Nice idea, but way too hard! I couldn't even complete the tutorial. Could do with some shields so it's not one-hit kill.
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AXR-100: Operation First Wave's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #56 | 3.024 | 3.429 |
| Originality | #58 | 3.276 | 3.714 |
| Music | #65 | 2.394 | 2.714 |
| Is the graphics 1 bit? | #75 | 4.158 | 4.714 |
| Overall | #75 | 2.919 | 3.310 |
| Gameplay | #82 | 2.394 | 2.714 |
| Art | #84 | 2.268 | 2.571 |
Ranked from 7 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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BibleClinger
Comments
Hi. Thanks for trying the game and leaving a comment. Others have noticed the lack of shields. I think I might add some shields or armor after the game jam is over to avoid the one-hit kill.
Note: Dodging is easiest in form 1, harder in form 2, and hardest in form 3. Currently, the easiest way to play the game is to use all of the defensive capabilities with the TACTICAL (form 1) transformation early on. After whittling down the enemy missile launchers with this technique, you can swap to other forms to use your weapons as well.
Deffinetly dont skip the tutorial here lol, had fun but didnt really seem like that much of a choice or need to be on mode 1 and 2. Keep at it!
Submitted
Eldritch SeekerAn interesting take on a space security officer simulator. I really like the simplicity of the mechanics, I would only wish to see some progression of them.
Let me share my experience:
I got used to the assault-type ship, so could easily dodge forever, but still I got stuck on Sector 5 without knowing when will it end. After some time I remembered seeing some numbers on the right of the screen (still not sure what do they mean), but I was not able to take a look at them since that would mean I will not took at the dodge bar. In the end, I decided to switch to stealth and to activate the jammer to get some time, but accidentally pressed Space at the wrong time :'< Maybe having a second life could make it more fair (I only send 4 bullets every 10 seconds, but hundreds are getting back my way!)
Submitted
Metal LanceThank you for the comment. Excellent points raised. Here are some things that might make the gameplay easier:
- The ASSAULT (3) form is actually the hardest to use defensively. It comes with a dodge penalty that causes the dodge marker to speed through the dodge meter more quickly. The benefit to using it is that you are destroying the Missile Defense Units at a constant rate of about 4 enemies for every 5 seconds.
- The TACTICAL (1) form (called STEALTH in the help menu) form is the easiest to use defensively. It comes with a dodge bonus that causes the dodge marker to move more slowly through the dodge meter. The downside to using it is that it could take longer to destroy the enemies, because it never fires any weapons. It instead relies on the defensive options, jamming/hacking enemy missiles and using countermeasures, to score kills.
- The numbers on the right-hand side indicate, from top to bottom, the total number of enemy Missile Defense Units, and the total number of missiles flying in space (both friendly and enemy). This is how you know if you're making progress.
I agree that death occurs too easily, so I would probably want to give your ship some armor in the future. Perhaps the different forms would have different armor levels.
Great tutorial, did its job to help me understand the game and the narrative as I usually try to just jump straight in and see what I understand. I laughed out loud when I died in the tutorial and had to start it again, thinking âthis person canât be taughtâ. I liked that the different transformations offered a trade-off for attack/defence abilities. I found myself feeling somewhat cheated after a string of successes and then insta-death after 1 missed dodge. Perhaps a health-counter would address that but also itâs a difficult game which isnât necessarily a problem.
Submitted
TransformThank you for the comment.
I'm very glad that the tutorial was helpful. I had spent quite a bit of time on that, as it was very important to me that players not feel lost.
I tend to agree that death happens too quickly. Originally I had planned for the ship to take damage when hit, but I ended up simplifying things greatly since the initial design phase. Nearer to the end of development I was contemplating giving the ship some armor so it could take some hits as you suggested. Perhaps this feature deserves a revisit, along with some balancing.
Very cool, kind of makes me think of FTL but still very different/original. Really like the originality of the gameplay and artwork! Also the border around the playable area is cool.
Submitted
The Hunt for Green NovemberNice game, it was hard to figure the gameplay bit at start, but when you continue to play you start to figure it out. Glad you could participated! ;)
Submitted
Strategy UpriseCouldn't quite figure out how to play the game, so i wont rate it. in the instructions, the keys i would press didnt seem to do anything.
Submitted
The State of MatterI'm sorry to hear that you had trouble with the keybinds.
- If you press Spacebar, then if you're being prompted to dodge, then the dodging marker stops moving.
- If you press Q or Z, and if you're in Spaceship form #1, then the Jammer is activated and the HUD shows its status is 0. Missiles that are affected rotate and fly upward.
- If you press W or X, and if you're in Spaceship forms #1 or #2, then the Countermeasures are activated and the HUD shows its status is 0. Missiles that are affected rotate in-place and explode.
- If you press 1, 2, or 3, then the game attempts to transform your ship into another form. The center part of the HUD shows the transformation happening, and then the left part of the HUD shows your new selection. Of course, if you select the same ship that you already have, then nothing happens.
- If you press P or ESC, you pause the game.
- If you press Enter, P, or ESC, you dismiss any tip or pause message and unpause the game.
Did you try the tutorial? I tried to make the mechanics clear there with a fairly detailed walkthrough. There is only one known mistake in the tutorial, where it says that Z is the alternative key for Countermeasures, when it should say X is the alternative.
If all of this has failed, do you have a non-QWERTY keyboard layout by any chance?
Great submission! It was a little bit confusing at first but I eventually got the hang of it. I wish there was some indicator for if missiles were not affected by countermeasures or hacking because for a while I just thought the game was broken. Other than that though I liked the pixel art and the transforming mechanic with how it disables certain abilities based on your ship type. Nice work :)
Submitted
Semi The DroidThanks for the comment and for trying it out. If it's not already clear, missiles can be classified based on the following categories and behaviors:
- Attacking you: They are pointed straight downward and are making their way to you.
- Jammed/Hacked: They rotate and fly upward (and kill enemies). Look at each vertical end of a missile to determine its rotation.
- Countered: They stop in place and rotate until they explode (and kill enemies if they are positioned at the top of the screen or beyond).
- Your missiles: They fly upward in a janky, horizontally-oscillating, manner while pointed the wrong way. I was going to fix this, but it all looked so quirky and helped to easily distinguished your missiles from their missiles, that I decided to keep this behavior. :)
Thanks again.
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