Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
Tags
(+1)

I see what you're going for (feeling like a cool ninja) and initially it kinda works but after I played a bit the mechanics fell apart. The reflects would be very cool but they are far too weak and end up being not very useful, so the dash attack dominates. Because the dash involves putting yourself in harm's way, dodging bullets (which would fit the cool ninja theme) becomes impossible and it ends up being a game about very sloppy dashing and minimizing damage. The dash attack itself doesn't have much technique to it, you point the cursor at the direction of the enemy and click without any need for careful timing. On top of that, because of how it's balanced you can reach a point where you'll have so many seconds saved up that you'll always gain more even when playing kinda poorly. In the end it's very hard to feel like a cool precise ninja when the gameplay involves dashing without a sense of timing and constantly getting hit. The dash animation/movement itself could also be cooler, but I imagine you probably didn't have the time to spice up.

If I had to spitball some suggestions, I'd suggest increasing the damage that reflected bullets do while increasing the hitbox of the player's sword slice by a lot, but at the same giving it a bit more recovery frames so the player can't safely spam it. For the dash, it'd probably help if you had some kind of charging mechanic (think Ninja Gaiden Black) to encourage more careful gameplay, while boosting the damage and giving a lot of post-dash invincibility. In general, focusing more on dodging bullets rather than minimizing damage would make the game feel cooler.

This is really great and deep feedback. I agree with everything you're saying but I didn't have much time to balance at the end and felt fairly satisfied with the fast-paced (albeit sloppy) gameplay. I am considering redesigning the playable character (maybe having multiple playable characters) and rebalancing in order to force the player to be more precise. Thanks for the great feedback as it gives me a lot to think about for future projects.

Glad it was helpful, and yeah that's the common problem of crit-ing game jam games, so many flaws will just come down to a lack of time