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A jam submission

I'll Cut You DownView game page

Haunted slice'em'up for the Bullet Hell Game Jam 2023
Submitted by DIABLERIE โ€” 6 hours, 44 minutes before the deadline
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I'll Cut You Down's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Audio#74.0004.000
Overall#143.9293.929
Fun#233.7863.786
Visual#503.7863.786
Theme#613.4293.429

Ranked from 14 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Did you use any third-party assets or skeleton code?
Libraries used: SDL2, PhysFS, Flecs, cglm, GLEW. Audio used from public domain and with attribution (in included text file.) We made everything else during the jam.

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Comments

Trying to run the game by ./icyd, I get the following error:

Error compiling vertex shader: shader
#version 330 core
layout (location = 0) in vec3 aPos;
layout (location = 1) in vec2 aTex;
uniform float frame; uniform float angle; 
out vec2 oTex;
out float depth;
uniform mat4 transform;
void main() {
gl_Position=transform*vec4(aPos,1.0f);
oTex=aTex;
depth=aPos.y;
}

This is with OpenGL 4.6.0. Running on Linux Mint 21.1. I could be missing dependencies? I don't have flecs installed.

> glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version"
OpenGL version string: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 530.41.03

Sorry for the trouble.

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

No trouble at all, I'd love to be able to help you get it working! It seems GLSL compilation isn't working, and my first thought is to wonder whether it's the driver: I've only tested with Mesa on ATI cards, so if there is an NVIDIA compatibility issue, I won't have caught it yet. If it's not a huge hassle, you could try swapping to Mesa and seeing if that helps. I'll also tinker around and let you know if I find anything.

Developer(+1)

This is a stretch, but I compiled a version of the executable that skips the error checking, just in case it's the error-check itself that's causing the error... you never know. If you'd like to try it out, just replace the old 'icyd' with the one at the link here.

https://diablerie.itch.io/extra-files/download/psnrbYSFnijrEtE2_Iuc2Pb3fdar_Woqe...

Maybe this new error message tells you something?

./icyd: symbol lookup error: ./icyd: undefined symbol: SDL_HasIntersectionF
Developer(+1)

That error potentially suggests your SDL version is less than 2.0.10 - or that my program isn't finding the correct version of SDL2 on your system. Either way it's a helpful lead! It might be worth updating SDL2, and probably SDL2_image and SDL2_mixer, if you do have a lower version and this applies.

Exciting! My libsdl2-dev is at version 2.0.20, which is the latest version provided by my distro. The mixed and image packages are also the latest versions provided by the distro.

Developer(+1)

HasIntersectionF is only in SDL2 2.0.22, so this would definitely contribute to the game not working! To save you the hassle of upgrading ahead of your distro, I think I can quickly rework the hitbox code to use the older, more compatible SDL2 variant - I'll post soon and let you know how I went. Thanks for being so patient!

Developer(+1)

Here is a version of 'icyd' without the use of SDL's floating point rectangles. I can't promise I didn't introduce exciting new bugs by rushing my own rectangle code ;)

https://diablerie.itch.io/extra-files/download/jNVGVPB5N36vC2k6_KTTG67_WN6NMKs__...

I am terribly sorry, but now I get:

./icyd: symbol lookup error: ./icyd: undefined symbol: Mix_PlayChannel

My libsdl2-mixer is version 2.0.4, if that's relevant. I do enjoy the large amount of support and users of Ubuntu based distros, but it must kind of sucks (at least for developers) when everyone stuck with old libraries like these.

I need to sleep, so I won't be able to respond for a few hours. I'm sorry. You've been so responsive, so I wish I could have voted for your game. Good night!

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

I understand, and I'm sorry I couldn't get it to work. There are a couple of ways I might have been able to detect and fix these kind of version errors, so I'll make sure to implement them in our post-jam version of the game. It's a good learning experience for me, and I'm really grateful you've helped me identify a few more technical issues. Goodnight, and thanks again for persevering!

