Dreihander by Defrag

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

Action_0L.gif

Itch: https://jclayton128.itch.io/dreihander

Take control of a powerful tri-mode vessel as you take on waves of unique enemies in this intense arcade-style shooter. Every 10 seconds, the ship changes modes: dodge enemy fire, lay down devastating firepower, and then repair and buff your subsystems.

Play with audio on! Gamepad supported! Fullscreen is best!

WASD to move. Hold left mouse button for auto-fire, and to heal/buff systems while in the repair phase. Damage to systems causes the related game function to get worse. Too much damage to a single system destroys your ship.

MoveShot_small.jpg

ShootShot_small.jpg

Heal_mid.jpg

Ratings

Overall 638th 3.474⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Fun 346th 3.638⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 655th 3.231⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Theme 686th 3.55⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 727th 3.413⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Audio 314th 3.605⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Humor 660th 2.7⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Mood 715th 3.309⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Given 30🗳️ 58🗨️

Feedback

Destiny2028
04. Oct 2022 · 00:13 UTC
quite well made. smooth and clear
Alexis Brochec
04. Oct 2022 · 00:18 UTC
Well made game. fun gameplay
BeetleBox
04. Oct 2022 · 00:20 UTC
Really well placed audio! Loved how many sound effects the varying parts of the game had. Really made it feel alive :)
NotALobster
04. Oct 2022 · 00:25 UTC
Really fun! I like the concept, it's very well executed.
LDJam user 259831
04. Oct 2022 · 00:25 UTC
Nice game! Loved the different systems and the audio made it really chaotic and fun.
LDJam user 300873
04. Oct 2022 · 00:26 UTC
Took me a couple tries to get it, but fun to play! Even with the game exhaustion from the weekend.
supercannon
04. Oct 2022 · 00:27 UTC
Super cool game! Took a bit to figure out the upgrades/repair, but really fun otherwise.
Quinn_Patrick
04. Oct 2022 · 00:28 UTC
This game has a very intriguing visual style. I found the UI elements befuddling, like I was actually piloting a spaceship, which is cool. I found it a bit strange that the only music loop in the game is this kind of corporate sounding elevator music. It's a fine track, but it feels out of place in this fast paced arcade shooter. It also needs some sort of a metric of success, like a score or something. After a while it sort of just felt like I could go forever and nothing was changing. All that being said, the visuals are great and the gameplay is highly engaging. Good work.
Enjl
04. Oct 2022 · 00:28 UTC
Super cool! The dynamic between the 3 mechanics is very creative and decently executed. Though since "Heal" already provides downtime from the chaos, "run" is perhaps a bit underpowered, and I wish the turn rate on "Shoot" was better so that you can't get flanked and combo'd as easily.
Sounds and music are a definite standout to me. The eerie and intense atmosphere they craft imbues this arena and these geometric baddies with great personality. Great work!
croze
04. Oct 2022 · 00:30 UTC
Really solid retro arcade game, reminds me of a lot of games from the 2010s

Would love to see what this looks like with a vector/wireframe artstyle
LDJam user 246128
04. Oct 2022 · 00:31 UTC
Very well made!

Minor question: moderate music distortion is a feature or a bug? I've tried several browsers with same result, so I assume it's intentional but I'll ask just to be sure :smile:
Ismael Rodriguez
04. Oct 2022 · 00:32 UTC
Very well done. Nice and juicy and fun to play. I like the use of shapes for visual, but I think the color schemes could be better. There's a lot of systems to learn and it feels a little overwhelming at first, but very good overall, congrats!
amarokczukay
04. Oct 2022 · 00:52 UTC
I'm not very good at this game, but the little i see is really nice : graphics work very well, dynamics are good
alexander epton
04. Oct 2022 · 13:33 UTC
great! this was really fun and probably worth finishing. i'd suggest some kind of infographic on either the start page or the itch page explaining the enemy types and just a little more about how the buffs / healing work. i did find one bug when i survived more than a few stages, the game state didnt seem to change properly and i was able to be killed while in the healing phase
🎤 Defrag
04. Oct 2022 · 17:48 UTC
@alexander-epton, Actually, it was a design decision to keep the player vulnerable during the healing phase. The large timescale drop during the healing phase was intended to help release a little bit of tension while you repair some damage. However, we were hoping that remaining vulnerable even in the heal phase bullet-time would reduce the transition back into bullet hell mode.

Thanks for checking it out!
🎤 Defrag
04. Oct 2022 · 17:50 UTC
@ismael-rodriguez, we had left many of the major UI color fields exposed and easily editable. I had hoped to spend some time trying to come up with a coherent color strategy, but that sadly didn't make it in the time budget. If I can stop dreaming in triangles, there are a few things that I'd like the team to keep tweak in any post-jam versions we release.
🎤 Defrag
04. Oct 2022 · 17:53 UTC
@enjl the turret actually turns much faster once you release the trigger. Unfortunately, if you play like me, you just white-knuckle that thing and hope for the best. Your bullets actually destroy enemy bullets, so this is a case of "best defense is a good offense". We thought that forcing the player to decide between massive firepower and correct direction increased the importance of good positioning during Phase A (move). Thanks for trying it out!
Eugenik
04. Oct 2022 · 19:39 UTC
Very cool game! I had a blast playing :D.
LDJam user 257946
04. Oct 2022 · 23:40 UTC
This game has the JUICE! Nicely done!
Raphiell
05. Oct 2022 · 00:28 UTC
That was awesome! The mode switching was a lot of fun, and upgrading was fun too :) The guardians on the edge are really mean! Even if you go back into the arena they still hunt you down!

