itch.io

Thank you for the response and explanation! :)

I know there's a lot of rushing to get things working in the strict time constraints, so it's perfectly understandable to have these sorts of issues get put into the 'final' build.

I feel there's a lot of potential for this post-apocalyptic survivor game if it was developed further. If there was more of a progression system, for example ways to upgrade the truck and/or reduce water/food consumption and/or increase the amount of time the player can spend in the radiation; things like that would make for a very compelling experience. Naturally fitting any of that in the time frame of ten days is asking for trouble. :)

Thank you for playing and the kind words! I'm glad the mishmash of styles worked out well in your eyes. :)

Love the stylistic lizard noir!

I also really like that one of the enemy types is a turtle on a skateboard. :D

The combat does need some polishing, enemies will slowly drift away while beating on you, and start punching the air for a bit before re-orientating on the player. Getting stun locked is sort of a given for side scrolling beat-em-ups but can still feel frustrating when every action the player tries to take gets interrupted. The turtles sometimes skate off screen and leave the player stuck, waiting for them to come back and fight before they can progress.

The right-click charge attack is massively over powered, you can win every fight simply by holding down the button and sweeping up the enemies in your deadly whirlwind. A time limit on that would probably be a good idea going forward. :)

Sound effects for hitting/defeating enemies is also, of course, vital to a game like this.

Haha, I've definitely had times where I've written a review and was ready to move on to the next game, only to scroll up and see I hadn't submitted an actual score yet.

Thank you so much for playing! I'm glad you liked the tutorial, I wasn't sure how well that would go over.

I definitely also prefer games where the player has control, but I like the general incremental nature of auto-battlers. I wasn't sure if I was making a 'best of both worlds' with the manual option or the 'worst of both.' It probably depends on the player. :)

Thank you very much for playing! I'm glad you found it fun and liked the heroes. :D

I'm pretty bad at this! I understand (or I think I understand) the best strategy is to find a stand which just barely beats your opponent in most categories so you can manage resources correctly. I'm not always good at doing that, I see a lot of numbers and after a bit I feel "this is probably fine" and then lose. :D

The first time I played went to a third round where I lost in the very final. The second time I lost in around two and then, sheerly by luck, I won my third attempt in the first round with four victories in a row.

I can't offer much in the way of feedback! Everything works well, it's a game of luck mixed with strategy like cards are generally intended to be. You could, perhaps, make the 'spin' for comparing categories more dramatic and flashy with slot machine visuals or sound effects?

Or, if you wanted to get really crazy, you could show the various stands 'fight' based on the category result, like a larger stand stomping on a smaller stand. Which would take a lot more time and I wouldn't recommend trying during a game jam's time frame. :D

So I read "test your quick reflexes and strategic thinking" and immediately thought that I would do very badly at this game. And I was right! I tried a couple of times on keyboard and I just couldn't push the right buttons fast enough, no matter how frantically I tried.

I'm guessing the easy way to "break" the game is push every button all the time which is what I did on a gamepad and managed to get a clean run. With the speed that the asteroids rain down, I don't think I could possibly win if that wasn't an option. But for someone better than me who wants a challenge, it would probably work to put some sort of global Energy/Power meter in. Every gun pulls from this single resource, so you can't have all of them active at the same time and firing too much too quickly (which is to say, shooting a gun that doesn't have a legitimate target) will leave the player with too little juice to stop an incoming threat in time.

Gameplay aside, the presentation is nice, I like the graphics and the sounds (even if the description page downplays the sound effects). The inclusion of a tutorial is nice, one thing about that is it would be nice to have a Continue/Next button so that the player isn't waiting for the next bit of text to appear once they're ready to progress and also doesn't miss any text when it disappears before they've finished reading it.

Also, great job including controls for keyboard and gamepad and allowing remapping. All very nice details that are difficult to fit into the confines of a game jam time limit.

Woohoo!

For a first game jam I think you did a great job, well done!

I can feel the Mega Man X influence with the dash, I haven't played the other two games mentioned to be able to compare this to them.

The ability to hang in midair is very interesting, I used it at one point to hover a bit above the ground and let the enemies charge into my spoon. :) I think it might work better if the order of execution was Jump -> Double Jump -> Air Hang rather than Jump -> Air Hang -> Double Jump because, since it's a more unique mechanic, players will feel like they got 'stuck' when they first encounter it. But there are definitely advantages to doing it your way, it's more maneuverable for instance, so don't put too much stock into what I'm saying. :D

Sound effects for hitting and defeating enemies would be a definite plus, as it is I can almost 'hear' them explode into dust clouds thanks to the animation.

Spoony's sprite is a bit blurry compared to everything else, you might want to check your importing settings. For pixel art you'll generally want to change the Filter Mode to Point (no filter) for a cleaner, sharper look.

