FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD39 → Soul Gun

Soul Gun

By risingoat, ex3, sageras and PabloDap

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall5103.2366
Fun4993.0366
Innovation5292.8966
Theme8042.4866
Graphics3663.6766
Audio2853.3165
Humor5492.0253
Mood3653.3264

Comments

tinykidtoo 2017-08-01 02:07

Really hard. But I really enjoyed the music when I was playing that and the art are well done.

gamepopper 2017-08-01 18:22

Nice platform shooter! I really like the graphics, I get a ZX Spectrum vibe from it. It's quite challenging to get through but the gravity switching aspect is pretty well designed.

ghust1995 2017-08-01 23:00

I really enjoyed the main mechanics, however I felt there were too few checkpoints and became frustrated after having to re-do a really hard part again for a dumb mistake I made much later. Would definitely play a more polished and balanced version of this game, lots of growing potential for the mechanics =)

pjnovas 2017-08-01 23:10

well done, liked the "soul gun" thing and it fits on the theme really good. cool graphics and audio, smooth mechanics but a little hard to control on some points (felt too sensitive). great entry!

ferminho 2017-08-02 11:52

Nice entry! I really like it, the mood is terrific, music and retro graphic style totally match. A bit difficult, yes, I need to keep playing to get the hang of it. Good work!

risingoat 2017-08-02 18:44

Thanks a lot, guys. It was tough for us, we barely slept. However, we made it somehow and sharing Soul Gun with you feels so great!

risingoat 2017-08-02 18:47

About the checkpoints and difficulty. We really could use more time to improve level desing, and we aim to do it in the future.

ex3 2017-08-02 19:45

@risingoat > It was tough for us, we barely slept

Sleep? What is that? ;P (the last night without sleep, programming zombie, listening “ghosts” in the main music theme when we try to reverse it, some/much Unity crashes… It was very hard, but it was worth it xD)

risingoat 2017-08-02 20:22

Totally aggree. It seems that yelling "I compel you to compile!" really works. Or maybe it was all a dream.

bruins 2017-08-02 20:30

Controls are a bit unresponsive, other than that the mechanic is cool, and level design looks good! Well Done

matkubik 2017-08-02 20:37

Nice game ! The gravity control makes me think to VVVVVV. I don't know if that game was an inspiration for you. Like this one you game is very challenging but fun to play ! The principle is well done ! Good job !

johngun 2017-08-02 20:39

This was really fun, loved the gameplay, the graphics and the music. Well done

nekonemo 2017-08-02 20:46

Quite hard and you should add a death counter but overall a good game with a real nice mood and good graphics and audio. Nice job!

sparewizard 2017-08-02 20:48

I enjoy the aesthetic of this game. There's a bug, I think, where you can die while you're already dead, causing you to respawn and then respawn again.

risingoat 2017-08-02 20:56

Thanks for the feedback!

@bruins - We wanted to make the control a little hard,but responsive. Guess we've got to work a little more.

@matkubik - VVVVVV was indeed our of our main inspiration, being Downwell the other one.

@johngun - Thanks! We reservesed the main menu themeto give it an uneasy vibe.

@nekonemo - The death counter is a great idea! Thank you.

@sparewizard - Thanks,we also think that PabloDap, our artist did a great job. And thanks for reporting the bug. We'll work on it.

ex3 2017-08-02 21:52

@nekonemo: +1 for the death counter :D

@matkubik:

> The gravity control makes me think to VVVVVV. I don’t know if that game was an inspiration for you.

Really the game is based on an some ideas and is inspired in some popular games, VVVVVV is one of this. Other game proposed by me to take ideas is an old NES game called Astrorobo Sasa, a game where the player shoots bullets to impulse over the level platforms, and each bullet drain player energy/life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xu9d5l5qag

ganbaregameskyle 2017-08-03 04:13

We've all seen this gimmick before. This game isn't even a fun implementation of it.

dob 2017-08-03 05:17

Well, I haven't seen the gimmick before. Cool game concept, with appealing graphics and a nice music/sound mix. The game was too hard for me- I gave up after trying one point many, many times. I think if you just had more save points it would be OK, but there were too many low-percentage tasks I needed to do in a row for me to get through, and it was more frustrating than rewarding to do it all over and over again. Nice work, and cool game. Also, my first game, when I happened to fall back through the entry gate, I was able to play and move for a long time with my guy not on the screen, and I couldn't get back in.

risingoat 2017-08-03 08:10

@ganbaregameskyle Wow! A little bit rough, but we appreciate the time you took playing the game. Thanks!

