ziggdev 2022-04-05 16:17
Really awesome art style, found it kinda of hard to move and shoot (probs just me im bad games :) ) Boss fights had some really interesting phases and ideas!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD50 → The Apocawiz
By shadow64
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 78 | 4.11 | 24 | |
| Fun | 79 | 4.09 | 24 | |
| Innovation | 770 | 3.22 | 24 | |
| Theme | 635 | 3.70 | 24 | |
| Graphics | 199 | 4.27 | 24 | |
| Audio | 133 | 4.00 | 24 | |
| Humor | 309 | 3.65 | 24 | |
| Mood | 275 | 3.88 | 24 |
Really awesome art style, found it kinda of hard to move and shoot (probs just me im bad games :) ) Boss fights had some really interesting phases and ideas!
@ZiggyDev Thank you very much! I tried to stick to the Zelda LTTP style of movement and attack, but I admit that it was a struggle against my more modern "this should be twin stick" sensibilities. Haha. I'm glad you liked the bosses! Hopefully they felt distinct. Admittedly I spent more time on a couple and it probably shows, but those are the breaks!
Thanks for playing and commenting! I'll try to check yours out ASAP.
Loved it! Had a grand olde time. Good humor, great minimalist animations especially with the variety, and the music was kind of a bop. Wish there were some alternate fire methods for the fireball (hitting spacebar got hard when I wanted to spam it and focus on dodging) and I think the font didn't mesh well (and the timer was pretty small for how important it was). Was really impressed with the different boss logic you put together cohesively in the time given.
Overall, great job! Super impressed you did this solo.
I really loved the game hero. Art is amazing! Exciting game and boss implementation is interesting! Good job:)
@Orionhart Huge thanks for the detailed commenting and all of the kind words there. Glad you dug the music too. I realized a bit late that unless you're struggling it's kind of hard to hear it play all the way through haha. In the code, I had definitely intended for other magic types - possibly a Mega Man-like system of getting something from each, but obviously it was constrained by the time limit. The font was sadly just the basic GMS2 font for the same reason, so I definitely agree. Thanks again for playing/commenting and I'll try to get to yours ASAP!
@erroor666 Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked the hero and the art! I definitely tried my best to make the bosses different so I'm glad you felt they were exciting/interesting! I look forward to checking out yours too!
Nice & quick game, especially liked the third boss fight. The logo at the start should skip on its own, I was thinking the game doesn't work, but then found out I had to press spacebar. I found out that if you don't move and the gate doesn't appear, you can just kill first and second boss without him doing anything.
@noiyy Thanks for playing and the feedback! Honestly the logo was a very very very last minute add so that's for sure something I'll change going forward with any updates - I just realized I hadn't put it in and scrambled.
As for the tactic on the first and second boss, that is intentionally left in for people to find. It has its plusses and minuses. For one thing, it takes a LOT longer to kill a boss from that far away, so you're definitely "safe" but you'll lose a lot more time. I figured it was a good trade off. :)
Thanks again for playing and leaving feedback! I'll check yours out soon!
Fun game! But my hand is shot after all that spamming, maybe i should have tried more movement instead of just brute forcing every boss. Nice design and the music was very catchy :) Keep up the great work
Your game is pretty fun! I think the menu screen could be improve by using the same art style than the levels, it feels less polished than the rest of the game. The fact you can stay at the gates for the whole game (not just the 2 first boss) just spamming space may be intentional, but I think it feels broken.
The music loop is a little short but works quite well for a game like this so it's ok. Nice job on this game, it may be short, but it's fun, that's all that matters.
Loved this game! Really did remind me of the old Zelda game like Link To The Past and Minish Cap. Really like the boss designs and even though they didn't have phases or huge movesets like modern game bosses, it did the job and kept me engaged. Each attack felt unique and had its own strategy to overcome. I enjoyed the music and art as well. Thought the art on the main screen was hilarious but didn't expect the in-game art to look so cool. You should definitely add screenshots of the game on this page! I think it would attract a lot more players. Also, like the text shuffle at the end after entering my name, very creative. Overall really enjoyed the game, excellent job!