I also noticed that, if I'm standing on top of a ladder I'm not able to jump. Spoony will do the animation but won't actually lift off from where he's standing. I've found ladders pretty tricky in Unity so I can't give a concise way to address this issue, just something to bear in mind for the future.

Thank you for playing, I'm glad you liked it!

Thank you for playing! If I'm honest, the fact that it feels balanced is more of a happy accident than careful thought on my part. I threw in numbers for enemy stats and weapon stats and tested those until it was possible to win more than lose. :)

Thank you very much for playing! It's great to hear that using the Manual mode helped make the difference between victory and defeat. :)

Thank you for playing! Failing to explain which weapons are equipped in which hand (and that this is even a thing) was a big oversight on my part.

Your suggestions for how to improve the trade-in system is interesting, I've been thinking of similar ways to change how buying items work and I'll keep this in mind. :)

Those are the stairs, yes! The problem I had was that I couldn't open the door due to the prompt to use the stairs overriding it. I held left and tried mashing E but it was always switching floors which took precedence over opening the door. Because of that I couldn't get to the TV and closet.

I appreciate the detailed response! :)

Really cleverly done, and it looks great as well!

I'm not generally a fan of games where the player only has one life and dies on contact with any enemy or hazard, but I suppose this one is short enough to make it work. :)

I especially like how the letter blocks interact with the environment both in the dark and when the light changes the environment. The spooky enemies are very nicely designed.

This game needs more attention!

(I say, having only played through the first two days.)

It's really well done, a perfect mixture of monotonous paper work and paranormal threats to the human race. The routine printing out of forms in order to transcribe within them classifications for objects, entities and phenomena which cannot be explained.

But you know this, because you made it and it works so perfectly.*

* I did get a repeat from Day 1 on Day 2. And at the end of Day 2 the background noise partially drowned out the scripted dialogue.

I couldn't figure out the sign in the maze, or what to do with it. A very unique and interesting game, though!

Well, also, I couldn't figure out what to pair with thirteen in the bonus section, either... I'm sure it's a more fulfilling experience for people cleverer than I. :)

I'll take it!

Simple but addictive game! The leaderboard made me want to keep trying until I had a respectable score to show off. :)

In general the camera is placed well, but I found it had an odd swaying effect to it. The assistance of the Relic is very appreciated.

The game page lists four enemy types, I'm sure I only saw skeletons and one other (I'm guessing Grunts. The green guys.)

The fireball attack is pretty satisfying to hit enemies with. The enemy counter has a bit of a delay between defeating an enemy and showing that they're no longer counting for the total remaining, I'm guessing that it updates after their death animation rather than at the start of it.

It's also a little strange that enemies can move through solid obstacles which block my fireballs, specifically a crescent shaped one up and right of the relic. I also sometimes got stuck on the smaller obelisks surrounding the relic, but that's probably fair.

After edit response!

Looking good! I definitely need to fix the shop for an auto-upgrade option. I have some plans to rework how upgrades function before they hit the Legendary trait, but either way I need to make big improvements to shopping. :)

I think I did okay!

There was a point where I thought "I'll never run out of bullets now" and then... well anyway, great job!

I like the mechanic of reloading by going onto the tiles, and how once you've used one there's an indicator of where the next one will spawn into place. And how you can't simply camp one that's currently recharging.

Sounds are nice, especially there's a nice audio-cue when you try to fire while empty.

All the art is visually pleasing, everything is clear and color coded.

Thank you for playing! I'm glad it got a laugh! Pistachio is named after a parrot plushie, the rest of the heroes are originals. :)

Thank you so much for playing and the kind words! I'm glad it hooked you enough to get such an impressive amount of money! :)

I really like the concept and it gets across the feeling of being a lone survivor in a hostile world quite well.

Although the game description says there's an easy way to do each raid, some of them are beyond my ability to figure out. Particularly the basement, if the intention is to hold onto the ladders between floors to make the proper timing then I was unable to get that to work. There's also a section in the penthouse with a stair entrance next to a door, I wasn't able to open the door instead of using the stairs no matter how many times I tried, leading to getting chomped on. There's also another area where, instead of a door or a closet, there's simply a green bar which the player can 'hide' in but is not visually obvious.

I like the truck's design and the need for resources. I also like the idea of needing to scour through various areas to get enough supplies to escape, but I found I could get enough in two or three to simply drive past the others to victory. Most of the time that the truck drives somewhere, the moving background continues to move even after it's stopped.

Thank you so much for playing! I'm glad it appealed to a lot of things you enjoy! :D

Thank you very much for playing, and the point by point review!

This wasn't exactly my intended message but it worked out well enough? (Too bad all the nice people are probably gone by the time aliens arrive...)

A very thought provoking experience!

Thank you for playing! I'm glad you enjoyed the quirkiness. :D

Thank you for playing and for the feedback! Auto-upgrades is definitely a good idea. And, as well, a prompt for switching weapons; that's for sure a bad feeling when it happens accidentally.

