I did actually find that bug myself when playing it yesterday! I think i must have forgotten to disable collision for the torches. Definitely a couple bugs, some that i doubt anyone but me would notice. Glad you enjoyed it!
I did consider having somr sort of collision like a river to break the arena up, but ended up not implementing it - i agree that its probably better without annoying collisions. If you hit something, its an enemy. I did consider having the fire click as a 'base' weapon, then the others as temporary powerups, though ended up going in a different direction. I definitely appreciate that the upgrade system isnt for everyone.
Admittedly I didnt really think too much about each weapon as the "only" weapon while making them, but then the upgrades made that a possibility. The lightning was originally meant to target multiple random targets but for some reason all bolts targeted a single creature so i tweaked its functionality. I think it balances the power it has by removing the control, but its definitely one thats harder to make use of as your only weapon.
The difficulty ramps up through spawn numbers rather than enemy toughness - every enemy spawns every so slightly sooner every time - sounds like you got a really good run if you didnt notice it, cause it for sure ramps up! Theres no ending, its very much a "go till you die or break the game" at the moment.
Glad you enjoyed it! I was really pleased with the upgrade system and getting the weapons, they all feel and work differently!
I cant take credit for any of the assets used, all credit for those go to the original creators. Balance was something i tweaked a lot! The upgrade system was one of the last things i implemented actually, in earlier testing you started with all of the weapons at once and my word did it make you strong lol. Glad you like it!
It was actually the concept of not using a traditional health bar that inspired the game in the first place! Using your light as the health, though i do appreciate that some form of numerical timer or indicator might still be helpful. I tweaked the balance quite a bit during development and i actually reigned it in quite a bit- perhaps that meant it takes too long to grow in power (you for sure notice when you get a legendary upgrade, thats for sure).
The power of upgrades varies a lot, and thats cause i was cheap and use the same values for them all - that does lead to power imbalances where +1 autolaser literally gives you another laser, but the same upgrade for plasma just gives it one piercing. Balance is definitely something i want to keep working on, 100% want the player to be a god at the end, but also want there to be an end rather than the game crashing to end every match XD
Oh - i played Oni Express earlier, i love the artstyle! Took me a little bit to get used to the movement mechanics, and i was stupid and missed the GPS lines for far too long lol. Not the sort of game i would play often, but I cant deny the quality and polish of it!
Whoops! Forgot that the highscore was saved from then XD Good to hear it stayed smooth, hope it stays that way for all players.
Im quite happy with the variety in power and utility the weapons have, they are good for different things and have different power curves.
Fire blast - powerful and targeted, but splits your attention from evasion.
Plasma bolt - starts weak, but can tear through hordes once upgraded, and is focused.
Autolaser - also starts weak, but might have the highest power ceiling of the lot as theres no limit to the number you can fire.
Lightning - super strong, but unpredictable (I actually originally wanted it to target multiple enemies like the laser, but for some reason the multiple strikes were just hitting the same target, so i just retrofitted it to get a damge upgrade instead)
I considered having a stats page/GUI to display your current unlocked weapons and power, but never got around to it - having some sort of visual notifier of what your cooldowns are would 100% be a good idea. Will keep it in mind for potential further upgrades down the road!
4003, well done! Admittedly i think i overtuned the difficulty a little lol - i reached 16000 in earlier testing before dramatic balance changes, and now reach more along the lines of 1500-2000. How was the performance at the end of the game? It seems to struggle or run smoother depending on the run - maybe thanks to swifter enemy kills with different weapon combos. And whats your favourite of the four weapons?
Well, i already draw a line from one node to another (player to enemy for the ray weapon), so drawing a line from player to nearest torch would actually be super simple! The challenge would be making it a fancier trail rather than just a line, but im sure theres something i could tinker with!
The default window size is very small, and full screening it doesnt scale properly so some of the text at the edge like the level name gets partially cut off. The actual game is very well made though!
Attempting to run the "My project" file causes an error saying that a data folder should exist - creating a folder with the name it requested didnt fix it. I'm not familiar with Unity games, is there a particular method to starting/installing them?
The monster/chaser quickly became more of an annoyance than a scare, the camera reset after being grabbed was quite disorientating and he sometimes respawned like 5 meters awary. I was once caught in a loop where in the time i reoriented the camera i got grabbed again, and it repeated at least five times in a row.
I hunted and i hunted, scouring the screen- couldnt see anything. I burnt down the clock looking and looking, but unfortunately didnt see anything, and then the bar reached empty and it went back to the start screen. What am I missing?
Balance is something i tweaked quite a few times, it went from super easy to super hard back and forth a few times, and definitely something i want to keep tweaking in the future to try and find a good balance. Glad you like it!
Definitely want to upgrade it after the jam is over! Some sort of torch indicator is a great idea - low visibility is by design, but maybe i could have a small trail of light or something!
Darkness sleeps looks pretty cool, you definitely should continue it sometime :)
Its me again :D Decided to join a jam and threw together this game in just 72 hours! Your music made all the difference in making the game feel hectic and active! https://swatt-officer.itch.io/last-light
Yeah, its set to slowly but exponentially decrease the shooting delay and increase the speed of the enemy movement, so it starts deceptively simple and builds to impossible XD Probably would need to tweak some values to get the balance into a sweet spot.
Used one of these wonderful critters in a very underwhelming way for a college project which ive now recreated and uploaded here- https://swatt-officer.itch.io/knightsurvive I almost feel bad relegating such a great lil guy to essentially a turret - will have to give them the use they deserve at a later date!
