itch.io

Oh yeah all those are coming - but now im focusing in the player's abilities. You can see full updates and upcoming stuff in the discord. I just added enemy with grenade throw and launching a sticky turret (and also rolls away from danger). 

I have lots of things coming to this game - the actual gameplay is not done. First - the characters. Right now im designing the "Warping Hook" - think of spiderman way of moving around the city with it's web. 

Anyways, yeah I dont fancy web version as it cant unlock the full potential. Might remove it but some people dont want to download an executable... which is weird... itch should enable it... or maybe make web version a "demo". just to move around, and to play the full thing - download. who knows.

Hmm about that bug - that's weird. I kind of fixed it - but please try this and let me know if it works: 

• press TAB and then click Player - there you can move spells from one skill slot to another. Assign at least once on each spell slot in your hotkey bar. Close game, and retry. See if it's fixed.

I had a bug where default "saved" values didn't exist so it gives that error when first using skills - it was supposed to be fixed but it may not entirely be? Your test would confirm it and then i'll look further into it.

Yeah thanks to your feedback I reordedred the layout of weapons. from basic to advanced (not really worse to better, just different mechanics). These weapons needs balance but that's for later on.

--thanks for your comments!

P.D. yeah I kind of intend to stick to retro games where you shoot forward. if you need close combat - use X to sheathe your sword. Go take distance, roll away, turn around and shoot. It's going to be very dynamic. Aiming where mouse is kind of just turns the game in a dead brain shooter (aim shoot win combo) - but that may be just my opinion... :P

Oh! Helpful ❤️

You dont start with ultragun... Its just that it was the latest gun i added. Not sure if letting all weapons available at the beginning or make them drops / findables. 

Yeah damage output was inspired on Ragnarok Online i like it too!

Never played brawhalla.. maybe i should. I was also thinking about RPG elements like level up... Like in league of legends. Start every battle with lv 1 and as you do things - you gain exp and be OP near end of game round (5 minutes). Still not sure what to do with coins hehe game very deep under development.

"Polish overall to clean some bugs* >> this! More specific can help tremendously! (Specially naming the bugs)

Btw I haven't uploaded the latest update where you have melee sword. It spins in the air and any melee attack can reflect bullets 😁

Thanks!

Would you be kind to mention what you liked the most? (And also what you liked the least) Any feedback is helpful 

Ohhh hmm you got me thinking... How would i recreate a target lock... Like Zelda. So player always faces that target... Overriding mouse position when lock is on hmm interesting! Thanks for that

RNG?

Hey there thanks for your feedback!

Can you be more specific with "lacked impact"? 

Do you mean bigger hit box, stronger knockback, higher damage?

I made the weapons for the ant, and we didnt get the time to balance things out - so I tried to set things the best I could (almost blindly) haha I tried to make the hitbox the same size / and lateral it's being used. So if right hand is used, it shouldnt attack enemies on the left of the ant - and so on. If it's big weapon, it hits slower but both sides.

Details that maybe not many people would notice :P

any feedback is appreciated!

Oh so cool you streamed it. I saw your gameplay. Im sorry if controls were not clear from start. 

We have seen many people not knowing the controls though we showed them in the itch page before playing/downloading...

And also in-game first loading scene a hint to open inventory with TAB to see how to play again.

But we discovered that people dont read :/

So things like weapons special attack were not used (currently Q+Click - used to be Alt+Click and had issues on unity editor ... Then Ctrl+Click and had issues with web version)

And also - never changed weapons. There's 8 in total. So if you ever feel to try it again - go ahead (i heard you say you wished for a way to swap weapons :P)

Thanks for playing it and enjoying the effects!

Ohh never thought of a laptop player without a mouse. Definitely hard to play that way.. maybe unlocked a hardcore mode by doing that 🤪

I'll think of multi control options for different scenarios from now on 🙏

Hmm what do you redirect? Like refreshing a new page? Did something happen just before that?

Getting the bug cause help fix it and avoid it from happening on new games ✌️

Im glad you like it. It was a fun project to make!

What do you mean by lore? 

Yeah first exit could have had any signal to make it easier to spot. You prefer ambient music or no background bgm at all?

Maybe a menu to control music/sound volumes would be helpful in these cases.

Thanks for playing!

Thanks! And it is tiny haha due to time we had to leave apart many maps, enemies, characters out.. and yet, the outcome is in fact impressive. A fun project for sure ✌️

Hey haha you tried it. Im glad you did. Its always a great idea to have unexpected things!

Like in your game the spiral stairs in the street lamp... That was ooof.

So here you have medieval weapons in primitive insects haha why not? Thats so cool about videogames. We are not attached by reality. Absolute freedom for creativity to fly.

Thanks for stopping by 🙏

Yep haha dont know the amount of total hours but i did had days with +10 hours in my pc on this. 4 in the morning, over 6 in the night. Aprox...

Every day haha and thats just me. Im sure my buddies did the same. Guess we really liked this idea. Do we did our best - this happened after you mix 3 hearts and 6 skilled hands 🤓

Yeee thanks for that comment. Definitely could be a full game for sure. Time was short so we couldnt really balance well the damage, hp, and that sort of things..

