FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD48 → Deeper Into The Mind

Deeper Into The Mind

By michaelyount, GrantYouManyWishes, Shua and Videt

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall13073.2887
Fun11073.2288
Innovation16142.6587
Theme16202.9487
Graphics11333.4888
Audio6723.4888
Humor10532.4975
Mood11123.3487

Comments

samarthmp5002 2021-04-27 05:44

Cool game! art needs a bit of work though.

kovi 2021-04-27 05:53

This feels pretty good to play, I think it captures that boiled down bullet hell shooter vibe quite well. I find something charming about the hand drawn art style as well.

There's definitely some room to refine things. It seems like if you manage to get yourself killed you no longer take damage, which is the only really major problem I saw. The audio when hitting the second boss also seems a little harsh/loud to me, and you can see past the edge of the level which causes the bullet sprites to tile around out there, but it's mostly just very minor things like that.

Overall I think this was a lot of fun, I definitely would have liked to played more past what was there which is always a great sign!

dilem 2021-04-27 05:54

Nice little game that slowly turns into a hectic bullet-hell, I really like it and art works surprisingly well! Well done!

iman 2021-04-27 05:55

I liked it, some of the animations were pretty great! I think I defeated the two bosses but the ground broke and it showed the game over screen. Not sure if I won or lost, and if I lost then I am not sure why I lost.

The idea is cool, and some tiny details such as health indication would help make it cooler!

verlanman 2021-04-27 06:56

Good game. Pleasant to the eye. Well done animation

hypertheory 2021-04-27 09:15

Music and art is cool. Good job!

mololo 2021-04-27 10:54

Interesting game, cool design and very nice animations.

I was invincible. I couldn’t be killed even if I take damage intentionally. There were some hearts on the map but didn’t seem to change things.

It was fun, overall a good game, but check the invincibility if it was not on purpose :)

fraukauz 2021-04-27 19:51

Well done, it's a nice game. I especially like the little blob character. The second level's background looks a bit rough, but overall nice experience!

michaelyount 2021-04-28 00:57

hey @fraukauz I updated the second level bug fix, check it out when you have a chance. Thanks for playing.

nahuelito 2021-04-28 01:28

The first monster is really cool. Loved the music. A bit more visual feedback like a health bar or something that would indicate if your hurting the enemies would be a nice addition. Well done!

todward 2021-04-28 11:50

Nice Game! Liked the artwork/style of the game. (If you use WASD and CTRL to shoot you will trigger Firefox Shortcuts :-D but thankfully left mous click shoots also)

brokenmatcha 2021-04-28 11:53

Very nice game :) Good graphics!

arancutter 2021-04-28 12:04

Congratulations on completing your first game jam! Hope you'll participate in many more. They're a great way to learn, and great fun of course :smiley:

I enjoyed the game. I like the idea of fighting your personal demons, especially in bullet hell format. It was cool fighting in a sort of arena and moving forward/deeper. I wish there was more. I also found some of the audio to be a bit harsh.

Nice work!

valeth2124 2021-04-28 12:09

I'm always there for a fun bullet hell game, and you did a great job! The pattern could be a bit more diverse at first tho, I found it getting easier and easier as I play. In addition, getting hit by a bullet don't really "feel like it", I suggest a bit more work on sound effect and animation, and a health indicator to show an impact.

thebmxeur 2021-04-28 12:14

I wish the rocks blocked enemies fire, otherwise they are just like a trap for the player.

michaelyount 2021-04-28 12:15

@arancutter Thank so much for your review. I couldn't agree with you anymore about the learning and fun. We will be at the next jam.

michaelyount 2021-04-28 12:22

@valeth2124 Thank you for the feedback. All valid points. The game needs major tweaking. We sorta got messed up in the 11th hour by a Github issue. That set us back big time and we were not able to playtest like we wanted to. Thanks for playing.

leggy 2021-04-28 12:38

character concept is nice. effects and general entertainment should be boosted a little. that is for sure a great beginning. good job!

michaelyount 2021-04-28 13:04

@leggy Thank you for your feedback. We had alot of fun making this game and I agree with you its a great start. Thanks for playing.

plovguru 2021-04-28 17:51

It's so cute, audition so good)!

silkypantsdan 2021-04-29 06:59

Love a fun bullet hell game! I had a problem with the audio when it first started, and it was a bit hard to tell what I was meant to shoot at (maybe flashing the enemies to indicate damage?).

