FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD50 → Protocol Delta

Protocol Delta

By itsboats

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall234.3379
Fun44.5279
Innovation1933.8179
Theme7003.6479
Graphics2044.2680
Mood1174.1474

Comments

lumous 2022-04-05 00:28

I love the one with a hat! So sneaky! Its the hat.

simpathey 2022-04-05 01:35

I got better with each play, I really enjoy the dash cooldown mechanic. I wish when I reflected bullets that they would hone in on enemies.

mascoll 2022-04-05 02:25

Wow! Just Wow. Amazing game - Insanely crisp and easily read graphics, cool soundtrack, great sound feedback and great game-feel. Knocked it out of the park on this one!

teenythanos 2022-04-05 08:10

Love the visuals!! Looking forward to seeing your audio credit, you have a really good loop. The visuals, audio, and motion all match wonderfully!

ramelio 2022-04-05 08:11

Really great effort on the design and the juicines. The game feel really good to play !

stamestratagem 2022-04-05 08:47

I love the simple but clean visuals of this. Things get out of hand just a little too fast, but the high score count is motivating and you can get better at it

itsboats 2022-04-05 09:46

@lumous the hat idea was gold, thanks for suggesting <3!

@mascoll thanks for play and your kind words, the really simple graphics lets me focus more time on polish xD

@teenythanos here is music credits, he has a bunch of varied and awesome stuff (also updated LD and itch page): Music: “Humble Match” by Patrick de Arteaga https://patrickdearteaga.com/

@stamestratagem most of the streamers I have seen play have gotten about 1-2 minutes, Pomo has the highest score from all the streamers I watched so far at 2:30. I can pretty consistently get 4-5 minutes, but I've played it quite a bit too >:D

If anyone is up to the challenge, here's my record (you gotta make really good use of pulse): unknown (2).png

andidebob 2022-04-05 15:20

This game looks and feels just amazing! I love the different designs for the enemies and the way they change how you play. Very well done!

meep 2022-04-05 18:32

boats2.PNG

Like you said, the pulse is the way to go and eventually I pretty much exclusively used it. :P

The art was simple but really aesthetic and the subtleties (shape, dots, etc.) telegraphed everything really well that how each unit worked was intuitive. I feel the yellow guys being able to hurt other units might make it possible to last forever (or extremely long) as you can hoard them and set off a chain to get a clean slate. Another solid boats entry :D

lectvs 2022-04-06 03:40

10:27, baby :sunglasses:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1447714935

This is such a good game! The ramp-up on the enemies feels just right, and there's nothing more fun that blasting enemies' shots back at them.

Graphics were clear and solid, and the music fit well with it! Probably my favorite game of this jam so far. Excellent job, Boats! :smile:

hawkin 2022-04-06 03:58

This was masterful! Sleek design, buttery smooth controls (definitely use a controller), poppy sounds and music. I loved the different types of enemies, too. This was a wonderful kind of bullet hell. I would definitely come back to play this again and again. My high score could use a lot of improvement

end.png

bogden 2022-04-06 05:33

Screen Shot 2022-04-05 at 10.33.39 PM.png

kuviman 2022-04-06 05:34

Screenshot 2022-04-06 093321.png

bitdecay 2022-04-06 05:34

This game slaps! I really like the enemy variation. Each one really does a good job of feeling different despite having a fairly small number of things they can do. The character feels great, the colors are easily readable, and the sound fits the visuals wonderfully. My only 'complaint' is that it doesn't feel like it captures the theme very well -- most games in this genre follow the sort of 'it gets harder until you die' style. It's a minor thing, because the game really is fantastic. Awesome entry.

chris-mcknight 2022-04-06 15:03

Very Well made and polished game. The colors and audio are perfect. Its very satisfying to play, the enemy variety is well thought out and fun to play against. Only Issue I had was the dash being based on look direction and not movement direction. Not game breaking but does make it hard to aim a dash when the screen starts getting cluttered. All in all though this game is very well made ! One of the best out of LD50 by far <3

squidly 2022-04-06 18:06

Another banger by itsBoats. Your visuals and mood are always a treat, and the gameplay mechanic is wonderfully arcadey and unique. Awesome work dude!

jefvel 2022-04-06 19:46

This was very fun! The attacks and movement feel very good and smooth, very polished. All the small details make the abstract shapes really feel alive, spinning and bouncing around.