But yeah it came out better than expected.

Was a fun project to create. Dark Bugs indeed 😁 (and we left out lots of ideas for enemies and other player characters)

Yeah i remember you! Haha im glad you came back to leave a feedback. Its fun to hear people trying the game and found challenging moments- thats kind of the purpose of making games like this.

Definitely not just an exploration game 🤪

Yeah the recovery happens after 10 seconds. So ideally you dont have to run away or boss will heal itself.

Thanks for that! I tried my best to animate the ant, im glad you liked the ant movements. Im not an animator expert but it happens that i grew up with a special love for ants. I find them very interesting. So i kind of knew intuitively how they move (and i could imagine how would they move if they had weapons haha)

Even though this is not your preferred gente - im glad you went ahead and try it.

Thanks for your feedback. Its much appreciated. 

Thanks!

Now that the jam is over i can finally go back to my personal game. Today i uploaded an .exe to playtest that one. Feel free to check it out

haha I remember when we discussed the game idea - I shared how sometimes I imagine Mosquitos with swords because they can bite hard sometimes... Thanks for playing the game! :)

"thinking my character would turn to attack where the direction of the cursor is but he would swing in front." Definitely will rstatiemember this! I thought it was fine to attack in front, but I guess it's more intuitive/safe to just attack where the mouse looks at. Thanks for sharing your feedback!

Yeah maybe drop % chance for potions is too low... or not "static" like always 25% or something. 

Thanks for testing the weapons! I had fun designing them, and I'm glad you tried them all :)

haha as my partner say, don't stay away. Currently has 10 seconds penatly. If you don't hit it before that - it will start to regen. This is to avoid players from running away (or heal boss on player death). :)

Hmm! really? I guess setting "isSecondaryAttack" bool to False on respawn/death could help? 

HMM I didn't think it would "stick" as I used "on hold Q = true" and "on release Q = false" so even if was "stuck on death" it should have released when using it again alive... weird... I'll have to test this and see what's up

Yeah lance is cool! I got the idea from Final Fantasy Tactics - the dragoon skill Jump. I assume you know that one :D

haha that's the effect we wanted. Not entirely defenseless - just shake your body and survive :)

Oooh this is the 2nd time we get this feedback. You think its a good idea to just rotate to where the mouse is and make it attack there? Hmm

I'll have that in mind! Thanks for your feedback ❤️

Every feedback is appreciated :)

I will still think about controls over the next few days. Never done games before and being able to assign ANY key... Is harder than I thought.

There's a FFT for mobiles version. Definitely worth your time. A jewel of game :)

WOW the best game Ive tried so far in this jam... I love this unique idea... How did you came up with this? It got me thinking! I believe my 10yo daughter will like it. I'll bookmark it. Very interesting.

And catchy portrait. No idea about the story.... But who cares haha you use ghosts to solve puzzles, and time loops to solve them. Isnt that great?

Ghosts * Time control...

Music fits 100% this game concept. Nice job!

I enjoyed playing it.

-

P.D. feel free to try out mine as well. Different genre, but I think you may like it :) There's a link below. Click on that to go there.

Hey haha Careful with the name and copyright issues.... VERY similar to... You know what game :P 

I enjoyed the music. Very nice one. Where did you get it from? 

I liked the battle system, with the Q or E to execute bonuses. A bit monotonous to be always the same button and speed. Maybe randomizing that would add more challenge and unexpected dexterity required. 

I found it hard to progress because I needed to go back and heal after every battle haha maybe some potions to carry around would have been helpful (or a partner).

I think the UI for turns who's coming next could have been improved. Weird layout. I didnt even notice it after a few battles and not sure how that wsa calculated. But a nice idea. Like other tactics games (final fantasy tactics? :P)

I loved the world. 2.5 D kind of. On a table. Didnt get the story much... But nice detail of the leaves as scarf in the ant. Overall this was a good game I've found so far in this jam <3

Congratulations!

P.D. hey make sure to check out my game. There's a link below this message. Your honest feedback is appreciated to become a better developer! I turned 3 months old this day as a gameDev :D

Hey guys I tested your game. It reminds me of old Zelda titles... Thanks for that nostalgia.

Now to the feedback. Fire could have better animation. At least, rotates depending on where its going. It feels a bit cheap to see a static fire moves the same to any direction.

Also, The boss mantis I could step on its bottom and spam sword and never got hit. So enemies AI needed better behavior like taking distance from placer and engage again for example. To add more challening and not just spam the sword until the end.

OH and the latest boss... Dropped a mini mantis. Lol not sure if intended or bug but that was funny.

Also - better feedback on dead enemies. At least a sound... Or color change... Or size change... Because they just vanish. That is weird.

Maybe a mana bar so that shooting fire requires recharging or something. And more skills - its a micromancer - i was expecting more magic!

But overall I liked your game <3 its cute to see a 2d like zelda in this jam. 

Thanks for submitting your creation.

--

P.D. Oh - Make sure to check out mine, tell us what you think about it. 

