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A jam submission

ProjectBrimView game page

Submitted by Alfredo7573 — 23 minutes, 25 seconds before the deadline
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ProjectBrim's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Gameplay#512.5002.500
NES Feel#512.5502.550
Graphics#572.4502.450
Overall#652.1632.163
Audio#731.1501.150

Ranked from 20 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted

I love the simple level design per level, although I was annoyed at the fact that I have to move in a certain direction to get the mage to shoot right where I want. Also, I can kill enemies who got blocked off because of the walls. It was such an easy kill xD

Submitted

A solid beginning with great mapping, but the tileset feels very sterile, it's gray on gray, every floor, with nothing happening on them.

Submitted

I like the procedurally generated dungeons! I have to imagine that took quite a bit of effort to get right. I think the graphics were simple and effective but I did notice that the UI elements didn't scale when I went to play in full screen. I think with more mechanics and some additional polish in y'alls game it'd be a stunner! Thanks for making and sharing your game!

Submitted

Cool dark mage and orbs. The big empty grey rooms had a good spooky vibe to them. 

Also liked how you could shoot and orb and then run into it. Interesting mechanic where if you shot an orb behind you in a hallway it blocks you from running away from enemies. Better to charge in an be aggressive! haha

Submitted

I got thanked by the princess for saving her. It was funny as I lost almost all my life in the very beginning and then the full run was tense as I spent the entirety of it near dead, at some point against the boss I almost messed up as I shot behind me and the boss was approaching but I managed to escape before it would touch me. 

I agree with the previous comment saying the game controls like a NES game and the controls feel pleasant with the right speed for your characters, the bullets and the enemies. The level generation works, I like the animation of the bats and it was cool that the game ended with a satisfying boss fight.

Given the actual content I don't think the game required so many levels (although it's not absurdly long either). Also I'm not sure I like that you get blocked by your own bullets in the end.

Thanks for sharing!

Submitted(+1)

I do not know what else to say except it is a fine start.  You have mechanics down, enemies that do their own attack and a final objective. It is playable, for sure, even if it needs improvements.  I would say finish the game!

The only things I would suggest (Beyond the usual better graphics, some sound, etc.) are:

  • Some after-effect sprite that shows the spell hit something like a wall or an enemy.
  • Something that determines that an enemy it hit by an attack, like maybe it flashes in an opposite colour, the flash causes it to disappear and re-appear every couple frames, etc.
  • Some secondary objectives like defeating all the enemies in the map?  Collect a special item or a key?
  • An upgrade or two along the way could help to counterbalance difficulty spikes in enemies.

Notes:

  • [ENTER] fires the main attack, not [B] key. Mouse click also causes the spell to fire.
  •  Continuous fire attacking upwards pushed my made into the grey tiles where he stuck in them and could only navigate within those confines (It happened to me when I started in the upper-left part of the map).
  • Is there a way to remove the Unity 'banner' from the screen? That gets annoying after a while. I (certainly) would not want that sticking out like such a sore thumb the entire time.
  • Curious that the magic attack also doubles as a physical object that prevents the player from moving around. I found this out when I was shooting while trying to retreat from bats.
  • Bonus Point: I like that enemies have to be in a certain range before they go after the mage.
  • Bonus Point: The enemy still creeps along the wall trying to get to a player if they are not completely blocked off.
Developer

These are some great recommendations! I do plan on working on the game even more and uploading an updated version once voting ends, and even further beyond. Here is what I will likely do based on your advice:

  • Some after-effect sprite that shows the spell hit something like a wall or an enemy.
    • I will probably put in an explosion animation of some sort that will only be triggered as it has a collision with an object that is not the player


  • Something that determines that an enemy it hit by an attack, like maybe it flashes in an opposite colour, the flash causes it to disappear and re-appear every couple frames, etc.
    • I really like this and am surprised I didn't think of it! I will probably also try to make a knockback for the enemy as well.

  • An upgrade or two along the way could help to counterbalance difficulty spikes in enemies
    • I was will probably add a leveling system that you can use to upgrade attacks, health, speed, etc. This will make it to where I could scale floors and have the enemies get stronger along the way as well.


  • Some secondary objectives like defeating all the enemies in the map?  Collect a special item or a key?
    • This is a great idea, I will probably, along with the leveling system, add a currency system where you can purchase items / spells in lobby areas. Maybe it could be a rouge-like situation? We shall see.


  • [ENTER] fires the main attack, not [B] key. Mouse click also causes the spell to fire.
    • With the controls I was referring to a gamepad rather than the keyboard, but I just added controls for the keyboard on the description page as well!


  • Continuous fire attacking upwards pushed my made into the grey tiles where he stuck in them and could only navigate within those confines (It happened to me when I started in the upper-left part of the map).
  • Curious that the magic attack also doubles as a physical object that prevents the player from moving around. I found this out when I was shooting while trying to retreat from bats.
    • This is good to know, I will likely need to change the attacks to be "triggers" instead of physical objects. This makes me think there might be an issue with the enemy collisions as well, I shall do thorough testing!


  • Is there a way to remove the Unity 'banner' from the screen? That gets annoying after a while. I (certainly) would not want that sticking out like such a sore thumb the entire time.
    • I just looked up some methods for removing the banner, so after voting I will try to upload a version for removing it!


  • Bonus Point: I like that enemies have to be in a certain range before they go after the mage.
    • Thank you! I currently have an enemy script that checks the distance from the player to the enemy.  Each enemy has a different distance for it! Though the Mantis boss has a trigger for activation that is 5f, but then he will chase you for the rest of the boss fight after the activation since the boss room is a bit smaller.


  • Bonus Point: The enemy still creeps along the wall trying to get to a player if they are not completely blocked off.
    • Yeah I will probably do some experimentation with some pathfinding algorithms like A* or basic Dijkstra for them. I noticed that the wall blockages were especially prevalent at choke points.
Submitted(+1)

This is a good foundation, but very incomplete. I’d suggest, try to get more variety of interactions. Monsters that throw fireballs at you? Blocks to push around onto switches? Then keep the level count short enough, and add something new with each one. Otherwise playing starts to feel like a chore. But you could definitely build something cool from here!

Developer (1 edit)

Yeah unfortunately most of the development time was spent on the dungeon generator algorithms so it was hard to create a lot of enemy variety. I like the idea of adding puzzles and new enemies though! I was also thinking of somehow randomly(within reason) placing keys and doors throughout the dungeon to encourage exploration. When voting ends I’ll probably lower the level count for the boss down to like 3-5 for the demo. Thank you for your feedback!

(1 edit) (+1)

A good start, but I didn't feel much sense of progression from level to level. The movement felt pretty true to an NES top-down game

Developer (1 edit)

Great feedback! I also kinda had that feeling as I was designing the level generator. Some ideas I had were:

  • Character leveling system for upgrades etc
  • Adding more enemies
  • Increasing enemy health per floor or set of floors
  • Introducing more floor tiles to create other biomes/environments 
  • I also have been experimenting with adding keys and locked doors, similar to Zelda and Doom.
  • Maybe I need to make the boss level a bit earlier as well, maybe at like floor 3-5

I feel like these could help make the player feel as though they are actually progressing. 

Let me know if you have any ideas!

(+1)

Mini bosses every 2 or 3 levels would really help differentiate the play, and I like your idea of biomes/environments. If you add more enemies, you should think of ways to make them feel different from each other, like charging up and dashing, or firing projectiles. Best of luck if you end up continuing!