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Hey - nice prototype, it has a cool bouncy feel even at this stage which I think is maybe a good indicator that you'll be able to add a fair amount of juiciness to the later alpha build.  

I like the initial feel of the controls, though I kept on getting pushed into a wall then losing the ability to move - not sure if that's me being bad at the game or a bug :D The shooting is cool though, has a satisfying feel even at this stage. There's obviously loads more you can build on in that respect. If there was a tonne of different explosive weapons firing off everywhere, and enemies exploding and spikes...spiking...etc, then I reckon you can definitely use this as a basic prototype that delivers a fair amount of fun for what it is. 

I could obviously say the visual stuff that needs to be improved, but as you've stated this is a prototype there's no point in me saying "oh you need better gfx" but I'm definitely intrigued to see what they become - could be anything from random bugs with guns on their backs to actual tanks haha :D

Anyway, my only major issues were the collision detection on my character, like I say I'd have a bit of a shoot-out, ping a load of enemies around, then get sandwiched against them and the wall and then the controls seemed to stop working so maybe I was just destroyed, which actually makes sense now I think about it haha. If that's the case maybe need more info on that for dumb asses like me ;)  Also, I didn't get the slammer thing too well, maybe that needs more explanation and ease of access as stated in other reviews. I do like the idea of having that on the right mouse - again, for dumbasses like me, and then it'd maybe make it more fun when it's easier to implement, cos otherwise a shootout is my first instinct and I tend to ignore the slammer.

Hope that makes some sense and maybe helps you a little bit in developing it! Great work in a short time and interested to see where it goes ;) 

Hey man, as I said in the Discord, I love how much this has come on. Graphics are looking really cool now, and the loop is great. Can't wait to see what features you add over next few iterations :D

I was thinking, maybe you should make some other method where Card Shop Kid gets his cards from? Not that it's a big deal, but it seems the shop being there is a slight immersion breaker in that any of them could get there. Could he maybe have an Animon contact? Like, going off on one, could he maybe even have an actual Animon card that has come to life, that can get him rare cards in exchange for completing a task or something,  and then, I dunno, some kind of mysterious Animon card dealer that gives behind the shop or something. Just a thought, I mean it's great as it is, but it just occurred to me you could have a whole row of shops at the top that maybe link into other little sub-taks, or sub levels even.

Again, just throwing random shit out there haha, you know I love this, and totally impressed with how far it's come on graphics wise. I really do think you should make some idle anims as well though, like I know a lot of 90s games (especially on GB and stuff) didn't go for them so much, but I do think it would add to the vibe of the characters.

Anyway, amazing work, keep going cos I think you're defo onto something ;) 

Hey man :D  Wow this has come on a lot - I love the main character sprite, really cool. It opens up the question of the theme plot, characters etc. I'm curious to know now, cos the main sprite is so cool. I really want to see some more animations on him though. Enemies are cool, but I think you can come up with loads more to add variation.

Personally, I love the idea of a bullet hell like this, I was tempted to do one myself back in Bootcamp 00, and playing this has restored my appetite a bit.

If you are going commercial, I think you need to work on these things as a priority:

a) game surface - it's already looking good, but you need story, plot, character and a reason for the enemy invasion to tie it all together. Have some fun, kick back with a drink (or whatever :D) and think about all that stuff.  Then you can add lore, and maybe that will inform you/your artist of the kind of animations etc that will match the personality of your hero. And the same applies to enemies. On which note:

b) enemy variations, especially in the patterns they use. Go more towards bullet hells like Mushihimesama, and maybe amp it up to those levels as you progress and perhaps have more single enemies that fire out bullet hell variation patterns. I think that way it adds more challenge and also elements of interest. Like If those owls are at different levels, and maybe produce different but incredibly cunning bullet patterns, I feel like that would give the enemies more personality. It'll be like "oh no, it's the RED owl" or whatever :D 

Anyway, I really enjoyed playing and love how far it has come on. The game has more personality and direction now, and I think it could be a cool little bullet hell, with the right elements added.

