itch.io

Based on the feedback from the jam there are several issues with this build which are as follows:

- Crashes

- Confusion about the boss battle at the end and what it actually is, if they can even make it that far given the current stability issues. Some people were confused why the boss flashes; it should only flash when the ball hits the boss. This is because the boss is taking damage from the ball.

- The game is too long with 7 levels in total

- Confusion about the power up brick and the power-ups it awards. I fear that not many are noticing the paddle changing size or the game is simply not giving them this power-up for whatever reason. There's also confusion on what the power-up brick is. A considerable number of people believe that the power-up brick's appearance is a bug, it is not, it is intentionally black and it intentionally rewards a random power-up, it also intentionally replaces a random brick within the level. I can understand why people might think this is a bug because different bricks use different colors to indicate their strength, and so might believe that because the brick is completely black it is missing a texture. This is not the case. The texture is completely black.

- The levels will sometimes rapidly start over and over again because there is no delay between when the levels transition (some believe this is because the paddle doesn't start in the right place, but it's only purely because there is no delay. The paddle always starts in the same place, the start place is baked into every level and it is the same on every level. The level simply continues to take input because there is no delay in the transitions between levels).

- The paddle moves too slowly and there is no way to adjust its sensitivity.

- The way the ball angles off the paddle does not feel right on some occasions.

Some feedback that I have for myself from my own playtesting:

- There are lighting issues: the 6th level in particular is not well-lit at all.

- When the multi-ball power-up is unlocked the noise it makes is too loud because all three balls emit the same hit sound effect causing it to be 3 times the amplitude. RIP my eardrums.

- The paddle changing length is instantaneous, and I'd rather it changed length more visibly to the player.

- The UI is extremely basic.

- The "surprise" at the end probably reads as cheap to most players, edits will be made to this game's page simply to reflect that the game has an ending and nothing more.

- The game did not exactly fit the theme of the jam, but that wasn't something that I was overly concerned with as my submission was still allowed.

- When the power-up brick is broken, no matter what the strength was of the brick it replaces, it destroys the brick entirely. I believe that the power-up brick should be destroyed but if the regular brick it replaced has a strength >1 (or more simply put, is not a red brick), it should replace itself with the brick it replaced - 1 strength. Breaking the brick entirely feels too easy, even if the power up bricks have long timers in between when they spawn in.

- The power-up bricks have too long of timers in between when they spawn in regardless of if they're destroyed or not.

- Something about the movement of the ball is off between the second and third levels and it keeps this off movement all throughout the rest of the game. I have no idea what could possibly be causing this. There is nothing in the code that specifically references the third level other than the level changer function (it references ALL levels in the game) and there's no special code for the third level in that function.

All this is to say that a complete rebuild of the game is now in progress, made by myself and a partner. The new build will address all of this feedback and add fixes to the game. The power-up brick will remain similar in that I still want it to randomly award a power-up -- the player shouldn't know what they're going to get -- however a third power-up will be added to the game in the veins of Arkanoid: lasers. More effort will be placed on making these power-up awards more obvious to the player with sounds and particle effects. I will most likely need to rethink the appearance of the power-up bricks, but I have to wonder if particle effects and some sort of sound that the power-up brick emits, will make it more obvious that "hey, a power up brick is now in the level. Get it!" I like the power-up brick being black because black is a combination of all colors and I like to think that all the different brick types combine to form this power-up brick. We'll see if the brick stays black, I may have to change it to something else entirely, maybe change the shape of the brick... who knows? Haven't thought that far ahead yet.

People seem very pleased by the music, which when I was producing the song I intended for it to only be placeholder music. I'd love to see if I could iterate on it and flesh it out... Make it sound even better. But most likely I'll just be keeping the music as is. Stability of the build is my biggest goal. The game should not be crashing, I have no idea why it currently does, hence the rebuild. 

I will be making the game shorter. I think the first two levels can be scrapped entirely and I think 4 levels is probably more than enough for a game as simple as this. A timed delay will also appear in between each level as well, so that the ball doesn't rapidly start the level over and over again. I'm also planning a hardcore mode that will unlock in the main menu after the regular game is completed. More effort will be made to make the boss battle more obvious as well.

I will leave another comment here when the rebuild is completed and uploaded to this Itch.IO page. Thank you again to all those from the jam who left feedback and played my game. :) For now, just know that this current build needs a bit of work and may not be stable on your machine. It also only currently runs on Windows, would love to make this next build accessible to Mac & Linux. Stay tuned for an update.

P.S. For those curious, this was supposed to be the surprise at the end (my cats Nana and Gwen):

Can I also ask, did the boss at the end shoot red balls at you like it's meant to? Hitting these balls is meant to cause damage to the paddle and hitting the red balls too many times will cause the player to die and the level to reload.

