Really nice simple game. Can actually see it playing on a gameboy. Sometimes the bullets of the enemies are difficult to distinguish because of the background animation, but when you get hit for the first time you start to recognize them. I liked it.
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SparX's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Gameboy-ness | #18 | 4.103 | 4.103 |
| Fun | #29 | 3.483 | 3.483 |
| Overall | #37 | 3.405 | 3.405 |
| Graphics | #53 | 3.241 | 3.241 |
| Audio | #60 | 2.793 | 2.793 |
Ranked from 29 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Comments
The window size option is a thing that is necessary in almost every single game in this jam, so kudos for adding such a nice feature! Although, the maximum re-scaling still isn't enough (at least for my screen, I don't know if screen size affects it).
It's a simple concept, similar to the classic Shoot Em' Ups, but it's fun and it works the way it's intended to :) It also feels like a Gameboy game due to the way it looks, plays and sounds.
Great job! :)
Submitted
Tiny Bubble BlasterA very funny game! It would be great if your game had sub bosses :)
(I loved the background sound)
Submitted
Pip and the Dark forestHere's a list of the enemies:
1 - The Pawn -> 1 hp, shoots 2 bullets type 0;
2 - The Guard - 2 hp, shoots 2 bullets type 1;
3 - The Patrol - Moves on X-Axis, 2 hp, shoots 2 bullets type 1;
4 - The Kamikaze - Moves on Y-Axis, 3 hp, every time it resets its position speeds up, doesn't shoot;
5 - The SparX's Son - 3 hp, shoots 2 bullets type 3.
6 - SparX is the Boss. After you defeat this guy, you win the game!
Notes; They are listed by order of appearance.
Here's a list of the bullets:
Type 0 - Normal speed;
Type 1 - 1.07% fasters than type 0;
Type 3 - 1.36% faster than type 0 and 1.27% faster than type 1.
With this you can win the game. You can consider, "The SparX's Son" a sub boss.
I love the color palettes, and I really like the sprites! They feel like a really neat in-between of galaxian and space invaders.
In terms of gameplay, I think the way you made the enemies shoot is very cool. Picking a random enemy to shoot every second or so is a neat way of increasing the difficulty as you clear a stage, as the last enemy you take out will be firing constantly.
In terms of criticism, I think the lowest row of enemies is a bit too low on the screen. Shots fired from that row go from being fired to killing the player in a matter of only a few frames, and it feels a bit cheap some times.
Additionally, I think it's missing a certain energy in the moment-to-moment gameplay. This is partially due to the fact that none of the enemy attacks are targeted towards the player. As such, the only time I'm in danger is when I put myself in danger, which means most players are going to go about clearing the level in a slow, methodical way. I think it would feel a lot more tense and satisfying if there were another constant threat to keep the player on their toes. This could even just be a time limit, so the player has to focus on clearing the enemies quickly in each level. It's a rule of thumb in game design that players will tend to interact with your game in the least interesting way possible (because that's usually the safest route to victory) so it's important to notice when that happens and force them to engage with the systems head on.
All in all, great job on your game! It's already pretty solid, and with a couple tweaks I think it'll be elevated to the next level.
Submitted
Death DwellerWow! This is one the best reviews, if not the best so far! You are totally right about the last row. On phases that has enemies shooting faster bullets, the strategy is to clear the last row first and then the rest. About the slow pace, yes you are also right. I don't think another threat would be the way to go, because some phases are hard as it is. The use of time is actually interesting,I don't know why I didn't think about that. Although to implement this system, I'll have to test every phase to calculate the average time I spend to finish it. I'm not gonna be able to implement it right now, at least not these week, but in the future sure! This review is very enriching not only from this game perspective, but from all gameplay in general. Thank you very much for this, I've learned something!
Good job! Being able to set your own scale is a really nice thing for the player, I'll definitely do something like that in the future!
Submitted
Staying in VegasThere's a pretty vintage feeling to pretty much every aspect of this game that I can appreciate, it's certainly fun and I don't really see anything here that a real Game Boy couldn't really do, though the sound could have been a little more accurate... Good job anyway!
Submitted
Akumanor EscapeI use Deflemask, it's a multi-system tracker that supports the Game Boy, as well as many other systems like the Mega Drive, the PC engine (my favourite) the Commodore 64 and many others! And Game Boy music made in Deflemask will run in real hardware!
That said though, I realise not everyone likes the Tracker interface, and if that's the case for you I'd suggest using the Nintendo VST by Matt Montag in combination with the Chip32 VST in whatever DAW you like (provided it supports VSTs), you can get fairly accurate GB audio by using 2 square (pulse) channels, 1 wavetable channel (that's what Chip32 is for), and 1 noise channel, but that's only a close enough approximation of GB sound, if you want actual GB sound I don't think there's any options better than Deflemask... Well, some people think LSDJ is better, and it even runs on a real Game Boy, but I personally find it to be very clunky, like, composing music with a D-pad and 4 buttons is anything but ideal...
Fun game! It was hard to follow the enemies pattern, but managed to reach stage 8. I'll try again later! Much gameboyish as well.
Submitted
Mobile Electronic Kamibot
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