Games in Wales: "The Last Peacock! Lite" by Wild Melon Games

I thought it would be good to start highlighting some of the indie games that are coming out from welsh development groups. The industry in Wales is already on it's way up, with some larger companies receiving colossal amounts of funding from the welsh government and EU investments in the country. There is also a network of thriving independently funded development groups (or not funded at all) that are beginning to churn out their first titles.

I'm not sure if I personally know the devs of this game, I know I've met them at events at some point. I think I may have spent a night drinking in a hotel in Nottingham a few years ago with one of them...or that could be a different guy, my memory is not great under the influence of alcohol. Anyway, their game was released today! "The Last Peacock! Lite" is the free to play beta version of what promises to be a larger and more content filled game coming in January 2014!

Jump you pretty little sod! jump like you're the last of your species!

Game Title: The Last Peacock! Lite
Dev team: Wild Melon Games
Link: GoogePlay Link

The Story
The player takes on the role of "Percy", The last of his species in a world that has been overrun by what the game terms "Dragons" but from what I've seen they look more like feathered dinosaurs...which to me is more interesting...almost like a time travel sort of thing, the peacocks of modern day reverting to a primeval form that is more dinosaur than modern bird. The 'Dragons' have also mastered the craft of creating large metal bear-trap like spiky things of doom that need to be avoided at all cost.

The play mechanics
The gameplay is simple. The player is set on a 2D side scrolling plane with platforms to jump on and the inevitable fall into the void below. standard infinite runner. The level is generated randomly so there is no learning jump patterns really. Though similar platform patterns pop up regularly so you do get used to certain layouts and how to tackle them. The player has control of two buttons. one to jump and the other to "dash". The dash is used to destroy enemies and traps, the player can use the jump button to double jump as well if needed. Points are scored for how long you survive. The player also has to collect golden feathers dotted on the track. when five of these feathers are collected the player has the option to turn themselves temporarily into a super peacock. It's very hard, at least it is for me. 

I had to get screenshots early...I didnt last very long and screenshots are hard to do on a Nexus 7

The Graphics
The only thing that lets the visual look of this game down so far is the background art. I'm not 100% what it is that spoils it for me, maybe it's the blur, maybe it's the pixelated look compared to the crisp clean look of the foreground graphics. It could even just be the forms and shapes of it all in general. I'm not sure. The foreground graphics look good. The platforms are pretty standard floating muddy blocks covered in grass and the characters are great looking. The animations on the player character are almost spot on though I would have gone for a more 'roadrunner' outstretched neck look. The player peacock does feel like he is sprinting casually, it looks a bit awkward but I am probably just nit picking. The jump animation is solid. The HUD graphics are spot on, nicely opaque and comfortably arranged. Though on a 7 inch tablet I had trouble reaching the middle button to activate hyper peacock mode if I was holding the tablet up off of a surface. That's probably just me not being very dexterous with touch screen devices though.

The Sound
I don't know much about sound design at all and I don't pretend to so all I can say about the sound is that there are nice sound cues for the actions the player takes and an upbeat cartoony soundtrack to fail to, or win to if you are anyone but me. Needs more ambient sounds, maybe even a subtle footstep noise for the player. Little things.

The Verdict
I like this game, I can see its potential and I know people love these sorts of games. Nothing really new mechanically but I doubt there are many peacock vs. dragon games out there and the graphics are tasty on the eyes. Hope the devs are careful not to load up the full version with pay to win opportunities and I hope they deliver on their promised epic boss battles! Can't wait to play the full version and see, you should go download and check out this version now! Help support the industry in Wales and rate/review on the play store!

As always, Thanks for reading!