Awesome art ! The game is gorgeous, and the music and sound effects are great ! I like the dialogue, the use of "old english" is clever and funny. The time mechanic is great and it fits the theme pretty well. The bosses are all fun to discover, with their own mechanic and graphics. I had a blast playing, although I couldn't help but nitpick some tiny details. -Shooting offers no disavantage, so the player is quick to spam it, but there is no "hold the button to spam" mechanic which makes it a bit tiring. -The projectiles have this "old game mechanic" where you can only shoot one at once. But it makes the game better in away as it forces the player to get closer. -The first boss is pretty boring compared to the other, be it in mechanics or in design of terrain. -The hitbox on the second boss seems weird, sometime I wasn't touching them but still took damage -The fact that you can "kill" the third one projectiles make it so you can win without even moving your character -The third one has "sweet spot" where if you're slightly offcentered, you can touch him without ever being touched.
For the last two one, they where fun to discord so I think they "fit in" with the game, and made me enjoy it in another way.
@kuami6 Very sorry about that! There are also gamepad controls which may or may not have saved your hand. In the end, though, I should definitely try to improve that. Noted! And thank you for the compliments on the design and music! I really appreciate it! Looking forward to playing yours!
@chocolat-endive Thank you for the feedback! I drew the title screen with my mouse and kind of wanted it to be ugly and ridiculous but I definitely agree it's not my best. Hahaha. Yes, the spamming from the gate trick is broken, but I'll reveal the secret(?) which is that your fireball is VERY weak at that distance. You're doing much less damage than if you get close and fight. To me, narratively that made sense. You can cheese it, but you pay for that choice in time and other kinds of effort. If you actually approach the bosses and go all out, you can beat them much faster. If you're trying to get the best time, then the gate strategy is not ideal. I actually haven't tried doing it in the 1 minute version. I'll have to see if that works. Thank you so much for the feedback and please know that I don't mean my response to be defensive. I will likely remove that tactic in future versions - or maybe let you do it for the first boss but then punish you for trying it again... Hmmm. Definitely something to consider. Thank you!
@lvl99chicken So glad the inspiration rang true for you! Thank you for all of the compliments. I did take your advice and I've added some gifs to the page. Hopefully that gets people into it. I may have to change the cover image as well. I think the title screen art is funny, but it might keep people from playing. Thank you for that! I'm also glad you liked the humor and the ending. :) Thank you for playing and congrats on finishing!
@pordrack Thank you so much! No problem on the nitpicking. You've done so many compliments too! I think you're spot on that I should have implemented a hold mechanic. Just having that would have saved people's hands a bit in cases where they didn't want to mash. And yeah the old game mechanic is definitely on purpose, but it is old and modern games have improved on it so I probably should have too. The first boss feedback is sad but true. I was running out of time so he's one of the least fleshed out bosses. Another unfortunate occurrence is that during the submission hour, my friend noticed a full-on crash in that fight. I had to fix it quickly to stay within the submission window, but the result is that sometimes he doesn't fire his projectile and just appears and disappears. It's not how he's supposed to work and makes him *super* easy, but at least he's the first boss, right? *sigh* Would definitely fix that in a post-jam. It's the top of my list right next to adding a hold-fire.
I'll take a look at the hit box for the slime, that may come down to GameMaker's automatic hitboxing just making it a bit wider than the sprite itself. I love your remark about the third boss. I do know that the tactic exists, but I feel like you had to find that sweet spot and to me that is just a strategy. Maybe you found it on the first time but I don't know. To me that feels like when you figure out a Souls boss and they're just super easy compared to the first time you face them. Maybe in another iteration I'll account for it though. Something to think about.
So glad you seemed to enjoy it so much. Thank you!!!
That was some intense fun! I liked the retro-ness of it all and trying to figure out the "trick" of the bosses I saw. The music was also an intense lil bop to get you in the mood of battling bosses. Well done. =)
Good to see you back on the LDJam jam!
