We got a little bit over-ambitious and overscoped the game, but pretty pleased with the overall result!
The original idea was to take a different spin on minimalism; we interpreted this as a regression to minimalism instead. The gameplay becomes simpler over time, which is tied together with a overarching narrative - originally designed to be tragic, but that ending was cut :(
Team: Aryan, Adam, Chris, Andrea
Controls: arrow keys to move. ASDF for abilities. Defeat all of the enemies to progress to the next act.
This looked good to begin with, but there wasn't any sound, and there wasn't any kind of clue as to what I was doing. I'll give you some innovation, because I haven't seen stuff like that before, but it was a little too vague, and I had a hard time playing.
Worked pretty well for me but I don't know how to open the door on the first screen and when I killed the enemies which took a while the game went to 1 fps. I liked how you had 4 abilities for the 4 elements and I can see this being a very fun game.
Defeated all enemies on the first act but still, the door was closed :(
Liked the ability mechanic though.
M
Monxcleyr Productions1 May 2013, 05:25
The abilities were well done, although I wasn't sure if chaining them together was effective or not. Couldn't seem to get through the door at the end of (presumably) the first level, unfortunately, but I was enjoying it up to that point!
I loved the effects of the powers, but found it a bit repetitive. I basically used "D" followed by "A", and that wiped out most of the enemies. I hope you expand on the game because it definitely has potential!
I didn't get it O_o The use of the abilities it pretty cool, but I'd like to know what every one of them does. Does the water whirlpool damage the enemies or just slow them down? And what about the earth ability? And what was with the raddish-head guy, running from side to side like a mad man?? It was kinda weird...
Finally, the use of the theme was never apparent on my playtime, as I didn't manage to get far enough to see that degradation of gameplay you comment on the game's description.
As others have said, the framerate plummets, making the game quickly unplayable.
I never found much satisfaction in the abilities at my disposal, sadly. They didn't seem to do much damage and since the enemies charged at me in a big wave, I almost never had time to face them to use the abilities, so I'd just run around, waiting for a shield and then I'd turn around for one first blast and keep running in circles. Not much fun.
Then once the first wave was done, more spawned and the door still didn't open. The framerate prevented me from getting any further.
As for the framerate issues: this was a problem we struggled with throughout the Dare, and though I thought what we shipped was good enough, this was clearly not the case. :( Definitely a lesson here about using more proven middleware.
We did end up working right down to the wire, so the theme didn't get worked in as well as I would have hoped. The fire ability is meant to be extremely overpowered, so that it is all the more poignant when it is the first element to be removed. Unfortunately, it seems there were a couple of game breaking bugs that prevented people from getting to the second level, which is when this happens. :( Later encounters require a bit more creativity to get through, but the first level is easily solved through brute force.
This entry is definitely lacking a lot of polish around the edges, but we learned a ton (this was the first Dare for all of us) and I'm absolutely ecstatic seeing all the comments from people that played. Thanks so much for playing, commenting, and voting!
Sweet. I love the artwork. The learning curve could use some work. I was immediately thrown into harms way, and I had to run around avoiding enemies until I figured out how to attack. Maybe give the player some time to figure things out before the enemies come.
Comments16
Liked the ability mechanic though.
And what was with the raddish-head guy, running from side to side like a mad man?? It was kinda weird...
Finally, the use of the theme was never apparent on my playtime, as I didn't manage to get far enough to see that degradation of gameplay you comment on the game's description.
I never found much satisfaction in the abilities at my disposal, sadly. They didn't seem to do much damage and since the enemies charged at me in a big wave, I almost never had time to face them to use the abilities, so I'd just run around, waiting for a shield and then I'd turn around for one first blast and keep running in circles. Not much fun.
Then once the first wave was done, more spawned and the door still didn't open. The framerate prevented me from getting any further.
As for the framerate issues: this was a problem we struggled with throughout the Dare, and though I thought what we shipped was good enough, this was clearly not the case. :( Definitely a lesson here about using more proven middleware.
We did end up working right down to the wire, so the theme didn't get worked in as well as I would have hoped. The fire ability is meant to be extremely overpowered, so that it is all the more poignant when it is the first element to be removed. Unfortunately, it seems there were a couple of game breaking bugs that prevented people from getting to the second level, which is when this happens. :( Later encounters require a bit more creativity to get through, but the first level is easily solved through brute force.
This entry is definitely lacking a lot of polish around the edges, but we learned a ton (this was the first Dare for all of us) and I'm absolutely ecstatic seeing all the comments from people that played. Thanks so much for playing, commenting, and voting!