The only feedback I have is to have some kind of progression, like upgrades in it, or to get points for defeating enemies and doing combo kills.

Nice work!!

jrevel 2022-04-06 20:09

Woohoo I got the record :v: firefox_2022-04-06_22-06-13.png Really cool game, its depth unravels when you try to master it ! There are some bugs with the dash, that does not do damage when you are already touching the enemy you want to hit, but other than that it's really cool ! Oh someone already did 10 minutes ? I still have training to do :3

j0ye 2022-04-06 20:41

This is such a great game already. I really have nothing bad to say about this. Fun mechanic, great art, so many original enemies and the atmosphere. I'm speechless and I envy your genius. Very well done.

initialposition 2022-04-06 20:47

The level of polish in this is so damn high that if you released this on Steam I would buy it. The gameplay is incredibly smooth and satisfying, the enemy variety is just right to keep things fresh while knowing what you're up against and the controls feel responsive and make every death feel like your own fault. Probably the best game I've played this jam so far.

vitor-milioni 2022-04-06 22:08

This is just pure arcade fun, super satisfying and addicting, very oldschool style but done in a very modern and polished way, absolutely loved this! might come back and try to get a record for myself xD

rickylee 2022-04-06 22:10

Such a solid entry! everything is so smooth and the feedback is great :D this is a game I'll come back to after ludum for sure! Great submission!

potkirland 2022-04-06 22:57

as expected from mr boats it is again a well made very balanced easy to get in to but hard to master game ! very professional visuals and mechanics absolutely loving the behavior.

jvdwijk 2022-04-06 23:22

This game was so so cool! As someone mentioned in chat, it could be a cool arcade game! Everything looked so clean and the gameplay was a lot of fun!

sarah 2022-04-07 02:24

This is one of my favourite games so far!! I love the mechanics and how polished the entire experience is. I like that you managed to get so many different mechanics in so smoothyl, like the lasers!

I think it's really fun that you went a different route than shooting bullets to destroy the enemies and I think it's super cool that the player reacts differently to different shaped enemies. Overall the gameplay feels really interesting and fun to learn, even though im exceptionally terrible at it haha.

For anyone who is good at these types of games, I can see how it would be really fun to play more levels with maybe more enemies or other strategies. Overall, really well done, especially for one person!! (:

idan9000 2022-04-07 03:51

Another ludum dare another masterpiece. This is a classic boats game in the best way possible. Clean vector graphics, satisfying feedback on everything, fun gameplay, and polished to the extreme. Very reasonable scope considering this is a solo dev project and very impressive consider the level of polish. Around the 1-2 minute mark the enemies start ramping quickly and the charges for my dash don't keep up with the dps, but I found out that you can tactically launch the orange enemies into a clump of enemies to do some major aoe damage and it is really satisfying. Satisfying is the key work in describing this game. Well done as always boats.

matterlinx 2022-04-07 04:58

Great game, I really like the attention to detail and emerging nuance of the mechanics. Plus, it has the classic boats art style. 234.png

charq 2022-04-07 06:57

The game is super fun and definitely easier with a controller (although I only scored 3s more). I love the hats that can teleport, and the yellow hexagons (or are they octagons) that can explode, which timed at the right moment with a pulse can be super powerful (awesome mechanics in other words)! I think the movement is a bit advanced for a new player like myself but it doesn't make the game any less fun.

okamit 2022-04-07 18:00

This is a very polished little game! Reminds me a bit of a phone game I used to play a lot that I can't rememeber the name of right now.

Very stylish in a simplistic way, fluid gameplay, great looking and fluid graphics, nice sound design and on point animations.

Great work, will get back to this!

notexplosive 2022-04-07 20:27

Extremely cool!

leiv-erik 2022-04-07 20:30

Amazing game! best one ive played so far! really tight controlls, and interesting enemies! also great job on the graphics being simple but still being very clear on what is happening.

Only thing i dislike a bit is that enemies might shoot me from outside the screen, maybe just make them pacifist until they are in frame or something :P

Anyway! Congratulations on a really great entry! Well done!

lectvs 2022-04-07 21:34

Still playing this game a few times a day :flushed:

I got a 10:48!

