BOSS RUSH JAM 2024

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A jam submission

KleptomancyView game page

A real-time deckbuilding roguelike submitted to Boss Rush Jam 2024

Submitted by Shrimp Moose — 48 minutes, 6 seconds before the deadline

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Kleptomancy's itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
BOSS DESIGN	#12	3.943	3.943
SOUNDS / MUSIC	#16	3.800	3.800
Overall	#34	3.671	3.671
ART / VISUALS	#43	4.000	4.000
CONTROLS	#48	3.486	3.486
FUN	#49	3.486	3.486
USE OF THEME	#70	3.314	3.314

Ranked from 35 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Game's take on the theme
Play as the kleptomancer in this real-time deck-building roguelike where you steal cards and artifacts from the bosses you defeat, affecting their behavior as you encounter them again.

Did your team create the vast majority of art and music during the game jam?
Yes, we made all of them, except the sound effects which were taken online and are free-to-use.

Did your game use PlusMusic?
No.

Did your game use Playroom?
No.

Did your game use generative AI art?
No.

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Comments

Viewing comments 28 to 9 of 28 · Next page · Last page

VASHTORCHSubmitted309 days ago

Like the idea of deck building, but there are some really annoying flaw's in the system that really ruins the fun of the loop.

The main reasons are really strictive resource system with really slow recovering dashes and mana. The artifacts are nearly useless if you didn't pick up any cards first. But the bosses are fun and if you choose the 3 card path and only spam laser and focus on the mana management it becomes more feasible.

But artsyle is cohesive and charming in a way, character feels overall good. Cool game!

Submitted

E/S/C: DUST, RUST AND DEATH DEMO

Yash_PSubmitted310 days ago

The art and effects are spectacular. I had a lot of fun playing this game. Good Job.

If you are interested, could you please play my game. I would really appreciate it.

Submitted

GameDev&Design310 days ago

Good job! Will come and play it more thoroughly, trying to get through a basic test run and at least give it a try! Trying to get to everyone I can!

GameDev&Design308 days ago

i was surprised how much I enjoyed this style in your game! Great job for that! Overall i agree with some of these already very detailed comments 4/5! Great job!

GameDev&Design307 days ago

Hey there, I am trying to get other to re-submit their reviews for my game if possible...it was deleted and removed from the Jam on accident based on a technicality which was solved between the Jam Host and a particular asset used in the game...please if you have time, energy, and/or generosity to re-saved your ratings/reviews for the game. I am going through and re-saving yours given my browser kept your rating saved data on my end...but it looks like I lost all 73 reviews and ratings from my end.... :( best of luck to you in the Jam

Sorry for the inconvenience if you have a chance to rate/re-rate

FartFishHost314 days ago

This is a very fun entry! I really liked being able to switch attacks and passives with the bosses, and it's implemented really well here as I can tell which of the boss' attacks correlate to which cards.

The presentation is phenomenal with a very unique style and incredible music.

I think the only place where the game really suffers is readability -- normally, intense graphics that clutter up the screen can be fine as the player gets used to them, but there are a few extra places wherein this issue becomes a bit more apparent. Rather than only having to look at myself and the boss, I also need to keep my eye on the cards so that I can pick them up and place them on the screen. Because my eyes are constantly darting around, I lose the boss and have to find it within the thinking time, and then prepare to dodge any attacks it's throwing at me, then look at my cards again to see what I have, all while dodging the boss' attacks...

It is, admittedly, a lot to keep track of lol. I think some easy ways to fix this issue are to maybe place the cards above the player as well for easy reach, and/or have a hotkey system so that the player only has to glance at the cards once to find out which position they're in, then hit a number to cast it and place it using the mouse.

Overall, though -- absolutely incredible job!! This readability issue is honestly the only possible issue I could see with this game, it is otherwise an amazing entry and I am blown away that you made this in only a month!!!

Shrimp MooseDeveloper313 days ago(+1)

Thanks for reviewing our game! We're really glad you liked it!

Yeah, the player UI took a lot of iteration and even now we're not completely sure what control scheme's the best. We tried hotkeys but thought that it added too much work to the hand that was already occupied with movement and dashing so we gave card selection and aiming to the mouse. We'll also try your suggestion about the card placement, it seems like a good idea, and maybe also increase the base thinking time to compensate for the details the player has to keep track of. We'll also crank the particles down a bit to make attacks more readable.

Thanks again for the feedback!

CD_G6Q100Submitted314 days ago (2 edits)

The visual are nice, I really like the lighting, animation of the cards and the attacks. The boss are really cool, there are so many different bosses and each of them have a second phase which different attacks. The music are nice too, basically everthing makes sense.

The gameplay are cool, the card based attacks are really interesting, tho there is a bug where if you selected a path and spamming space, the level will not start and keep adding more, and you will get something like this:

Maybe your code is something like when the path button is pressed it add one to the level number, and then you didn't disable the button when it playing the pressed animation so it can be pressed again mid animation and run the code again and restart the animation? Also im not sure if it is also related to this or Im just didn't realized it before but the boss can jumped out of the platform after that.

