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G0L14TH's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Style | #1338 | 3.714 | 3.714 |
| Overall | #2292 | 3.229 | 3.229 |
| Creativity | #2789 | 3.200 | 3.200 |
| Enjoyment | #3323 | 2.771 | 2.771 |
Ranked from 35 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
Each spaceship you hack is exponentially larger
Development Time
96 hours
(Optional) Please credit all assets you've used
All credits on my project page
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Comments
The art is great! I like the concept the game is going for as well. It's a little too difficult for a jam game, though. I didn't really get to experience everything you made because I couldn't get far enough. So I would like to have had a more steady difficulty ramp.
Yeah, I don't think I got the difficulty balancing quite right. I tried to offset some of the difficulty by adding a 'tips' section into the Itch description, but I don't think that did very much. I don't think that there exist one 'correct' difficulty for this game. If I were to continue working on this after the jam, as unlikely as that would be, I'd definitely add some sort of difficulty settings.
Really excellent artistic style, the music and other sounds are high quality and fit perfectly. Really good stuff!
Thank you! I didn't make any of the source textures or sounds myself, but I'm glad I managed to pick ones that work well together.
I love the artstyle of this one. Super enjoyable to play (even though I’m terrible at it and didn’t even get past the first ship)!
Thank you! I didn't actually make any of the assets myself (technically I put together some of the ships using pieces from a spaceship construction kit asset, but I didn't make any of the source textures), but I'm glad that I was able to make a game which utilized the assets well.
Balancing this game was a challenge, and I don't think I got it quite right. I tried to offset some small portion of the difficulty by adding a 'tips' section to the Itch description, but I'm not sure how much a difference that made. If I were to continue working on this after the jam, as unlikely as that is, I think I would definitely add some difficulty options. Because one difficulty that is right for everyone definitely doesn't exist for this game.
quite difficult! but loved the sense of scale after beating the first ship.
Thank you! I designed the second ship you fight to feel all-encompassing, and I'm glad that worked out.
I'm not sure if I got the difficulty quite right. If I were to develop this further after the jam, as unlikely as that is, I think I'd definitely want to add difficulty settings.
Love the idea! but i think maybe you made the game a little too difficult?
Maybe im just bad but couldnt get past the 2nd ship :(
The feeling when you overtake a ship and fight an even bigger ship is awesome tho, congrats :)
Yeah, difficulty was a struggle to balance. I spent pretty much the entire 4th day of the jam playtesting and tweaking things, and I still don't think I got it quite right. If I were to continue developing this game after the jam, as unlikely as that is, I think I'd try to add difficulty settings.
I think that it is very difficult to tweak difficulty all by oneself. One become too deep in the project and cannot see the whole picure most of the time!
Anyway, really cool game tho :)
Took me a while to take down that first ship, but once I did, man did it feel good! I know for certain that I'd have played the heck out of a full version of this back when flash games were at their peak! This is such a clever concept, and the vibes and execution were just impeccable - absolutely stellar stuff!
Also, after beating the final boss, I found my starter ship not too far off screen (somehow it had survived everything else). So naturally I nuked it from orbit :P
Thank you! I'm glad that the effects I was going for payed off. I tried to make the combat feel as polished as I could (the parallax, the background particles, the animated thrusters, the bullets exploding on hit, the different sounds for hitting the hull and the subsystems, the muzzle flashes, the slightly animated health bars, etc.) rather than adding more fights, and I definitely think that was the right decision.
Destroying your previous ships was exactly what I wanted people to do when playing. It plays into the lore of an AI unhappy with their tiny spaceship body. I like to image the Toy Story "I don't want to play with you anymore meme" for it.
Great game. Love the art. Gameplay is really fun.
Thank you! most of the art I downloaded and didn't make myself, but I did put together the final ship in GIMP using pieces from a spaceship construction kit asset. I needed something with an encompassing shape, while also having gaps that you could shoot through to hit the thrusters in the back, and there was no way I was going to find a ready-made asset that fit that description while also at least somewhat matching the styles of the first two ships.