1048.png

loligxp 2022-04-08 00:42

Super clean game, and a lot of fun to play!

jitspoe 2022-04-08 01:27

My thumb hurts. Fun entry! Really good feedback. Gameplay felt fair but interesting.

bluishgreenpro 2022-04-08 01:42

Solid game; very juicy and clean visuals! (I wish I was better at it) :P

bogden 2022-04-08 04:46

Screenshot 2022-04-08 003959.png

orionhart 2022-04-08 05:55

Good minimalist graphics style. Felt pretty good to play. Good choice of music and sound effects. I was initially slightly confused about what I was doing but figured it out pretty quick.

matterlinx 2022-04-08 06:07

234.png

steve7411 2022-04-08 08:27

This is a really solid, fun game loop. I like the simple visuals, and the UI and transitions are great

bogden 2022-04-08 11:16

Screenshot 2022-04-08 041616.png

korfi 2022-04-08 18:53

I loved it! There were surprisingly much variety in the enemies and the graphics were very clear. It took a run to get the hang of it (green orbs healing, dash/pulse, what enemies do what etc.), but consecutive runs I got better and better! Very fun to play :D

mieeh 2022-04-08 19:27

Really fun game! Feels super tight to play! Nice work 😀

javasaurus 2022-04-08 19:30

Very well put together, everything is smooth and polished !!! 10/10 want to play this again. Will bookmark this one for sure. Very well made, simple mechanics but executed near perfectly. Very high score incoming ! :D Thank you for submitting !

elysiagriffin 2022-04-09 01:44

Thanks for submitting your game for me to play on my stream!

If you’d like to rewatch the playthrough, you can find it here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1450167991?t=0h34m04s

Good luck on your ratings, see you next LD! :D

💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady

https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin

bauke-regnerus 2022-04-09 10:00

Probably my favorite game of this LD. I have a soft spot for minimal abstract graphics and you nailed it with the color palette and effective particles. The hectic bullet-dodging gameplay takes me back to the days I was completely addicted to games like Super Stardust HD and Geometry Wars. The reflecting mechanic is a nice touch that makes it stand out from regular bullet hell games. The music is ace as well. The only critique I can think of is that the enemies with the wizard hats don't match the general aesthetics of the games. Loved it!

pomo 2022-04-09 14:47

all hail new old pomo, good game

marcmagus 2022-04-09 16:45

Thanks for bringing your game by my stream for feedback! If you’d like to revisit the play and commentary you can view the highlight at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1449912095

Solid arcade action with a good soundtrack and a surprising amount of depth from a few different enemy types and their interactions.

kaldrin 2022-04-10 17:36

This is super fun, congrats on the game design! It's just a survival game so it's not crazy on the theme but it's a very good one for sure, amazing audio, loved the mechanics and game feel, difficulty increases correctly, and I like that your life also decreases with time, that makes just dodging bullets not a viable strategy in itself! Very good game!

bogden 2022-04-11 06:40

Screenshot 2022-04-10 232847.png

flyingkaida 2022-04-11 12:49

Very solid and fun! Challenging. Music was a great fit, the graphic and controls seemed polished. Well done!

syafire 2022-04-11 23:34

Hello Boats,

Loved your game simple and fun. The wizard art/icons were really cool and designed nicely. The movement felt pretty good but I was not a huge fan of the delay that happens when you are close to the enemies. I think that the delay interrupts the flow of the game. The feedback when getting hit and sound is nice but that blip in the movement breaks my immersion as a player. Really fun game looking forward to more in the future!

sacredyouma 2022-04-12 02:21

Simple but great graphic and design! I had fun trying to break my high score which was 3 minutes at the moment. Music fits your game theme too, which is good. Good luck!

vixenmink 2022-04-12 03:13

Really liking the graphics you have going on for this game. The sliding green splash screen is a very nice touch. Music is also very well done

Only beef I had about the game was that the mouse was how the mouse was how you target the dash for the ship. I'm just not very good at those so that's on me.

Also, maybe make it easier to differentiate between the front of the ship and the back.

Fantastic entry

cyzaine 2022-04-12 12:19

Lead dev for Somnipathy here. First off thanks for the stream and feedback! You're good at critiques and feedback, so hopefully I can return the favor.

First off I love these arcadey type games. I did ALOT of geometry wars back when it was new. Apparently my skills have faded as I wasn't doing so hot here BUT... it never felt unfair for the most part. Each of the enemies felt unique and tested something different.

