Solid game for 48 hrs! Here’s my main concerns:
The second turret doesn’t seem to be working. I’m not sure if it’s just me, but the zombies don’t seem to take damage when turrets are upgraded to level 2. Level 3 turrets do work, though, so I think it’s an issue with the level 2 turrets.
The ray gun looks like it’s damaging zombies since I see red particles, but either I’m just impatient and it takes forever, or the gun doesn’t seem to damage zombies either… If it’s the former and it just takes a long time, I think I would suggest shortening it a bit.
When “mining” trees and stone, I think a bit of feedback on the fact that the material is being mined would help a lot both in terms of polish but also in adding to the feel of the game, in that it would be more obvious if I’m actually mining or not. I think that something simple like a grey or brown dust cloud for rocks and trees, respectively, would have been perfect.
Lastly, adding the wood necessary for the ship takes forever XD. I think that if wood could be added 5 at a time instead of 1 at a time, it would make it a lot less “spam E” and a bit more natural. Alternatively, if having the player spend that much time refilling the ship (instead of collecting materials or whatever) is the intended effect, I’d recommend a system where you hold E, and it then fills in the materials at a similar rate to just mashing the E button.
Beyond that, everything about the game I really liked. The graphics were simple, yet consistent, and fit the style of the game. The mechanics, save for the concerns I mentioned above, were very solid. The art was simple but effective. The choice of music was outstanding. I do think that some sound effects would have spiced up the game a bunch, though!
Overall an amazing submission and another of the better games from this jam. Looking forward to see how this project goes!
Edit: “Lastly” was a lie, I have three more comments:
-
As others have mentioned, the lack of a tutorial system was an unintentional gatekeeper for the game lol. The screenshot helped, but I had to look at one of your vids to be able to figure out what I was supposed to do. The game can be completed with 4 level-1 turrets and rushing to mind and fix the ship, which is how I did it, but barely lol. It was a lot of fun to complete the game that way, though, so If possible I’d keep that route open in future updates!
-
The other thing was that sometimes, I would hit E accidentally, usually near a turret spot, and it would consume my resources but fail to build or upgrade. I’m not entirely sure what causes this, it could be related to having insufficient resources though.
-
Minor concern related to beginning/end screen cards: I think the main menu should also have a button to exit game. Also, the graphics option (low-medium-high) does not appear to work for me… Also, the end screen I feel should have also had an option to return to the main menu. Finally, I think the addition of a pause function, with buttons to return to main menu, change options, or quit the game, would have all contributed to adding to the feel to the game.
One final suggestion since this comment has turned into an essay over the course of my edits LOL: I think some kind of scoring system would help add replayability. Perhaps something like a simple timer that starts when the game is started, pauses when the game is paused (if a pause screen is implemented), and stopped then shown prominently at the end screen as the player’s score would be nice?