I really like the theme and art style of this one. The idea of using a space ship to navigate to other planets sounds like it would be hard to fit in a Game Boy, but your execution for this works quite nicely! While the gameplay seems simple its actually pretty challenging and has a nice difficulty ramp. I will play more in the future, since I only got about halfway through the second planet before life pulled me away. Sometimes the collisions felt unforgiving, but other times it made the challenge feel right. It looks easier than it is in that respect.. The jumps have to be timed better than you might think at first glance, and while this is frustrating at first, its not difficult to overcome and makes up the bulk of the games challenge. I haven't played far enough to know what all is in the game, but I would like to see the levels open up a bit more towards the end ( and maybe that is the case?). Perhaps more branching paths or more verticality. The battle system is interesting and fun. The characters, theme, and plot are really fantastic! Great job!
Very cute art work! The games menus and systems are technically impressive and innovative. The simple gameplay works well with the art style, however, Tapping the button repeatedly felt a bit flimsy and could use some better feedback/juciness, as well as fewer repetitive tapping sections. Holding the button before having to switch to another button would be far more accessible. Repetitive tapping is kinda painful for some people..
I liked the level select menu the most! Great work over all!
I like the gameplay in this! Sometimes I felt like the collisions were a little unforgiving, and I wish there was more in the way of replay-ability. Keeping the score saved is a nice touch.. though I do wish selecting your initials would "wrap" from A-Z, and Z-A, to streamline things just a little bit. Adding some type of power up.. like gaining health/shield, temporary invincibility, temporary double points, or something along those lines would benefit the game and keep me coming back longer!
For a gamejam its quite a solid game and I enjoy playing it on my handheld! Great work!
I had fun! The gameplay felt fluid to me and the controls are intuitive. If there were more characters with increasing difficulty I would play more for sure! The HUD and health bars are super cool! The experience vaguely reminded me of playing Fist of the North Star on my GB way back in the day. Great job!.. and with such a challenging genre!
This was creepy for sure! I was pressing buttons the whole time hoping they would do something... 😂 The effects are really cool looking but the imagery was a little unsettling, clearly that's what you were going for, though. I bet those effects would look cool with trippy patterns too! Anyways it was entertaining and very unique! Nice work!
I had a lot of fun with this one and plan to go back to it! I liked how you could end the level before breaking every last brick. I also liked the way it piles on the mechanics gradually in a way that makes me constantly want to know what the next level will be like! Cant wait to jump back in and play some more! Great work!
I enjoyed this! At first I was a little confused when I hit months where nothing happened... but it made sense as soon as things starting unfolding! The story is cute and addicting. It fits well with the simple and intuitive game mechanics and leaves the player wondering how future playthroughs could be different and lead to a different story unfolding. At points I did wish that there were less months where nothing happens, but that probably depends a lot on the choices that I made. The music was very fitting! Great work on this!
I love the cutscenes in the intro! Very cool the way the player sprite dims in shadow! it really makes the game shine! The use of evolving the player to give abilities is a good fit! The game's very first scenes could use just a bit more action or level animations. The game's design could benefit from a map. At the end of the firepit area there is a jump that is terribly unforgiving to miss (compared to the rest of the game). The fire area also made a strange buzzing sound whenever the player was touching a wall or ground, which was just a bit distracting and confusing. Then after that area.. back in the vents near the fire area (above and to the left of the fire pit area), I climbed a ladder then phased through a locked vent sized door, which caused the controls to go funky and soft-locked the game. Really fantastic art and audio in this one! I really love the theme song and title screen! The checkpoint system is really great, but a save/load system might be a good idea if the game is much longer. A pause menu would be nice to have also. Overall its outstanding work and in the upper echelon of the games I've tested so far this jam!
Having a lot of fun with this one! It took a few tries and some patience to work out the rules even after the tutorials, but once it clicked I was having a blast! At first things felt too tough on the lowest difficulty but after I better understood the game I got much better and the difficulty felt right! Cranking up the difficulty once I got good was no joke either. I appreciate the multiple levels of difficulty, as it keeps me coming back! While grid/tile based competitive games have existed for ages now, this is an innovative and refreshing take, and I will definitely continue to play!
