LudumData

Loopertary by BinaryPrinciple

[raw]
made by BinaryPrinciple for Ludum Dare 47 (COMPO)

Gif Boss 1 Clip 1.gif

Your old Arcade is about to close down. You arrived to their sale hoping to find your favorite Arcade, after several hours you found it in a corner, it appears to be there for quite sometime, maybe you can get a good price. You talked with the Arcade owner and gave you a discount since the motherboard is stuck in a loop and keep playing the same level. Once home, you plug it and tested, you feel a strange vibration on your fingertips, you open your eyes and you don't know where you are, but it's not home. You hear the familiar sounds of Loopertary, look around and noticed that you are now inside it, at least you know your way out, btw, what was that about the motherboard? I don't recall.

GAMEPLAY

Neverending level, where you need to defeat all the foes in the level using the right elements, once you do that, you can face the boss, and then reset your game.

ENEMIES

Water Enemies (Blue): they will chase you throught the level leaving a wet trail behind them. If you step on it will slide you to a nearby tile. - Vulnerable to Air Bullets (Teal).

Fire Enemies (Orange): they jump to free tiles and set them on fire. You cannot step on burning tiles, although you will be able to move out of a burning tile if you were placed there by an enemy. - Vulnerable to Water Bullets (Blue).

Air Enemies (Teal/Gray): just like wind they are on the way, but you need to defeat them. - Vulnerable to Fire Bullets (Orange).

CONTROLS

This game supports gamepad. Tested it with XBOX and PS4 controllers. Might need to have them plug to the PC.

Move: WASD / Left Stick Rotation: Arrows / Right Stick Shoot: Spacebar / Right Trigger

Water Bullets: Keyboard Number 1 / West Button (Square, X Button) Fire Bullets: Keyboard Number 2 / North Button (Triangle, Y Button) Air Bullets: Keyboard Number 3 / East Button (Circle, B Button)

VERSIONS

Windows : Built with HRDP Unity Web5GL : Available Postprocessing Unity

BUG FIXES - 11/10: Aim Down: now you can aim down by with down arrow or right trigger.

Youtube https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ADQh8L_jMMnkZi524rECOmhuMcrze51P/view?usp=sharing
Youtube https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MdadeEE4ZNavfIQAR4oUXhOljmVe22Kv/view?usp=sharing
Youtube https://binaryprinciple.itch.io/loopertary
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/loopertary

Ratings

Overall 431th 3.194⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Fun 360th 3.153⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 233th 3.486⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Theme 521th 2.972⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 165th 3.764⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Audio 218th 3.319⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Humor 358th 2.303⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Mood 397th 2.971⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Given 39🗳️ 49🗨️