@dob I agree with you. We didn't have enough time to polish the difficulty curve. We aim to do it aftefwards. Maybe a level system too. And a bit of bug killing too :D.

ex3 2017-08-03 08:45

@ganbaregameskyle by far, the most constructive critique and feedback received ever, thanks a lot! :P xD

tyguy 2017-08-03 14:22

It was very difficult... But I would say that is a plus! I found myself very invested to making it further and when I was finally able to do that I felt very rewarded! I did like how the eye drained as soul was depleted, but that was a little hard to notice I suggest in the future adding some more indication to the soul drain. Either way I was very happy to play this challenging game and had some real fun trying to make it past my last death :joy: .

felixmcfelix 2017-08-03 14:49

Nice graphics for a semi-remake of VVVVVV, but there are weird issues that crop up (turning the character can cause them to abruptly fall off corners because hitboxes aren't centred, state doesn't reset when you go back to a checkpoint, being able to walk through tiles). I had to give up after being sent back 5 screens or so in the room full of those invincible turrets, I think for something like this you need to give players a safety net after a really tough section (more checkpoints, probably). Still, it's pretty good. Keep it up!

galan 2017-08-03 14:54

Really good vibe from this one, but I have to echo the sentiments on checkpointing. It also wouldn't hurt to have tighter collision detection. Even with the current checkpointing, it might actually feel fair if you didn't die quite so often because something got *close* to you.

rulrite 2017-08-03 15:08

Great job with this one, guys! I agree that the game is a little too difficult (or at least, it gets very difficult very fast!) - but I know you've heard all about that already, so I won't harp on. I do want to say, though, that you did really well with the overall presentation - the graphics are very clean and pleasing to the eye (I really like the spikes; they look so cool!), and the music creates a wonderfully moody atmosphere. Well done!

pikas96 2017-08-03 15:13

Visuals, mechanics and audio go great together, it has a cool mood!

I haven't beaten it yet, but I'll git gud :triumph:

toonteamj 2017-08-03 15:27

The game is hard but doable. Combining shots with gravity-warping is a very interesting concept.

vulpem 2017-08-03 15:47

Well, i doubt i can add much to what already has been said. I like the art choice, it's really effective. Clear. The idea is interesting, i liked that the shooting and "jumping"... well, "inverting" gravity are on the same button. It makes for interesting situations.

It is really hard though! Colliders feel a bit too big sometimes, and the "insta reappearing" is a really good choice, altought it's a but janky sometimes, bouncing and teleporting.

Overall, however, it was fun! Interesting game, that with some more level design and polish, could get really far! Nice work!

holyblackcat 2017-08-03 17:27

Controls felt sliglthly weird, but I really like the visual style and music!

The idea to use the eye as health indicator is clever. (I wish enemies wouldn't kill me instantly though :P)

Level design is good, but it was a bit too hard for me, but I'm not the one to complain, my game is no easy too.

P.S. Good sir @pablodap, in comments to my game you said there was a problem with it. I'm not sure if notifications are working, but I wrote a reply.

risingoat 2017-08-03 17:52

@tyguy I'm glad you enjoyed the experience. I think we really should work on the soul-eating feedback.

@felixmcfelix Thanks for the feedback, and thanks for calling the game a semi-remake of VVVVVV. We know there are several issues, but you know... 48 hours :D. We'll work on that. We'll keep it up!

@galan I feel you. There's still a lot of polish to implement, but I'm glad you got a good vibe from it.

@rulrite Thanks a lot. It's good to hear that we did good with the atmosphere.

@pikas96 I'm sure you'll do it! Good luck :D.

@toonteamj Thanks, it's where everything starterd.

@vulpem Great! We want to get far with this game. And we agree, polish and level design are the path t follow.

