HELLSTREAM DX by Raphiell

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

NOTE The version here is the original one, but the itch link has a post-jam version that has bug fixes and some text changes for clarity, made after submitting.

Fight Endless Demons in your Upgrade-able Mech​​ to Save the World!

Every 10 Seconds... ​you have to pick an upgrade for you, or the demons! How long can you survive?

​Controls are all listed in game!

Tools used: - Godot - Beepbox - Paint.net - Aseprite - Audacity

Everything by me except for:

Digital Font

https://www.1001fonts.com/digital-7-font.html

​​Bit Font

https://joebrogers.itch.io/bitpotion​

Ratings

Overall 199th 3.893⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Fun 168th 3.914⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 697th 3.19⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Theme 364th 3.879⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 593th 3.621⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Audio 102th 4⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Mood 532th 3.5⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Given 24🗳️ 37🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 303716
03. Oct 2022 · 23:48 UTC
Nice Game!
ofiro
03. Oct 2022 · 23:57 UTC
I like the slow death closeup.

I feel the upgrade stops broke the flow a bit, but the free endless upgrades were nice.
LDJam user 259831
03. Oct 2022 · 23:59 UTC
Really enjoyed this game! Simple yet fun idea, reminded me of an old flash game, boxhead
Ciber_Turtle
03. Oct 2022 · 23:59 UTC
Shows how your stats change is a really nice quality of life feature.
Alexis Brochec
04. Oct 2022 · 00:00 UTC
Veru funny little game. Amazing music loop !
Thomas Yanuziello
04. Oct 2022 · 00:01 UTC
I like how you slowed down before displaying the options.
Stefan B.
04. Oct 2022 · 00:03 UTC
cool, interpretation, choosing for you or demons. We were thinking in similar directions but were trying to keep the 10 seconds rythm without interruptions.
Weighting the pros and cons here, it is probably good for the player to have as much time to think as needed. Nice game!
Don Juan Javier
04. Oct 2022 · 00:04 UTC
Love the death anim! Those crunchy pixels look awesome. Difficulty ramped very quickly. Everything was very intuitive. Nicely done!
Andrew Everage-S.
04. Oct 2022 · 00:05 UTC
Very cool!
Budda
04. Oct 2022 · 00:09 UTC
Nice idea forcing the player to decide the demon's upgrades. One criticism is if you're in the zone when the upgrades pop-up, it's very easy to select one without actually seeing them if you were just shooting. Otherwise seems super solid, nice work.
wazce
04. Oct 2022 · 00:09 UTC
I like all the little effects like the blood splatter. There were a few times where I was clicking fast and accidentally was able to choose a card without seeing them first. Also I kept getting negative buffs. Good job!
GERD
04. Oct 2022 · 00:12 UTC
Fantastic game feel! Super tough, but I keep wanting more, and to try different things!
Quinn_Patrick
04. Oct 2022 · 00:14 UTC
Very solid gameplay here and some wicked music on top of the great visual polish, nicely done. The two enemy types with different movement patterns is so key to making this game work. A couple things that I might change if I could: the options for enemy buffs seem unbalanced. I always picked improved bullet homing, since that seemed much less impactful than giving them more health or speed. Also, the difficulty escalates pretty quickly. Things already seem unmanageable around the fourth or fifth stage. A slower burn may help this game feel more substantial, especially considering that it's upgrade based, so you want to give your player a chance to collect them and enjoy them before things spiral our of control (which they of course should eventually!) Nice work overall, though, the craftsmanship here is really exceptional.
Matt Swieboda
04. Oct 2022 · 00:17 UTC
i really liked this, i played it over and over haha, nice work! great idea with the demon powerups too!
🎤 Raphiell
04. Oct 2022 · 00:31 UTC
@djd123456 @gabriel-chan @ciber-turtle @thomas-yanuziello @stefan-b @don-juan-javier @andrew-everage-s @wazce @matt-swieboda

Thank you so much everyone for playing!

