| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Gameplay | #5 | 3.565 | 3.565 |
| Overall | #10 | 3.522 | 3.522 |
| Music | #11 | 3.217 | 3.217 |
| Graphics | #12 | 3.304 | 3.304 |
| Comedy | #13 | 2.696 | 2.696 |
| Story | #14 | 2.957 | 2.957 |
Ranked from 23 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Definitely enjoyed this nostalgic experience. (reminded me of playing the platypus games, thoguh perhaps it's not quite the same level of polish here :P) At first I wondered if there was also a tower defense mechanic, but once I realized it was ok to let them through, I relaxed.
Having me 'insert a coin' on loss was cute, and having the finale of combining forces was funny (ya got an audible snort from me at least :P)
Another ambitious Nowis jam entry! This time, it's a SMUP...that works well in RM? I'm impressed! Each character has a unique attack pattern, so there are reasons to try all 3 out; my one criticism is that it's difficult to tell when it would be best to switch to another character, but maybe that's for the best since it lets players use whichever character they prefer. It's short, and the continue system makes it easy to finish (plus gives it more of that arcade game feel).
Overall, I enjoyed this game.
Lightning Eagles is an exhilarating action-packed space shooter that delivers exactly what you'd want from a game jam entry. It's a short, engaging, and thoroughly enjoyable experience that perfectly captures the essence of pick-up-and-play fun.
One of the standout features of Lightning Eagles is its fast-paced gameplay. While it isn't particularly challenging, this works in the game's favor, making it accessible and enjoyable for a wide range of players. The straightforward mechanics allow you to jump right into the action without a steep learning curve, making it an ideal game to play when you have a bit of free time and want some quick, satisfying entertainment.
The storyline of Lightning Eagles is another highlight. It’s well-crafted and provides a great payoff that ties everything together nicely. The narrative enhances the overall experience, adding depth and context to the frenetic space battles. Despite the brevity of the game, the story is impactful and leaves a lasting impression.
Additionally, Lightning Eagles fits the theme of the jam perfectly. The game manages to deliver a cohesive and well-executed experience that aligns with the jam's requirements and spirit. This attention to theme and detail demonstrates the developer's skill and understanding of what makes a great jam game.
In conclusion, Lightning Eagles is a must-play for anyone looking for a fun and accessible space shooter. Its combination of exciting gameplay, a compelling storyline, and perfect alignment with the jam's theme makes it a standout entry. Whether you're a seasoned gamer or just looking for a quick and entertaining diversion, Lightning Eagles is sure to provide a great time.
Overall: A shmup in RPG Maker is a bold feat which you've executed very well!
Gameplay: It's hard to find a Nowis game that doesn't feel smooth and easy to get the hang of. I could kinda sit back and hold X with Lucius though.
Music: Nice collection of remixes, and hearing Theme6 when Harold came back was a treat.
Story: Short and sweet with a satisfying conclusion!
Graphics: Loved the custom sprites for the ships! The flying orc boss was a little weird though.
Comedy: Not much to speak of here, but that's not a bad thing.
I love shmup games so of course I had fun here hehe. The only thing that I think holds this back from being more fun is just more polish. Like, faster movement, smaller hitboxes for the player. Less Gradius and more Thunder Force 4, but that may be just my taste
Story is simple but the premise is fun, and the final sequence was fun too 🎵
Overall: It's a jam entry, for sure. With Harold flavoring because that's the flavor of the jam. Yep.
Game play: My hand started to hurt until I realized I could hold X down. Then I literally put an object down on the X key and sat back to wait for the game to finish. I don't know if that's helpful feed back, but it is what it is.
Music: Theme 6 MV started to play! The rest was fine.
Story: It had the most basic of arcs, so yes, there was a story. That's possibly the most surprising aspect of the game.
Graphics: Such basic, Much RTP.
Comedy: I liked the vague Voltron reference. That was a Voltron reference wasn't it? I don't know that it was funny but it got a wee smile out of me. I don't even watch Voltron.
It wasn't a bad game, but it definitely needed more time and play testing. I can see this placed in a larger game and being a very fun segment to play. With more story and making sure a person can't just spam one button I think it would have been very interesting.
I did not, at all dislike it, I did however find the game break right away.
