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Rotschwert - Jam Version's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Fun | #25 | 4.045 | 4.045 |
| Presentation (graphics, audio) | #42 | 4.318 | 4.318 |
| Originality | #195 | 3.273 | 3.273 |
| Theme | #269 | 2.909 | 2.909 |
Ranked from 22 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game represent Mode?
The game has 5 different Game Modes for you to select at the start of the game. Rumors say that there is a hidden, 6th Mode, whose unlock conditions are hidden in a forbidden text known as Readme.txt...
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Comments
bnuuy
Really love the game. The vibes are on point, the bullet patterns are great, lots of additional difficulty modes. Honestly a really impressive feat for a game jam bullet hell game. I'm gonna be spending a lot more time with this game for sure.
bnuuy
Thank you very much for playing and the kind words ^^ if all goes well the full version should go live before February
Honestly the game just has crazy vibes, the soundtrack selection is just so incredibly on point and really gives the game a dreamy, magical sort of feel. I haven't beaten every mode, I've still got Nightmare, AlterEgo, and the secret mode to take care of, but I'll definitely be getting on it. I love that the drones come in sync with musical cues and the spritework is striking and endearing.
I don't really play any bullet hells, but this one made me want to try, and part of that is the sort of in that mysterious quality that a lot of the anime I grew up with have. Like, will I piece together the lore from these few interactions and text splays? Almost certainly not. But it makes the experience feel deep and magical. Like I'm a kid staying up late at night in the dark catching an episode of an anime I have only seen bits and pieces of, seeing some really intense character interaction happen between people I haven't been introduced to. Do I know why I'm slashing down drones? Not particularly, but the negative context space makes it feel more meaningful somehow. So yeah if it weren't clear, impeccable vibes.
As long as you're not looking for something that's big and bombastic in the usual sense, and you can tap into just dancing back and forth with your little rabbit girl on screen when the masterfully-placed introduction kicks in, the particles drifting into view, the treeline ascending slowly to imply your descent, and your enemies flying ahead when the intro is over, I think you'll have a great time with this one.
Really, thank you for saying all this. For a long time I've wanted to make games that are not just mechanically pleasant, but also offer "something more". Having a player/reader/listener/watcher immerse themselves into an experience which involves mind, soul and body all at once - I really think videogames are the perfect fit for this purpose, like no other media that exists. It's just a shame how some people will never open up to the idea of that, especially with the modern game trends where human psychology is mercilessly exploited with the intent of gaining revenue and playtime. Rather than opening up the way towards deeper parts of self, more often than not games block it off, thoughtlessly, so as nothing can interfere with the player "experience" pipeline and metrics.
Sorry for using vague terms, I've thought about stuff like that for a long time but haven't organized it so well just yet. I'm really happy you were able to enjoy the game beyond mechanical fun, even beyond aesthetics, and after watching you play it for ~2 hours on Twitch
I'm still questioning your sanity - meaning you're definitely the target audience(I'm only kidding, but seriously, I don't think just anyone can stream jam games daily for 10+ hours at a time. When I used to do streams I'd get tired and end the day after like 3 hours lol)Again, thank you for playing and the kind words! I'll definitely watch you play through the rest of the game if you decide to do so, today was a bit hectic due to new year prep and tea'ing the only working keyboard, but maybe some other time ^^ Happy new year, and happy holidays!
game is ez pz and for babies, 100%ed it first try, i give it a 5/7
bnuuy gaming
Actually I just checked your vods and you've literally been at it for 4 hours straight holy hell, what a legend
~~Was that the power of the Monado??~~ I hadn’t played anything Touhou like in a long while. I was never too good at them. My favorite parts were always the aesthetics, music, characters, and game feel, all of which I felt were present here. The game looked and felt smooth and polished, especially for a jam entry. The character design was a simple form of complicated. They were easy to read while the screen had a reasonable number of bullets, and the red dot made it easier at the cost of visually ignoring the rest of the silhouette. The music and the levels were also made to work real well together. They felt especially crafted together. While I’m not too big on the style of gameplay myself, I find the rest of the package to carry an energetic spirit. Great job on the delivery and polish!
(I actually haven't played Xenoblade, but damn, the Red Blade really is similar to the Monado in some ways. Nintendo pls dont sue thx)
I'm happy that you gave the game a go despite not playing games like that much, thank you for playing and the kind words! Player and bullet visibility is definitely one of my main concerns (and I wish Touhou, among some other bullet hells, tackled it better). It's not done perfectly in Rotschwert and there are some areas to improve on, but I'll do my best to do so while preserving the aesthetics and game vision as much as possible.
