Alright, so someone asked me about this “dory bird” thing I was messing with. It wasn’t some grand project, more like a weekend adventure when I was trying to see if I could actually finish something for a change. You know how it is, tons of ideas, not so many finished products.
Getting Started – Or Stumbling, Rather
So, the idea was simple enough: a flappy bird type game, but with Dory. Seemed like a bit of fun. First thing I did was fire up my old laptop and the game engine I usually tinker with. Didn’t want to get fancy, just something to get pixels moving on the screen. I figured, how hard could it be, right? Famous last words.
I grabbed some free fish sprite that vaguely looked like Dory. Don’t judge, I’m no artist. My main goal was to get the flapping mechanic working. Tap the screen, fish goes up. Gravity pulls it down. Sounds basic, but getting that to feel even remotely okay took way longer than I care to admit. It was either too floaty or Dory would drop like a rock.
The “Fun” Part – Obstacles and Crashing
Once Dory was sort of flapping, I needed something for her to dodge. Instead of green pipes, I thought, hey, it’s Dory, let’s try some coral or seaweed. So I spent a good hour trying to draw something that didn’t look like a toddler’s crayon scribble. It still looked pretty bad, but whatever, it was an obstacle.
Then came the collision detection. Oh boy. Here’s what I went through:
- First attempt: Dory just flew right through the seaweed. Useless.
- Second attempt: Dory would hit the seaweed and just get stuck, vibrating angrily. Looked ridiculous.
- Third attempt: I actually got her to stop, but the detection area was all wrong. She’d die even if she was miles away from the seaweed.
I swear, I was ready to throw the whole thing out the window. It’s always these tiny little details that eat up all your time. You think you’re making progress, and then BAM, something stupid breaks.
Making it Look… Slightly Better
The background was just a plain blue color for ages. It felt so dead. I spent a bit of time trying to add some bubbles, maybe a gradient to make it look more like water. It helped a little, but let’s be honest, it wasn’t going to win any art awards. Sound effects? I found some generic “blub blub” sound for the flap and a dull thud for when Dory inevitably crashed. High-quality stuff, you see.
I also slapped together a super basic scoring system. Pass a seaweed, get a point. Again, nothing groundbreaking. The game over screen was just text saying “You Lost!” because by that point, my creativity was running on fumes.
So, What’s the Verdict?
In the end, I had a “dory bird” game. It worked, mostly. Dory flapped, she dodged (or mostly crashed into) seaweed, and you got a score. Was it good? Nah, not really. It was clunky, looked amateurish, and was probably frustrating to play for more than 30 seconds.
But here’s the thing: I actually finished it, in my own very loose definition of “finished.” It wasn’t about making the next big hit. It was just about going through the motions, solving little problems, and having something, anything, to show for a weekend of messing around. Sometimes, that’s all you need. It’s a good reminder that even simple stuff takes effort, and not everything you build has to change the world. Sometimes, you just build a dory bird because you can, and then you move on to the next silly idea.
