I think this game could be pretty fun! In its current state, however, it is too easy - I haven't played against humans, but against the AI, the strategy is basically to hold down one directional key and spam the spacebar, and I imagine a similar tactic will work in real multiplayer as well. I think to remedy this there should probably be some sort of limitation on ranged attacks, so they can be dodged more easily.

The only other problem I saw was a control issue that arises from the circular nature of the game - when the player is on the bottom of the world, sometimes I press the wrong key because I'm thinking of the spatial direction I want to move while the keys control the angular direction. I'm not sure if there's a good way to fix this, but it might be worth looking into.

Good thinking with the AI. Ranged attacks are a bit too strong. Their range is so high you can't really dodge them if someone spams it. Same goes for when you spam ranged attack though. Thanks.

@themonsterfromthedeep @mox Thanks for playing!

I agree that the weapon system does need some work, I was thinking of giving it an overhaul for the post jam version. Possibly adding weapon pickups, with different weapons having different ranges and abilities along with limited ammo, whilst also nerfing the basic weapon's range and rate of fire. Hopefully this should prevent spamming, whilst adding some more variety to the gameplay.

@themonsterfromthedeep Regarding controls, I agree it can get a bit confusing when you're on the bottom of the level. During the jam I tried an approach where the controls flipped based on position, but at the time it felt a bit clunky and I didn't have the time to make it work so I went with the current approach. However, now that I don't have to worry about time I'll look into this for the post jam version. Also just to note the AI is just a placeholder for Ludum Dare so that people can play solo, though I might try and refine it a bit for the post jam version and try and make it a bit more challenging.

Cool game, shame there isn't a single player or vs AI option since I cannot really play multiplayer by myself. I do like the design of the game world.

Darn double posting...

@gamepopper Thanks for playing! You can play vs AI by adding AI player bots during the player join screen. Though they are a bit basic.

A really fun and great looking game! I could only play with bots since i had no one else to play with, but it was still fun! Some platforms which you could jump onto would be nice, to be able to dodge the bullets from other players. There could also be some sort of way to tell which character is yours, perhaps an arrow above the character's head, as I lost track of my character once in a while. Still, a great game to play with friends! (or bots)

@generictoast Thanks for playing! I'm currently reworking the weapon system so hopefully dodging bullets will be a bit easier in the post jam version, though I might try adding some platforms as well. Regarding player identity, a small arrow above each player's character has actually already been implemented to the post jam version of the game :slight_smile:

The idea is very similar to the one of my team's game! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/highnoon-robots

Played it with two players on one keyboard - worked pretty well. Fun game, a little bit too chaotic in the long run for reasons already discussed above. :) I like the idea of the "control" game mode a lot.

Cool concept! I can see a great party game in it, it is really fun.

Love the art, the spinning sky is awesome. ~~The only problem with it is that you can't easily find your char after spawning.~~ Didn't notice you already fixed that.

Some gameplay ideas for your rework that i thought of:
* Energy meter, each bullet takes some energy
* Energy shield, blocks bullets, toggleable and also uses energy
* Spells: long range slow attack, invisibility, some form of dash to get out of bad situations, a wall that blocks projectiles

Cool graphics and game mechanics. Well done on making an AI in time!

The game concept is really cool. Especially with the sounds you get a really good feeling when playing. Although the AI is really dumb and should be harder. You can only spam spacebar, run around the globe and the have no chance. Havent tried with real enemies.

Overall a funny game!

One of the better uses of the theme that I've seen, but I think I'd like it better if the jump was a smooth ascent instead of snapping into the highest position. Well done all the same!

Pretty neat idea, I loved the rotating background night/day cycle. My only wish was that the jump wasn't instantaneous. Good job

Great music. Good art. I like the way the day and night cycles are turning in the background. Good stuff supporting 4-player. I love the retro vibe. Great interpretation of the theme!

