IGC Test Buddies 001: Jan 2026

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A jam submission

Call of the HordeView game page

Twin Stick Horde Shooter

Submitted by DietDrMilk — 3 days, 15 hours before the deadline

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Call of the Horde's itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
Satisfying Interactions	#9	3.833	3.833
Compelling Gameplay	#10	3.833	3.833
Overall	#21	3.233	3.233
Appealing Theme	#23	3.500	3.500
Made Me Think	#28	2.333	2.333
Stylish Visuals	#31	2.667	2.667

Ranked from 6 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Coast City GamesSubmitted248 days ago

Hey, I will drop my feedback below:

How does gunplay feel?

It is mostly ok, I think ammo counter is far away from action and I would like a clearer separation between sprint energy and recharging weapon feedback.

Imo the camera should be clamped to avoid it going too far away from the player.

How does the zombie threat feel?

If feels ok, I would like more variety than slow zombie and fast zombie though.

Does this game feel like CoD Zombies to you?

I think the core idea is replicated well here.

What aspect to you feels the most like Zombies?

Building barricades, buying weapons, upgrades and special items.

What aspect feels the least like Zombies?

Camera perspective, level layout, enemy types, low depth in weapon upgrade system, being in plain daylight.

Other than easter eggs, perks, and mystery box, is this game missing something that makes it not feel like Zombies?

I think I feel less inmersion here because of the camera perspective and the fact that it happens in daylight with no usage of darker environments and illumination layout to generate more tension.

What is most frustrating?

Aiming at some zombie and losing info about your character is because the camera moves very far away.

It's odd that the zombies can go through windows but the player can't do the same.

It wasn't clear for me how much time I got left in a round and exactly how many time (second to second) I had left before a new round would start.

What is your favorite part?

The tension of not knowing if you will survive a zombie attack feels good.

DietDrMilkDeveloper244 days ago(+1)

Thanks for the feedback! Art style is a huge issue and will be updated. As far as how long until the next round, there is a message at the start of a round telling you when the next wave will start, as long with a message when the first spawn starts. In the future, there will also be audio queues.

Do you think the aiming is really only a problem for the sniper or also other weapons as well?

Coast City GamesSubmitted244 days ago

I think the effect you are going for is nice but the camera should be clamped to avoid going too far from the player for all the weapons not just the sniper.

DietDrMilkDeveloper243 days ago(+1)

Hmm, I'm so torn on how to approach the issue. The far view is necessary, but It's a common enough complaint that I think I do need to clamp it.

Which would you say is the main reason the camera is annoying? You can pick more than one, but if you do, can you rank them in order of most problematic?

Navigating the environment gets hard when not in view.
Crucial UI elements (status bars and health) are centered around the player, and therefor are out of view.
Can't tell if enemies are nearby and therefore, can't tell if you're in danger and respond appropriately.
Controlling the right aim position/distance is difficult due to how much the camera distance can scroll changes.
Scrolling too far makes aiming in the opposite direction too slow
Other

How do you feel about the idea of the following possible solutions?

Cap camera, but add an ADS button allowing you best of both worlds. look far away and better line up multi-kills
There is an attachment system planned in the full release. Base weapons would have their aim clamped, but you could optionally chose to attach a sight that gives you the current unclamped aiming.
Leave the current camera system, but show a mini-map or onscreen indicators when zombies are getting close so it is more apparent if you are in immediate danger and where you are in the environment.

Coast City GamesSubmitted243 days ago (1 edit)

Glad that feedback helps, about your questions:

Imo mostly 3 then 1, 5, 2, 4 in that order.

About your ideas on how to improve I like 1 the most, maybe it can even be the right click button that is kind of standard for aiming. Having some onscreen indicators would be nice as well imo.

DietDrMilkDeveloper242 days ago

Thanks for the feedback! I had a failed ADS prototype, but all the feedback can hopefully help me find a happy medium.

