Really good idea. The controls are a bit cluncky and the mutations not that interesting, but with a bit more time I think you can turn it into a really fun game.
Gatlink
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The concept of showing different level elements depending on the selected color is interesting, but I don't think it works as it is right now. Once you're out of the tutorial levels where all the colors are explained, most of the time you end up going up to a point where you can't continue, then try all the colors until you find the right one. It's made even more of a pain by the inclusion of color combinations. Which also means the player has to remember 6 colors and what they do, which is not super easy for most people to keep in mind, even more so when you have to learn them all at the same time.
It could be made to work with more time, by teaching the colors one by one. But I think what I would do is keep only three colors, place clear indicators in the level of what color is needed to make the elements appears, and make levels where the player has to switch colors mid-jump.
I would take your game in a slightly different direction though, which might not be what you're looking for.
I can see the vision, but man is your game hard to understand. Why can you click on humans if you can't do anything to them? Everything I'm going to say here you might have wanted to implement but did not have time for it: you should limit the number of mutation available at the start, and leave only those that really do something for you at the start, and unlock the others as the player progresses. An integrated tutorial would do great for such a complicated game would be great too.
I really think this game is something special though, and could be expanded into a fully fledged proposition.
I'm a huuuuuge fan of Nuclear Throne, and I think you nailed the feeling. Some weird things: I couldn't kill the birds most of the time, I think I got some but I couldn't understand how (I used kicks and weapons, none seem to really work). There are other enemies who seem to avoid my shots (like the drills), but it felt less abnormal.
Very good job anyway, I'm impressed!
Combat feels like a slog, because you end up just standing in front of an enemy and clicking until the enemy dies. The attack animation is way too long, and does not fit what is really happening (damage is applied right away, even though the character's arm barely started moving). I think you can fix combat with a few changes.
First, change the player animation to start on its last frame right away, and maybe add some recovery and a VFX. Then make it so the damage is applied at the end of the animation when enemies attack. This way, the player will be able to get in, hit a couple of times, and get out before the enemy finishes its attack. It will make the combat much more dynamic.
Here's a good tutorial on player attack animation: https://saint11.art/blog/pixel-art-tutorials/#AttackSheet
I think the difficulty is overtuned a bit, there are way more enemies than you can reliably kill with either the shotgun or melee. The mutations are a really nice touch, I was pleasantly surprised to see my character grow a mutated arm to slash his enemies. Environment art is a bit blurry and doesn't match that well with the characters, and the shotgun could get more punch to it. Animations are really good though!
I can recognize that this game is well made, but it is in a genre that I really dislike. The controls feel very rigid, the game feels unnecessary hard, the art and music feel completely outdated... But I understand that this is exactly what fan of the genre are looking for!
So good job, you really captured the feeling of NES games (I did play the old Castlevania, and you perfectly reproduced it), but it's not for me.
It's a good beat them up, surprisingly polished for a jam game! I wasn't super happy with the quantity of enemies using projectiles, even more so when they would throw me to the ground (I died because I took a flask in the head as I was getting up, it felt a bit unfair). I'm not a fan of the art direction, but I can recognize that it is well made. Very impressive entry, good job!
Pretty basic survivor-like, but it works well. My 2 grievances are:
- Why limit the time you have to select a mutation? I don't see what it does for game feel, except add frustration
- It seems that your screen shake adds up, and as you get more abilities and there are more and more enemies, in the end the screen is constantly shaking and it hurts my head x)
Other than that, I think it's pretty good. The sprites are nice. I'm not sure what biomass is used for, I was getting more and more and couldn't see any way to spend it.
I wish you had more time to polish. Teleporting to an enemy's space when you kill could be really cool, but in a wave based shooter it doesn't really do much. It would have been better (I think), in levels where you have to use this to progress. Also, instant teleportation is pretty confusing, more often than not I didn't know where I ended up. A smooth transition would be better.
To sum up: I see a good potential, but it feels like that teleportation mechanic is not in the right game.
Is it the prettiest game I played for this jam? No. Is the sound design great? Not really. Did I play all the way through though? F YES! Gameplay is fun and the levels are smart. The instant replay of a level when you die made me want to push through. Figuring out the right moment to switch between modes was great fun. Good game!
No need to apply what I said to the letter, I might not be your target audience (I don't play any platformer of that type usually). I hope you'll consider continuing work on Chirp Chirp, it's great.
Fun fact: I made a game called ChirpChirpChirp myself for another jam, but its mechanics have nothing to do with yours (and it's clearly not as pretty)
https://gatlink.itch.io/chirpchirpchirp
Insane production value on a jam game, I loved the art style. The tutorial was a very good addition, but I still got confused about the controls: how many rerolls do I have? How do I use a reroll? At the start I didn't even know how to use the symbols on the dice to heal the patient. The sequence to memorize when you get to 3 mutations yourself is also unclear, the first time I didn't realize it was there (I thought you needed to memorize the patient's sequence), and the second time it took me a while to understand and by that time the first few shapes were already gone and I couldn't remember the sequence. As I write this I'm still not sure the sequence needed is not the patient's.
One of the best produced game I've seen this jam, you're getting the highest not on art for sure.
This must be the most pretty game I played this jam. Also the most infuriating x)
I hate that I have to redo the previous level every time I fall, and I hate it even more given that the bird doesn't always move the way I would expect it to. At one point I fell because hitting a wall sent me backward. Another time, I fell because the bird refuses to glide left or right when you flap your wings... The art style and the music tell me it's a relaxing game, but the gameplay feels like rage bait. You're supposed to make precision jumps and take risks, but taking risk is disincentivized because of how much it costs.
That being said, with a checkpoint at the beginning of the level rather than sending you back one level, I would have loved it. In my short time playing I felt that I was getting better at controlling the bird, and that just the first real upgrade (flapping) was already changing my approach. I understand that you wanted the player to intentionally fall down to get stuff they missed with the new upgrades they unlocked (or it's a way to soften the blow when they lose progression?), but if they give up before unlocking those upgrades it's all for nothing.
OK, I'm sorry for that rant, but I think it hit that bad because I really wanted to continue playing. The art is exquisite (special shout out to the pecking animation: it's amazing), and the sound design and music are pretty good too. It doesn't feel like a jam game, it feels like a finished game.
I must have done something wrong, my plants, even fully grown (at least I think they were, it's kinda hard to tell) sold for 0.01 cent... It felt way too hard to get to the $100 so I gave up pretty quickly.
Also, I must ask : why bind the interaction on the right click and leave the left click unused? It makes no sense to me 😅
The art style is cool though, I don't know if you were aiming for that but it gave me "old school 3D" vibes. Watching the plants grow in real time was nice, you really managed to give them that organic feel.
It looks good and plays relatively well. The upgrade menu needs some love, at first I didn't realize I could scroll down to upgrade my other stats. Enemies should not spawn in the middle of the arena (which leads to them spawning on you and exploding right away): I would spawn them outside of it and lead them toward the player, or check if the player is in a specific radius before spawning.
Another easy way to improve game feel I think would be to increase the base fire rate of the player, but increase the base HP of the enemies. As it is, it is pretty frustrating to miss your only shot, and not very fun to wait for the next one to come up.
















