LudumData

HELLSPAWNER by Thomas Gelman

[raw]
made by Thomas Gelman for Ludum Dare 55 (JAM)

Logo Solo.gif Screenshot 2024-04-16 022111.png Screenshot (280).png

Play in Browser: https://olatiny.itch.io/hellspawner

DESCRIPTION:

Become the Ultimate Goop! In this 2D platformer boss rush, you can choose to summon three different bosses--destroy them all, steal their abilities, and ascend to your true self

Either take it "easy" on Normal Mode, where you regen health between fights. Challenge yourself on hard mode, where HP persists. Or, if you're feeling really saucy, try out ​​HELLSPAWNER Mode​​, where you only have 1 health!

CONTROLS:

note: UI currently can only be used with the mouse, but controller support does exist for the player character.

| Ability Name | Keyboard | Controller (xbox) | | -| - | - | | Movement | WASD/Arrow Keys | Joystick/D-Pad | | Jump | Space-Bar | A/B | | Attack | Click/C | X |

UNLOCKABLE ABILITIES:

| Ability Name | Unlocked From | Description | Keyboard | Controller (xbox) | | - | - | - | - | - | | Charge Shot | HELLSCOURGE | Bonus dmg by charging attack | Hold Click | Hold X | | Dash | LICH | Quick, Invincible, 8-directional dash | Left-Shift | RB/RT | | Frost Cloud | FROST WARDEN | Slows down enemies that collide with it | Z or E | Y |

CREDITS:

Thomas Gelman - Concept, Programming
Grant Benson - Programming
Jack Callahan - Programming
Lainey Harding - Character Art
Evelyn Pugh - Background Art
Camden MacIver - Music, Sound Effects

GAMEPLAY DEMO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJEJzR7Ytn8

WebGL (Itch) https://olatiny.itch.io/hellspawner
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/hellspawner

Ratings

Overall 365th 3.769⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Fun 256th 3.808⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1089th 2.712⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Theme 819th 3.365⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 752th 3.481⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Audio 204th 3.83⭐ 52🧑‍⚖️
Humor 541th 3.082⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Mood 684th 3.462⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Given 71🗳️ 94🗨️

Feedback

aaronjnc
16. Apr 2024 · 03:41 UTC
Game made me want to punch my monitor. 10/10
MisterCarson
16. Apr 2024 · 15:50 UTC
This game is very epic
Merb1000
17. Apr 2024 · 03:55 UTC
Really solid boss rush style game! I loved playing it. The *{spoiler}* at the end was terrifying. To critique anything, I'd say there should be more attacks, maybe a charge blast that does extra damage or something. Great job!
🎤 Thomas Gelman
17. Apr 2024 · 04:00 UTC
@merb1000 Thanks for your review! There actually is a charge attack! you unlock it after defeating the Hell Scourge boss. Similarly, you also unlock an dash/dodge from the Lich and a small AOE that slows down enemies from the Frost Warden. I wish we had more clear UI in game for this besides the icons on top of the health bar, but the controls are in the description for now at least :D.
Zoeluci
17. Apr 2024 · 04:00 UTC
Even the normal mode was hard for me, but it was fun anyway. And I loved the music!
Merb1000
17. Apr 2024 · 04:05 UTC
@thomas-gelman Dang, I totally missed that. Guess I'll have to replay now :)
🎤 Thomas Gelman
17. Apr 2024 · 04:09 UTC
@zoeluci Thanks for your review! One of my favorite pleasures in video games is a challenging boss rush haha, hope the difficulty options helped you out!
profundity
17. Apr 2024 · 04:13 UTC
Great work! particularly liked the character design. Found myself wishing the enemies would telegraph their moves more somehow to allow more strategic responses - but I did still manage to become the ultimate goop (on normal mode at least.)
🎤 Thomas Gelman
17. Apr 2024 · 04:33 UTC
@profundity Thanks for the review! One regret I have is definitely the lack of telegraphing, so thanks for the feedback about that. Certainly adds to the challenge of the higher difficulty options though!
LDJam user 158571
18. Apr 2024 · 15:10 UTC
Great sprites, solid music, interesting gameplay, it was certainly worth playing!

