itch.io

Thanks for checking it out :) It's only on Windows right now because I don't have any other devices so any build would be untested. Though there is a port for linux handhelds if that helps - https://portmaster.games/detail.html?name=bnbmax

Love the fusion of genres here :) and little touches like the banners telegraphing enemy spawns. Wasn't expecting the first boss to just appear like that but it was a cool moment. Sometimes the art makes it hard to tell certain things apart if I have to be quickly reacting to positions of enemies & the fireball, but I managed. IMO a graphical overhaul would help you out a ton, something like this reference  maybe

Obligatory throwing of my hat into the ring:

https://hwilson.itch.io/bbmax

Trailer:

the price is a piece of your sanity

may the Heart of the BUMPERS bless you, my child

I like that you appreciated the juxtaposition of the adult noir detective in a tournament for children :D

Also good taste in going for the Machine types (even if it was kinda accidental)

Thanks for playing :)

Which Bumpers did you prefer to use?

Ah, so you got to the Guards in the Warrior biome. That's about the point where semi strong Bumpers get introduced (e.g. SWORD SAINT). If you get to the end of that biome and beyond you'll see enemies making better choices and using BUMP UP. Hope you can get the data saving working somehow :)

Ah, maybe. It relies on an ini file that gets created in local appdata directory on Windows. Sorry about that :/

Data can be saved in any Rest Room or before any Eliminator battle :)

Opponents beyond the Basement Guard can and will BUMP UP ;) How far did you get in the story?

Hi, everybody.

I've release the latest incarnation of my Yu-Gi-Oh-meets-Pogs weird RPG series into the world, and I'm really happy with how it came out.

Have a (very amateur) trailer:

Screens:

which Bumpers did you end up using the most?

I try :)

So I realise this is my fault for not making it clear on the Briefing screen, but there was a 2nd mission :P

also thanks for playing <3 you guys entertain almost every weird idea I put on here and that's amazing

https://hwilson.itch.io/bbmax

...maybe

Favourable powerups could have more angel style wings, with the bat wings relegated to the power-downs?

Also, I think the first time I was in the village area with the 3 front doors, the skull was very nearly instantly hitting spikes. Wasn't as bad when I returned from the area above, but that first time round I was expecting to start with choosing a launch direction from the paddle, so taking damage there would have felt a touch unfair.

Played a bit more (love the spider area) and found a boss, let's see how terribly I do against him :P

Also, at first I thought the magnet would be a consumable that I'd have to re-earn but I guess not. For some more tricky parts I did find the best strategy was fairly constantly tapping B to avoid spikes. Seemed like a bit of a cheese, is this intentionally an optimal playstyle?

Had a quick play on my 'totally legit not chinese bootleg' handheld, ran flawlessly. A little more difficult than expected - I think on some screens the spikes blend in with the regular collision a bit, but the game is 100% my kind of thing :)

I was wondering how exactly you were handling screen to screen navigation, and what you have is great (once I realised d-pad inputs could adjust the direction to go in).

Though I did end up trying to evade a HP refill after thinking it was another power-down coming straight for me :P

What a delightful cheese :D

<3
What was your team for the final chapter?

There's some Nihei inspiration in this, right?

Thanks for the kind words :)

Which Bumpers did you use against the Champion?

technically I think there are 3 endings :P

Thanks for playing

Atmosphere, mystery, mind-screw, cool art, big jigglin' tiddies...

Loving everything so far <3 This is THE game I was actually excited for this year

Nice :) just what I was looking for

True, but it works enough for a jam game

I had the idea for this since I saw a Famicase entry - can't remember what it was called, or even what year it was from, but I remember looking at it and the (rough) idea for this game just kinda existed in my head since then. Jam was a good opportunity to make it a reality and have people enjoy it :)

ah, the "did you hear that?" barks come from when the AI "hears" combat but doesn't have line of sight. Though my implementation was probably a bit rushed and janky, since jam and all :P

Thanks for playing :)

..what?

Thanks for playing :) sounded like you had fun

Thanks for playing :)

I actually asked around at my day job re the dialogue pausing the gameplay or not :P It was tempting to have the flavour dialogue (aggro, item, etc) not stop everything - but the final sequence dialogue needed to be dramatic and in-focus, and I wasn't going to spend jam time on working out that separation.

Thanks for playing :)

If you do finish it, lemme know what you think? (without spoiling, the final sequence really ties the whole game together)

I was hoping the slow pace of movement would be seen as atmospheric maybe, but you're not the first to say it's slow so that's a very fair criticism. And yeah the boost is x-axis only - much easier to make everything in the jam time when all the mechanics, AI, etc treats the game basically like NARC on the NES

I enjoyed this, it reminds me of Galaxy Force :) The trails on the enemies help keep track of things even when they're coming in from all over the place, which is nice. Though it felt like either it was hard to land shots on them, or I wasn't getting obvious feedback when I was, either one. And enemy projectiles seem to get hard to react to with their speed, or it's just a skill issue on my part.

Thanks for playing :)

The disconnect between hor/vert movement being an issue I can understand. It was partially a nice time saving for me, and partially because I have experience coding this kind of movement & AI for side-scrolling beat-em-ups. But it's not ideal when you also have the Y axis to be moving around on.

The AI was something I could have just fiddled with until way past the jam deadline. In the end I decided it was good enough, and in most cases it does the job. A previous iteration was especially goofy as your squadmates would try to go collect an Item, then realise they're a tiny bit far away from you and run back, rinse and repeat.

You're not the first person to mention not knowing where to go, which surprises me. I thought that with the small level size, the colour-coded barriers/walls, and the glimpse of the Red Keycard in the start room it would be fine. But I guess I need to brush up on my level design skills

It was refreshing to have to Spider-Man around the environment as well as just "shoot the waves of bad guys". Nice aesthetic too, like a game adaption of a cartoon made to sell a toy line (in a good way). 

Though I was confused as to how I could be shooting behind me, over my own shoulder, with nothing in terms of animation or VFX (that I could see) to tell me how that was happening :P

I think something broke when I tried to play? Since I see there's an audio credit but I couldn't hear anything (even as presumably enemies zoomed past me at 1000mph)

Love the interpretation of a mech that's outside the "generic glowy sci-fi" type, and it's realised with a nice art style - it's like I'm stomping over a Fire Emblem map but in lowpoly :)

Maybe I needed to just get to know the game better, but I felt like I could just line myself up in a good position and spam spell attacks without being punished or forced to change tactics?

Also, these poor citizens. Clearly so much money was invested into magic mech R&D that nobody could afford any windows for their houses.

Loved your reaction to the final bit :D

<3 I think you experienced the game exactly as I intended, so that makes me happy. Like saying thanks to Rex when he picked up an item :D

(everyone hates Chip, the rest of the crew make him do all their laundry)