DietDrMilkDeveloper196 days ago

There is a new build of the game on the page so I'd be curious if it addresses some of your biggest concerns from the jam. Mainly overhauled the graphics and made it so the "hip fire" aim doesn't scroll vary far and you have an optional ADS for the times you do want to aim further away. There are some minor small things as well, but the big thing still not added is more depth in enemies and weapon upgrades, but there are now melee weapons and grenades.

micahpharohSubmitted249 days ago

Very fun! Similar in a lot of ways to my game ReDead. I was worried about the aim but it felt pretty good once I got used to it (though I would prefer the camera to lead the character instead of lagging behind so that I can see where I'm going). The decals for footsteps and bullet holes were a nice touch but they would look better if they didn't have to align with the grid. The shooting felt good overall but slowing the character down so much with heavier weapons kind of took away from the power fantasy. I would also like to see more open spaces with enemies coming from multiple directions. Overall I had a good time with it.

Submitted

DietDrMilkDeveloper249 days ago(+1)

thanks for the play and I planned on checking your game out as well! Some responses to your feedback:

The aim lagging and slowing the player’s movement is to simulate weapons being harder to handle. They are a bit exaggerated in this prototype for the sake of testing levers. Did handling feel too clunky across all weapons or specific ones? Handling goes in the order pistol -> smg —> shotgun -> ar -> rifle -> lmg.
The layout will change to start you outside the building and lead to more tense situations. What round did you make it to? I wonder if difficulty didn’t scale as fast as you’d like?
About openness and surrounded. Is the problem one or more of the following: areas weren’t open enough, zombies funneled too much from one direction, there weren’t ever enough zombies on screen to feel surrounded, or something else?

micahpharohSubmitted249 days ago(+1)

My expectation as a player is that unlocking new weapons will make it easier to handle the number of enemies the game is throwing at me. The problem is that each new weapon slowed down my movement and in some cases made it harder to deal with the horde. The weapon accuracy felt very punishing and only seemed to get worse with the heavier weapons. It's not really a game that will let me sit and defend one position but the weapons punished me for trying to move around too much. A lot of your mechanics seem like they were made for a slower and more strategic shooter but the gameplay fits a faster run-n-gun playstyle.
I don't recall what wave I made it to but I had unlocked all of the weapons and doors. I think the interiors felt about right but the exteriors were oddly claustrophobic. I played a few more times with selecting higher starting waves (50 and 100). The enemy count seemed suitably overwhelming and they came at me from all directions due to their spawn points.
If I got surrounded it was only because of the spawns and the constrictive environment. With ReDead we made a system that tries to predict where the player is going. The zombies became much more fun to fight because they're more reactive and try to cut off the player's movement. It also meant that open spaces suddenly became dangerous to the player and we didn't need to rely on other environmental constraints. I'm not trying to claim that our way is best, it's just something that worked for our project.

DietDrMilkDeveloper249 days ago

thanks for all that wonderful feedback! Will hopefully get to test your game tomorrow and compare and leave feedback!

All valid points and obvious in hindsight! Will definitely be fixed in the next version.
I think the redesign may help then. I agree it takes too long to get “difficult” once you get used to the game.
My zombie AI did have heavy flanking in the beginning, but they felt too smart. Combine with them being hard to kill, it felt punishing to do anything but camp. Will definitely compare your choice. Maybe I just didn’t balance it right.

micahpharohSubmitted249 days ago

It's definitely good to add multiple difficulty levels for the player to choose from. It's hard to find a balance that works for everyone. Even among first time players there can be a big gap in what level of challenge they might enjoy.

DietDrMilkDeveloper243 days ago(+1)

I checked out your game and it was fun!

In terms of difficulty, I'm thinking of giving players custom settings for the match. Ideally I would love for this game to encourage playing with friends. So having different game modes (just twist on the match rules) and having custom settings will hopefully allow some really casual almost friend slop fun.

DietDrMilkDeveloper196 days ago(+1)

There is a new build of the game on the page so I'd be curious if it addresses some of your biggest concerns from the jam. As far as your initial feedback, I've balanced weapons a bit more so you're not as strongly punished for the bigger weapons and overall made each weapon a bit more practical hopefully.

