SAVE MY KNEES!

by keys-presser

co-authored: @artemy-zen, @ben-yazi, @sohei

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.97

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.72

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.58

Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.25

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.47

Audio★★★★★★★★★★4.05

Humor★★★★★★★★★★4.11

Mood★★★★★★★★★★4.00

Bird, debt, and crab races gone wrong.

You’re a beach bird who backed the wrong crab at the races. Now a charmingly unpleasant bookie owns your debt — and he’s fond of kneecaps. Time the tide, dash in, grab shells, and make it back to dry sand before the waves wipe your haul or a crab nicks it. Pay the debt, save the knees.

How to play

1) Watch the tide. Beach zones follow a tide cycle: they open and close on a loop.

2) Sprint in, grab shells, run back.

3) Finish assignments to get pearls, buy upgrades and pay down your debt.

How to finish the game

Pay all your debt.

Crab race

You can try to win the crab race, but be prepared to say goodbye to your pearls — there's only all-in bets there.

Controls

Move: WASD

Dash: Shift

Interact/Pick up: E or Space

Buy and bet: LMB

Tags: #no ai, #pixel art, #singleplayer

Genres: adventure

Tools: GameMaker

Comments21

gKthegkpchannel6 Oct 2025, 23:46

very nice, i like.
look up the penguin that swam to australia

LDJam user 2217507 Oct 2025, 15:18

Nice, has vibes from old quest games somehow, love animations. Progress is a bit tedious though, feels like first quests should be much simpler...

SmVynt7 Oct 2025, 21:35

Nice game loop. Managed to finish on the wave 82. (Slow, i guess?). Art is stunning.

lizardinblizzard8 Oct 2025, 14:38

Fun game with nice art! Cool idea!

Nyakov8 Oct 2025, 17:11

The visuals are beautiful, but the gameplay is simple. Gameplay ideas: increase the width of the field and create safe zones away from the water, including tall rocks. Add more valuable items further from the shore. Battle crabs for shells
And i liked the idea with the gambling seagull :D

anete ainjärv8 Oct 2025, 17:24

I have come across a lot of tax/debt paying games this jam and this silly little bird game has to be my favorite. I wasn't planning on playing for long but I got so hooked. I got so angry at the crabs for stealing my shells lol. Also the bird rolling in the wave and looking like a wet rag after... wonderful! such a well made game c:

Rentem8 Oct 2025, 17:46

Nice game! I emjoyed the intro :smile:

evgenii-petrov8 Oct 2025, 21:10

Nice game with a nostalgic 90s VGA-style feel. The gameplay loop is easy to grasp and has a cozy vibe; maybe the early quests could move a bit faster to get things rolling.

NNO19 Oct 2025, 06:22

I had so much fun playing! And I really love this pixel art style!

Eugenik9 Oct 2025, 14:09

Very nice atmosphere.

TungGD9 Oct 2025, 19:57

Love the gameplay and animations. I could not help myself gambling all my pearls away all the time.

Sharky318810 Oct 2025, 14:00

Great little game, the animation of the bird getting wet is so good! Really fun game with a lot of personality.

Linky43911 Oct 2025, 14:02

Insane art! The animation are really incredible, especially the bird rolled by the wave and then being all wet.
As for the game itself, it is quite fun but it soon became a bit too repetitive to farm some pearls, especially since the only changing thing is the amount of stuff you need to collect to complete the quests.

But overall it is quite impressive, and once again incredible visuals. Congrats!

wdebowicz12 Oct 2025, 13:22

really nice art and music fits the theme preatty well! Damn crabs!

atsh14 Oct 2025, 19:04

Superb animations!

Beryelle15 Oct 2025, 15:36

Absolutely loved this game! The art, the music, the fun mechanics - incredible entry!

Nomus16 Oct 2025, 13:20

Such a cute reference to shorebirds, very nice little game and fun backstory too ! Love the graphics and the music, but sadly as the gambling addict that I am, I couldnt pay my debt because of my crippling gambling problems

Carraka17 Oct 2025, 18:25

What a cute game! I finished on Wave 82. Bullying those crabs is so satisfying when you can finally do it. I think the game went on a little bit too long. Maybe just higher pearl rewards or lower requirements to unlock things. Just slightly.