Controls were tight. Its crazy you did this solo in 48 hours.

Occasionally it felt like enemies got stuck off screen and were firing in from there. I assume it was the wizard types cuz they never came on screen like the others. Speaking of the wizard types, I sort of wish their fleeing teleport was more predictable. It would have felt REALLY sweet to fly into them then dash right where you KNEW they were going to be. Maybe making them teleport a couple times in a row, the first being predictable to test your skills would have been a good compromise.

Past that its just the 'juice' for hits, kills, close dodges, and other events I'd have liked more of. And an online leaderboard, but thats my suggestion for nearly every game I've played with a score.

This was a very fun entry, and while I may be no good at it anymore, that doesn't mean I didn't retry 20+ times heh.

skvader-418 2022-04-12 17:29

Very addicting, and fun aswell the effects have juice and it really feels nice when you hit an enemy the enemy types are diverse and feel fair it does turn into a bullet hell by the end

zimny11 2022-04-13 22:52

Nice game! I have no idea how people can survive in this game for more that few minutes :) It was fun to try it out.

arity 2022-04-15 07:17

@bogden you are CRACKED

coleslaughter 2022-04-17 05:32

Whaddup Boats!

[Thanks for submitting your game to stream!](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1457327946?t=00h21m40s)

Super impressive polish and juice as always, my man. Keep up the excellent work!

lletzgogames 2022-04-18 17:08

A really nice, minimalistic game. I love the sound design and how slick it looks. The limited amount of movement is a pretty cool part of the experience, makes you think more about what to do next, while requring a quick reaction time. (Also: thanks for checking out Virtomae during the lifestream!)

osh-studio 2022-04-19 23:09

Super polished game! Easily the best of the top-down dual-stick style games I've played of this jam. Every interaction in this game is very clear, the overall UX is extremely well done. There was nothing I couldn't figure out easily, the communication was excellent. Music and sound FX were good, and the variety of enemies made the gameplay fun each time I tried. I just saw someone get over 30 minutes WTF.

Really loved your interaction design, and also your easy-going personality on stream! Would love to collaborate one day :)

link270 2022-04-21 06:22

I will always play an its boats game! Super awesome! Loved the mechanics, way unique take on this "Asteroids" style game. Music and art were both super clean. I played with a controller and that worked really well! Nice job as always!!

joe40001 2022-04-21 10:48

Screenshot (33).png Hey, boats. Your game was awesome as usual.

After many hours of playing and attempts to get above 11 min (I got a low 10 pretty early), I do have a few bits of feedback that I think would help things: 1. Add some very subtle audio cue for when your power is out and another when your power is full, I can't tell you how many times I died from thinking I had more power than I did. And there isn't time to check the bottom when things get crazy. 2. Add invincibility frames. Even if it's like 0.1 seconds. Several rounds were 100%->0% health in a microsecond. Which was more frustrating than fun. 3. I lost track of my ship a couple times. I really really really like the aesthetic but if there was some way to make the ship stand out more so it doesn't get lost. That would be awesome. 4. Maybe add a pause. I know maybe people might cheese it some, but while the 10 min grind was fun, I couldn't pause to adjust my position. This one is more optional, I understand it's part of the challenge maybe. But I think these kinds of fun arcade games often have them, so it would be nice. 5. Minor thing, but maybe from pause you can exit to menu or quit. I had to alt-tab out, which is a common thing, but yeah no harm in adding that.

But don't get me wrong, I played for hours because it was fun/awesome (and because I wanted a higher spot on the leaderboard :P ) Awesome job, such a well polished and fun experience.

mcgranec 2022-10-04 04:08

Great article! I realized these are my favorite kinds of GI articles. Enough news and reviews, more stuff like this! Let the writers get creative!

https://www.mymilestonecard.ltd/

2022-10-05 16:21

Although there are many slot machines in the world of gambling, I still sometimes find it difficult to find a good game in a short time. To save time as much as possible, I began to study these articles https://gry-hazardowe-za-darmo.com/automaty-do-gier/klasyczne-gry-automaty-777/ that help me quickly find a really worthwhile slot machine. I advise you to also start studying such information, because it will certainly come in handy in the future.

sporersd 2022-10-07 06:36

Thanks for the information, I will try to figure it out for more. Keep sharing such informative post keep suggesting such post.

https://www.myacpny.me/