A Fistful of Shrooms

by gdort
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.54
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.51
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.68
Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.96
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.90
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.72
headshot.pngA psychedelic western rail shooter.

πŸ›ΈπŸ„πŸ”«πŸ€ β­πŸœοΈ

So I mixed a _movie_ genre (western) with a _music_ genre (psychedelic).

_"Combine 2 Incompatible Genres"_

Who said the theme specified a _game_ genre? :smirk:

A spaceship with unlikely inhabitants landed in the little town of Astoria and it's up to the sheriff to fix this mess.
Enjoy!

(I opted-out of Graphics category because all art assets were taken from the Unity Asset Store.)

_Changelog_

- _0.1.0_ _(18 hours before deadline) - Base game_

- _0.2.0_ _(10 hours before deadline) - Reworked the reloading (chambers were emptied fully even though there was only one bullet missing). Now player only reloads missing bullets in chamber, but still he's gotta finish putting all missing bullets before shooting again._

- _0.3.0_ _(post-deadline) - Put a fullscreen option by pressing F, adjusted gamejolt resolution and changed the badge MeshCollider for a BoxCollider (it was way too difficult to hit)._

screenshot

Comments77

vilix64
vilix6423 Apr 2018, 07:49
Very polished, love it! :slight_smile:

By the way, why did you opt out of the graphics rating? I would have given you 5/5.
gdort
gdortauthor23 Apr 2018, 07:57
Hey @vilix64, I'm glad you liked it :smile:
All art assets are free items from the Unity Asset Store, so it's not fair that I compete with people who actually made some art assets this weekend!
It's one of the LD's courtesy rules :)
Shree5623 Apr 2018, 09:18
Graphics is lit.
Jima23 Apr 2018, 12:14
Whole style is really cool, music is absolutelly fantastic. Gameplay is pretty good, but lack of manual reload is frustrating. I had to empty my gun between the waves to reload it.
gdort
gdortauthor23 Apr 2018, 16:31
@Jima that's an excellent point. Since the jam is still going on, I fixed it :D It's funny how some crucial stuff really escapes you throughout the development! I updated the version on Game Jolt (0.2.0) and also the source code. Thanks again!
quixatocs
quixatocs23 Apr 2018, 18:40
Very good style and it's really polished for a jam. Great work and thanks for playing my game too :)
infinitycore
infinitycore24 Apr 2018, 00:09
the gun is a bit laggy, and the enemies go off-screen too fast, but otherwise fun
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 00:19
@infinitycore what do you mean by the gun being laggy? Yeah, this off-screen problem is because of the camera shake. My fault!
infinitycore
infinitycore24 Apr 2018, 00:24
@gdort it may be on my end, but it felt like the shots weren't really doing anything, maybe add some more feedback
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 00:26
@infinitycore well, there are particles when a shot hits a creature and a ricochet sound when it hits something else. If you shoot the sky, for example, there's no ricochet sound. Do you mean the shots at the boss?
kromeboy
kromeboy24 Apr 2018, 00:27
Really like the style. To bad for the lack of manual reload option. Also, the star is really hard to shoot: maybe the target is a little off?
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 00:40
@kromeboy the target is spot on and the stars are supposed to be hard to shoot :) What do you mean by "manual reload"?
BlazeDragon24 Apr 2018, 02:55
very cool game, i had fun playing it. graphics where awesome, game play was good. reloading caused me to die, but all in all not to shabby.
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 03:04
Thanks for playing, @BlazeDragon! Yeah, you gotta be smart with the reloading or else this happens.
RobinbyZhou
RobinbyZhou24 Apr 2018, 03:29
REALLY like the art of this game. Also music!!! good job!
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 03:44
Thanks, @RobinbyZhou!
I didn't make it, but I spend a lot of time searching for it and putting it inside Unity.
The music was done by a friend of mine, I'll make sure to pass the compliment!
EkkoEkko24 Apr 2018, 04:56
I love the Graphics fully polished!
Sokuaisushi
Sokuaisushi24 Apr 2018, 05:09
Like everyone else I love the art and music, plus the gameplay is solid, and the set design is great! Good job on this entry :smiley:
ViridianGames
ViridianGames24 Apr 2018, 05:36
Short but pretty sweet. A single line of instructions on the title screen telling you that you can manually reload by pressing the right mouse button would have been VERY helpful. I'm not sure how this is mashing up two incompatible genres, though.
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 05:39
@EkkoEkko and @Sokuaisushi, thanks a lot!
@ViridianGames yes, there was a certain point where I had to decide if I was going to keep it short and sweet or not. About the controls, they are in bold in this page. Also, I mashed up western (1880's) and psychedelic (1960's).
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 05:47
@Sokuaisushi it took me A LOT of time to set up the town, with good camera angles and whatnot! I'm not an artist and perhaps that's the reason why it took so long!
Yanek
Yanek24 Apr 2018, 07:37
Definitely a good one! I'm sad that it's so short. I tried it a couple time, and even without missing any shot an reloading manually at key moments, I feel that it's almost impossible to finish the game without taking any damage, am I wrong? Also, there is floating sheriff stars, but shooting on them did nothing, is there a way to collect them for, I imagine, heal myself?
Alex_ADEdge
Alex_ADEdge24 Apr 2018, 07:59
I expect youll score highly for mood! Feels very western, as it should! Punishing difficulty, but fullscreen certainly helps a bit with that, good stuff :)
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 08:00
@Yanek thanks for the kind words! It is very short because I spent a lot of time trying to make it look good and I did it alone! It is possible to finish the game unscathed by reloading at key moments, I made sure of that! The stars are possible to collect if you shoot at them, but maybe because I used a mesh collider it's tricky to get it right!
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 08:04
@alex-adedge thanks! Yeah, I added difficulty in my last build (around 10h before the end of the jam) because I thought it was too easy. Full screen is a must on this one also because of some camera and UI bugs. I also hope I get a good score for mood :fingers_crossed:
Marcial
Marcial24 Apr 2018, 09:52
I liked your game, but he could shoot when he recharged, can you evaluate mine?
OedipeGames
OedipeGames24 Apr 2018, 09:53
Cool, game I really enjoy it! It is quick and easy to play.
Gaming Night
Gaming Night24 Apr 2018, 11:42
Why no graphical note? I like the side cartoon vs 3D :)
Bomb-X
Bomb-X24 Apr 2018, 14:31
Great Art style !! I don't see 2 genres combines but overall, it's great ! Good job :)
Dixonary
Dixonary24 Apr 2018, 16:33
Very cute game. A good implementation of an on-rails shooter, especially for the time frame. It's a bit annoying that you can get hit by enemies after moving from place to place, so you can't see them any more.

