Windows Lancerbird - A Joust Fangame

Gravedust

Member
Lancerbird is a free, Joust-inspired game where you flap around on giant birds and try to dismount enemies (and/or one another).
I started it as a Christmas present for a Joust-fan in my life and I've slowly been improving it since.
It's not really meant to be a faithful recreation; Quite a few changes have been made based on what I think is fun.
...Plus the whole thing is 1920x1080, so it's an incredibly inauthentic 8-bit arcade experience. ;)

But if you're a fan of the original this may scratch an itch for you. It's also proven to be a pretty fun party game!
Anyway, watch the video, you'll probably know whether you'll like it or not. :)

Quickie features: =====================================
• 1 or 2 players
• Keyboard or Gamepad controls
• Saved local high scores
• The Classic Joust level, plus 3 custom levels.
• Choose your mount and rider sprites. (if you ever wanted to ride a Buzzard, this is game has your back.)
• Player vs. Player Deathmatch.
• Ironlance mode (1 life, no extends. For the ultimate purist and/or sadist)
• Keepaway mode (all collisions kill you, RUN!!! Scored based on survival time.)
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Witness the hottest Lancerbird gameplay vid an unregistered Bandicam can handle:

Download link is here, game is free, please enjoy!
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www.gravedust.com/Lancerbird.zip [Windows] [~7Mb] [No installation]
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This game is technically complete, but there is more I'd like to do if I can justify spending the time. So from here on out, effect, future development is 100% enthusiasm powered. So, If you like it, let me know and I'll keep working on it :)

...Also please let me know if you encounter any crashes or other errors. I'll fix 'em.
All other feedback welcome as well. :)
 
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FaerieGodfather

Guest
If this project is now enthusiasm-based, please allow me to contribute thirty-leven enthusiasms to the cause.

Just downloaded it, haven't played it yet, so I don't know what features to beg you for.
 
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FaerieGodfather

Guest
That sucks! I'm not posting this to dismiss your bug report, but to add information to help fix it: I have not experienced this issue yet.

Ridiculous feature request:
online multiplayer
some kind of PCG sidescrolling mode (perhaps with rescue objective)
 

Gravedust

Member
Whoa. Got me wondering what that error was now. O_O

But cool, glad to see peeps are still picking this up on occasion. :) Thanks for giving it a try and I hope you had fun with it. :)

I've actually had it on my mind a bit these last few weeks, but time has been a bit tight. I do hope to loop back to it before the end of the year though.

I had actually given some thought to a side-scrolling mode, kind of a like a Golden Axe style 'move forward, stop to fight a bunch of dudes, move forward again' kind of deal, and/or a straight-up autoscroller. (I think it'd be fun to do vertical scrolling in addition to horizontal)

Online multiplayer would be cool, (and something I feel like I ought to learn how to implement anyway) I'd probably be more included to put in if there was a bit more interest.

Other things I do definitely want to put in include the remaining features for the original, such as the pterodactyl and the lava troll/hand thing…

But thanks for the responses, that will definitely help nudge it a bit closer to the front-burner. :)
 
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FaerieGodfather

Guest
I had actually given some thought to a side-scrolling mode, kind of a like a Golden Axe style 'move forward, stop to fight a bunch of dudes, move forward again' kind of deal, and/or a straight-up autoscroller. (I think it'd be fun to do vertical scrolling in addition to horizontal)
You ever play a game called River Raid?

What I'm thinking is a continuous side-scrolling mode, with each screen-width of map being procedurally generated, and enemies constantly spawning. Because of the intensity of the opposition, you need a lot of extra lives... which you get from having to rescue X of your fallen soldiers. Or even from "rescuing" defeated soldiers before their comrades do.

Online multiplayer would be cool, (and something I feel like I ought to learn how to implement anyway) I'd probably be more included to put in if there was a bit more interest.
What if... I keep repeatedly telling you I want it? That's interest, right?

Other things I do definitely want to put in include the remaining features for the original, such as the pterodactyl and the lava troll/hand thing…
Oh, man, I didn't even notice they weren't there.

