Play the game at: https://valkling.itch.io/squirrel-puncher-4000

Story:

"The year is 40XX and Cyborg squirrels have taken over the world. Now one stereotypical badass 80’s video game guy will defeat them the only way he knows how… with punches! Filled with unbeatable spirit, their advanced squirrel tech can't stop him, only slow him down. He is determined to punch as many squirrels as he can before he is overwhelmed by pure squirrel might, with their nasty, big, pointy, teeth!"

Instructions:

Run through waves of squirrels and take down as many as you can. As time goes on, the alarm number goes up, the game gets faster and harder. Getting hit and defeating squirrels will also make the alarm rise. When it reaches a certain number(either 1000, 2000, or 4000 by run selection), the game will end and you can see your score. One run should most likely last from 5-15 minutes, depending largely on run selection and ability.

Controls:

-Click on the screen to punch that location. Use arrow keys(or WASD) to move around.

-Rapidly punch blue spots when they appear to do damage to the squirrel.

-When yellow bullets appear, punch them to block them or you will get hit by them.

-Use arrow keys(or WASD) to move around. Use this to avoid the directions that flash red or get hit. (staying in the center and not moving will also result in being hit)

Tips:

-You can punch/click the yellow bullets away at any point after they are shot, even when they are really small.

-The red attack pulses exactly 5 times before inflicting a hit. Move to the non-blinking side by then.

-When moving, HOLD the directional button to remain at that side. Red attacks are NOT dodged by just tapping the button. Tapping a directional button does nothing, you will simply remain at the center.

-If the click location is off, try scrolling to the top of the page or enabling full screen mode.

-The difficult curb on all runs is the same, the game just ends at earlier. Runs with higher numbers take longer and are more difficult by the end. Nearing 4000, the game becomes very difficult to borderline impossible.

Background:

Another Compo down. I must say, I did not care for the theme this Dare. "The more you have, the worse it is" kind of describes most games when you think about it (while you gain levels and such, the game becomes more difficult overall). I was just going to nix the theme this time around but I ended up incorporating some into this game anyways.To stray away from my tenancy of making slow-paced games, I decided to make a boxing style game. I wanted to make one similar to punch out but I changed that idea for the sake of time. This game has all the core mechanics but no time to make custom boss fights or anything. It sort of plays like a mix between a boxing game and a bullet hell, using the mouse to deflect bullets while dodging around with keys. There are three different types of squirrels, though they all use variations of the same core attack pattern. I'd like build on these mechanics and make custom bosses, like in punch-out, whether or not I keep the squirrel theme. I think there is potential in it.

How I made this game:

I made this game using just HTML and Javascript in Atom, no game-making software just many lines of code. The graphics were done in Photoshop, SFX in sfxr, and the music was assembled using sample loops in FL Studios.

Known issues:

-There might be a problem when the screen is scrolled that upsets the offset, causing the click location to be off. (This could not be resolved by standard means by the deadline) This does not seem to affect embedded or full screen modes though. (I'm not sure if this counts as a "game breaking glitch" that I am allowed to work on at this point in the compo)

-While paused, the action stops, but the alarm number and time will still go up. This is not actually a "glitch" but intended as a feature when I was planing on adding upgrades and such. Just to deter people from pausing too long on a run or by using the pause to plan their actions.