But still, really cool game!

Submitted

Shrimp MooseDeveloper312 days ago(+1)

Thanks for the review!

You're right! That is actually how the system works. But, after it's pressed, mouse input should be blocked. I suspect that when pressing the button, it becomes focused, at which point, ui_enter inputs (which is space and enter) would trigger presses again despite mouse input being blocked. Anyway, the bug should be fixed easily.

As for the boss going beyond the platform, that's actually something we're aware of and decided to put at the bottom of the polish list as it didn't seem to disrupt gameplay too much, though we will find a way to deal with that too if we decide to develop the game further.

Thanks for reporting the bug! I'm impressed you pressed space 126 times just to show that lol

Bad PiggySubmitted314 days ago (2 edits)

This was my highest score after a few attempts lol

Great little game lol.

The overall presentation is cool. Both in terms of audio and visuals. Love the overall feeling of atmosphere that was packed into every level

The boss designs were also cool. Let it be their sprites ( which looked amazing ) or their actual attacks which had a nice mix of bullet hell, AOE attacks and melee attacks ( However, I have more to say when it comes to these attacks )

The starting upgrades were cool and I'm sure would definitely add to the replayability of the game. I personally just went with the first one though lol.

The music is amazing oof. I agree with some of the other comments below. Please allow us to download it lol.

I think some of the weapons need some re-working though. The area that your melee covers seems to be too small, so I honestly just never used the sword slashes and blasts. Even the lunging sword slash wasn't really too useful either because the area covered isn't much. Only " flash " and " toss " were actually useful.

Along with that, some of the boss's attacks seem kinda cheap and unbalanced sometimes. The game's readability in general suffers because of the amount of particle effects and things just happening in general on the screen. It's especially prevalent in the case of the grave digger with the bullets just not visible sometimes. The butcher's melee attack is also way too big imo.

Trying to fight the hairbeast also makes it apparent that you really shouldn't have a hard limit on the amount of dodges you can do. Especially with how fast some of the bosses are in comparison to you.

I'm also not really a fan of how you can get stuck on some objects in the environment. If I had to make a suggestion here, it would be that these could get destroyed by the player or the boss over time ? Because some of my deaths came because I was trying to dodge the boss's attacks, had no where else to go because the rest of the arena was covered by the boss's attacks and then got stuck in-between some of the props present. Or you could maybe have these props be outside of the playable arena.

All of that said, this was an awesome entry overall.

Submitted

Shrimp MooseDeveloper314 days ago(+1)

Thanks for the really detailed response! We really appreciate it!

Card-artifact synergy is very important to the game. I think you thought the melee attacks were weak because you hadn't seen much of the artifacts that could improve them. Melee cards tend to have low or even zero mana cost, making them particularly useful for taking out summons. Also, cards like chop or scorpion swing can also dish out high damage to the boss if you get near enough to land all their projectiles. It just takes some careful artifact choice and maneuvering. Generally though, I do think melee attacks could still use some buffs.

Though, you were right about the gravedigger. His particles were too big, especially with the "great boulder" attack. We noticed it after uploading, which was too late lol. The butcher, though, was meant to have really large melee attacks. It's kinda his thing, so the player just best stay away when he gets near, which is generally the rule of thumb for bosses with melee attacks. Alternatively, you could steal the artifacts that make them dangerous (for the butcher, the bonesaw, rune knife, and ceremonial shears really boosted his slash area), making them more manageable while also making your melee attacks a lot more effective.

Regarding the environment objects, dashing actually allows you to pass through them, if you didn't notice. Also, some artifacts can increase your movement speed and max stamina, which could be helpful for bosses like the hairbeast, though I personally think good spacing and timing is a bigger factor. Taking advantage of the invulnerability frames when dashing is crucial with pounce and ram attacks.

If you like, you could watch the gameplay videos we posted so you could see how we personally played the game! Our personal best (which was not recorded, unfortunately, but here's a screenshot) was using the creed of obsession!

No description available.

Thanks again for the feedback! Given that the game is basically still in development, it's so helpful to hear other people's experiences!

Bad PiggySubmitted314 days ago

All of the above has been noted lol

I guess my main point was that I felt that the player's base stats should be increased a little more tbh

BroSible314 days ago

I really liked the visual, I'm not usually a fan of this kind of thing, but I still liked it. I would also like to note the excellent boss fights and cool combat system.

Shrimp MooseDeveloper314 days ago

Thanks for playing! We're glad you liked it!

EldyrdSubmitted314 days ago (1 edit)

What an extremely polished game! The art and music are amazing, I loved it. It's incredibly complete, the creeds and the roguelike style changing who you face each run adds a ton of variability. This truly feels like it could be a commercial game, amazing job!

Submitted

Shrimp MooseDeveloper314 days ago

Thanks so SO much! We do hope we could release this on steam eventually, and comments like yours are really motivating! Thanks!

ardie01Submitted315 days ago

I love the combination of the real time elements and card game mechanics. It leads to some very frantic moments (in a good way). Despite some of the attacks just being variations on other attacks, all the bosses still managed to feel very unique. The exchange mechanic, art, and sounds were all solid as well. I’ve only really played around with obsession and covetousness a bit, but so far the deck building aspect feels pretty good.

