8bit Doves

8bit Doves is an action mobile game based on a Nitrome Jam entry. It was released for Android and iOS devices on August 27, 2014. The game will be launched for Windows Phone at a later date. The player controls a flying man as he tries to collect doves while trying to reach the level's finish line.

A spin off of 8bit Doves titled Endless Doves was released on November 12 2012.

Controls
Tap left side of the screen - turn up Tap right side of the screen - turn down

Gameplay
8bit Doves retains its core gameplay from the Jam version of collecting doves while trying to reach the finish line at the end of each level.

Plot
8bit Doves is set in a futuristic post apocalyptic world, with a sleeping flying man strapped to a Gameboy while in a prison. Doves have entered into the man's prison, their chirping causing dreams of flight inside the mind of the flying man where he is trapped in an 8bit virtual reality world.

Level packs
8bit Doves is split into three level packs: Sweet Dreams, Deep Sleep, and Nightmare.

Avatars
When 8bit Doves was released a link on the game's menu allowed the player to log into their Nitrome account and unlock four 8bit Doves exclusive avatars. These avatars will only be able to be unlocked through this method, people without the game unable to unlock these avatars.

An option to receive the avatars is on the main navigation screen after the Nightmare level pack. This icon shows a flying man avatar emerging from a pink gift box; everything is in green and gray. By selecting the icon, the device's browser will load, displaying a screen with the profiles module. The user can then log into their account to receive the four avatars.

Development

 * See also: Jam:8bit Doves

The Jam version of 8bit Doves was created in five days for the Nitrome Jam. Mat Annal - one of Nitrome's co founders - did the game's art while Icebreaker A Viking Voyage programmer Arthur Guibert did the programming. Unlike all of Nitrome's other browser games, 8bit Doves was made in Unity instead of Adobe Flash. Prior to development of the mobile version of the game starting, Arthur Guibert while bored made the Jam version of 8bit Doves run on iPhone, which may have been influential in the decision to make the game a full fledged mobile title as the game worked "really well" on an iPhone.

Development of the mobile release of 8bit Doves presumably started soon after the Jam, as the Jam version's composer William Bard shared how after the Jam he had been contacted by Nitrome to make music for the game, although he only specified the game as "8bit Doves" and not that it was the mobile version (which had not yet been revealed).

On June 30th 2014, Nitrome officially revealed the game on Twitter and later published a more formal Nitrome blog post about the game. The revamping of the mobile page on July 15th 2014 also caused Nitrome to put up a banner on the page for 8bit Doves, which also revealed the game would be coming to Windows Phone. The next day, Nitrome uploaded a video of 8bit Doves being played on a Windows Phone.

The game's Jam version was used as a starting point for the mobile game, though the use of the Jam version's levels in the mobile version was disputed. Originally the Jam levels were going to be ported in their original (or near-original) form to the mobile version, though later the attitude towards this changed to using to using some of the Jam levels in the game or using the general ideas expressed in the Jam levels and using them in other new levels of the game.

Though one criticism of 8bit Doves was how short the first release was (being only 30 levels), the reason behind this was so Nitrome could be able to create more levels for the game at a reasonable pace, as past experience with making the level packs of Icebreaker A Viking Voyage "epic" caused Nitrome to take longer to release level packs, and subsequently when they were released to not have that large an audience.

Info regarding new gameplay elements were announced on July 30th 2014, along with a video of the second level pack "Deep Sleep". A video of the game running on iPad was released on August 8th 2014. Nitrome announced on August 26th that the game would be released the next day, and also uploaded the game's trailer. The game was finally released on August 27th 2014 for iOS and Android, with a Windows Phone version coming later.

The reason for the delay of 8bit Doves on Windows Phone is due to Nitrome wanting to get editorial coverage of the game from Microsoft when the game is released as Nitrome thinks that without this coverage the game would make very little money. Currently Nitrome is still in discussion with Microsoft for this.

The game was put on sale for a limited time starting on November 19 2014.

Release

 * See also: Special announcements

8bit Doves was released on August 27th 2014, along with its website updated with information pertaining to the game. Though the game was released on August 27th, the game's trailer was released the previous day.

Version 1.0
Version 1.0 was the first version of 8bit Doves released, released on August 27th 2014 for all versions.

Version 1.1
Released on September 2nd 2014 for Android (Google Play), this update added a level select feature to the game, fixed some bugs, updated the game's icon, added sounds to the ending, and added a few more doves on empty levels. Due to Apple taking long to approve the update, this update was not released for iOS until September 12th.

Version 1.2
Version 1.2 saw an Android release on September 4th 2014. This update added a back button when navigating menus and brought Google Play Services improvements for functions that used it.

Version 1.3.1
This version was released on Android on September 9th 2014. This update fixed a few bugs.

Image gallery

 * See also: 8bit Doves/Gallery

Jam version differences

 * See also: Sweet Dreams

The mobile version of 8bit Doves will contain a few changes that will either mostly or entirely regard content from the Jam version, these changes made due to the rushed nature of the Jam version and the smartphones/tablets it is being ported to.
 * The menu is slightly different from the Jam version. The differences are that the flying man is wearing a different helmet, one that is light coloured on top and has a box placed over his eyes. His nose is also slightly different. Also, the Gameboy has been shifted down a bit, from being above the pipes to down a bit behind them. Note that the mobile version's menu lacks birds; this picture was provided by Nitrome on the Nitrome blog, and despite lacking doves the actual menu has them.
 * The game has a wider screen.
 * Instead of the player starting a level by moving in an arc either to the left or right (as in the Jam version), the player will start a level in a bed, with the player either being launched forward or horizontally (depending on the bed). This new method for starting a level was used as many beta testers for the mobile version were crashing into a wall using the Jam method of starting a level.
 * The level completion sound is different.
 * Movement speed is increased.
 * Levels have different background art.
 * Frame rate is increased.

Sales
Nitrome has not specified anything regarding 8bit Doves' revenue gain on either the Apple App store or the Google Play store.

8bit Doves sold very poorly on the Amazon App Store, the game's situation on this platform described by Nitrome as "we pretty much got 0 downloads".

Promotions
8bit Doves along with Roller Polar were featured on the Apple App store on December 29 2014 in the section "Best Game's You've Never Played".

PC release
Nitrome has stated that a desktop version of 8bit Doves is possible, citing the game being made in Unity as the reason for this.

Windows Phone release
8bit Doves is currently delayed on Windows Phone due to Nitrome wanting to get editorial coverage of the game from Microsoft when the game is released as Nitrome thinks that without this coverage the game would make very little money. Currently Nitrome is still in discussion with Microsoft for this.

Trivia

 * The game's icon was changed in the 1.1 update from a dove to the flying man, due to the possibility of the game being mistaken as a Flappy Bird clone due to the presence of the dove, and also to make the icon unusual so people may investigate further.