Dodge & Cover by Gaminghamster

[raw]
made by Gaminghamster for Ludum Dare 46 (COMPO)

A simple bullet-hell type game with a twist. You control two player objects, one that needs to avoid harm and one that runs straight into the enemy.

Update: Added html5-version. It seems to crash shortly after "game over" but it's playable =)

Created with: Unity, Blender, Audacity

Ratings

Overall 869th 3⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Fun 713th 3.06⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 724th 3.04⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Theme 769th 3.36⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1013th 2.3⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Audio 742th 2.479⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Given 29🗳️ 25🗨️

Feedback

Bearwey
20. Apr 2020 · 09:04 UTC
I had a bit of trouble with seeing depth in this game on where to place the spike to hit the cylinder before it hits the ground but other than that i had fun playing this entry!
syo
20. Apr 2020 · 09:18 UTC
I liked it - I played for a couple of minutes. There is not enough wound progress for the green conuse
🎤 Gaminghamster
20. Apr 2020 · 10:44 UTC
@bearwey Thank you for playing. I had not considered that making the player shaped like a spike would make anyone think you're supposed to impale the enemies, ah design is fascinating ^^

@syo Thank you! I know I should have given the player a bit of invincibility after being hit, but I got lazy towards the end '^^
ZabaMan
20. Apr 2020 · 11:49 UTC
Love the concept, although huddling into a corner with your protector shielding the spike allows you to "cheese" the game. Nonetheless having to focus on both offense and evasion is really fun!
Edwin
20. Apr 2020 · 17:16 UTC
I like the idea, it's a lot of fun to play!
There's not much to the graphics though. Adding a bit of visual interest goes a long way. It can also be very easy if you choose something "stylistic". Same with the audio. Without music, the noises get sort of annoying after a while. I also like the mix between offense and defense.

The score still increments after the game is over, which is a problem. Also you can move your mouse outside the bounds to teleport your cone, for an easy escape.
It's pretty good overall.
🎤 Gaminghamster
20. Apr 2020 · 22:33 UTC
@zabaman Thank you =)
You actually don't need to huddle in a corner to cheese that way but certain things were discovered a bit too late to fix '^^

@edwin Thank you for the feedback! I would have loved to do something more regarding sound and graphics but I'm not that fast when using Unity so certain things took way more time to do than they should have =)
Regarding the score it will increase 1 point for every bullet that was already present when the player died. I never managed to figure out how to fix this particular issue =(
mehrdadsh
21. Apr 2020 · 12:09 UTC
idea is good, played it for 5min
PoeticMonkey
21. Apr 2020 · 14:55 UTC
I unexpectedly reached zen... I'm not kidding. Thank you for the moment of mental peace. The bullets ended up all flying around like little red tad poles.
https://imgur.com/a/GgZjQkN
🎤 Gaminghamster
21. Apr 2020 · 15:09 UTC
@mehrdadsh That's longer than I expected. Thank you! ^^

@poeticmonkey You're very welcome, and thank you =D
The tadpole-bullets are my favourite thing with this. I might develop something else based on them <3
mAnimal
21. Apr 2020 · 18:29 UTC
Nice game, form me its pretty hard to watch two things at one time. The player could be invincible after hit for a second. How about to add some power ups for the dodger. :)
43sam
21. Apr 2020 · 19:12 UTC
Fun game! It's naturally hard to manage the two entities separately and pushing the towers off the edge was very satisfying. The graphics were nice and made it so everything was easily recognisable :)
🎤 Gaminghamster
21. Apr 2020 · 20:12 UTC
@manimal Thank you! This type of game should definitely use invincibility-frames but I'm gonna come clean and say that I didn't add them because I just wanted to be done by the end '^^

@43sam Thank you! I'm glad that you enjoyed it ^^
DMars
22. Apr 2020 · 13:46 UTC
Interesting idea, but I found pretty early on that you can just hide the cone in the corner behind the protector and increase your score indefinitely.
brokenVectors
22. Apr 2020 · 16:38 UTC
Would it be possible to release the game in HTML5? I think a lot of people(including me) don't really like downloading a load of games, since my C: drive is low on space.
Kent Reese
22. Apr 2020 · 23:59 UTC
It's a good idea for a game, but there's a few things I have issue with. It's hard to see depth, it's a bit difficult to control, and the game is super exploitable if you just set it up right. It's by no means a bad game, but there's some room for improvement.
🎤 Gaminghamster
23. Apr 2020 · 10:58 UTC
@brokenvectors I hear you and I agree, therefore I've updated my GameJolt-page with a web-version as well.

@kent-reese These are valid criticism. I personally don't believe that a bullet hell type of game should be done in 3D because of depth issues, but for this LD I wanted to do something in 3D so I focused on making a game rather than a well designed game. Though when you say it's difficult to control, could you be more specific?
brokenVectors
23. Apr 2020 · 12:10 UTC
I got an error on the web version: https://imgur.com/a/cEssfsh
🎤 Gaminghamster
23. Apr 2020 · 12:28 UTC
@brokenvectors Was that before or after "game over"?
If it's after that's a known bug that I suspect is tied to missing references once the player is destroyed.
fazz
23. Apr 2020 · 12:51 UTC
I love games where you have to control two characters at once - it's especially hard as both are trying to do something different, evade and grab. Great game idea!
🎤 Gaminghamster
23. Apr 2020 · 13:07 UTC
@dmars Thank you for playing ^^ Yeah it's currently really easy to cheese. You are actually able to stand inside the protector with the cone and nothing can touch you. If I had more time/energy there are a few level changes I would like to do in order to combat this, but that's a lesson for future me =)

@fazz Thank you for the kind words ^^
fazz
23. Apr 2020 · 13:14 UTC
Hi @gaminghamster - just thought I'd mention.. I notice you're not "liking" anyone's feedback, you're actually replying - which is great - much more useful. Unfortunately, this Ludum Dare they've changed the priority algorithm, now it prioritises comment "likes" over actual ratings given, so it's really handy if you do hit like on the feedback.

Wasn't much of an announcement - can't help but think this was a bad move.
https://twitter.com/mikekasprzak/status/1252974822537265152
brokenVectors
23. Apr 2020 · 15:32 UTC
It says "Thanks for Playing" then it crashes after a few seconds
brokenVectors
23. Apr 2020 · 15:39 UTC
Personally, I find the game to be pretty well scripted, however it's a bit too easy. All I have to do is place the Defender under the enemies and I'll get some points. The sounds are well made, the art is simple but good. It's not very fun, I got bored of it in about 3 minutes. I suggest you maybe increase the spawn rate of enemies.
Storyteller Games
24. Apr 2020 · 14:21 UTC
The game is fun and a bit challenging, the only flawed that I can point out was the fact that you can get to a corner and just wait there with the Protector, other than that the game is really neet
Derek Volker
24. Apr 2020 · 22:30 UTC
The idea is interesting, but i have little ability to control one player, two are almost impossible. It's a nice take on the theme however.

I think the graphics and audio could be a bit more polished, but the core mechanics that you propose are there and work nicely.

Good job!