Well done!
Enjl
05. Oct 2022 · 00:42 UTC
@defrag Oh wow, you're right! I am the fool for never releasing the trigger, hah. Just goes to show how satisfying it is to hold that bad boy down ;p
🎤 Defrag
05. Oct 2022 · 01:25 UTC
@raphiell I wish I had been able to come up with a little less punishing behavior for them, but the guardians were a relatively late addition. We needed something that would serve as a "soft wall" to help ensure that player stay in the middle. Hopefully they didn't feel too punishing (at least on subsequent runs once you know how they work)
Federico Delgado
05. Oct 2022 · 01:47 UTC
Nice game guys, the control feels really responsive, the death animation for big circles (i dont know how to call them haha) is really cool, i loved the concept of healing and buffing every 10 seconds. Cheers!
Don Juan Javier
05. Oct 2022 · 02:03 UTC
@t90 The audio issue is hard to replicate, but we were able to replicate once on a Windows machine with lower specs. FMOD was used for all of the music and sound, and so far Googling this issue doesn't seem to be turning up many results. Thanks for letting us know though! We'll keep trying to see if there's something wrong on the FMOD side of things.
OtterFaeLure
05. Oct 2022 · 10:29 UTC
This is such an amazing take on the theme!

It took me a couple tries to get what I needed to do but once it clicked I was amazed by how genius this take is.

This genre isn't really my style but I still had a suitable style of fun. Unfortunately, it not being my style I don't really have the ability to give any room for growth comments. =( Sorry.

From what I can tell though, this is an amazing game and you deserve to feel proud of your work. :D

Thanks for the inspiration. :3
keip
05. Oct 2022 · 12:33 UTC
nice game, but I can't see the given theme. Apart from that it is a good game and makes fun
🎤 Defrag
05. Oct 2022 · 13:12 UTC
@keip Thanks for giving it a try! We had hoped that the ship changing modes every 10 seconds would be seen as the main connection to the theme. We wanted the play style to change from bullet-hell to a turret-shooter, to then a heal-and-strategize phase. Glad you had fun playing it!
eerongal
05. Oct 2022 · 14:22 UTC
this is a fun little bullet hell game. Could use some more polish, but what ludum dare game couldn't? But overall it plays pretty well, looks fine, and is actually pretty fun to play. Nice work!
Hydezeke
05. Oct 2022 · 14:59 UTC
The way the pace changes through the different phases is so fun. I LOVE what you did with the look and especially sound of the game. The little vocodery voices when the enemies explode is really satisfying- it's all just really satisfying in general. 👍👍
Savolae
05. Oct 2022 · 20:59 UTC
Really nice how the different phases actually mean doing different things and not just a change in weapons like in many similar games. Good job!
Chase of Bass
06. Oct 2022 · 19:38 UTC
This is an awesome shmup!!! Really fun!! Love the sound design -really adds a lot of excitement -love how it goes into chill elevator music at the end xD -awesome game play and polish too -excellent work on this!! :D
Trexxak
07. Oct 2022 · 17:48 UTC
Sick and Slick! Very effective use of elevator music, too!
🎤 Defrag
07. Oct 2022 · 20:17 UTC
@trexxak We thought the elevator music would be a way to help de-intensify the situation after the first two phases. Glad you liked it!
thristhart
08. Oct 2022 · 15:23 UTC
Took me a bit to parse the difference between phase A and phase B -- but the healing phase was very fun! I like the idea of healing vs buffing healthy systems, and the elevator music is great.
Nikolaj
10. Oct 2022 · 02:49 UTC
clever take on the mechanics ,fun, easy to pick up. The rapid fire mode at the end of the round was really satisfying.. nice!
Ehon
11. Oct 2022 · 17:57 UTC
A solid entry, I was confused when I saw the screenshots but in-game it was all clear and easy to understand. I like the gameplay loop and the addition of elevator music in the phase 3 was a funny idea that made me smile upon hearing it for the first time.
LDJam user 298496
18. Oct 2022 · 15:15 UTC
Looks great, I really like the vibe - nice job!
Paul Nadan
19. Oct 2022 · 16:35 UTC
This was fun! I liked the alternating run and fighting phases, although it would be nice to have some obstacles so that there is more strategy about where to go during the run phase. The rapid shooting speed and sound effect is really satisfying, and overall the graphics were simple but nice. Great work!
johnnysix
19. Oct 2022 · 21:02 UTC
That was intense haha .. Very unique style and gameplay , the buff /heal could do with more visual feedback, I wasn't sure if it was doing anything before it changed colour.

Bonus points for music / sound! :v:
![22.jpg](///raw/028/2/z/5347b.jpg)
Brendo
21. Oct 2022 · 16:46 UTC
One of the most polished and complete-feeling games I've played thus far! I'd say the difficulty ramp-up was a bit harsh, but to each their own! The main difficulty issues I have are aiming being on a delay, and enemies being easily able outpace you, even with a (presumably?) upgraded engine.