KAIROS, Battle for Seconds by Paul Giovannini

[raw]
made by Paul Giovannini for Ludum Dare 51 (JAM)

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https://youtu.be/jTaIs5SwB1U

KAIROS is a top down action shooter.

You'll have to chose some buff and debuff, and use them when you have the opportunity !

You are trying to end the tyranny of chronogical time by confronting Chronos.

With the precious help of 10 divinities: the Seconds, you will face Chronos' army.

PLAY THE GAME DIRECTLY HERE:

https://blukulele.itch.io/kairos-battle-for-seconds

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CONTROLS:

WASD / ZQSD / arrows: MOVE

left click : SHOOT / SELECT

right click : DASH

P / Esc. : PAUSE GAME

TEAM

Music / Sounds / Game Design: _@cyrolis_

2D Art / UI: _@julialalart_

3D Art / Technical art: _@bastinus-rex_

Programming / Game Design: _@paul-giovannini_

RESOURCES

VFX in game are used or modified from Epic Toon FX : https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/vfx/particles/epic-toon-fx-57772

Ratings

Overall 12th 4.395⭐ 59🧑‍⚖️
Fun 17th 4.316⭐ 59🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 22th 4.272⭐ 59🧑‍⚖️
Theme 6th 4.596⭐ 59🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 86th 4.412⭐ 59🧑‍⚖️
Audio 20th 4.411⭐ 58🧑‍⚖️
Mood 22th 4.439⭐ 59🧑‍⚖️
Given 56🗳️ 75🗨️

Feedback

kesha
03. Oct 2022 · 22:26 UTC
3 fps on 1050Ti :(
🎤 Paul Giovannini
03. Oct 2022 · 22:34 UTC
Hi @kesha!
What version did you try?
Windows or WebGL ?
kesha
03. Oct 2022 · 22:37 UTC
WebGL
🎤 Paul Giovannini
03. Oct 2022 · 22:40 UTC
Ok thanks, could you tell me on which browser you tried our game ?
I recommand you try the Windows version which should be more stable
Gus the Shark
03. Oct 2022 · 23:09 UTC
Holy cow you people went above and beyond on this one. Feels like something that I should be paying to play :sweat_smile: Props.
BlackCat508
03. Oct 2022 · 23:10 UTC
really good game! I loved the idea of having downsides for not picking something, the 3d curser felt a little strange though, and I don't know if it was just on my end but I could see my normal mouse curser as well
Shane acton
03. Oct 2022 · 23:18 UTC
Fantastic! The bittersweetness of picking a deity and getting a buff and a nerf. Very pretty graphics
kesha
03. Oct 2022 · 23:23 UTC
I tried to play in Chrome on Windows, although I noticed it's the same with other games. For some reason I have hardware acceleration off in settings. :grimacing:

