My goodness, this is barely a game. And yet I did not stop until the only remaining upgrade was the numbers, and it cost 100k+.
The visuals and the sounds perfectly feed into the satisfaction the game presents. I too, wanted more upgrades so I could feel more and more accomplished for no reason. I hate that my brain loves this. Good job. Make it longer.
There really is no limit to the spin speed is there?
I beat the game. I agree with what Pixeator Gadzy said -- I started feeling pain in my hand during the final battle. Games where pressing buttons faster means you win faster cause me pain.
Honestly, I'm not sure this is the best idea/concept in practice. Taking away the player's ability to aim often results in a bunch of waiting or random shots (depending on the rotation speed), neither of which are things I want in a top down shooter. Your game wisely sidesteps this issue by being more of a bullet hell / maze game with shooting elements, but... that just sidelines the theme.
I just don't think it's a good idea for a game. And with that said, you knocked the actual implementation out of the park. Music was good and fun, presentation was simple, readable, and often funny, and the level design (as mentioned above) sidestepped most frustrations with the theme implementation. I enjoyed this beginning to end.
There were some really good ideas here. I always love momentum based platforming -- this entry's physics could have used a bit more polish, but it's always super fun to roll down a hill and gain momentum and pull off the perfect stage. I personally could have done without the spinning level... or at least if the level spinning was going to be a thing, I wish it effected gameplay somehow instead of making me sick.
The roll felt pretty good, but the normal platforming felt pretty rough. Even if you want players to commit to jumps, it would be nice if I could jump up a single step without a running start to get some momentum going. The game also struggles because I need to memorize levels as I do them to get momentum... if I could see the whole level and plan out my route that would be pretty cool.
I was trying to play some random games with few ratings, but half of them either didn't run or were obtuse and I could not figure out how to play them. So send some games to me! Browser games are getting a lot of love already, so how about some downloadables? I'll get to them this weekend.
I'm usually pretty critical of games. I think just about every game has something special, but also room for improvement. Post if you want feedback and an honest rating.
I love the little guy manually spinning the propeller. Once I figured out how the controls worked, they were good enough to give me a little bit of control. Only a little bit. I think it's cool that moving the mouse in circles spins up the blades, but in practice I did not feel like I could make adjustments to my movement very well. I also felt like I could only descend by shutting the blades completely off.
I feel like, with this kind of gradual movement, I'd rather be exploring than dodging missles haha.
I really love the idea of this. It is very Portal-esque, and while the idea of spinning the room doesn't have as much juice as portals IMO, it does give a different way of thinking to solve puzzles. The puzzles you created here weren't mind-blowing, but they used those mechanics well.
Unfortunately, when I pressed Q and E it only sometimes rotated the room. I would mash repeatedly and hope that the room would rotate. Eventually, it did. When I got to the first timed challenge of the game, I found myself unable to complete it through no fault of my own.
I would also add that it would help people be less disoriented if the rooms had some indicator of which way is forward and backward, so we could always tell which way it rotates.
Fair warning: I'm comparing this game to a game I watched my friends win, where you needed to get a number of heads in a coin toss in a row, and you do this by weighting the coin.
I like this idea. It's fun to gamble, and this game lets me strategize and weight the odds in an interesting way. All the information I need is here, the game is responsive, and it's perfectly infuriating when the spinner lands on the 100 coins and then bounces backward into a loss.
That said, I won this game twice. Both times it was anticlimactic. If I had won on my 25 spin run, it would have been anticlimactic. Same for a 50 spin run, I imagine. There's not enough build-up and release of tension. In the coin flip game I mentioned above, you get on a win streak and it builds and builds and builds... and then you lose it! Not so in this game. There's no build toward victory, it's just all or nothing every spin.
If money were the focus of this game, the win might be more interesting, because the bank account builds up higher and higher. Adding other interesting areas on the spinner that you could buy would also improve the game IMO, turning this into a real gambling roguelike.
As it stands, I like the idea, and it is well implemented, but the win condition takes the wind out of my sails.
Fair warning: I'm comparing this game to a game I watched my friends win, where you needed to get a number of heads in a coin toss in a row, and you do this by weighting the coin.
I like this idea. It's fun to gamble, and this game lets me strategize and weight the odds in an interesting way. All the information I need is here, the game is responsive, and it's perfectly infuriating when the spinner lands on the 100 coins and then bounces backward into a loss.
That said, I won this game twice. Both times it was anticlimactic. If I had won on my 25 spin run, it would have been anticlimactic. Same for a 50 spin run, I imagine. There's not enough build-up and release of tension. In the coin flip game I mentioned above, you get on a win streak and it builds and builds and builds... and then you lose it! Not so in this game. There's no build toward victory, it's just all or nothing every spin.
If money were the focus of this game, the win might be more interesting, because the bank account builds up higher and higher. Adding other interesting areas on the spinner that you could buy would also improve the game IMO, turning this into a real gambling roguelike.