Very cool game! I really think that with some balance here and there it would be a lot a of fun. Graphics are nice and the audio too. I think you could find a better way to implement the shooting, mostly from the design point of view because spamming the shooting button gives you too much advantage. It's a very cool idea anyway, hope you keep working on it.

Funny idea, good job

Cool game! I like the old school vibe and the simple gameplay.

Love the game, played it with my cousins for a little while. The game play and sound are great but the game could use some little 'juice' to it. Things like a muzzle flash when you shoot, an impact effect for the bullet or maybe puff particles when you jump. The things that makes a game 'feel' better.

This is a good video to help understand the basics of 'juice'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy0aCDmgnxg

Other than that, this is a great game, Congratulations!

Nice game, especially the graphics are really pleasant. Had to play it solo and playing it in 4 player mode with AI it was not really a challenge to win since spamming the weapon seemed like the way to go. Didn't event try to dodge anything as kill per death ratio was more than enough with this strategy. As others suggested, overhauling the shooting mechanics should be one of the priorities and then maybe add few platforms to add additional dimension to the game.

Keep up the good work! :thumbsup:

I quite like the idea. Its simple but efficient. Most of drawback was already listen, but I presume with more dev time it could be nice game

Too bad I could not test the game with friends, AI felt a very weak ! :smiley:

I like how the game felt, except for the jump that was soooo weird (Or was it a teleportation ?)

I really liked the tiny planet and the rotating background !

Really cool idea! The bullet has gravity was funny. I've only played with AI but i can hardly dodge a bullet. I think maybe you could add more skills to character like shield that could reflect bullet as such. And i can't really distinguish my bullet with other's. So maybe using different color?

很棒的点子！子弹会受重力影响很有趣。我只和Ai玩了一下，感觉很难躲子弹。似乎可以给人物跟多的能力？比如反弹子弹的护盾。而且现在子弹难以分辨敌我，感觉可以增加颜色的区分。

That's a funny game. Trying to control a small moving zone is a good idea. Controls are a little bit difficult to master if you play with a keyboard though.

Nice Game, but jumping is little weird. The soundtrack is really good and feeling while playing this game too.

Nice entry!

Some criticisms:
- the AI is a bit too easy; you can just spam the shoot button for a guaranteed win
- the gameplay is a bit too repetitive; having the control area change speed/direction might help add some variety
- pressing the back while on the menu (on a gamepad at least) causes it to quickly flicker between the two menu screens

Had some fun with my brother, adding more mechanics could be interesting good submission overall

nice idea! i like multiplayers game! Better if they are in person and not online... Was a little difficult to play 4 people on one keyboard but i understand that the game is planned for controllers! Nice entry! i really like it!

Thanks to everyone of playing and leaving some great feedback, you guys are awesome!

@chuck-zelvis Thanks :-D I like your ideas, I hope you don't mind if I try one or two of them in the post jam version :-)

@tat2tim @codechomper @sokette @hlavik Thanks :-) Yeah the jump is a bit sudden. It's a result of trying to make the characters feel weighty and responsive, rather than light and floaty. However, because of this even though it's supposed to have a smooth ascent, due to the amount of force applied when the character jumps it just ends up looking like they have warped there. I'm planing to look into this for the post jam version, and hopefully find a good middle ground between weight and smoothness.

@fiery-squirrel @cvetk0 Thanks! The shooting is currently being reworked for the post-jam version. Playing around with a couple different approaches, though I think I'll be having it so that the jam weapon becomes a basic/default weapon, with reduced range and a higher cooldown, this will hopefully reduce the spamming. I'm also trying to implement limited use weapon pickups which will add a little bit of variety.

@valiap Thanks! I'm hoping to add a couple of skills to the players along with pickups for the post jam version. So far the only implemented new skill is a punch mechanic, which will probably need some refining. I like the idea of a shield that reflects bullets, I hope you don't mind if I try this idea out :-)

@kroute Thanks! I agree that the controls could do with some polish, especially keyboard input.

