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Bounty Hunter: Collect or Be Collected™️, Jam Edition's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| THEME | #84 | 2.440 | 2.440 |
| JUICE | #129 | 2.160 | 2.160 |
| FUN | #131 | 2.200 | 2.200 |
| OVERALL | #139 | 2.280 | 2.280 |
| PRESENTATION | #153 | 2.080 | 2.080 |
Ranked from 25 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Did you use any third-party assets or skeleton code?
Floor tiles & People by "Kenney.nl"
All else was made by me during this jam.
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Comments
Interesting idea, i like top down shooters, the controls are a bit complicated though
Thanks. Sorry, about the controls, I had no idea focus-follows-mouse would be so tough for people. (I've got plans for an option to choose control style.)
Solid concept! The controls threw me in a loop for a bit, but I figured it out eventually :) Would love to see some extra juice added to this game like weapon upgrades, music and sound effects, multiplier score, boosted death animations, and stuff like that! Could really bring a crazy intensity to the game! :)
Thanks for your comments and kind words. This is the third time I am replying (yesterday, POOF, today, POOF.) So...
Over the top bullets was fun. Confused about who I could shoot and I seemed to die from lead poisoning mostly. More feedback and combat indications would have helped.
Thanks!
You could shoot anyone, except the cops, they are wearing bulletproof vests. :-) BUT you should only shoot the ones with guns. This can be difficult because the innocent bystanders wander around with no concern for the hail of bullets.
I really like the concept of having to use your score for other things than just score. I think this game with a tiny bit more polish, some sfx, and changing the controls from being oriented around the mouse to just wasd to move left/right/up/down would benefit this game greatly. Really cool entry overall!
Thanks for your kind words and feedback!
It is sounding more and more like I should add an option to use wasd->compass. (Or depending on how hard it is to support both., <shudder> switch.) ;-)
Having to use your score for everything you do is a great idea!
You probably already know it, but I think the lack of sound prevent it from delivering the full impact it could have. All the texts above the characters and the bullets on screen makes me want to hear the chaos it could become ^^
I'm wondering, why did you choose these controls? I mean, it works ok when you get used to it, but it's so different than any other games we are used to... is there any perticular reason for you to make this choice ?
The systems with the civilians and cops look really deep and complex, good job with that! But I don't feel like it impacts gameplay that much, since all you want to do in the end, is shooting the bad guys. But maybe it's just missing a small thing to create more engagement around these systems (like enemies getting stronger when you kill civilians, or civilians you saved giving you free upgrades)
I would love to see an upgraded version! I think it has a lot of potential :)
Thanks!
Sound, yes. :-( I was unhappy when I realized there was no sound. I was building & testing for so long in silence. I totally didn't notice I never did the sound.
Controls: Well, I guess 'cause I didn't know any better and the sprites I chose for the people just kept me going in the face forward shoot forward mode, so everything mouseward is what I went with.
I realized Today, that there was only ever one cop. There was supposed to be a little less than one cop per civilian killed. At one point it was, then I'm not sure what happened by the time I submitted it???
Thank you for your comments.
The idea is quite ok.
Don't stop working on it just because the jam is over.
Give it some sound, try adjusting the bullet per minute, for the player and the enemies as well.
Try stuff like hiding places and reloading. Maybe ammo pickup from the hunters, so the player has to gather stuff. Lot of potential in it.
Thanks, for your comments (all good ones).
Bullets/minute: The different weapons do fire at different rates, but that does seem to get lost in the onslaught (the slowest firer has the smallest bullets. He also fires faster than he should (my mess-up)) So, I should adjust all the firing speeds down (& maybe bullet speeds). Originally, the player was going to change weapons (start with slow/small and work up) but that got cut and he ended up with the fastest.
Walls got cut, as I ran out of time to write the line-of-sight code.
Pauses for reloading (even if infinite ammo) & item (guns/ammo/buffs/etc) pickup are now on my future to-do list.
Thanks!
Yeah, this is the way usually on jams. Everything needs more time than you anticipate and half of the ideas won't get in to the game. :)
Keep up the good work!
Neat little shooter. Could definitely use some polish but I see where you're going with it. Cheers
Thanks.
This movement system is really weird! I don't think I've ever seen it done before like that so I'm genuinely curious what made you decide on movement relative to mouse position! The character being at a right angle to where you were going was really unintuitive tho
Obviously sound would've been a nice addition but it just feels like a fun little game :3
OH, good point! I turned the character's orientation so the bullets came out of the gun (in code), but I totally forgot that I should turn his head (in art) to look where he was moving and shooting DOH! Thanks.
