Gagaku by LoicLeGrosFrere

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

gagaku-medium.gif

Protect the heart, kill the enemy. One shot every 10 second.

Which is not a lot. Hopefully, you will be able to use various construction in order to maximize the effectiveness of this shot.

Try to survive for 9 minutes, and don't forget to play the tutorial.

(Special note: this game make use of the middle button of the mouse, use the fullscreen to use it efficiently)

Credits

Graphics: Pozi (@ pozi.art / @ carolinepozzodi_borgo) , @BarravelBZH

Audio: @lsdlx

Code: @tatawanda (Twitter), @LoicLeGrosFrere

Patchnotes

Jam D+1: added a freestyle mode to fully enjoy the fact of creating infinite loop

Jam D+2: added a text in the tutorial precising you can rotate buildings by scrolling

Ratings

Overall 811th 3.283⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1017th 2.856⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 354th 3.587⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Theme 445th 3.798⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 643th 3.547⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Audio 509th 3.28⭐ 52🧑‍⚖️
Mood 571th 3.462⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Given 48🗳️ 87🗨️

Feedback

AnniV4X
04. Oct 2022 · 02:05 UTC
Really cool mood in this game! Super unusual so it immediately had me curious. I played through the tutorial, but I didn't realize the ~ minute at the start was a good time for building (maybe I missed something in the tutorial?). It would have been nice to view the possible buildable items in a pause menu too, since it took a little bit to read them! Overall though, I thought this was really neat-
LDJam user 268647
04. Oct 2022 · 02:20 UTC
I liked the weird alchemy vibes to it.
I think I could spend a lot of time messing around with the construction to make something that would create infinite bullets somehow.
The middle click menu was a bit hard to use, perhaps you could have the icons appear on the side of the screen and just click the building you want to place?
tatawanda
04. Oct 2022 · 11:33 UTC
@cosmonautical @anniv4x Hi, thanks a lot for your comments! Actually, we quite agree that's its cool to have the time to mess around with buildings. We added a freestyle mode to experiment as much as you want :D
SeanSmeedComposer
04. Oct 2022 · 15:10 UTC
very cool idea, and the music and art set the mood really well. couldn't quite get the hang of the mechanics only being able to shoot every 10 seconds, but then i went into freestyle mode and improved my overall survival time in game. my favorite part was the bad guys on sticks slowly creeping up, mixed with the creepy music.
Nikolaj
04. Oct 2022 · 15:17 UTC
wow, mood off the charts! and the art is very intense! There is definitely a learning curve, but it felt good and seemed like great potential for creating the ultimate defensive setup. Nice Job!
ccollider
04. Oct 2022 · 15:18 UTC
Man, this game is wild. I really like how the buildings let the player get around the "Every 10sec" cooldown, it keeps you planning during the downtime, great job!
LDJam user 301358
04. Oct 2022 · 15:21 UTC
I loved the mood! The tutorial is a bit lacking (took me a second to understand that I needed to rotate the buildings, maybe I missed something), but I enjoyed playing. Good job!
Sethios
04. Oct 2022 · 16:02 UTC
Let's gooo I survived 9 minutes! It took me a few tries to understand what every construction does (I'm not sure to understand what the piercing one does though), but I got there in the end. It's an awesome feeling to discover there's kind of a meta with every construction, and learning how you can put them into use with each other to create perfect defense mechanisms is very satisfying! The overall mood is very relaxing too! GG
SayuriNyooko
04. Oct 2022 · 18:39 UTC
The art and the sound are wonderful, they make the game so atmospheric! But the cooldown was making me nervous that I wouldn't be able to defend the heart! Thanks for the game!
eerongal
04. Oct 2022 · 20:32 UTC
Well that is an interesting game. The sounds and art direction are really good, though, nice work!
Firebelley
04. Oct 2022 · 23:13 UTC
Wow! This is a very intriguing game. I absolutely love the idea of placing "towers" that are designed to empower your only shot. You could build a lot of interesting chains. I think the theme was a bit shoe-horned into this idea, but it works. I definitely think the shooting could have more "oomph" to it as well.

I would highly encourage you to keep iterating on this idea, I think you have something special!
Gousen Pride
04. Oct 2022 · 23:34 UTC
At first is a little confusing and the game could have being better balanced, I could just spam constructions every where. Good job tough!
JoeDev
04. Oct 2022 · 23:40 UTC
Fun and thoughtful game! The construction mechanic is verrrry interesting, I liked building patterns of constructions that fed into eachother :eyes: Really interesting take on the theme!
ditam
04. Oct 2022 · 23:50 UTC
Beautiful art style, and a lot of polish. And indeed the tutorial was necessary, it still took me 3 minutes to figure out I can rotate the buildings with the scroll wheel.

I loved the atmosphere on this one, a very memorable entry.

