FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD47 → BULLETS FROM THE PAST

BULLETS FROM THE PAST

By cambryx and recyx

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall44.5030
Fun64.4130
Innovation264.3230
Theme44.6730
Graphics144.7330
Audio794.1429
Humor6952.8323
Mood1364.0728

Comments

quak 2020-10-05 15:41

Interesting game! The game accomplishes quite a few things that make it an enjoyable experience. You are constantly thinking about whether you should go for a long-range shot for a 1 hit kill, or go up close so that there is less of a chance of your future self running into that bullet. You are also watching out for bullets from the past, while minding the ones in the present which can become a little bit overwhelming after around 10 levels. The art style is amazing, and I loved the particles the bullets had! The only real downside to this game is that it really encouraged camping in a corner for me, because I would be safe from my past self as long as I stayed in that corner, and I would have less of a chance of running into an old bullet. Other than that, I found myself wanting to play more and more rounds! Very well made!

Boop.PNG

rost 2020-10-06 11:16

Really enjoyable mechanics. Snappy controls I think the bullets are little bit slow but really fun to play

odedro987 2020-10-06 11:18

Very cool game! I like how chaotic it gets in later rounds. Also the art is on point!

2020-10-06 11:21

It is an awesome game, the best I played until now BY FAR. The mechanics are amazing and fit the theme perfectly, very innovative! An amazing little jam!

antaresvaldemar 2020-10-06 11:30

Excellent work, the game looks very polished and plays very nicely. The mechanics are simple and the challenge of the game is largely dependent on the player's own strategy. The audio is nice, and the feel of the game is great, the bullets are fast enough to keep you alert but slow enough not to be overwhelming. Very good entry, congrats!

2020-10-06 11:51

very nice graphics! but i cannot play from my browser((

zanzavar 2020-10-06 11:59

Very polished, great aesthetics, audio, solid mechanics and gameplay. I liked that the game has this serene, calm feeling (even though it is technically a bullet hell game). Great job!

rikitaner 2020-10-06 13:09

Very nice game! Had a lot of fun with it! Got to round 14! At first I thought the game would be too slow because of the movement speed and the speed of the bullets, but seeing how hectic it became the speed is perfect. The game looks amazing and I love how the music becomes more dramatic!

fachscahfttf 2020-10-06 13:17

what a beautiful game! its fun to figure out strategies in the early levels, just to abandon every rule of it to panic shoot everything away.

the game doesnt need it, since its perfect the way it is. but i could totaly see different levels with different enemies.

keep it up guys!

fadrikalexander 2020-10-06 13:19

at first I was like the game is really slow but then that slowness became my ally lol, the game is great can take a bit of making a bit faster but other than that a nice experience, I've made it to round 12.

chocolat-endive 2020-10-06 13:32

Very cool, I loved it! Graphics are very polished, and they remain clear thanks to the present/past contrast, even when it's a total mayhem all around. The music fits nicely, and the gameplay controls are well balanced, not too slow, not too fast. Good job!

Screenshot at 2020-10-06 15-27-40.png

2020-10-06 18:19

Amazing, love the graphics and the idea, and it's keep getting more and more interesting with more rounds :)

andriirinah 2020-10-06 19:10

Very clever idea. I really loved the art style and the music. Loved the fact that game become a mess after a while and you regrette things you did earlier. Very nice game, had a lot of fun discovering new ways. Keep up the good guys!

the-v-s 2020-10-07 09:27

This game is sooo cool. So hard to find the right way to winn all this waves. Graphics also quite nice. And i cant beat more than 11 waves. Good job with this game)

vphyre 2020-10-07 14:55

Good game! I really liked the mechanics of creating clones at each loop, really really creative. The graphics are magnificent, and the sound is very good too. Excellent gameplay. Congratulations on the production.

shubart 2020-10-07 14:59

this is MADNESS ! absolute must have. As a details, the music that become richer during the first rounds was a really cool idea (not the most important so). Thank you very much for this game

wendel-scardua 2020-10-07 18:56

So, instead of a bullet hell, you decided to make a bullet purgatory? (or maybe, a bullet reincarnation cycle) :)

Some details I really liked: the music progression (it reminds me of a song from a certain webcomic's OST that does this thing with loops that keep adding instruments), and the way the time and health indicators are part of the scenario (with 413 bullets flying around I wouldn't want to have to look outside the area to check these things).

I think the tutorial could've mentioned that long shots deal more damage - I know, I should've noticed because the bullet effect gets larger, but for a while I was confused about why some enemies died in one shot while others took two. Maybe it's more like a bug between the keyboard and the chair, haha.

Anyway, amazing game! (I'm still trying to beat the high score, but my best is still Round 10)

swiftvector 2020-10-07 20:00

Probably the best executed take on bullet-hell-with-looping that I've seen. The artwork has a very satisfying feel and I very much appreciate the use of dynamic music, adding more layers as you add more past selves. Dynamic music is no doubt not easy to implement in such a short time frame.

I did find one bug: when I fire at a turret from point blank range, the bullet sometimes seems to pass straight through.

Also the point above about tutorialising farther bullets doing more damage is something I'd agree with. I didn't realise until I read Wendel's comment, but it certainly makes a lot more sense now!

omeletton 2020-10-07 20:27

I love the music, how it slowly progresses as you get more entagled with your past actions

nitero 2020-10-07 23:00

Great idea, stunning art and soothing music! Very well made game!

The only nitpicks I have is that there seems to be a bug where your bullets pass through enemies if you are too close to them, and the health bar being hard to see in later rounds (which is also kind of fun).

