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Boom or Doom's itch.io pageJudge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- Wow! This game is so well polished and thought out. Really really amazing job putting this together for the Jam. Let's talk about the things you specifically asked the judges to critique. -Game feel The Game feel was hectic and time sensitive. The timer going in the background really gets the heart pumping because you know you're going to blow up, that's inevitable, the only question is if you're taking someone else with you or not. I think you really nailed the game feel, here. I was stressing every play through, but it's a good stress. Very good job here. -Concept The concept absolutely is in line with the theme 'you are the weapon.' Really great adaptation and direction. Your whole job in the game, and the whole conflict of the game is based around the idea that you're going to explode, and hopefully take some people with you. The concept is excellent. -Mechanics The mechanics. I love the hook... I mean I really LOVE the hook - great ability! The dash feels a bit short, especially when you feel so much slower than some of the enemies (the small purples ones.) The ultimate is really nice and does exactly what you'd expect it to do. I really hate those mushroom enemies, which probably means they're good enemies. The one problem with them is they end up becoming a slow chain that you can't even dodge without using a dash, which feels bad, especially cause there is usually 5+ firing at you at the same time. -Replayability There is so much replayability! If I didn't have to judge 50+ more games, I would play it for a few hours at least! I could see there being even more replayability if there was a 'fail forward' mechanic, which allowed a sort of meta-progression that you can buy into between lives. But not everyone likes meta-progression, so that's not essential. -Infinite Dungeon generation The dungeon was great! I never knew which way I was about to go. I was required to keep one eye on the mini map to plan out my next attack, while I was doing my current attack, or I would waste time trying to figure out my next path. I think this dungeon method was a great choice that added a lot to the game feel. -Power ups These were great! I only wish I got more of them quicker, because I'm bad at timed games like this. I did check the leaderboard and saw some people were killing it on there, so I suppose I'm in the minority. I would say the game is pretty hard, and adding a bit of a boost to the power ups, or just that they show up faster, would help a lot with that. Good job on your GDD. I can see you hit all the things you wanted to by the end of the jam, including a leaderboard! (woot! I'm on there. for now. xD) The artwork, effects, sounds, and music were all absolutely on point! No issues there at all. Simply superb Game Jam submission. Overall I think you did an excellent job on this game!
Link to your Game Design Doc on Google Drive.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tirnz1UvmNDMgFWnOLzqUpF8arpXvY5974K43nkEfFo/edit?usp=sharing
Have you checked that your GDD is publicly accessible ?
Yes
Is your game set to public on itch.io so we can see it?
Yes
Summarise your game!
Play as a little demon that is cursed with exploding every 10 seconds for all eternity, if you want to stay alive, take others to the grave with you and consume their energy. Enemies will avoid you at any cost! Collect resources and gain power ups in an infinitely generated dungeon to increase your changes of survival. Stay alive as long as possible and fight for the highest score. Quick decision making , resource management and a fast pace is the key to BOOM AND DOOM.
Controls.
Move - AWSD
Explode manually - Left click
Hook enemies towards you - Right click
Dodge/Dash - Space
Ultimate ability - R
Please explain how your game fits the theme:
You have a curse that will make you explode every X seconds, taking the life of enemies panicking when they see you is the key to survival.
Is there anything you'd like the judges to pay particular attention to?
-Game feel
-Concept
-Mechanics
-Replayability
-Infinite Dungeon generation
-Power ups
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Comments
This one was fun. I like the art and atmosphere. I clicked past the tutorial so initially I was playing in hardcore mode without using any of the specials but even that was pretty fun, if sometimes a bit frustrating. The range of the explosion seemed confusing to me. It wasn't clear if it just kills everything in a radius or if the particles that shoot out are projectiles somehow. It might be nice to have a clear indication of when an enemy is in range.
The game looks and sounds super good.
I am not sure to understand what should happen when I die. I was not able to restart, I was just unable to move and my little bomb became a smoke. The extra life did not work aswell.
The greens attacks slowed me down quite a bit. I wonder how the game plays if the attacks get destroyed when hitting a wall.
It would be nice to see the range of your explosion aswell.
Congrats on making something fun !
Very nicely designed, I thought the idea of being a monster that explodes itself and the other monsters being terrified of you made the game world feel alive. The music was paced nicely, including the timer sound effect making you understand the urgency of finding another monster quickly. I think the mouse buttons should be switched though, cos LMB can sometimes prematurely end the game if pressed accidentally. The dark vignette and mini-map were a great addition to the game. And the pixel art was awesome. Very good entry!! Well done
This is pretty nice :D The runs can be pretty short or really long depending on how well you play. You executed everything really well, great job!
Wow this game is concise and polished. I'm not sure if the level is just endless, but man I survived for a while. 8.5k was my ending score! The tutorial was really well done and enjoyed all the UI elements. I really enjoyed the hook mechanic. The art is very good! Very arcade. Explosions felt super satisfying. The chiptune music and sfx added to that feel and were right at home.
