LudumData

Graze by Merigrim

[raw]
made by Merigrim for LD32 (COMPO)
So I guess you could say I actually managed to finish this time. Though I would've liked to add more stuff and polish the mechanics and graphics, it's playable at least. I'm pretty satisfied though, since I spent most of the first day just trying to come up with an idea.

Graze is a bullet hell-style game where your goal is to destroy all your enemies, except you can't just shoot them.

In order to be able to fire your weapon, you need to absorb energy from the enemies' bullets, which is done by getting as close to the bullets as possible without getting hit. The closer you are, the faster your energy bar will fill up!

Once fully charged, you can fire a homing bullet that will hit the closest enemy. The faster you clear waves, the more points you will get.

There are currently 8 waves of enemies, after which the game will start over (however, the difficulty will still continue to increase for every wave you defeat).

Some bugs are present, and if I have time I will try to fix them. As far as I know they are very minor though (like a sound effect sometimes not playing when it should).

Controls:
Arrow keys/WASD - Move
Z - Roll
X - Fire weapon once fully charged
Escape - Return to title/close the game

Tools used:
Engine: Unity 5 (This was the first game I ever made in Unity, so the source code is very, very ugly. :P)
Graphics: Paint.NET
Music: Autotracker
Sound effects: sfxr
Map editor: Tiled

NOTE: I have tried to build an HTML5 version, but so far I have been unsuccessful. I will try to make one available tomorrow. Also, since I only have access to Windows at the moment, I cannot guarantee that the OSX and Linux version work properly.

Small update: Adjusted volume of bullet sounds as more enemies spawn, since the sound effects became really loud as the game progressed. I also removed the pillars in the corner which allowed the player to completely ignore the mechanics of the game. (I hope this falls under minor bug fixes.)

Old version:
Windows: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55495248/LD32/Graze.zip
Linux: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55495248/LD32/Graze_Linux.zip
OS X: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55495248/LD32/Graze.app.zip
Source: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55495248/LD32/Graze_Source.zip
Web (updated) http://merigrim.itch.io/graze-ld32
Windows (updated) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55495248/LD32/Graze_update.zip
OS/X (updated) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55495248/LD32/Graze.app_update.zip
Linux (updated) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55495248/LD32/Grace_Linux_update.zip
Source (updated) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55495248/LD32/Graze_update.zip
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-32/?action=preview&uid=14643

Ratings

Coolness 57% 3
Overall 3.40 344
Audio 3.00 393
Fun 3.28 371
Graphics 3.06 546
Humor 1.89 906
Innovation 3.48 295
Mood 2.74 701
Theme 2.84 891

Feedback

doitle
20. Apr 2015 · 02:16 UTC
This is a pretty unique concept and very hard. I'm not sure if there was a mechanic I was missing but it was near impossible to line up a shot on the enemies without getting shot yourself. I did manage it twice so it is possible, just difficult. Otherwise it seems pretty polished, graphics look good and it's very responsive. Well done.
redding
20. Apr 2015 · 02:18 UTC
The game is very hard, and I like it. I just wish it had some sort of checkpoint system.
FireCamp
20. Apr 2015 · 02:18 UTC
The game is nice overall. Like the idea !
In the execution, like you gain a lot at once when close to some bullets, and you can gain power being behind walls. the sound of bullets is a bit loud i think. Otherwise cool idea, but so hard !
Uruca Games
20. Apr 2015 · 02:32 UTC
The ideia is great. because the enemies are standing at the same place, you can find a point on the pilasters and stay the whole game just stopped killing them. This leaves the less challenging game.
monkeedude1212
20. Apr 2015 · 02:33 UTC
Controls felt good, fun to play. Good level progression. Liked the audio/music as well. Didn't seem to have anything to do with the theme this time around? Would have liked to see the controls mentioned inside the game/on the start screen.
Ludipe
20. Apr 2015 · 02:38 UTC
I think I made it to round 5.

I thought the main mechanic was pretty clever and interesting. Usually in bullet hells you try to stay as far as possible from the bullets, however, here you're rewarded for being near them, that's pretty neat! :D

Sadly it's easy to use the columns to trick the enemies, but I'm sure it can be fixed easily.

