red 2018-12-06 02:22
Nice and simple! Also, cool special effects. The only criticism I have is that the player moved excruciatingly slow.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD43 → Apotheosis
By citsua
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 132 | 3.67 | 22 | |
| Fun | 55 | 3.82 | 22 | |
| Innovation | 262 | 3.16 | 23 | |
| Theme | 243 | 3.50 | 23 | |
| Graphics | 214 | 3.47 | 22 | |
| Mood | 161 | 3.38 | 19 |
Nice and simple! Also, cool special effects. The only criticism I have is that the player moved excruciatingly slow.
Simple but awesome :) Rated
This was a pretty fun game! The tutorial was well setup so I understood all the abilities and enemy types without any issue. I did die a lot in the start because I was testing out the different weapons and I personally just used the bow throughout the entire game after that. It was the only weapon that gave me an advantage of long range without the need to charge, which helps deal with those pesky blue mage cubes easily. I also kept the heal god since that was the most useful utility skill.
I personally wanted to see more utility skills (such as the heal, resurrect), rather than different weapons, as I think once people get used to a certain weapon, I'm not sure they may want to switch, which means much of the early game's sacrifices don't actually significantly impact or change gameplay since they are just discarding the weapon they did not use or used least. You can't also use the weapons simultaneously so it doesn't have any advantage to keep them. I don't know if experimenting with passive effects would help, such as maybe if you held onto the lightning sword in your inventory, but are actively using the bow, maybe the sword occasionally has a small chance to shoot out lighting when you attack or a small chance to activate their special attack? This way there is actually incentive to keep those weapons that you don't use. As such, the way it is now, I think the only skills that I actually retained to the last were the utility skills, like dash and the passive resurrect and heal in that order. (I think heal is without a doubt a necessity till the end.) It also did not help that most of the weapons given to us are melee and in terms of gameplay, I felt their use was a bit limited against the ranged foes. However, I must say that their specials are really cool to look at - shockwave and the hammer blast are very impactful and rewarding to use in their own ways. Nevertheless, I think the presence of a variety of weapons at the start can also cater to players with different tastes, combat styles and preferences too!
A minor issue, which I'm not sure if it's due to the perspective mode of the game or something else, but ranged weapons are slightly inaccurate when aiming at certain positions. The projectiles seem to aim and shoot slightly off from my cursor's position in the 3D space. It wasn't too game breaking, but still made aiming difficult at times especially with cubes that are right along corners of the maze walls.
What I loved about the game was the amount of juice - the screen shakes, particle effects, and my character even receives some knock back when hit by a huge melee boss! Very nice detail there! The first time I encountered the boss was also a pretty cool moment just looking at a giant cube storming down the corridor after me XD
I also appreciate the big door designs and door animations. It fits the game feel and makes me feel like it's this huge heavenly place with the gods.
Having some sounds would have gone a long way in adding audio feedback and since the visual feedback is already there, it is a waste that there is no audio to back it up to deliver an ultimate enjoyable experience and it would do a lot to give some weight to the special abilities as well instead of just silence.
The graphics are simple and effective in portraying the game too and well executed without major flaws. Keep it up! :)
Thanks everyone for your comments!
@yyz : wow, now that's some feedback. I agree with you on pretty much everything.
Weapons: yeah, I hoped the lenghty tutorial would encourage people to use multiple weapons, but in the end even when I playtested I didn't switch much. If I had to redo it, I would probably replace one or two weapons with something else. But maybe this way everybody can find a weapon they like! Personally, I played mostly with the hammer (can hit just by flinging it at enemies, without even attacking) and the sword (the paralysis is pretty strong against melee enemies and big groups)
Aiming: this is a very annoying bug that sadly I couldn't fix without wasting too much time. I think it may have something to do with the perspective, as you said.
Since I didn't have time for sounds/graphics I tried to compensate with screen shake and particles, and I'm glad you noticed and appreciated it! I published ten minutes before the Compo deadline so I didn't have any breathing room for the creative aspects of the game :(
Thank you very much for your detailed feedback, I'm really happy you enjoyed my game!
@citsua No problem! The tutorial is definitely good at exposing me to understand how each weapon can be used and their unique traits. And attention to detail and effort is always a nice touch in a game even during a game jam! All the best for the compo!
It's a testament to this game's cool core concepts that I enjoyed my time despite 3 of my 4 playthroughs running into problems. It's fun to experiment, move around and kill, and there's a good variaty of powers you need to do without. Now as to those problems:
My first playthrough I stopped because heal was bound by default to a, not q, which is of course also move left. I had to alt-f4 my way out and change it.