really nice game, 5 stars :smile:
julialalart
03. Oct 2022 · 23:25 UTC
@gus-the-shark Thank you!! We really gave it are all, it was such a fun game jam!
julialalart
03. Oct 2022 · 23:28 UTC
@blackcat508 Thank you for your feedback! Yes the 3D curser was an experiment haha and yes it is normal to see your mouse cursor as well, we wanted to make a custom cursor but lacked time sadly ^^'
Fedir
03. Oct 2022 · 23:29 UTC
OMG, its great, really, great theme, great idea, great story, if you wanna publish it game in other, i can make translation to ukrainian for free) Mail me if interested
julialalart
03. Oct 2022 · 23:33 UTC
@shane-acton You're fantastic ;) Thank you very much! I'm glad you liked the art :smile:
julialalart
03. Oct 2022 · 23:38 UTC
@fedir Thank you very much! We're glad you like it! Thank you for the offer as well, we did not think about translation yet, but we'll see ^^
Fedir
04. Oct 2022 · 00:33 UTC
@julialalart hope at least this game will be on steam or google play, because its really good :)
Vhalenn
04. Oct 2022 · 08:16 UTC
The game is so cool !!! Illustrations of gods are amazing ! Super impressive for a game jam !
julialalart
04. Oct 2022 · 08:23 UTC
@vhalenn Thank you! I'm really glad that you liked the gods' designs, I had fun making them! :smiley:
Black Potion
04. Oct 2022 · 09:47 UTC
I loved everything. Graphism and animation are good, the principle of getting deity remind me of hades of course :) Good job ;)
julialalart
04. Oct 2022 · 09:51 UTC
@black-potion Thank you!! We're glad you loved it all :D
SnappyPath
04. Oct 2022 · 10:05 UTC
Incredible art, well done! Concept is interesting too.
Overall everything looks well polished
julialalart
04. Oct 2022 · 10:21 UTC
@snappypath Thank you! I'm really happy you like the artstyle!
lespaul59
04. Oct 2022 · 10:48 UTC
Wow what a great game! Cant stop playing it! Everything is really nice! The game fits the theme perfect! The graphics are awesome and the overall mood really nice. Good Job! :)
SAGIII
04. Oct 2022 · 10:55 UTC
Hello I loved it good job!
Jaco van Hemert
04. Oct 2022 · 10:56 UTC
I loved this. Having the different seconds activate different effects is interesting on its own, but combining that with the buff/debuff choice is really, really clever. I loved the music, the clock ticking sound, the GUI around the character to show the second you're on, the narrative elements, and the artistic feel of the graphics. Controls were also really nice and natural-feeling.

Some minor points:
- While there were different enemies, I'm not sure I noticed any distinctness to them. It might have been that I was too busy concentrating on staying out of their way, but if not, some variety there in behaviour might be a good idea.
- The dash felt a bit off. I'm not entirely sure why I think that. But there was a sense of not really knowing where I'm going to end up, I guess? Which is potentially an illusion given by the disappear/reappear nature of it. And I think there was a delay on it which made it a bit unwieldy?

That's essentially it. A great game; you guys did an incredible job.
LDJam user 202408
04. Oct 2022 · 10:59 UTC
This entry is just incredible how you managed to combine gameplay with beautiful art and really appealing lore is beyond me, I had so much fun playing this game it feels like just a few steps away from a steam game! also love the attention to details like how your wings change color when you can dash etc.. very well done everyone this is team work done right !
MisterJBro
04. Oct 2022 · 11:08 UTC
Cool game! I loved the mechanic of the deities, each with their own pro and con and the graphics looked very polished.
If you were to expand the game, a Boss Fight at the end would be very cool :)
ThatzNiko
04. Oct 2022 · 11:27 UTC
With mine, One more vote to go, LETS GO
DileriumL
04. Oct 2022 · 11:39 UTC
That is a one hell of a game! Absolutely like it!
julialalart
04. Oct 2022 · 11:42 UTC
@jaco-van-hemert Thank you very much for your thorough feedbacks! There are 3 types of ennemies, each with their behavior (one is slow but dash at you when close, one fires at you from afar, and one moves really fast towards you) :) Sorry if the dash felt a bit weird, but we're glad you enjoyed the game!!
julialalart
04. Oct 2022 · 11:42 UTC
@thatzniko yay! thank you!!
julialalart
04. Oct 2022 · 11:46 UTC
@misterjbro Thanks! Glad you liked the main mechanics and graphics! We lacked time to make a boss, we considered fighting Chronos in th me game,but we wanted to make something very polished and fitting and epic like Chronos, so we decided to op-out and make a cool ending instead to wrap the game up :)
julialalart
04. Oct 2022 · 11:50 UTC
@0x-void-x0 Thank you that's super sweet!! We really had a lot of fun doing the jam and everyone really gave it their all (music, art, narration, game design...) and we're very proud! We're glad you appreciated the details we put into the game!
julialalart
04. Oct 2022 · 11:59 UTC
@dileriuml Thank you a lot! Glad you liked it!
julialalart
04. Oct 2022 · 12:24 UTC
@lespaul59 Thank you! So happy you enjoyed playing it again and again!
MrPerry
04. Oct 2022 · 17:33 UTC
Wow, absolutely world class game. I actually can't find any negatives about the it. Art, story and gameplay is just so spot on. Sound design and music was also perfect. I can definitely see myself buying this game once you flesh out the plot. Amazing job guys. You make me proud <3
egle
04. Oct 2022 · 17:35 UTC
Really liked the intro, and sound is very satisfying while shooting. Very different approach mixing, what seems to be a funny and cute game design, with this atmospheric (God like) sound. Overall, very nice game, kind of addictive :)
Rubinshki
04. Oct 2022 · 17:38 UTC
This is insane how amazing this game is !
I love the concept, the visuals and sounds are great, the feeling is really cool !
I will definitely play it in the future !
martinboue
04. Oct 2022 · 18:12 UTC
Great work on this game, the way you have taken the theme into account is superb. The tutorial and intro is well done and very useful.