@holyblackcat If it's only "sliglthly weird" and not "so fcking weird" we are happy! We wanted that character control worked together with graphics and music to create an uneasy vibe.

christina-antoinette-neofotistou 2017-08-04 04:49

what we call old-school difficulty!! I *hate* the purple things that shoot at me, I really do! :D

Loved the graphics, got a very ZX Spectrum feel. *loved* the level design, despite too few and far between checkpoints. Frustration is part of why I like old-school games.

Lovely lovely entry, thank you!

risingoat 2017-08-04 09:33

Thanks for the lovely words. we knew we had to include some enemies for you to hate. We hope you like the game once we improve it!

ultra-hype-bomb 2017-08-05 00:28

I unfortunately wasn't brave enough to finish it but from what I did play I can say that you've built a pretty solid game in just 72 hours! Switching gravity has been done alot in games but making it take energy is an inventive take on it. Sprite art and music were awesome too. I wish that shooting and flipping were bound to different buttons but I enjoy the strategy behind having them bound together. I did run into one bug where the hero was part way stuck through the floor but I was able to flip out of it so it seems totally functional. I had fun and hope you keep making rad games like this!

simonhutchinson 2017-08-05 00:55

Nice game. Super-hard! I love the graphics, sound, and the overall aesthetic. They all contribute to a cool retro feel that you don't get a lot. Very cool.

risingoat 2017-08-05 16:01

@ultra-hype-bomb Thanks a lot. It's a blast seeing people like you enjoying our little creature.I think we will keep doing games. In fact, we want to polish this one. We feel that it can get so much better with a little caring.

@simonhutchinson Great! It's so awesome when every aspect of a game work together to convey a particular aesthetic, so we are glad that you felt that way playing.

wan 2017-08-05 16:51

A very promosing game with a great atmosphere, but it was too hard for me. Maybe I was not it the right mood for playing the game but I didn't go far, ragequitting after dying between 20 & 30 times at that point:

HARD.png

I really like the idea of merging VVVVVV with classic platformer shooting, but the unforgiving hitboxes (especially on the violet blob shooting blue circles) and the super-hard part above made me give up.

I did finish VVVVVV & Super Meat Boy back in the day, I guess I just lost my mojo since :P

ddrkirbyisq 2017-08-05 16:54

Uhh...is there an "end"? I went all the way to the right =(

Some level collision issues in one or two places, and the obstacle design needs some work, I think. You'd like something that's challenging but in a clear and fair way -- try to isolate your obstacles a bit more especially, as you have one or two parts where bullets come unexpectedly from off-screen while you are trying to parse some other part of the level.

In practice the soul-draining mechanic, while spot-on in terms of flavor, didn't really come into play. I realize this prevents you from spamming the shoot button repeatedly to just hover while travelling forwards, but that was never an option in the narrow spike-filled corridors anyways. I only ever died from this when intentionally trying to.

You also have some minor glitching with respawns -- particularly, make sure you don't trigger any further respawns or deaths after you have died (and are waiting for the timer).

Despite all that, this is a pretty nice start!

sinclairstrange 2017-08-05 17:58

Nice little gimmick here, also I really like the mood and atmosphere in this game. I actually enjoyed that the game was rather difficult and challenging. I also liked the fact that when you die you gory green goo and still move. Overall a really fun yet challenging game! Great stuff.

kade 2017-08-05 21:04

Difficult, but interesting take on the theme! I thought that the graphics could have been a little more cohesive, but that's just me.

pbg 2017-08-05 21:14

Great looking game. I might have been able to deal with the difficulty, but the game ran pretty poorly on my laptop, which made some of the jumps into glitchy messes. Since dying happens so quickly, I recommend making the respawn time extremely short - Team Meat, during a design talk, once mentioned that they made their super-hard style work since the iteration time was so short. Amazing game for such a short time, maybe a bit difficult.

ex3 2017-08-05 21:30

@ultra-hype-bomb Really this game was made in 48 hours :slight_smile: This game initially was made for the spanish MalagaJam VI (in the same weekend that this Ludum Dare) and this is a 48h jam: https://itch.io/jam/mjwvi

@ddrkirbyisq

> Uhh…is there an “end”? I went all the way to the right =(

This is a secret only revealed to the brave players who reach the end of the level :rolling_eyes: :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

About the respawns, yes, along with many other things, we have to work on polishing them better for the future (the respawns are implemented in the last minute and not full tested) :slight_smile:

@sinclairstrange

> I also liked the fact that when you die you gory green goo and still move.

