Theatre Throw-Down

ratbag 2017-04-24 06:09

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To Anyone who has already played this Game. I just did a quick re submission of it after realising I had left out a game breaking collision issue. Problem was a 2min fix, I had just forgotten to uncomment a line of code -_-. Sorry to all, no deception intended. If you didn't notice the bug hats off I hope you enjoyed the game. A big pat on the back for all LD attempts this weekend. Can not wait to start playing all the amazing games over the next week. Im off for some much needed sleep. Here's to LD 38!

2017-04-26 08:38

This is the most rage inducing game I have ever played. That being said - it's also very addicting. gg.

ratbag 2017-04-27 09:26

* Game Update

- Went through and fixed a few minor bugs preventing animator and collisions to operate properly. - Sorry for the late attention to the game, had a busy week at work after my LD weekend and simply havent had a chance to look at my submission since. Postmortem coming this weekend. - Thank you for all the plays so far hope everyone has enjoyed themselves.

thecrancher 2017-04-27 10:22

Hey there, even though this game was a bit hard, it was still fun, and dare i say addicting, I will say as it goes on it get a little too hard, since the enemies hit you in stage four and/or stage 5 without you getting a chance to defend yourself, but still, good job man! you did good!

steve-johnson 2017-04-28 06:14

Cute! :-) Minimum viable brawler. I wish there was more enemy variety.

ratbag 2017-04-28 06:38

Thanks @steve-johnson. More enemy types was on the list. Unfortunately I was in damage control the last half of the compo and just didnt have the time to implement them. Thanks for the play + comment :)

ratbag 2017-04-28 19:46

@thecrancher Thanks mate for the play. I understand your points. The feedback was much appreciated. Good luck with playing the rest ld38 has to offer. :smile:

wildmusketeer 2017-05-01 07:20

I like it! a deconstructed dungeon crawler. I agree with many of the comments above. I think the gameplay loop is interesting, but adding more enemy/environment objects would make this game really awesome. Overall, great effort!

lacemattley 2017-05-01 07:41

This is fun! Those bloody enemies are rushing me on like the 4th level but i kept coming back for more, the animation was really nice too (the idle breathing one). The music was a perfect fit as well!

akirassasin 2017-05-01 07:44

I think a 1-3 second grace period that lets the player see the surroundings before the battle commences will be more forgiving on the player :) The art and music is very nice!

kcreanor 2017-05-01 07:51

Great fun, really hard but once you get the hang of it it's kinda addictive. Well done, looks fantastic and nice use of the theme too! Multiplayer would be amazing on this!!

ratbag 2017-05-01 07:58

@lacemattley, @akirassasin : Thanks guys much appreciated. Yeah I agree I have implemented such a system in my current build as those pesky enemies can be quite unforgiving at level start. @kcreanor : thanks for the suggestion, was something that had crossed my mind. I will be working on this game post jam for some foreseeable time. Multiplayer is definitely on the list :smile:

elzach 2017-05-01 08:51

Heya! Nice little game, sadly the AI is very easy to break, so having generated levels may not have been the best idea, because it's very easy for the enemies to get stuck. If you add the very generous hitbox of your sword to that, you only ever get hit at the start of a wave (when they spawn rush you, those little buggers!)

Funny fact: I played this with the controller in one hand and the mouse in the other. :D

Nice Music, and also nice to meet Solaire again.

cheers~

myko 2017-05-01 09:23

Very addictive and deceptively challenging! Sometimes the keys would get stuck somehow, or the sword would be stuck in "attacking" mode.

ratbag 2017-05-01 09:27

@elzach, thanks for the feedback and the play! Yeah I can see your point, the AI is by no way robust. However during development I had realised that was not such a massive problem, as the player already has so much stacked against them and the difficulty is already quite high, the hit behind walls was intentional too. I can understand people feeling it a little over powered, however I feel like it brings a balance into the gameplay. Obviously still a lot more to iron out. Thanks again for the comments, haha thats hilarious about the controller. I should definitively flesh out controller options! Cheers! :pray: :sunny:

ratbag 2017-05-01 09:33

@myko hey bud thanks for the play. Hmmm ive of this issue, which browser are you playing on? the downloadable pc.zip is much more stable

drtizzle 2017-05-01 09:52

Very well done! Reminds me a bit of Hotline Miami, because you've got to have some fast reaction to survive! It is simple but it works really well. Graphics are cool, audio does its job. Sometimes the enemies rush a bit too fast for my liking at the start of the level.