Submitted

Shrimp MooseDeveloper314 days ago

Glad you liked it! We also do love those frantic moments lol

Curse Box StudiosSubmitted315 days ago

I took a while to start playing because I was enjoying the music too much. Please add the soundtrack for download.

Submitted

Eyes Within the Box

Shrimp MooseDeveloper314 days ago

We will! After the jam finishes though, 'cause they're not allowing uploads until after the voting. Thanks for appreciating the music and we're really glad you liked it!

ElianMeloSubmitted315 days ago

Awesome game, I love the cards mechanics and the visual, I think using the card using the shortcut (1,2,3,4) will be better for the action, it's easy to be overwhelmed by many attacks and still drag the cards while dodging the attacks, I think the difficulty is great, just reduce the number of attacks when the boss is low.

Submitted

Deal with the Devil

Shrimp MooseDeveloper314 days ago

Thanks for the feedback! We have tried using keyboard shortcuts, but we found that it seemed to be even harder because the hand on the keyboard is already pretty occupied with the constant moving and dashing.

DillBeeSubmitted315 days ago

Very fun and visually striking game, everything felt like it came together to create a really fun experience. I unfortunitally could not beat many of the bosses but the way that that game shakes up each run allowed me to see a great more number of bosses than I originally would have. Congrats on the game :)

Submitted

Boss Rush: Mushroom Rock

Shrimp MooseDeveloper315 days ago

Thanks! Being a roguelike, adding variety between runs was a priority!

ncharlieSubmitted316 days ago

Wowwww, this felt like a professional release, so much polish and smooth gameplay. Great art and music. I found it really difficult (only ever managed to beat 1 boss before getting clobbered in the next round), but in a good "boss fight" way that felt like a proper challenge (nothing felt fiddly -- every death was my fault). Although maybe ramping the challenge over time might make it a bit easier for noobs like me :P

Dragging cards from the bottom is a super cool idea, having to quickly look back and forth to see what you have vs where the boss is on screen is a very unique experience that isn't something I've ever seen before. It injects a sense of urgency into your traditional deckbuilder. Very very fun, I'll be following you guys to see what else you come up with because this is *awesome*.

Submitted

Shrimp MooseDeveloper315 days ago

Thanks for the detailed response! It means a lot! I'm glad you liked the card dragging mechanic. The difficulty is definitely something we'll be tweaking a lot if we do decide to make a steam release!

ThePlatypusSubmitted316 days ago

Amazing game! The bosses are all really well designed and the rogue like aspect added a lot of replayability. I was also surprised by how many bosses you managed to add and the music fits the game very nicely. I don't think I can even think of anything negative to about the game, it was well polished and I didn't find any bugs. Good Job :

Submitted

Shrimp MooseDeveloper315 days ago

Thanks so much! Spending time making modular systems really made adding content a LOT easier!

bokoyossSubmitted316 days ago

I really love the vibe you created with the different path choices at the start. It's definitely a fun gameplay loop and has a lot of potential for a full game.

Submitted

Shrimp MooseDeveloper315 days ago

Thanks! We are thinking of hopefully making a full release on steam if we find the time!

teezabooSubmitted317 days ago

The art is consistent throughout the game. Yes, I like the attack card idea, it's interesting. Fun!

I'd also like to invite you to play my game if you're interested.

Submitted

Shrimp MooseDeveloper316 days ago

I'm happy to hear it! Also played your game and left a comment!

meraiSubmitted317 days ago

Sooooo juicy well done game with nice gameplay and amazing art-style

Submitted

Shrimp MooseDeveloper316 days ago

We're all about the juice! Glad you enjoyed!

MFaseeh317 days ago

Loved your game and I have rated it as well you can view and rate my game as well

https://itch.io/jam/boss-rush-jam-2024/rate/2513945

Shrimp MooseDeveloper317 days ago

Glad you did! Already rated and left a comment on your game as well!

fauxdudeSubmitted318 days ago

This game has an absurd amount of depth to it, and I love all of the different modifiers and areas. Too bad I suck at it lol

Submitted

Disassembly Line

Shrimp MooseDeveloper317 days ago

Have you tried using a different creed? The creed of obsession particularly may be better suited for beginners, since you have less cards to focus on. Thanks for playing anyway!

EelShepSubmitted318 days ago (1 edit)

Good game! The real-time card mechanics are novel. I also like all of the decisions/loadout choices in the beginning. The presentation overall is great. Took me a bit to figure out you had to click and hold the card to aim. A quick tutorial could remedy this.

Submitted

Metal Maverick: Escape Protocol

Shrimp MooseDeveloper318 days ago

I guess we should've written "LMB press and hold" instead. I do understand that the how to play screen was pretty low effort lol but since it is a jam, we prioritized building the mechanics and adding content, that I'm glad you liked! And I'm glad you still got the controls. If we do end up fleshing this out for a steam release, a tutorial's definitely a must. Thanks a lot for the feedback!

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