It's sometimes frustrating to be limited to 1 second per bonus/malus. There's not always enough time to enjoy it.
Anchry
04. Oct 2022 · 18:14 UTC
Absolutely beautiful artwork, both the 2D art and the 3D. Fantastic feedback on all gameplay elements and just really fun to play as well. Really great job on this, it's quite incredible for an LD game.
ThorPalsson
04. Oct 2022 · 18:24 UTC
By far the best game I have played so far in this jam, easily top 10 best ld games I have ever played. Fantastic job, really enjoyed the way you incorporated the theme so well into the game and manage to make this.
julialalart
04. Oct 2022 · 18:54 UTC
@mrperry Thank you that's really nice! We're quite proud too haha
julialalart
04. Oct 2022 · 18:55 UTC
@rubinshki Thank you!! Glad you liked it this much!
julialalart
04. Oct 2022 · 18:59 UTC
@martinboue Glad you liked it! We know 1 second 'buff' is a bit frustrating, but it also keeps you on your toes!
julialalart
04. Oct 2022 · 19:01 UTC
@anchry Thank you, I'm so happy you like the artworks! Very glad you like the game and found it fun to play!
julialalart
04. Oct 2022 · 19:02 UTC
@thorpalsson Thank you! That's a really nice compliment!!
julialalart
04. Oct 2022 · 19:05 UTC
@egle Thank you! We're glad you liked the mixing of our styles, and we also are in love with what our composer did for the "God like" music vibes! :wink:
nyxkn
04. Oct 2022 · 22:14 UTC
Wow what an absolutely beautiful game!! Amazing visuals and great sounds. Gameplay was quite fun too. My only gripe is that it was a bit hard to remember what was available on which second. But the combination of different effects when you collect enough powers was really cool and sometimes pleasantly unexpected. The amount of polish is insane for a jam. Definitely feels like a finished game. Very well done!
🎤 Paul Giovannini
05. Oct 2022 · 07:26 UTC
@nyxkn Thanks a lot!
We're really glad you liked it!
You're right, it's hard to remember each power on each second even for us who made the game!
To avoid this frustration, you can press "P" or "Esc" while playing.
A pause menu will open, displaying each blessings and curse you chose:
![Capture d’écran 2022-10-05 à 09.25.42.png](///raw/5ff/12/z/52417.png)
43sam
05. Oct 2022 · 08:06 UTC
Great idea and super inspiring game! I had a lot of fun playing this :) I think a cooldown indicator for the dash would be super helpful to get an idea for when it's ready to use again. Also if at each second there was some text popping up somewhere to remind you of the effects it would help a lot with getting into the flow of the game. I really liked that there was downsides to the choices as well since it forces you to think a lot more.
SaxOps1
05. Oct 2022 · 08:32 UTC
I love the design here! The crosshair is a very cool touch! Fun gameplay loop too.
It'd be nice to have an option to skip the intro, and I'm not sure the pause menu music totally fits? Having a score when you die would be nice for sharing screenshots too :)
Tomga
05. Oct 2022 · 14:33 UTC
This is truly impressing! The idea of getting a blessing and a curse at the same time is fantastic! Definitely one of the best LD51 I have played.
enderr42
05. Oct 2022 · 20:16 UTC
Yeah, i love it when people go above and beyond on jams like you guys did. This is by far the best i've seen yet, and it's definetly going into my favourites, to play later. The only thing confusing at first was the + and - mechanic, didn't understand it until the 3rd or 4rth time (i think). Hat is off. Great work.

