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Game's Take on the Theme
Utilising rotation "spin" for basic movement (spinning to change direction uses a "turn"). rotation of yourself relative to the bosses is the main gameplay and tactical element of the game. As attacks from the back and the side are more effective than attacks facing the boss. Bosses will also do more damage if you are hit from the side or behind as opposed to the front.
Did your team make the majority of the art and music during the jam?
Art was entirely made by myself Music was CC license from Pixabay (artist OB-LIX who is credited in game).
If not, please link to any asset packs or resources used here.
Links: https://pixabay.com/music/build-up-scenes-the-dragon-and-the-elf-fantasy-ampamp-adventure-background-music-111727/ https://pixabay.com/music/main-title-island-of-the-lost-dark-fantasy-background-music-110368/
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Comments
Really great VFX and SFX!! Music is really awesome too! I love how the games in Isometric as well, super different from any other game I've seen so far. Especially love the strategy part of it!
(PS: If you're willing to I'd love it if you can rate and leave some feedback on my game! This is my first ever jam and I'd love to see where I can improve for the future!)
thank you for the rating and kind words! I would love to take a look unfortunately I am on Mac and there doesn't appear to be a web version or Mac download available. if you can create a Mac/web version I'd be happy to take a look!!
Give this a shot!
https://progamewizard78.itch.io/stellar-siege-web
It's just the same thing but a web upload instead so it may have more bugs for all I know (though I do hope against that)!
If this is illegal for the jam (or smth of that sort) then do refrain from using it.
You will have to rate at this link though instead since it's the actual submission:
https://itch.io/jam/boss-rush-jam-2025/rate/3296506
Any and all feedback for improvement would be valued!
I like a lot the visuals, the music is awesome, also the isometric system works really nice, I really like how the game feels, I rate graphics, music, control and fun on top but all is cool really, also, if you have some time, please, rate my game too, thanks!!!!
will be sure to take a look! Thank you for the kind words!!
Kudos for the strategy game approach! It seems like such a daunting task to make something that has spin, is a boss rush, but is also turn-based strategy. I can't say I truly understand the strategic depth of the game but I can tell there's easily a lot more to learn than my basic "corner-the-bad-guy" strategy. I'm also a sucker for isometric games. I think you should be very proud of what you got here.
This was a really, really unique submission for a boss rush game. I don't think you see many tactics games in this sort of jam! I love the sprite-work and the concept as well. I see a lot of potential in this one but have a few issues with the controls and UI.
I felt that it was really tedious to press the arrow instead of the unit itself and I had to physically stop myself from clicking the unit each time I wanted to control them. I also think it would have been nice to somehow see the action timers on the units themselves instead of the corner of the screen. This just makes it easier to focus on the board. I also often found myself getting into situations where I would be busy chasing the boss with three units which was hard to manage at times. This is especially difficult when the boss would be running perpendicular to the direction of a unit, so I would have to spend a turn spinning the unit around (sometimes multiple units). I think the majority of my issues with this is due to the fact that this is a real-time tactics game, so board information should be as easy to gather as possible since the state of the game can change any second. So the more time I have to fiddle with the controls and UI, the less time I have to plan out my next move.
Or maybe I just suck hahaha. That's just my first impression and hopefully my feedback was helpful in any way!
Thanks for the complements and the feedback! The arrow was a solution to two problems.
1: as it is isometric your party members can be completely obscured by the boss the arrow allows for you to still interact which is especially important for back hits
2: for the player sprites to work out their dinstance to the boss their hit boxes needed to be quite large as a result two player spites that where a square away from each other would overlap meaning you’d click on the wrong character.
in future creating a second hit box and allowing the player to click on both the character and the pointer would solve this gripe that you and others shared!
Thanks for the insights on U.I! As I’d never seen a game quite like mine I kinda winged the U.I and made decisions regarding that that made sense to me! I’ll be sure to keep that feedback in mind for a follow up as you aren’t the only one to mention it.
Also the reason rotate is its own action is to adhere to the theme better and elevate directional positioning as its own action for better attack damage and defence resistance. Thank you for the time you spent on my game and I’d be keen to look at yours when I can!!
