UPDATE: I've seperated second cutscene from the action so you don't have to see it every time you die. I don't consider it post compo, rather a fix, but still here are links to both versions.
This time I have small space shooter for you. Pretty straightforward gameplay, arrows and space for controls, two levels.
As for the unconventional weapon - scientists improved your laser and in level two you are using some wormhole to shoot directly from behind the enemies. Works as a charm but the problem is that you can accidently shoot yourself. As most of the testers did...
Hope you have fun :)
KNOWN BUGS:
1. To retry after dying press space, message may be missing... Also at first it may take a second, or two, then it works fine.
Would be really good to skip the second cut scene. I keep dying with my own bullets (as I suck) and the cut scene is quite long to re-watch. Otherwise I quite like the concept and the silly science behind it :)
The graphics look really nice and clean. The only thing that bothers me is that the explosion particle effect shouldn't have gravity because it's in space. The opening cutscenes are a bit long for someone who is bad at this game. Very creative idea though.
The graphics are beautiful. And the concept is interesting. I had trouble on the second level and eventually gave up because the dialogue kept replaying. Also, it would be nice to add a short delay for the reset button because if I'm spamming space, it happens instantly and I don't get a break.
Really great execution of the theme, incredibly clever! I really like the graphics and the music goes with it very well. It may help improve the readability of what can hit you or not if the planets and space junk in the background were more in the distance and faded out. Otherwise, great job!
Thank you all, the cutscene is broken, that's a fact :) the bloom is very subtle and only in 1st level - I couldn't decide if I like it more with or without ;)
It's a great idea but theres a few issues that need to be worked out.
Let me start off by saying, I really adore the art style; its very storybook esq. It really suits the space theme,I think. It goes well to set the mood along with the music. Also the varying speeds of the sprites in the background was neat too.
The idea is simple and its awesome! Just change the direction of the lasers? Thats great! I must say though, I really struggled to beat that second part, it got pretty insane at moments. In the end I actually found myself hugging the walls and flying from left to right ( up and down? , whatever) in a blaze of lasers, blasers if you will, eliminating the enemies, and most of the time myself in the process.
Difficulty isn't bad in a game like this, but its becomes a bit laborious when it replays the beginning level dialogue (which by the way is pretty cool too). Its a trial and error game, and it takes a bit to get the hang of the controls. I did like flying around before the enemies came though.
On a sidenote, the enemy bloops are a bit hard to see against the dark purple (just a lighter shade of red?) and I also got a weird glitch when playing the game immediately after beating it. Everything was slowed immensely.
Overall, I enjoyed the game. It has its errors, Im sure you of all people know that, but its a really cool idea and you should continue it!
I love the polish of this game! Very interesting game mechanic. My only criticism is needing to read the text every time you die is somewhat burdensome.
I liked the game, it's fun, inverting the position of shooting is very interesting, I really liked the style of graphics, the problem is the cutscenes, too long for this type of game, and unskippable.
There is a reason that humans generally come back to the conventional weapons. This unconventional one is much more difficult to use!
Fun and very smooth. It looks like there is a cooldown on the laser firing but not the sound effect, so if you hit space too fast you get the sound with no laser.
Also, not sure what happened, but I was at the bottom of the screen and just blew up. I know it wasn't the enemies because they don't come that low, so it must have been my own shot, but I couldn't see one. Maybe it was slightly off the bottom of the screen? That or when I press space it is firing even if I can't see it.
I died a lot. Waiting 20 seconds for the initial dialog to repeat one more time made me rage quit before going very far in the game. What I played was nice though
Good idea, and I like your take on the theme. A little bit hard to time shots so as to touch enemies; gives some feeling of randomness/luck-based gameply. Or I'm just too bad at it ;-) Your graphisms are nice, love the background!
Wow, that's an awesome twist on a genre that's sometimes pretty un-twist-y (but that I still really love). Also a great take on the theme-- a weapon that is unconventional but still a weapon. I loved it!