My second playthrough I tried to rush through the tutorial, and at the last point pressed q before I took damage. Since there weren't any enemies to kill to recharge healing, I was now stuck and had to do the whole tutorial again. I think the tutorial is great, but it takes a non-insignificant amount of time and isn't skipable if you start the game from scratch. I know you can restart if you complete, and I assume if you die (I never did, permantenly anyway, thanks Hades!), but I didn't find any way to restart on command except alt-f4, which put you into the tutorial again.
My third playthrouh I ascended. Huray!
My fourth playthrough I wanted to try keeping different weapons. However, when I got to the first warrior boss cube, I tried Hermes-Dashing, which knocked him remarkably far (is he lighter than regular enemies?), over a wall, and out of the level. Now I couldn't reach him or kill him. At which point I decided it was time to fill in the rating :)
And as the last two points, a lot of walls got invisible if the camera was closed, and I don't know if it's on purpose but I couldn't tell the difference between wizard-cubes with 3-round bursts and single shots until they shot me.
Still, like I said, I'm quite impressed with the core gameplay. Most of the problems I encountered are easily patchable should you feel like a post-jam version.
@bificommander : thank you very much for your feedback!
The heal being bound to A is my mistake, I have a french keyboard (AZERTY instead of QWERTY) so I have to switch the controls before publishing. I changed the movement keys but forgot the heal. My bad!
Ah, yeah, I completely didn't think that you could press Q before being hurt... And you didn't see it since you never died, but if you die after completing the tutorial you don't have to do it again, you're directly teleported to the first room. You're completely right, you should be able to restart whenever you want. Thanks for keeping on playing despite those problems!!
The walls being invisible is on purpose; all walls facing towards the camera (if that makes sense) turn invisible when you get past them, so as not to obscure your vision. I know it looks a bit cheap, but I didn't want to waste time on this issue.
I'm glad you ascended and had fun :)
Very cool idea! Unfortunately, I got stuck at the room of Aphrodite, the enemy was dead but the door did not open...
Really cool! I like how you find an art style that makes both great gameplay and an easy way to develop a 3D game. I wasn't able to pass the healing test, I guess this is the qwerty related bug? Please also try my game if you want. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/sacricent
I like the way you implemented the tutorial phase. The particle systems you used as well were a nice touch. I particularly liked the charge shot on the bow.
@pompi-pompi On my PC the healing key was bound to "a" by default. In the Unity Launcher you can check the controls and change them if you wish.
Pretty cool and simple game :-) The effects looked nice and the game felt nice :-) Great job
Simple visuals, yet they look stunning thanks to visual effects, screenshake and other small stuff that you proficiently put in.
In gameplay I'd suggest to make player a bit faster, all combat looks fast-paced, but the player is too slow for that, even with dash.
Anyways, great game!
p.s - fileshare website looks shady, I think it might've scared some people off. I'd suggest using itch.io/google/mega or something else
SWEET BISCUITS! When it comes to weapon/ability design as well as instruction, this is hands down the best I've played thus far. Brilliant Polish on this. Well Done!
Thanks everyone for the comments! I'm really glad you're mostly enjoying it
@pompi-pompi: did you try the latest version? It was uploaded right before your comment so maybe you got the wrong one, but this problem was fixed in it.
@vlandemart: I didn't feel the player was too slow but you're the second person to say this, so maybe you're onto something. Didn't think about the fileshare site! I'll upload it on Google Drive, thanks
YYZ and Bificommander said pretty much everything :D So, but for a compo is this a great entry! Well done!
Your game is very fun, and I followed the theme, Nice work!
Very nicely explained but unsatisfying. The bow is the only weapon needed for the entire game, and the aim doesn't account for the tilted camera perspective. A lot of other weapons are just under-powered compared to it, that there's no use for them. Most of the enemies presented aren't ideal to fight in close range. A black or blue cube approaching means I have to back away and switch to the bow.
Doing something like reflecting with the shield is difficult to pull off, but it does so little in return. The hammer is one of the most disappointing, its swing animation is slower than just looking around very quickly, doesn't feel natural, and a point-blank charged hit doesn't actually hit. Along with the sword, you are guaranteed to be damaged when using it.
I believe adding sound and balancing the weapons can make a pretty big difference in the gameplay, and also satisfaction when killing enemies.
The graphics are pretty good, but they're literally just cubes, and the effects are at the edge of what is considered a derivative work. The colour choices are soothing at least.
As you can probably tell, I didn't enjoy this game as much. It's most likely that spoiled myself by meatshotting caterpillars in my LD42 game. Good job anyways.