Valhalla Odyssey by Scott Cooper

[raw]
made by Scott Cooper for Ludum Dare 54 (JAM)

The world has been destoryed by a sudden cataclysm at the height of the age of the vikings. Now your ghostly crew scours the cosmos in search of Valhalla, and the soulds of brave Norse warriors.

GameAssetTestv2.jpeg

VikingLongboatDockedTrns.png

EldritchBoss.png

Game Controls: WASD to move Enter to go through the portals LMB to shoot at enemies

Ratings

Overall 994th 3.026⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Fun 902th 2.987⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 997th 2.711⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1063th 2.718⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 592th 3.59⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Humor 751th 2.516⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Mood 928th 2.974⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Given 35🗳️ 58🗨️

Feedback

peremily
02. Oct 2023 · 19:37 UTC
I enjoyed this but I havea couple of thoughts - I got a bit lost in the larger level and with the static background it didn't feel like I was mocing. Also the i felt like the harder enemies should;ve dropped something extra
quasilyte
03. Oct 2023 · 12:55 UTC
I agree with @peremily - the background should reflect the movement. Otherwise, it feels dizzy and it's hard to sense the directions.
The lack of sound adds to this weird feeling. :)

The art style is above the average for a jam game, but it's somewhat inconsistent.
I personally don't enjoy the different pixel sizes. Some sprites have 1-to-1 pixels and detailed graphics while others look like a scaled thing with bigger pixels (they look chunky).
Sometimes this combination of styles work, but it's safer to avoid it in my opinion.
Stick to either a detailed x1 pixels or a chunky pixel-art graphics.
The consistency is usually important for the aesthetics.

As a side note, some of the sprites look amazing.

It also looks like this game has a lot of mechanics like upgrades and base building (?), but I got lost in one big area with creeps without any clue where to go. I ended up getting lost somewhere in the middle (?) of the screen. :D

Overall, it is impressive that you managed to put so many things into the game.
But it looks like it could damage the overall feeling of a game due to a lack of polish.
That's just my opinion though.

Don't give up on making games and have my congratulations on actually submitting the game; it takes not only efforts, but also courage.
Tyrannas
03. Oct 2023 · 12:58 UTC
Nice concept the navigation through portals into several differents "spaces". I don't know if it's a bug but I have no music nor sound, if you didnt make any maybe you should opt out of these ratings ?
Also I'm not sure to understand how the merch works. Also like @peremily said the static background is quite confusing when the ennemies are dead it's really hard to understand if we're moving or not. Finally the bullets could be bigger I think, it would be more satisfying ! Anyway, good job for shipping !

And love the alinish valhalla viking vibe by the way haha
Kabura
03. Oct 2023 · 12:59 UTC
interesting idea! I love the theme mix of space and valhalla. Some parts could've used a little more detail, like sounds, hit effects, etc. this would add quite a lot! But still, good job! :D
hierarch
03. Oct 2023 · 13:08 UTC
Cool game. The graphics look good but I would say that the souls needed to be a slightly more distinct colour from the enemies.

In general for a bullet hell it would really help to have the bullets from the enemies not dissapear. It made the game too easy and not engaging enough.

Also just a bit of sound would have helped as well.
🎤 Scott Cooper
03. Oct 2023 · 14:14 UTC
Yeah, the background sprite was added last minute, and we feel the same way about it as you all do, we're definitely going to flush this out more and finish making the game, we had a lot of fun making it!

