Awesome top down 3D shmup with elements of bullet hell design. The developers have done an excellent job on all aspect of the game and paid a good amount of attention to detail since everything is accounted for, except for the exit button. The game is about keeping the player character alive and her home from being destroyed by garden enemies which makes this a straight forward game. The cutesy and simple vibrant colors match the theme of Magical Girl well, with the character being able to shoot magical bullets while the time mechanics fulfills the time dilation theme. Its a short and really fun game to play! d(>_< )
Magical Girl Concept: The Magical Girl concept is pretty apparent in this game in terms of color used and abilities the player character have. However the character design could use some improvement since she looks like an ordinary girl with magic powers and could have been designed to look the part of a Magical Girl, with frilly dress, overflowing skirts, highly decorated with magical accessories, etc. I can't deny the character design is cute and simple in its own way.
Mechanics: The game made use of some bullet hell mechanics, such as projectiles firing off in all directions, enemies can aim track the player position, and varying bullet patterns. The player is able to fire in any direction based on the mouse pointer and there is continuous fire for the two fire mode. There is a slow motion mechanic which slows down all movement (including the player character) and even audio. One thing I would highlight is that the rapid single shot fire feels over powered compared to the spread shot since I have only been using that as it is the single most effective weapon in the game. In terms of weapon balancing and since the player can aim, the spread shot could have been spaced a lot narrower and focused in the center. There is also a severe need to optimize the bullet projectiles since surprisingly to me it is also lagging on my workstation that uses a Ryzen 7 CPU and GTX1070 GPU. The game also utilized a pathing system (possibly navmesh?) since the enemies are able to follow a path towards the house. However the pathing needs to be optimized as some of the bigger enemies (the big blue frogs) got stuck behind fences and are unable to pass through the narrow opening in the fence. The movement feel solid and isn't limiting in any way while the responsive camera tracking helps keep the movement flow consistent.
Visual: The 3D low poly designs are really cute and vibrant with the animation making it really pleasing and fun to watch during gameplay. The choice of using low poly and its color composition makes the game attractive and easy to pick up. There are some good level of attention to detail such as bullet-enemy hit effects, player invulnerability, the flowers and grass detail on the playing field. The playing field is design with lots of consideration since there is plenty of cover of varying sizes and movement area doesn't feel too limited at all. The title screen is really well drawn and immediately tells the story of a girl defending her garden against mushroom and frog invaders. The developers clearly have put a lot of emphasis and effort on the visual aspect of the game which is commendable.
UI: The main menu layout is designed well, and the game is accessible from the start. There seems to be no in-game menu and no exit button anywhere in the game. I have to sadly Alt-F4 out of the game to quit the game. The options doesn't contain anything besides the control instructions so there is no way to adjust anything in-game.
Audio: The music and sound effects used are genuinely good and matches the garden theme in the game. I feel there could be more track in the game but as a game jam, there is sufficient use of music for the entire game. The sound effect used added a good level of quality to the game and the varying pitch bullet shots feel really fun to hear going off. Both the player and enemy characters would let out a voiced hurt sound effect which makes feels good and is a clear indicator of the hit state on the enemies or if the player got hurt.
Theme: The game utilized the magical girl theme well and player character abilities reflects what a magical girl would have. As for the side themes picked which is Conservation and Time Dilation, I think conservation is present but used in a loose manner since the situation in the game where the player is tasked to save herself and home from invaders isn't something to be conserved rather to defend or protect. Time dilation has been made good used as one of the mechanics in the game which does fulfills the theme while making the game easier for players.
Challenge / Engagement: The game starts off easy and gets pretty challenging when it reaches wave 4 and 5 that consist of beefier enemies and complex bullet patterns. Since the game is visually appealing to me and is quite complete, I was able to play the game for 5 round so it is really engaging from the start and is highly replayable for a really short game.
Originality / Creativity: The character art and design is really original along with the concept and idea of defending a home against waves of enemies. The creative aspect is highlighted in how the developers took the base idea of a shmup and converts it into a Magical Girl themed game.
Story: The game doesn't feature any detailed story but on the surface, based on the title screen, I can immediately tell the story is about a girl defending her home against garden invaders.
Overall: Its a pretty good short game with substantial gameplay, visually and audio rich, the animations are superb, and I had a lot of fun replay the game several times. Its at the state that its really polished but there are some minor issues such as the missing exit button, some minor bug with colliders (see notes), weapon balancing, slight enemy pathing issues, and especially the optimization for the projectiles. I think this would make a really good solid game to work on if the developers have any plans on developing the game further, in terms of gameplay and maybe even story.
Note: There is a minor bug where the character can phase through the fence on the bottom left side of the house and ends up at the bottom side of the map.