I'm open to the idea of ATB tactics game, the click sound was a bit annoying, I could not tell what some of the abilities were, I thought one would cast a spell? I just kept attacking
thanks for the reply! Based on the confusion people have a reworked tutorial is the first thing on my list should this game be developed further! My game is designed around a Mode system meaning that:
In an Attack mode, the knight will do more damage and defence is lowered everyone else will do less damage
Balanced mode, means that the rouge does the most damage and the mage and the knight do slightly more damage and have more defence but not to the same level as dedicated attack and defence modes.
Magic is the same as attack only swap knight with mage
and defence lowers everyone’s damage but reduces damage gained (to the point front attacks do no damage)
There is no specific abilities as such the game is based around swapping to the right mode for character that is in range to do the most damage possible.
actions are a build up and can only be done when out of range of the boss. Once the bar is full it will do a large attack for attack, balance and defence or heal a large amount of damage in the case for defence. Changing the mode prior to the build up will cancel the attack and waste AP.
This is my take on the Paradime shift from Final fantasy xiii
either way thank you for your good faith question and if you choose to reply NOVA with this mindset I hope you enjoy yourself! If not thanks anyway for looking at my game and rating it!
Lovely aesthetic and challenging yet fun gameplay. It's a unique system and I haven't played anything like it! My first playthrough I definitely felt like a panicked kid who got thrown into a scary battle.
Thank you for the kind words! I really appreciate it!
I really like the intro and the atmosphere of the game, I had a bit of trouble with the system, but that’s probably on my side. I wasn’t really expecting this kind of game, but it’s great, well done!
Amazing pixel graphics and music. Tutorial felt too long but it inspires me that you have made it so thorough. Gameplay feels a bit tedious and slow (no music, few SFX) but as a fan of strategies I see great potential! Thanks!
im glad you can appreciate it and thank you for the kind words! yea the tutorial needs an overhaul. I'm surprised you found the combat to be slow and I'm not entirely sure I agree with that, given what I've seen watching others play they did seem like they were almost struggling to keep up and that the game might be to fast if anything. but I'd be happy for you to elaborate if you have the time. there is music but some browsers don't play it for some reason :/ . either way thank you of the rating and comment!
1) Did you play this and enjoy yourself?
2)Is there any difference to Rogue Mage and Knight? They all controlled the same to me. I'd imagine the mage having more range and the rogue more movement at least, but nothing seemed any different playing it.
3) Does rotating taking a turn on an active battle game sounds like a cool idea to you?
4) Is there a reason that the select had to be the arrow, not the character?
5) Do you like tactics games, or did you make one based on what you've heard about them?
The art is nice, but the core gameplay experience is a tortuous puzzle of game design choices I cannot comprehend or stand by.
1: why did you HATE my game? I’ve seen some of your more critical reviews and they did not have nearly as much venom?
2: that’s it I don’t have anymore dot points
In all seriousness I do enjoy playing my game and yes my game design choices where intentional and I stand by them. Talking to others there are plenty of things I could change and there are hills I’m not going to die on for a follow up (eg allowing players to cancel a party member selection). So yeah? Why do you HATE my game?
I wouldn't call it hate, I don't understand your intent and your design, so I'm asking for information I find necessary to solve the puzzle. I didn't enjoy myself, and couldn't see what is fun about it, so I ask you if this is what you wanted, or what you managed to assemble in time. I thought asking "are you satisfied with this" was much more mean, so I changed it to what sounded more neutral to me. The classes don't feel different, but I'm not looking at the code to know if they really are or not, so I need to know if you designed them as flair or with mechanics. Rotating taking a turn is baffling and I need to know if it's a code issue, or your intended gameplay. Likewise for the arrow, is this a code thing, or your desire? And the final point there's no way to put nicely, so I just put it as it were, because I can't tell if this outsider art or a fan trying to put their own spin on the genre they like.
I've been called abrasive multiple times, so I can't pretend I don't know, but this is still how it comes out when I'm policing my tone. In my quest to understand, I must question. It's easy to say shit game and move on, but that doesn't give me any answers (and I hunger for answers always) and without understanding what I'm engaging with, I can't give feedback. I can't tell what's intent and what is results, so by clearing that I could find what words I could offer you, if any.
