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How does your game fit the theme?
Swarm of Enemies
Did you write all the code and made all the assets from scratch?
Yes
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Comments
I really liked the concept. At first I thought the map was too small but after only a few seconds I realized that he was in a asylum cell and that's what the whole concept was about. I think it's very clever to make him on the run from his demons, plus effective upgrades and good details in the names! Well done ☺
Thanks for submitting your game to the stream! If you wanted to look at it again in the future heres the vod timestamped to your game
Thanks for playing and giving feedback!
Pretty cool game!
The graphics are nice, not sure about the theme though.
Glad you liked the art. Theme is not very prominent indeed. We kinda wanted to convey the mental state of the main character getting worse as you level up and getting stormed by the illnesses, but at the end time did not allow to make it apparent. So the theme is more conveyed through the swarm of enemies getting bigger and bigger.
Alright! Thanks for the clarification.
A vampire survivors like where the upgrades negatively effect you is a very interesting concept worth expanding on. The asylum theme as well, maybe in a way different from most survivor games, you could start to break out of the asylum and the level would get bigger. There's a lot of ways you could take this.
Glad you liked it!
As a Vampire Survivor fanatic, I really enjoyed this game. Having abilities negatively affect your health/movement made for interesting decisions. It was also very cool to see that you all made everything from scratch, the asylum background was well-done. I'm sure you had more abilities and such planned, but that's the essence of game jam... you never get to put everything you want in it haha. Good job to the whole team!
Yeah, we cut a lot, but that in a way is good, because now we have ideas as to what to add post game jam on top of the feedback!
A nice twist on the bullet heaven genre with the mental health upgrades. At first I didn't realize my mouse is what aimed my weapon, but once I got that, I did pretty well - I think I got to the end, but it seems like it just changed to an odd camera, so I wasn't sure if I died or won. There was something I really liked about the colourful upgrade coins. Maybe it was the contract of colour vs the drab greyness of the asylum which is a pretty cool touch.
You died, the game has no win condition, time got the better of us unfortunately. The coins are actually suppose to be pills, but they indeed look more like coins!
I loved the concept of the Asylum and the enemies somewhat representing your fears, while power ups being your psychological problems. I did not see the relation with the theme, but the game was ok. An intro and outro screens would have been nice.
The relation is that the more power ups you get the more mentally ill you become and at some point you get overwhelmed by the psychological problems and you face yourself as a mirror boss representing you commiting suicide. At the beginning everything is relatively calm, but the more it goes on the more "stormy" it gets. Time did not allow for into and outro screens, but they will be added after the jam. You are the one of the first to comment on the Asylum map , glad you liked it!
Inside an asylum cell dealing with psychological demons is an approach to this theme that's out there but also fits so well in this catalogue of games. The idea of dreadful beasts spawning and surrounding the player definitely embodies the themes of growing anxiety and worsening inner demons, and it's pretty cool to gain, stack, and switch between upgrades throughout the game.
It's in this game loop, however, where I start to notice issues. The most blatant is the interruptive nature of the upgrade segments and enemy spawning mechanics. The upgrade template comes out of nowhere, disrupting the flow of the game, and the enemies can often spawn on top of you with no warning, making for unfair situations despite the demons themselves not doing much damage even in a horde. As for the horde itself, the damage they deal is well balanced for a horde to be threatening, but dealing with them quickly becomes one-dimensional and routine, with many conjuring into a thick line behind as the player automatically swings or blasts them with bombs and center explosives. The upgrade system feels like it should break the monotony, but the overlap on the areas they cover and the lack of enemy strategies extinguishes any chance of that happening.
Yeah, I get you. THere are more diverse power ups and upgrades planned. We just had no time to implement them. Also we had no time to balance things, but apparently the balancing is quite ok with the current power ups. As for the power up screen I will see what I can do to maki it less disruptive.
I got the sound working after stream! Added a lot 👍. Sorry again I couldn't get it working on stream.
Very faithful take on the survivors genre and I liked that upgrades had both positive and negative effects.
