I love SHMUPs! And yours is a very good example. I had a lot of fun with the different weapons configurations, trying to empty the useless ones and conserve ammo for the good ones. The graphics are beautiful. The audio feedback is very nice and hail of bullets very satisfying.
All in all a great entry.
Two minor complaints though:
1) The spaceship moves soooo slowly. I guess it is necessary to help avoid all the projectiles, but maybe a slowdown key would help here (especially since you only have one action key for firing). That would allow the player to move both quickly and slowly based on the situation
2) There is no death invulnerability. So once I got killed in a corner and there was an incoming bullet shower that I couldn't avoid, so I lost two lives almost instantly. Two seconds of invulnerability after a hit would be great.
I just realized that there is a second button to change shots based on the experience points you gather.
I see a problem with that though: The good weapons give lots of XP so you can change soon but don't want to, while the bad weapons give little XP (because you can't kill many opponents) so it's usually easier to empty the ammo.
That is a minor concern though. What I find really frustrating is the issue with the invulnerability. Maybe it's possible to file that as a bug and fix it? ;)
You should put some more time into polishing the controls and some points of the gameplay. This game is really a nice thing and could be much better only if the ship would move some faster... put some speed... Great job man... I like the result!
The graphics could be better, but the gameplay is very very awesome, use you used the theme very well and created a game that could become a game that could really be sold in stores like Steam.
Pure fun. I love the aesthetic and the way you focus on the theme. However, the ship is a bit too slow. Could be improved with other features. Well done ++
The game was alright. Ship definitely needed to be able to move faster. I was unable to reach health pickups before they vanished. Unless maybe I was supposed to shoot them. I didn't try that.
I wish I understood exactly what triggers the shapechanging (it seems to change on its own without asking) but MAN this was really fun to play. Reached the boss, but couldn't beat it. Awesome job on those particles and variety of weapons!
Damn dude! what a shmup! I really like the ammo change idea for shapeshifting, thats pretty cool. I do wish the hitboxes were a teensy bit more forgiving and that the ship moved faster but that has been mentioned elsewhere in the comments already. Love the art style, juice, and overall feel. Have a dollar!
Fantastic! The game mechanic was really cool once I fully understood how it works. The graphics were also very good, and I liked it that you actually took the time to make completeable levels instead of making the game go on endlessly. Got to the third level!
This a very good looking game and it was fun to figure out how to make use of the various weapons. Was a bit difficult though, I kept finding myself dying very quickly. Maybe a moment of invulnerability after being hit would help, or maybe just being able to take more hits. Overall I do like this game, and it's one of the better looking ones I've seen so far.
Really cool take on the bullet hell genre! I loved what the shape shifting brought to the table. I do kind of wish the ship moved a bit faster so I felt a little more in control. But really neat stuff. Also great visuals.
Nice graphics, fun game! I included it in my video compilation series of Ludum Dare games, if you’d like to check them out :) https://youtu.be/8gYXle65h9c
Holy canoli Batman, love your particle effects. Seriously though, everything looked so polished and smooth I wanted to play it forever. Please keep working on this, it looked and felt super fantastic.
All in all a great entry.
Two minor complaints though:
1) The spaceship moves soooo slowly. I guess it is necessary to help avoid all the projectiles, but maybe a slowdown key would help here (especially since you only have one action key for firing). That would allow the player to move both quickly and slowly based on the situation
2) There is no death invulnerability. So once I got killed in a corner and there was an incoming bullet shower that I couldn't avoid, so I lost two lives almost instantly. Two seconds of invulnerability after a hit would be great.