Minor feedback:

1. Balancing needs to be reworked. Charged shot doesn't deal enough damage, it was faster to just spam the basic attack. Maybe add a bigger cooldown for the basic attack, that will also make the abilities more useful.
2. Bigger arena needed. It's nice that everything is one one screen, but it felt very close, especially since I have some mobility abilities.

Overall, great game, good job.
Custodi
18. Apr 2024 · 15:12 UTC
Cool music but enemies was too simple, just have one attack. Frost boss behavior is unpredictible, when he lands or not.
🎤 Thomas Gelman
18. Apr 2024 · 16:01 UTC
@mnemosynevl Thanks for your honest review! Balance was definitely a bit of a struggle because many of our developers were strapped for time due to a combination of end of semester and illness, and we had to work within the scope of how quickly our character artist could create animations for things haha. But regardless I totally agree, and a hypothetical future version of this game would balance charge shot better with their basic attack outside of just when bosses are not able to be hit otherwise.

@custodi Also thanks for your honest feedback! The intent was more that things were reactable rather than predictable because you have a projectile and attack from farther away, but I do wish there was some more telegraphing on some of the enemies abilities that are harder to deal with as well.
stmate03
18. Apr 2024 · 16:19 UTC
This is an awesome game! I like the art, the audio, everything is top-notch here, and the game also offers a mode made for me, where I have no idea there are charge attacks, dashes, and other things and beat the game with basic attacks
i_cam
18. Apr 2024 · 16:47 UTC
@stmate03 Thanks for playing the game, glad you enjoyed it!
D3kryption
18. Apr 2024 · 22:25 UTC
This is a great game! The audio is fantastic. I love the art style! Its what drew me in first :D How you managed to add so much I have no idea but great job! :D

Please can you rate my game? :)
i_cam
18. Apr 2024 · 23:30 UTC
@d3kryption Thank you so much, glad you enjoyed our game! I so much time on the music that I had to do the sound effects a little fast... luckily our artists managed their time a little better. Rating yours now!
delauraen
19. Apr 2024 · 03:56 UTC
Really sick effects and catchy loop, gave me some megaman nostalgia - the secret level was interesting too, well done!
biemorth
19. Apr 2024 · 03:56 UTC
As the terrible player that I am, I can say that I found it difficult and I appreciate that absurd amount of lives in normal mode, I needed it. The game looks very dynamic and the music is bangers. You really made a lot of content, and I found it fun to jump near the ice boss, he seems to give up on falling :v Cool game.
🎤 Thomas Gelman
19. Apr 2024 · 04:25 UTC
@delauraen Thanks so much! Developing this was fun because the more I worked on it the more I just kept leaning into my own mega-man nostalgia. I originally hoped to have a little more in that secret level but the intent was always to make it a sort of fake-out due to the scope of this project. Glad you enjoyed!

@biemorth Thanks you as well! Glad the difficulty options came in handy, we decided that would help create an experience that fits more kinds of gamers than just the insane ones (me).

Thank you both for playing :D
RACTS Studio
19. Apr 2024 · 06:45 UTC
need more juice
val.ociraptor
19. Apr 2024 · 16:42 UTC
lots of content wow! it's hard, but feels master-able. I think some more feedback and juice would make it easier, also feels like something begging to be played on controller instead of mouse/kb. Love the increasing difficulty settings and the boss designs. great job yall
🎤 Thomas Gelman
19. Apr 2024 · 17:18 UTC
@val-ociraptor Thanks for the feedback! I agree that a little more gameplay/player feedback would have been nice. Also, technically the player character himself is controller compatible, but since setting up controls for Menu UI is more challenging than simply supporting controls in combat so for time reasons we pivoted towards keyboard and mouse for the game (also, for accessibility reasons). (I did forget to mention this in the description though, so thanks for the reminder!)
Maxthedoom
20. Apr 2024 · 10:11 UTC
Great game, very original considering the theme! I've had lots of fun with it. I just wish the fact that abilities were unlocked was more obvious in-game.
DenisMarasan
20. Apr 2024 · 10:52 UTC
All hail difficulty selection!
brainles etertainment
20. Apr 2024 · 12:13 UTC
![Screenshot 2024-04-20 at 15-11-28 HellSpawner by Thomas Gelman i_cam Evelyn Pugh ssschrodingers-cat gjGameJam JackCallahan.png](///raw/092/94/z/64886.png)

