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A jam submission

Chaos VectorView game page

Fast-paced tactical action-platform boss rush
Submitted by Steventus (@SteventusGames), fosterstonemusic — 6 hours, 4 minutes before the deadline
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Chaos Vector's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
FUN#753.3003.300
SOUNDS / MUSIC#833.3503.350
CONTROLS#1213.0003.000
BOSS DESIGN#1342.9502.950
Overall#1532.9082.908
USE OF THEME#1892.5002.500
ART / VISUALS#2672.3502.350

Ranked from 20 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Game's take on the theme
You can only use 1 powerup, and multiple powerups appear on the battlefield

Did your team create the vast majority of art and music during the game jam?
Music - Yes. Art - lots of existing assets.

Did your game use PlusMusic?
No

Did your game use Playroom?
No

Did your game use generative AI art?
No

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Comments

Submitted

Hey, good stuff! Ngl, I totally forgot about using A/D to move right after the mechanic was introduced, but happened to remember it after I left at the second boss and so I had to go back and play again hahaha. But yeah - with the whole deal, the game plays really well! My only 2 critiques are:
The angle at which you are allowed to jump feels restricted
This, + disappearing platforms can lead to being stuck behind a platform and take extra damage finding a way out
To be honest, my only real gripe is the first. I feel like the game could be a bit more permitting in letting you jump at slighter angles because while I was playing, I spent more focus on figuring out whether I would be allowed to jump to a certain place than I did on the mechanics of the bosses (although, this issue generally only interferes with my play in the first boss fight's arena).

But besides that, I love what you did. The bosses are designed well, I love their attack patterns. It feels fun to sidestep homing missiles, and it feels fun to plan around the angle at which projectiles will approach me. I also appreciate the indicators you made for when a jump will lead to lava damage + when a jump is impossible.

Loved the music - it worked well, and sounded really nice!! I do wish there was just a tiny bit more - the music cutting off entirely at boss defeat and the lack of a sound effect for collecting the big green thing made me feel a bit odd.

Totally awesome art direction - very simple, but very clear, and the details stand out and do an excellent job at guiding the player! Very strong.

All in all, great stuff! Thank you for creating this game, as this is truly unique and entertaining. It feels very much like a game I could play over and over, and I hope you keep it up :]

Developer(+1)

Hey, just realised I've forgotten to reply to this.

Big thanks for the in depth review! I really appreciate your thoughts on this. I'm glad the attack patterns work well with you. I've received a mix of reviews so I'll have to look at all of them in breadth and see what works and what doesn't.

Super duper take note on the jump angles - I've also got some personal itch with it but I wasn't sure whether to make it more lenient so your feedback really helped me over the edge to commit to making it more lenient.

I couldn't dedicate as much as time as I needed to onto level design which was a sore requirement for a game of this type so that's something for my heavy consideration next time.

Thanks a lot for your input. Really appreciate  it!

(+1)

Wow super cool and creative for using basic art shapes 5/5

Still one of my favorites for its simplistic use of great math :) best of luck in the end here!

Hey there, I am trying to get other to re-submit their reviews for my game if possible...it was deleted and removed from the Jam on accident based on a technicality which was solved between the Jam Host and a particular asset used in the game...please if you have time, energy, and/or generosity to re-saved your ratings/reviews for the game. I am going through and re-saving yours given my browser kept your rating saved data on my end...but it looks like I lost all 73 reviews and ratings from my end....  :( best of luck to you in the Jam 

Sorry for the inconvenience if you have a chance to rate/re-rate

Submitted (1 edit)

Hey!

Gameplay: The idea of the game is fun and engaging! In the first play session, it's a little bit unfair since the mechanics are not that obvious. However, they are super easy to understand, and by the second session, you are already prepared to rock it! Once you get used to the mechanics, how the platforms and projectiles behave, the game has the perfect amount of challenge. Personally, I LOVE games that forces you to constantly move and never stay in the same position (Obssesed Doom player here) played this game a lot.

Art: It is extremely minimalist, but it suits the retro pinball-like concept very well and gives a certain vibe to the game. It would be nice to add a blinking color effect in the red platforms to make easier to predict when the platforms will switch color.