Well done!
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 16:34
@marcial Shoot while reloading? That's not very realistic. Git gud πŸ’ͺ

@oedipeGames Thanks, man!

@gaming-night Check the description :sweat_smile:

@bomb-x I got a movie genre (western) and combined it with a music genre (psychedelic). The theme never said it needed to be a game genre :wink:
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 16:36
@dixonary thanks! That wouldn't happen if you made sure to leave no survivors. Git gud πŸ’ͺ
honey24 Apr 2018, 17:05
Actually pretty clever genre mixing, too clever to get it at frist glance it seems :) I played only on gamejolt and all the enemies were getting pretty quickly down the bottom edge of the game screen. Also there's no way to resize or fullscreen (properly) the game, which is a shame. Don't know whether or how you can adress it, but it would be appreciated :) Also seemed like enemy hitboxes are not up to their "heads," but maybe the reason was also gamejolt.
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 17:11
Hey @honey , thanks for the compliment! Can you check it again? I changed the resolution preferences at gamejolt and I suppose that would solve the problem. I'm working with a full HD monitor here, no problems. Also, if you could send a screenshot so I can better understand your problem. Thanks!
agar3s
agar3s24 Apr 2018, 17:46
good music cowboy!
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 18:32
@ViridianGames, @Yanek, @Dixonary, @honey

I put instructions at the beginning of the game, as well as an option to use fullscreen by pressing F (I noticed some people had problems with the browser fullscreen button). I put a BoxCollider at the badges because apparently the MeshCollider is just too difficult to hit. This is version (0.3.0), everything else stayed exactly the same.

