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Space Impalers's itch.io pageJudge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- First of all, congratulations on submitting your first project! You did a great job, and I hope this experience helped you learn something new. As you described in your GDD, this is a Space Invader clone with the key difference being that instead of a bullet, you shoot a harpoon. While the core mechanics are functional, the addition of music or sound effects would have greatly enhanced the overall experience. Implementing the barriers mentioned in your GDD would have also helped in faithfully recreating the classic Space Invader feel. Your GDD covers the necessary details but could be improved by including images of mechanics and expanding on certain aspects of gameplay. Adding a timetable would also help visualize your development process and provide insight into how the game evolved. It was a good submission and a good proof of concept, especially for a first submission. hope to see you again at the next game jam! Keep up the great work!
Link to your Game Design Doc on Google Drive.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1urewVn3Cha2-DoC-eUi0HmpYw9szu9XwUQ5W7r-Z_5c/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!
A Space Invaders style "shoot 'em up" with a "Space Harpoon" instead of a gun. The harpoon locks the player in place while in use. The goal is to get as high a score as possible.
Move: A / D or Left / Right
Shoot: W / Up / Space
Enter: Start / Restart game
Tab: Toggle Fullscreen
Esc: Exit Game
Please explain how your game fits the theme:
You are a robot "Tridentank", defending your planet from space raiders. Built-in to your mechanical skeleton is your "Space Harpoon" which you utilise against them. You are the weapon.
I wished to do more music, levels and various kinds of enemies for the game but, in the end, I spent a lot of time fixing game-breaking issues and trying to make shooting and getting shot work. Pressing the Shoot key after the Game Over screen can break the game and this was one bug I could not figure out how to fix.
Overall I was very impressed that I managed to make something relatively playable for my very first game!
And it's all because of the jam. Thank you to Pirate Software and the judges for an opportunity for so many of us to actually start out with our hobbies.
Is there anything you'd like the judges to pay particular attention to?
I have spent a lot of time on the hit mechanics, especially for the enemies. My biggest issue was the enemies bumping into each other if more than one touched the harpoon at the same time.
Somehow, a piece of code that kept the harpooned enemy above others on the Z index didn't work in the uploaded version.
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Comments
I really like the chunky pixels of the enemies with the contrast of the small bullets. I made got over 100 points without getting hit. One minor bug, sometimes I would shoot and enemy and my harpoon would stop as if it hit the enemy but I wouldn't get the enemy. It didn't affect my enjoyment, I just pretended that enemy had an extra hitpoint.
Thank you for the review and well done for reaching over 100 points! I will have to create more room for score numbers so you can reach 1000...
Hmm, it sounds like there are still some collision issues. I will attempt to re-create this bug and fix it. Thank you for reporting it!
The enemy projectiles are too small, i died mostly because i couldn't see them. Congrats on the first game! Keep going!
This is undoubtedly a simple change. I will make the projectiles longer and see how it feels after. Thank you for your feedback!
a simple idea well executed! i didn't encounter any bugs on my playthrough.
It could be fun if you could also hit enemies as the harpoon came back down. That plus adding variable speed for different rows of enemies could create fun moments where you get multiple enemies with one shot, maybe if you shoot while moving the harpoon could maintain some directional velocity and hit a couple in a row diagonally.
just some random thoughts I had while playing it, great job!
-Josiah
Much appreciated! I am as surprised as I am pleased that you encountered no bugs...
I considered an idea since uploading where the enemies could be "squashed" as they come down and, later on in the game, you could hit multiple at the same time, giving you a score multiplier.
Thank you again for the feedback.
This was the first game I ever made alone and have had so much fun! Thank you for organising this jam.