It was also a little jarring when I died (?) and would spawn back in the center - some UI to indicate how much health I had would be a good addition.

keppersnapper 2021-04-29 07:06

Nice little bullet hell game, well done :) Great art, great gameplay, and just a solid jam entry. One thing to help is possibly some UI for health. Overall, really cool

foursay 2021-04-29 07:08

classic bullet game and I enjoy shooting around! The music at the 2nd scene seems good for me, and love the art style. Nice Job!

shua 2021-04-29 07:43

@silkypantsdan Thanks for the feedback! We had issues with git that we spent a lot of time fixing on the last day so we didn't have time to polish or implement some core features (like health indicators and a proper death mechanic) so the respawn was kind of hacked in at the last minute. That said it's great to hear that people are still enjoying the proof of concept!

magna 2021-04-29 10:37

Really great art and music, but I'm missing feedback when I damage an enemy

digitaldude555 2021-04-29 10:48

Well, I'd say the best thing is the music the way it gets more dramatic as the fight gets more intense very well done, mood is good. Art is decent but unpolished. Game is fun I enjoy shooters. Biggest problem is no feedback to hitting enemies, maybe just blink the sprite red every time it gets hit, also I seemed to have infinite health. Anyway good effort.

thewhiterice 2021-04-29 10:52

I love moving around, and dodging bullets and shooting things. The audio is pretty great, and so do the visuals. The only thing I wish was in this game, was some sort of player healthbar, and maybe a healthbar for enemies.

mlho7 2021-04-29 11:26

Music is cool, I really like the "first stage" background and ennemies, great atmosphere, well done.

tankou 2021-04-29 11:45

Nice game. I like the style and the sounds. Some damage feedback on enemies would have been nice, but all in all I had fun playing it. : )

rimskypapa 2021-04-29 13:06

fun game, like graphics and design of monsters and environments

divford 2021-04-29 13:23

Nice game! The art and music, in particular, were very good.

It needs more feedback. I didn't know how much health I had. I think I died once, because I went back to the centre of the level. Also, I wasn't sure if I was doing anything to the enemies, since they didn't react at all.

Impressed that you implemented such varied enemy behaviours. That was neat, even if I suck at bullet hells...

greenblacksky 2021-04-29 13:51

Looks good and sounds amazing)

the1 2021-04-29 14:39

Really like graphics. SFX are also pretty good. I think that adding some screen shake will make it more juicy. I didnt notice any bug. Overall really nice and solid game. Good job!

hiddentavern 2021-04-29 14:56

The music was great, the primitive art style worked and there was some nice juice. It was easy to get trapped in a corner by one of the tentacles which forced you to stay in the center of the main area. A terrain that encouraged more strategy might have been a fun improvement -- maybe have areas where you can move to that block the incoming bullets? Also a little more feedback when you got hit would have felt more impactful. It was a fun play -- great job!

birdbrain-studios 2021-04-29 14:58

This was a really interesting and unique game. I love the graphics and the sound design, I just wish there would be a little more to it. Very cool game. :)

tomtomgome 2021-04-29 17:27

Exellent sound design ! The game is short lived, and maybe some UI elements would have been appreciated, but overall it was a great small experience.

edur 2021-04-29 17:28

I liked the art Style and music. I wished that there would be an objective that tells you what to do in the beginning.

yeil 2021-04-29 17:58

Good job) Nice graphics and controls

quinn-patrick 2021-04-29 20:43

Wow, I gotta say, I had no idea what was going on the whole time I was playing. Is there any indication of how much health I have? When I get sent back to the center of the screen, is that me dying? Is the game over screen the end of the game? There's tons of stuff in this that just isn't clear. That being said, the graphics are awesome and the music is great. Some more sound effects, like one when I get hit by an attack, would be a huge step in the right direction.

itskdog 2021-04-29 22:50

Art and animation was pretty good. Sounds was good too.

michaelyount 2021-04-29 23:54

@quinn-patrick Thank you for the feedback and thank you for playing our game. I agree with your valid points about the UI lacking and response to hits was lackluster. We made the mistake of trying to pack the game with content, not foreseeing the huge setback that we had on the last day with version control. We truly wanted to implement those features in the game. Thanks again for your feedback.