Good work!^^
shyupuff
20. Apr 2015 · 02:44 UTC
Wow this is really hard. I like the music and the charging mechanic. And that roll is great. Nice job!
Kahztein
20. Apr 2015 · 02:47 UTC
It is a great game, it's original, music is catchy, and I was able to replay it a few times, good job!
Leon75
20. Apr 2015 · 02:50 UTC
Very fun game, I love bullet hell games. Only issue is that the shooting audio gets really loud over time, should probably lower it.
Neonlare
20. Apr 2015 · 03:02 UTC
Nice feel to the game, it's very hard to dodge and does get pretty hectic, if the hitbox of the character was smaller like other Danmaku inspired games it'd be a lot easier to graze bullets for energy. Digging this on all fronts, good job!
fleegle2000
20. Apr 2015 · 03:14 UTC
Interesting mechanic. I wasn't quite sure what was going on at first but that was just because I didn't read the instructions :) I only made it to the second level - it is quite challenging. Graphics and audio are nice! Good work!
TheBigShot
20. Apr 2015 · 03:15 UTC
Veyr nice idea. It a very nice game, but the execution is a bit flawed. After a while the audio became anoying. But I am a fan of these kinds of games. And its pretty good :)
Matsuki
20. Apr 2015 · 03:19 UTC
Game was pretty hard, but once I figured out how to charge your weapon (and the name became super obvious afterwards) it was pretty fun
sydan
20. Apr 2015 · 03:31 UTC
This was good fun :) it reminds me of times when games were much harder, not sure if that's good or bad. I did find that I could break the game by standing behind a pyramid near a corner and soaking up energy.
Danman9914
20. Apr 2015 · 03:55 UTC
The concept of recharging when you are near enemy projectiles is extremely compelling! Well done. In my opinion it is undermined slightly by the ability to shoot through walls. High points for fun and innovation!
Fanttum
20. Apr 2015 · 04:10 UTC
I didn't really get it at first, but then my mind was blown, haha. Great way to challenge the player. I thought it looked good too.
sally_anne
20. Apr 2015 · 04:51 UTC
From looking at the comments I worked out the key to playing but it was too difficult to be engaging for me.
ErikU
20. Apr 2015 · 05:06 UTC
Slick title! Agree with the others, it is quite hard and a checkpoint system would be nice. But otherwise it's a really nice little shooter. The roll really comes in handy.
KedumeBits
20. Apr 2015 · 09:36 UTC
Original weapon.
DragonXVI
20. Apr 2015 · 16:46 UTC
Interesting twist, reminds me a bit of Bangai-O where the closer you are to enemy bullets, the more missiles you fire. Simple enough to play.
Newt_
20. Apr 2015 · 22:26 UTC
Very nice work! It was a little too hard for me, but everything seems very polished!
sugarbyte
20. Apr 2015 · 23:53 UTC
Nice job!
johnnwfs
21. Apr 2015 · 00:41 UTC
I liked this one - it is crazy hard and I do think the bullets were relatively too loud vs. the music. Wasn't annoyed by the music but then I gave up after not getting past level 3 in 5 tries :-D Good overall job. If anything moving the pylons between levels might have been a good changeup.
43iscoding
21. Apr 2015 · 16:08 UTC
Interesting concept, I don't think I have seen this one earlier. Graphics and sounds are simple, but looks neat together. The game looks pretty polished.

And I liked the game's hardcore difficulty :D
arrogant.gamer
21. Apr 2015 · 21:13 UTC
I got 5,000,000 points and beat every level twice! Am I the high-scoring player?

I really enjoyed this game, but probably not in the way you intended. Here is some somewhat thoughtful feedback:

http://arrogantgamer.tumblr.com/post/117027640379/graze-will-never-be-the-queen-of-arena-fighters-a
🎤 Merigrim
22. Apr 2015 · 00:20 UTC
Thanks for the feedback everyone :)
I have fixed the gamebreaking exploit and adjusted the volume of bullets in later stages.
RoryD
22. Apr 2015 · 03:48 UTC
Cool idea. Game was too hard for me though. Need to start off with a more forgiving level so players can get a chance to learn the game mechanic.
Blunt
22. Apr 2015 · 12:05 UTC
Great concept.
Horsed
22. Apr 2015 · 12:46 UTC
Man, that's a hard game for me! I like it. It misses some more effects though.
Ludonaut
22. Apr 2015 · 16:47 UTC
Cool idea, very hard game. You should try to juice it up a bit. :)
SecondDimension
24. Apr 2015 · 20:22 UTC
Very fun game with an interesting mechanic, was a fun challenge.
Geckoo1337
29. Apr 2015 · 21:41 UTC
Interesting concept. I like it. All works well. I think that this project can be improved by adding some features, but it's good enough. Well done ++
MrShoestore
30. Apr 2015 · 02:10 UTC
I really like this because it focuses on one aspect of bullet hell shoot-em-ups that I personally struggle with... dodging. i suck at dodging, so i like seeing games where that is your main tool.