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A jam submission

Steel Knights UprisingView game page

Submitted by PixelMetalWolf — 4 days, 21 hours before the deadline
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Steel Knights Uprising's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Fun Factor#123.7003.700
Overall#143.8673.867
Audio#173.4333.433
Visuals#243.9333.933
Originality#313.4673.467

Ranked from 30 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Is your entry a video game or a physical game?
Video game

Was your game made solo or in a team?
Solo

Did you use any third party assets, if yes what assets did you use?
Only the jam's logo for the title screen and cover

Did you choose from one (or more) of the optional secondary themes?
Show off : Player customization, and Locomotive : Train autoscroller levels

Does your game contain any 18+ content?
nope

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Comments

Viewing comments 24 to 5 of 24 · Next page · Last page
Submitted(+1)

This is a really good entry. I like that art and music enhance themselves. I like all the different weapons in the game. There are so many enemy types as well.

Only feedback I have is the control scheme for controller, LB is not really a good button for JUMP and using RT or LT would have been more fun for me, the movement using stick would have been fun.

The gameplay design the mech felt really solid but there was no option to dodge other than jump and the level design kinda felt the same after a while. I like the train level which turned it up and some weapons pick up locations replace the old weapon and let the player pick up the weapon instead of automatically getting picked up.

Overall Solid entry I had fun playing.

Developer(+1)

Thanks Lyon Mistwalker !

Yeah i couldn’t really think of a good button for the jump since i wanted to have the “2 d pad system” in hindsight i think this kind of control scheme probably would have worked better for something topdown.

Now i tried stick movement at some point but reverted back to digital cause i’ve encountered an issue i couldn’t fix in time during the jam where the sprite flip is tied directly to the input, but since the analog input uses floats the sprite deforms weirdly.

Yup Weapon pickup issue is noted, if i get time post jam i’ll have them use a manual pickup system.

Glad you liked the art music and weapon variety still and that you had fun playing :)

Submitted(+1)

Solid entry! The artstyle is pretty good, the music has a good chiptune aesthetic, the personalization is great, and the main mechanics are very well done. The weapons are really fun overall (I specially loved both the flamethrower and minigun) and the 8-way aiming is always good to see!

Level-design wise is really solid, although some polish can be done in certain areas (like those long corridors that are esentially empty).

My small nit-pick is that the music can get a bit repetitive due to only having one song, but the sound is good overall, and the enemies could give more feedback once they are damaged. I spent a whole weapon trying to kill the yellow giants before knowing I had to shoot them right below them lol

Overall really good entry! Had a fun time playing it! It's always great to see a good run-n-gun. ^^

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Thanks for playing None !

Happy that you liked the artstyle, customization options weapons and music :D

Haha i’m glad you liked these 2, the flamethrower in particular cause it was my first try making one so i hoped it wouldn’t look/feel bad to use so mission accomplished if it ended up as one ov your faves ^^

Yup can’t argue that level design lacks a bit of polish, should have playtested a bit more but yeah time got short, same goes for the music, i made it a bit late in developement so i didn’t made that long of a track just made a small variant with it for the menus to have them feel less empty.

I’m a big run and gun fan so it makes me really happy that you thought my game’s a good one thanks again :)

PS : i think you got an accidental double post so i deleted the double

Submitted(+1)

Wow. That was HUGE for a jam game. I can't believe how many levels and weapons you managed to make for this in just two weeks.

The only feedback I can give is I would have liked it if you had to press a button to pick up weapons rather than just walk over them (maybe down on the movement input?). Had a few times when I had a really cool gun I liked, so I tried to jump over the weapon pickup in front of me, only to miss my jump and lose my cool gun 😭

Still, this was an awesome game, well done!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for giving my game a shot SleepyJack !

Glad you liked the weapon variety ^^ To be fair i probably wouldn’t have been able to make these many levels if they hadn’t changed the tileset system in Godot 4, it’s so much simpler to use now so that saved me a bunch of time compared to how it used to be :p

As for the weapons i have a bit more experience now so i can implement some of the base elements kinda faster than before. But i wanted to try a bunch of new types i hadn’t tackled before for variety’s sake and hopefully it seemed to pay off in the end XD

Yeah i’ve noted that issue from feedback, if i get some post jam time i think i’ll go for the “press key to pickup” option so that players have more control over the weapon selection.

Submitted

PEW PEW PEW PEWWWW

Developer

Haha someone seems to like the laser gun it seems :p

Thanks for playing Le Saint Panda, hope you’ve enjoyed the game :)

Submitted(+1)

I saw this game being streamed and thought that it had an art style reminiscent of the era of freeware discs - something you'd randomly find online - like Jazz Jack Rabbit - and I mean that in the best way possible lol. The game was fun, I didn't get to the end, but I think I got fairly far. The difficult was just right, imo - which I think a lot of entries have trouble with difficulty settings and end up making things too difficult and I end up quitting in the first few minutes of game play (my personal philosophy is to try to make my jam game a little more on the easy side so that the player can get the whole gist of it - easier said than done of course). 

