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WANTED: Bosses' Bounty's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| BOSS DESIGN | #29 | 3.738 | 3.738 |
| CONTROLS | #35 | 3.643 | 3.643 |
| FUN | #53 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
| Overall | #106 | 3.365 | 3.365 |
| SOUNDS / MUSIC | #212 | 3.024 | 3.024 |
| ART / VISUALS | #237 | 3.381 | 3.381 |
| USE OF THEME | #325 | 2.738 | 2.738 |
Ranked from 42 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Game's Take on the Theme
The main gameplay mechanic is a spin/dash, which allows the player to become invulnerable for a short period of time to dodge attacks, and if performed with perfect timing, grants the player a spinning shield and a buff that lasts for a few seconds. Additionally, there are several spinning skills from bosses, especially the final boss.
Did your team make the majority of the art and music during the jam?
Yes, but I used a lot of assets as well, as required for developing the game alone. A large part of it was edited. The bosses are from assets, and the player is also based on assets but heavily modified. The VFX were also assets, and the tilesets were made from scratch, using a few preexisting elements that were modified. The music wasn't created during the jam, I bought the license.
If not, please link to any asset packs or resources used here.
Music: https://audiojungle.net/item/fight-battle-game/47579421 ; Assets bosses: https://penusbmic.itch.io/the-dark-series-col ; https://penusbmic.itch.io/the-dark-series-lord-of-flames-boss; https://penusbmic.itch.io/the-dark-series-the-panda ; https://penusbmic.itch.io/the-dark-series-tiny-heroes-bo-panda . VFX: https://kiddolink.itch.io/vfx-complete-set-season-3-pixel-art-effects
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Comments
I like the sense of high risk and high reward that well-timed dodging offers.
I think it would be great to add a little more visual feedback when the boss receives an attack and I also think you could give a bit of more contrast to the text on floor in the tutorial, but they are minor things.
I really liked the action of the game, well done! :D
The boss designs are incredible—done at a very high level! I love how the game feels overall—the visuals, music, and everything else. The starting tutorial area is also brilliantly executed. The only minor gripe is that the bosses have a bit too much health, but the variety of unique attacks keeps things engaging. Overall, it's an awesome game, and I really enjoyed it! Great job!
I can see why it was hard to balance the bosses. First, the ease of level up and maxing your stats. Second, the technically infinite health if you are perfect dodging and getting the shield. Did the bosses have about 15000 HP (roughly calculated from the DPS of 100)? I think adding more phases, upping it to 2-3 I'd say, would help make it more engaging. After a while you do just start mechanically moving, as you've solved the boss and just need to wait for the HP to melt. The fire boss was a good first one, the thunder boss is your best more on it later, the lord of the elements had such simple patterns that it was the easiest boss to fight with
I think another thing you could have added was a reward for beating the bosses, as there's really no need to win the battle. You're not unlocking the next boss, a weapon or an upgrade, all there is to the battle is seeing the same attacks and a huge HP bar. Considering how much the dodge is carrying the game, beating a boss giving an elemental upgrade to your dodge would be enough to make me feel like there is a point to coming back to the battle and seeing it to the end. We play for a result, not just the sake of it, so keeping that in mind in your design will help you create more memorable experiences.
As for the panda, I think it had just enough moving parts to make the fight interesting. The thunder that spawns on you especially is pretty interesting, as it asks you to use the dodge, and rewards you with a shield on this trying battle if you perfect the timing, which isn't easy to do with so much going on. The homing bolts, the AOEs, the tornados, this hectic level of hazards is ideal, as your system is excessively rewarding for players that mastered the dodge (which is pretty lenient on the timing for calling it perfect too). Give all bosses more multitasking skills, that increase as it switches phases, and you get a game that's hard, doesn't need damage sponges, and challenges the player without boring them.
Currently, the boss has between 8,000 and 9,000 HP, and I set this value so the fight would last around 3 minutes on average based on playtests (without attributes). However, this might not have been the best decision, and reducing the duration to approximately 2 minutes or less could be a better approach.
As for the shield, I realize now that it was a design mistake. Bullet hell games generally don't include "perfect dodge" mechanics because they don’t work well with constant projectile dodging. Adding the shield ended up unbalancing the game by allowing the player to achieve near-immortality too easily. My goal was to make the mechanic as fun and rewarding as possible, but now I see that I need to rethink my approach. The best options would be either removing the shield or reworking some abilities around it to fit it better. In this format, I think the game would benefit greatly from more melee attacks with well-animated sprites that would also improve the boss’s movement, and second phases. Thank you for the feedback.
