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A jam submission

Cerebellum TurmoilView game page

Get your mind together so you become stronger!
Submitted by Sfunk92 (@SethFunk4) — 16 minutes, 59 seconds before the deadline
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Cerebellum Turmoil's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Fun#1393.7503.750
Audio#1913.5503.550
Game Design#3633.4753.475
Overall#5523.2333.233
Graphics#5563.3753.375
Theme#10592.7002.700
Innovation#10872.5502.550

Ranked from 40 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

In what way does your game fit the theme?
The goal is to conquer each one of your emotions (sadness, anxiety, anger) so you become mentally stronger. The game is metaphoric, but still uses twin stick shooter mechanics to get the point across.

Did you write all the code yourself and made all the assets from scratch?
100% wrote the code from scratch. All assets were made from scratch as well from myself and my team members.

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Comments

Viewing comments 29 to 10 of 29 · Next page · Last page
Submitted

The graphics and sounds work pretty well and there's a lot of content for a week-long jam. I felt like the camera wasn't really centered on your character though, and when you moved your mouse to the left, it didn't go as far as if you moved it to the right, which was a bit weird.

I would say the biggest point to work on would be that I think the narrative could've been better implemented? For instance, the first levels teaches you that tears are okay but you just start gunning down anything that's crying, which felt a bit rough and against the point. You could for instance have used your own tears as weapon to calm down the enemies, or erase / "dilute" bad memories? Same for anxiety, after you beat the boss you're told your speed has been increased and that feels a bit random, whereas something like "you've been freed of your worries. You feel lighter and faster" would've really added to the narrative. What you got right now isn't necessarily bad, but I saw a lot of untapped potential there. Still pretty fun overall!

Submitted(+1)

it was cool, i like  the general atmosphere, changing camera effects in each zone and i saw  the potential if there had been more areas finished. keep it up!

Developer

Thanks for checking it out! I'm glad you stopped by for the stream too!

Submitted(+1)

Oh no, just when I got a speed upgrade! :D

Regardless, that was fun, I am looking forward for more, the theme of the game is unique & interesting too. Nice job man!

(1 edit)

For a game jam game, this has a really good amount of content. This was definitely the most fun game I've played in this jam so far. The mechanics and visual effects are extremely polished. The gameplay is really fun and the bullet colliding mechanic was a REALLY smart addition. Fantastic job with this game!

Submitted(+1)

This game is fun, maybe a bit easy, especially the bosses. There was good feedback from everything, and the sound effects and particles were well done. I didn't see how it fit the theme, but I have read your replies below that explain the cut content. It's a shame, as I was left wanting more when I finished.

Developer(+1)

Hey! I appreciate you taking the time to check out the game. Sadly the cut content did detract from the theming but after the jam is over, I am going to update the game to have all the missing content. And that means fixing the enemies as well! lol

Submitted(+1)

Great job! The gameplay is fun, and the particles and the post-processing effects are also really cool!

Suggestions -> 

  • The pixel-size is inconsistent, some pixels appear larger and some are smaller. The player sprite's pixel size differs from that of the gun and the environment. This makes the graphics inconsistent and can be fixed.
  • The game doesn't really fit the theme. It would be cool if the theme was inserted in the game mechanics rather than the story.
  • Give the player a reason to not shoot, otherwise the player just has to hold the left mouse button and there is no reason to let it go, not saying that it is necessary to have such a thing, but it could make the game a little more challenging as the player now has to make a small decision to shoot or not shoot. You can add recoil or limited ammo, maybe the player can't move quickly when shooting, so the player can decide if it is important to shoot or avoid enemy bullets and then shoot or not shoot accordingly or something along those lines.

Overall, this is a pretty fun game, but can be a little more challenging.

Developer

For some reason I missed the notification about this comment. but thank you for checking out the game! And I agree, the game could be more challenging! And without having time to finish putting in all the levels and proper transitions, it really did hurt the theming of the game. But we appreciate the feedback, and hopefully when I get the updated version put out, these issues will be resolved!

Submitted(+1)

Good sounds, beautiful art, straight forward gameplay.

Technically, the game is solid. Just missed some form of indicator on the start of the level pointing where to go, because the first room is always empty and the character take some time to get to the combat area, but it’s ok.

Been honest with you, has i saw two of your live stream and based on your reviews, i expected a little more… I don’t know how using a gun to shoot sadness and anxiety fits the theme.

Please, don’t take it the wrong way. You gave really good advice to other devs (including me) and it sort of hyped me to play your game.

Developer(+1)

We appreciate the feedback. And we are all learning! lol I am just a hobbyist. But I as for our game, it was missing a lot of content. We over-scoped. The very first level was removed which showed the player being incredibly powerful taking on a big boss. The boss will beat the player, causing the player to have his mind get broken/fragmented taking away all his strength/powers.  The part of the game that was slightly completed was the "in the mind" levels where you are taking on your emotions to help fix your brain/emotions. This makes you stronger resulting in a better connection to the theme. Sadly I just didn't have the time to incorporate everything. I am planning on updating the game after the jam though. 