Good job!

ratbag 2017-05-01 10:52

@drtizzle, thanks for the feedback. That was very much the intention behind the nerve racking sensation of smashing enemies back with the bat. Agreed I think the game could use a re balance. Will be something I look into once I begin post jam development. Cheers!

skullpixel 2017-05-01 11:02

This is actually really fun. I actually think it does pretty well even with only one enemy type, because it's LD. My suggestions would probably be more feedback for when you get hit (Screenshake is the best), and also trying to make the spikes have transparency or a ground tile behind them. Did you actually go through and code your own collision in a jam? That's quite impressive.

zarkonnen 2017-05-01 11:05

I lasted 5 battles. Some nice positioning and reaction stuff with dancing in and out of range or getting the opponents stuck behind things.

toestee 2017-05-01 11:05

First try, I died of level 3. Then I got up to level 5 and I got completely swarmed, didn't even stand a chance. Loads of fun though

mathijsvissers 2017-05-01 11:07

Cool little game, good replayablity factor due to the random generation. Could have used more enemy variation, but I understand the time crunch. Mechanics work nicely, sometimes it's a bit easy to get enemies stuck and sometimes you have no chance at all, getting rushed at the start, but overall enjoyable game. A good base you could easily build into something bigger.

oxrock 2017-05-01 11:34

A game that requires actual skill!?!?!?! Of course I died immediately.... several times. I had fun though and hey, that's the job of a game. So you dun did good. Randomly generated maps is a big bonus in my opinion, it adds a lot of replayability. My only complaint is that you didn't give me a god code, I demand my own personal konami code, that is all.

veralos 2017-05-01 12:15

Nice game. It's fun fighting enemies, and can get pretty addictive trying to get further than you did last time. You should be given a second to see the arena before the battle starts, though - it's very easy to die to enemies spawning next to you.

The graphics and sounds effect are pretty good. The music is decent too, but it can get a little repetitive.

My best was 780 points and 8 battles.

ratbag 2017-05-01 12:18

@skullpixel, thanks for the feedback! couldnt agree more! screen shake is loads of fun with these tight packed arcade levels, its on the list of things for sure. Yeah the spikes need a little more definition for players to better identify risks. Yes I did, thanks I had actually been doing a little bit of work with 2D colliders and unity over the past few weeks so I was able to get 70% of the tech working day 1. Unfortunately due to using design patterns I wasn't super familiar with I ended up spending all of day 2 in damage control but came out ok in the end. Cheers!

@zarkonnen, haha good job man! yeah its a give and take i suppose. Thanks for the play and feedback!

@toestee, I appreciate your persistence. Yes I agree some balancing should be put in place. Thanks for the comments!

@mathijsvissers, really appreciate the feedback, I am generally pretty happy with how relatively bug free the game is. However I can really see some of the flaws in the game balancing, and I will take away some pointers in design im sure. Yes I agree I can really see the potential in the game. Thanks again the rating!

@oxrock, yeah a lot of skill and a generous amount of luck! Thanks for the kind words, haha a god mode? what sort of fun would that be!?

ratbag 2017-05-01 12:21

@veralos, yeah I totally agree. In my current build I have set out creating a safe zone around the player on spawn to prevent enemies from rushing them outright or before they get a chance to respond. Haha yes noted, I would have done well to get an extra track in, I chalk most of that stuff up to my poor time management skills haha. Thanks again for the feedback!

jane-pr 2017-05-01 13:34

This was pretty fun! I liked it, even if it was kinda hard, it has a good replayability! GG!

richard-michael-smith 2017-05-01 18:27

As mentioned above I occasionally seemed to get stuck moving in one direction - and after I successfully hit one bad guy I would freeze for a moment before I could attack another.

ratbag 2017-05-01 21:16

@jane-pr, thanks for the comments :smile: glad you enjoyed the challenge!