I appreciate the clarification. But reading your comment felt very much like you expected this game to be something it wasn't. it felt angry and wasn't overly pleasant to read first thing in the morning. personally if I were to ask the same questions I would never use "YOU" as it feels more like a personal attack against the dev as opposed to asking "why is spin its own turn". clearing the air and approaching these questions at face value. yes I am proud of my work. the classes are important in regards to the modes system. simplistically it boils down to:
attack mode = knight does more damage
balance = all do more damage with an extra boost being given to the Rogue
magic = mage does more damage
defence = all do less damage with the added benefit of taking less damage from the bosses
why is rotation its own turn?
simplistically it boils down to making it an equally important to moving, attacking or using an action. this is to both help it relate to the theme of spin and to elevate the importance of positioning when attacking or taking damage from a boss as yes positions party members to hit from the sides and the back was something I wanted to focus on.
what's the deal with the arrow?
the arrow is both a technical and game design decision. due to the hit boxes of the party members and their ability to work out their distance to the boss and weather they are in range, they are quite large. this leads to trying to click one party member while accidentally hitting someone else. the game play reason is due to the size of the boss it can completely obscure the party member. creating the arrow allows you to engage even if that party member is not visible. for a follow up I would add a secondary hit box to detect if the player is clicking the party member as well as utilising the pointer.
as for the last question I am a fan of the games that inspired NOVA. but those games aren't what you're thinking of. my greatest inspirations for developing Nova where Final fantasy Xiii and The last remnant. (games that if you've played id suspect you wouldn't be a fan of) while this game may look like into the breach in some ways the actual games to inspire my work weren't into the breach or final fantasy tactics.
I see. The tactics game I'm used to have rotating as free action, or something you decide on after your action this turn, so it is passively part of your strategy and foresight (not turning your character properly biting you in the ass later is tuesday), so to how I see tactics games, putting this much emphasis on its cost reduces what comes from it, especially since the battles are active. Being able to spin your characters even when they can't act in my perception gives much more value to the act of rotation than just turning to the direction you want to go being worth an action. The feeling of not turning the right direction turns from something that "oh i forgot but too late now" to a main gameplay feature. "this character cant act, but I can still actively make it face the boss to minimize damage." By making it so, you can then make bosses that move and attack more, as I felt that they probably were so slow to actually act because you balanced them under the cost of a rotation.
Yeah, both being clickable and one being a "in case you can't see them" is much more intuitive gaming-friendly than a demand for the arrow only. And I haven't played either, so I can't say if you've clocked me or not. I can say that I don't have an interest in playing FFXIII at least, that must half count as me not liking it.
And while I was thinking of Final Fantasy Tactics in what I could compare the gameplay experience of, I was wondering if the tactics game that would have inspired you if you were an SRPG gamer were Fire Emblem and/or Tactics Ogre. Didn't even consider Into the Breach for this one.
do you still feel my game is:
“tortuous puzzle of game design choices I cannot comprehend or stand by.”?
I still think it is a torture to play and don't agree with most of your design choices, but now I understand why you did it this way, and that this is what you wanted from it, so it's a me problem, nothing more or less than that.
I love that story!
Incredible art which is perfectly complemented by the sound, makes for a really professional look that sets a perfect tone. It took me a second to figure out the controls but I got the hang of it pretty quickly, the bosses aren’t too easy and make for a perfect challenge, overall a really solid game, definitely worth checking out :)
The art is wonderful, I love isometrics, the mechanics are fun and interesting, the game is very polished <3
The art is amazing and i liked so much the idea
to be complimented by you guys for my art is exceptionally humbling. Thank you so much!
Everything in the game is good, the concept of the bosses and the gameplay are very interesting, but the game's art is incredible, congratulations!
thank you for your encouragement! I'm glad you enjoyed the art that means a lot! I have downloaded the APK for your work and will be sure to take a look at it!
At first the controls seemed a bit awkward, and a tutorial a bit confusing. But the atmosphere and graphics are amazing! Thanks for such an incredible time machine. Defeated the first boss on the second attempt. The cave background loop and the paper menu click are stuck in my head :)
The boss, characters, environment and every detail looks super cool! Really loving the style. One of the best submissions on the jam for sure. Please keep up the good work, keep improving and developing the game further. It would be nice to understand the mechanics and the order of moves a little more. Would love to see more detailed character abilities and different locations with lesser monsters. And I would be really honored to help you with sound design if you want ^^
I managed to finish all three bosses !
took me a bit of time to understand the patterns but once you get it, it become a pretty fun game ! also big plus for cool ambient music !
fun board game like game, love the real time(kind of) combat