And the only reason feedback is so easy to give, is hindsight is 20-20. It's always easy to point out flaws in something. I mainly do the feedback because it helps me out and hopefully the dev of the game. Playing others games will teach you when something is missing, or when something is really strong in a game. Something that I have learned through years of my work industry (mechanical engineering) seeing failures or others ideas can result in you learning the best choices to make. 

Submitted(+1)

I like how the environment and enemies change depending on the emotion!
Nicely done :)

Developer(+1)

Thanks you! We appreciate you taking a look at our game :)

Submitted(+1)

coool

Submitted(+1)

Good game a little bit too easy and I think it lack variety of ennemies and usually bosses have unique ability they are not just bigger but I understand that in 1 week you doesn't had time to implement it.
And I had a great time so good job ! ;)

Submitted(+1)

Very fun game! Loved the little secret areas and the way you hinted at them. It feels like it is a bit easy for a twin stick shooter, there is more than enough health laying around and the enemies die relatively fast. I did like that the enemy bullets could be shot down.

The music and sound effects are really nice, they fit the game and their respective areas really well. The visuals are also great, the only thing I have an issue with for visibility is the camera that is centered a bit to the right of the character. It does change depending on where you are aiming which is nice, but just not enough for my feel. 

Overall, it's a nice game and can be expanded on really well!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for checking it out and leaving feedback! The camera issue is tough, because if you leave it dead center it takes away some of the game feel, maybe I should shorten up the range in which the camera travels but still move it to help indicate which direction you're aiming. And the game is definitely on the easier side. Especially the bosses.

Submitted

Game was fun, one think i don't like is camera, player is on the left side of screen so fighting with enemies on left side is less confortable 

Submitted

a really nice entry. Atmosphere is really on point(I really could feel myself shiver a little when the emotion title screen came up). Gameplay was nice and balanced (even though it was pretty easy), buuuut I think it honestly needs to add on a some interesting gamepaly mechanics to not just be a "generic shooter". Making the combat strongly reflect the emotion sounds super fun.

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Pretty interesting, the main gameplay of shooting and running worked really well

Some things I'd really like to see improved is the way the story is incorporated into the game, I didn't understand what was happening until I read the description you posted here, also I think the bosses are a bit too easy? when theyre in a corner you can just fire at them until they die hahah also the shake effects were a bit too heavy I think, i got a bit dizzy near the end...

Besides that I did enjoy the game, it's a simple fun twin stick shooter

Developer(+1)

Thank you for the solid feedback! 

I didn't get a chance to fully implement the story. The first level was entirely cut (wasn't fully finished) which would have explained how the story elements came into play.

The screen shake is a hard one to get figured out. I think maybe I should add an option to adjust the screen shake. I actually tested with a few people and 1 out of the 10 people who tried it got the same feeling as you. So definitely something to look into!

And the bosses are definitely needed to be improved. The knockback code was incorrect, and there movement wasn't optimized lol

But thank you again for taking time to review the game! It's always great to see feedback I can act upon.

Submitted(+1)

Fun little short game! I like how the artstyle and music changes in each area. There's some minor graphics that can be improved but it's pretty polished in general. Congrats for the team. Hope to see an improved version

Developer

Thank you for the feedback! And this game will definitely be improved upon!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

I liked the game it's fun and controls are really easy 

A couple of things about the game 
- The following to the theme seemed a bit unclear 
 - I found it quite easy as a person can hold the left mouse button and would have no worries throughout the game if they have decent dodging skills 
- Damn the red part seemed like the next part of game would be facing self harm 
-I liked the concept of huge monsters supposedly indicating the different levels of mental anguish faced by the protagonist it would have been better if there would be even more different sizes of monsters indicating the parts that hurt the protagonist the most
-I liked the fact bullets collided it was an unexpected mechanic
-In the second stage was the warping effect which caused lengthening of objects around the corners of the screen quite bugged me idk why
-The thing bugged me most was that cerebellum  isn't the thing that actually manages emotions it's technically the limbic system or atleast better would be cerebrum turmoil since limbic system is actually between the cerebral hemispheres

Developer

The theme was muddied by the fact I had to cut the first level/cutscene (I just didn't them completed). They were suppose to show you super powerful, and getting overwhelmed by a boss, fragmenting your mind, which is why you are taking on your emotions, to mentally make yourself stronger in return it boosts your physical skills! But sadly it wasn't fully implemented, so the missing story elements takes away from that.

I found the bob and weave technique worked very well. So it's a double edge sword. A person could literally just run through a game, but that could be good for speedrunners. And for people who like to take their time and take on enemies also get a decent challenge. Difficulties are always a pain to get right, and when play testing, for me the game gets so easy it's really hard to tell if something is easy or hard. But I did have others try it and it seemed to be okay-ish, but I fully agree that more tweaks would be beneficial here.

There were more enemy designs created by the artist and what we had planned, but again I overestimated how much time I would have to work on the game.

-I haven't fully figured out lens distortion or post-processing in general, so this will be updated accordingly!

