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BalaArma's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Art/Graphics | #16 | 3.833 | 3.833 |
| Audio/Music | #16 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
| Fun/Engagement | #19 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
| Overall | #20 | 3.361 | 3.361 |
| Theme | #39 | 2.944 | 2.944 |
Ranked from 18 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Did you work alone, or as part of a group? (If in a group, list their names)
Alone
Did you use any publicly available assets? (List the type of assets used.)
Yes. Some sound effects were taken from Freesounds.org
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Comments
I love the pixel art, and the mechanics are really lovely! The only minor thing for me was the effect when killing an enemy—the camera shake felt just a little bit too intense. But overall, I had a lot of fun playing it! Great job! :)
Wow, this game is really fun. I’ve made it to level 14, but unfortunately, my movements are restricted on level 14 due to a bug. Still, the game is absolutely fantastic thanks to its music, theme, and gameplay. Congratulations!
Thanks for playing! And, I'm sorry to hear that. If you wouldn't mind, could you describe what exactaly happened? Did you stop moving, did the game became too slow to continue playing?
This is an interesting game! Currently, I don't really know if there is other way on collecting juice other than collecting it from the highways, the shooting mechanic is a bit confusing. However, the visuals looks really polished and the audio feels right too, just need some more SFX for the shooting and hit feedback SFX for it to sound more juicy. Great work!
Thanks! I'm trying to adress soome of the issues in a future patch. But thanks for playing my game!
A speedy and engaging submission that was chock-full of juice and game feel! I think it would have benefitted from the camera being zoomed out a bit more, since going at fast speeds (the more fun thing) usually led to me getting hurt because enemies felt like they came from out of nowhere. I also think it would have been cool to have the ability to jump on enemies to kill them, to give the jump move a bit more purpose, and also give another way to kill enemies that doesn't require slowing down to shoot them. Other than that though, I had a lot of fun zooming down the highways to collect more juice. Good work on this submission!
Thanks! I'm already working on some of these issues. I have currently an experimental patch I expect to release after the jam, that has the zoomed out camera and faster enemies! If you want to experiment it here's the link for it:
https://crootr.itch.io/balaarma-exptch
The password is "balaboy"
I love the look of the game the most for sure! the designs and color palette really helps this game stand apart from the others.
The combat could have benefitted a lot from a tutorial as I felt like I couldn't really get a grasp on what I was supposed to be doing or how to make the shooting more reliable. I recorded my first impressions and initial gameplay for you, so I'll keep my comment brief.
All in all, I think it has a lot of potential, but I found the combat to be a bit cumbersome.
I'm gonna attempt to revemp the combat system for a later patch.
I think this is a really wonderful game idea! It took a while for me to understand what I was supposed to do, I do think it would've benefitted for a more complete tutorial. I had a lot of fun with it.
Thanks for playing and I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
The lack of a tutorial is mostly the reason I made the itch page more flashy, with gifs and some explainations.😅 I really hope to add more stuff (including the in-game tutorial) after the jam.
Love the artstyle, but maybe I just didn't get the way you are supposed to play. I imagine you should dash and jump over the enemies to dodge but the camera is too zoomed in for me, personally, and I found it way easier to just stand still and shoot slowly back towards the horde of enemies.
The upgrades seemed to not change very much but I appreciate they are there at least to give a sense of progression.
Overall I liked the gameplay loop I ended up with but not sure it was intended.
Great game, good job!
Yeah, the original concept was for the gameplay center around running around the city, as much more capable enemies tried to chase the player, and the player would shoot them down during their chase.
The upgrades also ended up being a subproduct of my poor management (ironic), as I wanted more mechanical upgrades over the stat upgrades I ened up with.
In retrospect, as much as I also enjoy the BalaArma I have now, I can't deny it was a major subproduct of my choice of changing my gameplay loop midway through the jam.
But, all in all, thanks for enjoying my game! It means a lot for me!
Bit of mixed feelings on this one. The arcadey game loop interested me almost immediately, and I loved pretty much everything about the style: the pixel art, music, sound, and character design are all great. The one weak spot with the presentation was that there was seemingly no sound effect when charging a dash or shooting. Not that I even realized the first time I played, since I didn't even know the dash was a move I had. Instead, I got by just by looking around for fuel and jumping over and dodging enemies until so many of them spawned that it caused the game to lag. I appreciate that more types of enemies spawned as it went on, but they take a while to start showing up, making it feel like there's little progression. It's kind of telling when I quit a game like this before I die once. I only died when I tried again later and started trying to kill enemies with the dash and shoot, which isn't a great sign. If there was more of an incentive to defeat foes, I think the game would improve substantially.
Yeah, it is a major issue. I got to do sfx and game juice mostly on the 2 hours of the extended deadline. I hope to add them during the aftermath of the jam. Furthermore, I also wanna include an in-game tutorial to teach the player.
The project was grandly hindered due to my poor management skills and decision to just ditch the first project I was working for the jam, 5 days after the jam started.
But I'm glad you liked the experience! Hope you stay around for the post-jam stuff!