LudumData

Bloody Cell by GuardHei

[raw]
made by GuardHei for LD 42 (COMPO)

Hey guys, I am new to this competition and bring this little product. I don't want to be boring, so let's make it short:

You are a T-Cell in a human body and fight against the cancers.

Ya, deadly simple! That's it! Of course the mechanism is a bit more complex, but, no worries. (If you are bored, then just skip the following lines and download the game)

Here comes's a complete mechanism explanation:

  1. There will be cancer tumors randomly generated in the area every time period.

  2. Cancer tumors will block your way meanwhile some of them will spawn cancer cells.

  3. Cancer cells may rush to you and explode or just swipe, trying to make you dead.

  4. You can shoot both tumors and cells but tumors usually takes more damage.

  5. You can also call for a Chemotherapy which gives a map-range attack, but be careful -- this will hurt you too!

  6. You just can't win.

And now let me explain, well, the assets I created (due to competition policies). So, let's first begin with audios. It is my first time so I am really deadline-catching. I soon figured out that I have not much time for musics, so you can see there are only two sound effects. The gun shot sound is a bit weird because it was created by swiping my bath towel real fast. And the blood splatter sound was from drinking Orange Finda. Haha, creative as I am. The BGM is somewhat my favorite factor of this game. I used Garageband and only spend 3 hours to get the final product. Quite Japanese style right? I got the original idea from BioHazard, then came out this stuff. Hope you guys like it.

About art, no, my pain! As you are going to see, there are only cubic stuffs in the game. This is because they are all created by the primitive cube meshes. What's more? There is also no animation. I hate to use animations, making the process unpredictable and debug-unfriendly. I code all the animation work -- lerp, slerp, damp, then everything is in control but wasted quite a lot of time. Most of the textures, or the ui sprites in the game were created through PowerPoint. I am a good PPT artist. The only thing that was difficult was the blood splatter pattern. I tried multiples ways, and finally I procedurally processed the texture from the Photoshop (you know, combinations of different brushes), sharpen the edge just a little bit. So you could see the resolution is terrible.

Then the source code. Cinemachine is what I used for Unity's camera management, and I also learned some new knowledges of it this time. The movement of the enemies comes from the new Unity Navigation sets. It is way more convenient than before -- such as runtime baking which is extremely helpful this time. The optimization of this game isn't too bad. I mean, I try to pool everything that I can -- explosions, particles, bullets, enemies -- but you will understand my pain if you could insist for several minutes in the game.

I really enjoyed this match. I was first killed by the theme because I thought that it was too limited. Soon, just half an hour later, I came up with this idea. But time, emmm, really a catchy thing. It is now 4 am in the morning in my country, and I'm a high school student and no sleep. Jesus, I even have another report to hand in this afternoon. Why so unfair>>>just kidding, but I did get entertained by the experience, hope you guys too! Good luck to all the participants! Maybe you could get a nice ranking, who knows?

Finally! Read after me >>>> Bloody Hell? Bloody Cell!

Now, enjoy your time!!!

Why No WebGL Build?

I've tried to build one but found two issues. One is that the initial loading time is toooooo long -- about 4~5 minutes, which is pretty enough for a download. The second thing is that there is performance issue for runtime navigation calculating. I experienced regular stuck during playing. Therefore, I gave up to offer a html version. Really sorry for that.

================ Bug Fix ================ 1. The UI problem is fixed! No worries for resolution now! 2. Th bug of Chemotherapy is fixed! 3. Optimize a bit of the performance! 4. Player movement bug has been fixed! 5. Cannot fire after Chemotherapy has been fixed!

================ Bug Still Exist ================ 1. Undiscovered yet......

