One upgrade in heart by Tonasz

[raw]
made by Tonasz for LD28 (COMPO)
Simple rhytm-based game, where defeating an enemy allows you upgrade your robot body and helps you rescue captived love. But remember - you will only get one upgrade after each battle. And that's not the only thing, you can only get one...

That's my first Ludum Dare entry. Moreover - that's propably my first finished game! Doing this in 48 hours was my huge personal achievment. Thank you Ludum Dare community and thank you my three friends (especially Tonny) who were encouraging me whole time.

Tools I used:
Engine: Unity 4.3
Graphic: Inkspace
Sounds: http://chirp.rezoner.net/composer/

EDIT:
I made second, more polished version of the game, mostly based on your comments. One more day of work was what I needed. I encourage you to check it, but remember that your votes must be based on original compo version.
http://tonasz.com/oneupgrade/

Ratings

Coolness 85% 2
Overall 2.93 570
Audio 2.41 540
Fun 2.86 498
Graphics 3.05 436
Humor 2.78 291
Innovation 2.91 507
Mood 2.72 518
Theme 2.42 756

Feedback

errorage
16. Dec 2013 · 16:34 UTC
Quite an interesting fighting game.
Gravedrinker
16. Dec 2013 · 16:34 UTC
Nice idea with the rhythm game combat. If the hits had a bit more impact that would make it feel better I think. Nice job.
Udell Games
16. Dec 2013 · 16:35 UTC
Didn't seem very lenient, and there's no feedback to say when I've hit the arrows at the right time. Art is great though.
Leithain
16. Dec 2013 · 16:36 UTC
That ending!
joserodolfofreitas
16. Dec 2013 · 16:48 UTC
Nice usage of rythm aspects. I've also used rythm with arrow keys on my game entry.
I liked the way you created the upgrading choice. I missed a way to compare my current equipment with the one I'm about to choose, though.
I also felt that choosing "+1 live" is a generally better than others powerups, which make the choice a little bit unbalanced.
In overall the game is pretty neat, and the music fits the ambient nicely.
zconnelly13
16. Dec 2013 · 16:49 UTC
I really enjoyed this game :) I was confused about the robots moving before I completed a series of arrows at first. I also was unsure about when I was hitting my mark. Some sort of visual to show when I hit an arrow (maybe the white line turns a color and the arrow turns a color or something simple) would be a great addition and make the game more enjoyable :) Great work!
Tanner
16. Dec 2013 · 17:19 UTC
Really nice game :)
Nik Sudan
16. Dec 2013 · 18:26 UTC
Haha, I really liked this! Really fun! I thought the upgrade mechanic was implemented really well, good job.
mutuware
16. Dec 2013 · 20:22 UTC
Would be nice if the arrows lit up when pressed.
primaerfunktion
16. Dec 2013 · 20:58 UTC
Awesome idea! And I totally agree: Some visual feedback if you hit the arrows would have made a big difference.
lordjosephdeburg
16. Dec 2013 · 20:59 UTC
Been a long time since I saw a rhytm game. Nice entry and congrats on first LD! Well done
q7204k
16. Dec 2013 · 21:03 UTC
Robots, upgrades, fights.... nice one! =)
🎤 Tonasz
16. Dec 2013 · 21:05 UTC
Thank you for all comments!
You're right - there's a lack of litting up arrows and better indication when to hit them. I thought that sound would be enough, but that's not true. If I make a better version after LD, I'll take all of your remarks.
Another thing I'm afraid is a chance, that unbalance could ruined a bit experience - some of you could not see none of two endings. :)
AdventureIslands
16. Dec 2013 · 21:12 UTC
Ha, saw that ending coming.

Overall pretty nice game, the fighting could perhaps be bit more difficult, as the arrows just arrive in one straight line and are pretty easy to hit. The hit detection bar could perhaps have different shapes or the arrows could come from different heights.
Deity
17. Dec 2013 · 01:31 UTC
Cool concept and nice implementation. The help pages were also nicely done.

Possible improvement: Bounding boxes around the arrows to hit so we can know the timing, I got a lot of misses because I wasn't sure what the bounding box or the hitzone was (even though it appeared close to or on the line).
ludotrix
17. Dec 2013 · 15:03 UTC
Slightly difficult for me, needs maybe better feedback. Really nice for a first game!
sprawl
17. Dec 2013 · 15:04 UTC
Didn't see the ending coming. Good job.

Fun game, On my first try i only got damage and health and arrows were coming way too fast. Your upgrade system is well done !
bradleypollard
17. Dec 2013 · 15:07 UTC
I liked the different art for the upgrades, like new weapons and so on. It was hard to play considering how some of the arrows were off beat, would have been nice if there was a little more rhythm to it - but great first entry!
howieV (binarygirl)
17. Dec 2013 · 15:21 UTC
well done man.. even tho i was rubbish at it :)
taocayo
17. Dec 2013 · 18:34 UTC
Great graphics and love the rhythm mechanics. And high-five for Unity! :)
Broxxar
17. Dec 2013 · 20:36 UTC
Really ought to have the key presses land on beat with something, and there's no visual feed back when you hit a key.(the arrow could pulse or explode or something)

But I have to admit, I played for a long time, so something about this works very well. I was disappointed that it's so damn difficult to get to the end with all your original parts. I think you should give the option to retain one of your parts every turn to make getting to the end looking like yourself not so damn RNG dependant.
🎤 Tonasz
17. Dec 2013 · 21:09 UTC
Thank you guys, I'll definitely make the updated version (ofc second, out of compo) with at least better visual feedback, stats comparison and bounding boxes. I'll try to do something about rhytm and maybe upgrade a bit mechanics + add second infinite mode.

Cool story: It wasn't going to be rhytm-based game for a looong time :)

@Broxxar [SPOILER to others] "RNG" scripts works the way that lets you upgrade to at least one orginal part or weapon (they don't count as "news" - character doesn't hold it in finale scene). The true is that "classics" are a bit weaker.

@taocayo high-five!
Korwegian
17. Dec 2013 · 22:09 UTC
Hard to tell when to press the keys.
Linus Lindberg
19. Dec 2013 · 10:14 UTC
Very well made game, and the graphics are just great...but wow, I'm very bad at games like this.. XD
ThatGuy
19. Dec 2013 · 18:52 UTC
Really cool mechanic, I hope you keep working on it. It's too easy to forget what upgrades you already have as well as what each of the symbols mean. Nice work!
DanielSnd
19. Dec 2013 · 19:07 UTC
Hi there, here is Dan from the Agent One game, replying to your comment, the lowpoly style isn't really a special effect, it's just trying to make the models really simple by keeping the polycount extremely low and the textures pretty much flat color with some details XD
The characters and the enemies all share the same mesh/animations/rig, having only different textures to look different. (It worked quite so well, lots of people that talked to me didn't really noticed that it's all the same mesh)

I have used this shader from the unity asset store though:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/178456-(RELEASED)-Toony-Gooch-Pro-Mobile-Cartoon-Shaders-pack-with-lots-of-features!

Haven't played your game yet ^^ will get to it later tonight, trying to record them all in order
Cheers
Spelchan
27. Dec 2013 · 16:06 UTC
Great Idea. Way too sensitive with arrows. Arrows should do something when hit so there is feedback for the player.