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A jam submission

PalindromeView game page

A magical arrow exchange monologue
Submitted by Hinz Art (@ChrisHinzArt) — 49 minutes, 36 seconds before the deadline
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Palindrome's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Presentation#3234.0774.077
Overall#11353.3763.376
Originality#13313.4363.436
Fun#25442.6152.615

Ranked from 39 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?
Joined together ... like through a mirror. In the Palindrome you have to face your opponent but also yourself.

Did your team create the vast majority of the art during the 48 hours?

Yes

We created the vast majority of the art during the game jam

Did your team create the vast majority of the music during the 48 hours?

No

We used pre-existing audio

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

I like it! woc! awesome!

Submitted(+1)

Love the looks! 😍 Especially the trees with the falling leaves and the pseudo 3D. 🍃


Interesting game mechanic! I had fun exploring it and trying to find the best strategy to be "victorious". It's almost as if the game is a metaphor for something, but I'm not quite sure yet for what. 😛

Special kudos for this being a solo project. 🙌

Submitted(+1)

I was so confused at the start, then it kick in and had a lot of fun.  Nice game!

Submitted(+1)

Looks like a AAA game! The idea is fresh, and surprisingly challenging! Very impressive that this was made by a single developer.

Developer

:*

Submitted(+1)

That was really fun! At first I was really confused but then it clicked and was really enjoyable! And the art is great too! Simple and to the point!

I liked the fact that the enemy had more health than you, it meant that in an equal exchange of attacks, the enemy would come out on top. The health difference meant that you HAD to be better than your enemy and get more attacks in on them.
Though the health values might have been a bit too high haha. Once you figure out a strategy, the amount of health the enemy has becomes a lot more annoying because you're just repeating the same thing. imo, you could counter it in two ways: reduce both the player's and enemy's health by equal amounts (while this would make the game shorter, it would mean that once you figure out a strategy, you are rewarding with a quicker game end. also don't make them too much smaller, really small health would mean that a player could get a few lucky shots in an win! It's about finding the balance), alternatively, you could have the enemy go through attack 'stages' (this would naturally involve more work though)

I read some your comments and it's unfortunate that having asymmetric levels didn't work out, good job on trying though! But I would say that if the main problem you had was that once the positions were no longer symmetrical then the player could simply walk an enemy off the edge, then maybe you should make it such that they CAN'T fall off the edge! ...or even let them still fall off of the edge, it could be a quick reward for a player for figuring out that they could do that! Not every level idea needs to reused multiple times! (also I never even knew you could fall off of the edge haha)

To throw out some ideas that DON'T involve asymmetric obstacles:

  • Have projectiles automatically fire, rather than be player controlled (you could have a countdown on one side). You could even have the countdown value change randomly in later levels! (Or maybe have it go with the beat of a song??). Doing this will take one aspect of control away from the player and force them to think a bit more on their feet!
  • Asymmetric randomly placed (even randomly moving?) upgrades/health/mines! These 'pickups' will force the player to move in interesting ways. And they'll also have to be careful not to give the enemy any boosts!
  • Similar to the above, maybe the arena itself has turrets that fire randomly occasionally! The player could try getting the enemy hit by the projectiles, but the projectiles would also get in the way of the enemy
  • Different bullet types! A projectile that curved in sine-waves/circles/zigsag would add a bit of complexity to positioning that might cause some players to panic! (it wouldn't really change the strategy for more level headed players though, but it could still provide a bit of excitement!
  • Enemy stages! I mentioned this above, but if you're only going to have one level, then maybe have the enemy aiming style change at certain levels of their health! (this 'change of stage' would need to be visualized so that the player knows that something is different and their strategy might not work anymore). The 1st stage could be much more random aiming, the 2nd could be more player position based, the 3rd could be position AND velocity based, the 4th could be sneaky and actually base itself on where the player is aiming (as an example, if the player is aiming 2 units left and 1 unit above the enemy, then the enemy will aim 2 units right and 1 unit below the player, plus a little randomness to keep it interesting/different every time)


~~ SPOILERS!!! ~~
Just so you know, the 'strategy' I figured out was:
1) Aim to the left of the enemy
2) Fire
3) Wait a split second
4) Move to the right (so that the enemy moves left and into my projectile)
By doing this I was able to avoid all damage while ensuring I hit the enemy. I had a friend that hasn't played too many games also try this and they ended up on this strategy on their first try!


