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Blastingbot 2: Signal Hullabaloo's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #1 | 4.667 | 4.667 |
| Fun Factor | #1 | 4.619 | 4.619 |
| Originality | #1 | 4.762 | 4.762 |
| Visuals | #3 | 4.619 | 4.619 |
| Audio | #6 | 4.143 | 4.143 |
Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Is your game a video game or a physical game?
Video game
Was your game made solo or in a team?
Solo
Did you use any third party assets, if yes what assets did you use?
The game was built for Pico-8, so it uses its standard font and things like the touch controls embedded in the native HTML5 export. The Blastingbot sprite and logo assets are reused, since they were created in last years MechJam IV.
Did you choose from one (or more) of the optional secondary themes?
"Signal Failure" for the main gameplay mechanic and "Shifting Sands" for the visuals
Does your game contain 18+ content (Nudity, Gore, Language)?
No
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Comments
Oh man! I missed the jam and only got to play the games now, but that first place is well deserved!
Congratulations on winning the Overall, Fun Factor and Originality categories!
This is so cool, it's an excellent use of the Signal Failure theme and ties it very well into the gameplay. I like that you can restart right away so that dying doesn't feel very frustrating, but it is still punishing. Visual effects and sound give an excellent game feel despite seeming simple.
the game didnt start for me in both web and download.
I guess the start button is broken.
Top tier sequel !
This is really good, i came in expecting similar puzzles to the first one, and i got pleasantly surprised by the fact that while the core concept is kind of the same, the mechanics are a bit different.
One thing that stood out for me gameplay wise is that you can’t walk back so the only way to do so is to rely on your gun’s recoil, this is super clever :D
The level select option is also a nice thing to have for the jam, cause this time i wasn’t able to get to the end, these levels are a bit harder than in the first one.
Still had a blast though, great game, well done :)
Thanks! I'm happy that you enjoyed it :) I suppose the recoil mechanic is now mandatory for a potential sequel, since it's been featured in both games. Difficulty was harder to tune in this one due to the randomness, but it could use some tuning for sure. Thanks for playing!
Yeah the randomness made it a bit tougher but it also spiced things up a bit with the unpredictability
This puzzle game is awesome and def one of my favorites. Reminded me a bit of Into The Breach with the strategy and movement. Only thing is, I wanted more levels. I liked how levels changed up the style, either 2, 3 or more commands or enemies shooting and mines. I'd almost wish for enemies to be more structured and less random (though I don't know the code) and that would make each stage a bit more puzzle like. Of course I'd LOVE to see different characters, different weapons and abilities, and more and more and more. Very well done.
Thank you so much!
Yes, much of what you describe are things I also wish the game had. Whenever I make games like this one there is always the desire to add more levels in, especially since that is very easy to do once the tools/systems are done, but I try to limit myself so that each level either teaches the player something new or uses the game elements in new interesting ways. In this particular case I felt that the current enemies/obstacles could not support much more than 16 levels. If there had been time to add more enemies, weapons, etc. then it would make sense to make more (and harder) levels.
It's interesting that you mention Into The Breach (one of my absolute favorites!) since that game does a much better job telegraphing the enemy actions, which removes any doubt of what will happen during the turn. I think that generally that is a better way to do it, since it encourages deliberate action by the player. Any randomness in that game is resolved before the player acts.
Blastingbot 2 has a fair bit of output randomness, since you're never sure of the enemy movements. This makes for tense and funny moments, but goes a bit against the spirit of puzzle games and limits the planning you can do. It was interesting to explore, but I'll probably handle it differently the next time around.
Thank you so much for the feedback!
you just made it, totally unique game really cool concept art work and so on
thank you for the game it was really enjoyable to play
Thank you so much for playing it! I'm glad you found it enjoyable :)
I like such little puzzle games alot, especially together with the turn based aspect. The only thing is i found this to be a bit easy. Through the short input sequences and limited visibility (small vertical map size) there are simply not that many possibilities where you can go wrong. I would like to see this extended on a bigger scale, with an increasing number of inputs you have to take.
Other than that, love the mechanic that the blast is the only way to move backwards, very neat.
Thanks for playing and for the feedback!
I found the difficulty relatively hard to control, partly due to the semi-random enemy movements that introduces a lot of variation in difficulty. Puzzle games are also really tricky to get right without user testing, which I did not find the time for during the jam. So I'm sure that you're right in that it will be too easy for a lot of players.
The knock-back from the blast is actually pretty critical for the game to work. There needs to be some kind of cost associated with blasting, otherwise you can just blast every other move and inch your way across the screen safely. Since the goal is to move forward, having the blast knock you back two steps makes it costly to use.
Moving only forward is also kind of nice in that you can (mostly) ignore what happens behind the player, so the extremely limited screenspace can instead be used to show what is ahead of the player.
A very good sequel to the last Blastingbot game! Had a ton of fun with it.
Thanks for playing! I'm happy that it feels like a worthy sequel :)
Digging this entry a lot! Really great aesthetics overall and solid puzzle mechanics and game feel. There were a good amount of levels and they all felt pretty engaging, definitely one of my favs so far.
That's so nice to hear! Thanks for playing!
Okay this was just amazing. Love it. Nice Puzzle Game, nice Design, nice Music. Loved it every second.
Thank you so much for playing! I'm particularly relieved you liked the music, since that's an aspect of my work that I'm trying to improve on.
This is a great sequel, even better than the original in my opinion! The puzzle mechanics are super fun, the Blasting Bot character has so much charm in their dialogue, the visuals are fun to look at, and the sound helps enhance the experience. The PICO-8 is such a cool fantasy console, and you've definitely used its abilities well. You're improving a lot as a developer, great job!
Thanks a bunch, that's really lovely to hear!
Pico-8 is such a great place to try out ideas and it's super satisfying to make a complete game in it, even if it's small with limited scope.
Excellent work again! The design was sound and planning around enemy and projectile movements was compelling! It was an interesting deviation from the last Blastingbot as well since this sequel allowed for more guesswork but offset that by having more active enemies. Great entry!
Thanks for playing! You're right that it deviates from the first game in that it has a lot more 'dynamic' puzzles (e.g. the map plays out differently every try). That comes with some advantages and some disadvantages, namely more replayability and solving through guesswork, but also much harder to design clear puzzles and to control difficulty.
I genuinely love this game lol. I would buy this. It's really addicting and the sound design is awesome. The gunshot is really satisfying, the camera shake gives great feedback. Awesome job
Thank you for playing it! I spent quite a bit of time on trying to get the 'blast' punchy and satisfying without being annoying, so I'm glad that you noticed!
Really nice submission, had a lot of personality oozing out of it! great job!
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!
Nice game I also want to dive into making Pico-8 Game
Thanks! Pico-8 is great, I highly recommend it. It's perfect for game jams thanks to the limitations that it imposes.