Shootwell

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.33
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.31
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.67
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.52
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.66
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.36
Humor★★★★★★★★★★1.00
Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.98

Inspired by Downwell you fall down a Well to get to Hell. On the way down you need to shoot down theese demons!


This is my first Ludum Dare entry which was made in 14 hours active development time. Have fun stacking upgrades and melting through enemies at some point!

For correct pixel resolution and fullscreen support download the game and play the .exe version.

Feel free to leave some upgrade ideas in the comments so I might update the game for a itch release!

Upgrades

- More bullets
- Faster shoot speed
- Less spray

Source Code and Windows EXE

Can be found within the ZIP download as well as a Windows exe for better performance and fullscreen support.

Tools

- Gamemaker
- Aseprite
- ChipTone
- Pixsquare

Comments25

JCMonkey
JCMonkey7 Apr 2025, 02:48
i seem to be getting stuck at around 1500. too bad the jump didnt have an IFrame in there.
LightningST
LightningST7 Apr 2025, 08:09
4000m was my best. Sometimes my cursor would get stuck when I jumped or something? Other than that it was great!
Sevatoxin
Sevatoxinauthor7 Apr 2025, 09:08
@lightningst 4000m is great! I only broke the game once and got to like 10.000m but 4000m is the great and the score I got the most when testing. What exactly do mean by cursor gets stuck? It is intented that you can´t shoot while jumping but you should be able to aim.
LightningST
LightningST7 Apr 2025, 09:45
@sevatoxin if I move my mouse outside the game window while I'm holding down mouse1, moving it back in doesn't do anything until I let go of mouse1 and move it again. It kept happening to me 'cause I liked to just hold down mouse1 and keep firing.

Not sure if this is a code thing, game engine thing, or browser thing. I'm on firefox if that helps.
dnp7 Apr 2025, 10:23
This game hooked me. I made many attempts to try to improve my score. This game really needs a kill counter or some indication on your progress towards upgrades. Also, it's probably just a skill issue, but I usually die before the first upgrade. A gentler difficulty curve would be appreciated. Unless it is intentionally supposed to be difficult, which is a valid choice. The game is fun anyways.
Sevatoxin
Sevatoxinauthor7 Apr 2025, 11:30
@dnp Thank you! Yes a progress bar or counter for the kills was something I had in mind, just no time left for it. For the difficulty I am fully with you. It was really hard to balance the game, because when you get the upgrades the game will flow quite different and really gets easier as it should be. But the start is still too rough, think I am gonna reduce the max enemies in the beginning to even this out.
munmungames
munmungames7 Apr 2025, 14:05
God it's hard haha! But simple and addictive. It reminds me of Gunstar Heroes underground mine level! Good job
p3tition7 Apr 2025, 18:12
Liked it, went down to a maximum of ~3100m.
argensis7 Apr 2025, 19:52
I can see how you can develop skill in this, knowing when to jump when enemies are starting to switch to your side without doing it so often that you end up not killing enough enemies as you're jumping too much.

I got to around 2500m on my best run, but I evidently didn't manage to develop this skill lol.
OnnGD
OnnGD7 Apr 2025, 20:08
there wasn't enough background music, the gameplay is very good, great job
Sevatoxin
Sevatoxinauthor7 Apr 2025, 21:51
@onngd Yes, this is one field in gamedev I need to find a solution for since I have no clue how to create music. Still glad you liked the gameplay, which was my main focus for the jam!
OnnGD
OnnGD7 Apr 2025, 21:58
@sevatoxin If you write your own discord, I can share a couple of tools for creating music and sound effects
Sevatoxin
Sevatoxinauthor7 Apr 2025, 22:39
@onngd You should be able to add me on discord under Sevatoxin
Adam Gallina
Adam Gallina8 Apr 2025, 02:52
I really graphics, it created a nice vibe for the game. Overall the jump mechanic was a little frustrating, as it seemed more often than not I had an enemy coming towards me in the path of the jump, so there was no way to dodge - being able to aim the jump would have been nice. It still made for a satisfying game loop though, was able to get to 3100 on my best run
Scott R Howell
Scott R Howell8 Apr 2025, 19:13
An addictive loop you have going on, really enjoyed it, I think some tweaking of how the bats move could serve it though as sometimes it feels like you've just been dealt a hard hand with them blocking your way

Good work!
LDJam user 3576569 Apr 2025, 06:05
Very well done! Controls are simple and easy to learn, but hard to master. SFX were great!

After the first round, I wasn't sure what all the controls were, so I had to refresh the page. If the controls were explained more than just once at the beginning, that would help.

I started wondering whether it was worth trying to get to the bottom. After 50k feet, I just let myself die because I didn't know how long I'd have to play to get to the end. Or is it infinite? Some kind of indication about how far down the player needs to go might alleviate that. Giving the player an additional objective or sense of accomplishment beyond the upgrades and restored health might also help.

Jumping didn't seem worth it. Being able to move up and down might have been useful.
nimbushead9 Apr 2025, 06:05
Very well done! Controls are simple and easy to learn, but hard to master. SFX were great!

After the first round, I wasn't sure what all the controls were, so I had to refresh the page. If the controls were explained more than just once at the beginning, that would help.

I started wondering whether it was worth trying to get to the bottom. After 50k feet, I just let myself die because I didn't know how long I'd have to play to get to the end. Or is it infinite? Some kind of indication about how far down the player needs to go might alleviate that. Giving the player an additional objective or sense of accomplishment beyond the upgrades and restored health might also help.

Jumping didn't seem worth it. Being able to move up and down might have been useful.
andruid
andruid10 Apr 2025, 21:37
Visiting you back.
Man, what a cool game! I love it!
It's fluid and simple, yet challenging!
LDJam user 280036
LDJam user 28003611 Apr 2025, 01:37
This has a great arcade feel. I kept playing again and again. Awesome first entry. Good sounds, feedback, easy mechanics. I think having some different guns or powerups would be cool. Well done 👏
googlypoo
googlypoo11 Apr 2025, 01:37
This has a great arcade feel. I kept playing again and again. Awesome first entry. Good sounds, feedback, easy mechanics. I think having some different guns or powerups would be cool. Well done 👏
Cure
Cure11 Apr 2025, 18:05
Absolutely charming game, it had a great amount of challenge and I had a blast playing it. Love your style and take on the theme, love that you made nice big bullets, loved the old school double/triple shot upgrades, all very great.

I played your game on my stream, here is a timestamp on YouTube: `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uvsTk0plS4&t=2301s`
LDJam user 202408
LDJam user 20240812 Apr 2025, 09:03
I appreciate a simple, easy to understand game. This was fun but also very challenging, I second the comment by @jcmonkey in that it might've been better to prevent players from taking damage in mid-air since we don't have that much control over the trajectory.

Overall I had fun and my best score was around 2000. Nice work and congrats on finishing your first game with such a tight time!
0X_VOID_X0
0X_VOID_X012 Apr 2025, 09:03
I appreciate a simple, easy to understand game. This was fun but also very challenging, I second the comment by @jcmonkey in that it might've been better to prevent players from taking damage in mid-air since we don't have that much control over the trajectory.

Overall I had fun and my best score was around 2000. Nice work and congrats on finishing your first game with such a tight time!
thegrottman16 Apr 2025, 21:29
Hahah, it's amazing! Easy to learn, hard to master, although the progress stumps itself around ~2k meter mark and you're basically unkillable :D But it's incredibly nice, I got to 10k and called it quits. Great job!
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