I'm also happy you enjoyed the music - I've used free BGM from several Japanese composers, and it's insane how they're willing to share their masterpieces for anyone to use. EN_OKAWA's music in particular inspired and empowered many of the game's elements with its energy and feel, I've put down the credits and links in the readme so check them out if you like! (though you may need to use a translator unless you know Japanese)
Again, thank you for playing and taking the time to comment! It's very empowering to know that not only bullet hell aficionados can enjoy my games ^^
Very well made game, I loved the music! The afterimages and attacks were really cool!
Thank you so much! It's honestly surprising how simple some cool elements like afterimages can be to make and implement, I'm glad you liked them ^^
This was quite fun, I really like the music
A couple nit-picks:
The primary attack obscures the player hitbox a bit
Enemies instantly spawning on top of me in alterego mode can be annoying
Thank you for playing and for the feedback! Adjusting the primary attack's visbility is on my to-do list.
Regarding AlterEgo - the mode is definitely not for the faint of heart haha. The positions of enemy spawns are mostly the same as Standard Mode, with only the enemy amount and screen-wide formations adjusted to be humanly possible to bypass. It's a mode that requires a fair amount of skill as well as remembering which enemies spawn where. I recommend playing AlterEgo only if you've already had enough of the other modes, or are looking for a really really tough, but 100% beatable challenge ^^
A great shoot 'em up experience! I loved the graphics and audio (including the SFX and music). It's very consistent.
I was never any good at this type of game tho, so even if the hitbox is just a tiny dot (thank you!) I didn't progress to the end. I am sure I missed A LOT. I can see this game can be a great enjoyment for those who like it.
Great work!
Thank you for playing! It's shame you couldn't get to the end of the second level, but I'm happy you enjoyed it despite that ^^
By the way, I'm considering adding a "relaxed" mode to the game later, better suited for people who don't play bullet hells often. Would you tell me which parts of the game were the most difficult/problematic for you?
Ah what I could recall is two rows of enemies which shoots bullets, one row a the top of the screen one tow at the bottom. I failed to destroy enough of them and the bullet rains was a disaster for me. Again, I was never good at shoot 'em up so maybe not a good sample point :)
One thing I can think of tho is some sort of invincible cool down interval after the play was hit so that the HP won't drop down super fast? (If there is already one then maybe it's too short and I just didn't notice)
Thank you, and don't worry, yours is a very valuable sample point! I'd love for everyone to enjoy my games, not just shmup veterans ^^ (honestly I don't think my games cater to them anyways lol)
Regarding invincibility - there is indeed a window but it's really short, 0.1s (so it takes ~1.6s of constant damage taking to die at 16 hp). I'll probably keep it that way, but for the relaxed mode will likely double the starting HP, and adjust patterns to be easier to predict and "solve". Again, thank you for playing and for the feedback!
Since "Jam Version" is in the title, I assume you will be adding more later? I really fucking hope so, because what you have here is already fantastic
That's the plan chief o7
Thank you for the kind words!
I really liked the presentation and aesthetic of the game, the acceleration with the afterimages felt nice, so did the two ranged attacks. It was fun to hold the buttons down and move around with it on. The music was well done and the timing of the levels with the music felt good.
It was balanced well for a jam since I can finish with infinite continues. I think we had the same idea to keep the players engaged and not quit the game before the ending. :D
I played it a few times since I could learn and get better with subsequent playthroughs, and the quick movement kept me engaged.
Cool bullet patterns inspired me to make CellShocked in the first place, so I had a really great time watching the patterns in Rotschwert. I would love to learn more about how to make these kinds of patterns appear but I think I need to re-code my bullet spawner to enable that.
It would be great if you finished this game after the jam!
Thank you so much! I'll reply here while also taking into account your reply to my CellShocked comment.
First of all - for all of my games so far I used SHMUP Creator engine, which is a fairly new no-code engine designed for shmups and bullet hells specifically. Everything related to performance is handled by it, and it's really really optimized - uncapped framerates and up to 8000 bullets on screen at a time with little to no slowdown, depending on pc. For bullets specifically I believe it uses meshes: https://www.ogre3d.org/2022/09/10/game-highlight-shmup-creator (the engine is written in Ogre3D so not sure how useful the article will be, but perhaps some concepts apply to UE too)
Not having to deal with performance and behind the scenes coding stuff is probably the main reason I prefer no-code engines like SC or RPG Maker, props to you for using a big gun like Unreal! ...which I heard is pretty hard to use for 2d, and off the top of my hat I can't remember any shmups or bullet hells made with it. I'm sure it's not impossible though ^^'
As for Rotschwert, I'm really happy you noticed the music timing bit - when I first started doing that it quickly turned into an addiction and now I have to actively stop myself from spending hours to time it perfectly lol. And I'm happy you enjoy the patterns - they're not as elaborate as in Rotschwert's parent game, Nullschwert, since I wanted to focus more on combat and quick repositioning rather than tight dodging, but I'm glad to hear they were still sufficient ^^
And yes, I'll definitely finish the game after the jam, the scope and structure of the game were already set in stone during development, just didn't have enough time to implement the rest of the levels. I'm not sure when it will be released since I still need to work on the main project, but unless a cellular alien infestation wipes out humanity - it will be completed. Thank you again for the kind words and feedback!
