Crimson Recon

co-authored: @meneer-guus
Overall★★★★★★★★★★4.25
Fun★★★★★★★★★★4.01
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.83
Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.07
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.47
Audio★★★★★★★★★★4.27
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.34
Mood★★★★★★★★★★4.18
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The project ended up being 14th overall! Wow!


#### Hence we have decided to develop this project into a complete game! For a new post-competition version ánd future updates visit:
#### LINK: https://tweetal-studios.itch.io/crimson-resonance
#### Please check our Itch.io page for future content as this is the last update regarding our LD40 blog.
------------------------------

After lots of work (and coffee) me and Guus are proud to announce you Crimson Recon! An eerie shoot 'm up with a sinister twist. We hope you'll enjoy our Ludum Dare entry! Also we're always open for ideas and/or critism as we might work this one out into a better and more smooth experience.



#### THEME CONCEPT:
Your bullets are alive! Use them as a weapon against your phasing foes, but watch out as they'll try to hunt you down once they've come in touch with their alien friends! An ever growing gun clip doesn't really help, too. Or does it?

#### CONTROLS:

- WASD
- Mouse buttons (HOLD to charge)

#### SCREENSHOTS:

#### UPDATE HISTORY
- Fixed respawning bug (intro gets skipped)
- Added icon

#### Enjoy,
#### Tobias van Zanten & Meneer Guus

screenshot

Comments38

TobiasNLauthor2 Dec 2017, 11:45
We're in! Better late than never! We'll be using Gamemaker studio, Photoshop, Cool edit pro & Ableton.
Goodluck everyone!
Synistra5 Dec 2017, 15:10
The game is pretty hard and its annoying to have to wait to restart because of the text. Otherwise its pretty fun to play, and the art looks nice.
MrAssassin
MrAssassin5 Dec 2017, 15:24
Immense amount of polish for a jam game! I agree with the guy above though, for a game so difficult (at least for myself), It'd be best to reduce the amount of time it takes me to restart the game. Fab idea, too :)
Goplite
Goplite5 Dec 2017, 15:46
Nice game, graphics are very polished, liked the creepy sounds. Gameplay matches theme pretty good. Yeah, instant restart would be nice, nevertheless game is fun to play.
dvdking5 Dec 2017, 18:13
really awesome feedback on hits, and i liked sounds and atmosphere. I wish death was not so painful though..
Simon Struck5 Dec 2017, 18:24
I'm blown away by the execution og the idea.
I recommend headphones when playing, since the sound effects really help deliver the mood.
I would like to see a quick restart feature that skips the text and puts you right back into the first level.

Good work!
TobiasNLauthor5 Dec 2017, 19:12
We have resolved some issues concerning the spawning mechanic! Thanks for the feedback guys, we really appreciate it!
Hakita
Hakita5 Dec 2017, 19:53
A bit too difficult for me, but the deep atmosphere is enchanting and the presentation on all fronts is perfect. I do find it somewhat annoying that there was no way (or at least I found no way) to absorb bullets from behind the plane, especially when the bat-like creatures that attack from behind started appearing. Regardless, fantastic stuff overall.
BlakeMcDeezy
BlakeMcDeezy5 Dec 2017, 20:26
Wow guys...that was super slick! Loved the art style, mood, concept...yeah, fave game of the jam so far.
Leandre Renouard
Leandre Renouard5 Dec 2017, 20:29
Your game looks so beautiful that I really want to test it. Is it possible to have a mac version or on the internet?
feips5 Dec 2017, 20:33
It was way too difficult for me. Other than that, it was very atmospheric and kinda creppy. Very well polished, great entry.
TobiasNLauthor5 Dec 2017, 20:37
@leandre-renouard: I fear we cannot make it run in a browser or on a mac for the time being. Try emulating our game through a windows emulating tool for Mac. Could make the game more heavy for your machine though...
Leandre Renouard
Leandre Renouard5 Dec 2017, 20:41
@tobiasnl thanks for the suggestion I'll find an emulator or someone's computer so I can play your game
BlakeMcDeezy
BlakeMcDeezy5 Dec 2017, 20:45
If your game was any more polished I'd be able to see my reflection in it.
maoap
maoap5 Dec 2017, 20:53
Wow the best game I've played so far, btw. it is awesome that it is so difficult!
V-Ad5 Dec 2017, 20:59
Really nice game ! It looks really polished : )
Sherwood
Sherwood5 Dec 2017, 21:33
I really appreciate the main idea of living bullets. Sadly I broke my mouse a while ago so It is extremely hard for me to play this x)
It's a funny challenge actually to be the target of your own power. The atmosphere is nicely done thanks to the narrative aspects and the global quitness. I have to admit that, because of my mouse problem, I couldn't go far through the game. That's on me.