-The title was meant to be cerebral turmoil but in my 2 day sleep deprived brain I called it cerebellum turmoil xD

Submitted(+1)

Fun game! Super simple and fun little dual stick survival shooter.

A couple of feedback items....
- I wish the bullets had a further reach, it felt odd that the projectile "died" out a few meters away from the player.
- The enemy projectile got a little lost in the art. I noticed I was getting hit more often that I thought. It would be nice if it has some particle trail or maybe a more obvious color... think like star wars laser blasters.... player is yellow, enemy could be red or orange... something obvious and different. Also some screen feedback for when the player is hit... like an red edge flash or something.
- I did not see where the theme came into this one. The game is fun, but I didn't see the "stronger together" aspect.

Good work overall. Solid submission!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the great feedback!

-The bullet range was meant to be part of the story line. There was a bunch of cut content. I got a little ambitious lol The game was suppose to start off with you being super powerful, and you play through the first stage but then get completely overwhelmed by the boss. Which fragments your mind. So all you abilities are weak like the range of bullets, speed, special ability ect. So eventually putting your mind back together would result in you becoming overall stronger Abruptly being start off with weak abilities and no story element to fill the gaps does take away from this sadly :/ And I totally understand what if's don't count towards jam games, but it does apply to the updates afterwards! lol

And someone else mentioned they didn't see no feedback when getting hit. There is an animation that plays, but webgl version doesn't seem to play it very well. An additional lens effect what have helped with this as well!

-The style of bullets was also something I kept toying around with. I initially had large cartoonish sized bullets, but it didn't feel right with the game when testing it. So I made a judgment call to go with the smaller bullets, and it turned out that it was a bad call. Oh well, should be a fairly easy thing to fix!

This was all really good feedback. It helps a lot!

Submitted(+1)

I played the WebGL version on a Mac and found this to be a fun shooter. I tried choosing gamepad controls but my DualShock 4 controller didn’t seem to be working. So I ended up playing with a keyboard and found that the controls worked well, but I imagine the gamepad controls are even better.

The limited range of the weapon was a little frustrating since you can often see enemies across the screen and line up a shot only to have it fall short.

For the boss battles, you might consider reducing the knockback distance so that the boss stays on screen with the player.

Also, I enjoyed checking out your stream and appreciate you playing through our games and providing feedback. Thanks!

Developer

I was concerned about the dualshock usage. The new user input system seems to struggle with it. It's weird because I can get my ps4 controller to work fine  (I should mention my third party dual shock does not work fine, but my brand name Sony controller works perfectly), but that doesn't guarantee every type is supported correctly. But I will dig further into making sure more controller types work correctly. 

And I agree, the gamepad is much more fun to play in my opinion.

The limited bullet range was meant to be part of the story that I didn't get to implement.  So hopefully when I update this, this feels more cohesive and makes more sense!

The knockback on the bosses was kind of an accident. I copied my enemy knockback code, which utilized the enemies max potential velocity, and multiplied it with the vector pointing in the opposite direction. Since the bosses had higher velocities, it caused them to go flying around lol Honestly the result is pretty funny to see them going flying around. But it would be loads better to have appropriate boss reactions.

And I appreciate the feedback during the stream. I had fun playing your game and being able to ask questions while playing was nice!

Submitted(+1)

Yeah I thought it was strange that my Sony DualShock 4 didn’t work on your game, but it works on other games including my own. I don’t know if this helps, but you may want to check and see whether you are using the generic “Gamepad” controls for your input actions in Unity. I’ve found that option provides the best compatibility across multiple controllers.

Developer

That's what I am currently using. So I really won't know until I dig into it further. It could be how I'm calling the input. I believe I am using pass through values. But it's been a few days since I looked at the scripts lol

Submitted(+1)

This had really good game feel, from the music and sound effects to the particle effects to the screen warp. I appreciated that the bosses did not have some giant attack that was hard to dodge. Good message but I did not feel like it came across that well in the game. I think you should lean more into it and really make the levels feel unique in a way where you are conquering your emotions. Maybe instead of buffs, each level gives you debuffs and then some buff at the end. For example, maybe anxiety makes you slower but if you get past the level you get faster than you initially were.

Developer(+1)

It's like you were reading my mind lol The intention was to push heavier into the story element and make the gameplay mechanics reflect that. I didn't get to add the intro, but you would start of in a typical twin stick shooter, super over powered, but then you'd get overpowered at the end of the level. Causing your mind to fragment into the different levels. Each level would be conquering those emotions you felt, regaining your abilities, and eventually taking on the first level again, but this time conquering it since your emotions are in check. It was pretty ambitious for a week lol

Submitted(+1)

I'm not gonna lie, as soon as I start the game I can already tell it is going to be amazing and well.. I'm absolutely right. This is one of those game that is too good where it comes to the point that you trying to find its flaws. That is just how amazes I am right now. Nice work! :D

Developer

Thanks for playing it! We appreciate the kind words!

Viewing comments 29 to 10 of 29 · Next page · Last page