If you plan a post-jam version, i would consider contoller support, i think the game absolutely asks for it.
NeneChico
05. Oct 2022 · 22:47 UTC
Great work, didn't catch yet all the gamen mecanism but it's an impressive works really aligned with the theme. Thanks
DrSmey
05. Oct 2022 · 23:55 UTC
This is beyond clever and super polished. For sure one of my favourites this time.
Chase of Bass
06. Oct 2022 · 04:53 UTC
This was amazing!!! Such a good use of the theme -very unique and the balancing with the choosing at the end of each round was really well done -really fun how the play evolved and controlled very well too. Fantastic atmosphere -the music and the art were beautiful. :D
Roroto Sic
06. Oct 2022 · 10:26 UTC
great storytelling and atmosphere ! musics and arts are really great !

maybe pause timer when gods let us choose power, i am not a fast reader and 2 times it changed just before i click on one.

however great game !!
Oakhardt
06. Oct 2022 · 16:51 UTC
Man this game is just great! This could really be a fleshed out thing and be sold. I loved the atmosphere and the sound and music. I wished the enemies got a little sparkle or something when they got a boon or something. Sometimes they were dashing at me and I hadn't a visual cue before hand, but that are minor things. Liked the story as well as the ending. Great job! I hope you had fun making it.
🎤 Paul Giovannini
06. Oct 2022 · 20:19 UTC
We had a ton of fun making it, I'm glad you felt it while playing our game!
Thanks a lot for your feedback @oakhardt <3
Spike Studio
06. Oct 2022 · 21:36 UTC
This is sick! I hope you continue this further, I would love to see where it goes :)
Nobuna-no
06. Oct 2022 · 22:45 UTC
This is so impressive, your take on the theme is breathtaking! You managed to make every seconds ..."count". I played it until I was able to see all the buff and even if some effects feels a bit less impactful, I would have love to see more of it! With the lore, the music (honestly I was trying to survive as long as possible just to see how far the music could build up :joy:). The game is really juice overall too. The only 2 things I dare to ask is a bit more balancing as the play goes on and when is the release date? x)
LDJam user 0
07. Oct 2022 · 00:36 UTC
Freaking incredible start to a game!

The story is wonderful, I just want to learn more about this universe and immerse myself in it.

I really, really hope y'all take this and turn it into a full product. A roguelike like Hades where there's layer upon layer of meta progression and strategic decision making woven between the intense battles.

The style is really nice, but it was a bit hard to read information clearly at times. In particular it was difficult to tell if I was going to get hit by something or not. The big ring of numbers made it hard to see things around my character.

For how awesome the deities are, I really want to see them more, like as fully acted characters in a game with dialogue and stories for each of them. The character designs are top notch, and I love how you have the weapons for each of them highlighted in their color.

Balance-wise, Eight seems like the most non-optional of all the choices. Healing is just too strong in a game like this, so either don't give it as an option at all, or weigh two sidegrade healing options against one another.

Think you guys did a really great job of determining how long your "seconds" would be, and love how you found a way to make it work without using "real" seconds.

In terms of future directions, as is, there's not a ton of replayability. Yes you can pick different deities, but you're essentially guaranteed to see them all, and since the pairs are always the same, you can always have the exact same build. Not sure if you were going for replayability, but if you pursue this project to a full release, that would definitely be something to keep top of mind. As is, you effectively "only" have 5 choices to make, but with not too many tweaks, you could up that number to 100 or 10,000. Combinatorics do a lot of work in roguelikes!