My calculation of time of battle x DPS failed to consider I wasn't constantly hitting all my shots during the time of battle...
Maybe just limit how many shields can be obtained in one battle? Your other ideas are also good, melee moves in particular I'd like to see.
Very fair attacks. Amazing dodge roll. Glad you didn't shy away from giving player character decent amount of movement speed. This game has action ngl. The combat is so well done omg. However, bosses have wayy too much health. I think the game would've benefited from having less than half of what they already have. Other than that, solid entry - you did great!
Hey what a really goo game you made! The bosses are super hard, I couldn't beat any of them! Maybe my gaming skills are terrible still trying to figure out how to get the shield in combat. I think if the player had different attacks then it would be even better! Grats on submission and good luck!
I rated and submitted to return the favor of your rate submission of my game below!
- If others read this, RATE/REVIEW my game to get me to try yours as well! Thanks!
Thanks for playing! Did you find the attribute table? I designed it so you could earn points by shooting at the bosses, making each attempt easier by improving your HP and attack speed.
Very tight mechanics, simple to grasp and not too difficult to perform! I really liked dodging through attacks to get an increased fire rate and a shield. The bosses might be a bit too spongey, but I feel at this point it might just be a matter of taste haha. All in all very solid gameplay-wise! Great Job!
Yes, they’re definitely a bit spongy haha. At one point, I wanted to add more movement-based attacks and have them move around the map more dynamically, but the sound design and sprite work took longer than I expected, i just didn’t have enough time to make those changes. Thank you for the feedback.
It's a good game, I like it
Loved the dash mechanic! I also really liked the wild west theme of the game!
Controls are responsive, boss is hard enough. You may use pre made assets, if you made a game with them. Nice job
Good game. I would say could nerf a bit later weapon upgrades, cuz otherwise with weapon upgrade 5 bosses fall too quickly. Also if your mouse will be too close to your character, then sprite and shooting direction will be in different points. On the screenshot you can see, that my character's gun in looking left, but bullet goes bottom.
I had no idea about that bug, and I just tested an older version that don't have it. I think I might have messed something up while implementing the controller support. Thanks for the feedback!
Really nice game, satisfying mechanics, I would say that the bosses had way more health than expected, but other than that everything was well implemented, maybe the Panda attack that marks you it was kinda hard to time. Thanks for the game, and thanks for playing my game.
The VFX and animation are nice, control is smooth and responsive. I'm very used to the perfect evasion mechanic due to 1000 hrs in HI3 so I really enjoyed that you implemented it here.
I guess my only criticism is the bosses become tedious after a while.
Thank you so much for playing and for the feedback! This was my first jam, and I think there were some planning issues along the way, haha. The perfect dodge mechanic wasn’t part of the initial design, and I feel like the skills have too many projectiles, which makes perfect dodging easier and doesn’t fit as well with the mechanic. The game might have benefited from fewer projectiles, more melee/area attacks, and better mobility for the bosses, so they wouldn’t stay so static, just using skills and chasing the player.
I like the game and the "wanted" theme for the bosses. I love the music and for the feedback, I would enjoy it much to see bosses that is more suitable for the western theme. Secondly why the invisible wall within the arena? I don't understand it but overall controls are really satisfying and well executed.
Really nice take on the jam theme! I thought that the dodge boost when perfectly timed added a ton to the game flow, it feels soo good to shoot and dodge :) Nice game
That perfect dodge is incredibly satisfying!
Well done on this one :D
I think this looks and sounds great. The perfect dodge mechanic is cool. I struggled with the difficulty but liked that the game focuses on what makes it great - the bosses, their attacks and the mechanic, rather than lots of things mashed together.
Thank you so much for playing! Looking back, I think you're right, and I may have extended the battle a little too much. The boss health definitely could have been adjusted.
Very good job! I love the boss design and patterns on this one, the controlls where also neat and the ability to perfect dodge was great! If I have to say something negative is, maybe the text on the tutorial area could've been white, it was a little hard to read, but overall a very good experience. Congrats! :D
I really like the idea of spinning out of the way for a buff! Great job!
I love everything, but the bosses are hard to defeat
Thank you! The game is indeed hard, and unfortunately, one of the biggest issues was the lack of playtesters. This might make it feel a bit unbalanced, but that's exactly why I added the progressive attributes, to help smooth things out. Plus, it feels great to shoot faster