itch.io

We recently took part in a game jam and were inspired by some of our favorite games in the past to create a 3rd person(ish) bullet hell shooter. Specifically taking some inspiration from the polarity shift mechanic from Ikaruga and the flow of Furi. 

Link to the Jam Demo:

https://pyrite415.itch.io/null-session

Early Background Info/Lore:

You are the Dæmon and beside you is your loyal sub-routine Bit. Together you are an elite hacker duo with a secret weapon, the polarity shift. The net has two competing signal types, but the polarity shift lets you align with one frequency completely rendering yourself invincible to its attacks. But you're still very visible, and vulnerable, to the other frequency.

Today you find an access node to one of the most lucrative zones guarded by an elite security drone. Whoever is guarding this area doesn't want visitors, which means whatever is on the other side is worth everything. Utilize your powerful polarity shift and your pal Bit to conquer the security drone and break through!

We put together a little intial devlog on how we built all of this for the jam: https://pyrite415.itch.io/null-session/devlog/1494628/road-to-null-session

We felt like there was something pretty engaging about our jam demo and are considering how we might expand it to a more complete experience so we'd love feedback on what we could improve or what you'd like to see!

Very fun little game! I kinda felt more like a little tank than a kaiju but the sense of progression over just a 2 minute loop was super satisfying. 

I ran into a bit of frameskipping on firefox when firing my bullets which didn't happen on chrome so idk what was up with that. 

Love the artstyle, little touches like making the lamps all squiggly and cartoony really went a long way to giving things character! The concept is super fun too almost reminds me of katamari in the way you just try to gobble up everything. I had a bit of trouble sometimes where the tongue wouldn't collide properly or something with some objects. Fun game!

Love your artstyle! left a rating, will type up a comment too

Here's mine: https://itch.io/jam/game-name-game-jam-1/rate/4478188

Fun game! I like how the gems open up new things in the level

Rating now!

Here's mine: https://itch.io/jam/game-name-game-jam-1/rate/4478188

It's definitely not as tough as those games. I actually think it's totally doable I'm just trash lmao. I could definitely tell it was made by a fan of the genre though, good job! 

Really clever use of the theme! I love this take, the storytelling is super engaging since it's couched in a familiar social media interface. Really gives me vibes of some games like Her Story in some ways.

Will check out your game now!

Here's mine, hope you like it: https://itch.io/jam/game-name-game-jam-1/rate/4478188

Wow this is tough, reminds me of those old kaizo mario romhacks back in the day. Even with the invincibility buff I was sweating. The wall jump also added another layer of challenge

Will give your game a shot

meanwhile, here's mine! https://itch.io/jam/game-name-game-jam-1/rate/4478188

When I got going with the bouncing it got really fun! Enjoyed it a lot, sometimes the bouncing could be a bit finnicky but overall a satisfying experience!

Multiplayer in 2 weeks is pretty impressive! Made it through the tutorial but there was nobody in the lobby so.gonna go get a friend to play with me later hopefully to test the full experience out. I really like the setting and vibe and the music. The force choke looks hilarious. I'm a big fan of prop hunt style games so will definitely try to get a small lobby going.

Knew what I was probably getting into just from the screenshots, and it did not disappoint. Ran into a couple bugs here and there but they didn't detract from the chaos. The nuke was an absolute highlight, great funny title.

Yo shooting that alien around is pretty satisfying lol

We made a 3d game as well! 

https://itch.io/jam/game-name-game-jam-1/rate/4478188

Pretty fast paced boss rush style game, really enjoyed this one.  The music really gets you in the zone too.

Wow this is so unique, I had a bit of trouble with the combat at first but I kinda was able to cheese it a bit by just strafing aggressively. The boss at the end and the little twist really elevated this though, awesome work. 

Wow the art is just gorgeous, I forgot I was playing a game jam for a bit. As a few others mentioned there's a couple QOL that could be helpful but overall such a strong entry!