I liked the twin stick shooter format, although found it a little jarring when the entire mech would be facing the way your point while moving in the opposite direction - I know it's a jam, so this aspect isn't that big of a deal, however, in my past projects that utilized a similar system, I would cut the sprite in half and flip the upper body when the player faces the opposite direction their moving. 

Another thing I want to point out is the that the bullets would feel like they're moving slower when you're moving to the right while shooting to the right (comparatively to shooting to the left).. In my past exp, that was because the player would be moving while the bullets' speed rate is still at it's initial values - it feels weird how at times I'm almost running side by side or just a bit behind the bullet - I had to solve this by adding the player's speed to the bullet speed (or just giving the bullet a much much faster speed so it didn't matter what direction you're facing) when they're move and shooting in that particular direction. 

One more thing, I think that you could have added health packs throughout the levels - or in Armored Core VI's fashion - adding a repair point. I would beat levels by the skin of my teeth lol - to which it would have been nice to have at least 1 health pack since the levels were kind of long

I really liked how many different weapons you were able to include and I'd say they all varied quite a bit and not just a slight rework of one or 2 weapons. They were fun to use. One bit of feedback though, is that I thought you too often grouped multiple weapons together - I figured to give the player more variety on what weapon they want to use, however, they were place kind of awkwardly. Once I got the weapon I wanted, I had to try to dodge the other weapon - which sometimes I failed at. A couple work arounds would be to place them in a way where they are more easily avoidable - or add a doom style arsenal where you can swap between weapons and pick up ammo for them to be able to use them again.

anyways, it was fun!

Developer

Thanks for your detailed feedback Denny’sGuy !

I tried my hand at the engine’s 2D lighting system to give a bit more juice to the weapons when firing, and since i made a past entry in a similar style but that felt very 16 bit i thought the overall more colorful sprites and light system would make it look like a more Pc or 32 bit cd based game, so i’m glad i seemed to achieve that from what you’re saying :D

Difficulty wise i tend to lean towards the easier side as well especially for jams cause i want to avoid player frustration, my personal philosophy on this is that i want to make retro inspired games with the visual and audio styles of the times, but to avoid all the game design and gameplay flaws they had back then as much as possible, though i’ll admit proper balance is still hard on such a short time.

Yeah i wanted to have independent aim and movement so players could dodge more easily, i gotta be honest though i didn’t even think of separating the upper/lower parts indeed this would make the movement separation a bit more obvious, gotta look into that if i get time post jam.

I think i made the player’s shots a bit too slow in general, so i’ll have to adjust that, i didn’t playtest enough to get things adjusted better.

The Hp powerups thing is puirely cause i managed my time poorly and didn’t have time to make some and place them in levels, though i gotta say i kinda like your suggestion with some Armored core style repair stations instead cause that would be something a bit different so i’ll see if i can try that if i get time post jam ^^

The weapons were initially placed grouped like that cause of the co-op element as i wanted players to always have something available for both but without proper playstesting of the multi i can get it feels a bit akwardly placed at times :/ I wanted something a bit more Contra-Like so i don’t think i’ll have a whole Doom Style arsenal but i’ll see if i can maybe add a Pickup prompt or something so you can just walk over weapons you don’t want to avoid jumping over them. Glad you liked the variety though, and it seems like a lot of people did which makes me very happy :D

i spent (way too much) quite a lot of time and had a lot of fun making these XD

Host(+1)

Another fantastic entry this year PixelMetalWolf. Very fun to play!

Developer

Thanks Dungeon ^_^

it’s always fun to take part in MechJam so i’m glad you liked my game :)

Submitted(+1)

Pretty cool art and overall vibe! I really liked the mech design with the bright colors and the parallax effect in the background which created a nice sense of setting. Also nice variety of weapons kept it engaging - who doesn't love a flame thrower!

My only complainy would be that being the same height as enemies made gameplay a bit tricky as most of the times I felt I couldn't jump over their shooting so it was always a matter of killing fast with no ability to dodge, which meant I would eventually die no matter what. I know this is tricky to balance as I was somewhat expecting Contra movement which wouldn't really fit the heavy mech theme.

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing Dangalletti :D

Glad you liked the art in general as well as the weapon variety, and well can’t argue with that, just like Zorg said : “Thick southern accent My favorite !” and i’m really happy to see so much people really dig the guns, all that woprk wasn’t in vain :p

Yeah both the level design and the control scheme i decided on to allow for co-op didn’t help in some situation, looking back i feel some of these enemy placement posed least of a problem in a similar past entry where i had mouse aiming cause you could hit more angles.

