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A jam submission

CatharsisView game page

A chaotic shoot ‘em up game about facing your nightmares.
Submitted by ProphersorIks (@MCForsas), Thomas Ling (@Awesome3475) — 20 hours, 59 minutes before the deadline
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Catharsis's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Originality#3863.8933.893
Overall#3933.7143.714
Presentation#4283.9643.964
Fun#9813.2503.250

Ranked from 28 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 mind is split. It spirals out of control as you play

Did your team create the art for this game during the 48 hour time slot?

Yes

We created all art during the game jam

Did your team create the audio for this game during the 48 hour time slot?

Yes

We created all audio during the game jam

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Comments

(+1)

I love the concept, however a few flaws hold it back too much in my opinion. One tiny flaw is that you lose controls at the beginning of each wave whereas the description only says you lose controls if you get hit. The only problem this really led to was a bit of confusion. However the controls themselves are very hard to grab and keep escaping your grip. The escaping is fine, although it would be nice if it couldn't happen so frequently as it did sometimes for me. The difficulty grabbing them is likely due to their hitboxes being strange. One last thing that frustrated me was when the guy in the blanket stuck to the bottom of the screen so I couldn't shoot him.

Developer

Hey, thanks for the feedback! Our original plan was to have the player lose controls on hit, but due to time constraints we failed to implement this. Thank you for being verbal about your criticisms!

(+3)

This game was very hard, especially grabbing the buttons after they flew away. Fortunately it was forgiving. The art is E X C E L L E N T

We definitely wish we had more time to play-test and balance it out! Glad you loved the art :) 

(+3)

This is one of the best-looking games I've ever seen!  The art and music worked so well together in a surreal way.  Everything from the tiny bullets to the wrapped up depression zombies to the ghostly sketchy letters is just the perfect mix of cute and creepy that gives this game a delicate intimacy that is perfect for the subject matter of mental illness.

(+1)

Wow! Thank you so much for the feedback. Our artist absolutely smashed it out the park on this one. We worked closely together to make sure the aesthetic was cohesive.

I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

Submitted(+2)

I reaaaally enjoyed your game. Clever idea. I also loved the art and the fact you make the browser download a file at the end of the level :D Sad there was only one level, I would have played another one with pleasure

Only issues I found so long:

- Dragging the letters sometimes doesn't work, it's like you lose the letter and you have to pick it again to drag it. I felt like the problem was dragging above other letters but I'm not sure.

-  You can stick to one of the screen edges to avoid enemy fire, because the character is "thinner" than the enemies. 

We would've love to have implemented more levels but we ran out of time. We actually had a few more art assets to do this but there was simply no time :(

I agree with all your issues. We definitely could've tightened them up. Something for after the results come out. Thanks for the feedback!

Submitted(+2)

This game was super fun, plus it has great visuals and music! My only complaint with this was that it was a little hard to tell when enemies were getting hit, but other than that, great game!

Submitted(+1)

Great visuals on the game and I like the idea but I think the mechanics would be more fun and fit the theme better if the controls moved around and got stuck in the wrong slots themselves for example D getting stuck in the A slot making them work backaward, or W getting stuck i nthe space slot so W now shoots so the the controls are changing until you manually drag it out and put it back into the correct place. Maybe even collect power ups that let you remove the wrong binding or something. Good job though!

Those are some really good ideas for enhancing the game actually.  The idea of setting yourself up to go backwards when you hit the  forwards key would absolutely mess with players heads haha.

Submitted(+1)

Someone clearly has troubles with nightmares -  those visuals are so nice! Music is also the right mix of chill and mysterious.
Using the mouse to catch and "repair" controls looks nice, but it feels a bit weird - catching them while simultaneously trying to avoid avoid enemies in game requires a lot of concentration and kind kicks you out of "the zone".  Catching them with your character in-game would feel better in my opinion. Also, it might be WebGL shenanigans, but you have to drag them back very slowly or you'll get out of mouse grasp, which is annoying. 

(+1)

Thanks! I worked on the art and the composer and I collaborated on getting a cohesive vibe.  Yeah, it is pretty different using the mouse separate from the WASD, especially considering we've been trained by first person games to use those controls together in a different way.  Thanks for the feedback!

(+1)

Thanks DOMO. We worked hard to ensure the product was artistically coherent :)

Interesting and fun game! Loosing controls is very originally and nice touch. Dragging them back is little bit buggy, but overall very good. Awesome sounds. 

(+2)

Amazing! Piece of art!

Thank you!

Submitted(+2)

Great visuals and the gameplay breaking apart at the start is a great intro !

Submitted (1 edit) (+2)

Beautiful visuals!

Dragging the buttons was a bit buggy, and getting hit was too forgiving.

Very original idea!

Developer(+1)

Thank you! Let’s call this small issue a “feature” ;)

Submitted(+1)

Beauty, the mechanic of broken controls is actually nicely integrated into the gameplay.

Developer

Thank you! We had quite a few discussion about how that’d be implemented.

Submitted(+1)

I love the way this game looks, very well done

Developer

Thank you! Sadly we didn’t implement the most impressive artwork ://. But it’s at least on the page sides. We’ll try to get around it after rating period.

Submitted(+1)

Such a great style. Congrats!! 

Developer

Dreamy, great artist, great concept art and story. Cheers on your entry too!