Star Brawler by SamuelDeboni

[raw]
made by SamuelDeboni for LD 41 (JAM)

You are a Retronian ship stranded in uncharted space and your weapons system was destroyed. Use your ship's robotic tentacles to fight your way through a series increasingly difficult enemies.

Use your arrow keys to move. Press X for a basic attack, or Z for a more powerful spin attack. Press C to grab an enemy and Z again to throw him at your foes.

print3.png

print4.png

Ratings

Overall 603th 3.434⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Fun 665th 3.237⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 631th 3.303⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Theme 658th 3.5⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 307th 3.921⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Mood 666th 3.197⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Given 58🗳️ 26🗨️

Feedback

schsam
24. Apr 2018 · 02:55 UTC
Super fun game! It felt super satisfying to hit enemies into one another. A mele sidescrolling space shooter is a great concept. I wish there were some visual indication when my ship got hit or died. It seemed like the points just reset.
G4MR
24. Apr 2018 · 03:00 UTC
Heh, funny game. Only gripe is the attack controls are right under your movement controls. Would've been better if you used the attack controls on the other side of the keyboard or even using the mouse buttons. First game that I've played that's really done this jam's theme justice lol gj.
Darby Costello
24. Apr 2018 · 11:05 UTC
Clever! I had a lot of fun playing this and could see this being developed into a full title. Well done!
DeadPotato
24. Apr 2018 · 11:45 UTC
Interesting experience!
Consider adding some polish to the game. Visual clarity to your controlled character. Indication of getting hit, and hitting others (you want that to feel SUPER good). Maybe something like Gradius's upgrade system and themed levels and you have something AMAZING on your hands.
juju
24. Apr 2018 · 12:35 UTC
Thowing enemies around is always a fun time.
Riddhee Dutta
24. Apr 2018 · 14:27 UTC
Murder Time Fun Time!!! Feel free to drop a review at our game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/boomball
gamesient
24. Apr 2018 · 14:27 UTC
A suggestion would be to split up the commands so one could use both hands.
zaguer
24. Apr 2018 · 14:46 UTC
Thanks for the feedback, and we really expect you are enjoying. We really hoped to bring you the most polished game we could but time was running out, and we had to fix a lot of crazy bugs first, like the boss pointing to the player and running of the screen, hahaha. Also, i agree that the commands were a little bit odd, if we made the attacks on the mouse or on JKL for instance, it would have made your life much more easier.
Lopex
24. Apr 2018 · 16:00 UTC
fun game!
Veilastrum
24. Apr 2018 · 17:49 UTC
This is pretty hilariously fun game, haha. I like the throw system (although it sometimes glitches up), it gives a good gimmick to the game.
Overall a rather good entry.
SnorlaxFromSpace
24. Apr 2018 · 17:50 UTC
The controls dont make sense because of the hand placement on the keyboard. Take that aside and you have a publishable idea. very hilarious and enjoyable unlike our game xD jk it's cool too :p
Alex13
24. Apr 2018 · 22:50 UTC
Had a fun. Remembered R-Type. But can't get any score during session. It is always zero.
piscythe
24. Apr 2018 · 22:57 UTC
I'm surprised that people keep trying to use WASD controls for this when arrow keys work much better. The game is visually and conceptually cool, and throwing enemies at other enemies is fundamentally entertaining. However, I agree with @DeadPotato that combat doesn't feel quite as satisfying as it could. The weak x attack seems pointless, and it's not always clear why actions do or don't score points. The score indicator told me I had 100000+ points when I killed the boss, but the win screen said my score was 0. Also, the boss really could have used some kind of health indicator. All that said, I really like what you're doing here. Good work!
Almax
25. Apr 2018 · 00:06 UTC
Found controls awkward, allowing me to use WSAD or Arrows for move but only ZX to attack seemed like a strange choice, I'd recommend supporting left/right mouse clicks for attacking too.

Otherwise game was pretty fun, the spin attack was very satisfying to land though the little attack felt fairly useless :)

It would have nice to have a dash attack too, for more risk/reward manoeuvres
Lyje
25. Apr 2018 · 15:03 UTC
Not bad - the core concept works nicely and I'd love to see it taken further. Could do with smoother controls, more feedback on when you're hitting (and getting hit by) enemies.
saiodin
25. Apr 2018 · 20:51 UTC
This game looks cool and is really creative imo!
You guys nailed the theme because space combat and melee attacks are as far apart as can possibly be and are a HORRIBLE combination (in a good way) xD 5 Stars on that one, honestly... <3
I enjoyed it, but i really wanna give some feedback on the controls cause those are the big weak point i feel.
For the next game, please include WASD controls instead of arrow keys (alot of gamers will thank you), also i felt like the 2 attack styles could've been changed out by left and right mouse clicks to play nicer.
Anyways, keep it up! You guys are in my top 5 so far.
LemurStudio
25. Apr 2018 · 22:56 UTC
Really enjoyed this. And the art work is really good :) well done.
🎤 SamuelDeboni
26. Apr 2018 · 00:37 UTC
@saiodin @Almax Thanks for your feedbacks :)
The controls are the biggest feedback I'm getting, and the only reason that it's possible to control with "WASD" is because I used input.getAzix from unity. But keeping this and adding the option of attack using the mouse buttons is actually very easy to do, and probably better, so will be in the next versions.

And another thing that people are saying is that the game lacks attack and damage feedback, it was supposed to have but I didn't had time to improve, so that's is another thing I'm taking note.

In general I'm reading to all feedbacks and I will give some news about the possibility of some updates and maybe a full title
🎤 SamuelDeboni
26. Apr 2018 · 00:42 UTC
@DeadPotato gradius like upgrades were supposed to have in the game, but lack the time, actually gradius was a really good inspiration for the game.

@Almax I totally agree about the dash, also supposed to have but, no time :(
AX0001
26. Apr 2018 · 01:13 UTC
Great graphics. Very creative. Good gameplay.
BlakeMcDeezy
26. Apr 2018 · 08:35 UTC
Throwing enemies at enemies is deeply gratifying - Great artwork, and I loved playing as a ship with tentacles :)
JLV
27. Apr 2018 · 14:25 UTC
Gameplay-wise, I had no gripes with the control scheme, but rather with the way your beautiful animations translate into gameplay - the hitboxes are hard to read, and the length of the animation creates a small "input lag". However, I wouldn't know how to solve ths, maybe check some recent 2.5D fighting games such as SFIV to take inspiration. But all in all, I had a great deal of fun stomping ennemies and throwing them at their peers !

As I said earlier, the animations are really awesome, and the graphics generally are great. The audio also sets an epic mood, which is a great addition.

To sum up, I would love to play an extended version of this game with a little more "juice" and readability !