================ Other Updates ================ 1. Move the source code from Itch.io to GitHub

ss<em>0.png ss</em>1.png ss_2.png

Other (platform) https://guardhei.itch.io/bloody-cell
Windows https://guardhei.itch.io/bloody-cell
macOS https://guardhei.itch.io/bloody-cell
Source code https://github.com/guardhei/bloodycell
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/bloody-cell

Ratings

Overall 465th 3.207⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Fun 256th 3.448⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 520th 2.875⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Theme 549th 3.121⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 482th 2.948⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Audio 331th 2.944⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Humor 309th 2.5⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Mood 323th 3⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Given 27🗳️ 25🗨️

Feedback

smilewood
13. Aug 2018 · 02:27 UTC
Your links all seem to be broken, itch.io is saying that the page doesn't exist. I hope that gets fixed, I would love to play the game.
🎤 GuardHei
13. Aug 2018 · 02:31 UTC
@smilewood Really sorry!!! I've just found out I set the page on Itch.io to Draft. It is my first time so I am also learning to use all these things... I've fixed it now! (Fullscreen recommendation, or UI maybe squeezed)
Ilseroth
13. Aug 2018 · 02:42 UTC
I did get to play it, it was alright but I have a few critical things. The main thing I have to bring up immediately is that the start menu confused me right off the bat. Besides that the camera shake is terribly disorienting, it seems to have a mind of it's own. Same with the player character, you give it some gas and it keeps going, not what I expected but I got used to it pretty quick but the camera I never really got acclimated to.
smilewood
13. Aug 2018 · 02:49 UTC
This is quite a fun little shooter, I really enjoyed it. I think that your art style was really great, I loved the effect of the enemies exploding into little fragments and leaving a splatter behind. I did think that the camera shake was a little much at times, especially when moving around it could get a little nauseating. The gameplay was quite easy, I didn’t get swarmed as much as I thought I might, and once I had leveled up to level three nothing could stand in my way. I really liked the ability to use your health as an attack, even if I only realized that it was using my health after it killed me. I thought that you had some pretty good sound design, the effects pulled me into the game, and the background wasn’t distracting. I didn’t see how this fit into the Running Out Of Space theme, but that may have been because I was killing the enemies too fast to feel pinned in by them. For a first Ludum Dare entry this is a great submission, I know that I still haven’t figured out how to make sounds on my own. Lots of fun, great job.
🎤 GuardHei
13. Aug 2018 · 02:50 UTC
@ilseroth I realized the same problem after a try without the fullscreen. It was the shamy bug I have to admit. I tried to make the ui resolution-fit but somehow seemed I failed. I'll try to fix the bug and see whether I can upload the bug-fixed one (I think according to the rules I can?). There are also bugs like the replay won't clear some data...... I'll get them fixed as quick as possible.

For camera shake, I rotated the impulse actually towards the source every time. I think the problem is due to adding up multiple impulses within a short time period (forgive me for my poor english). It is my fault, I might should set the camera shake smoother at the beginning.

Overall, thanks for pointing out such problems! I'll see whether I can get a new update due to the rule.
StateOff
13. Aug 2018 · 02:57 UTC
Some minor technical details upfront:
- The main screen is unreadable if you have a resolution < HD
- Would be nice if ESC quit the game, or showed up a menu
- I did not get the jokes and was not sure what the menu really meant. Silly me :)

Died quickly at first. My second attempt was way better as I got used to the controls.
I must say that the game gets a bit repetitive and in general was too easy. The enemies did not stand a chance and my weapons got better way too fast. That's when the motivation cut off.
I also had a hard time getting the theme. The description helped :) Maybe the difference between "organic" theme represented as very geometric objects. I mean like simple rounded shapes as opposed to cubes.

Now on the bright side I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. Like said before I wished it gave me more challenge. Changing the weapons did not really make it more challenging. I like the implementation of the messy decals, although not a fan of gore in this very abstracted version it kind of gave some more live to the scenery.