And just to prove it's possible:

I managed to face all waves unscathed.
notb
notb24 Apr 2018, 19:39
I like it! the shrooms are scary looking but its fun!
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 19:44
Thanks, @notb!
I started with this western sci-fi concept but then the only free 3d enemies at the unity asset store that looked like something from outer space and had animations were those mushrooms. It turned psychedelic at the very end :sweat_smile:
honey24 Apr 2018, 20:12
@gdort works much better now, thanks for response!
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 20:20
@honey thank you for your feedback :pray:
Behenate
Behenate24 Apr 2018, 20:37
Audio, Mood and Graphick rock! Gameplay is pretty medicore, but feeling of the game is really good!
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 20:37
@Behenate would you care to elaborate? The gameplay isn't exactly new since rail shooters have been around for a while (I remember playing House of the Dead at the arcade).
LemonBalmGames
LemonBalmGames24 Apr 2018, 22:17
I had no idea how much I needed this in my life. It reminded me of the good old days when I used to play Virtua Cop on my friends Windows 95 machine. Man, I'm getting old. Back to the point though, the game feels a tad bit random and as for the theme consideration, you kinda got off on a technicality:P Even still, I really, really, really enjoyed shooting some mushrooms with my mouse cursor. Thank you for giving me that experience.
Q-ro24 Apr 2018, 22:18
I think the hit detection is a bit off, i wanted to shoot the mushroom's cap off of their heads but it definitively wasn't happening, seems like i can only hit them in their "body" or else it doesn't count, either way good job.
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 22:23
@LemonBalmGames I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed it this much :smiley:

Nah, I just think I got creative! The first idea I had was to mix two game genres, but then it proved more difficult and less fun than I expected. I read the guidelines for this LD and it said that genre is a way broader spectrum than game genres. That finally got me going and this is the result!

Well, about being old: that makes two of us! I remember playing Virtua Cop back in the arcade :older_man:
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 22:24
@Q-ro good point, I guess you're right about that :slight_frown: The mushroom collider is not as precise as the rest of the game. My fault!
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 22:26
@fidrik yeah, I thought of making the boss shrink as he spawns more and more mushrooms, but at the end I just wanted to be done with it. You're totally right when you say it could've been more interesting. Thanks for playing!
Gonz0
Gonz024 Apr 2018, 22:38
Wow great example of what can be done with free assets! Kudos to you , pity it's so short!

would you mind critiquing mine , I think you might like it ;) https://gonz0.itch.io/spacescape
isopoly
isopoly24 Apr 2018, 22:45
Great job! I don't know if it just me but they shroom dudes got to my position pretty quick, maybe a lower initial speed would be cool, but nevertheless my game is trash compared to yours lol. Fantastic concept! Here's mine https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/gun-hockey
gdort
gdortauthor24 Apr 2018, 23:16
@Gonz0 yeah man, I tell my students that all the time! It's actually very rewarding working with free assets because it's only up to you to mash them up together and make them work as a game. I'd love to take a look into your game!

@isopoly true, maybe their speed could decrease a little. And hey, don't sell yourself short :smile: I've been making games for 7 years now.
Mowztouch
Mowztouch24 Apr 2018, 23:17
beautiful graphics and cool music, nice entry :)
finalspace24 Apr 2018, 23:19
Great game! Like the whole western cowboy style a lot. It is easy to defeat the boss after you get used to the load speed. Would be better if it has more levels!
gdort
gdortauthor25 Apr 2018, 02:36
@Mowztouch thank you!

@finalspace getting the hang of the reload speed is a must to beat this game! You're right, I could've done more levels, but since I did this alone and took a lot of time in order to adjust the visual aspects of the game, only one level was possible. Also, I decided not to exert myself too much for a jam. Usually I sleep 44 out of 48h, this time around I only worked 15 out of 72h hours.
Jonathan Lorenz
Jonathan Lorenz25 Apr 2018, 09:54
Ho no! I can't play it on my shitty laptop (too much input delay). Would have to try it on a friend's computer.
NerdyTea25 Apr 2018, 14:57
Incredible work! The only issue I had was the mushroom's collider, but it wasn't anything game-breaking.
gdort
gdortauthor25 Apr 2018, 16:37
@Jonathan-lorenz damn man, that sucks! Is the whole game lagged or is it just the input? If you can record a video so I can see what's going on, it'd be much appreciated!

@NerdyTea thanks! Yeah, it came a point in development where I was supposed to put a MeshCollider on the SkinnedMeshRenderer of the shroom and update it every frame because it is animated. And fearing it would make the game too slow (because it actually does), I just put a BoxCollider.