Good mix of action and puzzles. The ships had a stunning sense of scale. Specially when the second boss appeared! Liking how ships felt totally different from each other. And you needed to adapt both to the ship you're in and the new enemy ship. The complexity of the designs were delightful to look at. The game was pretty difficult, I'd suggest restarting the level not the game when you die.
Thank you! I definitely wanted all of the ships to feel unique, both to play as and to fight, and I feel like I did a good job accomplishing that. I don't think I did quite as good a job at getting the difficulty right. I decided not to add a checkpoint after the first fight because I wanted the player to have an opportunity to appreciate how much better at the game they've become, which they don't get if they never have to face the 1st enemy again after they win once. Also I just didn't want to put in the effort of making a checkpoint system.
You did do a great job with that! It's a hard game but really satisfying to succeed.
A difficult game for sure, but it did feel rewarding when I finally was able to take over that first ship. I found the second fight to be way easier than the first, I completed it on my first try. Obviously a short timeline doesn't help with balancing the difficulty of games but just wanted to leave my feedback regardless. Facing up against that second ship definitely did have the menacing, all-encompassing feel you were likely going for though, with the shape of the ship surrounding the player. It made for some good variety in comparison to trying to get at the back of the first ship.
My only other comment would be that an end screen/message would have added closure to the game. I spent some time wandering around wondering if I was meant to search out another ship or if the game was over. But overall a solid game!
Yeah, balancing was a struggle. I wanted the second fight to be scarier than the first and play completely different than the first, but I also wanted it to be a bit easier than the first, because every time you die to it you also have to redo the first fight. I didn't want that to happen more than a few times. 1st try might've be a bit too easy, though. Ideally it would take everyone 3-5 tries to beat the second fight after maybe 10 tries to beat the first fight, but that is really hard to balance with how varying everyone's skill at this kind of game is.
I wanted to make a game end screen, but I never got around to it. It probably wouldn't have been that hard or taken too long, my attention was just diverted elsewhere. I do like the peacefulness of the current ending though. If only it were clear that it was an ending.
I love the art. but I died. MANY MANY times. Sorry I cannot beat your game (will try later)
Thank you! Yeah, difficulty was the hardest part of this game to get right. If I make it too easy, people who are already good at this kind of game will get bored, but if I make it too hard, other people will find it more frustrating than fun. I tried to balance it somewhat and hoped that the satisfaction of finally winning would offset any frustration, and even added a 'tips' section into the Itch description, but I'm not sure how well that worked.
can imagine, I wont’ give up! I’ll check the tips, definitely need them :D
hey! I played again and I managed to beat the 1st and 2nd boss! really awesome expirence, I’m glad I went back to this game haha
but I’m not sure what to do now, I’m playing with the 3rd battleship, but no more bosses come to me :|
Yeah, there’s only the two. I probably should’ve added some sort of end screen or something, but I never got around to it. As is you just get to experience the peacefulness, the calm after the storm.
okay, so I beat the game!!! :D great job, had fun learning how to get better :)
Love the art! Very VERY hard game, especially for the first level... on my second attempt I died in less than 5 seconds!
Thank you! Yeah, I don't think I ever got the difficulty quite right, despite my spending pretty much the entirety of the 4th day playtesting and tweaking it. I wanted it to be hard enough that beating it for the first time felt like an accomplishment, but I may have gone too far and made it more frustrating for a lot of players instead.
Good rule of thumb is "If the developer thinks it's hard? It's too hard. If the developer thinks it's easy? It's probably just right".
I did the platforming sections in our game using that philosophy, making things honestly probably too easy? (I leaned much more on the side of easy). But then there are sections like the downward mushroom that people are still struggling with, despite that being something I thought was just challenging enough y'kno!
The graphics and concept was very cool, but it was pretty hard (Or maybe I'm just bad lol)
Thank you! Yeah, difficulty was the hardest part of this game to get right. If I make it too easy, people who are already good at this kind of game will get bored, but if I make it too hard, other people will find it more frustrating than fun. I tried to balance it somewhat and hoped that the satisfaction of finally winning would offset any frustration, and even added a 'tips' section into the Itch description, but I'm not sure how well I did with all that.