Well... really this a little bug at the last minute of the soul gun particle implementation... but... on second thought, sell this like a "feature" sounds better :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

---

FYI. I see some feedback refer to the level collisions issue. The game not implementing a tile base system for build the level. The collisions are made using a large box colliders, that overlap a group of tiles, and these are put by hand.

With the rush of last minute, It seems that some boxes are not set on the final tile group position. This is the reason of the some parts, the player little pass the tiles :upside_down:

Really, thanks a lot for the all great feedback received, we appreciate a lot! This is great see so many people enjoying our game :smiley:

ex3 2017-08-05 21:36

I forgot! :sweat_smile: FYI. Our teammate **Carlos** (@risingoat) is writing a small postmortem of the game in his account:

- https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/soul-gun/soul-gun-post-mortem-i-a-button-to-respect - https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/soul-gun/soul-gun-post-mortem-ii-one-pixel-at-a-time

ex3 2017-08-05 23:35

@pbg

> I might have been able to deal with the difficulty, but the game ran pretty poorly on my laptop

Interesting :confused: What is the configuration of your laptop? (CPU, RAM & GPU). It's interesting for my in a way to consider for future HTML5/WebGL projects with Unity. I'm surprised that this little project not running properly in current machines (the programation and the art are simple and not used any camera filter effect).

> I recommend making the respawn time extremely short

Yes. Many people coincided in that. We take note for the future :upside_down:

spetsdod 2017-08-06 04:35

Thank you for the very interesting game, guys. I played through for quite a while, but much like @wan above, I gave up at the point he posted because the purple guy shoots too often, making it really hard to time switching gravity to fall, the get up to the right spot to try to shoot him then toggle back and forth in order to make it into the next hall way. Still, an interesting concept and a nifty game. I would have preferred to see the shooting and the gravity flipping on separate buttons, but this is your game not mine. I liked the music and the way you reversed it to make a more eerie sound. Hopefully you don't stop and keep improving the game. Thanks again!

nick-blackwood 2017-08-06 07:41

The core mechanic is unusual and fun! The difficulty is over the top though, maybe you should throw in some more checkpoints. The hero also changes velocity too quickly, which makes him hard to control, but it might be a feature. However, I still had some fun, cheers for the game!

risingoat 2017-08-06 14:50

Wow, @ddrkirbyisq has played our game. Love your music, man! Thanks a lot for the feedback. I think you are the only one that reached the "end".

risingoat 2017-08-06 14:56

@spetsdod Thanks to you! I think the game has a lot of potential just by working on the level design and making check points more forgiving. Comments like yours encourage us to keep improving te game.

@nick-blackwood Unusual and fun are two words that a like to see together when talking about a game! Cheers to you!

nokusu 2017-08-06 16:41

Nice game i really enjoyed it kind of felt like Metroid meets VVVVVV meets ZX Spectrum :p

**Positive stuff :** - The graphics, really neat aestetics here a nice mix of NES character/enemy design and Spectrum palette (at least that's what came to my mind ^^) - The atmosphere was pretty cool, the added rain was a nice touch ! - The music was great and complemented the atmosphere

**Negative stuff :** - The checkpoints were a bit far in some places, having more would help with the challenging level design without sacrificing too much on the difficulty - Bit more of a nitpick, but i didn't really feel the "losing power" theme in the game, but honestly it's not that important i.m.o

On the whole it was a really fun game !

So well done guys :)

risingoat 2017-08-06 17:20

Metroid + VVVVVV + Zx Spectrum sounds so great!