It's not exactly accurate but it does include most of the shroom's body. Thank you for playing and for your feedback.
lawnjovi25 Apr 2018, 18:29
Very groovy. I would probably play an entire game of this if there were a few more mechanics like manual reload and stuff.
Nick Gooch25 Apr 2018, 18:36
like the mood you created. nice work
gdort
gdortauthor25 Apr 2018, 20:08
@lawnjovi thanks :smile: now that's one thing to think about! Maybe there could be some interesting levels, with horses, trains and stuff! I'll think about it.

@nick-gooch thank you, Nick!
Cornel25 Apr 2018, 23:26
Interesting approach to theme. Didn't think that way. Game is refined and works well so had fun. Good job ;)
gdort
gdortauthor26 Apr 2018, 00:26
@Cornel I have the habit of throwing away the first 3 game ideas I have, because they're usually very commonplace. I had lots of ideas for mixing genres, but no idea was fun enough I wanted to develop. So when I broaded the spectrum of what the theme _meant_, it was much easier.

Some people said I cheated, but I think they're just jealous they didn't think of that :laughing:
Cornel26 Apr 2018, 10:02
@gdort Maybe cheater, maybe genius :laughing: We had been talking about 10 genres mix ideas for 3 hours but no one was as open-minded as you. At least it paid off because we did almost everything we wanted to.

Congrats again!
Ethereal Psyche Games
Ethereal Psyche Games26 Apr 2018, 19:37
Good job with the theme! Horizontal thinking, that was a nice idea! xD

I like how the game looks and how it works.

I appreciate how you designed the waves to force the player to think how to shoot and reload, it's pretty accurate Good job!

Music fits very well with the game and I really love it! Very very good job with this!

Nice entry, hope we see in next ludum dares!
TayGoS27 Apr 2018, 12:48
AWESOME. Very cool game and really fun! Pretty hard though. I liked the hidden "extra life" which made it a little easier! The music is awesome too! Loved how polished the game was, and the boss was great!
tsedate
tsedate27 Apr 2018, 12:51
Very fun! I was having trouble with the first couple of levels until I found those sweet spots where I could reload -- it felt good! Fun music, and I enjoyed making it all the way through the end -- I would have liked to see a health bar on the final boss to see that I'm making progress on killing him -- I wasn't sure what to do at first! Great game overall!
gdort
gdortauthor27 Apr 2018, 13:31
@TayGoS Awesome! Thank you so much :smile:

@tsedate Exactly! If you discover the sweet spots you're set! I wish I had done something more amazing with the boss, my gf actually pointed out she missed a health bar as well. Thank you both for your feedback :heart:
Jonathan Lorenz
Jonathan Lorenz28 Apr 2018, 15:49
Finally been able to play the game! It was fun but lacks a bit of content imo. Also, had to read your description to know what mix of genres it was. I liked how you interpreted the rules. Good work but too short!
MacDoom
MacDoom29 Apr 2018, 01:55
Looks super nice but personally I'm expecting videogame genres mixed in this jam.
Good and fun shooting game although.
gdort
gdortauthor29 Apr 2018, 13:59
@Jonathan-Lorenz well, I didn't want to kill myself in this jam for a change, so I worked in my spare time. Even though I didn't make the graphics I had to choose them and spend some time putting them together. That's why the game is so short. I see it as a proof of concept and it only became so polished because of its shortness.

@cristiano-m-garcia That's a very generic review, but thank you nevertheless! I'll check your game as soon as I return from my travels.

@MacDoom I'm sorry for not meeting your expectations. It's like if the theme was "cake" and you only expected to see chocolate cakes. There are plenty of delicious flavors out there waiting to be tasted despite your limited palate.
Beebo Studios
Beebo Studios4 May 2018, 09:29
Nice little shooting game! I played in in my browser and the aim was indeed a bit laggy, so for my first two tries I thought it's unbeatable. But a dolphin's brain is quick to adjust and I beat it on my third try :) It's short, but I think it actually has just the right amount of length before it would get stale with just one kind of enemy. And what do we expect? It's a game jam after all. For me, it was the sweet spot :)

Good job on your game!

Oh, and the music is kickass amazing!
gdort
gdortauthor4 May 2018, 15:58
@beebo-studios dolphins are really smart! That was a solid description of what happened. I'm really glad you liked it and also perceived the nuances of the development.
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