Keep at it, and keep us posted on a future release!
LDJam user 257946
07. Oct 2022 · 06:10 UTC
The polish is just amazing with this one! Ready for a full release! Unreal work, you guys!
Substain
07. Oct 2022 · 09:18 UTC
Very cool! especially that you did not actually use real seconds, but still implemented the theme! Good job!
LDJam user 258850
07. Oct 2022 · 14:44 UTC
yeah ok this is incredible haha ^^ I have no problems with the game. I love the Hades inspiration (if it was inspired by Hades). Its impossible to track everything after just 2 or 3 upgrades so you have to rely on the visual cues which do their job really well. Great game! :)
LDJam user 245333
07. Oct 2022 · 18:18 UTC
Woah, so much policing! There's a lot of small design choice that I find brilliant here. The core concept is already clever, but giving a personality to each power make them really stand out, allowing to play on the start screen is a perfect tutorial, and the UI for the seconds is really well done. The intro is also a great touch, I really liked the setting of the game! On top of that, having the second on the beat is the perfect juiciness for the game. I don't know if there's an end, I lost on my two attempts, and didn't have the courage to play longer. But I still really enjoyed my experience. You did a fantastic job!
Steve7411
07. Oct 2022 · 22:44 UTC
I'm only able to get as far as an empty loading progress bar for the web build:

![UnityLoading.png](///raw/238/73/z/52cf2.png)
🎤 Paul Giovannini
08. Oct 2022 · 09:21 UTC
Hi @steve7411!
We saw that the web build couldn't run on few browser, we're sorry for that...It seems to work well on chrome tho.
Otherwise, I recommand you try the Windows/Mac version which should be stabler.
Could you tell us which browser do you use so we can try to see how to fix this?
Steve7411
08. Oct 2022 · 14:34 UTC
@paul-giovannini I've tried Firefox and Chrome. I had a friend test it as well, and they got the same results.
🎤 Paul Giovannini
08. Oct 2022 · 20:33 UTC
@steve7411 That's really strange, your the first one to tell me the web version doesn't work on Chrome...thank you for letting me know this issue, I will investigate.
We're really sorry that you can't play our game at the moment!
LDJam user 298734
10. Oct 2022 · 08:20 UTC
![hsdsg.JPG](///raw/eee/84/z/52f9b.jpg)
that is a hard one!I personally like the 8th(regen) and the plague one most
Yword
10. Oct 2022 · 16:09 UTC
Awesome, it's so much fun, with clever gameplay mechanics, amazing artworks, beautiful music and nice ambience. Keep up the great work!
chingle
11. Oct 2022 · 14:45 UTC
This game is great! Gave it 5 stars across the board! It really deserves it!
JRevel
13. Oct 2022 · 13:13 UTC
The concept is really good, and the execution is flawless ! It's a really interesting mechanic for a roguelike, and a lot of small ideas, like the fact that a buff always go with a debuff, are really interesting. Plus the graphics are really on point, and there seems to be an interesting and dense universe around it. Great job !
The only thing negative I could point is the fact that one second for every step of the wheel is not enough to make the game strategic, you just pile up effect and pray for the best. But there's so many in this jam that have a problem with time management, I think it's the theme that is too restrictive...
LDJam user 189270
13. Oct 2022 · 13:56 UTC
This might be top game this year, there is just so much going on, so well made. I think my only minor complaint as others have mentioned is that the time scale is so compressed for many of the blessings and curses it's hard to play strategically around them and ultimatele you have to just embrace the chaos.
Harry Alissavakis
14. Oct 2022 · 17:31 UTC
Really great and polished game! Got vibes from both Hades and Death's door (especially in terms of music), which I both love, so I really enjoyed this entry! Really awesome job, this is such a fun game!