Thanks for playing the game and for your words. We'll definitely work on those checkpoints.

pbg 2017-08-07 00:09

@ex3 my laptop is a toaster, to be fair. It has an Intel pentium, fairly recent, integrated bay trail graphics, I believe. I play mostly older games on it... Unity games run well enough on low settings, but unreal games are completely unplayable.

yves 2017-08-07 00:21

Really liked this entry :) That's a cool hardcore platformer in terms of difficulty but the checkpoints save your ass :D I really like that the gravity mechanic is combined with the shooting mechanic. Handling multiple things at once is always a good thing. Very solid for 48 hours

Cheers

oab 2017-08-07 07:36

Game control a little bit off for me and distance between checkpoints are to longgggggggg. :')

risingoat 2017-08-07 08:07

@yves It's cool you enjoyed it! We took some inspirations from Downwell, a game that excels at combining mechanics under the same input.

@oab Checkpoints are too far apart. Checked! Sorry for the bad joke... We'll definitely work on that, balancing frustration is key for a game like this.

ex3 2017-08-07 09:12

@pbg

> my laptop is a toaster, to be fair. It has an Intel pentium, fairly recent, integrated bay trail graphics, I believe.

I presume that your latop is an Intel Atom or setup before 2010 :slight_smile: My oldie Macbook 13" from 2007 and my netbook Intel Atom from 2009 (both using a poor integrated Intel GPU) can't run any 2D simple Unity game (and Unity WebGL required much GPU than any HTML5 standard game).

ex3 2017-08-07 15:11

Reading your comment again, @pbg:

> It has an Intel pentium, fairly recent

Sorry, I think I misunderstood your comment before (the problem to quick reading in middle of hour works :stuck_out_tongue:).

Your laptop is recent but using a integrated GPU, is it? In some test that I did on various range of integrated Intel GPUs since 2013, a game like this should be run properly (this integrated GPUs are decently powerful for most of today casual games).

What it's your latop configuration? (CPU & GPU). Maybe my laptop from 2011 (where I programmed this game) has an integrated GPU (shared with the main NVidia GPU) like your laptop, and this can be useful to me for future performance testing.

willdata 2017-08-07 21:46

I wasn't able to beat it all the way through but I definitely gave it my best and saw some merit in it! Really nice art and sound design and I'd love to see an updated version with some fixes to collision bugs and more checkpoint markers! If you do update please hit me up on twitter @artbywilldata. I'd love to give it another go

risingoat 2017-08-07 21:51

Great, @willdata! We will keep you updated for sure! We expect to return to the development once summer ends. Hopefully with clear minds... and souls.

ex3 2017-08-08 08:36

New post for the __Soul Gun__ postmortem by our teammate __Carlos (@risingoat)__: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/soul-gun/soul-gun-post-mortem-iii-sleep-is-the-enemy

theflyingkeyboard 2017-08-08 09:14

Really nice idea of gameplay, reminds me VVVVVV with added shooting. It is hard, but not impossible. Graphics looks amazing and with nice sounds they create nice retro mood. Good Job!

thygrrr 2017-08-08 10:08

Decent gravity jumper with nice monster designs!

Likes: - mini Zerglings, ahahaha! - solid gravity Shift mechanics (not my favorite genre, but still good job) - fairly consistent art style, that is worth a lot! - fine sounds!

Challenges: - gravity gameplay isn't really rewarding in most situations, and doesn't feel punchy and juicy (yay vor vague terminology...)

Overall: - cool entry - that Málaga Game jam must have been awesome. Didn't know they had one! Hasta luego!

simplepotential 2017-08-08 11:01

Exceptionally difficult! I couldn't make it past the first spike area (your second screen shot). I tried over and over and couldn't figure it out. That said I love this concept and it looks really good. Maybe I didn't make it far enough into the game but how does the theme play into this?

risingoat 2017-08-08 11:28

@theflyingkeyboard Graphics and Sound fight together for the mood! I think difficulty also helps. This game is meant to be hard, although it needs a little more balance.

@thygrrr Thanks for the precise review. This is a game that needs to drink a lot of juice (if you know what I mean), you are accurately right. Málaga Game Jam is probably the biggest game jam event in Spain. Anyways, it's the best I've ever been: nice people, great food, free transportation, the beach is really near... AWESOME!!!