But thanks for the responses, that will definitely help nudge it a bit closer to the front-burner. :)
Thanks for making this! It is so much of what I've wanted from a Joust clone!
 
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smashingparadox

Guest
Awesome game! I think it would be pretty fun to have a side-scrolling adventure mode based on the Arena type match. Something where you could collect power-ups along the way, or lose them if you get hit. Basically the original Mario formula, but still I think that would be pretty fun!
 

Gravedust

Member
Never seen this game before but it would be a cool to have a friend like you lol
Hehe, thanks. :)


You ever play a game called River Raid?
What I'm thinking is a continuous side-scrolling mode, with each screen-width of map being procedurally generated, and enemies constantly spawning. Because of the intensity of the opposition, you need a lot of extra lives... which you get from having to rescue X of your fallen soldiers. Or even from "rescuing" defeated soldiers before their comrades do.
Haven't heard of River Raid, will have to check it out so I can see what you're talking about. :) Procedural generation is something I have a little bit of experience with, and is probably possible given the map structure.
The way the screen is set up has a very large effect on gameplay, I notice, (part of why the original was so cool, the level configuration transitions could be used to alter the difficulty) so some care would probably need to be taken with how things are generated. Nothing that would make it too incredibly difficult, however.

What if... I keep repeatedly telling you I want it? That's interest, right?
That works, but with diminishing returns if that's the -only- reason you post. ;)

Thanks for making this! It is so much of what I've wanted from a Joust clone!
You're very welcome! I'm extremely glad you enjoy it. It's been a favorite of mine too for a long time. :)


Awesome game! I think it would be pretty fun to have a side-scrolling adventure mode based on the Arena type match. Something where you could collect power-ups along the way, or lose them if you get hit. Basically the original Mario formula, but still I think that would be pretty fun!
There definitely seems to be a lot of interest in some kind of single-player experience (myself included) so that will almost certainly go in at some point. :) I even got as far as making a prototype sprite for a single-player boss before I put Lancerbird on the back burner, I'll see if I can dig it up...
Yeah! Simple and effective gameplay!
Yeah, many props to the original Joust team for such a unique idea. I'm just doing what they did and then duct-taping in a few bells and whistles. :)
 

nevyn

Member
Hey Gravedust, this is a really good Joust implementation! I found it looking for a modern Joust to play with friends :)

Have you perhaps written your time steps with the assumption that the display is 60hz? 😅 if ran on a 240hz display, the game moves unplayably quick!

have you considered posting to Itch? I would love to pay for this game :)

if you want help porting to Mac or Linux, I volunteer my services!
 

Gravedust

Member
Hello! Glad you enjoyed the game. :)

It was written without using delta time functions, so I expect this can cause some wierdness on different systems. (Vsync also seems to mess with things sometimes in unexpected ways, I have a hard time testing for these things because all my home monitors support pretty similar display sizes and refresh rates of 60-75hz. )

Anyway, I don't have any plans to proceed with development on this game or sell it, but if you are familiar with GM I will happily pass the project file to you to fiddle with / port as you wish, though I'd ask that you not sell it either, and include me in the credits somewhere.

If not, I'm afraid I don't really have the time right now to add delta() into the project (especially without a way to really test if it's working or not :/ ) My schedule has gotten pretty clogged up. :(

But I'm very happy you had fun with the game, sorry for its technical deficiencies. :/

Feel free to PM me to discuss anything further. :)
 

HayManMarc

Member
Why haven't I seen this yet? Awesome job cloning Joust! (I miss the original joust sounds tho, haha) My only little criticism is that the AI seems too smart and able, sometimes. But then again, I wasn't really that good at the original either.

At any rate, I still love it! The extra bits are a really nice touch!

Thanks for the free game! I've added it to my collection!
 

Gravedust

Member
Hooray! Super happy to hear you enjoyed it. :) It was a lot of fun to work on.

If you liked Lancerbird you might also like Defendergroove (link in sig) which is a Defender rework, as the name might suggest. ;)
Different aesthetic but a similar amount of love and polish.

In any case, thanks for the kind words, they really made my day. :)
 
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