Congrats on completing SHELL DEFENSE for the jam! Making and submitting your first game jam entry is a massive milestone, so you should be really proud of getting this across the finish line.

The art style is super charming and it actually looks like there was put passion into this game. I especially loved the weapon progression system—switching up the shell shots in the later waves added a nice layer of strategy to keep up with the tougher enemy types! The sound design with the ocean ambience and punchy shooting SFX set a really nice atmosphere, too.

I saw in the comments that you ran short on time for everything you wanted to implement, but honestly, as a foundation, this is solid. Expanding on this post-jam with a wave indicator/progress bar, maybe some upgrades, or a few more enemy movement patterns would take it to the next level.

Awesome job, keep creating, and good luck with the jam ratings! 🦀🐚

The artstyle is really cute and for a first jam this is great! reminds me of those retro handheld games

Congratulations on your first game, that's a big hurdle and this is very polished for something like that. I enjoyed playing this game, especially later on when the shell shots (???) allowed for more choices on who to attack and when. The game is very hard as is, feeling almost like an arcade game. Loved the art style, from the sketched covers and level screens to the characters top down, very cute, and that combined with the sound were very cohesive. 

Quite fun

I can imagine adding roguelike twist to this, like after every level you can choose to upgrade shooting speed, damage, more health, etc.

Super cool! You can really see that a lot of effort went into this

this is super cool! i love the different enemies, and level three was fun! id love to see how you could implement more enemies and shooting mechanics. 

Hello tab3ri, great game! And congrats on your first jam entry!

I have a couple of suggestions and comments for you if you're interested. I'll try to avoid things that have already been stated in the comments.

What you did well:

Your art style is great. It's cute and simplistic, and the enemies are distinct enough to where you can instantly identify how they work.

The enemy composition is done good. You have a fast but low health enemy, slower enemies but more tanky, and then a very high health enemy but with a bigger size and very slow speed.

The level changes are good. Your bullets changing in fire rate and damage between the 3 waves makes the gameplay more dynamic. I really loved the purple bullets.

Suggestions:

I think an enemy that moves a bit diagonally could make the game more fun.

Early hooks are important. One example is a wave progress bar or some sort of indicator. Until wave 1 ended I thought there was nothing else to the game.

The ocean sounds in the background are nice but music would be a great addition.

Overall, great job. If you intend to keep participating in game jams I wish you the best of luck!

fun game! a little slow paced tho, would like mroe action but stil fun

Great submission! I think if the gameplay was a bit faster it would make it more difficult in a nice memorable way. Love it!

really my only critique is that the game is kinda slow, but other than that really good, especially for a first project! hopefully you continue to make stuff after this! :)

the player was slow but good game !

this is honestly impressive for your first project AND first game jam! i have a feeling that you’re only just getting started. keep it up! :)

that said, i have a few things to note:

• the sound effects tend to be on the louder side and i feel like having a settings option to adjust that (or making the adjustment manually) would help rectify this and allow a bit more control on that end. other than that, the sounds themselves were lovely!

• your use of theme here is adequate, but as already mentioned, i feel like there’s a lot of potential to have the shell be more integrated into gameplay as opposed to simply being a plot device for the narrative. it kind of just… exists at the moment.

• without a clear tell of how long the waves are lasting, i feel that the gameplay tends to drag on for a while. however, i do appreciate that you added some new variety between the levels to keep things at least mostly engaging throughout!

• on the innovation side of things, i love how the red crab’s weapon upgrades itself over time (even if i do think that the second one of that bunch is a little on the sluggish side, but that’s more of a nitpick than anything) to keep up with the tougher and meaner crabs washing up onto shore. the different properties for the shots was a nice touch too!

• the art was really cute and added to the atmosphere! you definitely did better than you gave yourself credit for, and i think that’s worth something! considering that you also did this on your own, it turned out to be serviceable for what you were aiming to accomplish!

Fun: This was fun! I had a moment playing this game where I thought, "okay I think I've seen everything this game has to offer, unless the next level has something cool" and then it did and it was awesome. I think it can feel a bit slow at times, however.

Innovation: I thought the way that the player gains a new weapon as the enemies get stronger was cool and interesting.

Art: I found the art to be cute and it did all it needed to

Sound: I thought the sound effects were a bit loud, but other than that, they were good! 

Theme: Fits the theme, however I wish you incorporated the shell more into the gameplay more than it just being a narrative element

The sound effects for the game were well-done! I thought the shooting sound was perfect and the water washing over the shore before the round started was a nice touch. The images were cute and the concept was great! I also think the different shell shooting effects were cool, especially the third. A visible count of remaining enemies would help the player understand the length/ difficulty of the level. Really nice work and congrats on your first game jam entry! 

really fun