As far as map layout, I've also adjusted the layout slightly so you have more room in the "alleyways" to move between the deadzones easier. I've also changed the starting room to be outside the building to reinforce the idea that the building is the safe heaven, and giving the player options on how they want to navigate the map and which paths they want opened. I've also added the mystery box, med kits, and stronger one-shot weapons to be outside of the building to give the player a reason to leave the building.

Anas3101Submitted251 days ago(+1)

hey i just played this and left my feedback on the discord

Submitted

Dash Catch Smash MVP

DietDrMilkDeveloper196 days ago

As you'll see on discord, there is a new version of the game and I'd greatly appreciate if you took a quick moment to see how the build compares! You didn't have a whole lot of negative feedback, but I feel with the added mystery box and graphics overall, it brings the game that much closer to the CoD Zombies feel!

Alan BeyersdorfSubmitted253 days ago

Hi DietDrMilk!
I playtested Call of the Horde and answered the playtest questions you provided in the game's main page. Thanks for submitting your game! I had fun with it. It's not a game type I usually play!

How does gunplay feel?
1. Gunplay feels strong with the starting gun having good sound effects. I didn’t purchase any of the other guns since I was focusing on repairing barricades
How does the zombie threat feel?
1. The zombie threat felt strong and balanced. I couldn’t survive longer than 10 minutes. I got overwhelmed because I didn’t patch up the windows fast enough.
Does this game feel like CoD Zombies to you?
1. I only played CoD Zombies once. It’s hard to compare because, a lot of the appeal of CoD zombies was the space management and also a sense of fear/dread from the look of the zombies themselves. The art style of this game did not give that same feeling.
What aspect to you feels the most like Zombies?
1. The ammo management felt most like Zombies. I don’t have much experience with Zombies.
What aspect feels the least like Zombies?
1. The art style. I didn’t get as much of a sense of defending a physical space. I’m wondering if there are other games like Zombies but in 2D to compare this too?
Other than easter eggs, perks, and mystery box, is this game missing something that makes it not feel like Zombies?
1. Unsure. Maybe a greater sense of dread, scare, or unease?
What is most frustrating?
1. Not being able to read all of the text. Possibly the difficulty ramps up too quickly. I didn’t have much of a chance to upgrade my character and “feel powerful”. Maybe that’s the point?
What is your favorite part?
1. Running around and trying to survive a horde that was coming after me! This is probably where the magic is. I’m just not good enough at this game to survive longer and have more of those situations.

Submitted

The Radiation Is Cosmic

DietDrMilkDeveloper249 days ago

Glad you enjoyed it! I don’t typically play top down shooters either, so I wanted to make one I would enjoy. And here are some responses to your feedback!

You will die very quickly with new weapons and upgrades. The next update will hopefully guide the player into better progression.
This game is difficult. A full release will have ways to make it easier.
A darker color palette is coming to address the atmosphere. I’d love to hear your feedback if the colors help or if a bigger art change is needed.
N/A
This map is currently framed as “defend the building”, but the concept is “utilize all the space to survive”. I plan on changing the layout to reinforce the correct intent. References for CoD Zombies clones (especially in 2D) are scarce. I mainly using older games like Enter the Gungeon and Zombieville.
Agreed. Proper visuals and sound will be key.
The darker palette will help text visibility. Zombies has the flow of powerless -> powerful -> powerless. However, after watching others play, the economy is steep early game keeping beginners constrained. Is the economy blocking you or is it something else?
Hopefully the next build allows players to get further.

DietDrMilkDeveloper196 days ago

I've uploaded a new build and I'd love to have you play it and see if it's addressed some of your major concerns! The most noticeable change is in art direction with a much darker color palette and lighting that will both hopefully give a bigger sense of dread and make the text way easier to read. There were also some slight difficulty balances to hopefully allow things to progress a bit faster. Shorter rounds, lower prices, and buffed weapons. There are also more things to aid in your survival with melee weapons, grenades, and medkits to hopefully allow you to live longer to get to the point of feeling more powerful!

DietDrMilkDeveloper256 days ago

Dev here, I'm mainly just looking for feedback of my prototype and if you could see this game polished up into something worth playing a full version of.