@richard-michael-smith, sorry to hear about getting stuck. I havent experienced that problem myself. There is a cooldown period between each player attack to prevent spamming, maybe it could be your browser? I recommend downloading the pc version it is likely more stable. Thanks for the feedback.

junjunlowpoly 2017-05-02 03:39

Nice game! Intuitive controls. Simple mechanism but game is addictive. AI is a bit too weak but game is already hard with a lot of enemies. Quite impressed by the music.

ratbag 2017-05-02 03:42

@junjunlowpoly, thanks for the feedback pal! glad you enjoyed it!

benbennett 2017-05-02 05:50

Lots of potential here. It would have been cool if there were different enemy types. A few stages in I would often have the enemies spawn on top of me landing a hit before I could even do anything. The music and sound were fantastic!

pkenney 2017-05-02 05:53

Well done - at a glance this seems like a simple combat system, but really there are some nice choices making it work. I think you've realized a very nice level of risk to the enemies, where they are always a threat but I have to make a mistake to get hit. The knockback is also just right. I clear good space and the way the enemies rattle away through boxes and still don't stop is so important to giving me my rightful breathing room.

It's super-critical to balance a game like this on the edge of dangerous but fair, and it's easy to slip. You held the line, and that's a job well done!

The only aspect that threatens the balance imo is the spawnrushdowndead. Even when I was waiting ready to screenscanATTACK the *instant* the level loaded I could still get swarmed by a gang of four and be unable to swing a second time before taking damage. Occasionally I would have a good run but they would nearly all end this way sooner or later.

Actually maybe I wasn't very good - I only got through 7 battles, and that time I did die to an honest timing mistake.

If you removed that one aspect disturbing the balance you could really get me thinking, wow if I'm careful and fast I could never lose, and that's a great feeling. The random generation keeps this fresh, too.

Also very nice art and music, with a good hit sound effect, too. If it got two more sprinkles of juice, I would put one on the player getting hit, and a second by making the corpses rotate 90 degrees to be clearly dead. The color shift was adequate though.

Overall nice entry, again nice work on the combat balance.

mars 2017-05-02 18:10

This is a decent game, but I think it suffers a little bit from a balancing issue.

I felt like as a player, the only way I could be harmed was in the beginning before I could react to the enemies position. As soon as I survived that though, killing the enemies was easy. This is a bad thing for two reasons: First of all, my defeat is technically out of my hands. There's no amount of skill or planning that can save me from being hit before I am even allowed to react. Secondly, the enemies aren't enough of a challenge on their own.

Ideally, I should be fearing the enemies for how hard they are to fight, not for how they'll always start with the upper hand because the computer reacts before I do at the very beginning of the fight.

The graphics and the sounds are somewhat redeeming qualities though, they are decent. But as a result of the lackluster gameplay they kind of feel slightly out of place. Despite being a compo, it's almost like the sound and graphics were made by a different person.

So, I think the game could benefit from having the player not annihilate the enemies as easily, but in return let the player be able to get their wits about them at the start of a level before the enemy AI has a chance to bum rush him.

ratbag 2017-05-02 22:15

@benbennett, thanks for the nice comments! Im glad you enjoyed the game. I totally agree, i think the game would be far better with many more enemies. I had the audacity to think i could include ranged enemies and bosses during my planning stages but ran out of time. So ultimately the game is unfinished and un balanced. I really appreciate the feedback! Cheers!

