Demon Dash by superpokeunicorn

[raw]
made by superpokeunicorn for LD 41 (COMPO)

LD41loopComp.gif

Who knew managing a small business could be so tricky in the demon apocalypse? This whole "end of the world" thing is really cutting into your bottom line, but you won't let the hordes of hell stand in the way of selling hats!

Demon Dash is a combination of Diner Dash-esque management and horde survival with Mega Man style shooting.

HOW TO PLAY:

Enemies drop hats that you can sell to customers. Killing an enemy changes the color of your current hat.

Customers will ask for a hat of a certain color and shape. Matching one gets you one coin, while matching both gets you two coins. Earn 5 coins to progress to the next level.

CONTROLS:

Arrow Keys = Move

X = Jump

C = Shoot

Ratings

Overall 298th 3.467⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Fun 236th 3.467⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 345th 3.378⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Theme 428th 3.411⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 203th 3.589⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Audio 251th 3.128⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Humor 235th 2.989⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Mood 217th 3.318⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Given 50🗳️ 45🗨️

Feedback

Danby
23. Apr 2018 · 08:42 UTC
I love the game! Cool graphics and idea, I hate the yellow enemies so much, i can't beat it.
Yippiez
23. Apr 2018 · 08:51 UTC
Really love the consept it really is different and gameplay is smooth.
bcvery1
23. Apr 2018 · 09:02 UTC
Really nice idea! Good game
Krystof Klestil
23. Apr 2018 · 09:02 UTC
I like the fact you get to know the game by trial and error, the fact you need the colours to match. Would have enjoyed it more if there was more to the mechanic, felt like something was missing. A lovely submission though.
Regarding the theme I didn't feel like the two genres were incompatible but rather a fun combo.
gemberkoekje
23. Apr 2018 · 09:26 UTC
I'm sorry, I'm on a work computer so I can't open JAR files. Remind me this evening and I'll try it on my home PC!
Belga54
23. Apr 2018 · 09:47 UTC
A pretty neat idea, I like it! Was a little bit difficult(and I Love hard games) and cool graphics and I liked the music. But the jumping was a little bit frustrating, maybe you should increase the jump speed. But still good.
javicepa
23. Apr 2018 · 15:36 UTC
Very nice animation and graphics + clean platforming physics = amazing entry
Congrats!
KRP
24. Apr 2018 · 02:58 UTC
Mood was top notch IMO
Apples_mmmmmmmm
24. Apr 2018 · 03:43 UTC
Really tough to get the actual hats and colors you want since you can so easily run over ones that disrupt your current goal.
🎤 superpokeunicorn
24. Apr 2018 · 04:06 UTC
@Apples_mmmmmmmm Thanks for playing my game! It's definitely true that it's difficult to get both the right hat and color for the full 2 coin reward, although you can sell a hat with only the right color or hat-type for a 1 coin reward. One thing I find helpful is damage boosting through enemies as a last resort to avoid getting their hat or color, since selling a hat does heal you a bit, which I could have made clearer. Thank you for the valuable feedback!
Evan Leibman
24. Apr 2018 · 06:35 UTC
I had a lot of fun with this one, great job! My only gripes were sometimes the amount of enemies was overwhelming, and not being able to shot up or down made it difficult with some of the level design and enemy movements to get a shot off. Perhaps this could have benefited from more open / slightly larger and more spread out level design. Still a great job, the music and graphics really gelled well and I had fun.
Jammin
24. Apr 2018 · 07:52 UTC
The game is very fun, the concept attractive and the graphism pretty cool. But I'm too bad for this difficulty. I have to train.
Random-storykeeper
24. Apr 2018 · 09:47 UTC
The enemies definitely look demonic. I had fun with this one. It has elements of both Diner Dash and Mega Man, without completely delving into the mechanics of either game. Really, it was a nice hybrid. And there was a lot of stages given that it's a compo entry. It would have been nice to have some more variety between the stages besides just the arrangement of platforms. Seeing as you have three different colours of enemies and I believe three different types of hats?, maybe the different colours and types could have been introduced gradually per stage so that the challenge is that the player has to manage more varieties.

I do, however, really love that the enemies had unique behaviours from each other and the idea to shoot them in order to colour the hats was great. Sometimes, when the player starts moving right from when the character spawns, the enemies don't spawn into the area for a very long time! I guess the enemies just don't like it when their target moves. :stuck_out_tongue:
Jupiter_Hadley
24. Apr 2018 · 13:40 UTC
Neat concept! I included it in my Ludum Dare 41 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBigr-DBUjI
McCordinator
24. Apr 2018 · 17:24 UTC
Ah very cool concept. The random hat drops and the color changing of the hats by enemy kills is very clever.

If you have time, check out my entry: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/golden-beak-golf :)
khofez
24. Apr 2018 · 20:11 UTC
great job, nice concept, good game
cristiano.m.garcia
25. Apr 2018 · 02:21 UTC
Good job! Cool game!