Feedback

Lestat
05. Oct 2020 · 00:29 UTC
Interesting, fun, and pretty. :p Good job!
tjm
05. Oct 2020 · 16:35 UTC
WebGL build unfortunately doesn't work for me; it just displays the Unity logo with an empty progress bar. Same results on Chrome and Firefox, running on Win10 64-bit. No obvious error messages in the console (except for a complaint that UnityCache can't open indexedDB, which doesn't seem like it should be fatal).
🎤 BinaryPrinciple
05. Oct 2020 · 17:18 UTC
@tjm Thanks for the heads up. I checked the itch.io link and I noticed that it takes a bit to load but then runs smoothly I wonder if there's any extra setting I need to modify in the page.
If you can, please check the .EXE that is linked as the WIN version. Appreciate your time and feedback.
Jag
06. Oct 2020 · 01:23 UTC
Interesting concept! I love the simplistic graphics. I was having an issue aiming down, like I can aim in every direction except down. Also sometimes my shots would whiff through enemies. Still great!
🎤 BinaryPrinciple
06. Oct 2020 · 02:06 UTC
@jag Thanks for the feedback! Glad you like it! I noticed today that I cannot aim down, maybe too late to fix it.
The bullets go through if they are not against the right element, thought about it but maybe it shows that they are "invulnerable to them". Stil, I agree that movement can be improved.
Jag
06. Oct 2020 · 02:12 UTC
Ah okay well either way it was fun!
MiniBetrayal
06. Oct 2020 · 04:35 UTC
The boss seemed to change its element between fire, water and... something? I got no basic air enemies and none of my bullets could touch the boss in that third state.
Otherwise, good fun!
igaryhe
06. Oct 2020 · 04:46 UTC
Interesting game. Love the graphics and sound effects. But keyboard aiming control is quite difficult. I think it may be better if we could use mouse to aim. The concept is good, yet there isn't any punishment or reward for doing anything. Maybe adding a health bar and collectable items could improve this part of the experience.
TheseusInABottle
06. Oct 2020 · 05:13 UTC
Pretty fun. Love this graphical style. At first the tutorial seemed a little daunting but it wasn't actually to hard to figure out.
freeworld
06. Oct 2020 · 09:26 UTC
Fun to play!
I wish it had some sense of progress such as more enemies or more health for the enemies for later loop iterations, but the gameplay is interesting and fun!
I like how you get used to switching weapon types, jumping around, the hex tile movement / shooting understanding, I felt like I learned it and got better over time!
I agree with the tutorial looking a little overwhelming at first, but I also got into it quickly.
The extra touch of adding a story is nice :)
Somogy
06. Oct 2020 · 14:23 UTC
Too beautiful look! I love puzzles, I liked it a lot
madbookstudios
06. Oct 2020 · 17:49 UTC
Cool stuff, very unique gameplay - I really liked the use of a hexagonal movement grid! The glowing art looked really nice and the backing track sounded brilliant.
🎤 BinaryPrinciple
07. Oct 2020 · 05:21 UTC
@minibetrayal thanks for the feedback!! Yes, it thought of setting the boss on a stage that allows you to move and prepare for a few seconds, also thought of making him vulnerable during that time but might make him easier to defeat.
🎤 BinaryPrinciple
07. Oct 2020 · 05:23 UTC
@igaryhe agree, I wanted to add mouse controls but time run out, even implement smoother rotation. Then I recall the topic of making it arcade like and leaving me room for heavier controls. I like the idea of collectible items, like power ups that would freeze time for a few seconds, or make eliminate certain enemies once.
Thanks for your feedback and time.
🎤 BinaryPrinciple
07. Oct 2020 · 05:24 UTC
@theseusinabottle Thank you!!! I need to work on my tutorial for the next ludum, or maybe a cleaner difficulty progression. Glad you like it and had fun.
🎤 BinaryPrinciple
07. Oct 2020 · 05:25 UTC
@freeworld Thanks very much for the kind words! Yeah a little bit of progression would be nice, I tried to increase the amounts of enemies, but it would over populate the tiles, maybe stronger enemies like you said with bigger health.
🎤 BinaryPrinciple
07. Oct 2020 · 05:26 UTC
@somogy thank you very much!!! I appreciate a lot your feedback!
🎤 BinaryPrinciple
07. Oct 2020 · 05:27 UTC
@madbookstudios Thanks you!! The hexagonal movement almost break me at 2 am on saturday, but manage to pull through, the AStar path implementation was... interesting. Glad you like it! Once I added sound the feel improved a lot, happy you noticed.
MrRedbeard
07. Oct 2020 · 06:28 UTC
The aiming in 45 degree angles makes this very hard (read: fun!)
Adil
07. Oct 2020 · 06:59 UTC
I had some troubles with understanding controls at first, but then it became easy, i just can’t understand how to go up and down, there are some troubles with shooting under different angles, but at all it’s very good project.
Super Hadoken
07. Oct 2020 · 11:52 UTC
Interesting concept and attractive art style. Controls were tricky on a keyboard, particularly with diagonals. I feel like this could've better with squares. Good job nonetheless.
🎤 BinaryPrinciple
07. Oct 2020 · 21:50 UTC
@mrredbeard glad you like it!!! agree sometimes hard is fun and limitations in controls might push for interesting gameplay. Thanks for your feedback!
blotosaur
09. Oct 2020 · 02:38 UTC
Really nice visuals and good sound effects. I found it to be really short. Or did I miss something? Great job!
arkinrev
10. Oct 2020 · 04:40 UTC
It took a little bit of getting used to, and the boss battle thing was a little bit unexpected. Shooting along the hex was rough sometimes and took some planning, which was good. Fun entry!
🎤 BinaryPrinciple
15. Oct 2020 · 13:04 UTC
@super-hadoken I agree that squares would have been smoother, I tried Hex since last LD I used squares and wanted to try something different. Code that movement was insane, but I agree is needs a bit of work.
🎤 BinaryPrinciple
15. Oct 2020 · 13:06 UTC
@blotosaur I would have setup up spawning better, or ore enemy types. My goal was to setup a strong core loop and lost a lot of time in a couple of things. Maybe I should expand this game.
🎤 BinaryPrinciple
15. Oct 2020 · 13:07 UTC
@arkinrev Thanks for the feedback! Maybe a message like: boss incoming would have been a nice add-on prior the boss battle.
LelulaGames
17. Oct 2020 · 01:15 UTC
I did manage to defeat the first level, but the second level queued up and it was a huge change over the first lvl. If I had any suggestions on making it better I would say increase difficulty a little slower.
🎤 BinaryPrinciple
17. Oct 2020 · 03:12 UTC
@lelulagames thanks for the feedback. Agree, level increase is tricky, I have a couple of ideas to make it more progressive.
saurterrs
17. Oct 2020 · 03:54 UTC
Need time to learn controls, but when you learn it - yhe game become total fun. Good work :)
🎤 BinaryPrinciple
18. Oct 2020 · 04:17 UTC
@saurterrs thanks for your feedback! I liked your game a lot too. And yeah, controls are tricky glad it turned around.
DrJexter
18. Oct 2020 · 22:02 UTC
I suppose I should have run through the tutorial but controls should have been intuitive enough not to need to. The graphics, audio, and gameplay were fun minus the non-intuitive controls.
🎤 BinaryPrinciple
20. Oct 2020 · 03:00 UTC
@drjexter I setup the controllers like if you had two joysticks, still thought of setting up mouse aiming but it would have go against the arcade feeling. Thanks for the feedback.
Ale
26. Oct 2020 · 14:22 UTC
That was a really unique game idea, and the movements of the AI really made them feel alive. The way the boss enemy moved around made it feel like he was taunting me lol. It was hard, but fun once you figure it out. Although, it did get boring quickly after a few restarts. I think there's a lot of stuff you could continue to add to this by experimenting with the elemental mechanics.

