itch.io

this is one of the games ever, can't wait for the full release

Checked out yours. Here's mine:

https://itch.io/jam/bullet-hell-jam-2022/rate/1491115

Game downloaded and ran fine for me, it just seemed like my mic didn't work properly. I managed to fire two spells after troubleshooting a few times, but it didn't work a lot of the time. I'm not sure if it was to do with my mic or the game not recognising my voice. However, I do see the appeal for this concept, and it could offer a different sense of immersion that hasn't  been seen in any other game. Great work!

I liked the shield deflecting mechanic. It's like parrying but for projectiles. Great job!

Gonna play and rate yours now, heres mine!

https://itch.io/jam/bullet-hell-jam-2022/rate/1491115

Loved your game! played and rated it, I left some feedback in the comments.

This is my favourite game from the jam so far! I'd absolutely love to see a full fledged game like this with trippy visuals and music, and you do a great job at selling the concept.

Syncing visuals with music is always extremely satisfying in games, and it works perfectly here. I think a one hit system allows the game to be difficult while still fair, and you appreciate the music more. However, I do think there should be checkpoints between levels, as you feel you learn a level quite well if you are able to beat it once.

I love that each level has a specific theme with it's own enemy variety, and the circle filling in the centre is a smart way of indicating level progress without the need for UI. 

As I said already, I'd love to see an expanded version of this game bemuse its such a great concept, with even crazier visuals outside of the circle. Great job, definitely going to be one of my favourites from the jam! 

edit: some minor things just because I like the game so much and want to give as much feedback as I can. Some projectiles pop out very suddenly which is a bit jarring, it would be better if they went off screen or faded out, but I understand they might disappear to improve performance. Secondly, I'm not sure if its web unity doing this, but the art looks compressed in some places. In the future an option for controlling the character with the mouse would be nice, as the player would be able to respond better with 360 degree movement. These are really minor things and they didn't affect my enjoyment at all, just some things I've noticed.

I thought there was only going to be one boss, but the fact there was multiple phases/bosses added a lot to the game. And the twist of the bagel at the end! In all seriousness, this game was fairly fun, I liked playing as bred, good use of screen shake, and enemy projectiles were clear. I think some sound effects and music would have added a lot to the game, and perhaps a more smooth dash rather than the teleport, but you've got a really solid base for a fun twin-stick shooter here!

Also different endings determined by time is a nice touch!

playing and rating yours now! Here's mine:

https://itch.io/jam/bullet-hell-jam-2022/rate/1491115

There is a lot of content here for the time of the jam, so great work! Felt kind of like a Megaman game!

Art style is great and really vibrant, definitely the most stand out part of the game! I liked the music also, had a retro chiptune feel that worked well with the art! The gameplay was simple but solid, I liked that there wasn't a hard fail state, rather you just lose energy. Overall a solid and fun game!

This is one of the most unique takes on the theme I've seen, and the game is super fun as well. Instead of confining the player you decided to confine the direction they can shoot, whilst still giving the player options to get around that obstacle. The upgrades were varied, every one seemed to have a different purpose for each playstyle, and it encouraged creativity to create a viable build. The upgrades also provided a nice feeling of progress. Great work!

Really unique interpretation of the theme. The bullet patterns were also very visually appealing, I like how each bullet has a set random colour. Great work!

I'd be really grateful if you could play mine, I'll try to play and rate yours as soon as I can!

https://itch.io/jam/bullet-hell-jam-2022/rate/1491115

I'd be really grateful if you could play and rate my game, and I'll do the same for you as soon as I'm able!

Fight through the underworld through waves of demons and five bosses in this bullet-hell twin-stick shooter!

https://itch.io/jam/bullet-hell-jam-2022/rate/1491115

Id love if you could try mine! 

Fight through the underworld through waves of demons and five bosses in this bullet-hell twin-stick shooter!

Make sure to use alt+enter to put the game into fullscreen.

