Really fun idea, though I didn't love it as much in practice.
It felt hard to line up a throw to actually knock people into the debris, and felt more fun to just kite them into it (for me at least).
Play game
Space Barbarian's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Artwork | #2265 | 3.621 | 3.621 |
| Audio | #3192 | 3.052 | 3.052 |
| Creativity | #3570 | 3.466 | 3.466 |
| Narrative | #4154 | 2.517 | 2.517 |
| Enjoyment | #4924 | 2.862 | 2.862 |
Ranked from 58 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
Enemies spawn on counted down waves. You have to survive the countdown. You have to avoid and push enemies to obstacles that are on a countdoun mechanic.
(Optional) Please credit all assets you've used
see description for full credits
(Optional) What would you like to be called if GMTK features your game?
MEssy Bytes
Comments
I like the idea, and the art is very charming as well. I don't know if it's just me but I felt like I was easily getting overwhelmed, but nevertheless it's a good game and one I'd like to see developed further.
Submitted
Trixie: Like ClockworkAs a fan of the old Starbarian series on Youtube back in the day, I KNEW I had to check this one out from the thumbnail alone, and I'm so so glad I did!
Character designs? Ace. The little grunt from picking up and chucking random space guff killed me every time. The mix of 2D and 3D was also super original and really sold the offbeat aesthetic, paired with a kickass soundtrack that was sick. Mechanically I liked how there wasn't just a "punch" button, in-fact having the throw only move and stun enemies made it a lot more tactical than it initially seems.. for a buff guy throwing things in space anyway!
Other little points, the menu and UI, really clean and arcadey, on-point.
Loved it!
As an aside, killer dev logo screen btw, slick with style.
Submitted
BLOWOUT.Had the same issue most had, where it just froze on the web build. I was ready to move on, but realised you had a download build and decided to give it a go. I'm pretty happy that I did, because the game is really cool!
Hopefully you're able to work on that freezing issue later so people like me don't move on too quickly!
Submitted
NOIAAyyy fellow space game! I loved yours, the energy and the gameplay loop was so silly and satisfying. Deciding whether to charge up an attack or go for a quick throw was really engaging too. I also had that weird freezing error at the beginning, but that seems like a known issue and its a game jam game, so it happens lol. It def wont affect my great rating! :D
Submitted
Blast Minute LAUNCH!Sometimes the game freezes after the starting animation, but the pressure the count down creates is nice. I like the art and the music!
Submitted
CountDown On MeReally good art and theme! I loved the barbarian and his "huh" sound affect. One think I found confusing was I felt like the enemies were only being stunned, not dying? But other than that, I wouldnt cahnge a thing! The mix of 3d and 2d is very good.
Submitted
Fish Train - In SpaceReally like the theme of this game. The art and music felt very classic! Sometimes the game would freeze after the starting animation but other than that it was great!
Submitted
CIPHERCLOCKOverall, I think I enjoyed it, I just had a few tingling things to see if I could maybe point out. I did get to see at the end though due to a bug where I wasn't able to die (I have no clue how it happened). But it did get me to analyze and see the general formations.
I think mainly I wish the mechanic can be engaged more of getting stuff killed under the debris. It was perfect with the initial enemies as you get to learn the ropes how to handle them. But when it came time to the ranged and brawlers, for my experience, it's really difficult to somehow "herd" them into position, and it felt like dumb luck that the board was cleared (like the asteroid was at the perfect position). I'm mainly saying this since it feels like this is the core game loop, getting something crushed w/ player interference. I think something on the AI should make it easier to herd or more of a way to know how to deal with them effectively would elevate the gameplay. Since yeah, I think what's only missing is reliable methods to do the main mechanic.
The music and sfx is nice, I do wish there is more "juice" to it so to speak, but they're not bad. And I mean I think yall are already familar with the perf. issues on the web build so I won't say much. The bugs I encountered are like a black health screen after getting knocked/damaged by a rock when I was at the bottom, I mean not being able to be killed...
After all that, I really like the creativity of the game loop, and it was enjoyable to go through. I love the general theming and the cool aspects of a big barbarian surviving in space. The main menu and pause menu are really polished and I got to learn the controls fairly quickly. I love the design of the monsters and the 3d + 2d esque combinations is an interesting direction for the artstyle that I did notice.
Edit: continuing on the game loop, I really like the use of herding stuff into position as a core part, and I see it as a really cool and interesting playing experience as whole for this. While on top of dodging and weaving.
Overall, I like the game, and the soul of it is still present (the whimsy : D), thank you for submitting in the game jam!
Submitted
FiniteWow. Thank you for the detailed comment.
We've fixed most of the issues that you mentioned, save the one being stuck at the bottom, since I still cannot reproduce it.
In regards to the juice... Yeah, I get you. We had to sacrifice a ton to make it to the deadline, being the small team we were (we were 4, only 2 of us were really programming). Same thing with the AI. I actually put something to make it easier to herd them, but it introduced so many impredictable things that we ended not using it just to avoid fixing that. Jam times means sacrifices have to be made sadly.
I'm glad you liked the game
I love this comment because it touches on my noted observations post-jam, more specifically on applying the main mechanic. It is evident that just throwing is not enough to efficiently keep the player's influence on enemy patterns. The "aggresive" enemies are also tough to manage because they move strictly different than the taunters at the start, which also makes balance that much trickier.
I am glad this comment exists and you took the time to write it up, as well as giving the game that deep look! Thank you so much for the support
I was confused at first because when the cutscene plays and the meteor launches the barbarian, the game froze and was stuck. But after restarting it went better. It's an original premise. The lag makes it hard but it's common with browser games in jams. My favorite bit is letting the aliens get crushed by the falling things.
Submitted
Bomberful!I sadly only managed to play a bit of this at first, as I had some pretty weird performance issues. I swapped over to a different browser from chrome though, and those issues went away.
I'm glad I moved over, because it was quite a fun little brawler! Throwing rocks and space debris at enemies to knock them into danger zones was really satisfying - and with some sound feedback on enemies getting hit by that debris I could really see this being some retro arcade game from the 90s. The music choice definitely cemented this, and fit the vibe this was going for perfectly.
The visual aesthetics were pretty cool too, the enemy choices for visuals were bizarre but that's the kind of thing you'd see in brawlers from that era. The throwing mechanic was just outright fun, too pancaking an enemy and watching them get crushed under a falling rock never gets old.
Really solid work!
Submitted
dELAUb: Drop 'Em Like An Ugly BabyGlad I got to play this with the creator, so they were able to guide me through known bugs, once we finally got started I had a blast, loved the art style, and they already have a fix for everything known! So stay tuned after the jam ends!
Submitted
Pink NoiseVery funny brawl game ! having the enemies group under the falling object was the funniest way to kill theme ! liked the design of the player and the base level monsters a lot !
Submitted
of Mice and MazesGreat vibe, it brings back memories of summer holidays with retro games!
Submitted
Ten in SpaceVery fun concept and use of the countdown, loved the artstyle :D Well done on your work ♥
Submitted
Stop it at ZeroFinally my thousands of hours training zombies in COD has a use. Herding enemies into the landing zones was a really cool mechanic I haven't seen before and the art + SFX were all super polished! great entry
Submitted
Buzzer Beater
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