The RPG Maker shooter idea is cool, but it definitely has that RPG maker jank to its controls that doesn’t work well with a genre that’s generally all about precise and careful movement. Luckily, this was a basic shmup instead of a bullet hell and none of the foes were overly complicated, so the controls didn’t impede the enjoyment all that much.
Each character having different shots was a cool concept, but never actually felt necessary to utilize so I just chucked fireballs the whole time.
Gameplay: It was fine, but very rpg maker doing things rpg maker shouldn’t do for me. In any other engine you probably could have done this better. Similar to Humans entry a couple of years ago. Plenty of levels though.
Story: Like most entires this year small but cute and the heroic return was on point.
Graphics: Not a huge amount to say, its rtp used pretty well.
Music: Fine but similar to a lot of games so hard to vote up or down.
Comedy: Some mild humour in a wholesome story.
Neat! I'm a big fan of Shmups and Bullet Hells and this certainly is one! I'm also personally a massive fan of ThunderBirds, so this hit me right in the nostalgia!
"Insert Coin" is a cute way of saying new game, this was very sweet.
The gameplay itself is OK. It's novel, but it's one of those cases of "an rpg maker game doing something another engine could do better, easier". I really respect and appreciate the ingenuity on display, but the game suffers with the issues you'd expect it to. Movement feels quite sluggish and inexact (which as a fan of the genre was somewhat frustrating), and enemy patterns aren't super interesting - there's not a ton in the way of challenge or finesse here, and while the ability to switch bullet types by switching ships is cool they lack the feedback to feel meaningfully different (except for firing pattern).
Hit detection both on friendlies and enemies seemed to be quite buggy - which I'm sure is an artefact of this being an RM project. It didn't lessen my enjoyment, nor did it lead to the game being any less endearing, but it was notable. Health also bugged out for me a couple of times, leading me to not take damage where I really ought to, and the lack of a limit to credits meant that any semblance of challenge was immediately offset by basically being infinitely shepherded through the experience.
Structurally, the game is exactly as you'd expect. Do stage. Do boss. Repeat. It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, nor does it innovate particularly - the novelty here is in seeing our favourite characters doing stuff outside the norm. The stages progressed quite nicely - I especially liked Stage 2, whose ground-based enemies reminded me a bit of side scrolling Shmups like R-Type.
This brings us to story: It's not particularly story-intense. Cutscenes play out as expected. Super competently made, and I enjoyed the Tracey Island sequence (although I felt it was a missed opportunity not to use show picture to animate the default title screen island to show where the machines were hidden). I really enjoyed the ending - going from ThunderBirds to Voltron with some wicked sick hero theme happening was a great way to capture "Heroic Return", so big kudos!
(Also, Spark Cannon made me smile, well done)
Not gonna lie, I very much did not expect the CG to show up postgame - but I do think that this CG made me realise that I wished we'd gotten a Voltron/Megazord combination set of CGs/animations, so in its greatness it kind of made the rest of the game's art feel underwhelming.
Music was fine to good. Don't think anything really stood out there. Sound was fine. All felt fairly stock. Same with the art, and for that I feel like I can't really give more than a couple stars in each area. I really love that CG, but overall I feel like the rest of the project could have benefited from some of the author's incredible artistic talent!
In general, a fun time - 3 short stages and a High Score tracker to encourage you to play again. Classic stuff, but with enough niggles that it holds it back from true greatness.
3/5 - absolutely would recommend to anyone with 15 minutes to spare!
Nice submission! I like that every character has different bullet type.
Personally I prefer faster plane and more dense pattern, but that's just my pet peeve. I also hit an invisible wall.
Anyway, good job on this one!
Can't get much more lit than this, wish it were easier to make a shooter with rpgmaker
This was such a fun entry! I got a score of 6800!! I love the cute ship sprites for the different party members, and that they have their own unique projectiles and special moves! That transformation at the end was very cool as well! <3 Go lightning sparks xDD I don't know if I can give any feedback to make it better since it's already great as is, but I would deffo suggest a usage of the sprint command, so the ship can go faster, but with a gauge maybe? But yess, overall, once again a very innovative entry from Nowis that really pushes the RM engine with very fun gameplay mechanics! I especially enjoyed the semi- final boss. Amazing job!! <3
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