Incredible how you get a story across, without even using words. Great entry!

My initial thought was "this is just a joke entry". But then I played it, and there's escalating difficulty and the humor is spot on. Mixing in '!'s and spaces was pretty clever.

I can get that, but honestly this game idea wouldn't have come up without the theme to prompt it. The idea evolved from Mark's "only one sprite" suggestion, and then make that interesting mechanically. I still think it adheres to the theme, with effectively one character having the one loadout you selected.

Hmmm, not sure. Perhaps some powerup if you chain missiles or something? Something as simple as extra move speed. Might feel a bit shoehorned in, though.

Lots of solid design here. Energy used for both attacks and the light, the lights slowly shrinking, enemies that are only visible in black instead of blue. It all ties in nicely, well done!

Reminds me of Sanctum, except you're also the tower. Switching from topdown to first-person seemed a bit weird, and I don't feel like it adds much to the gameplay. Perhaps if you could move in first-person, and start and stop moving as a Bastion would in Overwatch?

Solid game! Really responsive controls, switching from lance to shield real quick is satisfying. I wish the lunge had more feedback for when it's ready, I found myself lunging to my death a lot.

This is insanely well polished for a jam. Cool concept, and a good execution. But I didn't find it fun. Most of the gameplay is just trial and error. And the shuttle can just bounce off ever so slightly off the landing pad, agh! Maybe it just didn't click with me. The only suggestion I can think of is having a restart button: if it's clear it's gonna fail don't make me wait for the crash.

Not the most intuitive mechanics, but they do make for a solid puzzle game. Well done!

The core mechanic of having the light is pretty neat, but I feel like the supporting mechanics don't work too well. Your levels are all just mazes, which is not particularly fun to play. The spikes give me a reason to keep the light on the player as I move, which you have to do anyway. It would have been interesting if I had to remember the layout of the spikes rather than just keep the light on the player whenever I move. The enemies are way too slow to be relevant.

In terms of doing different mechanics. Perhaps more threatening enemies and some kind of combat? Perhaps a switch that's triggered by the light to force the player to move in darkness?

There's potential in the idea, though!

Yeah, that version of the UI would work better. Although if you intend to have that many spells it would be a bit overwhelming, especially on early levels. Perhaps if you unlock more spells as you go along?

Love games that can be played both as singleplayer and as coop. Cool design, the idea is executed brilliantly, and the levels are good at teaching you the mechanics then escalating complexity.

The sheer amount of juice on that bullet! Took a while to understand how the mechanics work, but the early levels were perfect for learning. Good escalation of mechanics, although I'm not too keen on the levels. Or level. I would have liked more variety, rather than the same level with more and more stuff added in, it gets tedious at some point. And you can't introduce new mechanics on their own if you're so adamant on keeping the same things from the previous level, which is not great. Overall, great game!

Rated and commented on yours. Here's ours: https://itch.io/jam/gmtk-2019/rate/463643

Bouncing missiles into each other is incredibly satisfying. Having to defend a different character other than yourself is an interesting design choice, and you're still punished for messing up by getting stunned. That part was not obvious though, I had to read the page description to realize what the scoring and lose condition was.

Solid mechanics, puzzles that left me thinking, good levels that introduce the mechanics and escalate in difficulty. Well done! Possibly went a bit overboard with that last level, though :p

I can smell the Superhot inspiration, and you've done a good job with it. The weapons feel good, and the glass aesthetic is satisfying.

I actually didn't mind the mouse movement that much, but I don't see why it's necessary. There's a reason why WASD + mouse is the norm. It's natural. Even Rocket League, which has no business with mouse movement at all, preferred to use WASD + mouse for its default input scheme. 

I personally find picking up items a bit awkward (just a bit, not a major issue). Have you tried auto-equipping?

Overall, solid entry to the jam!

Neat idea where you see only one enemy. Forces you to find them, instead of just shoot at them. Could do with more polish and juice, but solid entry nonetheless.

There is potential here. The mechanic to match the theme isn't there with the single combat in the prototype. I can see how it would be interesting to ration the different spells and combos you have.

The UI leaves a bit to be desired. I wish there was a list of spells I already picked, or some marker on the already existing buttons. I could also pick duplicate spells (e.g. Scald + several copies of Ashes). Is that intentional? For some reason I had to click on spells that were marked as passive.

Shame it was incomplete for the jam, this could be a solid game!

There are many games in the jam using "only one shot" as their mechanic. The bullet teleporting to the other side of the screen is a neat take on that, though! I found it a bit disorienting where the bullet is gonna end up, I'm not sure why, perhaps because the bounding box for the bullet is slightly larger than the screen and there's a bit of offset when it comes on the other side? The score is also bugged, it adds the previous run, even though it displays 0 at first. All in all, great entry!

