PolyFury by Dom Harris

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

Take your anger out on this stupid hexagon. Who needs that many edges, anyway?

Edit: There's a postmortem for you to read!

Audio by the excellent Deagle

ezgif.com-optimize (40).gif

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkKFZKsV8_c

Made in roughly 15-20 hours, I didn't have a huge amount of time this year, which is why I didn't enter the compo. Enjoy!

The font is: Josefin Sans

I used Freya Holmer's Shapes, which I guess technically is a graphics library - but all of the graphics still needed configuring, so I'm not opting out of that category. The look and feel is all me, baby!

I also used DOTween because who starts a Unity project without a tweening library :joy:

Ratings

Overall 350th 3.843⭐ 53🧑‍⚖️
Fun 217th 3.892⭐ 53🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 843th 3.298⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Theme 643th 3.769⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 484th 3.906⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Audio 328th 3.745⭐ 53🧑‍⚖️
Given 15🗳️ 24🗨️

Feedback

BobParis75
05. Oct 2020 · 17:41 UTC
the game is really beautiful and the gameplay is very fun
Aimainiac
05. Oct 2020 · 17:48 UTC
Cool concept and nice game overall! My one gripe about this game is the player control; the high acceleration speed feels unnecessary. Besides that, this is solid!
Krapht
05. Oct 2020 · 19:04 UTC
A little hard to avoid the big 360 degree attack with how fast the player character moves. Though balance wise it looks like you can eat every one of them and still win.
droei
05. Oct 2020 · 20:06 UTC
I love the game! I find it of really high quality and the gameplay is great!
But for feedback I also do feel that movement could use some more tweaking as it felt to me as if it was to fast.
Fryer
05. Oct 2020 · 21:11 UTC
The graphics are very clean. Sure it's simple shapes, but they're nicely colored and blended. The sound effects and music fit nicely with the gameplay too.

I was a bit confused the first time I played about if there was a health indicator, and it was hard noticing it because the game just kept throwing stuff at me and it was very subtle. I didn't see the controls anywhere either, so I hope it was just A, D, Space, and I didn't miss anything.

The movement deceleration felt a bit too slow, which made it hard to precisely control when the tight bullet pattern appeared. Being inverted at the top threw me off a bit, so I mostly stayed at the bottom of the loop. It'd be interesting if there were bullet patterns or anything else that forced you to go around the entire loop.

I went into the settings and saw music and effects volume controls, but there was no music or sound there to test different settings.
AdroitConceptions
05. Oct 2020 · 21:14 UTC
- gameplay was good over all, good feedback, juice etc.
- good basic framework for a game
- down sides
- Menus have no hover/selected effect
- audio sliders don't 'beep' to let you know what the new setting is for volume level
- the movement was a bit sensitive, was really hard to get the exact position I wanted to be in
MrRedbeard
06. Oct 2020 · 07:50 UTC
Graphics and sounds are great. Also I loved the pace of the game. I found it hard/impossible to avoid the explosion to all directions and I think that's great because it forces you to keep looking out for the upgrades.

The only thing I think could be clearer is the upgrades and what they do (so the player can choose wether to pick it up).
BenSlaney
06. Oct 2020 · 08:06 UTC
Really enjoyed the visuals and audio! Simple controls but that works perfectly, honestly just wanted another level or two. May have been nice to see what your current health is but apart from that great work!
digitaldude555
06. Oct 2020 · 08:16 UTC
Love the UI, really nicely integrated with the game, the sound is also fantastic. Gameplay is okay my problem is it seems impossible to dodge the bullets maybe if the ship was controlled with mouse. Theme take is very literal. Overall its good considering you only had a single day.
Frederik Boye
06. Oct 2020 · 09:34 UTC
I suck at bullet hell games. But that aside, this is a great take, and the shield mechanic on the boss is interesting even though it might be simple. Overall, great work and a lot of potential for expanding and refining the project moving forward.
JRevel
06. Oct 2020 · 09:50 UTC
Great polish, you managed to make a very good looking game with very simple assets ! The gameplay is good, but the character is a bit too fast, it's very hard to dodge projectiles
Samshine
06. Oct 2020 · 09:53 UTC
A very nice usage of different shapes to make the game look nice. Also the shaking and the tilting of the things when you move feels great! Fits the theme in a clever way.
Kazatan
06. Oct 2020 · 10:18 UTC
Nice game. Definitely one of the best bullet hell games i've played so far in this jam, and I think most of that comes down to finesse and polish!

The menus are a bit bland but most games on here don't even have menus so i'll definitely mark you up rather than down for giving us the option to change volume!

I didn't find if there was a quit button from within the game other than Alt+F4? :grimacing:

The movement seemed quite fast at first but I managed to win on my second play and it was a close win - so i'd say the difficulty was almost perfect for me. The camera and other little effects (tilting etc) probably made it feel even more exciting and were clever additions :thumbsup:

Music and sound effects were very apt - they worked well!

