A Murder of Crows
About
A Murder of Crows is a challenging 2D platformer inspired by games such as Unfair Mario (2011). Players guide the Crow Priest through a dangerous map, using a murder of crows to scout ahead and uncover hidden traps while trying to reach the end with as few deaths as possible.
Project Info
Role(s): Game Developer
Team Size: 1
Timeline: 01 Feb 2022 - 05 Feb 2022
Engine & Tools: Unity (C#), Aseprite
Tags: 2D, Action, Adventure, Difficult, Platformer, Puzzle
Updated: Mar, 2026
The game was developed in five days as part of a private rapid ideation event (Game Jam) for the Development Practice (GDO710) module during my postgraduate degree in Indie Game Development at Falmouth University. The theme for the jam was “A Crow Priest”, drawn from a Dixit card.
For this project, I took inspiration from difficult 2D platformers such as Unfair Mario, where players learn the layout of the level through trial and error, discovering hidden traps by dying and restarting at checkpoints. In A Murder of Crows, the player controls the Crow Priest alongside three crow companions, with the ability to temporarily take control of the crows to scout ahead and locate dangers before progressing.
At the end of the level, the game records how many times the player died and how many crows were used. The challenge comes from completing the level while keeping both numbers as low as possible.
The event itself spanned two weeks: Week 1 focused on planning, while Week 2 was dedicated to production. The art assets (excluding the player sprite) were outsourced, and all sound effects were sourced from freesound.org and copyright-free content on YouTube. After the five-day development period, the game was submitted and published on itch.io.
As the solo Game Developer, I developed the player controller and programmed the movement mechanics for the three crow companions. I also implemented enemy AI, projectiles, scoring systems, checkpoints, and UI screens.
I created the Crow Priest sprite in Aseprite, ensuring it matched the game’s visual style. The level itself was designed and built using Unity’s built-in tile editor. Finally, throughout development, I conducted regular playtesting and gathered feedback from five external playtesters to refine the overall experience.
One of the things I enjoyed most about this jam was the creative freedom. Aside from the theme of the Dixit card, there were very few restrictions, so I decided to explore a genre I hadn’t worked with for a while: the classic challenging 2D platformer.
I remembered the popularity of extremely difficult platformers whose appeal comes from their trial-and-error gameplay. I wanted to recreate that style while introducing a unique twist that would make the experience slightly more manageable. That idea eventually became the crow scouting mechanic, allowing players to control crows to explore the level and discover traps ahead of time.
Managing Crow Companions with a C# Queue
With help from my friend Matt Corben, we implemented a FIFO queue system for the crows. When the player takes control of a crow, and its timer expires, the next crow in the queue becomes controllable while a new crow flies in to replace the one that was lost. This cycle repeats, ensuring the player always has three crows available.
If I had more time on the project, I would have liked to add additional polish, such as animating the Crow Priest and improving the level visuals with more environmental decals and props. That said, I am very happy with the result, given the five-day development window.