Thanks for sharing with my stream! Here's the VOD of your game: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2253652240?t=02h10m06s
Awesome! Glad you liked the music and thank you for playing and giving feedback!
I just realized you are the guy with the game Balloons! Loved it when I watched it on stream! I don't think I can play it considering I already saw working solution for the game, but will try it none the less and rate you!
It's a very interesting take on the theme! I certainly did not expect this direction. Very interesting survivor-like style, with each upgrade also having some kind of drawback.
i think the game was pretty good but it might benefit from manual melee attacks. i think it'd be a bit more fun if i could just click to swing the sword, but other than that it was petty good. nice job!
Glad you liked the game! Will think about manual attacks, still I feel like they are not really in the spirit of the genre.
1 second you're getting five stars instantly
That would be unfair wouldn't it? Would appreciate some criticism!
Well, this game certainly has some upgrades to pick from! One slows you down to the point you can't outrun the enemies, the other decreases your damage with a low range, so only the third one can actually get you somewhere, Coincidentally it is the one that has the best visuals. Liked the style and the idea that your progression is related to cognitive disorders. Wished there was more feedback in relation to my progress, i accidentally clicked on one of the choices before i could read them because i didn't know they are coming. And olny then i learned that you don't even have to click, the basic weapon seems to follow your mouse.
Yeah, upgrades should have been more impactful, but time got better of us. Didn't have time for balance. Not sure how to show the first weapon is in automatic cooldown without being kind of in your face. Will see what I can do about that. As for the accidental clicking I guess that is kinda on you tbh. There is no progress. You try to survive as muck as possible, that''s it. Because of the lack of balancing there is no goal time to survive.
An interesting concept for a bullet hell with some nice animations in there, but obviously a bit early. I think with some reworks to the art, and maybe a base attack that the player executes rather than it occurring at a given interval would make this quite a convincing little title though!
I feel like leaving the base attack on a cooldown is more in the spirit of the game. As for the art I am not sure how to comment considering I was doing the programing.
Not unfair. I would maybe suggest it moving based on player direction at least though!
Well in that case it would be hard to kite and fight at the same time
I'm suggesting it because from my experience it forces you to kite in a specific direction, rather than dynamically in response to were the enemies approach you from - and I think that would do a lot to alleviate it is all :)
I get you, the art can be refined at places and more work is needed to the UI. Would've loved to animate more types of enemies if we had the time. I will however dispute you that the game is a bit too early. It was literally submitted in the last second :P
Hahaha! I must concede that your submission time is in its self, a work of art.
I dont see why the game needs to be half a gig but okay ig
very nice game idea but you have to get way to close to the enemies to attack which can be a bit counter productive.
overall cool game and a sick take on the theme
Would you mind rating mine?
https://itch.io/jam/brackeys-12/rate/2972467
Will check it when I get the chance. Not sure what you mean buy half a gig tho.
sorry i meant the files size half a gigabyte as in 500mb
Hee-ho. Very cool animations. Good game
Glad you liked it!
the animations were so smooth and i could continue playing just for my eyes to enjoy the visuals haha!
loved the music a well and the gameplay was quite fun!
the only flaw i could say there is, is the fact that its a vampire survivors genre game which means the gameplay of it isnt that much unique if you know what im saying.
Yeah, it is heavily inspired by Vampire Survivors, we have some ideas to make it more unique, but we didn't have time to work on them.
Nice!
Nice game, I managed to survive for 2 minutes.
Could you rate my game as well?
Added to my list! Will do at some point (it might take some time, a lot of games are in my queue rn)
Lol why are the power ups named after diseases or conditions haha. Anyways its a fun game! Good job! Also you submitted 1 second before the deadline???
You play as a honey badger with mental problems. He gets stronger as he gets more mentally disabled hence the upgrade names. There was a supposed boss after like 10-15 minutes who was supposed to be you reflecting your upgrades (basically a mirror boss) to kinda represent suicide, but time limitations did not allow.