@simplepotential It's cool that you love the concept although you died a lot. If you shoot like a mad man, the gund drains the protagonist's soul and it dies.

valphera 2017-08-14 18:05

I personally adored how tricky and pixel perfect it was! The challenge wasn't impossible but still really hard, I understand how people can ragequit from these games but I actually enjoy them! The graphics are net and the animations smooth. The death is a bit odd: I managed to get to a checkpoint while controlling the character's death particles. Still a good entry :) But I didn't get where it was related to the theme!

automatonvx 2017-08-14 20:07

Really cool mechanic, very fun, I kind of feel that it actually should just run automatically and then you need only one button, for some reason i just want to run all the time, but then again i got stuck and didn't make it too far. Graphics are nicely done. Music is nicely chosen, sorry to be picky but if it wasn't made by the team during the jam I sort of feel you should maybe opt out of the audio as that is the main thing you hear and not the bfxr sound effects.

abductedplatypus 2017-08-14 20:38

Damn this is hard. But very addictive. Graphics and sounds are great too. I would make the curve a bit less steep and introduce some tricks you can do with the combined mechanics. But it's a really great game!

risingoat 2017-08-14 21:35

We aimed for a hard experience aaaaand... Yes, we didn't havemuch time to polish death and checkpoints.

The relation with the theme is subtle, perhaps too much. If you shoot a lot, the gund drains your soul (aka energy) and you die.

lereveur 2017-08-14 23:47

I die way too much often to even see my soul half consumed by using too much the gun. I'm very bad with this kind of games, and as I read previous comments, I understand that it seems very hard even for those who are better than me ha ha :D It's a good die and retry game, but after dying severals and severals and… Well, I quit. Good music for the mood, and simple gameplay, so it was fun to try, but again, not a game for me. Well done anyway. :)

adroitconceptions 2017-08-15 00:33

was really hard to see how game connected to the theme... I actually stood in one spot and rapid fired... after 10-15 seconds my character just died... no really indication that there was any limit to the shots. It seemed to be just a story element with out that intentional test. Game really needed some sort of indicator of your 'soul' level along with places that created actually decisions on if using the gun was worth it... as far as I could tell there was basically nowhere I was making any choice about if I should use it and therefore no point to care about if I was using it up... basically either there was sufficient to make it or there was not.

the gravity flip mechanic was interesting. there were a few spots that felt like they needed almost pixel perfect activation of it to make it through. would have been nice if some of the check points were closer together.

game needed some explanation on how to actually play at the beginning.. some sort of tutorial 'level.' had I not seen the gifs of it being played, I would have had no idea that you could swap gravity around.

carsen-d 2017-08-15 05:47

I really enjoyed the overall feel of the game! The graphical style reminds me of a game that I can't really put my finger on... It's almost like Shovel Knight mixed with VVVVVV? Anyways, that plus the music made a pretty good mood overall. The game didn't run too well on my computer for some reason so I couldn't make it too far, but I wish I could have! Seems promising!

rosypenguin 2017-08-15 06:18

I like the VVVVVV inspired gameplay and the pixel art. I wish there was a more gradual difficulty ramp-up-- like have some easier levels that slowly introduce a new obstacle and eventually move up to the spikes and turrets and turning in midair mechanics. Otherwise really well done!

2017-08-15 07:35

The camera script need some working on other than that its a great game

elysiagriffin 2017-08-15 10:40

Featured Soul Gun in my LudumDare#39 Highlights & Derps Video :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W8Ji5YhVkA

risingoat 2017-08-15 15:36

@lereveur Thanks for your kind words, although Soul Gun is not your kind of game. We would have worked on the difficulty curve if we have had more time. But... jams :D.

@jason-kennedy The indication is the eye,it fades when our soul is being drained and the Spul Gun starts to produce particles to represent that it's being fed. However, I think it's too subtle. And perhaps we should have reduced the shooting time until you die... We needto work on that.

You are so right about the checkpoints issue, they were included in the last hour and we did not tested them.

And about the control explanation, the Main Screen tells you to use Space, which is the main button, and you can't start the game without pressing it. For moving right and left you can use A and D or left cursor and right cursor, so we think it's really hard to miss with a little bit of experimentation. In addition, the beginning of the level is a safe place without enemies, so the player can test controls and see how the game works. We always prefer that the player experiment and discover the controls rather than tell her directly. And the character starts upside down, so he understands that something happens with gravity. We tested with about twenty people without saying anything and everyone learned the control with a little trial and error. However, we can keep working on the execution, of course.

