A lot of people submitted top down wave shooters for this jam but this is by far the most polished with the best overall presentation.
The gameplay seemed fun at first but after a few rounds I found it extremely frustrating due to the chick. Having to keep it alive is an interesting idea for a game like this since it forces you to be more methodical and use cover, but a few details make it much more frustrating than interesting.
The way the chick follows you should be changed. Having it only start moving when its a certain distance away makes it feel very unresponsive and because of how fast enemies shoot, you’ll end up in situations where it’s basically impossible to get it out of harms way. It should always move to try and be behind you or you should have a mechanic where you can press a button to make it run behind you or something similar. As it is, I found myself losing in ways that felt totally unfair.
Another issue is that enemies can spawn anywhere in between rounds which can lead to you getting surrounded and losing due to bad luck. In one playthrough, the moment round 2 started I was surrounded by 2 robots who immediately shot the instant they spawned in. This makes the game feel frustrating and unfair. A system to spawn enemies away from the player could fix this OR a having a few seconds before the round starts where the player can see the enemies but they can’t attack.
The other issue is the aim not being aligned with the cursor. Obviously this is just a glitch/mistake and not a deliberate design decision but it definitely makes the game uncomfortable and difficult to play. Since you can’t easily protect the chick when it’s just standing in place and when enemies spawn around you, the best defense is a good offense but when your bullets don’t go where you want them to it compounds all the other issues.
One last note is that I think the player should move a bit faster by default and should also be a bit floaty since they’re literally floating. Starting and stopping on a dime is not very interesting gameplay.
You guys did a good job creating a very polished jam game, but I feel like it had a few minor issues that added up to make it a frustrating gameplay experience. With some tweaks and fixes though, this could be a much more fun and interesting game.