I think something that could help players, especially once you start increasing the boom range, is adding a range indicator for when you're in range to explode enemies. I didn't really have much of a problem with it, but as I got more explosion radius upgrades I started to wonder what my limit was.
Think this is a great submission and really enjoyed my runs!
Ah I had so much fun playing this game! Because of skill issue it definitely took me a little bit of time to get a hang of the controls but once I did it was smooth. The overall design is very well done. I love the enemy variety as well the level design. I appreciate a fully fledged tutorial. I definitely needed it and sometimes that is overlooked with the short time frames we have during a jam. Sometimes it felt like the hook didn't want to hook an enemy when I felt close enough to them with enough charges. Might've been a skill issue though. Overall great work! It definitely has the framework for nice, continuous gameplay that would keep people coming back for more.
Thanks for submitting your game to the stream, if you wanted to look at it again in the future heres the vod timestamped to your game (if it doesn't work your game starts at 43:13)
Great job. Pixel art is clean and consistent. Music fits. The gameplay loop is balanced (The right amount of enemy spawns and power ups) Great arcade feel
Sometimes its really fun to terrorise monsters a bit, and what a good experience this is! The graphics are very cute, sound design is also very nice. The game has a fairly enjoyable gameplay loop too! I played a bit till a score of 8010 and I am enjoying every second of it.
To give a bit of constructive criticism I would probably point to the fact that avoiding incoming bullets is pretty much not worth the effort, and the dodge power is never used to dodge bullets but rather used to chase monsters, which I think it's a little bit counterintuitive. The game also suffers a bit when the level goes for a while, and the difficulty seldom increases and thus feels a bit stale somewhere after 6000 points.
Nevertheless, this is a very good game and is well polished, well made. You've done a very good job making this game! Keep up the good work!
It's a very cool game. I think the art music and gameplay really come together.
The character moveset feels a bit incomplete without the dashes or hooks so having them as a limited resource feels a bit bad. I really loved the game tho
What an awesome game!! Very unique!! As other said, the slowing slowed me down so much I couldn't move, and they shot me through the walls!! >:0 Love the grapple and dash, and ultimate ability is so cool to have.
Really great entry. It's so polished looking and I think the gameplay is a lot of fun. It's really satisfying to blow a monster up when your close to dying and I like the hook mechanic a lot. I think the mushroom slow debuff stacking can get a bit frustrating at times, but that could be a personal preference kinda thing. Great work on this!
Very fun and addicting! The art and music are great! It's a little tough, but I feel like it fits the arcade-like nature of the game. I do wish there was some way to at least regain your dashes, even if it was one every x kills or something, could make for a nice life-saver when you are in a bit of a rough spot, or when you master the game add a level of satisfaction being able to go through the level faster
Such a slick entry! The art and music are so snazzy, they grab you immediately, and the 10s timer gives so much urgency to the game. The level-generation was solid, and very impressive. The gameplay was fun, I found it difficult to stockpile resources for long (although, mostly because they were so fun to use). The hook in particular was my favourite, and the ultimate was a really fun resource to have in the back pocket for when things start going wrong, as a last-ditch effort to save the run. I agree with some of the other comments that the slowing projectiles felt a bit too punishing, but with some balance tweaks I could see this being sold as a full game.
Great work all, a superb entry!
Edit: I noticed there's a leaderboard, so cool! I had to get my name up there, #4 will do nicely for now.
Astral Tornado 38530, signing off.
This game is amazing and expertly polished. The graphics, sfx, and music all go together. The gameplay felt tight and exciting. My only thought is that the slowness projectiles stacking seems a little too strong. I would get hit by 2, and then I couldn't dodge the rest, and if there are more than 1 enemy of that type on screen, then the run was basically over. Great game though!
Super fun and great polish! I loved the audio design and all the fun particle effects. The art was great too!
If I had to give some feedback I would say the limitations on the different abilities and trying to manage all the numbers made me want to experiment and use them a bit less.
Really great game overall good job!
I had a lot of fun playing this. you've got an extremely engaging game loop and a really solid foundation. here are somethings i think could improve the experience.
- an initial enemy type that actually moves towards the player when in x proximity.
- instead of waiting for your player to return after exploding, gain a burst of speed that lerps over time to normal speed after x seconds, IMO this could help the game flow better and mesh well with the frenetic sense of energy this game has.
- i wonder if you could simplify the control scheme by merging the dash and the hooks purpose into one ability. with this new ability u could send a hook/arm to slingshot yourself by hooking walls or pulling yourself to enemies.
- an easier way to restore lost abilities
Very fun combat loop, I played for way longer than I expected. Great job on the visuals as well, never felt so satisfying to self destruct!
Good job, this has a lot a lot of potential.
Really fun! got surprisingly engaging when i got the hang of it!
Fun game! Really neat, good job! Looks and feels juicy