Very charming and cute! The controls are super smooth and feel great! I do agree that adding a few more tenths of a second to the I frames would help prevent being pinned down by an enemy causing nearly instant death, but outside of that the challenge felt fair! I played through to the end and enjoyed the characters as well as the story and how it all fits the theme! Awesome audio and great cozy art too! Following for updates! 😄
some 75 odd builds later it's starting to look like a "real game"! 😃
It has been taking a long time, no doubt!
It doesn't help that I've been doing everything myself. Also I've been working on numerous other projects and jobs during these years.
Figuring out the game's design was super tricky and took a lot longer than expected. Then eventually I went through and revamped just about every aspect of the demo... Redoing the physics took six months for the single player mode and I'm still working on fixing the vs mode physics.
There has been a bunch of life stuff (the loss of 3 grandparents), a change of homes, a change of jobs, and a change of scenery, since I started, but Retro Space Ball is still what keeps me goin even after all these years! 👍
Thanks so much for checking it out! I'd love to hear any feedback you have! If you want you can post the feedback here or anywhere that's convenient for you, Twitter DM is fine also!
Great work! the game's design is pretty solid for a jam!
Nice work on the sprites and particles!
Some things I would polish in a bigger version:
Pause gameplay during the upgrade UI
The blue and the red dragons did not seem all that different from each other.. maybe some type of build up animation for the faster shooting dragon would help.
The player controls felt a little clunky, like you release the key and the player still moves for a few hundred milliseconds. then this is exacerbated when you upgrade the players speed. I would set the players input methods to be in Update() and then adjust the player's ridged body physics in the FixedUpdate(). Here is more info on that via Unity Answers
I couldn't tell right away that I was fighting a boss until I noticed it had two heads. Im not sure how to announce it better... maybe a big health bare appears at the top or bottom? maybe it flashes when you hit it? maybe the background flashes when it enters? all kinds of options.
I think I beat the boss... or did I die at the last second?... I'm not sure because it just says thanks for playing... your welcome, for sure! but reward the player if they won. players like being told how great they are lol... and if I lost you could probably just restart the game and I would figure it out, but an explosion first is always best.
Overall a really great jam entry! I think you did a good job of ramping up the intensity smoothly and comfortably, while still keeping it challenging.. that's always a difficult balance, so big kudos!
Very cool and tough prototype! I like the second level!
One issue I found was that when the player is against a wall it doesn't seem to allow the player to shoot. Then later in the second level the bullets appear to be the same color as the floor and are only visible in shadow. While the game is perhaps too challenging atm, I'm confident that with some fine tuning of the mechanics (like the players movement drag) that this game will be a lot of fun!
Many things (UI, dialog, level design, etc) in the game work very well! Awesome work making a playable prototype! Cant wait to see you take this further!
Awesome job! A very cool experience! I found 5 key locations!
It would be cool if there were some creative and still mysterious way to be hinted how many are left or general direction to head since the world feels SO big.
After finding my way out of the red storm, the dust and scratches and vignette mask stayed on until I restarted.
I loved the music and sfx, and the wind was done very well! Keep up the fantastic work!
Great work! I love the music so much! The pixel art is well done and suits the theme and tone of the gameplay and the guns are a lot of fun to play with! I can't wait to see what else you do with the enemies as they get more intelligent! Nice job with the sewer boss!
Could it possibly benefit from a stamina bar? your call.
Sorry that it had you frustrated. There is a controls menu available from the start menu that explains the controls. To fire shots you press w, the up arrow, or the fire button on a controller (bottom button). The space bar (or right controller button) is the boost button. No need to switch control options since they all work at the same time. You can use A and D as left and right and the up arrow to shoot or vice versa, left and right arrows to move and W to fire. If you want to use two hands. I tend to use a controller or just one hand myself, but its been tested to work using the other methods. There is some fine tuning still needed (it is in beta). Hope this helps!
I thought about putting flippers in, but I felt that it would not be conducive to the gameplay and shooting the ball is more accurate when you land a good shot.
I'm glad that your interested in the giant bosses! Right now there are only two but I'm planning to add more.
The arrow keys ARE actually supported as well as controllers. There will not be gameplay support for the mouse. The mouse is only used for menues and UI.
What do you think would help players like yourself enter the controls menu? Maybe show them the controls menu automatically the first time the game is played?