On the second cutscene, I shot myself with my own bullets while the dialog was still playing out. I'm all, "wow, glitch!" But no, that's the gameplay mechanism. :)
Seems to work okay if I fire a stream of shots, and then get the hell outta the way. But I still usually die eventually of failing to dodge myself. Much like all the weapon's testers. ;)
Nice entry, I really like the take on the bullets from the other side also damaging you. I wish there was a more clear pattern on the waves of enemies to actually feel like I'm anticipating the opponent and take advantage of the weapon. Was a little bothering to see the intro every time, would love a skip button. Besides that I think is a great idea. Also really nice art proposal/color palette.
The bullets are small and hard to see. They should really be about 4x their current size, but with hitboxes still around the same so you have to get hit by the middle of the bullet to be damaged.
I died in the first level and had to watch the first cutscene again, which wasn't great.
The enemies would benefit from multiple movement sets and shot types. Right now having them move up and down rapidly firing doesn't give an interesting use case for shooting them from behind.
The artwork is nice, though more animations would be a huge plus. Especially a firing animation on the ship if you're going to have them warp their shots to the other side of the screen. People often look to their character to know if their inputs have been recognized.
Loved the Explosion Animation. Graphics are great, really unique. The way you shoot from behind is an ingenious design choice. Also Loved the Explosion Animation. Good sound. the backgrounds are little hard to distinguish between the enemies, which may be a problem if you add more enemy types. Also, really loved the Explosion Animation.
I liked how shooting from back increased the importance of accuracy. Since the enemies are the same old, however, it didn't nearly as interesting. Pretty average.
Comments38
Otherwise I quite like the concept and the silly science behind it :)
Very nice game! Great Job.
Hard game, i died like other testers ot that gun
good work!
Everything is so beautiful!
the cutscene is broken, that's a fact :)
the bloom is very subtle and only in 1st level - I couldn't decide if I like it more with or without ;)
Let me start off by saying, I really adore the art style; its very storybook esq. It really suits the space theme,I think. It goes well to set the mood along with the music. Also the varying speeds of the sprites in the background was neat too.
The idea is simple and its awesome! Just change the direction of the lasers? Thats great! I must say though, I really struggled to beat that second part, it got pretty insane at moments. In the end I actually found myself hugging the walls and flying from left to right ( up and down? , whatever) in a blaze of lasers, blasers if you will, eliminating the enemies, and most of the time myself in the process.
Difficulty isn't bad in a game like this, but its becomes a bit laborious when it replays the beginning level dialogue (which by the way is pretty cool too). Its a trial and error game, and it takes a bit to get the hang of the controls. I did like flying around before the enemies came though.
On a sidenote, the enemy bloops are a bit hard to see against the dark purple (just a lighter shade of red?) and I also got a weird glitch when playing the game immediately after beating it. Everything was slowed immensely.
Overall, I enjoyed the game. It has its errors, Im sure you of all people know that, but its a really cool idea and you should continue it!
-Sirmi: Team Toast
Fun and very smooth. It looks like there is a cooldown on the laser firing but not the sound effect, so if you hit space too fast you get the sound with no laser.
Also, not sure what happened, but I was at the bottom of the screen and just blew up. I know it wasn't the enemies because they don't come that low, so it must have been my own shot, but I couldn't see one. Maybe it was slightly off the bottom of the screen? That or when I press space it is firing even if I can't see it.
Nicely done. Creative (and frustrating) idea.
On the second cutscene, I shot myself with my own bullets while the dialog was still playing out. I'm all, "wow, glitch!" But no, that's the gameplay mechanism. :)
Seems to work okay if I fire a stream of shots, and then get the hell outta the way. But I still usually die eventually of failing to dodge myself. Much like all the weapon's testers. ;)
I wish there was a more clear pattern on the waves of enemies to actually feel like I'm anticipating the opponent and take advantage of the weapon. Was a little bothering to see the intro every time, would love a skip button. Besides that I think is a great idea.
Also really nice art proposal/color palette.
I died in the first level and had to watch the first cutscene again, which wasn't great.
The enemies would benefit from multiple movement sets and shot types. Right now having them move up and down rapidly firing doesn't give an interesting use case for shooting them from behind.
The artwork is nice, though more animations would be a huge plus. Especially a firing animation on the ship if you're going to have them warp their shots to the other side of the screen. People often look to their character to know if their inputs have been recognized.