Big fan of the SCP lore, the vibes of this game are off the charts. Seriously impressive first jam! 

ahh i didn't realize it was the light! I was just blitzing through for a while thinking it was a timer in the corner lol. The game got a lot more engaging once I figured that out. You really did a lot with a very minimal palette, good stuff

Visually just stunning! Actually blown away this was all put together in just 2 weeks it's so cohesive and well made. Really hope you continue working on this, I would buy it for sure!

Wow there was a lot of love poured into this game, really cool stuff. The sound effects could sometimes get loud especially when things get chaotic sometimes but overall great work!

Some of the text was a bit small and I definitely bumbled along for a bit before getting the hang of things. Once I figured it out I started really getting into it. Impressive depth for a game jam. I think a tutorial would go a long way in the future. Pretty swell game though!

The visuals are great! The lighting in particular is standout! Unfortunately it also meant i ran into some performance issues on my dinky pc lol But blown away by how cool this looks, great work for just 2 weeks!

first thought: is that the regent from slay the spire? lol that pose and chair had me thinking of that. The presentation is fun, the movement is crisp but like a few others mentioned definitely wish I wasn't locked while attacking, though you could also lean into that as a mechanic if you wanted probably. Right now it just feels at odds with the other tools the player has.

Pretty fun idea, it can get quite difficult right now. I enjoy the lane system but I think it would've been nice to have it ramp up a bit slower, took a bit to get used to it. Gonna have to go back and try to beat it b/c I keep getting owned lol

I had a lot of fun with this. Movement based games are difficult to nail the feeling in but I was able to get it occasionally with this game! I think with a bit more time to polish it could really shine

Took a while to understand what I needed to do, but after that it became pretty engaging. I kind of wish there was a bit more UX/UI feedback but honestly a pretty engaging experience. Definitely a fun stand out, I really enjoyed this one.

I knew what was probably coming and it still got me... sigh 

Well done!

The art is really charming! Its a very cute little game, I actually didn't know about tardigrades so I learned a little something too haha. I kinda felt bad for the intern after i lost a couple time poor girl got fired so I had to go back and win.

Wow very creative take on the theme, I think the really challenging part of this kind of game for a jam is the balancing. The concept is really strong but right now the balancing of point gain vs progression feels slightly out of tune. I managed to get like 10k+ points with 1 turret and a couple upgrades which let me skip a whole lot of progression i probably wasn't supposed to haha.I think this concept is pretty fun and hope you continue building this out after the jam!

Very strong entry, the gameplay was pretty fun I think playing with the tentacle theme has a lot of depth to it. And of course the ending is very clever. Great little experience

As a kojima-head I greatly enjoyed the references, I did not make it all 30 minutes though, maybe my addled social media brain is to blame lol. 

I do really enjoy the idea of this project but as some others mentioned 30 minutes does feel a tad excessive but there's a sort of"anti-game" to be found here that's kind of fun to think about and I can honestly say it made me think about it more than a lot of other jams lol

A clever take, this started getting quite difficult quickly lol That kojima-esque twist on the final boss is pretty funny bravo

I like the thrust of the game, wish there was a bit more to do as it's a fun premise. 

Will definitely check out your game shortly!

Would love a look/rate at ours as well: https://itch.io/jam/game-name-game-jam-1/rate/4478188

Your game has a pretty solid base! I quite like the carriage kicking mechanic, it's pretty satisfying. I think with some more game mechanics added along that style it could be a pretty good addition to the survivor-like genre

Here's our game if you could give it a glance: https://itch.io/jam/game-name-game-jam-1/rate/4478188

Hey, will definitely give your game a try. Meanwhile here's ours: 

https://itch.io/jam/game-name-game-jam-1/rate/4478188

Shame you weren't able to finish the models, I appreciate being able to play on a keyboard only though.  It feels pretty snappy even with just keyboard controls.

There's a base here you could really build on, would love to see you guys build further on this idea!

The desolate sci-fi atmosphere is really well done! I had a couple issues with the web build but the downloaded version worked great. Was surprised that there were 3 planets AND an outer space section, very cool. Really like the game and the concept and would love to see what you could do with it further too!

Would like to see the robots look a bit more menacing haha, they kinda remind me of goofy daleks a bit right now lol