c4scar 2021-04-30 00:14

I liked how the little guy floated around. I wish the attacks felt more juicy like the character animation. Also better hit feedback would be nice, like flashing.

ulisses 2021-04-30 00:53

I found the design of the creatures and movement very cool, and the art very good, but I couldn't get past the first room. As much as I shot at the enemies nothing happened, I tried to shoot at all points in the room and nothing happened either.

michaelyount 2021-04-30 02:22

@ulisses the big boss has to be destroyed. Its a bit of a bug where the boss doesn't have a proper damage response, it teleports around so be sure to hit it everywhere. Thanks for playing.

sirred 2021-04-30 03:55

Enjoyed playing this game. I am a fan of bullet hell type games and this one had some of those elements in it. I wish it was a bit longer than 2 levels or adding more annoying side enemies to the level to give it a bit more of a challenge. A suggestion would be to add a few feedback and ui elements for player and boss health and hitting enemies. Good job.

michaelyount 2021-04-30 04:03

@sirred Thank you so much for the feedback. I was just chatting with the other developers saying how much I appreciated comments of wanting to play more of the game. We wanted to put in those UI elements in the game (as well as , camera shake, hit effects and environmental effects) , however we had a hug setback due to a version control issue and had to skip a lot of the play testing aspect. We literally posted it 5 minutes before the cut off time. Crazy! Thanks again.

niklas-zhaga 2021-04-30 09:13

I wish I read more about lore things, like what happening here, who am I, who monsters are, but it's okay for games like this. Monsters and location design I liked the most (stained glass monster? so original!)

bridgeonastick 2021-04-30 12:40

This is a pretty cool game, I like the bullet hell vibe it has. The attacks of the enemies are also really fair, getting hit is really my own fault. A little more feedback on getting hit would be nice, I know there is flashing red, but that's not really where my eyes are looking when trying to do damage. Just a bit on the audio would be more than enough. It also is not clear how much health you have, but this was already mentioned in your comments as well.

That being said, I still enjoyed playing it, the art is really nice and the fights are well made!

yetanother 2021-04-30 22:05

I like the art. I had trouble understanding if I was killing the enemy or they where just disappearing. Other than that, nice work!

assertfailure 2021-04-30 22:32

Pretty nice bullet hell-ish game. At first I was not even sure what I am supposed to do, and I'd prefer a more distinct feedback on when you get hit or when you damage something. Like sounds or clearer visual feedback. Also the enemies could move in different way than just teleport around and the feedback on killing the enemy and advancing on the game could be clearer. The art style was pretty neat and it played quite well. I had fun :)

fabula-rasa 2021-05-01 11:50

I really liked the effect of a pit opening under you to go to the next level!

In the first level, the tentacle enemies were somewhat hard to discern from the background. But I guess that may be an artistic choice - to make them more menacing and harder to fight. In the second level, I'm still unsure what the laser beam of the boss was. It was unclear if it's just a targeting beam that will increase the boss' attack speed after you stay targeted for a while, or does the beam itself also damages you. At one point I thought it maybe does damage me, but I'm sill unsure :wink:

Some keybindings list would be nice. Move and main shoot button are obvious (well, still, might be not obvious to some?), but I was wondering if I am maybe missing some less obvious possibilities. Maybe I have a special attack that I don't know about and such. Anyway, a list of controls would be nice. Oh, and so would be some health bar. Not strictly necessary, but nice to have.

And pausing the game (hitting ESC to go to options screen) does not really pause the game :laughing: A tentacle happily kept attacking me while I was on a "pause" screen.

Gameplay itself felt totally fine. Movement was good, and I wasn't getting stuck on the environment pieces, which is appreciated. Aiming was also good. At no point did it feel frustrating or bad. Well made. Some more feedback from the enemies that they are being hit would be nice (maybe some pronounced color modulation or something of that sort).

michaelyount 2021-05-01 12:50

@fabula_rasa Thank you very much for the detailed feedback. I really enjoyed your descriptions of what should happen to indicate player and enemy feedbacks. I agree with you on all of your valid points. We intended to have those features that you mentioned, unfortunately we ran into a major version control issue in the very last hours of release. We scrambled to get a working version of our game to you, however this version was not our intended release. Other features that we wanted to add : camera shake, player and end enemy hit particles, bullet effects, enemy hit indicators, player health. Thank you so much for playing and being patient.

