that was a neat experience! I was not great at it but I like figuring things out and doing better each time!
The art was very fitting for the theme and everything looked retro and cohesive, I think you did a great job taking a simple aesthetic and running with it, from things like how it was laid out in a very kind of arcade cabinet way (i could definitely see this in a physical arcade) to having the background image on itch replicate the stary background.
The gameplay was pretty complex for what at first seemed like a simple game. The multiplier, the little side guns (Sepiia Units) and of course the main mechanic of avoiding hitting the links felt like they all worked to create a pretty difficult but engaging gameplay loop. As others have said it is a little difficult to get it all without a tutorial, but i think the main points are all covered in the text anyway. The only thing i didn't know what it did was the skull type thing? i shot it and it appeared on the left but I was killed when i was trying to figure it out. The move when they link and swoop down felt very cool and the first time felt impossible but then really good when i anticipated and dodged it the next time. I also tried hard mode and it certainly delivered difficulty! i could barley survive 10 seconds, but it was cool to see their were different options and they actually had slightly different rules (like i think you lose a life if you hit a linked enemy on hard?). It was also cool to see a bit of a backstory on the itch page!
The music fit the rest of the game well and worked with the atmosphere, it really cemented the feel of the game. The rhythmic bleeps of the shots from the side enemies ended up being quite hypnotising.
also I'm always appreciative of an options screen on a game jam game!
Great work, thanks for sharing!
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Ty so much for the thorough feedback! Very helpful and super appreciated! Definitely planning to add a tutorial post jam, just ran out of time in the 3 day window :( I'll have to take some notes from your game b/c your tutorial was super well done!
And you're right about taking damage from hitting linked enemies on hard! I definitely overtuned the difficulty on that but figured I'd throw it in the jam build anyway just in case anyone was feeling masochistic haha!
So the skull thing makes it so that your chain multiplier won't reset bt/wn enemy waves. So you can use that to really boost your score if you manage to not get hit or shoot the connected enemies. It lasts for 30 seconds. I was gonna put an explanation on the page about it (and might add it to the tutorial when I get to that), but decided against it b/c I remember arcade games often having some obtuse mechanic that you had to figure out from either playing or hearing about it from your buddies so I was kinda trying to mimic that feeling. I may keep it out of the tutorial and just add some juice to try to make it easier to pick up on during gameplay.
Oh, and my wife did the music/sfx/and backstory and said she's super happy you enjoyed those!
Thanks again for playing and commenting! Glad you enjoyed and thanks for making an awesome entry yourself :D
Is definitely think you should keep the super hard difficulty! I think it's kinda cool to have a difficulty that's really punishing as a challenge for those who want it. I'd maybe go the other way and add an easy for people who don't like a challenge.
Ohhh thats what the skull does! I was actually thinking 'ohh man if my multiplier didn't reset between rounds my score would be huuuge'... Shame I didn't put to good use 😂. Omg, keeping it a secret fits really well with the arcade theme, that's clever! Maybe if you did a tutorial you could mention it but only vaguely, like, "keep you eyes open for anything else that might make you fight easier" or "rumour has it there's a secret weapon designed to turn the tide of war!"