As it stands, I like the idea, and it is well implemented, but the win condition takes the wind out of my sails.
This game was very well produced and balanced. I could feel the difficulty ramping up while still enjoying the power that came with each upgrade. Even with explosions and metal music ramping up, the audio and visuals were still clear and readable. Everything was responsive and worked well.
In implementing the theme, the game took away one of my favorite parts of the 'Survivors' formula: Choice. Without any options, I was unable to strategize my build in the slightest. I at one point received 7 bullet size upgrades in a row. Another time I was healed when already at full health. I'm not sure where else you could go with the theme here, but taking away player expression is not my idea of good theme usage.
Game also went unresponsive when I selected to quit -- I'm assuming because that button was meant for a different platform haha.
Good game overall, I just spent a lot of time above explaining my one complaint.
My apologies, I was not clear enough. I mean it would be helpful if the controls were either gradually introduced as you play the game, or if you had a HUD with the controls. This game feels very Risk of Rain 2 -- take a look at how they handle abilities in their HUD.
I like how many touches were put into the environment. I wish that time had been focused on the gameplay, though. I love grappling hooks, but there wasn't a consistent way to use the grapple to get on top of enemies unless you were already above them. I could grapple into an eye at a low angle and just fall.
With some good gameplay/movement, this could be a fun combo-chaining game of bouncing on eyes and goblins.
Speaking of which, all my goblins just gathered in a tiny area. And the eyeballs spammed so many bullets at me that I could not approach them without tanking the damage. It's just... rough, which is to be expected from a jam game I suppose.
I did so, and played the game a little more. You have a neat idea here! I like how the custom rooms follow you around.
Unfortunately, the game was still way zoomed out, and it began to hurt my eyes after a short time playing. it looks as if you have some well-made graphics for the characters, but the background was harsh and it was hard to see everything. The music was also a little overbearing. Personal preference, I know.
You can't export Game Maker Studio games as .yyz and expect people to be able to play them. Those are game maker projects. You need executables or zip files.
Also these files have not been altered in two years, so I have to assume this was not made during the Jam timeframe.
The game doesn't have much connection to the theme. Although the graphics are quite polished, I will not be awarding the game any points unless I can somehow be assured that it is actually a jam game and not an old game submitted on a whim.
I really like the idea here, and I think the dialogue is, in general, implemented well. I enjoyed the plot.
The actual gameplay, outside of the mechanic, didn't offer much. Just press the correct key at the correct spot. Combat was spammy. Either I alternated between light and dark as enemies neared, or (for the boss) I was able to spam the appropriate attacks so quickly that I never saw multiple phases.
I only saw one ending, and I am sure there are others where the player is less balanced... but I never felt pressured to be unbalanced one way or the other.
I was unable to get through the cutscene without just randomly mashing buttons. Maybe the resolution was messed up, but I was only able to see half the text and could not tell what was happening.
The game itself was an amusing and fun idea. The sound was satisfying when I clicked on objects, and I liked the freedom to accelerate in every which way. Unfortunately, trying to trace objects with the mouse was kind of janky. The game would feel better if the mouse locked onto the nearest target within a certain range, and then had the player perform more precise puzzles.
Going fullscreen actually scales up the view so I can see way more. This is probably a balance issue, because that means people with higher resolutions get to see more game.
The control scheme is crazy. Mousing over items then pressing space to buy them? Repeatedly mashing up arrow makes you go WAY higher? I'm having to move my hands from the arrow keys to the mouse to the spacebar, and I only have two hands.
Respawning coins right next to the pad removes the incentive to take risks, but without them, the game would be impossible. Also I can hop in the ocean to make then respawn?
Note: Pressing down when not on the pad makes the menu flicker.
There's a good game idea in here -- reminds me of Motherload, an old flash game. But it needs refinement. Discoveries in the sky, platforms, better controls, etc. Go play that game for inspiration if you need it.
I explored to the top of the skybox, and visited the sides of the map before deciding I had seen everything in the game. I do really like the simple pixel art, by the way.
I like how the wind/momentum physics make it so that I move much quicker up and down than I do forward. It makes for an interesting control scheme.
I don't like that it takes me more than 10 seconds to move at all. It feels like a glitch.
I also don't seem to be able to get my momentum again after hitting something. Once again, that feels like a glitch. Maybe these are glitches. Not sure.
I collected the Gem of Strength and then died to the unidentified block behind it for some reason. This caused me to respawn unable to move.
I like the idea of the enemies being magnetic. When I first accidentally pulled one into the spikes, I thought it was cool.
The jump is indeed bad. It's not wrong to have a jump that holds momentum, but you have to commit. This jump allows you to start moving in midair, and change directions, but not stop. That's annoying because I have to zig zag to land where I want to land.
I have played a fair number of Bennett Foddy-style games. Jump King is not one of them. That was intentional. I do not like the idea of the Jump King mechanic. I did not like it here either.
I think your implementation is fine, and the level is designed around it. I just don't like the mechanic.