I rate your game, if I can give a game in my game, Witch's Escape.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/witchs-escape
block97
25. Apr 2018 · 02:45 UTC
Really cool concept. And really well executed, well done.
paulhocker
26. Apr 2018 · 01:20 UTC
After a few frustrating starts it started to make sense. Really like the mechanic you did here, fit well with the theme and made for a fun game. Nice work,=,
Ayushman
29. Apr 2018 · 10:16 UTC
Beautiful concept of the game.... A bit difficult but ok... I loved to play it
taviandir
29. Apr 2018 · 11:33 UTC
Difficult because it spawns so many and killing them has too severe consequences when one is just trying to deliver the correct hat. Good game tho!
Dragojt
29. Apr 2018 · 11:54 UTC
Good game :) The character seems angry, hehe. I find a bit weird that the hat drops are random, it can make the game a bit frustrating. Anyway, good entry!
neontropics
29. Apr 2018 · 15:26 UTC
Neat idea and good controls - probably a bit too slow for me though, in that it ended up being a fair amount of just waiting for the correct enemies. Some more verticality, and more enemies and hat guys would be cool!
patrickgh3
29. Apr 2018 · 17:46 UTC
Fun platformer. I like that once you have the color hat you want, it always felt possible to make your way to deliver it without killing any more enemies. The level design, enemy design, and the hat mechanics all worked together well. Good difficulty balance as well. I was confused when one customer disappeared from the "hat stop" and then reappeared there later. Maybe the customer request timing could be more clearly explained, maybe with visible timers, rather than being a black box to the player. That's a pretty minor thing though. Overall great job!
🎤 superpokeunicorn
29. Apr 2018 · 19:18 UTC
@patrickgh3 Thanks for playing my game! I'm glad you enjoyed it. To answer your question, after the customers get their hat, they disappear when they leave the screen, then a new customer spawns a few seconds later. This is to stop players from farming the same customer repeatedly. I suppose, as you said, that I could have made their functionality clearer. In any event, thanks for the valuable feedback!
🎤 superpokeunicorn
29. Apr 2018 · 19:24 UTC
@neontropics Thanks for playing my game! You're definitely right that the game can be slow at times, especially on the first level. This has to do with the way I handle enemy spawning, which, in hindsight, wasn't very smart. The way it works is that, every 3 seconds, all of the spawners in the level have a small chance of spawning an enemy. This means that the spawn rate for enemies is not fixed and can be much higher or much lower each play session. It also means that the spawn rate on smaller levels, such as the first level, is lower since there are fewer spawners. I should have had a fixed spawn rate and only randomized which enemy would spawn. In any event, thanks for the valuable feedback!
Dovakla
29. Apr 2018 · 22:23 UTC
It's a pretty good execution of the concept. I think it could be a lot faster and the blue enemies can get overwhelming, which makes it hard to get any other colors. It'd be nice if all three types could have that movement pattern. Audio and graphics both work with the feel of the game.

Good job!
acotis
29. Apr 2018 · 22:59 UTC
Very fun! I thoroughly enjoyed playing this game: the controls were nice, the sound was nice, and the gameplay itself was engaging. I couldn't quite figure out how the hats worked...do people take any hat that's the right shape OR the right color? And pay extra if it's both? The game was too fast-paced for me to tell, but that's a detail :) My only real complaint is that I don't see much blending between the two themes: the business side only comes in as flavoring to the "escort these objects away from the monsters" mechanic. You could have it alternate between going out to fight for hats and coming in and trying to convince people to buy them (or convince them to stand outside while you're getting the hats).
🎤 superpokeunicorn
29. Apr 2018 · 23:47 UTC
@acotis Thanks for playing my game! I'm glad you liked it. To answer you question, you're exactly right, the customers will pay 1 for a hat with the right color or shape, and 2 for both. I originally had it so that you had to have both, but I found that to be too difficult, so I made it either or. Maybe that would have been clearer if color and shape were represented by separate icons instead of being put together into one. In any event, thanks for the valuable feedback!
Diego Escalante
30. Apr 2018 · 06:00 UTC
I had fun playing this game! I appreciate the existence of hard mode to keep playing after winning, and little details like how the music has a little outro after beating a level.
Darkphnx
30. Apr 2018 · 22:05 UTC
Loved the atmosphere you set in this game! The music and art felt perfect. I also really like the way your bullets animated, little details like that really pull everything together! Game-play felt tight and well put together! Great game!
ShiMapleLeaf
04. May 2018 · 08:04 UTC
Not much too say other than that it is a great game! A little difficult at times, but certainly a lot of fun!
irwatts
06. May 2018 · 20:22 UTC
The presentation and concept were really well done! I found some difficulty managing to dodge around enemies, like the movement was a little sluggish, but I still had fun jumping around and trying to acquire the correct hat.
Querk
15. May 2018 · 07:30 UTC
cool game, i like graphics and animation, great idea.
Good job !