I'll try rate yours when I can!

https://itch.io/jam/bullet-hell-jam-2022/rate/1491115

I'll play and rate your game if you play and rate mine and let me know in this topic board. I'll try provide detailed feedback for everyone also. Thanks!

Rated and reviewed yours. Would be grateful if you played mine:

https://itch.io/jam/bullet-hell-jam-2022/rate/1491115

Nice visuals and concept for the game! A solid idea for the theme that worked well with the game, I liked that you could slightly manipulate the area you're confined to before the cursors close in. One minor issue was that sometimes cursors are unavoidable. Some music would have added to the experience as well. Overall a great effort and a solid take on the theme!

A unique mix of genres and a solid take on the theme! I liked how as you dig up you uncover more enemy varieties and other oddities. Not sure if it was procedurally generated, but there's a good sense of exploration. Good enemy variety, but the damage enemies do seem to vary a bit too greatly, either doing too much or too little damage. Bullets seem to collide with the other side of a wall sometimes, causing no bullet to fire. You can manage to outrun the giant worm quite a lot also. Though I liked that you could upgrade yourself throughout the games through merchants, added a good dynamic and encouraged killing enemies. Overall great work with some minor issues. Great job!

NOTICE: Please use Alt+Enter to set the game to fullscreen, it'll help with aiming. Thanks for playing!

Easy to understand wave based game with a great visual style! Takes a while for the action to pick up, but once you get to enemies that shoot towards the player it gets more fun. Good work!

Really great idea for an approach to player health and the theme as well! Really challenging but easy to get into, and the gameplay is nice and snappy. I especially like the rouge-like elements such as the upgrade-downgrade system at the end of each wave. Music is great too!

If I had to point out something it would be minor issues with bullets. Sometimes enemies would shoot them when the player was right next to them, leaving very little time to react. this could maybe be fixed through a quick tell before an enemy shoots. 

That's a very minor problem though, the game is a really fun arcade shooter and has a great take and variation on the theme! nice work, maybe one of the best from the jam, but I've yet to play other games!

thanks for playing and for the feedback! I'll check out your game as soon as i can. 

As for the enemy behaviours, in terms of bosses I used a rather crude form of a state machine that probably isn't very efficient but worked well in my case.

I'd first have a system which set a random boolean to be true. While this boolean is true the enemy would carry out their attack, which can be animated using a timer which decreases every frame. When the attack is finished, the boolean sets itself to false, and the system returns to the random choice. As for changing phase in a boss fight, that was handled by setting a boolean to be true when the boss reached half hp perhaps, which then changed some logic of the boss by checking if it was in that second phase.

As I said this is definitely not the most efficient way, and I'm pretty sure I'm effectively describing a function with the boolean system I used, but it worked well for the limited time frame I had.

Once again, thanks for playing, and your feedback is really important so thanks!

The mechanic takes a few tries to get used to, but the gameplay is original and really creative once you get used to it! It's a great idea for a high score game, and would even work as a level based game. Nice work!

Nice Game! It's definitely an interesting take on the theme and I like that you're able to make changes to history, even as a dog. The game had a fair balance of history and gameplay, so overall it's a great job!

Thanks for playing! You can use the arrow keys or the w/a/s/d keys to move, so hopefully that helps. (controllers are also supported)

Thanks for the detailed feedback! I tried making the enemies sync to the music, but within the time limit of the game jam I couldn't get it to work reliably. As for the camera, I was forced to lock it to a single screen, as moving a camera at such a small scale as 64x64 causes a lot of jitter. Some parts of the game are admittedly unfair, however I think in your case the camera might have glitched out, a bug that I wasn't able to fix.

These are very insightful issues for you to address, and I'd be sure to incorporate everything you said if I were to make a full fledged game. I'd definitely make the camera size bigger, and make a better camera system in general. Thanks!

I'm really angry I just missed the rating time, because I would've given this a 5 in everything! The game has such overwhelming style and polish to its gameplay and visuals, the simplistic art style lends super well to the combat, and animations always telegraph attacks. 

