Really really cool game! Bit too difficult for me unfortunately, so I didn't play all the way through, but I really enjoyed the bit that I played.
I loved the movement! I can't complain about the simple act of moving around on the floor, acceleration and speed felt just right. Shooting the guns itself is satisfying, though the player feedback for actually hitting an enemy is a tad lackluster. The hurt animation seems inconsistent, and it's a little unclear if a bullet did damage or not. This was more of an issue with the ion gun than the shotgun(Since that usually just killed everything right away). I found enemies just a little too spongey as well, partly due to that lack of clarity. I would've also been more merciful on the player with how much health a pickup restores, and time limits on time trials felt far too tight. I'm a big fan of the kick! Killing enemies with a quick kick feels so great, and I loved the kick jump. Unfortunately wall kicking got kind of ruined by the wallrun. I also did get a little lost occasionally, since most rooms look kinda same-y, though this has been a universal problem across the jam, since decorating rooms properly takes a ton of time.
I liked the visuals, am a sucker for that PSX look. Sound design is great as well, I particularly liked the time trial theme, it's very catchy.
Amazing game, good job to the three devs!!
Here's the first half of my gameplay:
Play game
Project F.L.A.K.'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #1 | 4.417 | 4.417 |
| Sensory | #1 | 4.667 | 4.667 |
| Enjoyment | #3 | 4.333 | 4.333 |
| Execution | #3 | 4.444 | 4.444 |
| Metroidvania | #5 | 4.222 | 4.222 |
Ranked from 9 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Engine
Unreal Engine 5
Team/Developer
Remisse, Totsnuk, Limbow
External assets
Environment textures readapted from https://opengameart.org/content/zortch-unused-textures | Some interaction sounds from https://opengameart.org/content/9-sci-fi-computer-sounds-and-beeps | Font: Robtronika https://ggbot.itch.io/robtronika-font
Comments
Glad you liked the game despite the high difficulty! Watching your gameplay has made me realize the very first tutorial that teaches you how to kill enemies with the kick can be unintentionally skipped, so it’s no wonder you had a bit of a hard time at the very beginning using just the ion rifle. But I’m glad the kick still resonated with you!
I agree it can be easy to get lost, especially after acquiring the thrust kick. We tried giving each room some unique geometry, but we were running short on time and couldn’t do much more. I’ll make sure my next game features a simple map system, at the very least!
Thanks for checking out my game! I will try to play yours later today but i only have a mac so im not sure that either of the builds will work
Really polished package, with great sound, visuals, and feel. I think the time trials were definitely tuned a little hard, but they were optional. The lighting looks really great often, but was too dark many times making it really hard to see. In fact, after the thrust kick power, I got stuck because the way forward was so dark I thought I had to come back later with a flashlight ability. The thrust kick was also a bit weird to land, but precise platforming wasn't too necessary through the game.
Thanks for playing! Yeah, I’ve had some complaints about the overall darkness, so that’s definitely something to be fixed in a later update. That one dark corridor was meant as kind of a set piece to introduce the third enemy, but I think I could’ve added even one more light.
I actually started playing your game some minutes ago, so expect a review soon!
I'm partway through the game as is, and I'm really liking what I'm seeing. The character's movements feel very slick, although maybe a little slippery on small ledges (though, that might be on purpose). The biggest case where this comes into play is probably the time trials, just because they require you to land precise jumps on small platforms, and if you miss one, you need to run to the button to restart again. a button to 'slow down', or to make it so the character can't run off a ledge would be neat (like, if someone held down ctrl, their speed could go down, but they would be able to move more carefully.) It took me a moment to realize that before the thrust kick, you could use the kick to get a little more airtime/distance, which helped me in that room with the enemies after the save terminal.
Visuals are outstanding, especially the enemy designs. I'm not quite sure what the benefit of the ion sphere is, is it just higher aoe, or is there higher damage too?
Accidentally had my speakers off, so i haven't heard the sound effects and music yet, but I'll edit my comment when I do.
The thrust kick is something i like in theory (Pseudoregalia had something like it), but in first person, with a limited number of double jumps that I don't think reset upon wall-kicking, it is a little hard to manage, because you often have to look away from the thing that you want to land on, and it felt like the 'airtime' I was getting from it was a bit small (even though that is probably because it depends on the angle you kick from). If it reset your double jump, or didn't take your stamina later on in the game, I feel like it would be a cool way to climb up surfaces. However, that might mess with things like the time trials.
I want to state again, I am very, VERY impressed with how fun the actual movement feels, and think this project has a lot more potential if you wish to build upon it in the future! Great job!
Thank you for your detailed feedback!
I think I may have gotten a bit too used to the movement during development and failed to notice the slipperiness on ledges. Sorry about that. I could definitely add an action to prevent falling from them!
The ion sphere alone does more damage to a single enemy, but if you try and hit the sphere with your primary fire, it explodes inflicting even more damage and is also AoE (kind of a hidden mechanic, dunno how many people actually found out about this).
Regarding kicks, they actually do reset double jumps, even if you hit nothing. If they don’t, then that’s very weird and could be a game-breaking bug, as some sections require you to jump after a wall kick. Instead, if you meant having both jumps be reset (as in, kick then jump then double jump) then yeah, that’s not possible (but could be an idea for a time trial reward!). Also, I agree they can be hard to perform properly. As another person said in their review, they’re more akin to Quake’s rocket jumps, minus the self-inflicted damage.
Aye, i've had some experience with rocket jumps in tf2. Though I'm terrible at those, so maybe that is why. Also, I kinda suck at those 'redirect' moves in general, so maybe that is why I had some difficulties.