Yes, some bricks turn black to indicate that if you break them a power up will be rewarded. I think I should have indicated that a little better with particle effects. If they're a stronger brick, like a gold brick for example, hitting them with the ball is the only thing that should make those change color to the strength level below them. It goes Gold->Green->Purple->Red every time the ball hits a Gold brick. I never saw them change color on their own in all my playtesting, that is so bizarre. The only color they're meant to change to on their own is black and thats on a timer invisible to the player.

It sounds like for some reason the game misbehaved for you, I'm so sorry. :(( The big red block at the end is a boss battle, it's meant to flash when you hit it with the ball. So, correct me if I'm wrong, the game crashed on the boss level and also on the third level? Were there any error messages that came up as a result?

The surprise at the end is just an end screen with pictures of my cats, thanking the player for playing.

Thank you so much for giving it a try, Angie! I'm sorry it didn't run too well on older hardware! One day I'll have to make something for the older hardware out there, I know what its like to have that stuff, how difficult playing games can be on it. Much love to your kitties!!! <3

Yeah, I definitely tried to keep the total playtime down to at most 15 to 20 minutes in all, but I probably underestimated how long it would actually take for people to complete my game. I worried that the levels would be too short while making the game, but it seems I have the opposite problem and the game takes longer to complete than I expected. Another comment mentioned that the first few levels probably could have been scrapped or combined with the third level since they go by quick. Sorry it ended up being a longer runtime for ya, I'll make sure to have something that's more reasonable in future jams.

:') Aye aye, Captain! Gladly! :'D

I really appreciate this! Thinking back on it, you're definitely right.  I'd probably cut down the fat a bit by just combining the first three levels to demonstrate what the different bricks take to break. Good notes I'll be taking with me!

I don't think you know how much your compliments about my music mean to me. It's taken me well over 10 years to get to a point where I can even begin to make music that isn't droning and repetitive. I still feel like I'm a long way off, but I'm glad all that time has paid off at least a little bit and people actually feel emotions listening to my stuff, like real emotions.

Cryin' happy tears in the club 2nite. Many thanks for your review and taking the time to play my first game. <3 :')

Hehe, they're a hard type of game, but very satisfying when built well. I'm so glad you enjoyed your time. :)

Unrelated side note, but man, I feel silly waxing design philosophy and implementation while a very silly little brick breaker game shows up under my name. It's one thing for me to talk the talk, but I'd be happy to try and walk the walk too for a game like this one.

This game looks really good and the concept is one that I find to be pretty cool, to put it lightly. Why do more games not let you play as a dragon??

Fun: This game is fun because you get to play as a dragon fighting for its survival. Defeating waves of medieval enemies as a dragon is a concept that deserves to be explored more and I seriously can't believe more developers haven't tried to do it before. That being said there are some things that negatively impact the fun, at least for me. The animations are seriously impressive. From the splash screen to combat itself, everything looks and feels realistic or at least as realistic as I think a dragon would act, there are some impressive death animations as well and I think the team who worked on these animations should be proud of their work in this area. However, there is something to be said about balancing realism and fun when it comes to animating. Any time you try to attack, there is an extremely long wind-up before the hit ever happens, and I understand the intention here. The developers want you to feel like you are a very large, powerful creature and that is certainly being communicated in these combat animations, but for the player experience this translates as being clunky in design on the surface level, but looking even deeper, it means players have to work to understand the timings of the animations to get very far in the game. And while I won't debate how fun it is for the player to count the seconds before a claw attack lands on its intended target -- I won't take sides on the matter -- what I will say is that trying to suspend reality slightly for the sake of fun will be more rewarding for any audience. Here's the thing, it makes sense for one or two VERY powerful attacks to require a long wind up and then delivery. Landing very powerful attacks by being aware of the timings of their animations CAN be very rewarding especially with such a wonderful payoff AND especially when those attacks have a chance to miss. This should be balanced with quick, fun attacks that maybe aren't as powerful and maybe not as realistic looking. I very much get the sense that the developers may have wanted to go in this direction but lacked the time, but in case they didn't, here are my suggestions: Make the flame attack so that it has little to no windup and make it bound to the spacebar being held down so that when its released the dragon stops breathing fire, give it its own resource bar or tie it to stamina so that you can't breathe fire forever. Make the claw attacks quick and respond right away, but make them do less damage and use little or no stamina.  The wing slam should be slightly reworked, make it keep its long windup and delivery, but make it so that it staggers ranged enemies and instantly kills all enemies nearby. Shit, maybe even make the dragon roar after the delivery of the animation, really signaling that this is a very strong attack and drains a lot of stamina with a lot of damage output all at once. The bite needs to be faster as well, and perhaps the animation should be reworked so that the bite works at a closer range. Alternatively, the ranged enemies could be slightly reworked to where they stand around mid-range, i.e. bite range, and the bite only attacks one enemy but again deals a one-shot kill. In either case, I think the bite should be tied to stamina and use a moderate amount. Take it worth a grain of salt, but in my opinion, this would be very rewarding and would allow for more value gain from the current set of attacks. This is very basic and not completely thought out, but it would only add to the fun imo. Even if some animations end up looking not quite realistic (without entering the uncanny valley) the player experience of a more reactive combat system would actually lend itself to realism, or at the very least, the power fantasy that would come with being a dragon. In short, the animation style is clashing with the combat system currently in place, but it is very close to striking gold even as it stands currently. This was a broad category so my response here is a bit lengthy, I'll try to keep more specific groups more concise.