A major skill issue on my part with this game to truly enjoy it, but when I finally beat the first guy and BECAME them to beat up a new, even bigger ship? I got it. This rules. Such a great concept for this theme.
Thank you! Yeah, difficulty was the hardest part of this game to get right. If I make it too easy, people who are already good at this kind of game will get bored, but if I make it too hard, other people will find it more frustrating than fun. I tried to balance it somewhat and hoped that the satisfaction of finally winning would offset any frustration, and even added a 'tips' section into the Itch description, but I'm not sure how well I did with all that.
I love cinetic energy gravity!
Thank you!
Cool game but felt really hard?
Yeah, I struggled trying to get the difficulty right. If I make it too easy, then people who are already good at this kind of game would be able to win without much effort and get bored, but if I make it too hard more people won't be able to win at all. I wanted people to have to try a few times before they figured out the right patterns for how to win, but I didn't want it to be so hard that people got frustrated. I don't know if I got that balance right, or if it's even possible to get that balance right for everyone.
Good game! Some improvement I would suggest is that the ship should have thrusters on side for more maneuverability and the second ship is slow so it didn't felt like I was moving so you can increase its speed.
Overall Great Job!
The issue with increasing the speed of the second ship, is you also need to fight it while you're the first ship. I wanted you to be able to win the 1st battle by being more maneuverable than the enemy, but I didn't want you to be able to win the second battle in the same way.
Nice game, I loved the challenge! I hope you'll had more ships after the jam :)
Thank you! As cool as that'd be, I don't think I'll have the time, unfortunately.
this game is awesome! it was genuinely terrifying when the second large ship appeared out of nowhere! at first I didn't quite understand the concept but once I took over the second ship it was immediately clear. the visual were awesome as well all the sprite work and the parallax worked out super nicely! awesome job dude!
Thank you! That’s exactly the reaction I was going for with that ship. I knew that I wanted something that felt all-encompassing, and I wasn’t going to be able to find a ready-made asset for that. I needed it to wrap around the player, but also have a way to shoot through it to hit the engines at the back. It took me probably three or four hours in GIMP trying different combinations and putting together pieces from the spaceship construction kit asset I was using to make something I was happy with.
I spent a decent amount of time on the parallax effect, especially getting it to took good while the camera expands when you hack a bigger ship. Another sneaky thing I did with the parallax is, since the parallax doesn’t loop and if you fly far enough away you won’t see it anymore, I made the big red ship always spawn in the direction towards the center of the arena from you to try to guide you back to where the parallax looks the best.
that super cleaver with the parallax, and you did super well with the art for the second ship. its a super creative use of premade assets. well done dude!
The sense of scale here is fantastic - I could only get to the first two ships, but they felt significantly different from each other, partly in terms of armaments but mostly just in control - the weight, momentum and turning of each ship feels really well tuned to convey their respective sizes.
Personally I found this a little too difficult, I really struggled to clear the first enemy and wasn't able to beat the second, but totally appreciate that could just be personal taste :)
Yeah, difficulty was a challenge to get right, and I don't think I quite nailed it. You can blame my last playtester who won the battle on their 1st try, so I upped the difficulty before uploading. I tried to mitigate some of the difficulty by adding a 'tips' section to the Itch description hoping that it'd make it easier for people who didn't win on their own, but I'm not sure how well that worked.
Spaceships are cool, and exponentially larger spaceships are (arguably) exponentially cooler!
HOWEVER, the difficulty curve also feels exponential (at least to me). The difference in firepower quickly becomes discouraging (i.e. Level 1 enemy has multiple homing fast turrets but the player only has 2 slow guns and can only fire at line of sight) Even if passing a level by pure luck, having no saving points would reset my progress in the blink of an eye.
Thanks for playing! Yeah, the difficulty of this game in general really could've used some work. I spent the whole last day playtesting and trying to get the difficulty right, and still never got there. I tried to mitigate some of the issues by adding a 'tips' section to the Itch description, but I'm not sure how well that worked.