Thanks for taking your time writing such a long review.

@carsen-d Those were two of our references (VVVVVV is pretty obvious). Can you tell us what computer did you use? Some people are having performance issues and we haven't figured why yet. We are glad that you enjoyed the mood.

@insomnia Thanks. Could you be more specific about the camera? So we can improve it. I personally would like to have some shaking when the character dies.

@elysiagriffin Thanks a lot for your streaming, Elysia. It was a great show and I'm glad I was there! Thanks to it, I discovered a bunch or great games, like 'Plug me' which has an over the top game design.

prodigalson 2017-08-16 19:12

The game's difficulty has a "super meat boy" feel to it which means I had a big challenge playing the game but since the respawn is quick and so close to the last death point which makes it easy to just try/try/try again/ :P Aside from the difficulty, which to me seems intentional and its fine for the people that love these hardcore games, this is a solid entry. The aesthetics and graphics are good, the mood and feel connect, and the sound (though rather loud giving me a jump scare at the beginning :P) fits well too.

I felt the theme matches more what GameMaker's ToolKit Jam did which is "Dual purposed design" since you change gravity and shoot with the same button. :)

risingoat 2017-08-17 07:12

I think you are right. It wasn't intentional, but Mark Brown's warm voice sticks in your brain and suddenly you start mixing things. So yeah, two mechanics-one button is there, attraction is there (Málaga Jam VI's theme in which Soul Gun also took part) and a little running out of power is also there (too much firing and you explode).

Anyways, thanks for playing it. That makes not sleeping worth it.

strega 2017-08-19 09:44

Nice take on the VVVVVVV style platformer. I don't think I got very far. I wish there was an indicator of for when it was safe to fire the gun. Sometimes it felt like I was just dying for no reason.

risingoat 2017-08-20 11:05

Right now, the eye starts to fade when you shoot too much and the gun starts to emit a lot of particles. However, I think we need to add more feedback, yeah.

jaimuepe 2017-08-20 11:40

Cool game overall, i think it needed more checkpoints but i read in one of your comments that they were added at the end. My biggest problem with the game (which is not really important) is that the sounds emmited from the gun would stop when the shots were destroyed. It was very weird because if you fired two shots quickly the first one would stop suddenly, or if they crashed into a wall, that didn't feel good. Also no visual indicator as to when you were going to die because of the soul gun, and actually i never died because of it.

Btw, loved the screen with the fake quote, that was cool :).

Good job!

seconddimension 2017-08-20 13:59

I loved VVVVVV, although I also hated it because I'm not actually very good at games :laughing: The combining of the gravity change and weapon was cool, and overall game felt good to play. I would have liked better checkpoints though, I ended getting bit frustrated at that one part (same place as @wan). The atmosphere was excellent, I especially liked the rain and the music

coauctor 2017-08-20 19:22

Oh, these graphics reminded me of the xeno levels in Contra. Sweet!

Nice movement mechanics that feels unusual in a good way. It was fun to match jumping and shooting before actually doing it. thanks for the game!

risingoat 2017-08-20 20:29

@jaimuepe Thanks for your feedback! I think you are the first who noticed that sound issue. We will look into it. It will be fun to address every little problem and make a solid game. BTW, who says that the quote is fake? :D

@seconddimension Rain, music, gravity switching and weapons. Sounds like a great weekend to stay at home! Thanks a lot for playing it, we will improve those pesky checkpoints.

@coauctor Jose Miguel, our programmer (aka himself) is a huge Contra fan (in fact made the code wearing a Contra T-shirt. You made him happy, thanks for that. And thanks for saying thanks, it's so good to know there are people like you, having a good time with our little game. Cheers!

ex3 2017-08-21 21:32

@risingoat > Jose Miguel, our programmer (aka himself) is a huge Contra fan (in fact made the code wearing a Contra T-shirt. You made him happy

@coauctor I'm very happy! :smile:

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2017-09-03 19:13

Lovely game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 39 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqlTLOajPzI

risingoat 2017-09-06 18:01

Thanks a lot for playing, Jupiter. That's one cool video! And you almost reach the end!