Sorry for the essay! I just saw that you were interested in continuing to work on this game and I thought I'd try help! Also congrats on making this game, great job!
WOO making games!!!!

Developer

JD2895 Thank you so much! What an amazing wall of compliments, feedback and ideas! I just wanted to reply quickly but will properly get back to you once I have time! Working atm :P

Thank you so so much!

Developer

Thank you for playing, your review and ideas!
Especially the power up idea, outside turrets, bullet types, enemy stages or behavior phases sound really great. I think this mix of asymmetrical game design coupled with symmetric game design, such as the rings getting less(?) aka. mini battle royale :D, really makes less game less dumm but pretty and a bit more meaningful and skill based.
Thank you so much!

Submitted(+1)

While the gameplay concept definitely needs some work, as others have pointed out, the presentation of your game is just stunning. Well done there!

I don't know, how really to improve on the gameplay without disturbing its nice simplicity.

Developer(+1)

Thanks thanks thanks and yes yes yes :D
I had so much already in there. Obstacles. Asymmetric level design. Physics based push back on hit. But it all broke the game design :D

What I really really enjoyed about this prototype is that its always "either multiplayer or AI", and this was more a "you vs. you + AI" (aka. joined together indeed :) So if I can make the AI and level design more fun, less exploitable, and actually have a skill curve, this would make me insanely proud and happy.

Thanks again for your help and compliment on the presentation!

Submitted(+1)

I really like the visuals, too bad that the game itself isn't that fun but tedious... or is that the point? ... the futility of violence... men circling around shooting each other... congratulations! ... You did it... you killed a man... was it worth it? ... XD anyways, nice job!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the compliment! I tried my best - especially on the art, since I'm no developer by any means. Do you have any feedback on how to make it more fun?

Submitted(+1)

Not really. Making game original but fun is hard. Especially in 48 hours. I'm not that well versed in design either

Developer(+1)

Fair enough and very true. I will do my best in the future Sir :) 

Submitted

So do I :) And by the way I meant I'm not well versed in game design not graphic design (Just in case I came across **sholeish)

Submitted(+1)

Very interesting idea. It was a bit too straight-forward with how to get the enemy to just walk into your shot. My biggest issue is how much health the enemy has. But I loved the concept and look of it all!

Developer

The straight-forward exploit is something i really wanna fix once I can :P
What exactly do you mean with the health of the enemy? Does it make the sessions too long? Or you feel like its too unfair compared to your own health? Or do you mean something completely different?

Submitted(+1)

The enemy felt like a bullet sponge, especially compared the the HP of the player. I definitely agree that the enemy should have more HP than the player, but it felt like my shots were doing so little damage that it just made the fight last a lot longer.

Developer(+1)

Thank you so much for the explanation. This is really helpful. It seems like everybody so far plays it more slowly and "precise". While testing during the jam showed most testers played it more like a bullet hell game, pretty much constantly spamming and dodging. 

It should account for all play styles for sure, and balancing will be a biggy once I implemented everybody's ideas for improvements and made it less one dimensional and exploitable .

Feedback like yours is a real gold nugget. Thanks again :)

Submitted(+1)

I'm happy to help! I definitely was playing it a lot faster than precisely. But I'm glad my feedback could help!

Submitted(+2)

First off the presentation and name are excellent! and I quite like the concept of the gameplay, but, I think it would really benefit from more strategic options, seemed to be there was just the one way to deal the enemy which was to move in one direction, shoot, then move in the other to walk the enemy into your shots, a few additions or changes and I think you could really amp up the fun and depth. Overall a solid entry, well done!