Not sure if it was winning screen or game over.
LLlarsO
20. Apr 2024 · 12:38 UTC
Firstly, congrats to your finished game! I think the enemies felt different enough and I like the style of the characters. I had the impression that the backgrounds on the other hand are a little bit "unfinished". I think it would provide more atmosphere, if there were animated flames in the background for example or more small details in the levels.
I really liked that you put different difficulties into the game.
🎤 Thomas Gelman
20. Apr 2024 · 16:47 UTC
@maxthedoom Thanks for your review! One thing that was set aside for scope management reasons was a little cutscene showing you what you unlocked after you defeated the boss, but we elected to still have icons over the player's health bar. A hypothetical post-jam finished version of this game would have those!

@denismarasan Glad you found the difficulty selection good!

@brainles-etertainment That is the winning screen! Originally we wanted to have more of a fake-out boss at the end, but due to scope we were left with my all-nighter 7AM cutscene idea haha.

@lllarso Thanks for playing! Glad you liked it :D. And thanks for the feedback about the backgrounds. Our artists were a little pressed for time due to end of semester, but that is definitely something for our possible post-jam improvements list!
jqnox
20. Apr 2024 · 19:00 UTC
The game is very very good, love the way you made it feel like I were playing an old arcade game! Takes me way back!
LDJam user 267116
20. Apr 2024 · 20:39 UTC
Nice game! Great Megaman vibes and a cool set of bosses, with very charming graphics. Good job!
paloobi
21. Apr 2024 · 06:38 UTC
This is a great game! I found it very challenging, but I was playing on my laptop with a trackpad so that's probably why. (Would love to see full keyboard support - I usually game with keyboard only when I have the option). In particular, I thought the art was really compelling and successful. Only suggestions are to think a little about the UI as I wasn't sure at the beginning what to click to proceed (I didn't realize I could click the circles). Well done!
Voidsay
21. Apr 2024 · 10:38 UTC
The most hellish part of this game was having to lodge my right hand in between my left hand's thumb and index finger to spam shoot. Why not just put jump on W and shoot on space?
🎤 Thomas Gelman
21. Apr 2024 · 15:07 UTC
@voidsay Sorry you struggled with controls! We thought left-clicking to shoot and space to jump felt more intuitive from our testing, but I appreciate the feedback nonetheless!
Yopin
21. Apr 2024 · 16:13 UTC
Cool game with enemies with unique attacks. I really enjoed that :D
muhyrla
21. Apr 2024 · 18:51 UTC
i love goop :heart:

also love the game! a little gameplay, but reminds of megamen :)
🎤 Thomas Gelman
21. Apr 2024 · 20:36 UTC
@jqnox Thanks for playing! I really like doing arcade style games and mechanics, there's a certain charm in their difficulty that I love capturing in game jams.

@animawish @muhyrla Thanks so much! Mega man was definitely a massive inspiration for this one. Originally the idea was more similar to Hollow Knight/Cuphead boss mechanics but as we continued to work on this we just kept leaning more and more into the Mega Man side of things.

@yopin Thanks so much!