Yes.
Steve7411
05. Oct 2022 · 03:36 UTC
This is a really interesting entry. It feels a bit like a factory building game, but for bullets.
Misfire_dev
05. Oct 2022 · 13:22 UTC
This is probably the most unique entry I've seen, seriously interesting mechanics, a bit tricky to understand a first, but personally I think that's because there's quite a lot to wrap your head around. overall though really nice job.
Grandblood
05. Oct 2022 · 13:59 UTC
Really unique. I like the visuals and the music. Especially how the enemies come in on a stick. Very different from the other games I played.
BangKerpow
05. Oct 2022 · 21:09 UTC
This is a very unique game. I'm glad you included a tutorial because there's no chance I could have figured it out otherwise.
Tattomoosa
06. Oct 2022 · 06:02 UTC
Very interesting concept, was fun to figure out building strategies. Graphics/sound are great!
Khrisna Kamarga
06. Oct 2022 · 06:05 UTC
fun concept to play! it's my bad that I didn't have a mouse with me when I started the tutorial but once I can do the scrolling action, the game is super fun! The music is a vibe itself!
Parpello
06. Oct 2022 · 07:51 UTC
This game is genius! It wasn't super intuitive how to use the building tools at first but I managed by trial and error. The freestyle mode is great, I'll be coming back for more intricate structures, can't wait!
dxk2294
06. Oct 2022 · 07:56 UTC
Wow, you did something really phenomenal with the theme here, I think this is the most creative interpretation I've seen so far! It does take a bit to wrap your head around the different structures, but I really like how you spend the 10 seconds prepping your one shot. Really great job :smile:
LDJam user 277851
06. Oct 2022 · 08:31 UTC
am I play it right?
![tem.png](///raw/b5d/34/z/527fa.png)
IQuant
06. Oct 2022 · 16:52 UTC
That's a very unique twist on a quite simple concept. Liked it a lot.
Fedir
07. Oct 2022 · 06:51 UTC
Cool game, would be good to be on phones, feeling like some kind of unique tower defense
Ausstein
07. Oct 2022 · 07:12 UTC
![Screenshot_20221007_090131.jpg](///raw/7a3/22/z/52a38.jpg)

Really cool concept in general. I liked the art. The tutorial was also really good. I had to play it muted so I won't rate audio.

However, there needs to be some sort of limit on how many or how often you can place things. Maybe a shop system where you get points for killing monsters and then can spend them on buildings. I just built this undefeatable setup in the first minute which killed most things before they'd ever reach the visible area. Was not really much fun that way.
JonnyLynx
08. Oct 2022 · 17:54 UTC
Nice game :)

keep on doing !
ben_throop
08. Oct 2022 · 21:23 UTC
Excellent concept and even a good tutorial!
Georgy16
08. Oct 2022 · 21:31 UTC
An interesting and slightly relaxing game. But the tutorial turned out to be a bit incomprehensible for me.
Cedric86
08. Oct 2022 · 21:35 UTC
Kind of a tower defence but with a fun 10 second twist. ;D
Liked this one very much. Great BGM as well. Well done. Good entry.
Substain
09. Oct 2022 · 12:38 UTC
Its cool to create your very own bullet hell. Maybe it could be improved with an additional constraint (e.g. lose health if the bullets hit the heart)?
greenphox
10. Oct 2022 · 12:23 UTC
Amazing game!
Pros:
-Really fun to play
-Unique, awesome music
-Wonderful graphics (the heart and the human were kinda weird, but the shapes were really nice.

Cons:
-You can easily create infinite bullets, I tried, and it is awesome! It wouldn't even be in "Cons" but then the music bugged, and the experience was tragic.
-Some graphics were weird, didn't really fit.
-The music had some problems, maybe it's just my laptop, but some sounds were weird..

Personal opinion:
I enjoyed playing with infinite bullets. I would normally suggest you to add a constraint (as someone already said), but I think you should explore it more. I can imagine many cool ways to use infinite bullets as an idea.

Well done!
benjamin
11. Oct 2022 · 11:12 UTC
Very nice and original graphics. I wish the game would be a bit more balanced with limited access to node and a way to move them around to adapt to monster positions.
Rdawg7
14. Oct 2022 · 22:51 UTC
Qow I didn't think every 10 secs could be such a disadvantage haha... – it was never quick enough. Very unique approach I think. Definitely as I think other people have said – it could be fun to move the heart / the character around just so as it doesn't get insanely difficult later on. But that's just an opinion. Loved the mood though and the music really got the vibe :)
Paul Avallone
19. Oct 2022 · 04:31 UTC
Super interesting game. I found the control scheme to be a little strange and the building descriptions were hard to read against the background. Also not a great font. It seemed very hard but maybe I just don't have the patients to have a good building strategy. Not sure why you didn't limit the amount of things you could build but for further work on this I might look into balancing that. Maybe have different levels with different building restrictions and enemy types. I really liked the unique art style and music. Great job!
LDJam user 281060
20. Oct 2022 · 03:38 UTC
Middle click didn't seem to work for me? I couldn't get the construction to place or rotate. But I loved the graphics, sound and mood of it all!
LDJam user 245333
20. Oct 2022 · 21:49 UTC
This is really an interesting concept, and an ingenious use of the theme! I had some troubles on my first tries, but when I started to get crazy and build machines with lot of combination, it became really fun. I like that there isn't any restriction on what can be built. It spares the long struggle to get progress and wait until having enough resource, and instead offer immediately interesting ways to strategize, with an adaptive challenge.
The art is really surprising too! I loved the presentation of the enemies on a stick, it's gives a lot of personality to the game. Although I found the font difficult to read, both for its look and the lack of contrast with its color. The UI for building is also a bit rudimentary, it took me a bit of attempts in the tutorial to fully understand how to use it.
But besides that, this was a surprising and very interesting entry! I had a lot of fun playing it.