HOLY SHIET this game is AMAZING
my teammates have been talking about this game and I finally got to try it and I'm REALLY LOVING IT
the difficulty also feel really nice. The red heart actually confuse me for a bit bc i thought that's the one that supposed to heal you only to find out it's the opposite.
Great stuffs. The movements really makes you feel powerful and so fluid. I actually had to take my controller bc I HAD TO play this with one and it feels so so good
good job, amazing job. I would love to see this game get finished. Really good stuffs.
I'm at a loss for words, dam :O
I can't believe you guys enjoyed my game so much, thank you for playing!!
(If I could, I'd make 2 clones of myself and make them play and rate Lu because it really deserves love too!)
It feels so smooth and I love that there's keybind. The game somewhat is being difficult when I'm trying to close it but that's probably the only problem I'm having. I hope I do get the reminder to check when this game continued and updated since I'd love to play more!
(pshspshsph thank you, im still loving that review you made you madlad)
I'll try to remember, though if you follow me you should get an email notification when I update the game and make a blogpost about it ^^ Just followed you and Michael Grieshofer myself, would love to replay Lu if/when an update drops
hueeee thank you for the follow!
i'm not exactly a dev, i'm more to an artist. thank you tho really!
Ok this game was really sick. I finished the bigmode version all the way through (I could not beat your score holy what). I'm not very good at these kind of games but I still had fun. The animations and attacks were super satisfying even if I was just holding down the key all the time.
Amazing work! You should be proud!
Thank you for playing and the kind words, I'm happy you enjoyed it so much!
Scoring in Rotschwert mostly comes down to hugging enemies as much as possible, as you get score every time the character deals damage. Using ranged attacks generally kills things too fast (especially in BIG mode lol), and melee still kills things fast, but deals a lot of hits in the process which gives you more score. I'm not sure if the scoring system turned out fun, but other than a few score-based events and dialogue, getting high scores is not a requirement ^^
Really outstanding gameplay and music. Love shooting everything in sight.
Thank you very much ^^
Really cool game! The visuals are really awesome and there is a lot of good feedback and juice. It was defiantly quite hard but I enjoyed it. Good work.
Thank you very much!
Oh my god this game is really awesome and it's also such an immersive experience. This is probably one of my favorite games so far and it truly deserves more recognition in the jam. First of all, the music is really good, probably my favorite aspect of the game, it's both catchy and allows the player to get into the world of the game. Another aspect I like is the presentation, I really like the simple style and the minimalistic approach with the color palettes, it gives the game a more unique aspect. I really had a lot of fun playing the game and I would love to play a full version of this game as there is a lot of potential in this entry. Probably my only complain would be the utilization of the theme, as I'd wish it was implemented more into the gameplay, but to be honest, the overall quality of the entry is so good that I still have to congratulate you for such an amazing experience. I hope more people get to play this game as it deserves way more attention!
I'm always very happy to know when players can immerse themselves into my games, thank you so much for the kind words and sharing your experience ^^
Original idea for the theme was having the player switch between "gun mode" and "sword mode", and I've spent the first few jam days on it, but unfortunately couldn't make it work. As a result, theme utilization definitely feels like an afterthought somewhat, though I did add extra flavors such as dialogue to each playable mode so it doesn't just feel like enemies, numbers and win conditions were shifted around (I hope it doesn't :p).
I'd like to complete the other 2 levels and expand on the game modes after the jam, though still unsure on how much more time I want to spend on Rotschwert as there's still a main project awaiting completion ^^'
Actually a great bullet hell. I might spend some time getting good at this later on to get a 1CC. Really good job with the sound design and patterns. There is no downtime and all the patterns are really fun.
Just wished I could have an option to reverse the speed increase from having it speed up to slowing down when pressing the button.
Thank you so much, and good luck with the 1CC! I think having both an accelerate and a focus button would be too complicated for my liking, but it really felt like the default player speed was too much for micrododging certain patterns. Though it may also be a matter of getting used to, for example you can use diagonal movement against screen borders to move slower.
I think overall the game will have fewer and shorter micrododging sections (mostly reserved for strong, singular enemies, like the big drone at the end), and more sections which incentivize quick repositioning and speedkilling before the small enemy attacks stack up
Hectic bullet hell, cool style :)
Thank you!
Talk about bullet hell! This is too hard for me bit I like it, the art style kinda reminds me of undertale
Thank you for playing! It's really flattering every time someone compares my games to classics like UT ^^