Oh, I just realized that I never answered your question... I don't really play this type of game much, so I never realized that "focus follows mouse" wouldn't be the (2D) movement/aim style. Using Kenney's top-down shooter people, just reinforced that idea, their head points where their gun is pointing . . . so "forward == aim" (the one I'm using for a two-handed machine gun is called, "Reload" so it really isn't supposed to be shooting.)
The controls are hard, but it remembers me gta2, gg.
I didn't realize how hard forward->mouseward would be. Thanks for playing and letting me know something about how it went.
I liked the bullet casing mechanic. Seeing them fly around was actually quite juicy. The controls felt odd and I can't quite put my finger on why (it was entertaining to spin really fast at the top of the screen though). I'd like to see this idea fleshed out with a bit more time.
Forward -> Mouseward, so if you point too close to yourself you go into a spin, as you repeatedly turn & step past the mouse. Others have mentioned it, so that oddness could come from breaking wasd from the compass and attaching it to the mouse.
Thanks. I am thinking about making a not-jam version, as there are things that I never got to put in (I'm adding "contemplation &testing of wasd->compass" to the list as an option.)
Someone mentioned that he wasn't going where he was looking, and they're right; I totally forgot that I should turn his head. Maybe that contributed to the oddness?
I think some sound effect will really bring out the game
I wish I could disagree with you. :-D But that is so true! Thanks for playing and for the comment.
I liked the collection mechanic to try and keep your score up!
Fun entry!
Thanks, I'm glad I added it!
The collecting shells for refund mechanic is really interesting! feels like a nightmare leaving up to 10000 casings on the floor though.. imagine walking on that, my feet hurt!
Ouch, that does seem like it would not be fun. Not as bad as stepping on Legos, but still. If we weren't picking them up, I might have to add a slip'n-fall mechanic. Thanks for the reply.
There was a lot of collateral damage with all that bullet spray.
I think it's a pretty challenging bullet dodge game that was made even more challenging with the movement design. While at the bottom of the screen it felt fairly natural, but anywhere on the top half of the screen pressing W felt wrong (global versus local coordinate movement). You do get used to the movement, but it takes awhile and feels counter-intuitive.
Would have enjoyed some sound in this fast paced game.
Sorry, about the lack of sound. :-(
I didn't realize, that "forward -> mouseward" would be so hard, but several people have commented on it.
Thank you for your comments. I'll probably make an improved version after this is over, after some testing I'll probably add an option to use either move style (wasd attached to compass, or the default wasd attached to mouse.)
The controls are very puzzling but I tried again and again to increase my game. Nice entry!
I'm sorry you found the controls troubling. The player focuses on the mouse for moving and shooting, so forward is mouse-ward, and the side-to-side maintains your distance from the mouse so ends up walking a circle of distance radius. I can understand how that could be puzzling.
Thank you for having kept trying!!
The scoring system is fun ! Movements relative to the mouse cursor are a bit strange but I kind of got used to it. :)
On my first run I had a bounty on my head and got caught but in my next run I think that I poisoned some innocents with "lead" but I didn't see my bounty counter increase. 🤔
I had to stop playing at ~100000 points (7th or 8th wave) because the game was starting to run really slowly, probably because of a lead overdose :p
Thanks for the review.
It is the excess casings. Collecting them for the refund helps to keep this in check. (I sweep them all in excess of 10,000, I guess that is still too high a number for the browser.)
Sorry, I forgot to mention, in my reply, that all things are tied to score, not just your health but Bounty as well. So, if your score is high enough it pays off the Bounty (Once you have a bounty all your score goes to paying it off). (hmm, in a possible future version, maybe I'll keep a separate murder count to summon police with, instead of being straight Bounty based, hmm....) Thanks again.
Controls are a little bit off. I got used to the fact that WSAD works relative to where I am poiting my mouse, but then found that if you aim to the side, player character doesn't shoot at mouse, but slightly above it. Aside from that it is also a shame that there is no sound in the game. Trust me, that even some little click noises can make the whole experience way different.
Aside from that theme is matched pretty well, ammo collecting mechanics is fun, and the ammo particles look great.
Sound, oh, yes! I agree even a little sound can be so juicy . . . You have no idea how upset I was when, as I was being dragged out the door, I realized that I never put the sound in !!![]()