Limited Spacebar by IngeniousPhoenix

[raw]
made by IngeniousPhoenix for Ludum Dare 54 (COMPO)

Made in Godot.

In this game, you need to dodge lasers to get a highscore. Keep in mind, that there is a limit to how many times you can press the spacebar! Dashing (Space) helps to dodge oncoming lasers.

Every 30 seconds you can upgrade an ability.

This game is inspired by just shapes and beats.

Arrow Keys / WASD to move. Space to dash

Note it can only be played in itch, due to me not knowing how to get it to work anywhere else "/. Thanks for playing!

Icon.png

Ratings

Overall 223th 3.446⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Fun 132th 3.676⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 285th 3.014⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Theme 175th 3.689⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 334th 2.5⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Audio 157th 3.311⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Humor 239th 2.214⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Mood 251th 3.076⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Given 26🗳️ 3🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 0
02. Oct 2023 · 22:10 UTC
The game you're playing has a charming simplicity to it that is surprisingly addictive. Its minimalistic design and straightforward gameplay might not be overly complex, but they have a unique appeal that keeps you hooked. It's fascinating how some games, despite their basic mechanics, can captivate players and offer hours of entertainment.

Keep going man!
GingerGangsta
02. Oct 2023 · 22:40 UTC
The game you’re playing has a charming simplicity to it that is surprisingly addictive. Its minimalistic design and straightforward gameplay might not be overly complex, but they have a unique appeal that keeps you hooked. It’s fascinating how some games, despite their basic mechanics, can captivate players and offer hours of entertainment.

Keep going man!
maximevincent
02. Oct 2023 · 22:52 UTC
This is just great, was not expecting to have as much fun as I did. Awesome work :D
Martin Bousquet
02. Oct 2023 · 22:53 UTC
It's cool that you made an intro screen with the controls and that you let the player decides when he wants to start, few compos do that. The game is fun but it's a little simple and has a few issues (e.g. choosing a powerup need to be done with the mouse and the action immediately starts, there should have a been a small timer; I have to reload the page each time I get a game over because the powerup screen interferes with the retry screen, and so on).

My highscore was 83000.
Vollfeiw
02. Oct 2023 · 22:53 UTC
I am speed.
adam-gould
02. Oct 2023 · 22:54 UTC
I agree with the comment about charming simplicity. It doesn't do a lot of different things, but it doesn't need to!
Palord
02. Oct 2023 · 23:09 UTC
Good job ! The upgrade mechanics gives me the will to retry. Good gameplay where you can add some graphics, well done
Shiiro 10psi
02. Oct 2023 · 23:16 UTC
The mechanics in this game are solid. The green dots do a good job of giving a goal other than just dodging the lasers, but it seems strange to get the upgrades just by time. Maybe you could connect the upgrades to the dots and have the difficulty of the pattern or the speed of the lasers scale over time to pressure the player to collect more to be better able to dodge the lasers. Also a clever interpretation of the theme.
PowerOfSin
04. Oct 2023 · 15:42 UTC
Fun solid and focused game. The beat is nice and mechanics are smoot and responsive.

Would be nice to have had more variety in the laser patterns instead of just speeding them up (maybe mixing them together) since it gets pretty unfair later on.
LDJam user 372085
04. Oct 2023 · 23:06 UTC
nice simple game, well done!
Kaaleb
08. Oct 2023 · 09:29 UTC
Cool game ! Played it longer than I expected when I first saw it, it was nice !
jordantanner
08. Oct 2023 · 13:50 UTC
The concept of this game is really cool and would love to see it expanded upon. Good idea to give the player some warning before the lasers fire! I feel like this is a solid prototype that with more art assets, laser firing patterns, and maybe smoother player control would be really really fun. Nice work
LDJam user 374472
12. Oct 2023 · 16:09 UTC
I didn't find the game very fun as-is. Since stages are static and there's a finite number of them, it was too easy staying near the center of the screen and just wait there. The green dots didn't represent enough of an incentive to chase them.
Still, it's a cool idea. Some ideas for improvement: having obstacles move, more randomness in the patterns, making the bonus mechanic more engaging (maybe de-spawn after some time?).
I enjoyed the music! Interesting entry overall. GG
jandourek
15. Oct 2023 · 13:33 UTC
Definitely addictive! I really tried to beat my high score, but after a while it felt like it was more about luck than skill (there is very little room for error). The dash felt like it could use more invincibility frames to make them worth it, otherwise they don't feel as useful. Also more sound effects and particles for player feedback (taking damage, dashing etc.) would be very helpful! Still it was pretty good! I liked the music!
LDJam user 371975
18. Oct 2023 · 13:29 UTC
For a simple game, there was quite a bit of replay value! Overall, I think more laser patterns to keep the game interesting and a bit more balancing of the power-ups would beneficial to the game moving forward - I felt like there was a certain point where the speed and size of the lasers kind of forced a game over. Ideally, smart choices on what power-ups to use and skilled execution on gameplay should be able to delay the game over screen so long as the player continues to play well. The skill level required to continue playing the game can certainly rise throughout the game, but I don't think there should ever be a point where a game over is forced. Maybe I'm just not skilled enough haha
Sabi
18. Oct 2023 · 14:05 UTC
Simple and fun!
tubaDude99
18. Oct 2023 · 14:41 UTC
A simple concept but well executed and surprisingly fun! I like how you can just focus on survival or for a challenge go for a high score as well.
Heuser
18. Oct 2023 · 14:57 UTC
I played this one for a lot actually, very impressed with what you managed to build in that time ^^
Flancon
18. Oct 2023 · 15:01 UTC
Incredible ! I got 98000 ! I got surprised mid game, the green dot was hiding behind the time bar x) overall, I enjoyed it a lot !
LDJam user 260720
18. Oct 2023 · 16:33 UTC
This game goes straight to the point, very cool!
BRST
18. Oct 2023 · 17:12 UTC
Great game, the progression in difficulty was nice. I like that the music speeds up too.
Catulus Zesmar
19. Oct 2023 · 00:03 UTC
I really enjoyed how simple and fun this game is. I would like to try and make something similar to this some time soon.
unless games
20. Oct 2023 · 15:49 UTC
A simple mechanic implemented nicely!