Developer(+1)

Thank so very much for your review and time and opinion TheChronicPhenix!
Very good point and I am looking forward to implementing some ideas that make the game a lot less one-dimensional once the rating period is over.
Thanks again!
Chris

Developer

Created a short trailer today:

Submitted(+1)

Great concept, with great execution to match. Well done!

Submitted(+1)

These visuals were made in this short period of time :O !? AMAZING.

Even the pause menu looks so clean.

Developer

Yes, they were. Thank you so so much MousawiDev!

Submitted(+1)

So I am connected with the enemy?That fun.

Submitted(+1)

Nice! Really like the art style. Found it pretty easy to shoot at a slight angle then move to the necessary angle, kiting around the enemy projectiles. The mechanic works really well though, and could be cool with some symmetrical obstacle levels, and changing the enemy shot pattern to be more difficult to dodge (i.e., instead of shooting one bit at you, it sprays three in a cone or something to that effect)

Developer

UUUuuuh revort!
Firstly, thanks for playing and your review.

Secondly, enemy shooting patterns, really nice idea! Since you have your own "edge" (aiming) this is probably something the enemy should also e able to counter out by having own "attack phases" (single big maybe slightly slower powerful shot, spray, cone, ...)

Thanks for playing and your input!

Submitted(+1)

Fun game. I love the art and thinking how I'm going to position my player to attack. Although I'm not sure if you aware of this but the music seems to cut off after dying the first time. Overall, really neat idea.

Developer(+1)

TThanks BRainiac Games!!!
Japp, except the mostly mentioned exploit (or how I call it "the current meta") of wiggling left and right real quickly, the sound thing is the only known bug a friend hinted me at yet after the jam was over and the submission was final. 
I will fix it after the rating phase!
Thank you so much for playing 

Submitted(+1)

Oh, wow! Amazing artwork and nice idea. Your biggest enemy is yourself.

Submitted(+1)

Really great graphics! I especially like the subtle parallax, it really feels like the perspective on the background is changing. The falling leaves are a nice touch as well.

Neat concept, and it's on theme but different from most! I would love to see other level designs, especially asymmetric ones, but given the jam constraints that'd be hard at this level of graphics. More levels, with less damage to lose and win, would give it a lot more gameplay time and less repetitiveness;  I ended up just rocking left-to-right and shooting at the same place, gradually wearing the enemy down, total time played 3 minutes.

Overall, the prettiest game I've played in the jam so far, and one of the more novel ones.

Developer

Wow, rpgcubed, thank you a lot for your review and compliments! Those ideas are really good hints! I really want to try adding more levels / or changing the level over time after the rating period.

Its quiet hard, game design wise, to come up with asymmetric leveldesign ideas while maintaining the mirrored concept. as soon as I introduced obstacles you change the "axis" of the player/enemy and you can simply win by e.g. walking backwards into a wall to make the enemy fall of the circle :D

I also implemented a push back on hit, which was a really cool feel but obviously resulted in the same issues :D
So I guess changing the level that influences the projectiles but not the movement is the way to go(?) e.g. magic glowy walls that change location / roate around the circles .... 

Thanks again for your amazing review!

Submitted(+2)

I love the theme lol! Tho, once you find a strategy, the game becomes a bit repetitive in the movements.

Developer

Thank you very much! :) 
ya, i have more ideas for improving the ki. its really interesting designing the ki while being so "limited" within what works within the mirroring mechanic regarding movement and shooting.

what was your strategy?
do you have any specific ideas for improvements?

Submitted(+1)

WONDERFUL LEAF

Developer

Thanks :D

Submitted(+1)

As your name suggests, very nice graphics!

Combined with an unique Idea and mechanic 😊

Developer

Thank you so much for your complimenting words <3