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OUTSMART BULLET's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Enjoyment | #332 | 3.865 | 3.865 |
| Overall | #761 | 3.730 | 3.730 |
| Presentation | #942 | 3.838 | 3.838 |
| Creativity | #1757 | 3.486 | 3.486 |
Ranked from 37 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
The idea was that in a vast majority of games the player has a very offensive role and we decided to flip this on its head by giving them exclusively defensive tools. More specifically: your only move is Parry.
Did your team create the vast majority of the art during the 48 hours?
Yes
We created the vast majority of the art during the game jam
Did your team create the vast majority of the music during the 48 hours?
Yes
We created the vast majority of the music during the game jam
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Comments
I liked the concept and the presentation overall is really cool, but maybe being the annoying nerd (sorry), I wish it could be simplified for the jam so you could expand upon for controllers, because playing with the keyboard got a little confusing to me, at least, as it's too much to do simultaneously (but it could be a me problem as well). I hope you keep working on the game, I think it has potential
I was not good enough to get far in this, but it's a really nice concept and has amazing presentation. The (keyboard) controls felt a little unresponsive, but it could have just been me being bad. A gentler introduction would be nice, as it feels great when you hit the parry. Nice work!
Very cool game! Bonus points for controller support.
I didn't get far, tough. I wasn't smarter than the bullets.
This is an incredible hidden gem. Very satisfying once you figure it out. Some more polish would be nice but yknow how it goes. My biggest complaint is the parry controls for keyboard are confusing since most games will treat arrow keys the same as wasd, and I didn't realize they were different and died like 10 times trying to figure out what it wanted me to do.
But after finishing it I just need MORE. I am selfishly requesting you make this into a full adventure platformer game with this frenetic kinetic traversal. Not sure you'd have to keep the player a bullet or w/e as a real character could accomplish the same thing while being able to have a story or something. The game is quite hard though, so adding some concessions for this like health would be good. Maybe even make it so bullets going the same direction as you don't harm you since you match velocity anyway. But man it is satisfying when you get the right bounce up a stream of bullets and they just pile up one after the other. Maybe you could play around with that and make the hit lag time shorter as it the parries stack to give to an even greater feeling of getting faster and faster. Idk, but I really hope something more comes from this. Very epic.
Oh thank you so much, it means a lot. And, you know, we are starting to seriously consider developing this into a full game. I'll keep you updated if it becomes a thing. Also I quite like your suggestions, especially the health thing, or maybe checkpoints, I think it would help making the game more accessible. With the timer still offering great challenge to the players who want it. Not sure about the story though, none of us really write, and I wouldn't want to make something underwhelming in that regard. What seems a lot more feasible though is making a much more defined atmosphere for the game, and maybe have it evolve throughout, hinting at things that have happened or are happening there. Anyway, I really appreciate the detailed feedback, it is very encouraging.
- Matt
This game is spectacular. The art is a bit funky (except for the parry: that's freaking awesome), an I feel like the death could have used a particle effect or two, but otherwise 10/10.
("Some people think they can outsmart me. Maybe. But I have yet to meet a man who can outsmart BULLET!")
Thanks a lot for your feedback! And yeah, I'm not incredibly proud of the visuals. That was my first jam and turns out it's bloody hard to come up with an artstyle and produce quality visuals over such a short period of time while also taking care of the game and level design. At least I'm happy putting a lot of effort in the parry VFX was worthwhile. By the way, if you have tips or specific feedback on this, I'm all ears. Producing visuals during game jams I mean. Anyway, I'm really glad you enjoyed it, and that you noticed the reference :>
- Matt
Honestly I'd recommend a pixel-art filter for this kind of game, as it makes it a lot simpler to create dynamic but simple art. Also, just having a few asset variations to decorate the empty space, or even just a parallax background or two/some flickering lights. Just something to help it feel more alive.
Thanks a lot for the suggestions! I can see this helping a lot in the future.