Great work, man, I look forward to seeing where it goes :D 

Hey :D First of all, great effort in finishing in the time you did. It's fun to play, and I especially like the bow mechanic. you've really executed that well. I'd be tempted to remove his two attacks at the start so you have to find the bow to be able to beat the orcs. Definitely needs more enemies, but I see this is a prototype for another project so I'm guessing that's just something you don't really need to implement/test in this version, but I think it'd make it more fun with archer orcs, or maybe wizard orcs would be better, firing firebolts and stuff ;)

Graphics are great, love the pixel art, and the music is spot on, and also love how you've implemented the sound FX. It's not easy coordinating all that with jumping, attacking etc etc

It's super cool how you've done the treasure chests - it's quite satisfying Mario-ing them into a reward :D 

My only real criticism is the jumps. They feel unnatural, he goes way too high too quickly (IMHO of course) and it does seem that it's the one thing you haven't spent as much time on - I totally get that, I made a platformer before in the last camp and my jumps need quite a bit of work to sort out - not sure if you had the same experience, but it is a real rabbit hole - in mine I had ledges, which were basically triggers, which then boosted the jump, and that took ages and I still haven't really got it down properly. So I'm not saying your jumps are bad, they're good, but they just make it way too easy to complete. I think it comes with the sparse level design. Like, if you were making this as a game, I think you'd need to pad out the levels, improve the platforms and work out more precise jumps and sort places where the player may land, and possible hazards around the spots where he'll end up.

I'm just thinking out loud, no expert or anything, and you've obviously done a great job with this, but if you were looking for areas to improve, those would be my suggestions ;)

But, yeah, amazing effort in the time - you produced a fun and readable 2D pixel art platformer in a very quick time, and it's really cool how you've been updating it cos you got the prototype done so quickly - I should take a few tips haha :D

Great work, man, look forward to seeing how it progresses!

Thanks so much for the feedback, man, I really appreciate it :D Those are all great points and I think will definitely improve it a lot - I will work on implementing the suggestions. Thanks for the compliments as well, I do enjoy making the pixel art and I'm glad it comes across okay :D Cheers, I'll make sure I get playing your game as soon as possible

Hey - great effort on following the reference game. You really seem to have the mechanics of that format nailed down. I love the setting and theme, I think it works really well.

However, I had issues with the slow speed of the sub - might be my laptop but it was painfully slow to turn and move, and that made it a bit of a grind just to get some bubbles. I think maybe you should introduce more things early to speed up the sub process and perhaps give some advice and tooltips - like where do we go, what do we do to get upgrades and how and where do we shoot etc. 

I really liked the art style, I think you can do much more with it. You could have the sub captain's profile pic up, perhaps saying things to help clarify what is going on. Then maybe you could have other crew members pop up in similar pics updating us on what is going on, what is near, how much further we need to go before next stage, updates on weapons etc etc and also maybe ground control coming in with tips and info etc

Also, I feel like the atmospherics and art are doing a great job of conveying the situation, but the floor makes it look like the sub is grounded a lot of the time. Maybe add some objects on the seabed for perspective, or maybe a shimmering water-style effect over the top.

I do love where you've taken the theme, though, it really suits it and you are defo on the way to capturing the feel really well, just needs a bit of juicing and polishing. I'll definitely give this another go and see how far I can get, I did enjoy playing, just the pace was way too slow I thought.

 Seriously, though, fantastic effort in such a short time ;) 

*I think my laptop is running a bit slow actually so will reboot and play again ;) 

Cool game - loved the pixel art and music! Movement is a bit slow I feel, I know it'd make it really hard with arrows travelling faster but I think everything should speed up a few notches ;)
Was a cool hybrid of a bullet hell and a VS/Gauntlet style slash 'em up  - will be really cool if you add bonuses, level ups and basically extend the time each time you survive - like start on 30 seconds, then increase by 30 secs every level or something, make it fast and furious and juicy and I think it'll be a really cool game. Also, I really like the choice to make it an isometric plain instead of just top down - nice touch ;) 

Great work in such a short time!

Wow, so this took a while to work out what to do - I think you need a more solid tutorial as I had to go back to the reference game to understand the mechanics. After I did, though, and then came back to this, it all clicked. This is actually a really cool idea, and I think you've taken the original game's idea onto a new place of your own, and it can definitely work - cute sprites and music, I like that, and the feel of the UI and world map is nice. I think you need to make sure the theme is consistent - tractors and ancient-looking tribes don't mix, maybe make the decor appropriate to a more fantasy/ancient-style setting.  The game loop is clever and I can see it being pretty addictive with some polish - mainly on explaining what the object of the level is, and how the time is very limited so you need to get to the trading point ASAP with your recipes etc.  I think you need more resources and definitely try and make movement down to mouse click instead of dragging the object, it took me ages to understand I had to do that :D

Great effort on a complicated idea in a very short time, I hope you carry on with this concept and expand it, because I think it can definitely work. 