The balancing is also pretty solid. From the premise you would think that there is some easy way to min-max this. However I didn't find the one way to completely cheese it and get an infinite highscore. But I got quite far, so here are some interesting thoughts I had: First of all, in this game you truly are your worst enemy. So I just avoided shooting as much as I could, except for when enemies where very close. Using leftover health to take shots for your future self can also work, but it doesn't seem very meaningful later on... Another trick is to keep moving in simple patterns so that you can later predict where safe spaces are. I also tried to move as little as possible and generally stayed at the edge of the map. The last trick I found was spinning violently when not shooting. This means that you can tell that a past self is about to shoot when he stops spinning, so you can watch out for that.

I hope this didn't come across as weird. I'm just genuinely surprised as to how long the game hooked my attention.

Current Highscore: 32

marbles 2020-10-08 01:25

It was really fun to play! After a while it becomes bullet hell. The particle effects for the bullets are really nice. It has great feedback as well.

The art is beautiful and it has a pleasant color. I like that the timer and health is in the background. The health meter is a little weird because it's a slider but at least it's not the usual red health bar cause I don't think it will fit the art theme (with all cogs, clock, and walls portraying a mechanical theme) so good job for that.

My highscore is 52 and died at round 10.

bellringerquinn 2020-10-08 13:45

This is really well done. The art and sounds are great. We both had a very similar take on the theme and I like how you made the bullets dangerous as opposed to the previous lives as I did. I really like how you made previous bullets and turrets red so that we'd have an idea where the bullets from previous lives would go. However, I did find the gameplay to be far too slow for me. During my first life, I discovered that I could survive for extremely long with very little difficulty whatsoever by just camping in the same corner all game. I mostly camped in the bottom left corner and would shoot anything I could from there; if it was safe, I would move up the sides and shoot cross map at remaining turrets. I made it to round 20 and would never have my health fall below 75%. At this point the screen was absolutely covered in bullets and previous versions of myself, but there was very little threat against my strategy. I committed suicide. Btw, I love the sound effect on the time rewind; overall this mechanic was very well implemented and animated.

ms-annotation-x 2020-10-10 14:16

**Good game!**

**Here is my feedback:**

**What I liked?** - I liked the main menu and the visuals. - The UI looks very nice. - I liked the tutorial. - I liked only shooting, and when a new tower come out SFX. - Very nice music. - I really liked the music changing to a new one, when the time rewinds. - I liked menus transitions. - I really liked how you presented, player health, and round timer. - I liked the UI on the Ground. - I enjoyed the mechanics and the gameplay of the game.

**What I disliked?** - The player is moving too slow. - The bullet is moving too slow. - Button navigation is not set to none. (The highlighted colour It keeps visualized after pressing the button) - I played a bit, then I went to brush my teeth when I came back I saw this: [1] "Good job!" Seriously?! - The SFX are noisy. (The SFX that I liked doesn't count) - Bullet colliding with the wall SFX. - The camera shake. - The music feels it is unfinished. - The music takes too long to restart.

**Bugs:** - I can walk over the towers. - The music only restarts if the time rewinds

**Suggestions:** - Maybe, I should be able to pause the game, or to go to the main menu. - Maybe, the ability to restart the game. - Maybe, show that the enemy is taking damage. - Maybe, can interact with past self, or with past towers. - Play a SFX when the player gets destroyed.

--

**Sorry for the critical feedback.**

--

Endnotes:

[1]

2020-10-10 14_30_33-Bullets from the past by cambryx.png

Bonus one

2020-10-10 15_03_49-Bullets from the past by cambryx.png

2020-10-12 19:36

I loved this game!

Using your past inefficacy to produce a bullet hell of your own making is super clever. And it makes the difficulty curve natural (and makes me feel like I deserve it).

I like that the sound is synced up with the rhythm of the game, that's real classy.

Everything looks really pretty and juicy, and it's just satisfying to play.

Good job! :)

invixel 2020-10-13 07:42

Wow, this game was amazing!

Graphics and Audio

Graphics were cartoony, consistant and awesome. Sound design was in the background serving the visuals- as it should be. Loved the sound effect for the rewind, the music was good too.

Fun, Innovation, Theme

The gameplay felt great and innovative, I loved the strategic twist of bullets growing over time. There was a lot of strategy, and I think that if I planned my actions really well, i could probably get well past 50 rounds. However, i do agree that camping in corners was a bit too easy. Also, a pause option would be great.

Humor, Mood

Humor is where I rated the game lowest. I mean, it's not like you were trying for a comedy so it's not a bad thing. The feel of the music and graphics were a bit too calm for the gameplay in my opinion. In a bullet hell, stress is the primary feeling and the presentation didn't build much on that. But that's really a nitpick.

Overall

Simply amazing!

(I also more than doubled your high score)

Screenshot (62).png

loveapplegames 2020-10-16 21:46

Great game! Polished and addictive. I managed to get to round 13. Your take on "past selves" is original and works well. Since your bullets move so slow, my strategy is to move close to a tower before shooting it. Better feedback when your bullet hits a tower would be nice.

ploy 2020-10-19 11:40

Wow, amazing concept! Variety of different situations & interractions would be awesome, like different weapons, dangerous mines etc

verbante 2020-11-06 20:41

I really like the game. I got 16 :P My game has a quite similar concept if you'd like to check it out. Unlike mine your game communicates whats going on crystal clearly. I like that you have to do bullet economy and the strategy for success lies in minimizing the bullets in the stage. But the player has to figure this out and come up with different strategies to do it efficently. Unlike my game your game communicates what is going on perfectly clear. Also the music loop is nice because after some point I didn't really need to look at the timer, and just knew when the music is going to end

2021-01-24 05:49

beat round 17 you say? MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! who even really needs to fire? first try. Screenshot (2).png