bad-b4dguy 2023-05-01 02:30
Nice semi-transparent hacking intro screen!But the forward&back only movement doesn't fit very well to the stealth gameplay.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD53 → demaker.s game
By kent-lizardo
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 51 | 4.01 | 29 | |
| Fun | 135 | 3.63 | 29 | |
| Innovation | 6 | 4.48 | 29 | |
| Graphics | 40 | 4.27 | 29 | |
| Audio | 163 | 3.44 | 28 | |
| Mood | 36 | 4.03 | 29 |
Nice semi-transparent hacking intro screen!But the forward&back only movement doesn't fit very well to the stealth gameplay.
@bad-b4dguy thank you for the advice! I was hoping the forward and back only movement wouldn't be that bad haha. It is only the first console you actually adapt into the player's modules. As you get further in the game, you unlock more forms of movement. It is a reference to how old First Person Games like Wolfenstein used to do their movements and controls. You aren't stuck with that past the first level ^^. Thank you for your review and playing my game!
I'm feeling something here with this one. I think maybe with a faster swap, a unified move-set for all consoles, and some cool screen shaders for each console you could have a really fun thing going on switching weapons and killing enemies.
Really cool concept, great art and atmosphere. Took a while for me to get used to, though. Since you can only see enemies through the screen it can be hard to see where you're taking damage from, so it took some time for me to realize I was losing controller functions because I was getting hit. Would be cool if different controllers had different strengths rather than being mostly straight upgrades the whole way through, so there could be a reason to switch between them. Could also use some more feedback to help convey when you're successfully hitting enemies.
@cogent-invalid YES YES! I did want different controllers to have different strengths. I really wanted their to be different playstyles like a Quake playstyle and DOOM playstyle that had their own strengths. I originally planned for there to be 5 levels and 1 more controller but with the time-span I had, I had to cut down on my original plans. Thank you for letting me know it is difficult to perceive damage sources, I'll look if I can solve that in a future build!
@karlthecool A faster swap would make the combat feel a lot more tighter, you are right. I wanted to put screen shaders for the consoles too ^^. I didn't want to use anything I didn't make though, because I wasn't sure if the Compo had really strict rules with that because shader references are usually just dumps of code :P. Thank you for playing my game!
Really cool artwork! I love the console designs. Cleared the room with the Switch but there didn't seem to be an end screen? Agree with @karlthecool that speeding up the switching and reloading could improve the feel.
@cinterre omg thank you!! I'm surprised someone went all the way to the Switch room!!!! Thank you for playing my game that far! There is an end screen... I just forgot to toggle it back on when I exported the project in Godot. The download(with the actual end screen) is in itch.io but I didn't want to mess with my LD post in case I messed it up. But thank you for playing!!
played to the end, a really cool concept, awesome art style, the gameplay was a bit slow but not terribly solow.
Very cool ideas. I love how this game handles health by taking away abilities.
Very cool idea and world! I like the suggestions for bigger visible areas for the screens, faster swapping, and strengths for each swap would each be really interesting. I was surprised how many swaps, zones, and enemies you had. It was a cool progression. I think you're onto something.
Great idea, different console have different function enhancements, as well as weapon switching, but the shooting range of the PSP seems to be a bit short?
Same as the other guy, cleared the last room and was waiting for an end screen xD Great concept, really love the idea, super innovative and with all the different consoles great variety. What I didnt like is, that when you needed a certain function to clear a room and had to get all consoles destroyed before getting them back again. Was kinda frustrating, nevertheless would love to see even more consoles implemented and maybe a way to repair them again. Maybe also important features on older ones, so you actually have to switch.
I like the unique progression system! Though I do wish we eventually got to upgrade to a DS, (Since that was the first handheld I owned), it was time constraints I guess :P. I think it would be fine if you went a bit longer before giving the player the Paladin. I thought we were gearing up for a system where you switch back and forth between the faster-firing system or the vertical aiming system. Like choosing between classic 90's shooters or modern console shooters. Funny, because the Gameboy systems weren't really known for their FPS games.
My main problems were: - I didn't really understand the death mechanic. I figured out how you lose certain console features on it and might have to downgrade to a lesser console, but when I died completely, the monsters didn't reset. So I just died to the same spawncamping enemy repeatedly until I was able to escape. - Losing turning and strafing at the same time can get you stuck. Having pgdn is a workable solution, but not a great one. - The bullet collision detection/aiming system was messed up. My shots would only hit like 1 in 3 times.
Those issues aside, I had a lot of fun! That final fight was intense!
At first I really thought the game had crashed.
Amazing! ^^ was something supposed to happen after you beat all the screens in the room where you get the rogue console? If so maybe one fell through the world cos nothing happened after I killed them all haha ^^ really enjoyed it great game! 5/5
@zungryware DS is my favorite handheld of all time, it was originally why I wanted to make the game! I simply could not get all the consoles I wanted implemented. The death mechanic is pretty bolted-on, I just needed to put something for when the player had died but I couldn't figure out how to re-initialize the level states in the time before release.
For the turning and strafing modes, I think I have a solution in mind! I didn't want the turning and strafing to be disabled, and instead you just respawned after the core features(as a set of movement, and looking) were damaged, but with the way I had the subsystems implemented I could not figure out how to do that in time.
The bullet collision is seriously messed up, I do agree it was kind of frustrating while I was playtesting. I could not figure out for the life of me how to figure out the collision to be consistent. I think I might have to watch a couple tutorials :P
Thank you for playing and reviewing my game!
@zenbreaker you're right! The problem of getting stuck without a solution to the level is a cursed one indeed. The pg-down to damage yourself was just a band-aid. I'll work on it in the future! Thank you for playing my game anyways ^^.
