Lead Arrow by Pile of Leaves

[raw]
made by Pile of Leaves for LD 40 (JAM)

Based on the theme of "The more you have, the worse it is", this game is about triangles making each other explode.
Go figure.

Lead Arrow is a top-down arcade shooter about managing ammo supplies and movement speed while avoiding enemies.
The player has a number of arrows, which are fired at enemies to destroy them, and gain more arrows. Each arrow the player is holding decreases their speed, but running out of arrows or colliding with an enemy will cause you to explode.

Controls

  • WASD: Movement. More arrows, more slow. You can wrap around the edges of the screen by moving off them, but keep in mind that enemies can also do this.
  • LEFT MOUSE: Hold and release to fire a single arrow. Very short range.
  • RIGHT MOUSE: Hold and release fire all arrows. Range depends on how many arrows are fired, and will leave one left.

Screenshots

screenshot<em>1.png
screenshot</em>2.png
screenshot<em>3.png
screenshot</em>4.png
screenshot<em>5.png
screenshot</em>6.png

Technical Details

Lead Arrow was made in Game Maker Studio v1.4.1772.
When making this, I reused and improved some basic shape drawing and view scaling code from older projects.

Ratings

Overall 485th 3.526⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 522th 3.368⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 415th 3.342⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 547th 3.474⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 542th 3.553⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 594th 2.789⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1028th 2.472⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 25🗳️ 0🗨️

Feedback

bigmetre
04. Dec 2017 · 12:06 UTC
pretty fun. only criticism i have is during the first 20 seconds i didn't really know what was going on. if there were clearer instructions i think people would be able to play it better.
Noa Calice
04. Dec 2017 · 12:11 UTC
Cool geometrical art style ! It's also nice that you added resolution options :) ! Cheers !
Xynal
04. Dec 2017 · 12:21 UTC
i seem to not be able to shoot any arrows, no matter how long or which mouse button i press.
those little arrows in the screenshot behind the player are the arrows to shoot? i don't have or get any :(
oskarOlausson
05. Dec 2017 · 13:24 UTC
You should have let the player start with more than one arrow, maybe three?
That way the player can more easily figure out how to earn arrows. I had the same problem as Xynal did until I figured out that you have to hit the first arrow. After that hickup the game is fantastic! I love managing arrows vs speed. A cool thing would be if right button shoot all the arrows, sort of shotgun style, then it would be a cool dual mechanic thing where it is both:
a) A good way of getting rid of a low of arrows
b) A cool way of defeating a lot of enemies

Sort of a panic button.
Anyways, great job. Managed to live to about 2 minutes :D
oskarOlausson
05. Dec 2017 · 13:24 UTC
You should have let the player start with more than one arrow, maybe three?
That way the player can more easily figure out how to earn arrows. I had the same problem as Xynal did until I figured out that you have to hit the first arrow. After that hickup the game is fantastic! I love managing arrows vs speed. A cool thing would be if right button shoot all the arrows, sort of shotgun style, then it would be a cool dual mechanic thing where it is both:
a) A good way of getting rid of a low of arrows
b) A cool way of defeating a lot of enemies

Sort of a panic button.
Anyways, great job. Managed to live to about 2 minutes :D
Azathothep
05. Dec 2017 · 15:34 UTC
My favorite game of this jam so far !

I like these modern graphics and the way enemy triangles move making them hard to hit them with quick aim.

The idea of 2 différents attack which make earn and spend triangles is pretty cool , however it's not very intuitive for a beginner
Gris
05. Dec 2017 · 16:04 UTC
I like the minimal graphics. I was missing some background music after a while. It took me 3 tries to figure out the game but after that it kept me playing for a while. Congrats!
prxmer
09. Dec 2017 · 12:43 UTC
Intresting concept, very nice visuals and a compelling take on theme.
Nice 8 bit take on the audio aswell :D
Mathiouza
09. Dec 2017 · 12:56 UTC
53,40 ! Is that good ? x) I really like the game ! Even if it deserves a music ^^' The sounds are ok and the graphics works well with the concept. It would be appreciable if the game goes deeper in the theme, but it works well actually, so taht is ok to.

Overall cool game, keep coding !
vfabien21
09. Dec 2017 · 13:10 UTC
That's a nice and clever little game. The mecanism is simple but efficient. I also like very much how the sound is spacialized.
Stadoblech
09. Dec 2017 · 15:32 UTC
wow! Thats really cool! Although it took me a while before i found out what to do... but after that, it was a lot of fun. And i LOVE game sounds!!!! Its one of the best sounded game ive played!
LorenzoS
09. Dec 2017 · 15:39 UTC
Cool, I enjoyed it! Pro and cons IMHO:

`+` Nice minimal visuals, reminds of old vector graphics but with a more "modern" color palatte.
`+` Clear UI. It's easy to check the number of arrows left since the indicator cleverly follows the player. And shoot range indication is much appreciated :)
`+` Arcade sound effects and enemies buzzing (that became some sort of background music) adds to the "old arcade" experience.
`+` Correct interpretation of the theme.
`+` Enemies AI, their movement makes aiming enjoyable and not boring, and it requires good reaction times without being frustrating.

`-` You should start with 2 or 3 arrows instead of one. Why? Because at first you don't get what happens when you try to fire the first enemy only to explode yourself! XD
`-` Missing top score. I enjoyed the game and I played multiple matches, it'd be nice to know if I beat myself without having to remember how much I last previously.
`-` The right-mouse button attack is an interesting way to unload for who is good at aiming, but it'd be great if it had a different "attack effect" from the standard one. I 100% assumed it'll shoot remaining arrows in multiple direction, shotgun style like @oskarolausson said.
Joror
09. Dec 2017 · 15:40 UTC
Very nice 'sparring' game. The buzz of the incoming triangles is well chosen, like gnats.

Would have loved to have more than 1 life, now the margin for error is zero.
Also, is it correct that you can kill yourself? A bit strange.
Kaszkiet3
09. Dec 2017 · 21:42 UTC
Simple and great!
jandourek
11. Dec 2017 · 12:23 UTC
I liked the concept and game mechanics. This game is very well polished. It could use some music.