- Matt
Awesome! Looks clean, sounds very satisfying, and plays solidly! Very fair level of challenge too (once I had gotten used to using RB for jumping, which was confusing at first). Very well made game!
Really good idea. Parrying feels really polished and enjoyable. Good job!
Extremely cool idea. Love the snappy feel, the visuals, juice elements all really drive the point home.
It's very difficult, even accounting for the fact that one may be used to the polar opposite game setting (of a more offensive style). I like that, personally.
The overall design felt nice and uncluttered. Kind of reminded me of Smash Hit (a mobile game).
I will say that the tutorial confused me a little in the beginning. Could be attributed to the unusual design, though (as compared to offense). Maybe it's just me, though.
All the best :)
Thank you so much :D
And regarding the tutorial, what is it that had you confused exactly? How would you make it more clear?
- Matt
It felt to me like the parry happened quite suddenly and I couldn't really grasp its duration and working very quickly. It also involved all arrow keys.
It could be that there wasn't a very apparent visual indicator on the player.
For example, imagine a offensive style game, where you play as a knight. The knight holds a sword, which, when swung, plays some telegraphed animation, which gives the player feedback about things like the attack's duration. This makes the whole process of aiming the swing of the sword and attacking with it easier to grasp.
Hmm, I see. We'll think about that.
The feedback is gold. Awesome!
Don't know if it's intentional or not, but it's really fun to get a chain parry. Parrying once and then riding the bullets up like a reverse river is very satisfying.
Really dig the mechanics behind this one. Would be fun to see the parry's used to shoot back projectiles to destroy some turrets, or perhaps even the occasional reversed polarity bullet shooting you in the opposite direction, but can understand that'd be tricky to do in any areas requiring platforming and in two days at that.
The aesthetics made everything going on quite readable, keeping the challenge purely on figuring out and executing a plan of ascension. Superb work.
Thanks a lot for all your feedback! Your suggestions are really interesting. Early during the jam, we did consider the inversed parry direction, but not as something tied to the bullets, just a different way to make the mechanic, which wasn't great. But making it a level design element is brilliant! It's a much better idea and would allow for a lot more variety in the levels. The possibility of deflecting bullets is great as well, maybe a bit contradictory with our take on the jam's theme, but otherwise I like it. I think it'd have to be optional though, perhaps binded to a different input, so the player could choose which enemies to destroy to reduce danger and which ones to keep to aid him in his completion of the platforming challenges.
- Matt
The parrying is sooo goood! Loved the art and the effects which makes it feel so impactful! Great job!!
Movement and parrying feels amazing (played on keyboard), the level design did a really good job at telling me what i had to do. Can defniitley see this being fleshed out into a larger game!
Ahh, the parrying feels amazing. The little freeze before blasting away adds so much. I just loved the feeling of momentum you can get. Great job guys!
Cool game and well made. Kudos for the fun gameplay experience. The level skip thing was already addressed other than that seemed to be pretty smooth gameplay.
As a speedrunner i had too much fun.... stopped myself for grinding too long tho so not rly any good times to share(i have high standards), umm yeah. couldve been more polished, even tho the most important thing was, and btw u can skip levels with R, but it was just handy in speedrunning :D
Overall, i had fun lol
Glad you enjoyed it!
We are aware of the level skip bug, but only realised after the deadline ended so we couldn't upload the fix.
Also you might be interested to know our best times are 15.9 seconds on the 1st level and 15.7 on the 2nd one. Would love to see someone beat those.
Matt
Great concept, the parrying was super satisfying and fun
Parrying feels great, and the idea is a great concept
You did a good job making the parry feel really good to land. Something I'd suggest though is to make the parry a little bit smaller. It's really easy to climb up descending bullets by parrying down, which I don't know is intentional or not.
That wasn't intentional, but we decided to leave it in to make the game less difficult and make combos easier to execute.
- bocxyz & Matt
What a great game, really short levels that left me wanting for more.
Please look into developing this further, it was a super satisfying experience.