Glad you all had fun :D!
Chonibi
22. Apr 2024 · 15:50 UTC
Very Epic! This was a lot of fun!
Nathan Muckler
22. Apr 2024 · 16:21 UTC
This game is super sick, I aspire to complete the no-hit run
i_cam
22. Apr 2024 · 16:49 UTC
@chonibi @nathan-muckler thank you both so much, glad you enjoyed our game! and good luck with the no hit run, pretty sure thomas is the only one on the team who's managed it so far lol XD
MaverickMiddleton
22. Apr 2024 · 18:34 UTC
Great music and sprites! Enjoyed giving this a shot with the funny little goop and a quick but intense gameplay loop :D
i_cam
22. Apr 2024 · 18:43 UTC
@maverickmiddleton thanks! really glad you enjoyed the music!
🎤 Thomas Gelman
22. Apr 2024 · 21:39 UTC
@chonibi @nathan-muckler @maverickmiddleton Thanks so much for playing! Glad you all had fun :D
Blazejmg917
23. Apr 2024 · 01:16 UTC
This game is a lot of fun! The visuals are great and I love the audio. The gameplay is really fun and shockingly polished for how little time you all had to work on it! Managed to beat each boss individually on hellspawner mode but all of them in a row is ROUGH. All in all I thought it was a really fun experience! There are probably some balance fixes you could make if you wanted to polish this up after the fact, but I really liked it!
🎤 Thomas Gelman
23. Apr 2024 · 02:06 UTC
@blazejmg917 Thanks for playing! Balance as always is tricky on such a small time-scale, but we tried to make it fair-enough at least for the normal difficulty with the time we had. Glad you had fun, and good luck if you ever continue trying to do hellspawner mode!
maxededo
23. Apr 2024 · 06:24 UTC
Very fun game! I'm gonna have to beat the higher difficulties at some point >:) I think the biggest improvement you could make to this project (other than more content ofc) would be to have the bosses better telegraph their movements and attacks, as in its current state I found it to be difficult to anticipate their attack patterns. Overall very awesome game tho!!
🎤 Thomas Gelman
23. Apr 2024 · 06:30 UTC
@maxededo Thanks for the feedback! Better telegraphing is definitely something I'd like to add if we continue development on this, as right now you kind of just have to be standing far enough away to be able to react in most cases. Thankfully, that is still viable since the player has a projectile, but ultimately is absolutely something I'd plan to address in the future.
kanity
23. Apr 2024 · 21:55 UTC
Music is very fun, so energetic! I like how the game essentially consists of "boss battles", that's really cool. Also, I like how my avatar changes as I receive more damage. I think the hardest opponent for me was Lich, but he also has my favourite design of them all ^^

Got to the end on normal (sorry xD), got a jumpscare:
![ending1.jpg](///raw/c93/65/z/64be2.jpg)

xD The ending is pretty cool, btw. Didn't expect that at all.

Overall, I had a lot of fun playing! Boss fights, different attacks, reminded me also a bit of how I played old fighting games as a kid (tho it's bit different but still there's something), even an ending to add a bit to the story. Great experience! =o
i_cam
23. Apr 2024 · 22:55 UTC
@kanity I'm glad you enjoyed the music! The bulk of our boss centric gameplay was originally intended to be hollow knight inspired, but ended up looking a lot more like megaman haha. Also normal difficulty is a perfectly valid way to beat the game, I've not been able to do any better yet either lol.
hatmajaster
24. Apr 2024 · 17:58 UTC
Cool music, and overall very well put together. Besides other mentions: jump should be as high as long you press a button ;) Currently the jumping is very rigid without this
🎤 Thomas Gelman
24. Apr 2024 · 18:56 UTC
@hatmajaster Thanks for your feedback! Currently there is actually variable jump height in the game! There is a slight bug with how it interacts with jump buffering (another thing that I put in to try to make it feel nicer), that causes you to jump the whole height of the jump rather than for how long you pressed it, but in general you can short hop and leap to your heart's content (up to a determined max height)!
CaptAndrey
28. Apr 2024 · 17:43 UTC
Controls are a bit tough, and more boss mechanics would spice things up. Graphics and audio are alright, but let's bring in some epic boss battles and smooth out those controls for a better ride!
🎤 Thomas Gelman
29. Apr 2024 · 16:04 UTC
@captandrey Sorry you had trouble with controls! We tried to accommodate different play-styles by supporting multiple control schemes (either WASD with Mouse to attack, or Arrows with C to attack) with space to jump, and shift, z, and hold-click being reserved for the unlockable abilities, and also supporting gamepad when in combat, which are all described in the description. If there was any particular aspect you had trouble with, please let us know!