Parrying AND healing? Yes please! Fantastic game, I loved every second of it. The controls are smooth and simple, and the boss designs are so cool! Really enjoyed this, well done!
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Cygnify's itch.io pageGame's Take on the Theme
Spin your sword at the right time to destroy rotations/energies and gain health
Did your team make the majority of the art and music during the jam?
yes
If not, please link to any asset packs or resources used here.
Cartoon Coffee: https://discord.com/channels/441278913772126219/1213804672549392444
Comments
Best action game in the jam, easily. 2D Bloodborne even, it's finally on PC bros come play
I HATE THIS HAG I DONT WANT TO SEE HER
The main combo feels so good to use, the movement is so fluid and wide and strong that you actually feel something using it, rather than just register as "im attacking in the game I'm playing." Parrying however is a bit iffy, in that the VFX are great, but in-game you don't feel that impact. When the hag flying slash is parried, the effect would sell you as she's stunned now, but she continues into her normal attack combo like it was nothing. If not a bit of a stagger or opening on the boss when parried, at least a stagger bar so eventually they are when you parry enough would be welcome to really sell the WHOOM KACHIN KACHIN you see on screen when you do it. I love the parry being a heal though, really makes you focus on the battle and nothing else, unlike potions or a healing input would. When you're dying, you can just choose to attack less and parry more to get back in, so the gameplay experience can change as your situation changes. If the parry could cancel the attack animation in a more snappy way, you really would have a perfect combat here, as it is really fast and fun, but seeing the attack be telegraphed and smashing the parry button, but the input never registering as your attack is still on-going kills that good pacing, as you end up stopping your attacking to make sure your parry will register. If it was your intention to make the player stop attacking, I think it isn't in service of the game you've created to do that.
Had it had another boss, would it be between golem and the hag, or would it be after the hag? What kind of dubious little creature demonic in nature would it be?
The art was great too, simple cool designs on a more elaborate background sell the mood of the world without needing to add much words to it. The track change when the hag enters her 2nd phase is really great, that use of the music was fantastic, and in my first play the beat synced up perfectly with her first flying attack, so it sent me shivers.
Awww thank you, I'm glad to see you here!! Fun enough we actually had a whole thing going for the stagger meter, but the idea needed some more fleshing out - This is something we will revisit post jam.
I'm surprised the parry didn't felt instant, because we had programmed it to instantly parry and cancel any ongoing state on that exact frame. Thank you for mentioning this. Gotta take good look into that.
Yes! There was another boss after the hag. Which was our best one. Sadly it didn't make the cut. I'M GLAD SOMEONE FINALLY MENTIONED THAT 2ND PHASE BEAT DROP. I also write and produce my own music like yours, don't ask me how long it took me to find the right sounds and instruments for this game hahaha.
Gave it a few tests to check if what I was talking about was a dream, but turns out the first attack of the combo is the only one that doesn't transfer to parry immediately. She turns around for the first move and pauses a bit, maybe something in there causes the parry input to be paused too. Also found out parry-cancelling the third attack gives you a lot of momentum, possible bug or feature?
I had a guess it'd be after, as the idea I got was that golem (artificial person) then super human hag (person) had to be followed by someone possessed or a proper demon of the blood moon. If there was someone between, I'd assume the hag was already under the influence of something, and that's why she was so super. We all get the Father Gascoigne we deserve...
How long in real time matters little as I know that the living experience of it was an eternity. Sometimes I think the instruments are the hardest part, as my process is much more spur and feeling-oriented, I just start playing randomly, and search for a segment inside the tumultuous storm of music that sounds like what I'm searching for, then erase the rest and start working composing around that segment. It's great when I find the start of the song in this mess, but when it's the middle the struggle lasts another century to find how to get to it.
However, the payoff of seeing your creation sync with your music is so priceless I could spend five eternities fighting and still wouldn't regret it. And you can know your work was worth it too since I did get those shivers when it happened, you grinded for this view and won it, congratulations.
You literally just made debug easier for us, as we now know where exactly the problem lies. Oooooo shut up no way canceling the third attack gives momentum??? I did not know that, sounds like a feature lmaoo - wait I gotta try that movement tech out.
You're literally the only person to notice the love of bloodborne bleeding into this game. I like to think the hag and our gal are related.
Your process sounds quite akin to how KID A was made. I read that somewhere. Honestly, I kinda wanna try your approach, as I just spend an eternity looking for the right chord voicing, the right pedals for guitar, the right LFO and oscillators for synth. It took me a day and a half banging my head against the wall trying to find what works, until this Succession-esk sound (orchestra with hiphop drums) clicked and served the core-gameplay well.
