Judging by the gifs, the game seems fun but... it just won't work. I was wondering if my computer ws just having issues all of a sudden, but I see I'm not the only one with this problem and every other game work way better... including 3D games (I'm talking about AAA games) :/
I think th game needs a serious work on optimization because it's pretty implayable to me. And although it might not seem important, it's very important to make the game playable for as much people as possible. It feels very strange to have a game in which you can't play because of how laggy it is... the worst i got was for very recent games (with online features, realistic graphics, etc) was about 10-15... here it's very close to 0... =/
I think it might have been too ambitious for a jam, as I can imagine how difficult optimizing games can be... Also, I suppose you have a pretty good computer if you can make it run smoothly. But it should be playable in above-medium end computers. I can imagine how worse it can be for people who have computers less powerful than mine... especially for a jam with a resolution restriction
Sorry for insisting on that point but i wished I could play the game...
Viewing post in Cobra 64 Pixel jam comments
Welp, with the update, it's much better! Playable.
However, not so fond of the gameplay, for several reasons.
Feels awkward at times. You don't know if shooting has any effect (feedback effects would be nice, like sounds when you hit correctly, visual cues). for example, when shooting the pipes, wasn't so sure where to aim at. The hitboxes seem too vague. It's a very difficult to tell when you're bathing in radioactive stuff or not and sometimes you're not even sure you were supposed to be hit. While "feeding the crabs" I assume your goal was to take the red box (i assumed it was fuel though?) and then I have no idea because green boats keep taking it. You can take them down, but at some point they don't get down anymore, meaning it's literally impossible to take the red box with you :/ Another thing is that it's very hard to tell where you are going and very difficult to anticipate your trajectory. (it often happens in the jam, it's not easy ealing with a 64x64 resolution)
Also, but that would be a bit more personal, not so fond of the way the graphics are. it feels like "compressed" higher res graphics at some points. (you said you were using a method of layering and 3D and stuff; well that shows there) - not the case for the boat though
The audio, although nice, doesn't feel like it fits the game to me. wouldn't associate easily metal with boats, especially when you can't just be reckless and go fast (as you need to carefully avoid every obstacles and aim at stuff)
Thanks for the good comments, yeah I had to rush to finish my entry due to being away for a week. I totally agree about adding feedback for when your bullet hit. I had time to do it for the crab and squid but not so much for the pipes and turrets.
For the radioactive stuff I wanted to add a Geiger counter meter in the corner but again, not enough time.
The crab I had planned to add a dotted white square at his base like in Cobra Triangle for the NES to indicate where to bring the mines.
There wasn't much time to playtest or even test on my wife's computer.