Like always: Well done.
🎤 GuardHei
13. Aug 2018 · 03:33 UTC
@smilewood Thanks for suggestion! I like the explosion effect too. They are all physics driven! Not particle effects! But data balance is an issue due to multiple comments. My fault. I originally wanted the generating cancers to blocked the movement path of player. And the cells chasing behind. But the damage of the weapon is too high. I wish I could give a quick fix today, however, another deadline hangs over my head’... so sad
🎤 GuardHei
13. Aug 2018 · 07:53 UTC
@stateoff Really appreciate for the technique issues pointed out! I think I get to know the problem for the UI now. You mentioned ESC to exit, I didn't add it because Mac allows a quick exit by command + Q, but obviously I forgot the Windows users (crying). Then as I mentioned in the description, art is my pain, but you've hit the point. Round-angle cubes with idle animations such as squeezing absolutely make the game looks better. I'll try to learn how to implement this in the future. Keep on working!
thechubbypanda
13. Aug 2018 · 15:38 UTC
iT'S IMPOSSIBLE...
runner_alien
13. Aug 2018 · 15:38 UTC
fun little game any technical issues have already been pointed out but at its core its a really good twin stick shooter
Phlip45
13. Aug 2018 · 15:49 UTC
I agree with most people here. Fun little twin stick shooter. If think a little more detail in the art would have gone a long way. Even just giving different shapes to some of would make it a little more visually varied. Other than that, great job!
Truc_e
14. Aug 2018 · 08:13 UTC
Fun and well made. The camera shakes everytime you fire so the screen is just constantly shaking and it's pretty annoying (You should just have camera shake whenever you hit an enemy). Sound was very well done and the difficulty didn't curve too sharply, although the spawners seemed extremely tanky and not worth attacking at all.
🎤 GuardHei
14. Aug 2018 · 08:23 UTC
@truc-e I soon realized that a Chemotherapy when enemies getting too much can bring the player to the top level immediately. So the difficulty curve is on your hand (blink). Thanks for playing!
MartinTristan
15. Aug 2018 · 05:41 UTC
this is pretty tough little shooter (well, I'm not really that good with games like these!). The art style is simple but effective. The splatter is cool. You can really imagine a white blood cell fighting cancer cells (those purple cancer cells are tough!).
Wolfrug
15. Aug 2018 · 10:47 UTC
Nice! Got to level 4. Very good progression, seems like you put some thought into how quickly you level yourself up / etc, which is nice! The purple bastards were really basically unkillable though, but hey, maybe there's some advanced tactics for how to survive even longer :)

If there's one point of criticism it's the idea that the game is unwinnable! Boo! Cancer is totally beatable, even if it's a goddamned slog. Thematically I understand (running out of space), but on a personal level I would've loved the chance to actually win, even if it'd be very very difficult :) (ex. you regenerate health, but slowly, letting you use the chemo strategically, and you keep levelling up, until eventually your damage output is greater than the spawn rate of cancer cells, and you'll be able to cut them all out!)
🎤 GuardHei
15. Aug 2018 · 13:44 UTC
@wolfrug Thanks for playing! The purple cancer tumors are designed to be tanky, therefore there will be no space finally for the player.

You're right, cancer is totally beatable and I truly wish so because both of my grandparents are suffering that. The reason for not doing it is super simple -- no time. I'll do these improvements though after the combo, maybe based this mechanism!
Raccoon_JS
15. Aug 2018 · 16:36 UTC
Once I used chemo-therapy, I couldn't shoot bullets anymore. But the decent concept, though.
🎤 GuardHei
16. Aug 2018 · 10:15 UTC
@raccoon-js Achievement unlocked -- New Bug Discovered! Just kidding, but thanks for pointing out! I'll work on that and sorry for the bad experience.
🎤 GuardHei
16. Aug 2018 · 14:05 UTC
@raccoon-js Bug has been fixed!
@ilseroth The movement of player isn't an intension. It was just a bug. Sorry for that.
Jonathan Lorenz
04. Sep 2018 · 10:53 UTC
Yes! I like this kind of simple concept, just nicely executed. The fun was here and that is the mlost important part for me. I also like (and am guilty of) simple cube design. The only thing that bothered me was the fact that the blood stains are about the same colour as the cancer cells, which made the game a bit unreadable at a certain point. Good work!