@sean-s-leblanc Thanks for the feedback :-) Regarding control, I wanted to have it so that the control point would stop spinning every now and again so that there was a stationary point for players to fight over before it would begin spinning again. However, I just ran out of time during the jam, though this is something I'm hoping to implement in the post jam version.
Thanks for finding that menu glitch, are you using an Xbox360 controller? And which platform are you playing on? As I can't seem to replicate the glitch myself, though I will look into trying to fix it.

A fun take on the theme!

I played the game on a keyboard, against the AI.

I enjoyed being able to play two different modes, they felt sufficiently different to justify the extra dev-time. As has been pointed out earlier, spamming ranged attack is a dominant strategy - perhaps some sort of cool down could work, if you don't find the time to implement several different weapons post-LD.

Sometimes, a dead player will spawn right in front of an enemy while facing the wrong way, even in two-player-mode, resulting in an instant bonus-kill. Perhaps the spawning code could be tweaked to make this scenario less likely.

The art was both clear and nice looking, and the controls were efficient (except when being at the bottom of the world, so it feels like you are jumping in the wrong direction, as mentioned by others).

All in all, this was a fun game to play, even against the placeholder AI bots. I would definitely try out a post-LD version.

>Running round and round,
>in a deadly game of catch.
>Only one can win!

Good entry. I like the attention given to AI as well as local multiplayer. The graphics fit the game as well. As stated before, the game allows spamming to be effective, perhaps it would make a more interesting game if shooting had much more cooldown, and maybe if there was a melee attack? There's lots to improve with it, but overall there's still fun in it!

Very nice Idea! The fact that you can hammer a button makes the combat a little unfair. Maybe this could be solved with a cooldown after each bullet. Other than that, this could be an extremely fun party game ! Good job!

Clever use of the theme! Unfortunately I didn't have anyone to play it with, so I didn't get the full experience. I love that it had controller support, my only complaint would be that the controls felt a bit janky. Aside from that, very nice.

Arg! I wrote you a comment, and it doesn't seem to have gone through!

Anyway, it was something to the extent of the violent explosions into red mist were a big surprised based on the cutesy pixel graphics! I'm not sure if that's good or bad, buy it was certainly memorable!

commendations for going for vs! i wouldn't have the guts.

Except for the jump which feels a little strange, this is a fun game, too bad I didn't had people around to play with.

I like the concept and mechanics, especially the Control game mode. The jump is stiff, and it is hard to dodge shots. We ended up just mashing the shoot button for the most part.

The graphics, especially the earth, sun, and moon, and the rotating horizon are all very cool.

I love to see local multiplayer games in Ludum Dare -- we made one too (https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/apocalypse-world-cup) -- you should check it out!

Man, this was pretty fun. The jump is a little wonky, and it's hard to tell where you're going to respawn after dying, but it was pretty fun to play though!

Haha, this was super chaotic and fun.

Some suggestions for improvement:

- More differentiation between character images so it's easier to tell who you are at a glance. The blue P2 character was super easy to identify but it was very easy to mix up the rest.
- Jumping felt kind of awkward, especially since the camera view didn't always show you at the peak of your (teleport) jump.

Otherwise, generally just shooting a bunch of people and feeling cool when you pull off a dodge with a jump was great.

I think with a second player this obviously would have been fun. But alas I am alone ;)
It has a lot going for it and you appear to have put a lot of work into it. Not bad, just wish there would have been an AI opponent option.

Great game. Background a little causes dizziness. Good art and sound, multiplayer is very cool! Great job!

Really great battle game, with o good touch of multiplayer in it! I just tested alone myself, but it should even have more fun with more people playing together!
Keep it up with this entry, can be really if you can implement some more challenges and features in it, great job!

A bit boring too play alone. Simple mechanic, nice low resolution pixel art but a bit simple overall. Could use some more gameplay.

Keep it up!

RE: the menu glitch, I was playing on Windows with an Xbox controller, if that helps!