VoidStalkers by Iori Branford
https://youtu.be/WgS6cL06GTg
The voidstalkers are bringing the void down on you. Hold out as long as you can.
How to Play
Shoot voidstalkers to stop them pulling the void over the stage. The void stops your bullets. Kill the number shown below to advance to the next wave.
You die when touching a voidstalker or the void. Infinite lives, but game over when there is not enough space to respawn.
Controls
Use keyboard or controller.
- Arrow keys, left analog, D-pad = move
- Z key, A button, 1st button = fire; hold to strafe (maintain direction)
Credits
- Design, code, sound: Iori Branford
- Graphics:
- Liberated Pixel Cup (LPC) Base Assets (sprites & map tiles) https://opengameart.org/content/liberated-pixel-cup-lpc-base-assets-sprites-map-tiles
- Redshrike and William.Thompsonj
- [LPC] Spider https://opengameart.org/content/lpc-spider
- Sharm
- [LPC] Animated water and fire https://opengameart.org/content/lpc-animated-water-and-fire
- [LPC] Dungeon Elements https://opengameart.org/content/lpc-dungeon-elements
- Johann C
- [LPC] A shoot'em up complete graphic kit https://opengameart.org/content/lpc-a-shootem-up-complete-graphic-kit
- Player character made from https://github.com/jrconway3/Universal-LPC-spritesheet
- codeman38
- PC Paint Bold font http://www.zone38.net/font/
- Music:
- Toshiaki Sakoda
- Devil Crash MD "Main Table" http://project2612.org/details.php?id=19
- Toshiaki Sakoda
Bug Fixes (since release)
8/14
- Fixed controller d-pad possibly not working.
- Fixed analog stick
- Drifted when idle because of lacking deadzone
- Could almost never shoot left or right
8/17
- Fixed music not playing in Linux.
Download Note
The game is free to play even though the download link says "purchase".
Auto builds are for historical interest and possibly future updates. In fairness to everyone, please do not rate an auto build. Only rate the release at itch.io.
Ratings
| Overall | 901th | 3.097⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 800th | 3.016⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 901th | 2.871⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 265th | 3.887⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 40🗳️ | 4🗨️ |
Got a little easier at very small sizes, since you could pretty much just shoot in one spot. Well done for a weekend's work.
Well my biggest problem is the hitbox. Once the stalkers had about a third of the screen, it was basically an instant loss because of how sensitive the hitbox is. Graze the void for a split second and you die. Which brings me to my other problem, the respawn time is too long. If you die while a stalker is about to start pulling the void, it pulls it for a good long time before you can respawn. All of my game over's occurred while I was waiting to respawn, and because of problem 1, respawning doesn't matter because of the unplayably miniscule space you have left.
I give so much harsh criticism because I really love the game otherwise. It actually kind of hurts to give it a review like this since I feel like I'm criticising it for what it's supposed to be. But I've got to be fair and honest.
Good music!
PS: I'm confused by the url because it seems the name is untitled-shrinking-shooter (lol)
1. Fixed controller d-pad possibly not working.
1. Fixed analog stick
- Drifted when idle because of lacking deadzone
- Could almost never shoot left or right
I found the enemy spawns to be a little bit too random, which made the game harder than necessary.
Fun little game!
```
Error: script/Game.lua:146: attempt to index field 'currentmusic' (a nil value)
stack traceback:
script/Game.lua:146: in function <script/Game.lua:145>
levity/scripting.lua:254: in function 'broadcast'
script/Player.lua:271: in function 'func'
levity/scripting.lua:219: in function 'Scripts_send'
levity/object.lua:365: in function 'Object_updateAnimation'
levity/layer.lua:79: in function 'update'
levity/map.lua:429: in function 'update'
levity/init.lua:441: in function 'update'
[string "boot.lua"]:464: in function <[string "boot.lua"]:436>
[C]: in function 'xpcall'
```
It's possible I'm missing some library - there's an error about missing "libgme.so" in my terminal that appears to have been thrown on launch. I also only heard game SFX - there was no music.
Outside of that, it's decent enough! Graphics aren't my cuppa, particularly, but that comes down to personal taste, for the most part - although, the characters being antialiased was a bit...not great. Blown-up fuzzy pixels aren't the best pixels. :slight_frown:
I see you made the sound-effects using Chip-Tone, and feel the need to say - unless you used premade/royalty-free music? You should be able to accept Audio ratings. Generative audio tools like SFXR (and its many variants), Chip-Tone, etc, are all clear for Ludum Dare use.
I was able to reproduce the issue only by running the i686 AppImage on x86_64 Xubuntu. While that could be only because of the architecture mismatch, this is my first time providing a non-x86_64 binary, so making one properly could be more complicated than it seemed.
If you actually got the .love data file from the [GitLab downloads](https://gitlab.com/ioribranford-games/ldjam42/pipelines/27923737/builds) and ran it with your own LOVE executable, this game also requires the game-music-emu library ("libgme0" package on Debian family). The AppImages are meant to avoid that extra installation step for the end user.
The music is premade.
New Linux builds with working music are up now.
Pros :
- Great animations, old-school pixelart and shooting feel
- Clever mechanic and take on the theme
- Controls work well, and there was no problem whatsoever with the ever senstive hitboxes
Cons :
- Tough as hell : maybe reset the wall position when the spider is beaten ?
- Your great pixel art would come out better without antialiasing
Overall, nice work !
- All-way shooting: 8-way with d-pad, 360-degree with analog
- Z key, A button, 1st button = fire without strafe
- X key, B button, 2nd button = fire with strafe
- Regain some space after finishing a wave
Download: https://gitlab.com/ioribranford-games/ldjam42/pipelines/28224650/builds