Hmmm you think so? I didnt like Q... I tried using ALT first but it gave me shortcut interference with unity editor  and then used CTRL and had the same but with web browser at itch io (ctrl+r midgame is not fun haha)

So because of time.. set Q for that... Someone else suggested Q for LH, and E for RH side special attack. No clicks.

And what weapon did you mention? Because I set all skills to face where the mouse is... Instead of just attacking ahead (it was like this initially) and then transitioned to aim with mouse. Im glad you liked the jump attack <3 I took that idea inspired from Final Fantasy Tactics dragoon jump :)

Or did you mean EVERY attack to face the mouse? Hmm interesting. Didnt think about that. You believe that would have been a better way to aim primary attacks? I left that for skills only hmm 

OH - and Space is for evasive movement :D

Hey I just tested your game with my 4yo daughter and haha wut... Straight to the boss? no story behind? And the name of the boss is LOOOOOOOOOOONG :P

Anyways, great attempt to create these mechanics! I still feel like there's much you guys could have done with the main character. There's no need to jump - and evading doesnt really evade... So beating the boss is a mix of monotonous and hard.... Like too short range,and he is op. :P

The game looked promising at first (specially the music) but after dying 12x times and just using a knife... Meh... That promise vaniashed pretty quickly. 

The idea is great! I can imagine a longer game and flowing gameplay curve if you guys had more time to develop it further. But I guess thats what it is for a game jam...

We also did a dark souls - like game so take time to check it out!

P.D. kudos on doing it on 3d! That is lovely to see :3

Hmm an ant trail... Funny. Because they do that in real life... Haha yeah I thought about making maps like Zelda. Where you move from one block to another, and have multiple paths. But didnt think about adding an actual map to see where you have been and where is unexplored. That could have worked.

And yet - game is relative small to get that lost :P

I would have to ask my partners about it - but im pretty sure it was a mix between cinemachine and post process effects for that :) I can take a look at the game editor and see how exactly it was done if you want.

Thanks for leaving a comment!

OHHH that is such a good idea! I never thought about that haha whoops. Clever one. I'll keep this on mind for my next games!

Yep, I wish we could have tried to get playtesters before the date ended. Getting feedback seems ultra important (for any kind of games).

Hmm! What do you mean by " moving while point-blanking" with the rats?

What made your left clicks not work? Im curious since I made the main character mechanics... I tested it maaaany times, but I wish I had more playtesters before due date to get this kind of information I may have not spotted on my own.

Thanks for your feedback!

We did add SFX... Maybe the music was too loud it opaque the other sounds? Guess that also needed balance haha thanks for your feedback! (Im also impressed of what we made :D)

Thank you!

Thanks! I believe I speak for my time when I say this... None of us expected this result haha we had fun implementing stuff one after another without a solid plan from the beginning. So yeah each of us added to it love and passion and this occured.

Im glad you like it!

Im not sure about a tutorial.. but definitely more hints in the UI at least in the first map. So player knows the controls at least and what the ant is capable of. (Also, didnt think about this possibility of players rushing from game to game.... Wasnt expecting that).

Thanks for your feedbck! I also believe this game is much more than required for a jam haha after watching so many games I think we went miles ahead unnecessarily :P but hey! It was fun <3

Hahaha i wonder if you got scared or annoyed.... I personally enjoy being attacked and being defenseless for a while. Kind of get the heart pumping going :P 

But neh - this was a bug we didnt fix on time. Enemies going after ant even if out of range. :P

Never played dark sous (or elden rings)? Ohh.. you're missing out on some good game mechanics in those... Yeah  we got inspired by that. I never played elden, just dark souls. And my partner never played dark souls, just elder rings. So we fused our ideas together with the other guy (the artist) and made this game from scratch.

We kind of missed some details... To let the player know where to go, and what to do. But hey.... For a jam it's cool! Let people explore what to do next  :) (I found lady bugs harder :P btw)

We thought of increasing the amount of potions drop... And yet - there's some fun on getting smashed and just respawn again :D (if you ever decide to play dark souls you'll get this!)

Thanks for trying it out!

Thank you!

Personally I dont like tutorials at the beginning... Discover & learn as i go... But not all players are into this. So we came out with the idea to put the controls in the inventory menu, and a hint in the first loading screen to open inventory. Maybe UI buttons indicating what's possible?

Hmm like weapon stats? When hovering on them... Or clicking on them... Showing the stats? True. That would have been a nice thing to see.

Im glad you liked those weapons! Those were among my favorite ones to make - specially the Shuriken. (I think we missed the opportunity to show the actual names of the weapons! Haha)

Initially we wanted to let players choose their character. Melee mantis, Ranged Spider, Hybrid Ant... But it was too much - so we stayed with ants and make all others the enemies. 

Levels increased your HP, Energy & Potions capacity. This wasn't planned from start - it was more a feature that just happened on the go and a nice idea from our partner Simpan :) kudos to him

Thanks for your feedback!

Oh! So instructions are not clear? :\ we even added a hint at start to open inventory with TAB to see  how to play... guess people dont read now at days... How else can we make sure people know how to play? and you said its intuitive... But other reviews didnt know such skills existed :P

Im glad you died a lot - thats sort of the essence here haha keep coming back!