This is near perfect for me. I really liked the graphics, gameplay, audio and writing. However, the final boss kinda ticked me off. Kept spamming a move that froze me in place, leaving me unable to do anything. I managed to beat him and get a time of 2:41 though. Other than that, amazing game. I really liked the Link to the Past influences.
@otterfaelure Thanks for the feedback! I'm so glad you enjoyed the music and the bosses. Had a great time with Earworm Jam. :)
@khaotom Thanks dude! Good to be back! :) Been too long since I was able to give it my honest best.
@real-flamingicecubegames Thank you so much for such positive feedback! The final boss is definitely a mean one until you're aware of his flaw. Then he becomes a piece of cake. I don't want to spoil it for people who haven't played, but my guess is that you were facing him when he flashed at you. Also, just before he flashes, there's a little (very brief) indicator that he's going to do that. So if you can spot it, you'll be able to avoid it.
There's also a way to avoid it altogether. ;) Shhhhhhh.
But yes, I'm so sorry(!!!) and I'm glad you didn't rage quit on it! Thank you! Congrats on beating it!
Great game. I'm a huge fan of ALTTP so this made me a little bit nostalgic almost. I played with my gamepad and I would not say that holding down firing would be better. I really like the button mashing part. But I can see how it's different with a keyboard. Pressing space bar all the time is hard. Maybe a different button like `J` would have made it easier for keyboard users. But anyway, really polished game. Great graphics and soundtrack. Also the sound effects are nice. The mage boss is really well designed. I like how the flames spawn continiously in a circle.
Thanks for creating this game and keep up the good work!
Thanks for the game and great content!
Needed a gamepad for this one. Spamming the spacebar (as others have already mentioned) would've been a lot more fun for me if mine wasn't already busted. :(
I love trying to figure out the patterns of the bosses, cause the damage that the final boss was able to dish out :thumbsup: You don't want to be hit by that too many times. I had a lot of fun playing this! I had to keep trying until I saw the ending!
A fun game! It looks delightful and plays pretty well. Indeed, mashing the shoot key gets tiresome quite fast, but I'd like to commend you for taking all the feedback into account and treating it as a learning experience!
@seng Thank you so much for the feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed it and I agree that maybe some alternate key bindings may have helped. In general, that kind of accessibility is something I would add to any project eventually. I wish I'd had time on this one. I'm glad the controls spoke to you regardless! Thank you for the notes on the graphics and soundtrack/sfx - I really try to give those my all when I'm working on these jam projects and usually it's my downfall and takes up all my time! So I'm glad they were appreciated.
@mrtroy A damaged spacebar when you're doing a gamejam!?!?! That must've been a beast to overcome. I'm sorry you didn't get to finish your game because I had a blast playing what was there. Thank you for playing this and I'm so glad you had such a good time that you replayed it until you saw the ending. I hope that it was worth it when you got there! :)
@gdesecrate Thank you for playing and reviewing! I'm glad you liked it!
@cubanfrog Thanks for the feedback and I'm glad you enjoyed yourself! I haven't put out too many games but I've worked in the industry and done my own indie thing for a bit. I try to always approach feedback with the idea that there's usually something you can learn from it - even if it's not something you naturally agree with.
My old writing teacher used to say, "The audience is almost always right when they say that something is wrong, but they're almost always wrong about how to fix it."
As an example, maybe someone thinks a spell is too powerful, but instead it's just that you can spam it or the enemies they used it on are weaker than they should be. They're right that something is wrong, they're just wrong about what the fix is. :)
I've found that if I take that approach to critiques, it's much easier and I get less defensive. Also, at the end of the day, most people are trying to be helpful - at least I hope so haha.
Thanks again for playing and the feedback. :)
Love the art and music. The opening is really funny, and a really clever way to add a bit of a difficulty slider. Took me a few tries to beat it, that last boss was a real stinker. I managed to find sweet spots in the last two bosses, which is honestly perfect for this kind of NES nostalgia you've got going. Really nice game!
Screenshot 2022-04-14 042453.jpg