Devlog #5: Head Hunter - Enemies, Effects, and Fixes

I'm excited to share some significant updates and improvements to Head Hunter! This latest patch brings a variety of enhancements that enrich gameplay and expand the world. Here’s what’s new:

Gameplay Improvements

• Silver Chests: Introduced silver chests that drop less gold in earlier biomes, adding more variety and challenge to loot acquisition.
• Background Tile Generation: Added a new system for background tile generation and applied it in the Ruins biome, enhancing the visual atmosphere and depth of the environment.
• Weighted Object Generation: Implemented a weighted object generation, allowing for finer control over the likelihood of different objects appearing throughout the game.
• Seeded Randomness: Introduced seeded randomness for generation, making the world generation deterministic. Players can now experience consistent layouts, enhancing replayability. This can be used in the future for a daily challenge and to recreate generation bugs.

Bug Fixes

• Player Spawning Issue: Resolved an issue where players would occasionally spawn inside the ground, preventing soft locks and ensuring  more reliable runs.

New Enemies

• New Challenges: Added several new enemy types, including:
  • Bird: A dart-like aerial foe that adds a new layer of difficulty.
  • Cloaked: An support enemy that casts healing magic on other nearby enemies.
  • Bulb: A plant based enemy that emits a cloud of spores.

Visual and Functional Enhancements

• New Heal Particles: Implemented new visual effects for healing, adding more feedback and polish to the gameplay experience.
• Death Animation and Event Sequence: Introduced a new death animation alongside a corresponding event sequence, making player deaths more impactful and engaging.
• Drone Attack Effects: Updated the effects for the drone’s energy particle attack, enhancing clarity and visual feedback during combat.
• Score Screen Animation and Balancing: The score screen has been animated and rebalanced for a more dynamic and informative display of player achievements.

Conclusion

These updates reflect my commitment to Head Hunter and to creating a more engaging experience for it's players. I appreciate your feedback and support as I continue to develop and expand the game. Play the game here: https://matt-burton.itch.io/head-hunter

Thanks for the thoughtful feedback! I definitely agree that spawning some larger particles in the late game would help with the pacing and that the antimatter to matter ratio could be balanced better in the different environments. I understand the need for a more generous drag radius especially at larger scales, and a gravity effect around the mouse could be a cool way to implement that.

Cute art and satisfying sound effects!

Simple and fun, I really enjoyed it! It would be nice to put a piece back down if I decide to place a different piece next, as opposed to restarting the level. I love the "extension"/"growth" mechanic. Maybe some sort of ghost image to display where the tiles will be after they grow could be nice.

I like the textures! The levels could do with being a little smaller. Spent the majority of my time walking. Cool concept!

Lovely art, finicky movement.

Totally valid criticism, the warm  environments combined with the late game can be brutal. One suggestion from another player was to give health to larger particles which might alleviate that struggle. I appreciate you playing the game and taking the time to leave your feedback!

Glad you enjoyed the game. Thanks for playing!

Great base for a turn based strategy game. Really like the art style. Keep it up!

Well executed and creative concept! The controls and interactions were very intuitive.

Interesting concept! It could use some more feedback during the conversations to let the player know how engaged/suspicious they're being.

Interesting take of the theme!

Nice start! Could use a little more debugging

Thanks for playing! I definitely toyed with the idea of each particle having its own gravitational field, the mouse having a gravitational effect, and/or random objects floating through space having some effect on everything momentarily. Ultimately, I decided against it due to the time constraints and keeping the scope small, but it would definitely add another layer of interest!

Thanks for playing! 2048 was definitely a major inspiration.

Haha, glad you were able to experience the intensity of the end game. Thanks for playing and sharing your feedback!

Thanks for taking the time to play my game. Im glad you enjoyed it! I considered adding some unique symbol on each particle size for accessibility purposes. Maybe I’ll add it in a future release. Great idea!

Thanks for playing and for your feedback! Im happy to hear it made you consider a more in-depth strategy. It definitely gets tricky to protect your larger particles in those warm environments.

Thanks!

First of all thanks for trying my game! I agree with all of your feedback, and you have some really good suggestions as well. I considered adding naturally spawning larger particles, but never got around to it. I agree they would help alleviate some of the tedium of the late game. I love the idea about destroying nearby antimatter particles when you fuse. Such a clean solution to fix situations which seem unfair. I get your frustration when losing one of your largest particles. It’s not a fun feeling. However, I think the challenge of managing many particles in the late game makes achieving the super massive all the more rewarding. Im not sure how a health system would feel, but it’s certainly a valid criticism. Thanks!

Interesting mechanic! It was a little tedious stepping off of the bolts each time I wanted to move them again. Maybe I'm missing something?

I'm not seeing the relation to the theme through your gameplay mechanics, but the bullet hell patterns are nicely done. A little pitch variance in the firing sound effect would go a long way, as I got tired of hearing the same exact sound very quickly. Especially in a game where your main job is to fire many bullets. The music is pretty rad!

I'll admit I only spent a little over a minute trying to figure this out, but I tried several combinations of actions and objects, all of which resulted in "I can't do that". Maybe limit the player's options if there aren't as many solutions available?

The level transitions were really smooth! I appreciated the arrows on the ground to tell me where to go. I also really liked how the mechanic was used in more out of the box ways by scaling the player and the entire level. Really cool stuff. I'd like to see more using the creative scaling in the future.

Happened to me too. Assuming this is just a result of not having anymore levels.

It would also be nice if I made a move that didnt actually move my blocks that it didnt increase my moves counter. Example being, moving into a wall you are already next to

Fun game! I would love to be able to advance to the next level using space instead of exiting :

Super Massive was created for the GMTK24 game jam. Made in 48 hours by just myself. You play as the divine creator of a newly born universe. Fuse particles together by dragging and dropping with your mouse to produce more massive structures. Beware of antimatter particles, for they will neutralize the mass of traditional matter. As you drift, you'll enter different environments. Particles will move slower in voids due to their cold emptiness. Particles will accelerate in warmer areas. Be mindful of these regions as you manage your massive particles. 

Give it a try here: https://matt-burton.itch.io/super-massive

https://matt-burton.itch.io/head-hunter

Devlog #3: Head Hunter - New Biomes and Polish!

Hello again, adventurers! It's time for another exciting update on the journey through Head Hunter's development. Since the last update, I've been hard at work improving the game in many ways based on your feedback and my own ambitious plans. Here’s what’s new:

Improved Minimap and Controller Support

One of the top priorities was ensuring that Head Hunter looks great on all screen resolutions and plays smoothly with controllers. I've fixed the minimap to scale correctly across different screens and implemented robust controller support using Unity's new Input System. This change lays the foundation for even deeper controller customization in future updates.

Bug Fixes Galore

Several bugs have been squashed including:

https://matt-burton.itch.io/head-hunter

Head Hunter is an action roguelike platformer. Slay enemies in procedurally generated environments to collect gold and experience. Unlock new biomes to  progress to experience new enemies and aesthetics.  Fight, die, and try again as you accumulate the skills and knowledge to tackle new challenges.

Play for free in your browser now!

Play Head Hunter, an action roguelike platformer, for free in your browser!

https://matt-burton.itch.io/head-hunter

I also got soft locked a few times where the spawn zone would disappear but the spawn points remained so I couldn't leave the room or kill all of the enemies.

Really like the level transition animation and the melee attack sequence! Some improvements I thought of would be visualizing the spell's radius as it charges up and adding more feedback for taking taking like sound effects and screen shake. Overall great game, keep it up!