Show HN: Beakdown – a game inspired by Joust/Skirmish

Posted by novlrdotcom 4 days ago

I used to play Joust with my little brother on the BBC Micro many moons ago and have fond memories of it. So when I was experimenting with Claude Opus 5 it was a nice inspiration for this game.

Did a little research and found there aren't many games out there that just work in a browser without ads, loading screens or account sign-ups. So I've put this directly on the landing page with no noise in the way - it works on any browser on any device and loads instantly.

If it doesn't work at all, please tell me. And also let me know if you think it needs music - I went without it to begin with but don't know if that's what people would prefer or not.

Would also love to know how far you get, my personal best is 199,000.

Thanks for your interest!

Comments

Comment by smartBean 4 days ago

I spent many hours playing Joust/Skirmish with my brother on our BBC B. This is a very nice interpretation. The mobile controls are good. One tiny nitpick, and to be honest I don’t know how you’d solve this for mobile, is that on the original you had 3 controls - left, right and flap. On this version there is just flap left and flap right, which completely makes sense for mobile. I miss the ability to hover though, which with the direction agnostic flap on the original you can do, it not on this one. Apart from that, great.

Comment by novlrdotcom 4 days ago

Thank you! Yeah on desktop there are three controls but I don't know how I could solve for this on mobile... Any ideas welcome

Comment by jmpavlec 3 days ago

Wouldn't on screen controls of the three options at the bottom work.. ? At least on my phone there was a big empty space by the bottom.

Comment by novlrdotcom 3 days ago

I ended up adding controls for the sound effects and music at the bottom of the screen (so it's not empty anymore). Appreciate the feedback :)

Comment by novlrdotcom 3 days ago

Yeah true good point

Comment by JohnJohnson123 4 days ago

Hey this game was fun - I kept on trying to use the UP button to jump instead of Space, but I think that's more of a user error issue as I realised it says it on the landing page. It was also a little counterintuitive to land on the other birds instead of trying to hit them with my horn/beak :D

I think it's good to have some sort of sound option, but with a toggle that's easy to switch off - could just be sound effects instead of music. Kind of need the sound to be relatively good and matching the game otherwise it can be more annoying than not.

Comment by novlrdotcom 4 days ago

Actually if you're still there (or anyone else reading), what kind of music do you think would suit the game? I'm thinking of adding sound effects plus music and making them two separate toggles the players can choose to have on or off.

Comment by JohnJohnson123 4 days ago

I'm not too sure on the music - but Flappy Bird is probably a good inspiration for some of the sound effects! I'd make the music not relatively low key/not too intense

Comment by novlrdotcom 3 days ago

Hey mate - I've added sound effects and music - would love to get your take on it!

beakdown.fun

Comment by novlrdotcom 4 days ago

Nice one! I'll follow that thread and create some music similar to that - appreciate it

Comment by novlrdotcom 4 days ago

Nice feedback, perfect!! Thanks so much

Comment by sparrish 4 days ago

The cardinals that just stay at the top are OP.

Comment by novlrdotcom 4 days ago

Takes a bit of skill to kill em - try dropping down to the bottom - they'll follow you - then get on top of them while they still have downward momentum.

Or take out all the blues first and see if you get lucky with an invincibility star.