Hey GREG, thanks so much for the feedback :D really appreciate it and glad it at least worked (a bit) haha ;)

thanks for both those points, you're totally right. I was worried about the feel of the controls, especially the punch. defo will get to work on making them better!

Also it's really helpful you tried to gamepad, i'd configured it on unity but haven't got a pad I can use to hand lol, so I didn't mention it in the description! on one hand I'm pleased it works (a bit, lol) but that is concerning cos it should be configured that the a button (on xbox) should be jump and the b button (on xbox) should be attack. I'll have to get a controller and try and work it out. think I might make a little interactive mobile joystick as well so at least I know I can code that to work with the right button.

thanks man, really appreciate the feedback. btw I've made sprite designs for a few characters etc for card shop kid, I'll export them as pngs this weekend and see what you think (if you're still interested in them that is, no worries if you've decided to move on with other sprites etc)

cheers and speak soon :D 

Hey, sorry for getting to this so late, but I'm really glad I got to play it. Was a really fun premise and vibe, and I'd say you are well on the way to nailing it. Needs work on the background art (the sides of the level etc) and could do with more explanation on what to do and where to go etc, but I thought it was a great idea, really funny premise and had fun playing so that's a win for me. The capsule art is hilarious, I think it's okay to make games for adults to play and have a laugh at, I know some people will inevitably be offended by that, so could put him in his undies or whatever, but tbh it's a selling point and it is funny :D
Great work, especially in such a short time.

Awesome man, that's great you're carrying it on. I'd defo be up for the sprites, in fact I've started on a few already :D I'll get in touch on Discord and send you the ideas and see what you think. Tbh they are pure 80s/early90s GB style, but at first I'm using the Master System palette just cos it's simple and I love it. All that can be changed. Also, you may think they aren't that great. and that's fine, no pressure to use anything I make at all :)  I've gone ahead and started doing a few buildings as well haha.

That's awesome you've already started to work on that other stuff, it is gonna be such a cool little game!

Tbh sometimes AI really nails it haha, a lot of time it's janky as shit and all that, but those cards are really quite cool. You could use them as a template for a paid artist if you get any budget behind the game, but really for what you are doing now, they seem to be so perfect it'd be kind of a shame not to use them :D

Excellent work man, like I say I'll get in touch on Discord and see what you think about any sprites I've made ;) 

Amazing work, you really nail the brief with this one haha, it's loads of fun and the sprites and animations are super cute and the whole thing just works on every level.  If I'm trying to find some constructive criticism I'd say you could expand the theme to be more wacky and in tune with the crazy vibe of the whole genre, so maybe make the power ups more original, even if they do the same thing. Like, even if the shoot faster add on makes him shoot faster, it could just be called something entirely different, I dunno, he could be shooting peas so it could be the Pea Shooter Plus or something, with a cute Pea with a face bouncing up and down instead of the Sergeant stripes  haha - that's a super bad example I know, I just thought of it off the top of my head :'D
Anyway just thought I'd try and bring something to the table that might help make this incredibly awesome little game even better if you take it on, because basically you've done an amazing job with this as it is ;) 

Wow, man, this was so awesome, especially considering the time we had to make something! At first, I died, a lot haha, but then I turned out the lights and played and it was a really fun time. Actually still playing, trying to work out where to go :D  

Loved the OG Resident Evil vibes with the little snippets of story written on notes - very cool. Awesome theme and the story seems solid enough to make it fun and a little bit scary when the zombies rush out of the shadows at you haha!

Art also really cool. For me, the main character is too spooky. I'd make him more of a character, with face etc, because at first I thought he was a zombie for a moment! That's subjective though, just what I would do tbh.

I'm not sure if the zombies cool off and head another way when you turn out the light? If not, I think that should be something haha :D

Anyway, man, I'm really impressed. It's a pretty great achievement to make this, let alone finish it in such a short time. Look forward to seeing how it develops - great work ;) 