The music has a classic 8bit feel to it, and I really, really like retro music like that. On top of that, it fit extremely well with the action, especially with the final boss. 

The combat and movement is quick and very fun. Every attack you deal has an amazing feel to it, especially that finishing blow, reminding me of the finishing blow from Shovel Knight. Every boss telegraphs their moves well, and have a wide set of moves. I especially like how you are immediately thrown into action, as you are taught the mechanics. On top of that, every boss also has a strong personality, with the last one feeling truly powerful. It certainly has enough polish and class to make me want a full game out of this.

It's a little touch, but I like how the game tells you how bad you were at the end, with the "you got up x times". Overall, one of, if not the best from the jam.

Thanks so much for such detailed and measured feedback! I know the part you're talking about with the spikes, and that's completely my bad, I added it at the very end of the jam as additional challenge and didn't really playtest it, but looking back at it, it is stupidly unfair. I feel like syncing enemies to the music would definitely add more of a flow and emphasis to the music, so I would absolutely take that into account if I were to iterate on the game, however the time restraints stopped me from implementing this. I'm really glad you enjoyed the game though, and you're feedback is more helpful than you can imagine! Celeste definitely was an inspiration, as well as VVVVV. Gonna try out your game now! (and for the record, I died about the same amount as you, so well done!)

Great game with the feel of the battle system of Undertale! There is a huge variety of moves, and the game is fairly challenging, with a fun setting. It's also a great take on "Gravity is your enemy". I love how you're given a grade after you die!

PS: I'd be grateful if you could play and rate my game in return:

https://itch.io/jam/lowrezjam-2021/rate/1156032

Challenge the God of Gravity in this Rhythm-Based Platformer!

Great work! Was not expecting the blocks to hit into each other, but it really added a lot to the gameplay, as I had to evade more. I believe there was scaling difficulty as well, so the game didn't go stale to quickly. Great work!

Great arena style game! Felt almost like a bullet hell in later levels! The pixel art was charming, and I liked the restricted color palette. A good variety of enemies and a great design to them! Great work!

PS: I'd be grateful if you could play and rate my game in return:

https://itch.io/jam/lowrezjam-2021/rate/1156032

Challenge the God of Gravity in this Rhythm-Based Platformer!

Nice effort on the game! The bat enemy had great AI. Good work!

PS: I'd be grateful if you could play and rate my game in return:

https://itch.io/jam/lowrezjam-2021/rate/1156032

Challenge the God of Gravity in this Rhythm-Based Platformer!

This game has amazing vibrant visuals given the small resolution. On top of that the arcade-style gameplay works extremely well. I especially enjoyed the way the hook and firing are interlinked through the overheating mechanic, and it creates a great contrast between which tool to use. I see a lot of potential in this shared energy pool, as you could add a third mechanic in later waves, such as a missile that causes significantly more overheating. As it stands, this is easily one of the best games that I've seen so far.

PS: I'd be grateful if you could play and rate my game in return:

https://itch.io/jam/lowrezjam-2021/rate/1156032

Challenge the God of Gravity in this Rhythm-Based Platformer!

Simple but fun game! Had a replayable arcade style, and I admire how the title screen taught the player how the game worked! Great start for a game.

PS: I'd be really grateful if you could play and rate my game in return: https://itch.io/jam/lowrezjam-2021/rate/1156032

Challenge the God of Gravity in this Rhythm-Based Platformer!

So this devlog might be a bit late, but I thought it's still worth writing, so here you go!

Last week I worked on a game now titled "Gravity God", which covered the constraints of the jam, (the 64x64 Res), plus one of the optional themes of "Gravity is your Enemy". You can find it here: https://itch.io/jam/lowrezjam-2021/rate/1156032. Please remember to rate the game if you're within the voting period. 