I'd suggest that the power up screen should make existing laser zones disappear so that the player don't suffer from powering up and failing to continue the game properly in an instant.

Laser zones that go off in a sequential manner should appear so as well to signal to the player about the order they will go off. You could get more out of zones if you randomized the order on each spawn.

If general it is good to let players use the keyboard to control menus if the game itself is keyboard controlled. Let us restart with space and let us pick power up with arrows for better keeping the momentum of the game.

The green circle can spawn behind the bar in the lower left corner, I thought the game was bugged for a moment. Maybe have a safe zone around the edges where the ball can't spawn, you shouldn't spawn it into the player either as then you have to exit and reenter it for the collision to register which is a bit weird.

Maybe you should somehow punish the player for not picking up the balls. It's a bit tempting to just wait for the power up near the edge of the screen when on low health, this takes away the flow a bit. Simply connecting powering up to X number of balls instead of time would solve this.

Anyways, you've made a satisfying game!
Ava Skoog
20. Oct 2023 · 16:02 UTC
Simple but a lot of fun! C: Makes you want to keep trying over and over and the nice music (especially as it ramps up) adds to it as well. The grace period before a laser can hurt you feels fair and balanced, as does the margin for getting hurt. The upgrades are really satisfying too.

My only real complaint is that the UI shouldn't have been mouse-controlled when the game isn't, and there seemed to be more than one bug with it: when you chose an upgrade, at least in my browser, it stopped responding to keyboard input and I would have to click out and in again and not have time to avoid the next one or two lasers :(

The other one is minor and didn't bother me but thought you might like to know: if you die and don't restart before the timer runs out the upgrade screen will pop up but not work and nor will the restart button work anymore so you just have to reload the page :p

I realise I spent more words on the complaint but I really did like the game and kept replaying it loads of times, nice work!
Shess
20. Oct 2023 · 16:04 UTC
Simple yet clean, the core mechanics are working just right, so if you ever wish to add fancy visuals, this game will see a massive surge in popularity. I think I'd love to have a more readable indicator of when void zones become actually dangerous, but other than that, perfect plan and perfect execution!
LDJam user 372515
20. Oct 2023 · 16:33 UTC
I didn't expect to have so much fun playing this. Movement felt good, the amount of time that the lasers forecast before they "activate" felt fair, but challenging. I really liked how the level sped up as you went, and even the music sped up. Nice touch.

I found myself never refilling my dashes, and instead opting for more health or faster speed (why go fast somteimtes when you can go fast all the time)

I think it might be more balanced if you put the dash refills in the level itself, as something else to collect. Also, making the dash both act and also *feel* more powerful, with clear invincibility frames and cool blurring effects would have helped as well with the central mechanic.

Very fun :) you have a good instinct for the fine tuning of these mechanics.

![Screen Shot 2023-10-20 at 9.29.33 AM.png](///raw/32f/a5/z/607da.png)
Roroto Sic
20. Oct 2023 · 16:59 UTC
Great game, simple graphics but very fun to play !

![Sans titre.jpg](///raw/d93/94/z/607e1.jpg)
Chaineddreamer
20. Oct 2023 · 17:18 UTC
I thought my game was simple! but you managed to do a fairly complete game with minimal art which is great. congrats.
NBumgardner
20. Oct 2023 · 18:05 UTC
Limiting the dashes to level up when the time runs out is some clever game design​! The audio and fade-in graphics for the lasers are also well done to give the user some time to anticipate being shot, but fast enough to let the player consider if they should dash.
LDJam user 372350
20. Oct 2023 · 18:08 UTC
very simple, fun little game. minimal art works really well. the sfx sound nice. an overall good tie in with the theme. great entry!
LDJam user 266061
22. Oct 2023 · 15:05 UTC
**Hello there, these are notes I took while playing.**

Limited spacebar

- music awkward pause

- better font?
- maybe have anti-aliasing on graphism, in order to go from clumsy to voluntary minimalistic

- if you lose, you have to stop the bar, because otherwise "retry" won't work
- be clearer about how dashes are limited

- be even more explicit about when the laser will go
- when empty bar, sudden pause, so may clear all the lasers
- Do you have a pause?

- have icons for upgrades, even if abstract symbols
- Overall fun