Aliens...S

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.51
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.46
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.67
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.63
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.58
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.06
Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.06
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.44
(the S stands for spaceship...)

(Game was patched at 4/5/22 for framerate fixes. The game was running at 2x speed or worse for some players.)

In the year 2429, war broke out with an Alien race. Decades later it is up to you to "keep them away" for as long as possible.

This will result in your death but if you survive long enough and kill enough enemies, humanity might survive.

Make sure to read the README included with the game for controls and credits.



APPLICATIONS USED:
Godot Engine - Game Development,
Audacity - Sound mixing,
Famitracker - Sound creation,
Aseprite - Art

Comments39

Zelenoe_aloe
Zelenoe_aloe5 Apr 2022, 15:57
I liked the graphics and illustrations in the game! I even wanted to go over to the side of the aliens hahaha
Pegasus
Pegasus5 Apr 2022, 16:02
I the ships and lasers didn't really stand out enough from the background and I kept finding myself getting hit without realising. Liked the graphics otherwise and the sound was cool. The take on the theme is pretty unique and overall it's a pretty well polished game.
Mopifish
Mopifish5 Apr 2022, 16:03
Sweet game! I really liked the mood and graphics, big fan of the art style. The story fit well with the theme and made my mission feel important, I really liked that too :)

The gameplay was SUPER fast though, which made it nearly impossible to hit enemies or avoid shots. I'm not sure if this was intentional, or if the game was simply running faster due to my high FPS?

Overall, this is one of my favorite entries for mood so far
Kszaku
Kszaku5 Apr 2022, 16:03
Graphics were nice, and it seems like they took priority over gameplay, because the latter is severely lacking. It was kinda frustrating to not be able to see my ship's health, and the "suicide" enemies seemed to be a little to fast.

However, as I said, pixelart was perfect, it really felt like some NES game, and if you could fix the balance and build some interesting levels it could be more enjoyable and challenging experience.
StupidHobbit5 Apr 2022, 16:11
Sorry, wasn't able to launch your game, it just hangs like this
real_flamingicecubegames
real_flamingicecubegamesauthor5 Apr 2022, 16:20
@stupidhobbit You need to press "fire" to advance the cutscene.

@kszaku I fully agree with you there. I guess I just got too used to the difficulty in play-testing. I do want to make the player's health visible in a future update. Glad you enjoyed the graphics.

@mopifish Thank you for the kind words. It seems I might have overdone the speed a tad. Adjustments will be made later, but I do hope you enjoyed what you played.

@pegasus I really should've thought about that. It has been noted. I'll try my best to change it.

@zelenoe-aloe Thank you for playing. I think I might try showing the alien's side in a future update.
Lichead studio5 Apr 2022, 18:48
Graphics and sound are awesome, and gameplay is challenging. I also love how the game feels.
Emaigualmc2_art
Emaigualmc2_art5 Apr 2022, 19:37
I also had problems starting the game until I read the previous comment haha! I think that should be specified first, in general it is very good. It is a simple and fun game, you can polish the art more to make it more attractive. nice job!
Underlig
Underlig5 Apr 2022, 20:49
Nice style, fun classic Gradius theme, liked the art, and general style going, aswell as possibilities with the power ups, looked like plans for more upgrade types.
Could have had a slightly bigger combat area and a slight increase in movement speed, other than that, not bad at all =)
TheKimeo
TheKimeo5 Apr 2022, 20:57
Fun game! I really liked the scaling on the ship, each upgrade felt like a proper power spike.

The secondary fire didn't feel that useful, but the main weapon was satisfying enough for me that it didn't matter.

If you can get some music in then this would be a really impressive polished game!
real_flamingicecubegames
real_flamingicecubegamesauthor5 Apr 2022, 21:01
@underlig Thanks for the feedback. All things I should consider for an expanded version... especially the expanded play field...

@thekimeo I might try re balancing the subweapons. I feel like some of them are underpowered. Music is coming in an upcoming update (should be 1.1). Thank you for playing.
RandyRude5 Apr 2022, 21:34
That was really fun! I loved the sfx and the visuals. Felt really smooth. Then the story aspect brings it all together. Nice job!
Brachistosauro
Brachistosauro5 Apr 2022, 23:29
Hey, I think it was a really fun game. The thin layer of story really does work.
milq
milq6 Apr 2022, 00:22
I really want to play it, could it be for GNU/Linux? It looks so good!
real_flamingicecubegames
real_flamingicecubegamesauthor6 Apr 2022, 01:01
@milq I apologize but I can't promise a linux port. I have no experience so I definitely want to learn if possible. I'll try at some point.
superpokeunicorn
superpokeunicorn6 Apr 2022, 02:03
Pretty fun space shooter! It is a little slow at the start, but it really gets going once you level up a few times and more enemies are introduced. I also like the little cutscenes before and after the game; they were a nice touch. The visuals are pretty good, although the audio was lacking. Definitely could have used some music. Overall, a solidly fun game. Nice work!
Chaoseiro
Chaoseiro6 Apr 2022, 03:23
A nice game, love me some oldschool space shooter heh

The version I played didn't have any soundtrack unfortunately, but the sfx are ok. Nice work on the graphics and the story/cutscenes.

