8bit Doves

8bit Doves is an action mobile game based on a Nitrome Jam entry scheduled for release on iOS and Android 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.

The game was first announced as in development for both iOS and Android on June 30 2014.

Controls
The game uses only two buttons.

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

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

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.

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.

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 palette is slightly adjusted to be lighter in colour (see menu comparison).
 * 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