@kent-lizardo The problem might be that the projectile is traveling too quickly and goes through the enemy. (This can happen because the projectile travels so fast that it is in front of the target on one frame and past it on the next.) For these situations, you should either make sure that `projectile_speed - projectile_width <= enemy_width`, do subframe calculations (which is where you do multiple collision checks on each frame to fill in that gap) or just use hitscan (which is where you forgo the projectile entirely and just trace a line through space to see if your crosshair is on top of the enemy hitbox).
@zungryware woah this is so helpful! I'm actually blocking out the full version of this game right now, and this advice is really good. Thank you!
Very good. The damage causing removal of mechanics is very cool. Great game.
Interesting aesthetic concept with looking through the game devices. Controls were challenging, especially at first (not being able to strafe or look up was difficult and it took me quite some time to figure out I could look around at all (before which time I was in an infinite loop of dying)). I mostly threw myself at it until I won, especially since I couldn't damage them when they were looking away. Text typing sounds got a little repetitive after a while.
@zefphyer Ooh! Nice catch, I didn't realize the text typing sounds would get repetitive, maybe I'll have a an accessibility setting for that in the full version. The infinite loop of dying is probably due to the lack of implementing level-resetting and hard-lock preventions. I'll see what I can do to make the controls have an easier difficulty climb. Thank you for the review!
had a smile on my face the entire time! the fake intro screen & controller screenspace mechanics are immersive and clever. the spritework and modelling is lovely. IMO this game has *perfect* pace for a jam game, and is filled to the brim with neat little ideas (the names of the consoles being classes, the use of earlier consoles for higher firing speed, creative gun designs & weapon reload animations). really well done! my only feedback would be the level design could be a bit more robust, but it's not really noticeable with how much cool stuff there is in here!
This is an incredibly original concept! I think gameplay improvements can be made as others have said but the core idea and aesthetic is really something special!
Really cool! played from beginning to end, loved the upgrade mechanic made me really excited to pick up new controllers each time, and how the way one would break would force you to combine multiple consoles to kill the enemies (the switching could've been made faster to encourage that). The platforming sections towards the end felt a bit dizzying since the viewports in the console and outside showed different information. I loved the way the last room is introduced, where you pick up the weapon as your surrounded by enemies (although I would've definitely put a machine gun in there if it was up to me ;) ). Aside from that good submission.
@dishwand I appreciate that you noticed the class names thing ^^. I'm glad you had a fun experience playing my game. Honestly, I finished the levels 2 hours right before the end of the compo, so it is what it is, hopefully the full version's levels are more robust. I also was learning blockbench right as I was doing the models and tried it for the first time during the jam, so I'm glad you liked the modelling!
@ixil-miniussi Thank you for telling me about the viewport issue! I was also having trouble with that since I wanted the game to originally just take place in the portable consoles by themselves without the background. So then I adjusted the FOV of the consoles so that it would match the background, but it seems I sacrificed a lot of the visual clarity and awareness of the player. The last room should have been a faster fire rate you're right! I found in my playtesting the sword works wonders in the last room :P. I'm glad you were able to enjoy my game ^^.
Here a GNU/Linux user! It is greatly appreciated that you have exported to this platform. The truth is that I have loved the game, using the portable console as a tool to discover more things. The graphics are impressive and I am amused that you have changed the name of the portable consoles, ha, ha. Overall, great game!
This was really neat. The combat felt a little inconsistent at first, but once I realized enemies only took damage on their screens it was fine. One improvement I think it could use is to have a visual indicator for the dash cooldown. Maybe an LED on the game console that lights up when it's ready.
@pizzasgood oh yes, I planned for there to be visual indicators on all of the consoles! Actually, I didn't consider that adding dash or HUD indicators for visual indicators as well would be important. I figured it would just be for the health of the subsystems, but I could totally do that as well. Ty!
@karlthecool @zungryware @dishwand @ixil-miniussi Sorry to ping y'all again, but I'm working on the full version of my game, and I just posted a dev log for what I made and upgraded during the several days after the Compo! Hopefully the link works here, but if it doesn't, the devlog is on the itch.io link in the actual Ludum Dare post downloads itself. I'm kind of glad at how it looks right now, and I think with the way I'm structuring the systems without the deadline, it'll be a lot less of a mess than before ^^.
(ahhh that's right, I'm still being spam filtered... the itch.io link should bring you to it though !)
https://klizardo.itch.io/demakers-game/devlog/525875/starting-work-on-full-version-alpha
The losing abilities on taking damage mechanic is a great idea. If the switching animation were removed or much faster it would add an interesting gameplay element where you need to switch to perform different actions. It would also have been nice if the introduction to some of the consoles was a bit longer; for the last few I barely figured out what new thing was added before I found the next one.
holy motherboard, I almost got my circuits fried by that last room 4/5
It's a really impressive entry! The graphics are great and the main idea is awesome. I had a problem where the GBA would not have mouse steering anymore, but I couldn't really understand what triggered it. The PSP is really frustrating to use because of the huge reload time. A better feedback as to your bullets hitting an enemy or not would be great too, I spent way too much time in that room with a TV really high up before realizing that I was hitting it. The dash felt a bit useless, I think I cleared the room where you're supposed to use it with jumps instead. Anyway it is still one of the best entries I've seen, I am really impressed.
I played the version with end for Linux on itch.io. Camera didn't mouse with mouse motion, so I could only move back and forth and was stuck.
I tried again but the intro was too long (text appears slowly, not skippable). The game looks cool though. Since I couldn't test it I won't be scoring it, I prefer trying again later on Windows (but @milq made it run so not sure what was wrong). If you can implement intro skip in some update, and indicate all the controls in the description in case I missed something, it would be great and encourage me to retry!