Storm: Last Resort

simon-rahnasto 2021-04-28 12:22

I love pirate games (made one myself in LD 38), so I was super stoked to find your entry!

Amazing job on making the combat feel so "high stakes" and intensive. At first I just got owned by the enemies and missed exactly everything, but after a bit of practice I started to snipe them down. Very cool that the enemies can damage each other as well, I tried to make sure to keep an enemy between me and another enemy, in order to make them kill each other.

The weather effects were also fantastic, overall a great experience!

gregfagan 2021-04-30 22:53

A different font might fit the mood better, but overall well done.

barelyevengames 2021-04-30 22:59

I played your game! Check it out! https://youtu.be/DHfy_7ZtjHk

skosnowich 2021-05-01 01:31

@simon-rahnasto Thanks for your comment. Actually, I wanted to let the enemies check if they hit friendlies so they won't hit each other. But good that I didn't had the time to do it, if you liked it. Also I got a lot of feedback from friends afterwards that the game already was too hard in its current state. :)

@gregfagan Yeah, that's true. I used a small boilerplate project of mine with that font in it and I hadn't the time to change the font, it wasn't a priority.

@barelyevengames Thank you very much for the video. I think those are always the most helpful and valuable for giving feedback. First of all: I got around 8 hours sleep each day over the course of the jam, so that's fine, I think, but thanks for the concerns. And probably you're right nonetheless. :smile: :thumbsup:

To address some of the points you mentioned: - It's true that you can't really dodge the shots, once they fired at you. The enemies look at your current speed and calculate their target on that. So there is a chance to dodge by slowing down and making turns, but it's really really hard. The idea was that one has to plan ahead to not being hit. But also I massively over-scoped and I had things like cannoneers inaccuracy and dumber enemies on my to-do list which would have made things a little bit more interesting and easier, I guess. - Because you realized too late, that you could control the direction of where you shoot: I added a hint about this to the games description. Missing tutorials and bad instructions on my side. - Missing background image in main menu screen -> no time because over-scoped. I hope one day, I manage to do a jam without over-scoping. :smile: - No reason to be sorry, that you didn't play the whole game. It's my fault not having enough time to play-test and making the game too hard and unforgiving. - Oh, also your guess about my interpretation of the theme was right: Deeper and deeper into the storm. It actually affects you in the last mission. The plan was to add wind mechanics and such.

Thank you again for the extensive feedback!

devmerlin 2021-05-01 16:08

Fairly fun overall. The game feels a lot like Sid Meier's Pirates mixed with a text adventure, in combat terms. However, the sound was a... little annoying. I also noticed that the AI has absolute precision - they can fire at you from the edge of the targeting arc and then dodge away. Don't worry a whole lot about over-scoping, I do it all the time. This jam, I had to ditch my first idea!

viperux 2021-05-01 16:51

Well, your game deserves more ratings for sure! Too bad you haven't given any feedback thus your game doesn't gain visibility. I liked it very much! The weather effect where nice and the game was quite challenging. Hope more people can see and rate this game! Good luck! :-)

nikadra 2021-05-01 17:16

An intense and engaging experience! The game was, as others have mentioned, quite difficult due to the AI's aiming abilities. Their shots were really hard to dodge, although this make the times that I did manage to dodge them all the more satisfying. It also helped make them more menacing, which contributes to what is in my opinion the game's main strength: the intensity of the combat. I also agree with Simon Rahnasto that the enemies hitting themselves actually ended up being a great addition. It was also interesting that you had different choices for upgrade your ship, which ends up rewarding skilled players (not me :p) since they don't have to spend gold on repairs. I also enjoyed the small story parts in between battles, especially the one preceding the thrilling final showdown.

Graphics-wise, I especially liked the environment. The ocean looked superb, especially seeing the shadows of clouds rolling along the waves. The rain and darkness helped intensify the later parts of the game, building up the mood. When it comes to audio, I personally, in contrast to DevMerlin, actually really liked the choice of sound effects. I felt it added a lot to the mood and made the combat more thrilling.

Overall, the game was intense and exciting. Though its difficulty did make it hard to enjoy at times, it was moody and engaging, and had a lot of other strong points in its gameplay. Great job! :smiley:

jonrei 2021-05-02 17:26

Love pirate games! This one was quite challenging to me, but a lot of fun when i got the hang of it :D

sirred 2021-05-02 18:27

Reminded me of Assassins Creed Black Flag with the boat combat. If only there was some sea shanties as you were battling and getting destroyed by the AI (I know you didnt have time to do your own audio). I really liked the graphics as the storm got heavier and heavier throughout the oncoming battles. The one thing I found rather frustrating was that it seemed to shoot at the mouse but it wouldnt go exactly where I pointed it. Sometimes down or up I couldnt really tell if there was a pattern to it, but eventually with enough tries I managed to beat the game. I think this could have been improved with maybe a line that was drawn to where the canon shots would go to make it a little bit more clear. Great entry.

dans17 2021-05-02 19:28

I liked seeing the similiarites and differences in how we both created a pirate game, and I thought it was interesting how we both arrived at that theme from different perspectives. At first I was confused because I was holding down w/s and didn't realize you had to tap it multiple times to completely unfurl your sails, but once I figured it out the combat was very enjoyable! I liked that you implemented a ramming mechanic, but it would be nice if the front of the ship did more damage than the sides, thereby incentivizing ramming a ship in the side to deal heavy damage at the expense of a little inflicted on yourself. It was also nice that you offered difficulty levels, but I didn't really feel much of a difference with the easier mode. Finally, I feel like the enemies' impeccable aim would be more manageable if you had better maneuverability; I think if you completely unfurl your sails you should be able to turn much faster (like you are putting an anchor down). Overall, it was a very fun game and even without music, you still managed to express the mood very well!

frenchie 2021-05-02 23:57

Really cool game! I loved all the story you put between all the fights to add a little "choose your adventure" instead of just focusing on the combat. Also, thank you for giving options when losing! I went into the last fight with like 10 hp and it would have been impossible otherwise :smiley:

johnnyjw 2021-05-04 03:15

Was pretty slow pased at begginging cool idea thouhg

retrome 2021-05-04 15:40

Interesting perseverance game! Pretty nice physics. Hard to play. Pleasant ambient and sound effects.

Some remark: it might be intended, but gameplay feels pretty slow.

Good job!

tkers 2021-05-05 20:51

Really fun game! Love the balance between text adventure and combat. Shooting and (not) dodging enemy attacks was incredibly difficult at first, but the hints you provided helped a lot. Having some tutorial in your first battle would be great here, as the style and controls made me approach it from an "action" angle (i.e. rushing in and spraying with the cannons) rather than playing it strategic. Could be just me of course, but I think you could lean more into that specific combat style in some way :)

wetburritosupreme 2021-05-06 00:49

Difficult to the point of frustration, but well polished, I liked the choice at each death to continue or start over, was nicely done! Thanks!