Congrats on making this in such a short amount of time too! Not even using the full compo time :grin: :clap:
namnam
06. Oct 2020 · 10:38 UTC
That some nervous game ! Maybe a little bit to nervous to me, i still managed to beat it but i didn't feel in control, but still it was fun to play. The game is very good looking, maybe with better feedback it would be easier to read and funier to play :)
davision
06. Oct 2020 · 11:04 UTC
Nice simplistic game! It feels really polished, there is only one thing that I found a bit annoying, the camera tilt seems to make ir harder to control right.
GameDevMatt
06. Oct 2020 · 12:13 UTC
Absolutely brilliant! Flawless execution, a really tight game with great sound, clean art, and some very nice polished effects giving it that extra juice. Really liked how the Hex's shields were also used for its attacks, and the whole UI being diegetic to contribute to the techy/polygonal look, while still clearly conveying information was an excellent touch. Be really proud of this one, it's a standout game for sure!!
Danae
06. Oct 2020 · 12:19 UTC
The visuals and adaptive audio are so nice and clean! Loved to play this!
towergame
06. Oct 2020 · 16:53 UTC
Really love the gameplay, the controls are a bit slippery, but it's a great, challenging experience. I also love the added strategy layer of taking out the "shield" hexagons first to make the attacks easier to defend against.
sockpuppetcow
06. Oct 2020 · 16:57 UTC
This was a load of fun! Something about the description just has me inexplicably angry at this hexagon and it's so satisfying to chip away at. Really cool take on the theme, orbiting the enemy and going ham on it. The graphics are really clean, great color schemes and everything. Also the music is such a bop. One minor thing is that the movement speed was pretty high imo, but once I got used to it it was alright.
Jegus9
06. Oct 2020 · 16:57 UTC
so, i have good and not so good things to say about this. i'll go with the good ones first.

first of all, the audio is pretty clean and i like the choice of colors and the presentation in general. the game poses some challenge, which is always fun. also, some bullet patterns are fancy and well thought, which takes some work, not going to lie.

but some things made the experience itself a little bit awkward. first, the circle-wise movement, combined with the screen shake that always happens whenever you move. and the movement is way too fast sometimes, which makes it hard to micro dodge. a suggestion to improve this: implementing a "focus on shift", like some bullet hell games normally do, so you can move slower while holding shift.

the 3d perspective makes it hard to "read" the bullets in advance when the player is not close to the camera.

overall i get why some people could potentially like this, but the mechanics felt way too awkward for me. i rated giving it the benefit of the doubt and admitting that it's maybe just me in particular who didn't have such a good experience, and recognizing the game for what you guys have done right.
Salier
06. Oct 2020 · 17:03 UTC
Beautiful game, loved how the boss has multiple health-bar and the 360° aspect of the game. Balance might have to be tweaked and it was a bit confusing on which power-up did what. Only inconvenient part is having to close the game to go into the option (didn't find a control to access it outside of the main menu), particulary since the music launched after you left the main menu.
Virtual Turtle Studio
07. Oct 2020 · 08:53 UTC
Cool little game! It's pretty and look and sounds great too. However, I do have some feedback: I thought the camera would rotate with me when I spun around the circle, but I was a little confused when it was a static camera, especially because the perspective is slanted (instead of top-down, which would make more sense for this current approach). I also found that the player movement was so fast that I couldn't precisely dodge enemy bullets, and it felt a little 'out of control'. Other than those few things, I really liked the idea of having multiple 'shields' / seperate enemies, which you can systematically kill, instead of one big boss. Maybe some more phases or waves, building up in difficulty, could be a cool addition! Good job on this entry!
Saering
07. Oct 2020 · 09:05 UTC
I feel like this game has a great concept but the execution left me a bit uncomprehending. I'm not sure the camera motion and perspective suit this kind of gameplay very well, it's hard to be precise and this is pretty frustrating in a bullet hell game. And to be fair, at the end I was just firing the boss and not really trying to avoid the bullets (which would normally be the point), and I still won.