The Beginning:

Gravity God started off with the theme of Gravity is Your enemy in mind. I decided to build a platforming character that I could easily change the character of. With that, I made the background art and the player characters animations, which I thought turned out very nicely for the little time I spent on them. I had messed with creating platformers in the past, however I always felt that level design was a difficult aspect for platforming games. However, something clicked during this time and I got to work making the first introductory level. 

At this point I had a simple platforming level, but the game was lacking its prime mechanic....

The Rhythm (And Gravity):

I've seen many platforming games that use shifting gravity as the feature mechanic, such as VVVVV. Most of these platformers keep the control of gravity under the player's control, as gravity changing randomly would simply annoy the player. 

So I had two goals: 

1- Take gravity out of the players control, and make it an "enemy".     

2- Make that lack of control fun instead of annoying.

How would one do this? My conclusion - Rhythm, and music. I noticed I could sync up gameplay events to music quite well, (see how I did that in the programming section below) and I had also wanted to create a rhythm game for quite some time. So as with all game jams, where time is of the essence, I decided to learn completely something new. It's always risky to try something you haven't done before, especially under time restraints, but if you pull it off, the payoff is almost always great. So I added some music to my game, a HUD telling you the rhythm, and the beats of the music causing gravity in game to shift. I immediately saw the potential in this system, imagining a level with super fast paced music, where the player is flipping in all directions rapidly! That burst of inspiration got me designing the next few levels.

Nearing the Finish Line:

Lets just say I got a tad bit relaxed at this point.... maybe a bit too much. I had about 2 days left at this point, and I had 2 proper levels showcasing the mechanics of my concept. While it was a great start, I wanted to do much more, (especially with the idea of that end-game item stuck in my head). So I buckled down on some significantly harder final levels, and a final boss to finish it off. All the time I had been hiding coins in optional challenge areas for players who wanted extra challenge. I added 2 more tracks of music to accompany these levels, and an extra mechanic including that aforementioned item. However, I think I could've explored that mechanic a good bit more, if I had the time, as, as it stands, it really is only used against the final boss. Alas, the end of the jam was fast approaching, and I quickly fixed bugs and uploaded the project... and here we are now!

I hope you enjoy playing the game if you decide to, and thank you for reading this devlog! I hope to do a lot more in the future!

Oh, and for whoever cares, here's how I got the rhythm through code:

Programming Section (How the Rhythm Works):

For a basic explanation, I first got the exact position of the track currently playing. I then created a variable which would act as a bar marker. This variable would reset to 0.0 seconds every time a bar passed in the song. The way I did this, was by taking the position of the song modulo the length of a bar, giving me a perfect timescale for a bar of the music. You can then accordingly map the beats to the music. This isn't 100% accurate at all, as the software I'm using only measures song position to 2 decimal places. Hope this helped if people are interested!

I think this game would benefit greatly from an in depth tutorial, because at the moment it is quite difficult to understand how to play the game properly. It is an original take on the theme, and there probably wont be many games like this one in the jam. Overall, a really great effort given the time frame! 

PS, I'd be really grateful if you checked out my game in return: https://itch.io/jam/gmtk-2021/rate/1081130

Fun Arcade-like game, I felt compelled to try again to get one story higher! I would've enjoyed if kicking was integral to gaining points however, as I was able to just line up the rubbish falling down by placing the top of my ladder above it. I think this could be fixed by making the second half of the ladder the one that collides with rubbish, instead of both halves. Overall, a great effort for a 48 hour jam!

PS, I'd be really grateful if you could rate my game in return: https://itch.io/jam/gmtk-2021/rate/1081130

Great use of the theme and concept! I enjoyed the effort to also create a narrative throughout the game, which many jam games don't have time to do. There we're a few glitches, such as the player getting stuck in walls, and the level design was unnecessarily complicated sometimes, but overall this is great work for a 48 hour game jam. 

PS, I'd be really grateful if you could check out my game in return: https://itch.io/jam/gmtk-2021/rate/1081130