latest version. I have to say I'm a little perturbed as every time I've had reason to check previously it was indeed the lastest version installed by default, I wonder what happened this time?
Okay I've found why the PostJam version is not the default to install. The Jam version's data file lists the Jam version as having been updated 26th November, 2023 but the PostJam version is listed as having been created and updated at 23 May 2023 so the app finds the latest version to be the Jam submission and therefore installs that by default and it is not obvious from the interface that there are other versions... indeed the "Install" button is visible once seeing the very top of the page so someone my never see the list of versions before deciding to install the programme and then the drop down for other versions exists whether there are other versions in that dropdown or not and so it is not clear if a programme has an alternate version without active clicking on the dropdown to find what other versions there are.
All this means that since your latest updated version (according to the metadata the app uses) is the Jam version that was "updated" 26th November 2023 and so that is given as the default (by the looks of it). I presume that, if nothing else, you "update" the PostJam version this issue will be fixed nd you'll stop getting so many reports about the Jam version! ;) <3
Ah, now i understand the logic behind it. The installer will probably choose the first entry in the list that matches your OS. The jam build was older than the post jam (which makes sense), but it was listed as the first build. I fixed that, thank you for the info! That should make many player experiences better.
Guys this is amazing but im begging for a save game mech!! (and maybe more content because this I the perfect cozy game).
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Absouloutely perfect!
Very nice.
love the game! unfortunately, it always freezes up after I unlock the queen
Amazing game! I wish it had a save system as it did take me three hours to complete, but I had a very good time :D The update system for the birds is very well though out in my opinion and the art style is absolutely wonderful!
Love the game so much (honestly i wish there was a save button) but it's really nice love it pls expand more
:D
there was a bug were a letter got stuck on the wall and i couldn't pick it up?
I love this game, it's relaxing and the art and soundtrack are so beautiful and lovely. Perfect to play while waiting something, or when you want to relax. It makes me feel cozy <3
Really the only thing I can say I missed a bit is what everyone already suggested, a way to save the progress, but tbh not finishing it will make me play more so I won't complain lol
I love this game so much, I would love it even more if you could save your progress! Other than that, I love it!
i really like this and would love to see a save function
One of the best games I ever played. I would love to see updates!
What an unforgettable work in "gaming as art" this birdy arcade management game was ! Totally deserves some "unique game concept" award on indie games events )
Absolutely love the game!! It's so entertaining without having to be overwhelming, having a comforting feel to it. As I've read from other comments, you've got your hands full now, but I would love to see more things (a full version & a saving system) added in the future!
Until then, I'll keep enjoying it as it is (´ ε ` )♡
Add a save system
This game eats GPU like nothing else. Is it just the web version? Because it leaves gpu at 99% and nothing else can be done on my pc. Nvidia RTX A3000 6GB Vram
ah, it might run without a frame limit, i'm not sure (has been so long!). I don't even remember if it is supported ingame, but if you activate vsync it should be fine.
While it's a wonderful game I wish it had a save function since its extremely prone to crashing. This is being typed out after I just lost all my progress due to a crash. Otherwise wonderful game!
Please add a save function!!! What a wonderful game!!
This game was so fun, I played for hours! Only thing is I wish there was a save. Prior to downloading, I played on the web and the game would occasionally crash which caused me to lose my data and become underwhelmed. Overall really great game, would love to see you guys add on to it!! Can't wait to see more from you guys! :)
One thing only i want to savee my progresssss
I've been really loving this game since I played quite a while ago, the gameplay and overall look is so fun and I love the concept.
Keep up the good work!
I made an account just so I can say how much I enjoyed this game! It had the right balance of task management and relaxing atmosphere for me.
I had some crashing issues with the PostJam version as other people have mentioned. Eventually was able to get a successful session in on my third attempt and meet the beautiful queen. To anyone reading, there is no save function in this version but you can pause with the menu screen. My sessions were about 2-3 hours.
I hope you find time to revisit this (and maybe develop a full version please) in the future! I'll enjoy Dome Keeper in the meantime!
Thank you, appreciated! Sorry about the buggy state, i wish we had the time to do a bug hunting round. But we got our hands more than full right now. My hopes are the same though, that we'll be able to expand this and make it a full game :)
LOVED THE GAME
who wants a save function
MEEE
at least an auto save to allow reloading after a crash
More fun than I expected :)
for some reson in web the audio is really glitchy
Can you please allow us to save the game i hate restarting
I concur, it is really annoying getting far in the game just to have to restart and pray get good birds again.
exactly i had like 5k and when i entered it went to 0
It took about 2-3 hours but I finished it :)
When I moved a nest I accidentally click on wrong nest so I press Q because I thought it will cancel but after that the nest I choose disappear, when I check the bird I see it still in the desk but I can't see or interact with the bird, I try to use the "move a bird" again and click all over the house but still nothing.
Hope you understand what I'm saying because I tried to use google translate but it just keeps getting worse :/
This is *such* a sweet game! But it crashed for me at around day 14 :(
I still had so much fun though!! Hard recommend
there are like a bunch of bugs like when you try to remove a birds nest sometimes the game completly freezes but overall amazing jam! i would love to see this turned into a full fledged game
bro i think the game crashed
still an amazing game pls fix bug i would love to finish the game
It's so fun ;-; please, please please can you make a save file option, even just a .txt for the desktop? The game seems to crash about a month in and I really wanna beat it!
🥺🥺🥺