Man I loved this. Absolutely frickin cool idea, and has such a vast potential, I'm kind of jealous I didn't think of it :D Seriously though, the core concept and mechanics are superb, and the world has the potential to be something really quite original and very very cool. Only cos I loved it so much, I'm gonna give some constructive criticism on the art, for me it was the thing that failed to meet the standards set by the other parts of the game. For me, pixel art is a matter of scaling, and really the kind of size portraits and detail needed for the cut scenes needs a lot of work, and is easily the hardest thing to do with pixel art. Like, it's worth it, but it will take a long time and a lot of work to get a pixel art cutscene looking as good as it needs to be to support the rest of the game. You could consider digitising some photos or pixellating some vector art using whatever pixel art software you use, or even getting AI to do it just for the cutscene portraits and then keep the backgrounds in the style you have. The main game sprites are cool but I think they could be made just amazingly awesome with a bit of work, if you basically get a OG pokemon ash type sprites and use a MSX, NES or GBC palette. Like, I'm not sure if it's your thing, if your learning pixel art then sweet, within a few iterations you'll be getting there anyway, if it's a drag for you then just get on Fiver or something and get some made up, or even just find assets on Unity Store or wherever, or I'd be more than happy to do some 16 x 16 sprites for you, just cos I love this idea so much, no charge obvs :D But tbh it's all subjective stuff and maybe you much prefer this style, and that's totally cool but I would think about the cutscenes.  

Aaaanyway, back to the game - man I LOVE the cards, they totally rock.  Awesome art and characters. So cool ;) Game loop is really cool and fun, I'd defo like to see day/night cycle, character has to go home, speak to mum, maybe have some interactables and stuff - bit kind of Persona ish :)  Also I think each time you unlock a character in the shop they should appear on the map in day time and you can interact and maybe play them at the card game. This might happen, I've only played for 25 mins so far and failed badly at first haha, but it hadn't happened so far. Also, I think you need more interesting and varied idle animations, that'd be cool I think. If you did bring other characters on map, they could even be doing things, like on swings or kicking a ball or playing the card game.

So yeah, absolutely frickin cool idea, really well executed in the time, and basically a brilliant effort and a triumph of the boot camp method haha :D

Aw man, this is so cool but my laptop can't keep up haha. From what I played, I thought it was really well designed and I had a lot of fun. The mechanics and gameplay are spot on and so well implemented, love the sound effects. I'd ditch the AI female for a more robotic-sounding voice, like an old skool computer voice from an 80s sci fi movie or something. The one at the moment sounds a bit too much like a cheap sat nav or something haha ;D  
I dunno, this is just well impressive for the time we had, and makes me feel not so bad that I struggled to finish on time, as there are so many talented people like yourself in this group, all I can do is watch and learn so thanks ;) Seriously, it is such amazing work for such a short time!

This was pretty awesome, man. I had issues with the fact my laptop struggled with framerate unfortunately, but think that's a me problem haha. Fantastic idea and execution, I really enjoyed the time I had, thought it was really well executed and fitted the whole theme perfectly. Definitely could maybe redesign the controls a bit, though cos of my laptop struggling and framerate dropping, obviously it just made the control system hard to operate, but that's not to say it doesn't work on a decent PC. Considering how short a time we had, I think this is incredibly impressive and definitely an idea well worth pursuing :D

Wow, what a cool little game. This was a damn near perfect iteration of the original, and I love what you did to make the gameplay absorbing and fun. Awesome visuals styling as well, I think his would have placed highly in any game jam and is a brilliant interpretation of what we were supposed to do in journeyman (though some failed like me haha 😆)

Brilliant and inspiring work! 

I thought this was awesome, really clever and I could really see this becoming something cool in the Disco Elysium kind of genre, with some fleshed out characters and also some real potential for character development with the cops relationship with each other, as well as the way the relationship obviously is very dynamic with the suspects, you could pull a more slow and subtle string to make the cops have a dynamic relationship that is directly effected by the way they approach the job. This actually gave me proper This Is The Police vibes as well, and I think you could turn this whole mechanic into something incredibly cool. You definitely should pursue this more. 

Brilliant work in such a short time as well 😁🙌

Hey, sorry for coming to this so late, I've been trying to get my game finally finished :D But this was cool, to be made in such a short time, and it is very playable too. I think maybe the projectiles could do with some polish, but the enemy sprites were cool. The Player's gun was stuck in one position, but other than that he looked pretty cool too ;) A great fun effort and proof you can get a playable game finished in a quick time - quicker than me anyway ;) 

Hey man we chatted about this in the Discord, but I feel it would really fly if you designed cards in a Lovecraftian style for the bottom card choices, and then you just need to develop the mechanics to make the events relate to the main character in a more definitive way (i.e. the story paths that each event triggers have a more solid grip on the actions and reactions of the character and the relationship between the two things - player and event).  I think you can do this by basically giving the player a deck of cards they can use to effect the events and choices. It could just be like 3 cards to start with.