Theme: Obviously very on brand for the theme of the jam. Very well executed in that department, absolutely no complaints.

Aesthetics: The game is gorgeous, simply put. I am a sucker for medieval aesthetics. I have no complaints about any of the assets used or developed for this game. I will note here that I do think some UI elements in-game can be a bit clearer about the kind of information they're trying to display to the user. I found it difficult to understand at times what the numbers and different bars meant at times. Otherwise? Beautiful game.

Music: I'm not sure if this was produced in-house or if this is simply generic stock music found online, either way it's perfect, and fits the game perfectly. Again, absolutely no complaints and it's amazing.

Sound: There aren't many sound effects to pick apart here and that's not something I will fault the devs for at all here. Again, this was a game jam game, time constraints are very real. Would've loved to have heard some sound effects for enemy deaths, hit impact noises, claw impact noises, dragon noises. Really take it to the next level with some immersive sound design, but beggars can't be choosers, and we're all beggars in the face of time.  Again, not a bad thing there aren't many sounds, but were this to become a proper release it would strongly be in need of many, many more.

Mechanics: A lot of what I mentioned in the fun category can fit in here too. I think there's something to be said about how the high score system is currently implemented. A game like this really doesn't need something like that in my opinion, however, I'm not against it either, and just as well it really doesn't feel like it exists at all in the game as it currently stands. My ideal vision for this game when it comes to this particular system, purely as a fan of the concept, is that multiple levels would play out and a high score screen would display after each level is finished until the user clicked a button to initiate the next level or return to the main menu. Idk if the high score system has any sort of online functionality where you see others' high scores, again, not something i think it would need, Even just the local player being able to see only their high scores for each level would be more than enough for me. Also I think there's some kind of magic-based enemy? I'm a bit confused as to what exactly this enemy is capable of doing, so far as I can tell, it casts a bubble which I suspect to be a shield? I almost have to wonder if the enemies should display healthbars above their heads, healthbars that dynamically change to display if they have shield hp to deplete before the dragon can deplete the main hp bar of an enemy. i.e. if they get a shield cast upon them. If it is a shield, I think its design needs to be a bit more polished as well, but again, I don't really even know what it is. Perhaps the dragon should be able to walk around? But I really don't hate the dragon being a fixed position either. This kinda lends itself to storytelling in a way, what creature wants to leave their home? And dragons aren't cowardly creatures. If I were a dragon I'd fight and die in my home too.

Story: Some might say there isn't much of a story, but I think the visual storytelling is everywhere in this game. The dragon hides away in its cave, knowing its the last of its kind, but its too late, and its been discovered. The only thing left to do now is to hold out for as long as possible and to go out in a blaze of glory. Call me simple-minded but I am utterly captivated at the idea of a dragon, the last of its kind, desperately fighting for its survival. 

Overall: This game gets an 8/10 from me. Excellent idea with albeit some clashing systems that could be improved on to make this game damn near amazing, and I truly believe that. It's cool factor is enough for me to push the rating up, but it could stand some major sprucing before I'm willing to give it a 10/10. A game without an original idea like this one, but with the same clashing systems and issues would get a 6/10 from me and I suspect that others may rate it even lower. I prefer to speak bluntly as possible, so I hope this hasn't caused any major offense. I genuinely love the idea behind this game and if it ever turned into a major release, I truly hope I'd be able to contribute to it in some fashion, even if all I contributed was a mere review. Fantastic work so far, now let's keep it going!