Good job!
rmrvar6 Apr 2022, 05:54
The game was pretty fun. The art was very good. The enemies had a nice variety and the shield enemies were a unique idea I haven't seen before. The only complaint I have is that the sounds became a little grating as I was just holding J the entire time.
Human Writes Code
Human Writes Code6 Apr 2022, 11:47
The graphics look great and the knockback when you shoot enemies and asteroids gives the bullets/rockets a real feeling of force. Like some others I thought I was stuck on the initial cutscene because I don't think I've ever used J as a fire button (also, I could progress the cutscene with K but then got confused when that wasn't fire in the game).

All that aside, I think this is a really fun game which looks and sounds great. Good job!
thecoconutdream6 Apr 2022, 20:19
Space is always a good them. I like the mood you create with the sound and Art style, well done :)
Skylife
Skylife7 Apr 2022, 14:32
I like the mood of the game and the controlls feel nice :)
ZachsButt
ZachsButt7 Apr 2022, 15:47
good job on this entry! it worked pretty well and i liked the premise.

i guess i'd say that it would've been nice for there to be more visual feedback, i wasn't sure what the blue bar was, how much health i had, or if it was okay to just let the aliens fly by.
mmisspelling
mmisspelling7 Apr 2022, 16:48
very cute cutscenes :) i liked the weapon progression, made me want to get as many blue dots as possible to get stronggg fast
SeniorWombat7 Apr 2022, 18:36
The game is really enjoyable! :D. I like the cutscenes and the graphics - they are really great.
Also - since I got used to the controls, the game became very addictive for me xd. Especially with the new enemy types and weapon progression.

Good job ;)
WetBurritoSupreme
WetBurritoSupreme8 Apr 2022, 15:45
Great work on the game! I loved the cutscenes and the difficulty level was just challenging enough!
S_Onoe
S_Onoe8 Apr 2022, 19:38
Hey--I enjoyed the game! A few comments: the mobility of our plane is a bit too low so I found it hard to dodge projectiles. Adding more kinds of projectiles would also be effective. I like the audio, although more variety could be added. Overall, great job.
fatPenguin
fatPenguin8 Apr 2022, 23:37
Wow that really was fun!

The cutscenes are really nice and although the gameplay was challenging it felt balanced/fair. Good Job!
Nobongo
Nobongo9 Apr 2022, 05:53
The illustrations were cute and the game controlled and played pretty well. It was pretty tough for the most part but was fun overall.
unfinished
unfinished9 Apr 2022, 10:33
Hey! I had a lot of fun with this game. The idea is simple but executed really nice. The thing I was missing the most were a little bit more UI to tell me, how much hits I could still take or how long I already survived. Also I did not quite get, is it important to shoot as much aliens as possible or can I just evade them?
real_flamingicecubegames
real_flamingicecubegamesauthor9 Apr 2022, 14:21
@zachsbutt @unfinished Thank you both for playing. I should be more clear with the aliens. You need to kill them for the blue orbs that they drop. This is EXP and it will slowly fill a bar, eventually upgrading the ship's abilities. I should also add clarity to the hud details.

@skylife @mmisspelling @wetburritosupreme @fatpenguin @nobongo @seniorwombat Thank you all for playing.

@s-onoe I understand. Audio and mobility are being looked into for 1.1. Thank you for playing.
shadow64
shadow6410 Apr 2022, 05:27
That was a good time! I felt like the theme was clearly implemented and the game overall played without a hitch. I got to about round 5. Don't know if that's good or bad - but it felt like I was doing pretty well. I was a little unclear on what pickups were what. Sometimes I thought the blue was health, other times it seemed like a weapon upgrade. I'm pretty sure it was health and the parts were upgrades, but sometimes it seemed like health changed my weapon?

I liked the alert letting me know that the alt-weapon was ready. In a post-jam version it would be great to know which weapon you have, maybe Contra style. Overall it was just a really fun experience.

Thanks again for playing and leaving feedback on The Apocawiz. And congrats on finishing the jam!
gamescodedogs
gamescodedogs10 Apr 2022, 18:03
Awesome prototype, keep working on it!
ironcutter
ironcutter13 Apr 2022, 18:57
I really enjoyed the story and the art, nice game! I spent a lot of time wandering in space without anything to shoot tho. Maybe you should tune the enemy spawn a little
Marianoa213
Marianoa21313 Apr 2022, 23:43
Very good game! I really enjoyed it as well. You should make a sequel too! 10/10

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