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A jam submission

Rotate DefenderView game page

A space shooter where you have to rotate enemy ships in order to hit their weak spots.
Submitted by Rohten (@_Rohten) — 3 hours, 25 minutes before the deadline
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Rotate Defender's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Concept (gameplay)#1133.4003.400
Theme#1233.7333.733
Overall#1513.3673.367
Presentation (visuals)#1982.9672.967

Ranked from 30 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted

A really good idea in premise, but the game had some pretty bad moments as well. Firstly, because your ship movement and enemy rotation is both controlled with the mouse it makes rotating enemies more of a risk than a benefit. This could've been resolved by ship movement being WASD or by time slowing during rotation. Furthermore, on one occasion the ship that I rotated was still shooting downwards, and therefore made rotating completely useless.

Despite the negatives, the idea and overall look of the game is really good! Well done!

Submitted

A nice twist on an old school shoot'em up with a fitting jam themed mechanic. The besides dodging all the incoming lasers, deciding when to turn the enemy ships made the game really intense and much more strategic. I also really liked the sound effects and music. It was nice to see someone else use the Simple Space pack as well. Great job!

Submitted

Interesting concept, very creative i liked it. Good Job!

Submitted

The idea of rotating the enemy is novel. The controls are a bit difficult, but I think the game itself has a good direction.

Submitted

It took a second to really understand the weak spot tolerance around the crosshair, but once i got that it is basically the crosshair itself, that was easy going. Nice integration of the theme, solid execution of the idea. The "lag" of the ship felt a little wonky at times, though.

Submitted

This is an interesting spin on the classic defender style ! I had fun :) 

Developer(+1)

Thanks, I'm glad you had fun :)

Submitted

Very intereting concept of trying to click on the enemies to rotate them, at the same time that you expose yourself to the risk of being damaged, really nice idea! At the beginning I think it was too hard, maybe if the spaceships shot or moved a little slower at the first 20 seconds just to let the player understands the mechanics, it would be cool. I developed the strategy of rotationg many enemies and then trying to shoot them and got 620 points hehe. The music fits the game very well too. The only thing that bothered me a little bit was that sometimes my bullets disappeared and I had to hit them twice. But other than that it was a very fun experience! 

Developer

I like the idea with the slower start, maybe a tutorial at the beginning where you can get familier with the controls. The bug with the bullets was known but I ran out of time sadly but is already fixed for the after-jam version. :)

Submitted

pretty fun!controls could be better

Submitted

pretty fun!controls could be better

Developer

Since I work at a after-jam version it would be cool to hear what I could improve at the controls :)

Submitted

That is very clever! Rotating the enemies is a great spin on this style of game and it plays quite well. Great job!

Developer

Thank you :)

Submitted

Cool game! interesting concept that uses the rotation pretty well; rotate enemies instead of yourself. I liked the music too, calming. In the future I think the game could greatly benefit off some enemies whose behavior is also changed by rotating them f.e. an enemy who shoots projectiles that bounce off walls but he always aims forwards so one has to be careful how you want to rotate him, etc. Making the rotation about more than just getting to the weak spot. 

Developer

Sounds like a nice idea, maybe I can work something up with a spline path or something like that so that you have different pathes have to read me in. Is my first 2D Project, I work else only in 3D.

Submitted

Very cool idea, made it to 270. I really like the concept that the mouse controls both your ship and rotates the opponent, so in order to rotate them, you end up having to be in front of them and risk getting hit. Makes for some really good involved gameplay. 

Developer

Thank you :) I hope to extend it in an after-jam version

Submitted

Nice. I did not fully understand what is the effect of rotating the enemies. Looks like they keep moving and firing in the same direction even when rotatated. Would have been nice if rotation could make them shoot one other and destroy themselves that way.

Developer

The Idea behind the concept was that you can only damage enemies at the red marked spot so that you have to rotate them to hit that spot. Sadly I ran out of time and couldn't implement a hit feedback and different enemies who are difficulter/imposible to hit without rotating.

Submitted

ok, thanks for the clarification.

Submitted

The game idea is great, though it could be expanded on. I'd love to see powerups or different enemies.

Developer

Pickups, more Enemys and more Weapons were on the List under nice to have. Sadly I run out of time.... so it is now on the List for the after-jam verision :)

Submitted

My best score was 220! Which is probably really bad but I kept getting shot lol. I really like this idea! Tying the ship's position to the mouse was a cool challenge because you had to put yourself in harms way if you wanted to rotate an enemy ship. One constructive thing I have is that sometimes my bullets would disappear, and I think it was when they hit enemy bullets. Thanks for sharing, this was fun!

Developer

You need to try harder! (just kidding ^^) 

Yah it is a known bug that appeard in the last hours and I had not enough time to fix it :/

Submitted

Nice Idea. The controls are a bit quirky with a mouse but playable.

Good job :)

Developer(+1)

Thx :)

I already think of an alternate controls for a after-jam version with controllers in mind (like Xbox and PS) so I guess that a wasd or arrow control maybe comes too.