youhou 2021-05-01 18:02

Game was fun. Controls are fine and straight forward, the autofire is cool because I didn't want to spam click for that. Maybe add more feedback about when you're hit and when enemies are hitted, and add a health bar for both player and bosses. Graphics, music and sound effects were fine. Nice work :)

xpoho 2021-05-01 19:13

Что скрывается в глубинах нашего сознания? Наши страхи и бодрый шарик, готовый прийти на выручку. Я думаю, если сделать побольше боссов и оружия, то можно выпускать большую игру ^_^

videt 2021-05-01 19:17

@xpoho ахах, спасибо большое за отзыв! Мы обсуждали, что фидбек пока что очень положительный и поэтому стали думать о расширении игры. Посмотрим, к чему в итоге придем ;)

zliebowitz 2021-05-02 13:07

The game is overall very well done, and the one really missing thing is the lack of indication on health and the enemies on the first are level are a bit easy to miss (my eyes are a bit bad which might have contributed, but it took me a while to notice them and that the attacks weren't just spawning from random locations).

caeonosphere 2021-05-03 03:24

I beat it, I think! Dark as it was and with no health bar it was kinda hard to tell what was going on, but felt solid overall.

michaelyount 2021-05-03 04:00

@caeonosphere Thank you for the feedback. We ran into troubles and had to push the game quite unfinished. We are happy with the result, however we would have liked to include: camera shake , enemy hit effects(as well as, bullet effects) and a player health indicator. Thanks again .

jason-wilson 2021-05-03 17:13

I liked the art and the sound effects. One thing I would say about the art is that the pixel sizing didn't seem to be consistent which made the character feel disconnected from the other game elements.

I didn't understand the purpose of the heart pickups, and I wasn't sure if I was taking damage or not.

I'm also not sure if I won the game or lost. The end screen just said Game Over so I don't know if I beat the second boss or I just died.

Otherwise, I think the mechanics have the potential to make for a cool game, just needs some more work.

michaelyount 2021-05-03 17:20

@jason-wilson thank you for your fair and honest review.

lrvstudios 2021-05-03 22:08

A short game, and yet so amusing! Really liked on how you bring out theme, nice mechanics, great art-style and music. Great work!

tomn114 2021-05-04 02:53

It's a really fun, cool and challenging game, I'm just not sure if I was doing damage to the bosses but apparently I was bc i completed the game. But it's a really easy fix to add UI to display health of player and the boss. Other than that it's a very complete game with clean graphics sound and mechanics. I can see the connection to the theme because you go deeper to face new bosses, but maybe the connection to Deeper and Deeper could've been stronger as well. But overall very polished game and enjoyable to play.

videt 2021-05-04 10:04

@lrvstudios thank you for your review!

videt 2021-05-04 10:06

@tomn114 thank you for your review! In our next games, we will definitely try to provide clear player and enemy feedbacks 😅

prodigalson 2021-05-04 13:19

I like the art style, the player avatar is cute/cool, and I like the effects that happens when I shoot and it glows like recharging the shot. I did not quite understand if the objective was to survive long enough for that big looming creature to get close enough for you to defeat it or if this was like an endless arena type of game. Also, I saw heart pickups and I think I died/respawned but hard to tell since I didn't see any UI to indicate health.

rolle 2021-05-04 15:38

Nice bullet-hell game! Loved it! I was glad I didn't have to click the mouse to shoot. :smile:

A few problems, it wasn't easy to understand what to do. Should I hit the "tentacles"? Should I hit the "monsters"? There was no feedback knowing if my shots made any difference. Then at "level 2" (?) the monster suddenly disappeared and I was left alone. Then a screen saying "Restart / Quit" (or something like this, I don't remember)

Also, I started playing this on my MacBook w. FireFox. I didn't understand what to do or what buttons to use. I later figured out you had to have a mouse to play (trackpad didn't work well :smile: ). The controls were easy enough once you understood what controls were used. :sweat_smile:

Well made game, I have always wanted to do a bullet-hell-game and this caught the feel of it with the gfx and the music I think. :thumbsup:

ardorugus 2021-05-05 02:46

Deeper boss-fighting mix, kinda Dark Souls' vibe here. Loved the music, however it's hard to get, what's with your health. Thanks for an option of holding mouse down to shoot, otherwise would be an impossible mouse clicker/killer.