Hopefully I can say this here, but the developer of this game shared on the discord that the cats featured in this game are based off of real life kitties, some of whom have already crossed the rainbow bridge (thankfully not due to radiation or explosive kitties!). Admittedly I thought this might have been a match game at first or kitty minesweeper, but I'm far from disappointed that its not. I couldn't be happier to have played this game. I'm truly touched. Call me crazy, I just really love cats.

This is probably one of the few games that will ever get a perfect rating from me and a rating of 11/10 from me. Thank you again, Angie, for making this game and submitting it for this jam. <3 May your kitties always be loved and safe from radioactive kitties. <3

This game is like if old school Doom or Quake met Left 4 Dead. I LOVE that bullets can ricochet off of the ground and walls just like a real bullet would. I'm willing to forgive the lack of a reload animation and same-y enemy type for the simple fact that the game tells you the important details without holding your hand and remains very simple to understand. I live by the philosophy that you have to SHOW the player how to play your game, not tell them, in the design of my own games, and it's really wonderful to see that here too. The level is immersive, the UI design while it seems to clash a bit with the main gameplay loop is still very impressive in its design. Nothing is immediately obvious, you have to interact to discover what the menu can do and I love that. It's unique and frankly more games should have a UI like that. The implementation of a live leaderboard makes me want to come back to this game until I hit #1!!! 10/10

Say no more, I'm on it 🫡

The zombies are like if they were gang beasts. The dev says they want to balance the game to make it easier, but I think it SHOULD be difficult. Just give me a dark souls-esque roll mechanic with i-frames, and I would be addicted to this game. I LOVE the UI. It genuinely feels of very high quality, and the sound effects are just so crisp that the game just feels less cohesive without them, seriously. This game is equal parts terrifying and adorable in its aesthetic and runs like a charm. An absolutely beautiful game I'd pay money for -- if I had any, and if the developer added even more levels and weapons or abilities. 10/10, will probably play forever now !

:') <3 That was my inspiration for this one!!!! Hopefully a bit less hard!

I believe if you contact itch.io support they can help you in getting the zip uploaded if its over 1GB, I don't know what the timeline is for them to be able to do that. Sorry you're having problems with this. :( When you do get it uploaded I will be very happy to rate your game!! :)

I appreciate that so much. I very much enjoyed your game as well! It's really nice to hear multiple people now say that they love the music, your music in your game was great too. :)

I enjoyed this overall! It was a very fun game to play, definitely on brand with the theme! The tank is unique in a good way and the enemy designs are just as well. I like how the bigger enemies break apart when they're destroyed and how they drop powerups, that's really neat. Not bad music! I think the sfx were a little quiet, especially where it concerned the destruction of enemies, sometimes it was hard to know if I'd actually destroyed them or not, but as long as I listened close I could tell they were dead! I'm not going to fault the developer for the basic design of the assets, I'm more of a programmer myself, its clear the intention was to make a fun game, and I think they deliver!

I experienced a couple of minor issues , it seems like the enemies collide with each other and launch themselves just slightly into the air, making them quite literally untouchable from your projectiles up until they touch you and make you lose a health point. Thankfully the enemies drop more than enough health powerups to not make this too much of an issue, but it was a bit frustrating that I would just sometimes have to take a hit in order to wipe out the wave. There was also one bug that happened where it said that I had 1 enemy left to kill in order to win and the last enemy either never spawned in or it may have launched so high in the air it just never had to speed to come down and reach me, not entirely sure. Either way, I ended up losing because of it which made me sad. :( Thankfully though I was able to beat the game in the end and had a good time. :) One other minor issue I had was that the buttons were very tiny on the main menu. The rest of the UI was plenty readable, but the main menu was very small. I play on a 2k resolution monitor so that is most likely why the buttons look that way. It's not a game breaking issue or a big deal at all, just figured I'd mention it! :)

I just have to say too that I really like how you can move the tank's gun in the main menu even if its a bit janky. It'd be so cool if you could shoot the enemies while in the main menu too and they just spawned in forever until you hit play or something. But just that little detail really makes the game feel a bit more personal. It's a neat little toy, every game needs those, imo!

I gave the story 5 stars. :) GGs and see you next year! Can't wait to see what else you come up with next!

I appreciate the feedback! I will definitely be implementing some fixes for this game in the near future that address what you mentioned here. Glad you enjoyed the fluid movement. :)

Holler! Unreal Engine user here. :)

Just to update this, according to the livestream, multiple submissions are allowed, just again, multiple courses will not be given out. They did say something about one submission per itch.io account, but overall, multiple submissions are allowed. :)

I understand! Just don't want others in the community getting confused! :)

I think there's some kind of rule about "gaming the system" so, even if it is allowed, I doubt they would allow you to get anything from it. Participants are limited to only one course as a prize for their participation.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!