Funny thing though is that i manted to have independant movement and aim to help the game feel a bit less stiff than some of the older Contra games where you couldn’t lock your aim cause you didn’t have enough buttons on the controller XD

Submitted(+1)

You did an amazing job; the level design was good. You did great with all the pixel art, and there were so many different, unique guns made to keep the game interesting. Well done.

Developer

Thanks for playing Ben Beary ^^

Glad you liked the level design even if it is a bit lacking in places,

also happy that you liked the pixel art and gun variety :D

Submitted(+1)

Cool game. 5 stars. I like amount of weapon. But took me a while to get used to the controls.

Developer

Thanks WipeFire, not sure i deserve 5 stars but that’s really kind of you :D

Yeah i’d normally prefer mouse aiming for the extra precision but since i wanted to have local co-op this time around i made the controls more akin to retro D-pad ones like in 16 bit games, just with the “modernization” of being able to aim and move in opposite direction.

Submitted(+1)

I had a lot of fun playing this game. The variety in this one is stunning. It has more guns than Borderlands!

Two things: a better hit indicator of some sort would be helpful. The big green guy took ages, and it felt like I made no damage at all. Also the overall visuals was to cluttered color wise. 

The soundtrack reminded me of the old Sega games. Judging by your profile pic (I see that Brad Fang!) this is no coincidence! XD

Thank you for your entry.

Developer(+1)

I don’t know if i can really be compared to the gazillion guns there are in borderlands but thanks a lot Bros, i’ve played my fair share of that game so i really take that compliment at heart, i’m humbled :’)

Yeah lost a bit to much time on some features so hit feedback in general ended up a little weak :/ the weapon damage is also a bit unbalanced for similar reasons so that’s why some enemies feel really tankier than they truly are.

You are absolutely right, that is no coincidence i grew up with the genesis so i wanted to replicate the sound whenever i could when making music for my retro inspired games XD

and yup i really like contra hardcorps Fang has such a cool design so i had to have him as my itch avatar :p

and most of all thank YOU for playing :)

Submitted(+1)

Very cool mech game, I like the big range of weapons, and I love all the colours, especially on the train level. Reminded me of the bright camo colours on Generation 2 transformers from the 90s, like this guy: Finally. CW G2 Bruticus. : r/transformers

Developer

Thanks AugustandEverythingArmbar ! Glad you liked my game and the whole weapon selection :)

Haha well i like to have that mix of gritty plausible industrial with very colorful paintjobs, though i gotta say i didn’t even have transformers in mind when i made this, i’m flattered by the comparaison still cause they did have some cool designs

Also that is a really cool one you’ve got there :o

Submitted(+1)

Man! The mechanics for the weapons in this game are so good! Pixel you always outdo yourself when creating weapons and I have to say these have been some of my favorite ones to utilize. I just wanted to keep shooting stuff and using different guns because they were so well made! 

I also enjoyed the levels and all the enemies, but I think the guns definitely steal the show and elevate the game to whole other level! Great job on this entry!

Developer(+1)

Thanks a lot for your kind words Lemi :D

Really glad you liked the arsenal :)

it took me a while to make some of these and have them function properly, i wanted to push myself a bit this time to try and make some more unconventionnal weapons rather than just the classic staples(even if they’re still here i can’t help it) so hopefully i delivered :p

Submitted(+1)

Big thumb up for the overall visual design and the variety of weapons and enemies.

The sound design and the music were very on point, especially the walk sfxs of every robot. 

I liked the variety of paths to choose in the map and that the environment was against me and I had to be careful but maybe I'd have liked to have more occasions to take advantage of it and to feel "smart" like positioning myselfunder the final mechs to kill them. 

Seems I missed some cool weapons, I should play it again and bully the big guys ;)

Developer

Thanks Eamus, really happy that you’ve enjoyed my game :D

Yeah i tried my best for the level design but i’ll admit it isn’t my best especially since i had to make quite a few flat surfaces for the enemies to work properly ^^’

Funny thing about the big mechs, i didn’t originally intended for them to be exploited like that but their aiming gave me some trouble so i limited their angle and this created this strategy to go righ under for a safe spot XD

If by “missed some weapons” you refer to some that are at the endscreen, some of these are not obtainable in regular levels cause i couldn’t polish them and make them as fun as i wanted so i just put them at the end as a little bonus for completing the game XD

Submitted(+1)

Wow, lots of work done and love put into this, respect.

Developer

Thanks Woodsmoke ^^

I might have overscoped slightly :p

glad you appreciate the effort though :)

Submitted(+1)

Yeah I wanted to mention overscope too. Especially as a solo project, crazy °0°

Submitted(+1)

I loved the art, music, and sfx. Reminded me of the SNES.