Thank you all so much for taking the time to try it out and giving your feedback to us, it's really appreciated! @peremily @quasilyte @tyrannas @hierarch @kabura
quasilyte
03. Oct 2023 · 14:15 UTC
@scott-cooper you're welcome! This is what makes this event that great.
FiveCyclops
03. Oct 2023 · 18:02 UTC
Good ideas ! I liked the enemies, sometimes we get lost in the level as it's large compared to the area displayed.
I really like the first image on the page, I wish you had more time so we could see your game with all the features / details you wanted to implement!
yammming
04. Oct 2023 · 03:26 UTC
pretty pretty art!!
yammming
04. Oct 2023 · 03:35 UTC
i saved 60 or so souls :) agreed on the bg art moving (maybe it could have been tiled so its a bit less strenuous to draw?) and I think there's also a bit of a bug where we see enemies appearing on the edge of the screen, but they don't come and attack until a few centimeters in. So it's totally possible to play, see the enemies, and shoot them first before they get over to you :0
jaspior
04. Oct 2023 · 03:36 UTC
neat idea, I've never thought of mixing Norse mythology and chthulhu mythos
LDJam user 178793
04. Oct 2023 · 04:22 UTC
Really cool idea for the theme and story, space norse mythos is really something special! I enjoyed the artwork, although due to the static background I found myself lost no knowing where I was in the large levels.
morgie
04. Oct 2023 · 04:36 UTC
I am absolutely gobsmacked at the art!!! I love the colors design of the enemies. Everything is very cohesive and works well together. I was too scared to get near the big guy to see it in its glory so I'm glad you guys posting it on your page LOL.

I do agree that I wish there was some indication of movement or some kind of map or indicator that showed where I was/where I was going. It got very disorienting and I got lost and had to just restart the game a few times.

I've been playing a lot of FTL so I love the repair/upgrading mechanics. Overall, really great game jam entry! :D You guys fit so many fun features in for such a short time!
GreenPig
04. Oct 2023 · 05:43 UTC
Hey ive seen youall have already commented on the background so i wont do that otherwise great game i really liked it, the art otherwise is absolutely mindblowing. Maybe the minibosses could drop more souls to make killing them more rewarding, but great game all together.
AriPizE
04. Oct 2023 · 10:56 UTC
A really interesting mixture of themes) Gameplay evokes pleasant memories! I have a very pleasant impression of the game - the visual in my opinion is very monochrome, but it doesn't make it worse! Thank you for the work done x)
Jadener
04. Oct 2023 · 11:16 UTC
I really love the art you did for the game ^^ The controlls are tight enough to manuever well, plus of course the idea was great ^^
jk5000
04. Oct 2023 · 11:22 UTC
I like the visuals and the gameplay is simple and pretty fun. Some music and sound effects would have been great. But overall a pretty well made little jam game.
ROBOWARRIOR1982
04. Oct 2023 · 15:07 UTC
Interesting game ! Simple but with a lot of possibility, this is unfinished but with epic music and more ajustement this can be really good !
Henk Fan
04. Oct 2023 · 15:14 UTC
Nice idea with interesting concepts! However there could be more finalization to the level design
donvermo
05. Oct 2023 · 19:08 UTC
Love the concept and the pixel art <3 Only improvement I would suggest is parallax scrolling the background with movement, as it is right now it is a bit hard to keep your bearings.
Babaorhum
06. Oct 2023 · 08:20 UTC
It took me a while to understand how to shoot the bad guys, otherwise a very nice game, lots of fun!
Pious
08. Oct 2023 · 05:47 UTC
The concept and aesthetic is a very cool interesting choice. I think the focus needed to be really heavily emphasized on polish though! Squish and stretch, effects, feedback, motions, things happening when things happen! I recommend watching Jonas Tyroller's video on making a button fun to press. Apply those concepts to this game, with feedback and impact like camera shake, squishing, particles, etc, you could make this game SUPER engaging!
MaximeG
08. Oct 2023 · 17:22 UTC
Nice game, the art style is super good looking, it's a nice jam entry, good job!
AgrMayank
08. Oct 2023 · 17:49 UTC
Good game which DESPERATELY needs some sounds. Playing a game without sound is like eating food without spices.
LDJam user 206001
09. Oct 2023 · 01:55 UTC
Initially I didn't understand how it works
rankb
09. Oct 2023 · 15:29 UTC
The idea of a Viking space traversing through space to fight Viking aliens is really cool! I liked the art too and I would've preferred if had a more zoomed-in view of the game.