I can't believe I just enjoyed throwing my head at people. The physics of your head is really fun, I got it stuck a few times. Great graphics on your main guy and the people! The screen shake is very well executed with the gameplay.

Love the game man! the animations are really smooth and the fact that's a java game it's a plus IMO. I'll check the source code later for curiosity sake :P

Congrats on the game!

Nice entry! I really liked the core mechanic of throwing your head. The head having some inertia made it really fun to swing around and hit enemies with. I also really liked how the levels seemed to be almost the perfect length for how much... blood? you were given. If I have a complaint, its that the controls felt a little slippery. I felt like I had to correct my movement a little bit. Great job!

@kingethaniel if by blood you mean the living flesh of mortal men, ripped from their still beating heart

Awesome job on the gameplay, audio and art. They were all quite polished for 48 hours of work. I think you have a neat little mechanic with the head attacking. If you plan on working on it any more I think it would work well if there was a way to recall your head back to you early. This would give players a chance to do more skilled attacks against different enemies. Good job!

@zchen That's a really good idea, and something I had been considering. I probably would use that if I turned this into a full game. Thanks for the feedback!

It's was fun throwing the head to the enemies. The graphics are very good, and the music and sounds set very well the mood of the game.

Very fun to throw the head around. Graphics are nice and tight. Music is a little repetitive but that's fine. I really liked any time there was a wall you were able to throw your head over. Feel like the health could decay a little slower. Great job all around though!

@joemag I'm glad you like the game. There actually is a difficulty option if you want to make the timer go slower or faster. Press P to make the timer go faster and press O to make it go more slowly.

Nice job, specially in gameplay and art. The mechanics are fun and could be awesome with some months of work.

Nice Work!!! What programming language did you use? excellent skills!

@pixelsplash It's all done in Java.

The boomerang effect of the head is really fun and I like the pacing a lot. The ending was a bit anticlimactic but it was a good entry!

I agree with the rest, throwing your head was a lot of fun! I can't believe you made this in Java! The graphics are very crisp and clean. The animations were well done too. I had a lot of fun playing this!

Very well made game. I thoroughly enjoyed myself playing through the whole thing. The physics were fun and the slight indirect control you had over your flying head gave the game a nice amount of nuance.

One of my favourite games so far, great job!

The controls kept locking up for me after getting my head back, either from taking damage or throwing it, so I couldn't make it past about 30 seconds of gameplay.

Cool game man! cool!

Very fun idea and nice graphics. Good Job!

It was hard to play with the controls X and C but it was a really fun game.

You did well focusing on the essentials of gameplay. Pretty fun with potential for further development. Appreciate the lively animations.

Neat concept, feels good, solid graphics. I thought using the flow of time as a difficulty modifier was a really cool idea, and I will absolutely steal that at some point in my life.

I really liked your game overall. It got me hooked until i finished it. Well balanced difficulty, nice graphics, and i'm gonna get that background music stuck on my mind until tomorrow xD
Good job!

First of all: well done! I liked the head throwing mechanic however only being able to throw in a straight line made it hard. Maybe make it so that you throw where the cursor points. You could also add a mechanic where you can steal the body of the npcs with the head. Having to get back your head after getting damaged was a nice touch.

Fun concept! The art and sound were really well done. Some of the platforming was slightly frustrating, but overall the game was fun to play. Throwing your head at enemies is definitely a unique take on the theme!

Nice art, and it was a fun concept as well :D. The head hitting the floor felt a bit strange, but I suppose it makes sense given that, you know, it's a floor.

Haha great head throwing mecanic :D It was really funny. Sounds are amazing too. Graphics are nice but it could've been better

I like this game a lot. The whole concept of throwing your head like a boomerang is hilarious (and pretty damn fun too). The level design was challenging but fair. Audio and graphics were nice as well. If I had to complain about something, it would be that many of the platforms, even at the beginning, are placed such that you have to jump just perfectly. Great game.

Super unique mechanic, my only gripe being that bats that approach you from below are a pain to hit! I had fun with this, it's generally pretty well executed and designed. Good work!

Fun concept! I included it in my Ludum Dare 39 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Upb0aA4TPRk

The concept was really fun. Graphics were very good. The game felt very polished and I loved how you actually need to kill most ennemies to not run out of energy.

By the way, you shouldn't do those kind of bugfixe when the Ludum Dare is over... Once the deadline's passed, you don't touch anything unless it's a fatal issue that makes it impossible to finish your game. Otherwise, any polishing is kind of unfair for the other developper in the rating...

However since you havan't actually changed much, I have to say your game is pretty solid!

@nalia1991 Thanks for playing the game; I'm glad you enjoyed it! You actually are allowed to fix "typo" bugs. In this case, I had misspelled the name of a sound effect by one character, causing all sound effects to stop playing when the invalid call gets made.

From the rules: "Certain Bug Fixes are allowed. You can’t add new features, but if something broke or didn’t work correctly as you were finishing up, you can fix this after the deadline. You are asked to highlight the changes you make in your submission (a short change log). You probably wont get a 2nd chance with some players, but at least it wont be a problem for future players."