The only part I didn't like was the keyboard controls. I get what you were going for, but it just felt awkward when playing on a keyboard. It might be better if the player automatically aimed in the direction they move, and holding shift (or some other key) will let them aim without moving. That way, the player doesn't have to use two hands to play.
🎤 BinaryPrinciple
26. Oct 2020 · 21:31 UTC
@ale thanks for the feedback!! Glad you like the enemies movement, I appreciate what you said about the boss!
I agree that moving feels a bit clunky, and a stronger RNG would reduce the repetition. What you said about using a different aiming method, got an idea, maybe the player can change states itself and push towards the enemy, getting a pushback of 1 or 2 positions. A bit more dynamic and might force you to think when are you going to land.
rhoff95
26. Oct 2020 · 22:47 UTC
Cool game! visuals are nice, but found it unintuitive to have a hex grid of movement, but shooting along the cardinal directions and moving with only 4 inputs. Also found the mix of real time and pseudo-turn based/on a timer enemy movement a strange combination. Would also like to see more visual feedback for shooting, the bullets were so small I could barely see them.
🎤 BinaryPrinciple
27. Oct 2020 · 00:51 UTC
@rhoff95 thanks for your feedback and time! Hex movement is quite tricky to implement, somehow is not has smooth as one would expect. Still it can be improved.
The bullets were quite a challenge, and I think I could have use more suspension of disbelief on how the bullets work and visualize.
I focus on having a define core loop, but it can use at least a week to smooth out the movement and rebalance the enemies.