Introspection by Zuwu

[raw]
made by Zuwu for Ludum Dare 48 (JAM)

You are a sorcerer who can enter the minds of others and battle their demons, literally, you can fight any mental disorder in the form of a horrible monster, in this game you must slay four monsters plaguing a client going deeper and deeper into their mind, the controls are WASD for movement, Left click to shoot, and right click to dash.

Ratings

Overall 1680th 2.947⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1443th 2.974⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1475th 2.789⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1700th 2.816⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1507th 3⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 865th 3.25⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1433th 1.567⭐ 17🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1467th 3.028⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 13🗳️ 10🗨️

Feedback

Risk4Bisk
27. Apr 2021 · 03:17 UTC
Hi there! Was trying to play but the link seems to be broken, at least it isn't working for me.
🎤 Zuwu
27. Apr 2021 · 06:05 UTC
Thanks for telling me! The problem should be fixed now
GentleMelon01
27. Apr 2021 · 20:15 UTC
The game is nice, the colors on the first level were a bit off, the shooting was a bit awkward, but overall pretty decent!
2bitcrook
27. Apr 2021 · 21:13 UTC
Pretty neat concept! I like the lo-fi pixel art but agree with @gentlemelon01 in that the first levels colours were a bit hard on the eyes. I liked dashing a lot, had good momentum.

Shooting felt really underpowered and if the fire rate or damage was increased I think it would be a much more fun experience. A hold down to fire would also greatly improve the experience as a way of RSI/repetitive strain injury. I got to the final boss but due to the low damage from shooting just didn't have enough time to whittle it down.

Overall pretty decent, good job on finishing!
thesambassador
29. Apr 2021 · 19:52 UTC
This is a really nice entry! I beat all 4 levels. As @2bitcrook mentioned, having auto-fire (hold down to keep firing) and increasing the shooting speed would have helped smooth this game out a bit. As-is, the bosses are a bit too tanky without a varied enough movespeed, so beating them was a bit more of a slog. If they had more varied movesets it might have helped. Overall, other than the 1st level, all the bosses seemed to require a kiting strategy except the last one, which maybe required occasionally dashing away instead of just running.

The audio is great in this! The shooting sound blends so seamlessly into the music - it's really well done. Each track worked well to convey the emotion/mental condition for each level.

Great job!
mrosegreen
29. Apr 2021 · 19:56 UTC
I enjoyed the atmosphere of the game. Also, the enemies felt challenging. I would agree with @2bitcrook that hold-down fire would improve combat.
A fun experience - nice work! :)
LDJam user 252856
29. Apr 2021 · 19:57 UTC
The colours hurt my eyes. The bosses were not interesting enough to have as much health as they should. The first boss was a neat concept. There should have been indicators for when you could shoot and dash again. Giving the bosses more attacks would make the game a interesting boss rush. Good concept to use for a boss rush, just needed a bit more content.
James Macgill
01. May 2021 · 05:41 UTC
My reflexes are not good enough for this game... I'm afraid I struggled to get through the first level.
JaDonaGames
01. May 2021 · 08:06 UTC
In my first attempt I dead a lot in the first level without a chance to escape from them because enemies were very fast, but I finally beat it thanks to dash. :)

Maybe the first level should be less difficult at the very beginning to give the player a chance to understand what's happening ?

Good game !
Sandra Jasionowska
02. May 2021 · 12:47 UTC
I agree that tutorial level would be appreciated :slight_smile: Didn't pass the first one! But I liked the minimalistic pixel art and that you took up the hard topic of mental health. We all have our own demons to fight with :smirk: Cool creation!
dmtroy
02. May 2021 · 13:11 UTC
I think you've think you've done a good job with the atmosphere and gameplay but as others have said the first level ended up being much too difficult, I think you'd have been better off ramping up the difficulty throughout the fight, as it currently works the first few second are really difficult but it gets much easier as the fight goes on.
progdamn
03. May 2021 · 10:17 UTC
cool game! It seemed to me that the bosses have too many lives, but otherwise everything is fine. By the way, please rate my game if you want
FireFart
04. May 2021 · 16:06 UTC
Really cool game, the only complain i have have been said by the others so no need to be repeated. Awesome game overall :)
AdonisDevs
16. May 2021 · 23:52 UTC
This is awesome! I like the way that you manifested each disorder, though I wish there was more variation in strategy between each level. I think the last level is great because the monster has different attacks and changes throughout the battle, so it may be a good idea to give the other enemies more variety. Well done :)
ChrisAP
17. May 2021 · 00:47 UTC
Very clever idea, the last enemy was so hard tho! I like the use of the dash to go in the direction of the mouse, it was a bit weird at first to get used to it instead of dashing the way I was moving already but I think it works out. The different levels are cool since they all have their own theme song and background! Keep it up! <3
TopperVideoGames
17. May 2021 · 07:20 UTC
This was a well done game! It was confusing to understand what was happening at first as the swarm caused instant death, but once I got moving and shooting and dashing it clicked. Each boss is pretty unique and represents their theme well. The audio mixing is a nice touch!
An audio or visual cue to indicate when the dash is ready would be nice to have. I did not realize until the fox kept red killing me that the bar on top was my health, so a sound for getting hit would also help.
Good work with this!
Gucio Miszcz
17. May 2021 · 07:43 UTC
Great game, for me the hardest levels were first and last one. Had a lot of fun playing it and defeating each of the bosses :)