Macrowave by Prox276

[raw]
made by Prox276 for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

Macrowave is a challenging top down beat 'em up/shooter in which you have to fend off increasingly difficult waves of unique enemies and hazards, while protecting a living, dumb and fragile macaroni from any and all danger. This creature is extremely incompetent and will jump into danger for no reason. The only way you can control this behaviour is by picking it up to carry it around ,place it somewhere else or even throw it.

Unbenannt2.PNG

Since you only have one pair of hands, you can not effectively damage your foes while carrying the noodle, so you are forced to quickly switch between punching enemies, putting the noodle as far away from enemies as possible and even using weapons. You will encounter many aliens. Some will try to eat the macaroni, some will try to slice it in half, some will try to shoot missles from a far and some will even try to shoot it.

Taking damage in this game can't kill you, you will just be stunned for a certain time while having to watch these deadly red creatures inch closer to your beloved piece of pastry.

There are five waves in total. Though this is already challenging enough, theres also an endless mode for those looking for a bigger threat.

Unbenannt.PNG

Weapons like knifes and guns can give you a big advantage aswell, but since you can't look after mac, who is jumping all over the place, they are very risky to use aswell. You can throw knifes and guns, and while you're at it, throw them at enemies to kill them instantly!

Any and all feedback, criticism and encouragement would be greatly appreciated!

NOTE: I have never eaten mac and cheese and this wasn't a mac and cheese themed beat and up from the start

Ratings

Overall 810th 3.661⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Fun 329th 3.804⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1256th 3.268⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Theme 776th 3.857⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 990th 3.786⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Audio 483th 3.679⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Humor 945th 3.089⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1156th 3.429⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Given 28🗳️ 12🗨️

Feedback

Stefanie Leitch
20. Apr 2020 · 17:03 UTC
Very well done. The art direction for this game is on point. Everything goes so well together and it feels really nice to beat up the meatboys coming for your macaroni. Great work!
Maqo12
20. Apr 2020 · 17:04 UTC
The game is really good but the music is too loud I wanted to mute it
IzhVaryag
20. Apr 2020 · 17:05 UTC
Good game! I like it!
FatEagleGames
20. Apr 2020 · 17:06 UTC
The "macaroni mechanic" is pretty cool, never seen that before. The game looks great and sounds great. Punching up and down would be a nice addition. All in all, well done :)
Electric Blue
20. Apr 2020 · 17:06 UTC
Wow this game was amazing, super fun! The concept was easy to understand, and so was the controls. I loved the graphics and the audio, and destroying enemies was sweetly satisfying. I especially liked when projectiles were being fired at Mac, forcing me to move him. Well done, truly a gem of a game right here.
theArtifacts
20. Apr 2020 · 17:09 UTC
The art and audio were great!
I thought the idea behind it was pretty funny. I struggled with placing the theme though. Seemed like attaching a theme to a game idea more than creating a game based on the theme.

The Maccaroni's jumping around was hilarious.
I liked the punches, though I wish that they were in the direction based on WASD (or the arm followed the mouse in 360 degrees).

Overall, pretty good start to something! Keep it up!
Brice Mahier
20. Apr 2020 · 17:13 UTC
Stabbed and killed the macaroni by mistake, laughed really hard. 10/10, would play again!

Nice job!
🎤 Prox276
20. Apr 2020 · 17:18 UTC
@brice-mahier Thanks! You can't kill the macaroni. I thought about adding that feature but it turned out to be too annoying. There must've been something else that killed it. :)
doodlebrisk
20. Apr 2020 · 17:22 UTC
Only being able to punch horizontally made playing pretty hard. Apart from that, it was very fun.
NiKKrope
20. Apr 2020 · 17:39 UTC
My goodness , what a game!! This is honestly really cool and the graphics looks amazing. The sound and the music is spot on and basically I didn't find any problems with the game at all! At first it annoyed me, that I had to start again whenever I would die, but that's what kept me engaged and made me play the game even more! Great Job, fellow game developer, this is definitely gonna be in the top 10 games of this Jam!
🎤 Prox276
20. Apr 2020 · 17:45 UTC
@nikkrope Thank you so much! I would be greatly surprised if it'd be in the top 10 but I'ts nice to hear you had fun with it! Thanks! :)
bjornkri
20. Apr 2020 · 18:57 UTC
Threw the noodle at a baddie, lost instantly. Amazing, love it!
BinaryPrinciple
20. Apr 2020 · 20:05 UTC
Love the idea, what about unlocking players or new macs? as progression prizes.
🎤 Prox276
20. Apr 2020 · 20:17 UTC
@binaryprinciple Good idea! I plan on making a game with simular controls/gameplay (Except without mac) and randomly generated dungeons after the jam.
yetanother
21. Apr 2020 · 00:22 UTC
Very nicely done overall.
It can be hard to attack on top or bellow you.
was really fun
Takase
21. Apr 2020 · 10:13 UTC
Well done! I loved the game, it's very fun and beautiful.
Andrew-David
21. Apr 2020 · 15:57 UTC
Great Game, Would have been better if the punches were in all directions. :-)
Gal Afik
21. Apr 2020 · 17:26 UTC
This is great! I love the music and pixel art style. The game feels very responsive and smooth. Two suggestions: a restart button would be awesome, especially considering the difficulty, and I would add a sound effect to indicate that the player is within range of Mac.
mike09123
21. Apr 2020 · 17:32 UTC
Really fun, was only able to punch in one direction though.
Le Slo
21. Apr 2020 · 22:34 UTC
Very well done game, my only complain would be the use of the mouse buttons for attacking and grabbing, but not for the attack direction, having to place the player awkwardly to the sides of the enemies (although you did think of that spawning the enemies at the correct places and also with the size of the board), I think that an inconsistent input method, using space could have worked better. Apart from that, excellent polish to the sound and art departments, great job!
Motley
22. Apr 2020 · 00:03 UTC
Oh no, meatboys want to eat my friend Mac!

I like that you can't get killed, only stunned (and while you're stunned they kill Mac, so you die too :) ). Also, great use of screenshake and sfx
Armani03k
24. Apr 2020 · 22:59 UTC
really addicting game. only managed to beat level 3. The music is really catchy and the punch animation is really satisfying!