Thanks for the (future) experience.
meanmon135 Dec 2017, 23:26
Wow! Your game is amazing! Shooting the bullets was a little hard because they fell pretty fast for a projectile
URNext76345 Dec 2017, 23:35
A little difficult, but fun. I don't think I've ever seen a ludum dare game with better graphics. If I didn't know this was an LD entry, I'd think it was the result of at least a week of work. Fantastic job!
Daneeh
Daneeh6 Dec 2017, 00:24
I'm impressed. I like it when games are difficult but not punishing, and this does it for me. Also great aesthetics, it looks and sounds great! There is a little bug where W and A didn't work the first time I booted the game but I couldn't reproduce it. That doesn't take away from a great game tho. Well done!
Bloodless Tukan6 Dec 2017, 13:57
Hey Guys, just played for of few minutes and I'm super impressed!
Sound, graphics and the mechanic of the projectiles, all feels soo good and polished.

It is hard, what I got from the first two games xD
But I'll sure play it some more to get a better grasp of it.
Hope you keep working on it, maybe try to tweak the numbers so the start is easier and it can get harder after the player knows how to play . Really great work =)

edit : I found that after you die, the enemies keep shooting their projectiles at you. Just fyi.
Hurlu6 Dec 2017, 22:23
Amazingly pretty, and very polished !
I am at a bit of a disagreement over the decisions of the 90° forward "recover laser" and the falling projectiles, as the 2 mechanics feel restricitve : based on the difficulty on the game, I'd say one would be enough.
Other than that, amazing job, really!
Drury
Drury7 Dec 2017, 00:35
This is my favorite entry so far. Looks great, sounds great, feels great. Hats off.

However, I do wish there was a way to heal yourself, as it's pretty hard to keep track of everything and you lose quite a bit of progress when you die. Also the foreground in the second level can be kinda annoying when balls are returning from the bottom of the screen.

This being a bullet shmup-type game, I was expecting a smaller hitbox too.

ps: please tell me there is an ending I've been trying to beat this for a couple of hours
CaptainDreamcast
CaptainDreamcast7 Dec 2017, 03:03
Can't reach the ending either, I've been trying since yesterday ;_;

I originally reported mouse issues, but that appears to have been a mistake on my part. I tried a different mouse and everything worked normally. Sorry for the false alarm.

Anyway, it's a really amazing entry, definitely the one I had the most fun with.
TobiasNLauthor7 Dec 2017, 12:21
Thanks folks for the great feedback! We indeed have to tweak a lot, we'll change things like the hitbox, firepower and foregrounds in future updates! We are sorry though, we feel really honered that you guys tried so hard to beat it but actually there's no ending yet. We lacked the time to make one. Joke's on us :p
nokusu7 Dec 2017, 15:59
Nice shmup with some atmosphere, visually and sound wise it's really well done, the gameplay is fine but it's kind of difficult to understand the mechanics on a first playthrough.

One tiny issue i'd say is that you should have put a way to choose playing this game windowed.

other than that it's really solid overall and fits the theme so well done guys ^^
Rosik7 Dec 2017, 20:58
Strangely, but I have black screen in fullscreen mode, while windowed works fine. I very like this game, although it's hard and game mechanics about missiles wasn't clear for me at first time. But I really liked how it tied to the LD theme and game atmosphere in general.
And I think, that some prefire enemies animation will make the game more predictable and less frustrating.
TobiasNLauthor8 Dec 2017, 13:00
@rosik apparantly the black screen error goes away when booting the game in windows 8 mode. Quite strange indeed. Also enemies will get a small charge animation before attacking the player in future updates :)

@nokuse You enable windowed mode by pressing alt+enter!
Rosik8 Dec 2017, 13:17
@tobiasnl yeah, I can confirm, windows 8 mode fixed it for me. Good luck, guys!
maoap
maoap13 Dec 2017, 18:45
It is still the best game I've played this LD :) I play it over and over =D Well done, this game has a potential
CaylebLucas16 Dec 2017, 09:15
Really enjoyable game, well executed too :)
csanyk
csanyk19 Dec 2017, 05:31
Challenging. I didn't quite get at first that you were supposed to suck in the enemies to turn them into bullets. But it's an interesting and unusual mechanic. Graphics and sound establish mood very well. Nice work.
icxon
icxon23 Dec 2017, 11:53
20 tries already and counting :smile: It's very hard, but I'm still trying (it's a good sign, isn't it?)

That's my favorite LD40 game now. Not sure about humor category though.

Here is my playtest:

Goat Toaster Games
Goat Toaster Games24 Dec 2017, 00:17
This was so awesome. It took me a couple goes to get the hang of it, but man that was a killer submission! Super fun, such an interesting concept and absolutely fantastic graphics. Surprisingly polished! Well done guys.
Behenate
Behenate27 Dec 2017, 18:21
This game is so awesome! Really engaging, great atmosphere, music fith the arstyle, 5/5!
multiplexor
multiplexor28 Dec 2017, 00:32
Really awesome game! The concept is great (amunition that is also a challenge to manage) A kick ass implementation and awesome graphics! The only thing I miss is some epic background music!

The game was quite complicated but really amazing!

Kudos for this fantastic game that fits the theme perfectly!
TobiasNLauthor29 Dec 2017, 19:56
@all

Thank you all for the support! We've decided to continue this project and have already released a small patch solving some issues and featuring new content:) You can find it above in the main post!

Other games by @tobiasnl

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