videt 2021-05-08 04:36

@rolle @ardorugus thank you for your reviews! It'll definitely help us improve and make our next games better!

radmccool 2021-05-08 22:15

i really liked the main character. so ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ cute

michaelyount 2021-05-09 05:12

@radmccool I really like your character 👆(•_•), Thanks for playing, we really appreciate it.

deadmanjw 2021-05-09 09:15

This was a nice game. It seemed a little dark at points which made navigating around the map hard but it was really an enjoyable game.

echo-gameworks 2021-05-09 19:48

Really liked the the animation on the main character and the mood. The music was well done, too. Great work!

pat-cleaver 2021-05-11 12:48

Nice one! Really enjoyed the music and SFX. I could have used some feedback about my health, and generally a sense of peril. It just felt like "Oh bullet hell, I guess I should avoid these", wasn't even sure I was getting damaged oir doing any damage back though. That being said, very nice work overall I'd say!

asdehielo 2021-05-11 14:04

Nice game, good art, music and sound. The gameplay was simple but fluid.

My suggestions are related to having a bit more clarity, as in: - Some visual and auditive feedback when you hit an enemy - A healthbar of some sort for the player - It was a bit too hard to see the tentacles in the first level - Better hitboxes for the obstacles, at least the first level was a bit hard to maneuver

All in all, good job. Keep it up!

michaelyount 2021-05-11 16:13

@pat-cleaver We sure de appreciate your feedback, please add to your collection because we surely have future plans to rework this game. Thanks.

michaelyount 2021-05-11 16:14

@asdehielo thanks for the positive feedback and suggestions. Thanks for playing!

notanimposter 2021-05-16 04:24

Wow this is a great bullet hell sorta game. I love the dark atmosphere and the sounds fit really well. The graphics are super cute.

michaelyount 2021-05-16 04:36

@notanimposter Thanks so much for playing. Really glad you enjoyed it.

etrealjunior 2021-05-16 04:41

Congratulations on the game, I really like how the art was made, you need to refine some points, how to outline the enemies, fix the damage system, but nothing that spoiled the gameplay, I hope to see future upgrades and mechanics in your game, if you can give feedback on my game I will be grateful, a big hug.

michaelyount 2021-05-16 04:55

@etrealjunior Thank you so much for the great feedback. I agree with you and we have a nice big update for the game when the jam concludes. I played your game too and I was very pleased by the art and music in conjunction with the mysterious gameplay. Thanks, please keep in touch.

tulkas 2021-05-16 11:44

A nice challenging game. Atmosphere and music combinates very well. Overall i enjoyed it! I see you are going to rework. Thats good news. I would love to play a full version.

noobdude 2021-05-16 12:11

A very short and challenging experience, i really loved the music and the art design of the bosses, good job!

michaelyount 2021-05-16 12:41

@tulkas thank you so much for playing. Follow the game on itch to get the latest updates and thanks for your support.

michaelyount 2021-05-16 12:42

@noobdude we really appreciate your feedback. Thanks so much for playing.

oadt 2021-05-16 14:28

Nice short game! I feel like the controls could be a bit better explained (e.g. I had to watch the video to see I am able to shoot) In the first level the contrast is a bit too low, I know it should be a dark scene but the enemies are a bit hard to see. But I think there isn't a damage system yet, so it wasn't a big issue. The game was fun and I would have loved to see a third level, but I am not sure I played it "correctly" :smile:

itsboats 2021-05-16 20:23

Already gave all my feedback in stream so I'll just say awesome game, really good start! If you want further feedback after you work on it some more, get in touch with me!

michaelyount 2021-05-16 20:42

@itsboats Thank you so much for streaming. I will send you a link when it is updated.

digital-bacon 2021-05-18 10:53

Nice entry. I like the graphics, thought the styling of the enemies and the background clashed with the player's sprite (was this a deliberate choice? or a ran-out-of-time thing?). Gameplay was okay. The controls were very responsive, though the firing didn't appear to do much. Some UI would've helped (and I know, that sounds hypocritical since there wasn't a UI in my game either.... :blush: ). But a good effort -- well done!