itch.io

Update: I still had a backup somewhere of these files! The linux build is gone, but I'm gonna re-build it when I'm able to use GMS:1.4999 again and upload it right away!

This game had me on my toes: having something to chase through an obstacle-ridden area creates some very fun and engaging gameplay. The only thing that came to mind after playing it is that the game lacks some visual feedback: it looks nice and is very legible, but it's not always easy to tell whether or not I've hit something or if I've been hit, and it doesn't look/feel as impactful as it maybe could. A little white flash, a short pause in shooting, and perhaps a single extended frame of the enemy being hurt (old-school style) could go a really long way. Altogether it is a very nice jam entry. Gonna check your updated version right now!

Wow! This game has a whole layer of tactics and strategy through the limitation mechanic. Anticipating where the ball will bounce back if you miss or even hitting an enemy with an (accidental) ricochet feels simply amazing and strikes a nice balance between dexterity and insight. Very cool entry!

That is a very good question! :s I know I did build and test it once, but I must have forgotten to upload it back then. I'll check in with some old backups I have sometime soon to see if I can still manage to find it. Nice to see people are still interested in this after such a long time :)

Thank you very much for all the nice words! I can see how the camera could be a little nauseating :s as it is quite up close and sensitive. If I do a post-jam update I'll definitely pay attention to that. Thanks for the feedback!

Props to you for beating the game! The final wave was a bit rushed (it was quite a bit too easy in earlier iterations) and I couldn't really manage the difficulty curve very well, so I might have to tone it down a little bit in a post-jam update, but it's very nice to hear you liked it! Thanks a ton!

It's nice to hear you enjoyed the game! Fixing stuff like the text screens was definitely overlooked due to time limitations, but I might look into a post-jam update to patch that up. Thanks for the feedback!

Thank you so much for checking it out! I'm glad you liked the story, I hoped it helped evoke the spectacle feeling that is somewhat inherent to bullet hell games and that was also reflected in the music. And yeah, the game definitely had several flaws, I might update it sometime after the jam if I find the time for it. Thank you for the feedback :)

Thanks for playing! The camera was a bit of a struggle between having nice gameplay and having the smaller pixel art not fade away in a larger scene, so I can totally see where you're coming from. Thank you for the feedback!

I'm glad you liked it! Playtesting was a bit hastily done due to poor time management on my part, so many such details fell through, but it's nice to hear the general notion is still positive :) thanks a lot for checking it out!

That was tons of fun! Visually and gameplay-wise, the game worked really well, and the mechanic felt innovative. Very nicely done!

Cool and unique roguelike puzzle bullet hell that really puts your dexterity to the test. Very well done!

The generating mechanic works really well and it felt very cool to dodge the large orange blobs that appeared on the bass sections. I do feel like I wish I had seen more of a link between the other appearing dangers (the projectiles) and the music too. But a nice jam entry overall!

Thank you so much for playing through it and for your feedback! Time became a bit of a problem near the end (hence the filename :'), for example) so UX like restarting and menus kind of fell through, but I'm very glad you liked it :)

What a fun concept idea you've built on! And the final product is really an engaging experience :)

This game has a nice retro feel to it. It reminds me of Star Fox and the likes, and looks really good. Congratulations on your entry :)

This is a really nice jam entry! The movement/shooting swapping mechanic is fun to play around with, and adds a whole tactical layer to the game. The UI/Player Feedback leaves something to be desired, but overall really good entry!

Overscoping comes for us all in the end :') but you managed to make it a nice final product for the jam. You've made it, and that's what it's all about.

The usage of the theme is really neat, and this 3D-implementation of a Bullet Hell Rail Shooter is a really nice idea!

A really fun experience! All elements worked really well together. The combination of the neon look, the story, and the gameplay mechanic being about being quick and being slow greatly reminded me of Katana Zero stylistically, which definitely is a good thing in my opinion. Well done!

A neat and fun game. Felt a little overwhelming at first, but a more thorough look at the description cleared up a lot about what's all happening. The colour combining mechanic is fun to play around with.

The gameplay is really fun! The reflection works quite intuitively and has some nicely added complexity through the power-ups. Nice entry!

Heyo! I'd really like to team up! I'm currently a one-man team (you can check my page for some of my older projects) but I'm not usually that good with sound, so if you would like to co-operate that would be great. Cheers!

No.

A non-Euclidean geometry is just a geometry in which not all Euclidean postulates are honoured. Wikipedia gives "replacing the parallel postulate" as an example, which is defied by this game: we can draw a straight line, have two other non-parallel lines intersect with it at different points, and yet manage to have them not intersect with each other by guiding one of them through a portal. It actually more closely resembles hyperbolic geometry under the right circumstances (i.e. at least one portal is present closer to the given line R than to point P).