I also enjoyed the gameplay for a little while before it started to feel repetitive. I think the main issue with the gameplay is the level design. There are too many long sections of walking in a straight line which are usually broken up by narrow passages that only serve to make it impossible to jump over enemy projectiles. Also in one of the levels there was a section with enemies on the left (after a climbing section) which led me to believe that was where I had to go and I ended up just wasting time.

I think good level design for the current gameplay would involve more verticallity. This would make shooting more engaging as you would actually have to aim your shots at distant enemies.

The gun variety was awesome and I enjoyed experimenting with the different guns. The one issue I found with teh gun system is that the gun icons on the boxes are too similar which made it difficult to tell what gun I was picking up. The boxes also felt like they were randomly placed which was inconvenient at times where I needed a new gun or was trying to save my current one.

It would probably be clearer if the icons represented the bullets instead of the shape of the gun.

Overall this is a great jam entry and a few tweaks away from a legit game. Great job!

Developer

Thanks Skleembof, glad you liked my entry despite some of its shortcomings ^^

Yeah not my best level design work, i wanted to try and have some sense of scale so that the parallax would be showcased but the wonky enemies i made couldn’t do all that much and required flat spaces so not the best combo for good levels :(

Agreed about the boxes too, i thought it would be nice to have them be all animated and display the actual gun but yeah without the color of the actual sprite some do tend to look alike, i’ll probably label them post jam for more clarity if i get some time :)

Submitted(+1)

Reminded me of my childhood) Lots of weapons, you should continue making interesting guns with unique behavior and It would be cool if there was a score counter

Developer(+1)

Thanks AddictiveForge glad you had as much fun trying out all the guns as i had making them :P

I’ll see if i have time for post jam stuff, and i do a score counter seems like a good idea thanks for the suggestion :)

Submitted(+1)

The weapon variety was cool and the paralax backgrounds were nice.  In general you nailed the grimy post-industrial dystopian feel.  

I think the gameplay could use some more variety-- maybe some additional mobility, a melee attack or some deflecting ability. Your option in most scenarios (especially when constrained by the level) is to just tank damage and get out as many bullets as soon as possible to take out the enemy.  Some of the enemies were easily exploitable too-- you can stay just out of range for the big purple guys, and with the huge green guys at the end I just stood underneath them and fired upward (they can't hit you when you're directly below them).  Maybe thats intentional but the first time that happened I ran out of ammo for my gun so i stood there for 30 seconds firing tiny bullets and it wasn't the most fun pacing. After that I mainly ran past those guys.

Loved the train levels and I liked the spritework, nice job overall!

Developer

Thanks for playing Ahintoflime ^^

Yeah agreed that the variety in terms of encounters and level design’s a bit lacking hopefully i can do better next time, i was inspired by the Valken series for this but i gotta admit i don’t really know how i could implement a similar shield mechanic so that’s why it’s a bit lacking on that front as well, i also admit i’ve overscoped a bit and maybe lost a bit too much time making weapons and the split screen related stuff :(

Granted as well the larger enemies are a bit too exploitable, their aiming system is a bit experimental and caused a bit of trouble so in order to not risk breaking anything i left them as they ended up to make it in time for the jam. The ammo system was also a bit of a late addition so i didn’t quite balance the ammo pools of most weapon properly to avoid running out in critical situations my bad -_-

Glad you liked the industrial look and train levels though :)

Submitted(+1)

Awesome graphics and loved the weapon variety! The train level was a highlight for sure.

The single-player control scheme was a little clunky, though I understand why you chose to do it that way. 

Overall really good!

Developer(+1)

Thanks ! Glad you liked the weapon variety and the train levels ^^

The control scheme was a bit of a compromise, i wanted a game that could be playable in local coop so i couldn’t make it mouse & keyboard like i did in a previous similar one i made but i still wanted the players to have an “easy” way to aim and move independently from their movement direction so that’s why it ended up like that, and the keyboard controls are here in case players don’t have a controller on hand to play the game.

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Yeah that makes perfect sense. It's really cool that you put that focus on local co-op, I bet the game is really fun to play that way and we need more co-op games. Great job!

Developer(+1)

Yup could always use more of those for sure ^^

Submitted(+1)

I really enjoyed the game. The customization seems a bit unnecessary, but in my opinion it adds character to the game. The graphics and sound are also great.

Developer

Thanks for giving my game a go :D

Yeah the customization isn’t essential but i wanted to have the players be able to sorta make the mechs their own this time around and especially with the possibility of co-op so that they get more than the classic red and blue players (even if i made these colors default :p)

Glad you liked it ^^

Viewing comments 24 to 5 of 24 · Next page · Last page