Fun game, I played through all the levels although I mostly skipped the dialogue (not much of a dialogue reader)
The platforming works well and I liked the meowing mechanic that created a puzzle-like element to the stealth gameplay. I think the mechanic could be fleshed out a bit more to make it more consistent and create more fun gameplay scenarios, but its a strong start.
For some examples of what I mean: the sight radius once you've been spotted is a bit too big in relation to the size of the level, it's nearly impossible to get out of being detected once spotted except when there's a box. The meowing could be changed to only attract guards that are close enough to hear, having every guard suddenly start moving when I meow makes the levels more rigid to design.
Also two tidbits about the dialogue system:
1. whilst the text is being written, pressing space skips to the next sentence rather than just skipping the 'typing' animation to display the full sentence
2. the last sentence of any piece of dialogue doesn't close for a good few seconds. this meant I couldn't just skip through the text to get to the levels. It's especially tedious when the text kept repeating at the start of certain levels that I'd die & restart several times
overall, thanks for the submission I hope you had fun making it and continue to experiment in other jams!
As noted by others the game throws you into the deep end a bit too quickly, the rapidly changing alerts means there isn't any time to figure out what you're supposed to do. A short tutorial and a bit more clarity in the feedback would go a long way!
For example I kept assigning the coloured crew members that matched the notifications, but everything was so quick I couldn't tell what the result of my actions was, the notification would just disappear along with a sound effect & a flash as the message disppears. I couldn't tell if this meant the situation was resolved, if I got my crew members back, or how it affected my health.
The game seems well made with nice pixel art, I just think its a case of not tuning the game for players who won't have any prior experience to the game, unlike the developers who know their own game and the intentions behind everything.
I hope you don't take these criticisms too harshly as I can tell the game has been carefully crafted and if I could figure out what was going on I'm sure it'd be a much more positive review. Regardless, good job on making this in 48 hours!
As simple as the concept it, it definitely fits the theme and felt fun to play in. Typically this style of game is played as a twin stick shooter meaning you can shoot in any direction not just the direction you are facing. I don't know if this was purposefully designed to make it more 'out of control' but adding in twin stick controls would make the gameplay a lot smoother. There is also a typo in the tutorial, one of the sentences says "knwo" instead of "know", other than that a solid entry!
I like the art and its always nice to see controls baked into the world to make it more seamless, good game! Obviously with it being a game jam it was not possible, but adding some other objectives to complete whilst balancing not massacring everyone (or massacring, whatever floats your boat) would add more depth to the gameplay
Also I know the theme was 'out of control' but adding some sort of tell for when the sword is about to rampage would benefit the user a lot, something like a quick struggling animation which lets you know whats about to happen
Couldn't agree more with Shifted7, the game wasn't 'fun' in a traditional sense but was definitely well made. The atmosphere is portrayed very well through the audio and constant phone buzzes. I had a lot of fun bumping my car into the guy in front.
I've got to say controlling a zombie hoard is a lot more fun than I imagined, well presented, while there's not much interaction by the player other than 'point mouse over someone and they die', it was fun to watch and I played through to the end
This game does indeed fit the theme very well. Perhaps a bit too well, as it's incredibly hard to rack up a high score since you have so little control over anything other that movement and when to shoot.
Maybe adding in a few extra mechanics to the game such as semi-random aiming (i.e. you can choose roughly which direction to shoot, but the spell bends into a slightly skewed direction), or a wider level to explore so that the player isn't as prone to their spell bouncing back into them when they are anywhere near a wall.
Apart from that the idea is solid and could definitely prove to be a fun timesink with more variety to the gameplay!
Unfortunately this game is unfinished so I can't judge it properly.
Please understand that the low ratings are to help sort the submissions and do not reflect that I think this game idea would have been cool if completed. You should not be discouraged by this however, you've already made amazing progress just by attempting and it is clear that some mechanics have been implemented (random generation, enemies shooting), showing you have the skill to make a game. Keep learning and improving, next year you can (and should) try again!
Fun game with some replayability due to the random effects, would have liked to see the level design be extended upon. As it is I found just walking to one edge of the map stops enemies from spawning in one direction meaning I can just stand still and shoot in the other direction
good stuff, the art is very nice and the music compliments it. I liked how the music changes when you die, then plays a triumphant bit when you return to life. The jumping felt a bit clunky sometimes, specifically when double jumping if I wasn't already pressing the move key before double jumping or if I didn't time the left/right key properly then it wouldn't read the input and I would double jump straight up without strafing anywhere.
I only went a few levels in so I'm not sure if there were more mechanics introduced later on but if everything was shown in the first 5 levels then adding some extra features would really go towards adding replayability (perhaps different types of enemies with different movement patterns).
Overall was enjoyable and fit the theme, good job!
I only managed to 'finish' off the game a few hours before the deadline so I only realised that the HUD does not display correctly when you run the game. I'm pretty tired now and I'd rather spend the last few hours of the weekend relaxing so sorry about the annoying bug!