Also, the idea of being able to shoot the sphere to do more damage is cool! never would have thought to do that, but I like mechanics where you can shoot a projectile, and then aim at it to do something new. or more powerful.
Very well made little game, I had a lot of fun with it - even tho I was not great at playing (the kick mechnanic kinda runined me :D The artstyle and execution was great, the shooting felt responsive and flowed well together with the movement, creating a nice gamefeel. The ost will live in my head rend free for a few days.
I feel like if expanded a little, this could be something big in the "boomer shooter" scene!
Thank you, I’m glad you had fun despite the thrust kick! I knew it was a bit too technical of an ability the moment I added it in, but I was curious to see if it would still click with people.
This was indeed inspired by boomer-shooter classics and even has some references to them: the orange enemy was inspired by Quake’s ogre, the room where you acquire the thrust kick is a replica of the first room in Doom 2’s Entryway, and the second weapon is an almost exact replica of Unreal Tournament’s flak cannon!
Yeah, I noticed :) (For me, it was the Golan arms flechette from Jedi Outcast, but it's kinda the same weapon in Unreal, Quake and JK, so it felt familiar. )
And on the kick: it was a nice mechanic, fun too, but it was kinda hard for me the get a grasp on it - in huge part because of the button layout. Or it was just a case of me needing to "git gud" in a sense :D
this was super cool! the time trials were very hard (i didn't beat the second one) but i thoroughly enjoyed this. the thrust kick off of walls was a great way to replicate the feeling of a rocket jump without the drawbacks of a rocket jump. i wish it gave a bit more consistent vertical velocity, there were times where i didn't look down quite enough so i couldn't reach the ledge i was trying to get to. also, i got the wall run before i realized i missed the second gun and because the wall run is so sticky i couldn't actually use the thrust kick to successfully climb that ledge. shooting wise, the first weapon felt like it could've used a bit more kick to it, the orange dudes took so many shots to kill. but otherwise the movement and shooting felt great.
also the soundtrack is great!!
Thank you for your valuable feedback! I hope you didn’t get to the end using only the first weapon, ‘cause that must have been painful. It’s intended to be weak to push you towards using both its alt fire and the second weapon, so I totally get how the orange dudes may have felt like bullet sponges.
The thing about wall running that can feel off is that it instantly zeroes your vertical velocity, so it requires lots discipline not to unconsciously press the movement keys while wall jumping, as that will immediately stick you to the wall. In Titanfall 2 (the game I took inspiration from for the movement), wall running does indeed retain vertical velocity, so it both feels better to use and you don’t lose the velocity you gain after jumping. I couldn’t manage to add this behaviour in time because, after spending 6 whole days fine-tuning my wall run implementation as it is, I felt the need to move on to other stuff, but this is such a sore point for me that I wish I could’ve done better.
Still, if you managed to have fun despite these issues, then I’m glad!
It really is quake inspired, lovely art, lovely soundtrack and lovely music. My fingers are in a bit of a pin though because of V for air thrust, I feel I am stuck after getting kick thrust and the second gun. I guess I need to master kick thrust to perform a proper wall jumps, but can not achieve it yet.
The game itself is just triggering everything I have in my heart (except for shadow darkness). Nicely done!
Thank you for your kind words! It’s good to see a fellow enjoyer of old-school shooters here!
Learning how to wall jump with thrust kicks can indeed be tricky. How I always do it is by jumping while facing the wall I want to wall jump from, then look downwards so that the camera direction is at a steep angle relative to the wall, then kick. This usually maximizes jump height, but I get that it takes some getting used to.
(In case you need visual reference, on the game’s page there’s a full walkthrough in which I perform that particular jump to get to the red door)
Nice game, I really liked the art style, all animations are super smooth both guns and enemies. The controls are polished but the wall slide is a bit hard to use for me, I keep falling down and loosing speed. The enemy behaviour is my favorite part, I like how they shoot and the reposition, also running away if you jump on the platform they are on. Played untile the second level, exactly the 5th screenshot as there was a lot of wallrides and my health was low from previous rooms. Enjoyed what I played so far, good job!
Ahh, you were actually near the end! Sorry you had trouble with wall running, I should have made its tutorial easier. One thing the tutorial does not make clear is that you must keep the movement keys pressed down in order to keep wall running, otherwise you’ll simply slow down and fall.
Glad you still liked the game, and thanks for the feedback!
Thank you for playing! The kick prompt should have appeared right before the first enemy. My guess is that you may have “stepped in and out” of the tutorial’s trigger volume very quickly, so it appeared and disappeared without you having a chance to read it. That’s entirely my fault for coding it that way!
Great vibe and gunplay! The platforming mechanics were tight and enjoyable too, though sometimes when trying to run a right side wall it didn't work. The second time trial was butt-clenchingly difficult (without the wall running) but I was able to do it after dozens of tries lol. Some areas were too dark but overall the visuals were brilliant. Got some Deus Ex vibes from this one.
Thank you so much for the feedback! So glad you liked my entry.
Wall running not working could be due to some surfaces not having the proper collider settings for some reason (caught some of them right before submitting, but I may have missed a few). Also, one thing I failed to convey through the tutorial pop-ups is that you need to keep the movement keys pressed down to initiate wall running, as it’s not enough to jump towards surfaces at non-zero velocity.
Yeah, the second trial is meant to be very hard if you haven’t found both stamina power-ups (they’re all located in the prison ward), but maybe I could’ve added a couple more seconds to the time limit.
Can’t wait to try out your entry!
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