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Countdown Fever's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Narrative | #385 | 3.880 | 3.880 |
| Audio | #614 | 3.720 | 3.720 |
| Enjoyment | #1172 | 3.720 | 3.720 |
| Creativity | #1601 | 3.880 | 3.880 |
| Artwork | #6422 | 2.640 | 2.640 |
Ranked from 25 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?
The theme of this jam is COUNTDOWN, and you can tell by the name that I took it quite literally. All of your abilities and the even the environment's abilities run on a strict countdown that automatically activates your abilities, so you must play around them. Even the main timer is a giant countdown to the end of the game show, but if you beat the game and understand the story then you can see how the theme fits even more. I threw in a fun interesting story just to spice up the theme and make it fit better. Moral of the story, life is one big countdown, so don't waste it
(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?
ShoobyDoopy (Brendan)
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Comments
Really good game. I loved the abilities and the bosses. Also, cool twist at the end.
I loved hearing the voice talking to me but the idea of abilities on count downs that you can't control was quite interesting! I didn't like that there was a lot of down time with nothing to do but dodge, so maybe having an ability that doesn't do a lot of damage but has a short count down would be nice to have. Excellent idea and I'd love to see it developed more!
The game is ok, but it feels very unbalanced at times, mostly in the final level and the number of enemies that spawn in comparison to the frequency you can do damage. Good work on the voice acting though!
Putting all the work in the voice acting. Interesting strategy.
had a great time with this one, the ranged abilities felt a bit underpowered, and I mostly just relied on the pulse and the shield, but juggling all the powers while moving around the arena was a lot of fun. Would love to see this concept polished up and explored more in future, but either way congrats on the submission, you made something really cool (also, maybe make the credits text a bit bigger next time? the names were so small I could barely read them :D )
I love how unserious the game takes. Quite the developer dream to see your default capsule running around and unanimated character chasing after you. Unfortunately I couldnt get pass level 2 because of how difficult the level became but I had a blast playing it. Props to the voice acting for elevating the game and good job overall!
Solid idea. Having some ranged and some aoe abilities really makes you think about your positioning on the arena. The game show setting is really cool too. Great stuff.
That was fun! I really like the announcer, the voice acting was great, that was a great touch :D
Nice voice acting. I don't feel I get hit though, is it bugged?
That was delightful. I've always loved the gameshow level of RPG's and this game had that same great atmosphere. The mouse/aiming system took me a few tries to get the hang of, but I'm not the best at these types of games anyway.
I loved the system you seemed to have for the announcer responding to the player's actions. Were the audio cues randomized or were they actually linked to what was happening during a round? I thought I was noticing a correlation between when I was getting hurt and a more negative comment from the voice, but I wasn't completely certain.
Yea the announcers dialogue was made specifically to respond to the player's actions. When the player got hit the announcer would make fun of you and the whole audience would cheer and the opposite when you killed a bunch of enemies. There are a few other circumstances, but I am glad that you enjoyed the game!!!
Thank you for taking time out of your day to make this review for me!!! It gave a lot of helpful criticism. First of all, I am glad you enjoyed the gameplay and all of the effort that went into the game, but you are right about the rough edges. There were a few bugs that I would have hoped to have cleaned up before the game got published, but sadly time was cutting close. I was also trying to address the engaging gameplay issue with more things that the arena would do, but once again the scope was too high. I also appreciate your feedback on the story. I agree that a stronger beginning of the story would have led to the ending hitting much harder. Overall, thank you for this review and your feedback was taken!!!
Like the voice acting and gameshow vibes although sometimes audio would overlap making it a bit difficult to hear. Really enjoyed the game great job
Thank you for the kind words!!! The voice acting overlapping is definitely a problem. I will consider this for next time
Really cute arena shooter and great theming! Unfortunately there was just too much going on for me to be any good at it :'(
Yea I probably could have eased the player in especially considering how intense the game gets sometimes. Thank you for playing though!!!
Loved the instant immersive game show vibe. Very fun intro. Pulse was so satisfying to use, especially when it lines up with the dash into a big group.
Yea the pulse was probably my favorite to play around with. Thank you for the review!!!
Incredible Narration! Had me sweating in round three for a moment. I like that story that was being formed by the end. Great game and use of the theme.
Thank you so much!!! I am glad you enjoyed the story and had fun
I liked the voices, the moues aiming took a minute to get the hang of the only negative commit is that I think you should have put a skip button on the explanation, overall, well done good luck.
Thank you so much for the review!!! I do agree that I could have had a skip button, especially considering there is a lot of dialogue.
I love the voice acting!!!! The theme of the game is really good and it creates a good atmosphere wrapping the core gimmick of the gameplay! The audience reaction is a really nice touch and the reactive dialogue from the "game host" is really good! The gameplay itself is also nice, finding out what abilities is the best is fun. I feel like the shield + pulse upgrade pair is quite OP though since (if I understood it correctly) it completely blocks any damage so if you pair it with the pulse ability you can clear out a large area of enemies, so I think maybe some more balancing will make the game more strategic*!
The only unpolished look is the UI indicating the ability cooldowns. I feel like using a slider (or a round slider) will make the game even better, since the text does make the game seem unpolished. The subtitles however are a nice touch and I feel like they do the job properly even for how simple it looks.
Overall I feel like the game is very cohesive, plays into the arena / "game show" narrative and fits really well with the jam theme. Really fun game!
Thank you for the feedback!! Yea I definitely noticed that shield and pulse were kind of broken while skills like the poor laser were not as good. Oh, and the UI is very interesting since I literally made some simple UI using icons for the abilities but didn't have time to implement it since it broke it and I was running close to the deadline. Sucks I had to cut. I appreciate all the feedback and I will definitely let the voice actor know that everyone is seeming to love his role in the game
Really good idea, the voice acting was the best part of the all game, how it reacts if you get hit or if certain enemy pops up is very creative. Also the sound of the arena is well done, the only problem I had was the sensibility of the aim but it´s a tiny mistake. In conclusion, great job :)
Thank you so much!!! I actually had a settings menu that had sound and sensitivity, but I had to remove it last second because it broke the whole game 😅
Fun game all about watching your countdowns and placement in the arena! Smart idea! Announcer is epic.
Thank you so much, I give the VA so much credit for how this game turned out!!!
Really enjoyed this one! The arena setting immediately pulled me in, and the opening cutscene with the voice-acted announcer did a fantastic job onboarding the player. "A confused player is a boring player." I think the game really lives up to that.
I also liked how every ability is tied to its own countdown while the player's only direct control is movement. It's a simple idea that creates surprisingly engaging gameplay, and honestly, it's really impressive for a game jam project.
The only thing that caught me off guard at first was the upgrade system. It took me a little while to figure out how it worked, but once it clicked, it made sense.
I may have fallen off the arena a few more times than I'd like to admit 😂, but I still managed to make it to Round 3 and had a great time. The whole arena-show presentation, combined with the announcer and the plot twist at the end, gives the game a lot of personality.
I can definitely see the potential for this to grow into a really fun arena survival game.
Great work, and best of luck in the jam! 🎉
Thank you so much!!! I definitely appreciate the feedback. I am glad you liked the game and yea I could have explained some of the systems a little better, but I will consider that next time.