Thank you so much for the feedback! It's a really thorough and in-depth analysis, that's so awesome! It's really interesting to me to see what you pointed out and what highlights caught your eye. I fully agree with everything you said: the game was rough. This is the first time I really got into time trouble in a jam, and it shows. I generally expect a higher level of polish from the games I release (or at least, I like to think so), but some unforeseen time sinks (making the game use a retro resolution, various switches of bounce systems and the re-doing of all art assets, especially) got me in slightly more trouble than I actually could manage. Having said that, it's very informative for me to know what parts show most when they don't get enough attention.

Specifically, I couldn't agree more with your two main points. I was afraid the game would be confusing, and I fully concur with your statement about the tutorial. I hold a big grudge against tutorials. Usually, when a game I bought has a large, extensive or intrusive tutorial/prologue (e.g. XCOM 2, Warsaw, Middle Earth: Shadow of War), I just quit them. I have to force myself to start playing them again (which can be really rewarding: XCOM 2 is one of the best strategy games I've ever played, I think) but introductions like these barely ever work. I'm more of a "show, don't tell"-kinda guy, so I totally see how this could cause confusion.

Your point about frustration and reward also makes complete sense. I didn't playtest and iterate enough - I barely playtested or iterated - to find out whether or not the core gameplay loop felt fulfilling. That information is really insightful to me! It helps me straighten my priorities for my following projects, which are undoubtedly to come,  and hopefully allows me to improve my game devving and the product I create. So once again, thank you so much for the feedback you're giving.

Additional notes of interest: I found it really funny to notice we had such similar ideas for our games. In effect, we both made pinball variations that allow the player to change the terrain rather than just use flippers. That immediately got into my mind when I saw your game, and I thought it was a fun similarity. Other than that, I'm definitely spending more time on technicalities for any larger release I'd do, such as the installing of DirectX like you said, and I would look into exporting to Mac.

One final time: super much thanks for your feedback. It helps a lot. I hope you have a great day!

Sadly not :( I still use an old 1.4 version of Gamemaker Studio and I haven't upgraded to GM:S 2 yet, so I can't use HTML exports, and I don't have a mac so I can't build to mac either. That's a shame. I will keep this in mind for my following projects though (specifically my Devtober project), but for now I'm afraid there's nothing I can do. If you have access to a Linux machine, I could try and make a build for that?

Nice thinking, having the 7-theme link to a slot machine. That's some creative layered use of the theme!

Big props for doing it all in the final 2,5 hours! That's a real jam, haha.

For real though, cool stuff! Creative idea to allow the player to move the entire board instead of just loose elements, I like that. Hope you had fun jamming!

In another post they specifically stated "The theme is revealed when the jam starts on the 6th of september!"

EST +2 passed about 2 hours ago. Maybe they meant CST + 1 which would result in the theme being released about now, but whichever way, it's still weird.

Not only does that mean the host simply used the wrong time for the countdown, 12PM CST +2 has also passed about 45 minutes ago.

I think they made a mistake setting the timezone? The text states it's supposed to start at 12 PM CST +2, which will be in like 4 or 5 hours if I'm not incorrect

Strangely satisfying! Also, very fun how the characters moves to the beat, and how there was a build-up build-off when playing the full performance. Nice project!

I meant feedback loops like enemies flashing/exploding, sound effects, animations, stuff like that. The actual term I meant was "game feel" I guess, or whatever it is Jan Willem Nijman, the creator of Vlambeer, speaks of in this overly often quoted talk.

I really liked it! It starts nice and easy, but as the speed of the enemies ramps up, so does the tension. It felt really cool to first miss, acrobat your way around the enemies, pick the shuriken back up and land a sweet double kill mid-air. For being made in a day, it felt really well thought-out and neat. If you plan on updating it sometime, improving the player feedback could make it excel (although I already admire the fact that you implemented screenshake when landing a shot, it adds a lot). All together, a really well-done jam entry!

Thanks for the feedback! I am not a fan of story/text-based games either, but I felt like it did fit this game haha. Pause menu's and spicing up scenery are always on my to-do list in a jam, but always end up getting cut in the end due to time management (I only slept 4 hours during the final night fixing other stuff haha), but you're definitely right in saying that it would improve the experience. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks for the feedback! The font is something we're not quite satisfied with either, but we didn't find time during the jam to fix it. It will be fixed in some later update, after the jam has ended. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

These sounds are really cool! I love westerns and I love your other works I know (especially the Grand Adventure Music Mega Pack) so I figured I'd use this pack for my entry for the 125th trijam. I figured you might like to see it. Thanks for all the good stuff!