Oh, and in case you were curious, I can confirm that error is also SDL2 version related. The game uses features from SDL2_mixer 2.6.0 (the current version is 2.6.3), and missing those features will be much harder to work around than the rectangles :(

Submitted

Instructions unclear - my banshee took place of an elder god after stabbing the previous one and its cult to death

Really, really enjoyed your game! Melee abilities in bullet hells, or otherwise powerful short-range abilities, is something I enjoy a lot. The dagger is designed quite well - it's far enough from your hitbox, and its length feels just right. It's a lot of fun to plan an attack vector and take down several enemies at once while avoiding their shots.

I also enjoyed the enemy variety. The patterns are quite simple but work well together, making you think of a good plan if you want to take down the next wave, but also without too much randomness to screw you over. 99% of hits taken were skill issue, except a few times when I got stuck in collisions, more on that soon. And the level restart feature + 3 hitpoints makes the game feel challenging, but not too punishing, I think you've balanced the difficulty and challenge really well ^^

Only a few nitpicks:
- There was no main menu and settings, and no config file. I would have liked to be able to change the music volume as it felt too loud at times
- Collisions are a bit wonky, which is understandable, being a custom C engine and all. Sometimes though colliding with an object prevented me from moving, and had me take a hit as a result.
- A focus button that slows you down by half or so would have been nice. While fighting the final boss, there were a few instances where it could have been useful as the base player speed is a little too high to dodge some of its patterns properly
- It wasn't immediately clear what I had to do on the final boss. Only noticed the left/right glyphs when I was just about to beat it, perhaps a little more visual feedback, or some visual/sound effects when a glyph goes out, would have made it clearer when you get close to beating it

Overall - Not much to say, the game is really well done all around! Would love to see more bullet hells which utilize melee attacks, or otherwise make the player get in the enemies' faces. Congrats on finishing the jam with such a fun entry ^^

P.S. if you have time, I'd appreciate if you could check out and/or rate my entry, which is a similarly dark, eerie bullet-hell horror game. It might be up your alley. Cheers!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the great feedback! That damn collision, hey? I'm happy to say that I did find the cause of those evil ghost-grabbing trees, and it's fixed now in the current build - but too late, sadly, for the jam.

A config file would have been a really good solution for the missing menu and settings...I wish I'd thought of it. The tragic thing is that there *are* settings, customisable difficulty settings even, but they're locked away in the game because we cut the menu system in order to complete the (already-rushed) final boss. An editable config file would have fixed that. Fortunately the menu has made its way into the current build too, so the post-jam version will feel much more polished.

Speaking of the final boss, the lack of clearer feedback from the glyphs is a real issue. Our artist brought it up with me several times, but at that point I was busy stressing over the Windows port. Visual/auditory feedback is a good idea. By the way, equally unclear in the final fight is that the ruined circle is meant to highlight a "safe zone" just outside the reach of the tentacles, where projectiles won't ever initiate on top of you. This is why the attacks feel so sudden and unfair unless you orient yourself entirely to the middle of the arena, but that's not any fault of the player... just last-minute design errors.

Thanks also for linking to your game - you're right, I do really appreciate the ambience, and I've had fun playing it today (but you can see more about that over on your page!)

Submitted(+1)

This game is fun! I enjoyed slashing all the enemies and there was a good variety.

The art and music is good for this one, nice job!

Developer

That's great to hear. Thanks so much for playing!

Developer

Late technical discovery: if the game flashes a black screen and fails to start for you, delete the opengl32.dll file that accompanies the download and try again. This file isn't compatible with all versions of Windows and can prevent your native drivers from working.

Submitted(+1)

I REALLY enjoyed this! The theme, music, mechanics, everything is just perfect. I really liked the in-game obstacles that stopped your character and dying scrolls you back to the start for you to restart. I may or may not totally steal that for a future game.

Developer

You're welcome!  It's an idea we've seen in precision platformers. Glad you had a good time - thank you for playing!
-wrnyfyr

Submitted(+1)

I completed the game, had not played until now because I needed to find a pc where it runs. I'm so glad I finally did.

The game is excellent. It looks and sounds great, the atmosphere is super coherent and I love it. It's super fun to play, the cutting mechanics feels great, partly due to visual and sound feedbacks but also because running into an enemy navigating through its bullets then you reach it and it immediately dies is super satisfying, and it's a cool implementation of the theme too . The size of the levels, screen scrolling speed, speed of the protagonist and bullet speeds all feel right. The various enemies are super interesting both visually and mechanically, they all present their own thing and are all fun to deal with and the levels presents the right gradual difficulty up to a satisfying final boss.