I get the idea is way more complicated than you can achieve in 3 weeks, but you should persevere with this, the atmospheric music, fonts and awesome writing are awesome and I think this could really be something cool. Keep going!

I posted on the main page but thought I'd also do it here and say that is bloody incredible for three weeks or whatever. Great style and love the concept and execution. Amazing work, very inspirational ;) 

This was really awesome. Great artwork, loved it, and I like the mechanic of side on 2D plaformer-esque exploration with the turn-based combat. I think this is frickin great and you should definitely develop it further, juice it up etc, and you've got an awesome little dungeon crawler. Amazing work, very inspirational ;) 

I thought this was stylish in its execution. It's always fun making and playing a classic top-down shmup like this, and it doesn't disappoint in enemy variety and the sprites look smooth and background clouds etc are great.  I would love to hear it with sound and see it with some added Juice on the explosions etc.

Great effort in the short time, nice work ;) 

Amazing graphics and atmosphere - loved the sound and voice acting too. Cool idea, would be awesome to have more to do though, but I mean, in 3 days that is really cool - nice work ;) 

Awesome game, once I got the hang of zipping about with the mouse. Some really cool mechanics and love the simple colour scheme, used really effectively. Addictive and fun - nice work ;)

Awesome idea and some really cool stuff with the animations on the items being haunted. Was great fun though I did find it hard to jump around some of the obstacles at first! I think maybe the ghost should be able to float through the floors and sort of fly around a bit :D

Tune was nice but maybe a scarier one would be cool, or just when the hauntings happen maybe? Anyways , awesome effort and really cool game ;)

Awesome idea and really well executed. Was confusing at first,  and would be amazing with some more animations and some cool sound. Love the upgrade stuff and the whole idea is inspired, you should definitely keep developing it!

Nice work ;)

This was really cool, brilliantly put together in the short time and basically amazing that it plays as such a rounded little game. Only problem is now I feel a bit bad for those cute little flying ghost puppies. They sure got ate up a lot :D

Hey 😁 thanks so much for the feedback, I'm incredibly pleased you had fun with it, and really appreciate your time 😊

hey 😁 thanks so much for checking it - I appreciate the tips massively. I'll defo have a look at the camera, I've got the unity cinemachine installed so it's got some really cool options for that type of stuff 😁👍

Glad you got some fun out of it, that was my only goal after I realised I'd never complete my initial conception in 3 days, but I'm totally going to turn it into the full version and I'll take all this feedback with me, it's invaluable so thanks so much for your time 🙌😊

Thanks, I really appreciate the time and feedback :D  So glad you enjoyed it - yeah I was pleased how Frankie came out, took me half of the time to get him done lol so some of the mechanics are a bit...off for sure haha.  

Yeah so right click fires the green balls, and the reticle is to aim it. I should have made that a left click I think just cos I'd made the animation and decided his left click should punch, but I think that needs a rethink!

Yep the pills are just a health boost, the original idea was kill all the villagers and pick up coins, and also health, and eventually rescue the Doc, but fell quite far short from that :D

Thanks so much, really appreciate it :) 

Awesome game, shooting felt good, and had a lot of fun - great work, man ;) 

Hey - thanks for checking it out :) Yeah no problem, will do now

This was great - fantastic effort. Took me a while to get off the first screen, maybe could do with some more direction for stupid people like me :D Haven't got to the end but will keep trying ;) 

Haha yeah totally ran out of time, just ended up using the same things on everything pretty much and unfortunately the poor skellys don't even make a sound 😆 wish I'd changed the pitch on the scorpions though, would have made sense haha

Thanks so much for your time and the feedback 😁👍

Hey  - thanks so much for the feedback, I really appreciate it 🙏😁 great advice, I totally ran out of time to get any kind of balance and you're so right about the the hit boxes! All over the place haha 😆

So glad you had fun anyway, totally appreciate your time 🙌😁

EDIT: GAME SHOULD BE WORKING NOW!

Turns out the issue was that I'm an actual idiot. Thankfully there was a work around - not being a total idiot ALL the time, and that seemed to work 😆🤣

Hi, thanks so much for the feedback! Yeah this sucks, the build I exported to my laptop worked fine. I've tried a few times now with different builds and I can't get it working. So Ive tried to export as WebGL but it's actually even worse it doesn't even created an app file. I'm trying hard to get it working ASAP, I'll be sad to miss out on the jam after all that work haha. Cheers and thanks for trying 

Hi - sorry for late reply - yes unfortunately it only works on windows at the moment. Apologies, I am trying to get a version for other formats up and running  soon!