It did look like a feature to me, even if I didn't know how to implement it. Going ZOOOM and landing on a parriable attack felt pretty good, there is a gameplay there to be found. Off the top of my head, I believe a multi part boss, or twins boss could profit from it, in that you're attacking the side that is inactive, and can travel to and parry the side that is about to launch an attack. Once you test it (try it against the laser wall on the dash part of the tutorial), you'll see what I mean.
When you don't have the sound you want from the beginning, or just got stuck with bland sounding music, it's a great way to vent the frustration and search for inspiration within your own output, so while I don't think it's perfect, most correct method, I do recommend doing it when you feel pressed against a wall. (I only managed 5 for this project, but my other game that I postponed to work on the jam ended with 81 tracks* so even if they're not all the best work ever done, getting to output more and play with more songs brings you more joy than being forever on those first four bars)
*= includes many arrangements of a few of them so not 81 different songs technically
Woah! The counter mechanic feels really good to play. The attack animations don't lock you in too much and the counter move can still be used if you're spamming attacks. I feel like there has been a lot of playtesting and tweaking to get that mechanic just right. This is an amazing submission!
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Revolving ChambersThis is very well designed parry mechanic (and I'm a sucker for souls like with parrying). The parry timing felt pretty lenient but I think that is good here as it makes it easy to get very satisfying combat. Wish there were more bosses, the second boss got me hooked and then it just hit me with a 'to be continued'.
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The House Always SpinsI cannot express just how amazing the regen parry feels, getting one right makes you feel so awesome, and the attacks feel equally as fantastic to pull off. Learning the boss patterns and timings here feels so satisfying because of just how much the game rewards you for doing so, I felt myself focusing super hard on remembering the timing because I just wanted to keep parrying even when I had full health, which is the sign of a fantastic mechanic. I do wish it did a bit of recoil damage to the boss upon successful parry just to make it an even more integral mechanic
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An Ordinary Business LunchI really liked the parry mechanic — getting healed on a successful block is a nice touch. The boss movesets are interesting and feel unique to each one, which is a big plus!
Visually, the game has a great style, but some animations feel a bit choppy, making it tricky to get the timing down at first. The music is solid too — didn’t get old even after a long session.
Overall, this is a really well-done game! 🔥
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Deep and DeeperIM ABSOLUTELY BIASED FOR GAMES WITH PARRY, the visual effects seems to stutter the web build a bit but you arealdy told me you plan to add an executable later, what i would suggest is make the parry a bit less generous but make the telegraph a bit more visible and to be expected, but that is a really great game, hope to see more of it in the future!
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NecroYoyoFun combat, i was doing some cool combos, parrying attacks with the spin feels powerful. I didn't like that he hurts you when he's just standing there, that sun in the background looks cool!
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Robot Annihilation Arena 1.7The game felt extremely good to control and the art was really nice. I especially liked the parry, it felt like it REALLY had impact and the sound effect was the exquisite dessert on top. When I finished the game I really wanted to experience more of it.
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Tsukumo TempoThe spin mechanic is fantastic and very satisfying. The art style is beautifully stylized, with great character design, and everything comes together perfectly—the dark and red tones, the blood, the lighting, and the music. Amazing game! I was honestly got sad there weren’t more bosses.
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WANTED: Bosses' Bountyya sick visuals. kinda low fps but browser. pretty impressive tho for 1 month xDD
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Re-BalanceI guess we don't need a Silksong anymore. That was really cool, a liked the animations and visulas in these boss fights.
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Gears And BladesYou really made a good game. All is well polished. VFX is really good along with the art and music. The parry-heal mechanic was nice and the bosses were just right. I can't figure anything to criticize.
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Spin to SucceedI really like the background art and the visual effects, but I felt the character art was slightly off-style to them in some way, I have to admit though I can't pinpoint exactly how.
The spinning mechanic to block and heal is a nice idea and controls for it feel really good, but often times I didn't have to move at all if I timed it right and got the boss in a corner. Maybe there's a way to encourage using more movement to win the fight, the dashing-like attack of the second boss was a good example for that.
Biggest plus point is definately the visual effects, those are gorgeous!
I really like the background art and the visual effects, but I felt the character art was slightly off-style to them in some way, I have to admit though I can't pinpoint exactly how.
The spinning mechanic to block and heal is a nice idea and controls for it feel really good, but often times I didn't have to move at all if I timed it right and got the boss in a corner. Maybe there's a way to encourage using more movement to win the fight, the dashing-like attack of the second boss was a good example for that.
Biggest plus point is definately the visual effects, those are gorgeous!
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