I love everything about the game, thanks for sharing.

Developer

This comment made our day. Thank you so much!

Submitted(+1)

my favorite one so far. loved the dark vibe of the visuals with the dungeon synth music. enemy designs were awesome too.  well done. 

Developer(+1)

Ahhh that makes me so happy! Thanks a bunch for playing :)))
-wrnyfyr

Submitted

Just looking at the screenshots makes me want to play. When I tried to run the exe it went to a black screen for half a second and then disappears.  Any idea for how I can fix that?

Developer

I'm really sorry to hear that! My guess would be something related to intialising OpenGL or audio. The game prints its error and debug messages to the console, so if you're comfortable in the Windows command terminal, you could try running the executable from inside the terminal: it should show more information. I'll also look into coding a quick compatibility-test tool and uploading it, so we can figure out for sure.

-mothgram

Developer

Update: I've added an error-testing .exe to the project page. If you run it from the same folder as the game (alongside the data files), it'll check for the most obvious issues and hopefully give us some clear messages :)

Developer

This might be a bit late, but I think I've solved this problem (or at least, fixed a similar case.) There's an opengl32.dll file included in the zip: just delete it. I made an oversight including this in the download, and it can prevent some Windows video drivers from working properly.

-mothgram

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

The large amount of content was quite fun, and the art was very clean and cool-looking. The bullets sometimes got a bit thick, and I think there was one part I couldn't figure out how to get past without just damage-tanking. Also I just got pointblank shot a lot lol. Overall, great game! (Sorry I coudn't rate until now.)

Developer

Thank you for playing. I think I know the screen you mean! Speaking as one half of the team, I also had to facetank some of the last waves, though mothgram, who made the levels, found ways to clear them without being hit. We tried to strike a balance where players would get enough chances to at least survive, even if they took a hit or two, but probably we would tone it down if we could do it again. 
-wrnyfyr

Submitted(+1)

I could get stuck on the trees on the sides if I went between them and the wall. I also feel the movement was a tad too fast and made it harder to carefully strafe between tight spots.

The slashing while not too much of a challenge was still very satisfying. The variation in enemies was cool. The art was neat, the music was a nice fit.

Very impressive you did this all in C with SDL and 10 days.

Overall a fun experience.

Developer

Thank you so much for the thoughtful feedback. I'm very happy you found it fun! Collision was one of the things we really wished we had more time to work on- it was definitely a packed 10 days!
-wrnyfyr

Submitted(+1)

Total aesthetic. ๐Ÿค˜ The way the blade simply slashes through targets is satisfying to a degree that makes me uncomfortable. ๐Ÿ˜… The way the knifing-cultists pause to look around is a very nice touch. ๐Ÿ’™ Thank you for sharing this with us!

Developer (1 edit)

Thank YOU for playing and for noticing that small detail - we had a lot of fun putting those cultist runners in :D

-wrnyfyr

Submitted

Total aesthetic. ๐Ÿค˜ The way the blade simply slashes through targets is satisfying to a degree that makes me uncomfortable. ๐Ÿ˜… The way the knifing-cultists pause to look around is a very nice touch. ๐Ÿ’™ Thank you for sharing this with us!

Submitted(+1)

The music was great and it felt really satisfying to cut down those cultists.

Developer

Hell yeah!

Submitted(+1)

Great game, the music is bopping. Took me awhile to find out I could slash my enemies which is challenging when they are attacking me with bullets!

I love the directional blood spray when you down an enemy, what a great polishing effect!

Developer (1 edit)

Thank you for your feedback, and glad to hear you liked that spray :)) Some in-game instruction will come in a future version but good to know you worked out how to slice em! -wrnyfyr

Submitted(+1)

loved the design, thought it was very challenging but i'm not the best at bullethells lol

nice work :)

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

thank you so much, we wish we'd had more time to put in difficulty settings! btw, you can press 9 to become invulnerable if you just wanna see the levels ;))

-wrnyfyr