Bullet Blocker by Doenerti

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

My first ludum dare submission! Made everything with pure javascript. Hope you like the idea. Its a very minimalistic graphics game.

I did 10 playable levels of which ~6 are tutorial levels. Missing features i did not get in time: - bleeding VIP - more shapes

Ratings

Overall 1001th 2.789⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 786th 2.947⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 377th 3.474⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 235th 3.974⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1046th 1.684⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 841th 1.853⭐ 19🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1001th 1.889⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 16🗳️ 10🗨️

Feedback

Alex Chrome
20. Apr 2020 · 08:28 UTC
Great job here! Nice idea! With some graphics and visual effects I can see it as nice mobile timekiller. "Endless" level is not working for me tho, "bullets" just stopped spawning at some point.
dan-one23
20. Apr 2020 · 08:29 UTC
I liked the tutorial, although the endless mode was slow.
justalocalhero
20. Apr 2020 · 08:39 UTC
Using the same projectiles to heal and hurt you is a cool strategic element.

Could have been improved a lot by checking each input button and then calculating which direction to move so that some directions don't overwrite others.

The endless level takes quite some time to ramp up and it seems like most of the projectiles don't have a chance to hit the target. Maybe all or most could have been launched with a trajectory that is at or near the target? You were suggesting that sometimes you'll have to decide whether to block a bullet or not, but there isn't much of a sense of danger.

If there's no audio you should opt out of being judged in that category to save everyone some time.

Big congratulations on your first submission, hope you're back for more!
Piko Monde
20. Apr 2020 · 09:46 UTC
Really creative game mechanics, only 2 shapes: only circle and square, but can create the engaging game. It is a very potential game, need more level. Great game.. Nice! :smile:
zondarg
20. Apr 2020 · 14:18 UTC
Interesting mechanics, gets quite crowded later on the endless level. With some audio, polish and time this could become a nice casual game. Good first entry!
wizzardMaker
23. Apr 2020 · 08:32 UTC
Fun game!

The first few levels were a great tutorial showing and letting the player understand by himself how the game works. It's a great concept! The input felt a bit cumbersome with WASD, it feels like it wants to be played with a mouse instead xD

:star:
thedashdude
23. Apr 2020 · 19:16 UTC
I appreciate the tutorial, not everyone gets one in. I really like the idea of taking the hits to save the VIP, and the different shots doing different things.
As is, the endless level wasn't much fun. The bullets were too random, infrequent, and too many healed the VIP, so it didn't feel like you needed to do anything. All the gameplay elements are there to really improve it, though.
I think you need to have the bullets spawn just off screen, and angled at the VIP, or very close. Make it much more likely that they are circles that can damage the VIP.

Also, maybe add a third type of shape that also damages the VIP, so there is a little more switching shapes.

The ideas are solid, and most of the execution is pretty good. Keep it up.
VeniTheRich
25. Apr 2020 · 11:47 UTC
I like the concept of this game, that bullets can be both enemies and allies and you can shapeshift. However, controls feel a bit of, which is not what I expected from a game with simple art. Good job anyway! Keep up the good work!
bemmu
25. Apr 2020 · 11:49 UTC
I liked the idea of shapeshifting to match objects. For me the endless mode seemed to end after only three or so objects, after which no more came.
cheesepencil
06. May 2020 · 01:37 UTC
Some neat elements here. I could not get past the 8th stage, I died the first try, and when I hit spacebar to restart the level the bullets were already right next to VIP and killed him. Then I hit space again and he immediately died, then after that it got stuck on the level 8 title.

I was a terrible bodyguard lol but good job, compo is hard!
P1x3lc0w
06. May 2020 · 20:35 UTC
A good idea, but unfortunately not an enjoyable game yet. Obviously you could have added some audio or improved the graphics, but i won't focus on that since this is a jam. The tutorial levels did a great job introducing the mechanics, but the endless mode wasn't very challenging, the shapes spawn in random directions, making most spawns just go away from the center cube, and due to all the cubes, the center cube just constantly ends up getting healed. I'd have rather made it so that most shapes spawn with a movement towards the center, and maybe added more shapes to make the shape-shifting a little more important. Maybe even remove healing foe the center cube entirely, depending on how challenging you want to make the game.
xfinktion
07. May 2020 · 08:02 UTC
Some good potential here. Really liked the concept and the tutorial levels. Was expecting a more frantic final level.

Some suggestions:
1.) Maybe have the VIP change shape. As it stands, there's not much reason to shapeshift away from a circle and disregard squares that'll heal the VIP. It could having a more hectic final level (which would be more fun imo)
2.) In the endless level, some of the projectiles seem to spawn too close to the VIP. Pushing the spawns a bit further away from the VIP would be a welcome change

All in all, not bad! Congrats on your first compo! :)