Still, you're right that it's best to avoid making these edits where possible. I only made this edit because it was such a small typo and it caused all of the sound effects to stop working. I hope this clears things up! I really like your game btw; the bosses are very well designed.

I enjoyed playing this game. It took me a few tries to get the hang of it but it worked out pretty good. The blood drains away at a pretty fast rate, even on the default difficulty at least in my opinion. The graphics were solid and maintained a consistent theme. The music was a nice touch, just a bit loud in comparison to the other sounds. I feel that background music should be more subtle; again, just my opinion. All in all a solid entry and a fun game. I'm less of a fan of the java games because of the extra work necessary to launch them.
I would like to see a web client if that becomes possible moving forward. Thank you for sharing!

I like it, it's got that old-school charm.

Reminds me of the old Gameboy games (which i love)! It would be nice with an option screen with adjustable sound or fullscreen, but that's just me nitpicking. Cool game with a cool attack mechanic!

The idea and the mechanics are awesome , you did a great job with these. Great work!

Really nice game and idea! :) I enjoyed it!

This game is GREAT! The level design is veeeery good! Really great job!

This was a great experience! I had a lot of fun throwing my head around in that Zelda boomerangey fashion. I loved the surprises, and how you spaced them out to make sure the player would never get bored. The art was crisp, clean, and the main character stood out. I loved the enemy placement. I also admire and will keep in mind your decision to have multiple levels of difficulty. I thought the game was too hard and had to scale down one, and once I beat it, I felt the need to try it on normal, then on hard! So you really roped me in, because I loved every second of it. Impressive, and if you made this a full length platformer, maybe with more of a story, I'd definitely play it.

@peter-sheehan Thanks for the great feedback! A full version is definitely something I've been considering.

This is a great game, long, with nice visuals and an interesting mechanic.
Obviously, it needs more content and polish to be a complete game, but it's perfect for a game jam.
Only two complaints: 1. the quick soldiers could be different from the regular ones, like the Koopas in Mario; 2. I feel that the head fall mechanic need a better explanation in-game, maybe with a small cinematic.

I liked the graphics of it. It had a nice charming NES style to it, although I will say some of the colors kinda blended into the background - in particular the eye turret bullets in the section with the white tiles. The music was alright, but a bit too repetitive. This, of course, is understandable for a Game Jam entry so I can't be too harsh. The main gameplay mechanic was fun and nice spin on more mundane shooting mechanics. The only issues I had was that the character accelerated a bit too slowly for my liking, resulting in a stiff feel. Having to pick up your head from the ground was annoying at times as well but that felt more like a design choice rather than an issue. That said, overall you did a very good job, especially for the compo and this was a fun ride!

Nice game ! I very like the interesting mechanics and it's pretty fun to play ! I like the body division of the character it's cool (I think I'm weird ;) ) I enjoyed playing at your game ! Great job !

Loved it! The head was the coolest weapon I've used in any LD game ever and the fact that it didn't fly in just a straight line made it possible to be very creative with it. Also the fact that you had to collect the head from the ground was a funny addition. The graphics looked charmingly old school and the music was.. well it fit the art, although was a little bit repetitive towards the end.

Maybe the only criticism I have comes from the controls. The jumping and moving felt a little bit too slow for my liking and it made the platforming a little bit harder than it should have been maybe. Other than that, I think this was definitely one of the best games I've experienced in this Ludum Dare!

Cool concept. I think if some of the platforming was tweaked to be a little faster you might have a decent thing on your hands. Music got a little repetitive but tis the nature of game jams. Nice work!

Nice work! Music gets a bit much but loved the style and gameplay. a solid entry here.

It's a fun game, throwing the head is something I don't think I've seen before. XD

Graphics, audio, gameplay are all nice. Very very impressive given the time constraint. I won't repeat what others have already said, so I'll just say: Really Good job!

I did have a bit of trouble with the head returning. Sometimes it would get caught behind a wall and I'd have no way to combat oncoming enemies. That was a bit frustrating. Thankfully the game is pretty forgiving by having infinite lives. XD

I also thought there were one or two instances where the hitboxes of the bats were a bit... off. Like I was sure I got it, but it survived. I think those instances were on the upper part of the bat?

Anyway, those are fairly small issues. You should be really happy with what you made.

@pixel-game-wizard I'm glad you like the game. You're probably right that the bat's hitbox could do with being a bit bigger on the top. Thanks for the detailed feedback!

What a great game! I love the concept, very original, eating my way through the guards was a fun ideia xDD
Great job, really well done!

what an excellent game! Super original, the risk/reward mechanic reminded me a bit of that arcade old shmup Dragon Blaze.

I second the bat hitbox problem, but everything else was top-shelf! You should be proud!!

Very cool game! I'll check your code, very interested in see how you made it in Java. The idea was quite unique, and the graphics were great. The "throwing your head" mechanic was funny and very polished. Good job!

That's one hell of a game, great gameplay, physics, graphics, audio.... **everything**. Going through the source rn.