Thanks a lot for the comprehensive feedback! 

Having debuffs was an "aha" moment during the design, I couldn't come up with more debuffs in the time time though. I didn't consider limiting abilities, that may be an idea.

In regards to AI: the big thing I would have liked to do was make them actually jump towards platforms, rather than do so randomly. More complex AI features would have been nice as well, but had to limit the scope for the jam. Another problem was the levels, I rushed them in the last couple hours, so enemies tend to get stuck in the pits of the levels. If the AI was smarter, or the levels were laid out differently, it could have been a lot better.

More polish to the attacks was certainly needed. Screen shake was literally on the to do list, but I just left it until the very end and there was no more time.

I actually have WASD implemented, as well as 1/2/3/4 as subsitutes for Z/X/C/V. I never mentioned it as I think the arrow key control scheme is better. I was reluctant to use the mouse, as you wouldn't use it to aim, and I felt that would have been counterintuitive.

And I have played your game! Even left a comment :)

Another take on "one shot"! Neat graphics, the throw feels pretty good, but I found the game as a whole a bit bland. The lack of feedback for getting hit is a big issue.

For the future, I'd recommend doing KB&M input as well, this game would have been perfect for WASD + mouse. I had to run it as a non-steam game just to get my Dualshock 4 to work with it.

What a silly idea! I got a best of 24. I like how the chairs slow you down as you have more of them (although it's perhaps a bit too harsh on 3 chairs). Would have been interesting if having items on top of you would affect gameplay as well.

There were some issues here and there. The cursor wasn't locked to the window. I found the attack awkward to actually land.

Overall, good entry!

What a cool idea out of the theme. I was pleased to see the design space explored in the last level, where you need to hold opposite directions down to stop yourself, but keep the movement for later. I wish you had more levels doing that. 

You could create a lot more design space and levels exploring it with the right supporting mechanics. A timed obstacle could force you to stop, the same way I mentioned previously. Perhaps a pickup that could refresh your key presses? There's a lot of potential!

Really cool puzzle game, I can see you running off this this idea. Solid mechanics, with good escalation of complexity throughout the levels.

I'm not too keen on explicitly explaining mechanics through text, but you've done it in a tasteful way, so props on that as well.

The idea is there, even if it's lacking in polish. Love to see unique movement that's not WASD. Perhaps aiming shots the mouse would have been more appropriate, so you're not limited to 2 axes?

The idea started from Mark's "one sprite" suggestion. Then we figured each character should have the same abilities, so you have only one loadout.

Shame about losing your teammate. Props for pulling through and releasing something on your own, something akin to The Beginner's Guide too, which is not something I'd expect to see in a jam. A pleasant surprise!

Neat take on having only one shot. Polished and juicy! The double jump on picking up the bullet really makes it, but like the other reviewer mentioned, I missed that was a thing at first. Perhaps a simple level (without enemies as well?) where you need to use it to progress in order to teach that mechanic? The camera could use some work as well, there's too much vertical movement as I move the cursor. Overall, great entry!

Found your game via Mark's stream! Really interesting to see a story generator rather than a more conventional game.

I'm curious how much branching story you managed to fit in the 48h. I was eaten by werewolves.

I'd be cool with that. Looking forward to playing it! :)

Hey, my game is about fighting clones of yourself, which use the same upgrades as you: https://itch.io/jam/gmtk-2019/rate/463643

The idea is definitely there! The levels were a bit straightforward, but I can see how it can become a nightmare to design them for that many different character combinations. I also would have liked to pick characters via number keys, cycling through them can get tedious with many of them.

Solid entry. Loved the recall and teleport mechanics for the bullet. Lots of enemy types with good progression.

The minimalist art style was no excuse not to add juice! Especially like the lights.

I really wish the game would take your inputs whilst the bullet is shooting. It feels unresponsive to LMB, followed by RMB, only for nothing to happen.

Cool to see emphasis on the dodging, rather than the shooting. I would have liked to see more variety in the enemy attacks.

I disagree about the enemies. This game is more about getting your combos off than combat. Enemies chasing directly after you would cause them to bunch up and do the combos for you. And adding automatic return or teleporting to the bullet would fundamentally change the game. You lose out on the depth of trying to position the bounce just right to get the quick return. Also, enemies can get in the way of you and you walking back to your bullet, so there's that.

The bouncing bullet is brilliant! So many good design choices. The bounce, upgrading the bullet on a combo, time is also your health. One of my favorite entries!

I gotta say though, one shot is a lot more relevant than one minute to your game, the bouncing bullet is the core mechanic here, you're mis-selling your game a little