ratbag 2017-05-02 22:31

@pkenney, thank you kindly for taking the time to delve into my game and giving it a holistic review. First off it really warms my heart to see players actually peel back the surface of what appears a simple simulation, and recognize the subtleties in design. It really makes me feel like this project was worth while. As far as your concerns go, i hear ya 100%. The spawn rush at the start is in my opinion pretty lame. When i designed the game i didnt antcipate enemies spawning on or next to the player as often as they do. And because i was so strapped for time i spent all my game testing on mechanics rather than on gameplay. My mistake was made immediately obvious when my first friend played my uploaded version, and although i have provided an updated bug fix for the game I decided i would not include a fix to the enemy spawner as i felt it violated the terms of the compo. Yes is it fix but its to fix a design flaw i am responsible for. So i felt liable to take the down votes for it. Im not bothered i didnt enter ld to win. I am really proud of my game and i will coninue development afterwards. I feel im onto a winning recipe it just needs iteration. Thanks for appreciating the art and sound, i was really trying to tie everything together to create a cohesive experience in a minimilistic setting. Cheers! :smile:

ratbag 2017-05-02 23:12

@mars , thanks for taking the time to provide a lengthy review. Im sorry if you didnt enjoy the game, id just like to address some of the issues you raised. - Balance: 100% agree with you. The game is unbalanced, it was not something i immediately noticed in dev. I spent all my testing on mechanics and really didnt play the game enough to iron out gameplay bugs. I have fixed the issue since but have reserved from uploading the game. I wanted to be rated on the entry i submitted and i felt that fixing this issue seamed to line more up with adding a new feature to the game. Because the game is mechaniccaly sound i felt that fixing it constituted a breach in terms. I will upload the fixed version tonight (it will be seperate from my entry and i will let everyone coming to this page know that they can play a more balanced version however my orignal upload will still be the one voted on). Only because i would like people to enjoy my game without feeling like they have been cheated by balancing issues. - please note that this is critism i have received across the board and responded too many times. - i dont understand what you mean by saying sound and music where developed by somone else? I made all assets in the game in the time available. It was my intention to provide immersive and engaging gameplay in a small and minimilistic setting, i apologize if that came off as lackluster.

Thanks again for taking the time to play and rate the game. Sorry if you felt in anyway cheated by the game. I really do appreciate the feedback though. Cheers :smile:

skippuku 2017-05-03 00:06

Needs more explosions.

ratbag 2017-05-03 00:25

@cymansap, 100% bro i can get behind that! Thanks for the play! :heart:

mars 2017-05-03 06:59

@ratbag Didn't mean to imply you didn't make it yourself, it's just that their quality levels are so different that it seemed like it was made by two different people. It's mean to be a compliment of your sound!

ratbag 2017-05-03 07:12

@mars, not a problem I was just confused by the comment. Thanks :) I actually felt id rushed the music and art but im glad they helped carry the game, I was pretty much in damage control for the last 24hours with many of the features I was trying to implement failing. So I ended up rolling back on a earlier build and submitting that. I appreciate the feedback!

seth 2017-05-03 08:06

Hi, I liked the game and concept, especially the procgen part. I do think the mouse controls are a little difficult. It would be cool if you added ways to use the environment to your advantage!

ratbag 2017-05-03 08:22

@seth, thanks for the comments! Noted with the controls, i was thinking of adding a dampen effect for cursor movement to track smoother. Also yeh the level hazards would be cool for enemies too. I was thinking of wall spikes as a generic one. And maybe crowds throw in rocks or projectiles. Thanks for the feedback!

rnlf 2017-05-10 19:14

Haha, tried playing it with a touchpad, not a great idea ^^

The system easy enough to understand, so even without that I made it to level 5, but then died quickly.

The music is really cool and fits really well into the game!

The path finding of the enemies seemed a bit simple, but I know how there's never enough time in the compo :)

Good entry!

eli-delventhal 2017-05-10 19:28

I made it to round 6. My success seemed to depend a lot on whether or not I started with a block to hide behind – I could abuse the pathfinding to force the enemies to be stick, at which point I could hit them around the corner. I think you made smart choices with how you dealt with the fighting in a limited time – the player's attack having more range than the enemies, but having a cool down, is a good option. After I figure that out, I was actually strategizing to avoid attacks and hit properly, which is very good for this sort of game. If you work on this further, I think a certain amount of sticky skill-based juice factor is missing. I didn't feel rewarded for playing as well as possible, I mainly felt like I was abusing the system. Relying more on timing I think would really help help – maybe if I can see the enemies winding up, I can choose to parry, and stuff like that. Good work.