I'd love to see someone complete it! I don't think I have the ability myself. :)

I got to wave 13 in the final level before I was overwhelmed!

The upgrade system is nice, I wish that I could keep my upgrades from one level to the next. The graphics are simple and clean, the sound effects are well suited to a space battle.

Enemy variety is nice, however every enemy and every fight played out the same for me, I'd circle left or right while firing and waiting for my missiles to recharge to take out most ships (or one strong ship) with that.

The game should pause when the upgrade menu appears, so that the player can make their choice without also being shot at. Sometimes I'd gain more than one level at a time and this would cause the menu to glitch out a bit, showing one set of rewards, then replacing them with others.

Thank you very much for playing! :D

Amazing work! I love the presentation, the Last Stand effect makes all the environmental destruction even more satisfying. Most jam games would have stopped at the initial area but this one keeps going, and going, and then reaches a satisfying conclusion.

I had to turn the sound down in order to hear the voices, it drowns them out by default. Some enemies in the first area are oblivious to the player while within visual and shooting range, which isn't necessarily a bug (and certainly was helpful for me at the player) but it's unclear whether that's intentional or not.

I really appreciate the checkpoints, the super shot and the Last Stand's slowing down time, all of these were absolutely needed (by me) to complete the game.

Thank you so much for playing and the indepth response!

First try!

Though the game did kindly prevent me from jumping into pits here and there. The location of power ups (or power downs sometimes) helped guide the path, I'm assuming there's only one safe route through to the end.

Very epic with the falling boulders and music! And collapsing floor tiles.

I... kind of remember Star Tropics a little bit... this didn't feel awkward at all!

I tried this first in Firefox and experienced a massive amount of lag once enough enemies had spawned in, making it impossible to control (or lose). In Chrome it works much better, with just a bit of audio skipping at times.

Great aesthetics and a nice upgrade system! The player does feel extremely weak the first time around, as is typical for games with outside progression and the improvements to movement, attack speed and damage all feel immediately impactful. The extra attack is nice as well, but could perhaps stand to have a lower cooldown.

I played until I maxed out everything! At that point, since there's no end objective I'm aware of, I wasn't compelled to play further. Combat essentially boils down to flying in a circle while firing behind, there isn't a lot of room for more indepth strategy that I could find. It might be worth making the main attack active without the need for a button push, there's really no circumstance in which the player needs to 'save a shot' for any reason, especially as the fire rate increases, and it would free up the left mouse button for another type of attack.

Great job for such a limited time frame!

Not many games let you play as a hummingbird! :D

A bit short but a very neat concept with a good foundation of mechanics. The the very generous life restoring items it's actually very easy to tank damage from the bees without much concern. Perhaps if they were only killed while in the powered-up state it would add to the difficulty. (Though, I enjoy easy games as a nice breather in this jam!)

The story and scene transitions were nice touches. The dash ability is nice in theory but, given the size of the stage, isn't especially useful. One of the classic maneuvers of hummingbirds is their ability to hover in place while collecting nectar, so perhaps adding a way to maintain altitude would be nice. :)

Thank you for playing and for the kind words! When the combat is in Auto mode (which is mainly how I tested it) I would say it's an auto battler. It's not as idle-friendly as some of them, since the player needs to give some input between battles by using the shop (or at least exiting the shop) and of course there's manual controls (such as they are) for those who want more of a hands on experience. :)

My main inspirations were Super Auto Pets (and games similar to that) for the shop. The classic Final Fantasy games from the Super Nintendo era for the setting and battle style. And then a lot of little things here and there that are difficult to directly attribute. Being able to choose the character's targets while the game is paused, for example, is similar to the weapon aiming in FTL, but that's hardly the only game with such a feature.

Incredible! I know some people who will love this. :D

I had to re-read the controls to realize the mouse pointer's location was important, I kept swatting the same plant up and down uselessly at first. The third level was tough, but mostly because I'm too impatient.

Very lucky that the distracted human can't hear any of these things landing on the floor. :) Though, it might be nice from the player's perspective to hear a satisfying crash or two!

Thank you for playing! I'm glad you liked the progression system and found it fun. :D

This is the best I managed, the super big enemy could take a beating and dish one out!

A good, fun game in general. I feel the prices for upgrades were highly priced, often too out of reach. Ideally the player should be able to purchase something at the end of the very first wave, otherwise there's no agency to be had when the fort takes damage on Wave 2. It gives the sense that nothing could be done, whereas if two or more upgrades are affordable and the fort takes damage, the player can think "Oh, I should have tried something different."

The randomization of the waves helps add variety and in theory makes for better replayability, but this also means that the amount of gold the player earns is random as well in a way they can't control. On my first playthrough I could only afford a speed upgrade after Wave 2, and on my second playthrough I could instead buy the much more useful 2xDamage upgrade instead, simply because more enemies spawned for me that run.