Music: The music is good; I would just give some advice to the composer. When you have boss fights that are designed to endure a considerable amount of time, I would avoid using short loops. Long battles plus short loops equal lots and lots of repetition and can hurt badly the perception of the soundtrack from the listeners perspective. This becomes worse when you consider bosses as sth challenging that invites constant repetition. Being that said, in the realm of videogame music a lengthy and challenging boss fight is your best chance to show off your composition skills in long formats. 

I enjoyed playing this game a lot!

Wishing you good luck and success!

Developer(+1)

Hey! The DOOM feeling is something I'm actually planning to evoke so I'm really glad that it shone through for you. It's partially inspired by many boomer shooters (specifically, the high-octane movement) to give rise to this sort of pinball-esque gameplay. I'm really happy it resonated with you.

Thanks a lot for your other pointers too, something for me to keep in mind! Appreciate your deep input my guy.

Submitted

I liked the difficulty of the game. I enjoyed the challenge. The controls were great and so were the sound effects. I really liked playing this game. Great Job.


If you are interested, could you please play my game. I would really appreciate it.

Developer

Thanks for your comments! i'll be sure to check out your game in time.

Deleted 82 days ago
Submitted(+1)

The difficulty of the second boss is a bit high. I don't know how many times I need to hit to clear the level. If there is a boss whose health is displayed, it will be convenient.

I like this design, it's a very promising game

Developer

Thanks for your comments! Some players have mentioned about the UI being not too forward, especially with the boss health. Duly noted with thanks!

Submitted

This game was pretty cool, the controls felt pretty good and the sound effects were crisp. I also like the indicator for where your shooting, and if you're going to shoot towards a red surface, adds a good amount of fairness. Only complaint is that I felt that I could shoot my character at some angles when I felt like I should have been able to. Great Submission!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for your feedback! The controls is something we've spent a lot of time on and we believe still requires a lot of work (there are SO many bugs with it it's insane). Some notable ones were that you can find yourself jumping in between platforms and end up being stuck. That's just the nature of developing something new I suppose.

Submitted (2 edits)

Fun concept! A bit glitchy (which is fine for jam a game) and took some time to get used to controls, but it didn't stop me from completion.

I already gave you some feedback about camera and platforms disappearing after you jump off of them, and to elaborate - it felt like I couldn't see enough of the arena with how the camera was zoomed in. In addition, the camera movement while jumping around felt a bit disorienting. Maybe try a static camera with full arena view during boss fights, like in War in Heaven?

As for platforms - because they just turned gray(?) after jumping off, I couldn't immediately read it as "you can't jump back on it anymore". I would suggest to turn them maybe to 10% transparency after jumping off, gradually going back to maybe 60% transparency, before immediately becoming opaque. This way I think it'd easier to read the states of "you just jumped off of it and can't jump back", "you still can't jump back but it's getting closer", and "you can jump back now" without confusing one for the other.

There were a couple more issues/nitpicks, but they all stem from the two I've described. And could also be plain skill issue on my part. I'd just add that Nattland Interactive's comment about color language is spot on, as are Bad Piggy's comments about overall gameplay experience. Last but not least, I want to point out that the artstyle really turned out just fine and not bland at all. The Blade Rush powerup in particular adds personality, and boss attacks are fairly varied and feel distinct from one another. Well implemented minimalist/geometrical styles tend to leave a lot to the player's imagination, so I think if you focus on a solid gameplay foundation and add smaller things to give it life, the resulting experience will be quite worthwhile, whether it's with or without googly eyes for the boss ^^

Hope the feedback will be of use. Congrats on finishing the jam!

Developer(+1)

Wasssup Aru!

Love your in-depth comments and I super duper appreciate your breakdown on this. Better visualisation/communication on how the platform works is something we could definitely spend more time on but we opt for it to be this way - something to look into after this jam I suppose!

I'll also definitely look into the camera movements, I think that's something we were still grappling with - having to balance either giving focus to player, or to arena. It seems there are multiple comments suggesting the former. Appreciate your thoughts!

