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A jam submission

Among The MachinesView game page

A zeldaesque third-person shooter with swift tanks
Submitted by Indifferent Penguin (@danielwicht) — 3 hours, 2 minutes before the deadline
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Among The Machines's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Controls / UI#283.8884.600
Overall Fun#323.7194.400
Art / Graphics#443.3814.000
Sound/Music#592.3662.800

Ranked from 5 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Please never change this game in terms of its ambiance. Don't go hardcore with it, keep it therapy level. It then becomes such an amazing and legit therapy tank!

Developer

Thanks for your comment. i try to keep the therapeutic quality. Good point!

Developer

hythrain, i Just realized you did stream some games from the jam. Did you also stream Tank Therapy?

(+1)

Yes I did. In fact, I was streaming when I made that comment. However, yours was the only game where I felt I needed to comment the way I did.

Here's the VOD. TT is about 2.5 hours in.

Hi I'm part of the Feedback Quest. The VOD is up if you're interested in it 

LINK: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1823141067

Listen... I'll be frank. I played your game after a long stressful day after a long stressful stream. I usually have a lot to say but in this situation, I do not. Please check the VOD when you can. Honestly I cannot convey anything in words what I experienced and went through. I did indeed have "Therapy"

Developer

I am glad that my game had therapeutic success on so many levels for you. In fact, I believe that by watching your stream, the healing process has rubbed off on me as well. May I ask: can I edit down your stream and add subtitles? I would love to share some key moments on social media.

(+1)

Feel free :D I'd love to see what you make with my stream. Please do send me the link if you ever finish editing it! 

Submitted(+1)

Synthwave and Tanks is a combo I never thought I needed!

If you're planning on sticking with the idea of blowing up tanks as a way to chill, you could try putting in some vaporwave style music. The current classical tune (which I presume is placeholder) doesn't really fit. I got a few picks that you could listen to for some ideas, I imagine the music being just lively enough that it makes you wanna tap a foot to it, but retains that more down-low tempo:

コンシャスTHOUGHTS - Slowly
Bodyline ボディーライン - ElapseWindows 96 - Rituals
bl00dwave - EncountersInternet Club - Logon Cafeluxury elite - S.W.A.K.

If you're looking for some ideas for secondary weapons or items the player can pick up, there's this old tank game called Battletanx: Global Assault (specifically the Nintendo 64 version) that has an interesting roster of secondary weapons you can check out for brainstorming. I made an unlisted video for ya that showcases all of them below! I think players being able to explore the map and find extra weapons could be super cool and add variety to the gameplay. I imagine the weapons in your game being tuned for the gameplay/vibe vs. just the same ones as the examples here haha.

In your game, I did notice that there wasn't much reason to not use the Pitch when firing, since it would hit enemies more often than just not holding it down, so maybe Pitch could be used to specifically help target enemies that are really far away, but can't hit enemies up-close, and vise versa?

I imagined instead of breakable city buildings there's instead old ancient ruins or tall crystal structures that shatter completely once damaged enough. It could help the game stand out being in this totally different world and environment vs other tank games, but it also could be easier to implement these instead of entire full-fledged buildings.

These are just some thoughts I had, you're free to take this game in whatever direction you'd like! Feel free to reach out to me if you're looking for a test player or would like to hear more thoughts from me, cheers!!

Developer(+1)

Many good points, thank you!

You are absolutely right about the music. The current music is just a placeholder - in fact, I forgot that I had music in the project :)

Then also very good observation with the pitch mechanics. I need to separate better if you aim at near or far targets.

It would be great if you could test the next versions. I will reach out to you when there is an update.

Greetings

Daniel

Submitted(+1)

Awesome, I totally can try out test builds, looking forward to what's next!!

Submitted

The controls are really well made and it has a good chill vibe to it.

Honestly, great prototype, the only minus are the lack of mouse look and I think the tank could be a little more centered near the middle.

!!! Good job !!!

Submitted(+1)

First up, I'm very biased in favor of tank games. There's not enough, we need more of them. A lot more.

Anyways, I was expecting a tank battle game, but it's surprisingly effective as an actual therapeutic, chill game too.

I ran out of enemies rather quickly, and just kept driving my little tank around. Going up the tiny hills and ramping off them was nice and fun. I ended up wanting a giant desert map or a city where I could just roam around aimlessly with my little blue tank.

Gamepad controls felt good for the most part, but the tank seems to aim a little off-center. It made shooting a little tricky, as the projectiles go off to the side, then drift towards my aim point. Making the tank actually shoot where I aim would improve the combat.

The tank's stats were confusing. It took me a while to figure out which number was which. I'm guessing Charge is the tank's fuel, as it slowly dropped while driving around. I found some energy orbs, but they barely charged the tank back up. Increasing their charge value up to 200 or even 300 would make them more meaningful.

At the start the music didn't quite fit what I had in mind (tank battles), but it's great for roaming around in my tank. Adding engine noises and cannon/shell booms would, funnily enough, really turn it into Tank ASMR Therapy, in the best way possible.

The tanks and turrets looked good. At the start I wanted more enemies to shoot at, but after a while I just wanted more terrain and hills to drive on. I want to go on an adventure with my little blue tank!

Developer(+2)

Thanks for you wonderful comment. That is giving me a lot to work with! What you hint at with wanting to go on an adventure is exactly the direction i am heading towards: an adventure game with shooting but also a lot of story and exploration. 

I will later check out your game, too. Bye!