🎆 Bullet Hell Jam 🎆

Hosted by Harman Kamboj, SkyanSam · #BulletHellJam2021

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A jam submission

Imagine DeathView game page

Bullet hell + visual novel (for game jam)

Submitted by Halfstar (@HalfstarA) — 2 minutes, 45 seconds before the deadline

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Imagine Death's itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
CREATIVE	#12	4.500	4.500
EASY TO GET INTO	#78	4.000	4.000
FUN	#87	3.500	3.500
OVERALL	#92	3.500	3.500
AUDIO	#138	3.100	3.100
THEME	#166	2.900	2.900
VISUALS	#206	2.800	2.800

Ranked from 10 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Do you have any bullet or projectile in your game?

Yes

You added some projectile or bullet in your game

How does your game implement the theme? (If your game doesn't use the theme ignore this field)
Instead of defeating enemies, you have to survive 10 second intervals of enemies. Plus it will be story relevant.

What was the size of your team?
1

Please credit the resources that you used during the jam (if you used any)
Everything was made by me.

Credit all team-members that worked on this project (you can link itch.io/twitter/youtube/twitch)
Halfstar: https://twitter.com/HalfstarA

Comments

Chase of BassSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

Mixing a visual novel with a bullet hell!! Wasn't expecting that!! Was very cleverly done! :D Good writing and fun to auto dodge! Really cool game! :D

Submitted

Discount Concerto

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Moon9RabbitSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

It's really cool. Giving the bullethell part of the game story relevance is something I haven't seen in this jam before. Visuals are a bit lacking and music a little too loud and noisy, but other than that it's great. The only thing that I didn't like is that it would zoom out during patterns from time to time and it was hard to dodge, but at least getting hit isn't punishing at all.
Overall it's a fun little game, would play a full version :)

Submitted

Rabbit's Bullethell

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WayfarerGamesSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

I don't think I've played a game this jam that was so satisfying to just move in. Seriously, you absolutely nailed the character controller! Player speed was perfect. I also really appreciated the mashup of the two genres, really unique idea that actually works really well. Plus, adding things like score at specific story points is a really neat touch :)

I feel like the overall presentation could be improved quite a lot. I get that it's a jam, though - don't worry this isn't a major criticism :) I think the idea has real merit, it's unique. Here's what I'd change if you wanted to make it a full game:

more feedback for everything. A little bit of screenshake goes a long way! Check out this talk on YouTube, it pretty much summarizes what I mean here :)
make the enemy bullets bigger! Like, twice the size!
I feel like the bullet patterns could be a little more varied
I could zoom out during gameplay, which made me think that mechanic served a purpose, so I got hit trying to figure out what it did ;)

Overall, though, it's a great concept. A little bit of work and this could become something really unique!

Submitted

Neon Barrage

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HalfstarDeveloper3 years ago(+1)

Thank you for all the feedback!

The movement is basically about fast speed, making sure that input delay and frame time are as low as possible, and to not ruin it by adding any momentum. I saw games with floaty controls and probably rigid bodies, but realistic movement is the last thing a bullet hell needs.

The feedback video looks cool. I know from playing games what it should feel like, but I knew from the beginning that it is out of scope for the jam for me, it's the first time I made a game involving shooting. And when I tried to put all parts together, my pattern creator script crashed and burned. So last day was super hectic, I was 90% I won't make it. I even made the lines for the art extra squirmy, to give it more of a "child drawing" look, instead of a "the backend dev opened paint and had no time" look. Better ugly but cute than boring.

About the zoom, I intended to give the player options to interact with the computer and Yuri at any time instead of dodging bullets, but it had to wait for a later version. With all the positive feedback so far, I think I will continue to work on the concept.

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ImpastaSyndromeSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

It's really meta, and the story elements fit in well with the bullet hell sections. But I definitely felt the one pilot's pain as I didn't feel like I had a reason to try during those bullet hell sections. I guess that means the narrative was effective though :)

Submitted

Billiard Hell

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HalfstarDeveloper3 years ago(+1)

Yeah, that's what I was going for.

Many older shoot 'em ups were arcade games, where you continued by paying coins. The pc and console versions of those let the player use coins by pressing a button. But many players try to do them with a single life (1cc), even if they don't have to. So basically anyone could beat the game, but the community creates their own challenges.

So most shoot 'em ups either

use a coin metaphor, which doesn't really make much sense outside of arcades anymore, or
have limited lifes and Game Over, so non hardcore gamers can't see most of the game

I was thinking, how can I recreate the first type in a way that makes more sense for a pc game?

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ImpastaSyndromeSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

Interesting! Your entry was really creative and it's cool to hear about how the history of shmup's influenced you :)

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lenscasSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

Ah, finally a game where I don't just instantly die :P

Submitted

card hell

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KaitoMajimaSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

This game is really unique and creative, that's a mix of two genres I wouldn't expect to come together. This mechanic of adding stuff such as scores as the game progresses is really interesting, it reminds me of Upgrade Complete (old flash game), which has lots of potential!

Submitted

Sneeze Hell

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Nahro1001Submitted3 years ago(+1)

I like weird Genre Fusions and A Bullet Hell meeting a Visual Novel sounds weird and disconnected at first - but this was really well meshed together. Cool Soundeffects. Smooth gameplay, a simple story but told very well - and aided by the gameplay.
Art is a bit rough around the edges, but overall the game really suprised me. Give it a go!

Submitted

Your Channel

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Wysteria GamesSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

imagine... dragons

but seriously though, this was surprisingly fun and simple <3

Submitted

Soul Crisis

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FoundTexasSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

Music was very nice and relaxing :D

Submitted

River the Hunter