Submitted

Awesome game, very thematic and graphically minimalistic. The soundtrack felt very fitting as well as it seemed to be choppy or glitchy which worked well here. Took a bit to get accustomed to the mechanics, but I had fun :)

Developer(+1)

WE love you for loving the game and the soundtrack! Our composer put a lot of work into it and I am his biggest fan!

Submitted

Awesome concept! Excellent soundtrack. Needs improvements with controls and mechanics but all of the makings are there for a great game.

Developer

Thank you! Duly noted on the controls and mechanics, that is something highlighted by many players as well!

Submitted (1 edit)

Cool little entry lol

Unfortunately I only managed to get till the second boss, but I think the design of this is still good

The arenas were pretty well layed out and kinda forced you to move around a lot with platforms you already jumped becoming inaccessible for a bit, or the boss making platforms inaccessible. I really had to think and strategise quite a bit when it came to which platform I should actually jump to.

Especially in the second fight where it was possible to accidentally exchange my current powerup if I wasn't careful.

However, I feel like the controls could've been better. An example would be using W and S when you're on vertical platforms. Mostly because it got confusing in the heat of battle to find out which key corresponded to which direction

And while the overall visual design is nice and simple, I feel like the boss's healthbar could've looked a little more readable. I really needed to squint some times to read it.

I'm also not really a fan of the homing missiles. With how limited your mobility is, they feel a little unfair at times. Same for the second boss's laser beam which ensures that you'll take damage no matter what if all the other platforms around you are inaccessible.

Still though, for what this game is, it's really cool.

Developer(+1)

Hey Piggy!

Thanks a lot for your sincere comments. The lack of rigorous and proper playtesting manifested a bit in the comments you have said , so I do appreciate your sincere in-depth look into the mechanics and how things play out and the battle pacing.

I take note of your suggestions on the input, and reworking on the UI interface, as well as more proper level design to account for the lasers. That was something pointed out similarly by one other playtester I managed to pull into before releasing the game.

Biggest thanks again for your words!

Submitted

The concept for this game is really good! We think there's a lot of potential regarding the mechanics for the movements. We can easily see the concept as something that can grow into a really popular game with some more time and polish! It's a fun and exciting core mechanic!

Something we'd like to recommend with visual language, especially when using simple geometry, is to let colors have specific meanings.

In this game red means death for walls, but it means "You can hurt me" for the boss. Likewise purple can mean immortal if on the boss, or about to be lethal on the platforms. The small guys' bullets are white which is also the color of the platforms you can stand on.

Consider assigning colors meaning and sticking to them - red for stuff that hurts you, orange for stuff you can hurt etc. It can help a lot with reading the screen quickly as a player.

The music was really catchy and fit the game's speedy vibes well! Props to the audio designer!

Well done everyone!

Developer

Hey there, thanks a lot for your insightful comments! It really means a lot to me to get these in depth feedback. It's sometimes very hard for us to find rigorous playtesting/critique so this is helpful.

A lot of what you said definitely resonate with me, appreciate your input with regards to creating a harmonious colour language. Something to update or keep in mind in the future!

Submitted(+1)

Nice gameplay concept

Developer

Thanks, appreciate your feedback!

Submitted (2 edits)

Really nice gameplay, the 2 bosses is really interesting to fight. The control took a bit to get used to but its interesting.

Tho in the room btween the first and second  boss, there is a bug where the player will spawn on the death zone if you fell here, which is a forced restart. 


But still, nice game!

Developer(+1)

Oh thanks for pointing that out!

There are quite a few bugs that propped up as we worked towards the release of the game, this being one of them but didn't have hte time to work on it. Sad to hear it ruined the experience for you.


But thanks for your feedback!

Submitted

Really fun! and the music are well made

Developer

Big props to our musician on that front!

Submitted

Really fun concept. Also love the clean artstyle!

Developer(+1)

Thanks! Perhaps the lack of an artstyle is itself, an artsyle? haha

Submitted

Very fun yet at the same time very hard to control. The sound design was great. 

Developer

Appreciate your feedback! The controls took some time to work and even then, they're not yet perfect.

Submitted

Great music!!

Developer

Thanks! Courtesy of our composer, Santos!