@budda You're right, I should have added a 1 second delay before you can pick an upgrade.

@gerd I know!!! I wanted to add another enemy, a secondary fire (special attack) and more upgrades. Alas such is a jam

@ofiro I know what you mean, I think I should have added something that tells the player it's about to happen, like a 'ding' sound on the last 3 seconds or something

@alexis-brochec Thank you! I loved making this song, I put it together in the last hour haha, I thought I wouldn't be able to make it in time!

@quinn-patrick Thanks for the comprehensive feedback! I agree the buffs for the enemy are unbalanced, You can go REALLY far by just picked the homing and projectile speed ones, then killing the ranged guys before they shoot. Balance is tough in a jam, and I regret not putting more effort into it.
StvUP
04. Oct 2022 · 00:37 UTC
Nice, feels quite solid!
LDJam user 277851
04. Oct 2022 · 00:38 UTC
niec pixel art
noticing there were bullet casings, blood effects, and slow motion. These make the game look very polished.
🎤 Raphiell
04. Oct 2022 · 00:49 UTC
@stvup Thanks for playing!

@thyoi I thought I spent too much time on those but it paid off!!
Bogden
04. Oct 2022 · 02:33 UTC
Fun game! Feels like it needs a little bit more content/scaling to make sure the game ends, but really great stuff you've got so far! Really love the idea of picking the upgrades for the enemies, but there's definitely a couple that you can just abusive and dump all of your upgrades into.

Was enjoying myself enough that I got all the way up to -105% reload just to see what would happen though!

![hellstream dx screenshot.png](///raw/f7e/54/z/51c73.png)
🎤 Raphiell
04. Oct 2022 · 02:40 UTC
@bogden Thanks for playing and testing the limits of the game! A balance patch is SORELY needed, and I think I'm gonna release one after I release a bugs patch!
R3D3R
04. Oct 2022 · 22:32 UTC
This game is incredible, and I enjoyed the gore! I like the gameplay of simply firing at foes; you've made my trigger happy...happy xD. Amazing work! It's awesome!! Thank you for a fantastic experience! :D
🎤 Raphiell
04. Oct 2022 · 22:38 UTC
@r3d3r Thanks for playing!
Ryan Dotsikas
13. Oct 2022 · 14:13 UTC
Wow, really awesome job! This was a ton of fun to play and I think you polished it exceptionally well! Everything from the little slow down and speed up on either side of getting the upgrade, to the death animation where you click to blow yourself up. It was also just very satisfying shooting, killing the enemies and dashing around. I like that you gave 1 upgrade to the player and 2 to the enemy to really ramp difficulty. Great job with this!
🎤 Raphiell
13. Oct 2022 · 14:36 UTC
@ryan-dotsikas thanks for playing! I think you just timed the death animation perfectly to your click! You'll blow up anyway .
Stingby12
15. Oct 2022 · 06:49 UTC
Really unfair. The game basically spawns 1 million enemies just like other games I played. Why does so many games does that ?

But it's pretty nice overall. Would like to have less for the demons upgrades.
🎤 Raphiell
15. Oct 2022 · 20:11 UTC
@stingby12 Yea the balance is a little off for sure, thanks for playing!
Rage Paint Games
20. Oct 2022 · 23:01 UTC
Got a decent score with 236 kills!
![Healstream-dx.png](///raw/987/8/z/53500.png)
TheSmellofOxygen
21. Oct 2022 · 02:51 UTC
Pretty addictive and crunchy feeling. Claustrophobic arena made the difficulty ramp feel somewhat insurmountable, but I kept coming back. Love all the little pixel details.
🎤 Raphiell
22. Oct 2022 · 13:59 UTC
@rage-paint-games Thanks for playing and posting!

@thesmellofoxygen Thanks for playing! A little balance would have gone a long way for sure