Core Guard by TomatoLamp

[raw]
made by TomatoLamp for Ludum Dare 47 (JAM)

Destroy as many enemies as possible before the onslaught becomes overwhelming!

Untitled.png

Fire: Mouse 1 Crouch/Fast Fall: s Jump: Spacebar Change Orientation: q

Game by Seth Mussmann

Original Music by Taylor Cook


Thank you for playing!

Current High Score: 137 Enemies Destroyed

```

CHANGE LOG (10/05/20 5:50 PM)

-Fixed gamebreaking bug preventing continue on gameover screen -Fixed gamebreaking bug involving health bar getting...stuck in a loop :P ```

Ratings

Overall 683th 3.58⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Fun 547th 3.56⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 226th 3.88⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Theme 85th 4.3⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 510th 3.88⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 23🗳️ 28🗨️

Feedback

Bicheste
06. Oct 2020 · 03:43 UTC
It has a ton of potential, love the aesthetic you are going for, gameplay could be really fun. Good job!
Tomeyro
06. Oct 2020 · 03:55 UTC
The neon look is nice and I think we made the same game (2D vs 3D) and even the enemies are similar xD
Seth Tal
06. Oct 2020 · 05:28 UTC
Okay so visually I wasnt blown away, but after playing it for about 10minutes I gotta say, its really fun. I had to get used to the camera angle (both of them I guess), but after that I was having a blast. I think you did a great job balancing how much the player needs to pay attention to at any given moment. Really great job!
Siddharth
06. Oct 2020 · 05:38 UTC
Damn i Loved it
The character looks so cool. i think you can improve the aiming.. but overall this was super fun man..
Very retro style.. i love it
Tad
06. Oct 2020 · 05:40 UTC
Super-slick graphics! Great job for a game jam. Well done, team!
🎤 TomatoLamp
06. Oct 2020 · 14:24 UTC
Thank you so much for all of your feedback, everyone.

@seth-tal That's great to hear! It's certainly got a bit of a unique feel to it, so my main goal was just making it feel somewhat manageable at the various speeds. But, if you get the speed going all the way, it still gets a little bit nauseating!

**Current highest score (a friend of mine):**

![unknown.png](///raw/d7b/d2/z/390b3.png)
Trexxak
06. Oct 2020 · 14:38 UTC
I love the dual nature of the game, it really keeps you on your toes!
That being said, I feel a bit of eyestrain after playing it for a couple of minutes from always squinting to the right... :'D Great game, keep it up! :3
Loren Heubert-Aubry
06. Oct 2020 · 14:44 UTC
This game has an awesome aesthetic, and I love the core concept (no pun intended). I think that there were just a couple too many things the player has to juggle at once, between precise aiming at enemies, switching orientations, and dodging obstacles. Still, ton of potential!
Valentin Roche
06. Oct 2020 · 20:35 UTC
Liked the aesthetic and the concept but it lacked a bit of feedback for the player. It was an overall pleasing experience !
DubDavis
06. Oct 2020 · 20:38 UTC
This is really fun. I love that there is so much going on at all times. It is really overwhelming in a good way and it makes you want to become better.
fractalsunrise
07. Oct 2020 · 04:59 UTC
I really liked the epic character poses and the yellow trails; it was especially fun to duck under and jump over the red obstacles. I found the aiming and shooting to be a bit difficult and would have appreciated something to show if I was hitting the enemies or not. Also it would be nice if the core health was more at the top rather than taking up so much of the screen. But overall, it was really fun; great job!
666Savior
07. Oct 2020 · 05:16 UTC
Pretty fun once you get the hang of it. Aiming was the hardest part to get used to, was sometimes hard to tell if i was shooting at the right spot
🎤 TomatoLamp
07. Oct 2020 · 14:55 UTC
@valentin-roche @fractalsunrise @666savior

All valid points - I wish I had given myself enough time to work on the graphics and add particles/etc. I'll definitely update a postjam build with your feedback in mind!

Thanks a ton for playing - excited to check out your projects tonight!
Meatball
07. Oct 2020 · 21:01 UTC
Really, really nice graphics. Nicely done!
Artyom Volkov
08. Oct 2020 · 09:43 UTC
The idea of the game is nice, but there are some problems with implementation:

1. The absence of any shooting effects is bad, as I can't feel that is something is going on;
2. There is no visual feedback on getting damage, a small camera shake would make the game better;
3. There is no feedback on enemy spawn, it's really hard to see that enemy was spawned;
🎤 TomatoLamp
08. Oct 2020 · 13:10 UTC
@tricky-fat-cat

Absolutely agree, all things on my list that I just didn't get to.

Thanks a ton for playing!
eptwalabha
10. Oct 2020 · 11:24 UTC
Nice game. I really dig the aesthetic of your character especially the speed trail.
I have to agree with @tricky-fat-cat , you need more visual feedback if you want to improve your game. And I know, time is a big limiting factor in a jam.
Overall, this is a nice entry. Good job.
JUSTCAMH
10. Oct 2020 · 14:22 UTC
Heyo, I played your game on stream! Here's the vod if you wanna rewatch; https://www.twitch.tv/videos/765804766

Thanks for submitting your game!
🎤 TomatoLamp
10. Oct 2020 · 15:57 UTC
@justcamh Awesome! It was really neat watching you work through it and you brought my attention to a few other issues with the game loop. Mainly that the "messages" weren't incredibly coherent. The goal was to destroy as many enemies as possible but the entry description made it sound time-based (I've updated this).

Playing it the way you did felt a lot more slow and meandering because your goal (length of survival) wasn't accelerating the speed of the game. An easy fix for this would just be a timer that increases the difficulty even if you don't grab a healing item.

The only thing you didn't quite catch was that there *is* a button to flip directions and shoot outside of the ring, which you wished for a few times. Though it's easy to miss things like this when we're playing so many projects in such a short time!

Thanks a ton for playing - I've followed you on twitch and I'm excited to check out your games as well!
Olima
11. Oct 2020 · 20:28 UTC
Super love the art style and how the theme was used! Think it could use some more feedback when you take damage etc. but for a jam game super impressive!
galpashitaka12
12. Oct 2020 · 05:05 UTC
Graphically isn't the best game but it's fun as hell and I gotta give you all that haha it gets very addictive after you begin to understand the mechanics. Music was very good and the sounds too. As I said, visually is not super overwhelming but I guess at least some kind of shooting anymation could have been great.
🎤 TomatoLamp
12. Oct 2020 · 05:36 UTC
@olima @galpashitaka12 Thanks for taking the time to play and your feedback!

The music and some of the sounds were done by a friend for a different jam game that never saw the light of day - he'll be happy to hear that you liked them!
galpashitaka12
12. Oct 2020 · 13:46 UTC
@tomatolamp Nice!! I really dig it!
arc1llusion
13. Oct 2020 · 17:28 UTC
Cool game. I agree with others that said aiming is probably the hardest part to get used to but once you do it's a lot of fun. Good entry!
Snowdrama
14. Oct 2020 · 00:10 UTC
Really interesting idea, like a rail shooter, but on a loop. Would have been easier to aim if the reticle was easier to understand. I think a different aiming scheme could have made it easier to understand like an on screen reticle like you'd see in a light gun game. Not being able to just turn 360 and shoot in any direction was pretty annoying as well. I'd like to have had full rotation vs having to press a button to do a 180. Finally I'd add some kind of on screen indicator of the whats in front even if looking away. Maybe do some kind of picture in picture that always shows forward.