Beautiful art, great music, I loved the bosses and how they're technically puns X) The attack key is in an uncomfortable position, but in the end I could pretty much cheese the game by spamming the attack key on one hand and constantly spinning the key on another. I did try playing it for reals, but the attack key's position made it really hard to attack and survive, I'd have to sacrifice either movement or healing by replacing hands.
Play game
Neon Ballet Protocol's itch.io pageGame's Take on the Theme
The main character is a ballerina from a music box, the player must spin a winding key in the HUD or the right stick of the gamepad to recover energy (or heal up, the energy acts as the health)
Did your team make the majority of the art and music during the jam?
Yes
Comments
Alright I was excited to play this one after I saw previews of it hanging out in the discord with one of your team members! Turned out great! The sound is awesome and the visuals are amazing. I also really like the concept of the wind up doll! A cool take on the theme for sure! Amazing job! Def felt better playing it on a controller, trying to take my hand off to use the mouse on keyboards was wayyy harder haha. I see you mentioned part of the challenge was having to interact with the interface which makes me think i cheated a bit by playing on controller :P Either way great job all!
Also Tuxoz:
¡Felicidades! ¡Resultó increíble! Disfruté nuestras charlas nocturnas en Discord.
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Battle TopsNeat game, but keyboard controls felt a little iffy. Felt like it needed three hands, what with attacks on the opposite side of the keyboard compared to movement. Perhaps the intention was using thumb for jump and attack? That's all that makes sense to me. Lowey said left click would make more sense for attack and I'm inclined to agree. Like the aesthetics a lot and having HP wind down over time is also cool, though healing seemed quite strong. Solid entry!
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SpinborneThe art of the game is very beautiful, I loved the idea of being a robotic ballerina who uses dance in her attacks, I see good potential in this game if it is continued. Congratulations on the game!
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Zoetrope Gamethe art looks amazing! i wasn't able to hear the music idk if there isn't or something
i liked the idea that you can spin with your mouse to heal but i felt like it's op
for the attack it should've been left click instead of j maybe
overall the game is good!
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Wheel Of DunamisI like how unique the healing system is, and the boss design is pretty good! The control scheme is a little awkward for me, and it's hard for me to attack and dash at the same time. I wish that there was more feedback when attacking a boss instead of them just flashing white briefly. Good job overall!
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DeirdreThis healing system seems to be the main target of discussion for this game, and I think I might actually lean towards really liking it. It feels very experimentally awkward and bizarre, but since it's essentially an infinite heal, the jarring atypical feel becomes a strength of sorts to the game. Having to literally change the controlling scheme you're using by frantically transitioning from keyboard to mouse to heal, while having access to only your most basic defensive options as you're healing since the attack is so far away, is a really fascinating bit of meta difficulty. I'm just a fan of seeing new and interesting ideas being presented in the medium no matter how antithetical they are to player convenience so fair play to sticking to such a bold and seemingly controversial creative vision
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An Ordinary Business LunchThe art in this game is gorgeous! The animations and boss patterns feel natural. The music fits the setting and it honestly well composed, but I maybe could have used a little more explosiveness in the production value and instrumentation. An X factor, something staggeringly unique that makes me scrunch my face and go "ooooooo shit" and meshes with the rest of the game!
As others have pointed out, the healing mechanic is messy. There are a couple ways you could have gone about this more ergonomically:
- I think it would have been beneficial to make the healing mechanic bind to the scroll wheel and use left click to attack. This is probably the most practical way to go about it without changing the identity of the mechanic.
- Instead of making the player have to point their mouse at the bottom right of the screen, make it work to where as long as you're making a circle period then you heal
- Abandon the mouse altogether (though the pointer graphic was really awesome!) and rework how the healing system works on a keyboard.
Additionally, I take a little bit of trouble with the phraseology of the instructions regarding healing. Do I take more damage the faster I move? Or the faster I crank the wheel? It's vague.
I will admit it's exciting to have to desperately switch between keyboard and mouse and then back to keyboard again! Not many games can generate that excitement with that control scheme.
I could have used some more juice in the impact of my kicks when I hit the bosses. This is very clearly a high octane type of game and setting, just a little more impact on my kicks would have been ten times more hype. Also I feel like just maybe a tiny bit of spice when it comes to attacking (maybe another cool move bound to "K") would have sent this over the edge!
I had fun despite this, this is all really kind of a nitpick. Everything was eye candy and it was fun to fight the bosses. I can't wait to see what you do next!
Very well done overall. This was a treat.
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Iron RoseThank you! You really left us the Bible of feedback haha we appreciate it and will keep it in mind for the future. This is the first time weve worked together and participated in a game jam.
The controls are intentionally messy; we believe that if you're a mechanical ballerina who needs to wind herself up with a key on her back, you'd have trouble coordinating your movements, and that's exactly what we wanted to convey through the controls haha
Thanks again! Now I feel bad for giving you little feedback haha
Lol don't worry! No one's required to give a ton of feedback. I just had a lot to say. I might disagree with you about the philosophy regarding the controls, I think that's really difficult to pull off without irritating the average player and making them disinterested in your game. But that's debatable and is neither here nor there. For working together for the first time, this was a wonderful entry. Great job!
Interesting use of mixing resource management with combat, albeit regenerating health when using a controller brought back war flashbacks of the early 2000s mini-game mechanics haha! Loved the visual style, music, and logo design too, whoever made the cover for the game did a fantastic job reeling me in! Might have been interesting to see platforming being included with each boss fight to further spice up the combat seeing as I could mostly get away with just spamming jump and attack interchangeably whilst healing where needed. Another little nit-pick is that it would've helped to have some sort of audio feedback when health was getting low or was fully topped off, or alternatively moving the health UI towards the bottom middle of the screen where the player can see it easily next to the character.
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Factory ResetControls were a bit odd, but the presentation and style of the game was really cool, I love the design of the main character, Didn't expect to fight Master splinter in the sewers tho, lol. But yeah I think this game has a lot of potential if the controls were tweaked. Lastly, I think the music is dope! Good work :)
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SpinfinityWeird controls It took me a long time to get used to it. Game looks amazing
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Diesel SpinWierd controlls kinda messy healing mechanic can just stand in place and heal to full. art is enjoyment to eyes
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AemberfallThis game looks amazing but the spin healing is hard to use while trying to attack (I played in PC).
Great game!
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Super AquamiauI loved the art, it's so well done and cohesive! You got me spinning that dial furiously to get my HP back xD
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Halo RangersThe presentation of this game is amazing; everything including the art, effects and sound design as well as the general theming. My only issue was with the gameplay; it seems too easy to just heal back to full HP whenever you want to. But overall a good game.
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Steel CyclonePretty cool looking and sounding game! The attacking was a bit janky but I enjoyed it overall!
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Quantum Rushthe art is meat and the game fun but donot meet the theme hers my game try it
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Roulette Nightmarei get it you are right ok then your game is good please tell your opinion about my game https://itch.io/jam/boss-rush-jam-2025/rate/3292181
The art was really good and so was the music. However, I found that the boss was quite difficult to defeat because I could not reach the Rat King most of the time, even when I jumped, and ended up dying many times. Overall, a very good game.
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Web of Death
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