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Danmaku Dragon's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Audio | #26 | 3.163 | 3.417 |
| Challenge | #28 | 3.163 | 3.417 |
| Visuals | #37 | 3.202 | 3.458 |
| Overall | #40 | 2.893 | 3.125 |
| Use of Theme | #40 | 2.507 | 2.708 |
| Gameplay | #43 | 2.739 | 2.958 |
| Concept | #45 | 3.202 | 3.458 |
| Story/Writing | #46 | 1.543 | 1.667 |
Ranked from 24 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Team Members
Cathulhu Studios, TankTheta, special thanks to Potat and Bender
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Comments
Pretty sick mechanic, I loved it.
I'm really surprised by how it turned out to be a... Danmaku Beat M' Up? That's quite unique! I got the hang of the controls really quickly though I have a question:
Is there a real reason/intention behind why Meiling can't deflect when she's not focused? I know it's probably for gameplay reasons, but I'm not sure which.
Notes to the others: when you're in melee range, you must mash Attack really fast for your kicks to count as a combo (which in turn fills your bomb gauge faster); and the boss seems to have infinite HP so I guess you can stop 2 minutes in her second phase.
I've had a blast with this game! I featured it in my showcase video:
https://youtu.be/PoWrHcmGjbU?t=2963
Hong Meiling fights a SHMUP with martial arts!
I don't understand why you can't make combos by kicking different enemies, thats the usual.
Quite entertaining, still need a little bit polish on the sprites but I liked them even so, I loved the scenario, quite simple but very original.
And Meiling, well, I don't get why she can't kick to the left, it's unfair since one of my strategies is to wait an enemy to shot and then surround it and attack it from behind, but, its even harder since you have to wait or make them attack you from your back, its just a nuisance.
Seija's boss fight could be simpler if you add some fairies to kill and get your special replenished, its not simpler, it just adds some challenge and reward at the same time.
It's incredibly hard, even with the focus, but I really like the idea of mixing up beat'em up and danmaku game. Like the art, it's a very clean and sharp pixel art, and I'm particularly fond of the sound effects.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I spent a lot of time trying to beat this game without knowing that you could reflect bullets, even though I should know better than to ignore the itch.io page.
The visuals are great and the boss was fun. The normal enemies are way too tanky, but so is Meiling, so you can just tank everything while rushing through the stage. The game has some of the usual problems associated with melee attacks in shmups, but the boss fight worked very well and Seija's gimmicks were interesting.
The bomb did not seem to do anything against Seija, but that might have been a visual glitch. Since you can't store more than one bomb (and you start with a full meter), the combo system becomes kind of pointless, but the game is fun even without this and it feels satisfying to just kick away clouds of bullets.
Quite tricky because I'm not good at these types of games, very fun tho
I was going to say that this was too hard for me to beat, but then after looking at the comments, I realized I could focus/reflect bullets! The art is nice on this (the cubically garbled pixels of the damage animation is a lovely detail), and I particularly loved the music.
Oh oops, your post just now has made me realize that while there's a description in the game's itch.io page there is none on this page... Also thanks, glad you appreciated the game
parrying is pretty awkward considering it only works while focused, is a small hitbox below and in front of you, and cant be used for a bit after taking damage
pretty cool though, pixels are neat and some of the patterns are cool to parry if you can get em
Hey aeon. Yeah, the hitbox and the hitstun were two areas where the system might've come short. Thanks for the feedback
At first I didn't got it. Then I got it and liked it. Would appreciate some tutorial in game to show that player can reflect bullets. Also for some reason you can do it only when focused, is it intented or a bug? (because attacks looks the same)
Completed it on second run, after I understood how to play, quite enjoyable.
Regarding an in game tutorial: Originally we were going to include something of the sort, but we ran out of time in a rather drastic way, and there wasn't any time left for anything that wasn't a part of the core gameplay - so we had to settle on explaining the features on the itch.io page the best way we could. I was very tired back when I wrote the instructions, so sorry if I didn't make the mechanics too clear...
Yeah, the bullets only being able to be parried while focused is a feature. Seemed like a good way of balancing the parry mechanic, at the time - although now I'm not too sure.
Glad you enjoyed the game!
Looks like an NES game, Sounds like an NES game, plays like an NES game, and is as hard as an NES game. Overall: that sure was an NES game. (Nice presentation and it felt very authentic to the era!)
NES games (Double Dragon) were the primary inspiration indeed. I'm glad we managed to achieve our goal, and that you enjoyed the game : )
I love the retro style, looks and feels awesome. However the difficulty is too high! Faeries have too much hp, there are too many of them and it's impossible to get up close.
I understand. Thanks for the feedback, we'll keep that in mind.
incredibly difficult, the boss was a bit frustrating bc she kept flipping me around and i couldnt parry the bullets back at her bc i was flipped around.
the game seems to try and get you to make combos because it fills your meter but getting into melee range is always incredibly unsafe and will result in your death, so i would always sit back and parry bullets instead resulting in me never actually getting the bomb charged.
the art fits the 8 bit theme super well, and a little touch i thought was cool was how the character flashes when hurt, with individual parts flashing instead of her whole sprite, very simmilar to how old game consoles handled invuln flashes too.
the musics also fit the 8 bit theme very well.
Thanks for the feedback. We appreciate it!