Still, I like how the game is straight forward and how I immediatly got into it, I believe that with a bit more polish and some cool visual effects, you can get a very nice prototype ! You should keep on working on it at least a bit :)
Hadi Danial
07. Oct 2020 · 11:35 UTC
Really fun game! Feels well executed and the bullet patterns are fun, if a bit hard to dodge as the others said. Music is great, and the UI for the health/menus etc feels polished
BeaverGames
07. Oct 2020 · 15:34 UTC
Woah, you made TWO good games? nice :)
aviv871
07. Oct 2020 · 15:44 UTC
Really fun game!
Player control is abit off.
Overall simple and fun, good luck!
Klaus Peter
07. Oct 2020 · 16:05 UTC
Luv the graphics!
Sam Minh
07. Oct 2020 · 18:34 UTC
A solid little game for the genre. The art was on point, it is simple yet crisp. It was slightly difficult to react on the bullets, it may be just because I need to get used to the patterns.
Gurpegui
08. Oct 2020 · 16:03 UTC
Cool game! Someone can easily spend some really long time playing it!
Euix
08. Oct 2020 · 16:13 UTC
The sound effects were a little weak for me, the controls were too fast/coarse, and I was finding myself wanting to see a score or a timer or something for measuring progress. Otherwise it's a solid concept and I appreciated the telegraphing from the center shapes. Simple and enjoyable aesthetic.
Euix
08. Oct 2020 · 16:14 UTC
The sound effects were a little weak for me, the controls were too fast/coarse, and I was finding myself wanting to see a score or a timer or something for measuring progress. Otherwise it's a solid concept and I appreciated the telegraphing from the center shapes. Simple and enjoyable aesthetic.
HGgamer
08. Oct 2020 · 16:31 UTC
You made pretty good work on the Music and The Graphics side, they both matched very well.
Controls were to much brutal ( something with player speed or i don't know ) so it was difficult to play.
Some explanations about was is the health bar, controls, would be appreciated.
But overwall it was great ( just fix the controls and perfect for me )
Hexa3
08. Oct 2020 · 17:05 UTC
Really cool looking game!
Skeffles
08. Oct 2020 · 18:27 UTC
This is a fun arcade game although I was quite tricky to avoid bullets.
gamepopper
08. Oct 2020 · 19:45 UTC
Really liked the look of this one, what with the 2D low-angle presentation that gives it a unique 2.5D look. Sadly it was a too easy and short for my liking, would have been nice if there were more bosses to combat. Also found the analog sticks worked but not the buttons, which is strange.
Artyom Volkov
09. Oct 2020 · 07:44 UTC
Neat bullet hell shooter with minimalistic art and pretty fun gameplay. However, it wasn't obvious there is player HP. Also, feedback on getting damage is a little bit weak. Speaking about movement, in my opinion, it's quite too fast.
jd557
10. Oct 2020 · 11:34 UTC
Wow, what a solid game. Shame that it's so short, I really wanted to play a bit longer.

I think you should add some instructions to the game page though. I love the minimalist UI, but it's really weird to find out what the health bars are.
Savvy Community
10. Oct 2020 · 13:10 UTC
Hey there :D

Thanks for linking us your game! Overall, I had a fun time playing it, I really liked the minimalist visual choices as well as the simple concept. There are just 2 things that I kind of struggled with: as said by other players, the controls were a bit "sharp" and abrupt, sometimes it was tricky to avoid the shots. The other thing is about UI, I was having a hard time searching for a feedback about my health and avoiding the shots 😆 . Overall, there are just a few things to adjust to make it even more enjoyable. Really good entry! Congrats

Cheers 💜
Duke
10. Oct 2020 · 13:28 UTC
Really cool actually. I'm a sucker for some good bullet hell shoot 'em ups. The soundtrack was a good choice and audio was a bit muffled but still worked for me. The art was also rather "basic" but was caught by the coherent art direction and nice color schemes.
The game play loop itself worked as well for me. The power ups were a nice addition to spice things up and the enemy even has different attack patterns to look out for. The game is rather short, I would've loved to see additional bosses with more variations :) But of course in a jam context, stuff has to be dropped at some point.

My only issue were with the controls. I don't know if it was just for me, but i run a 144hz setup and the controls were SUPER sensitive. Way too sensitive for a bullet hell style game. Making small adjustments to my position were impossible that way. That thing flew through the loop in a split second after touching the inputs.

Other than that, a very solid entry. Good job!
Fatal-Exit
11. Oct 2020 · 17:06 UTC
Awesome fun little game! Loved the use of shapes. Controls were a little twitchy, and I think the game could have been a little juicier in regards to sound FX. But overall it was loads of fun!
Inferture
13. Oct 2020 · 11:32 UTC
It was a lot of fun
Maybe the life circle should start depleting in front of the camera instead of on the other side, at my first run I did not understand where I was supposed to see my hp.

Other than that, I liked the geometric aesthetic and it was tense and fast paced, well done !
nsadie
13. Oct 2020 · 12:39 UTC
A solid and polished entry!

I liked the simple shapes, they are easy to read! Freya's library is the best!
Trexxak
20. Oct 2020 · 00:01 UTC
Sslick and fun and polished and quick... and short?

Yeah, a bit unfortunate that their's only that one level, but at least that one level was of top quality! Thanks!
BadPiggy
21. Oct 2020 · 15:56 UTC
So simple yet so fun. Really polished and had some really nice bullet patterns as well. A major complaint was that the game was over too quickly XD. I honestly want more of this.
Still, there are a few things I want to say about it.

The bullet patterns were really good and had a great amount of diversity to them. I also liked how you had to systematically remove armor from the boss. Gave it a little depth as well.
However, due to the perspective it kind of made it a little hard to judge whether I would get hit by certain bullets or not. This problem was present mostly if I was at the furthest from the camera.

A little more visual feedback for when you get hit or when you're regaining health from the green powerup would go a long way as well.

The representation of the healthbars were really cool. I loved their visual design. In fact if you continue with this game, keep the visual design as simple as this and maybe change up the pallete here and there. I loved it and would like to see more.

Really fun entry man. Thanks for telling me about it :)