Deflext by Adam Gould

[raw]
made by Adam Gould for LD34 (COMPO)
You have a mystical sword, capable of absorbing magical energy and firing it back at those who would do you harm! Defend yourself against hordes of wizards, and prove that you are worthy of wielding such might!

Use the mouse to aim your weapon, hold right click to absorb power, and press left click to fire!


All models, textures, sprites, SFX, music, and code done solely by yours truly. I hope you enjoy playing Deflext, I had a blast making it!

Just watch out for that difficulty curve. It's a doozy! :)

If you're having trouble with depth perception, try focusing on the indicator trailing down from each projectile towards the floor. It might just help you!



Follow me on Twitter:
@Ad_Vurt

Ratings

Coolness 47% 1468
Overall 3.77 117
Audio 3.68 93
Fun 3.62 167
Graphics 3.19 432
Innovation 3.92 78
Theme 3.38 725

Feedback

NickMakesGames
14. Dec 2015 路 03:59 UTC
this is too cool. I absolutely love the idea behind this, and if I were any better at it, I'm sure it would be one of the most satisfying experiences in the jam. As it stands, though, the depth perception and precision required at the moment feels a little too demanding. A wider sword might really help ease the burden on new players.
AlmightyTuna
14. Dec 2015 路 23:47 UTC
Really nice idea, however, it is too vague where the projectile is going hit
HuvaaKoodia
15. Dec 2015 路 23:29 UTC
The game design is perfect.
The music is perfect.
The difficulty is nearly perfect...

Completing a level makes me feel like a master and the next level makes me feel like an apprentice again. That's how it should be.

Some of the fireballs are BS though.

I got to level eight and that white wizard on the left side sure loves to aim right next to the hilt. Deflexting a shot like that is a crap shoot. Is it going to land on the left side or the right side of the hilt? Who knows! The angle of the projectile is too steep to parse in the heat of the moment.

Another needlessly unfair shot is one targeting the very tip of the sword arc. It even seems that those shots don't hit the sword at all, but that could just be a sore loser talking.

I'd suggest you designate the area around the hilt and the area at the very end of the sword arc as a no target zone.

Those are some mean wizards, but even evil has its limits!

Still, loved it and I will keep trying to crack that black wizard a new one.
馃帳 Adam Gould
17. Dec 2015 路 00:37 UTC
@HuvaaKoodia: Thank you so much for your kind words! There is actually already a no-target-zone at the end of the sword... I didn't think to put one at the hilt end of it, in hindsight I probably should have done that.
Phil Strahl
17. Dec 2015 路 15:31 UTC
Very interesting concept, enjoyed it very much. This probably works better as an VR game because it was a matter of luck whether I blocked/absorbed projectiles or missed them. Also It wasn't quite clear what element mages are volatile to what powers. Also, how about having the colors of the elements be reflected in the HUD? So I would know I had 2 fire and one wind shot, for example.
pjimmy
17. Dec 2015 路 15:33 UTC
nice, it takes some time to get used to the angles, but it's very entertaining, well done
Jimbly
17. Dec 2015 路 15:33 UTC
Great concept! I had difficultly beating the tutorial though =).
rzuf
17. Dec 2015 路 15:48 UTC
Your game is super-awesome! It's very hard to deflect some of the projectiles - mainly the ones close to screen borders. I don't think that the sword's hit area should be wider, just maybe make the projectiles go not-so-close to the border. Or may be that it's just me sucking at your game. :)
Overall - awesome idea, graphics are cool, music fits the frantic gameplay and, man, I feel like a genuine jedi after playing this for a while. Please make more out of this. :3
anv
17. Dec 2015 路 23:53 UTC
Jedi simulator? Awesome! Gets a moment to used to, but the gameplay is really smooth. Great idea with adding additional elements, like different color projectiles working on different enemies, really forces you to think on your feet.
jigalx
18. Dec 2015 路 00:02 UTC
Great idea, great style, great gameplay, great music!

I wish it was easier to see where the balls were going. A shadow underneath the them would probably help a lot. Or something, I dunno.
astrophics
18. Dec 2015 路 00:05 UTC
Good game! Couldn't beat the first level though :(
馃帳 Adam Gould
18. Dec 2015 路 00:42 UTC
@jigalx: There is an indicator underneath them designed to help with that. I was running out of time and couldn't quite figure out how to do shadows right, so that's what I settled for.
TheMeorch
19. Dec 2015 路 04:22 UTC
This is really cool. The yellow line is an interesting way to help provide an understanding of the orbs' position in space -- it's still really difficult sometimes. I would recommending have a more forgiving/wider sword, at least at the start. I had a lot of fun playing this, nice work!
MemoryLeek
19. Dec 2015 路 22:07 UTC
Har to play with trackpad..
rkhadder
19. Dec 2015 路 22:31 UTC
Very well executed. The 4 elemental wizards was so frustrating but I couldn't stop playing. Kudos to a good submission
Jace239
19. Dec 2015 路 22:33 UTC
I love the concept and wish I could enjoy it more, as I'm a big fan of sword-wielding games like these. Unfortunately, as others have said, the poor depth-perception makes it difficult to effectively block the shots, even with the lines to help. What's worse though is when the balls shoot off-screen so you can't even see where they'll end up hitting your sword, you just have to guess. It's also a bit annoying that the wizards will barely give you any usable shots when they're alone (water mage shooting water, volatile, water, volatile, water, volatile, unblockable normal, etc.) I do hope you keep working on this, as I'd love to play a better version of this game. Good work, keep it up!
eric777
19. Dec 2015 路 22:40 UTC
Perfect game for the Star wars release. Took me a while to get used to 9and I had to give up on my trackpad to control - heh). For a while i was like a severely near-sighted Jedi, but i finally started doing ok.

Audio was top notch. Great concept and execution.
ElliotFiske
19. Dec 2015 路 23:20 UTC
Fun game! It gets pretty unreasonably hard after level 6 though, (the dark wizard SUCKS) but it's still a fun challenge.
ethankennerly
20. Dec 2015 路 17:48 UTC
In the tutorial, when I listened to the music and watched the wizard cast balls at me, I felt excited. When I missed about 20 in a row, I felt discouraged.