LudumData

Crimson Recon by TobiasNL

[raw]
made by TobiasNL for LD 40 (JAM)

2.png

The project ended up being 14th overall! Wow!

Hence we have decided to develop this project into a complete game! For a new post-competition version ánd future updates visit:

LINK: https://meneerguus.itch.io/crimson-resonance

#### Please check our Itch.io page for future content as this is the last update regarding our LD40 blog.

After lots of work (and coffee) me and Guus are proud to announce you Crimson Recon! An eerie shoot 'm up with a sinister twist. We hope you'll enjoy our Ludum Dare entry! Also we're always open for ideas and/or critism as we might work this one out into a better and more smooth experience.

giphy-downsized-large.gif

THEME CONCEPT:

Your bullets are alive! Use them as a weapon against your phasing foes, but watch out as they'll try to hunt you down once they've come in touch with their alien friends! An ever growing gun clip doesn't really help, too. Or does it?

CONTROLS:

  • WASD
  • Mouse buttons (HOLD to charge)

SCREENSHOTS:

screen1.png screen3.png screen2.png

UPDATE HISTORY

  • Fixed respawning bug (intro gets skipped)
  • Added icon

Enjoy,

Tobias van Zanten & Meneer Guus

Windows https://app.box.com/s/t8ly95feb099vrojb4f6q9qeu7yuvhol
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/crimson-recon

Ratings

Overall 14th 4.25⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Fun 58th 4.014⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 113th 3.829⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Theme 122th 4.069⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 71th 4.472⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Audio 20th 4.271⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Humor 831th 2.339⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Mood 38th 4.181⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Given 41🗳️ 57🗨️

Feedback

🎤 TobiasNL
02. Dec 2017 · 11:45 UTC
We're in! Better late than never! We'll be using Gamemaker studio, Photoshop, Cool edit pro & Ableton.
Goodluck everyone!

![IMG_20171202_124020476.jpg](///raw/e23/d/z/9832.jpg)
Synistra
05. Dec 2017 · 15:10 UTC
The game is pretty hard and its annoying to have to wait to restart because of the text. Otherwise its pretty fun to play, and the art looks nice.
MrAssassin
05. Dec 2017 · 15:24 UTC
Immense amount of polish for a jam game! I agree with the guy above though, for a game so difficult (at least for myself), It'd be best to reduce the amount of time it takes me to restart the game. Fab idea, too :)
Goplite
05. Dec 2017 · 15:46 UTC
Nice game, graphics are very polished, liked the creepy sounds. Gameplay matches theme pretty good. Yeah, instant restart would be nice, nevertheless game is fun to play.
dvdking
05. Dec 2017 · 18:13 UTC
really awesome feedback on hits, and i liked sounds and atmosphere. I wish death was not so painful though..
Simon Struck
05. Dec 2017 · 18:24 UTC
I'm blown away by the execution og the idea.
I recommend headphones when playing, since the sound effects really help deliver the mood.
I would like to see a quick restart feature that skips the text and puts you right back into the first level.

Good work!
🎤 TobiasNL
05. Dec 2017 · 19:12 UTC
We have resolved some issues concerning the spawning mechanic! Thanks for the feedback guys, we really appreciate it!
Hakita
05. Dec 2017 · 19:53 UTC
A bit too difficult for me, but the deep atmosphere is enchanting and the presentation on all fronts is perfect. I do find it somewhat annoying that there was no way (or at least I found no way) to absorb bullets from behind the plane, especially when the bat-like creatures that attack from behind started appearing. Regardless, fantastic stuff overall.
BlakeMcDeezy
05. Dec 2017 · 20:26 UTC
Wow guys...that was super slick! Loved the art style, mood, concept...yeah, fave game of the jam so far.
Leandre Renouard
05. Dec 2017 · 20:29 UTC
Your game looks so beautiful that I really want to test it. Is it possible to have a mac version or on the internet?
feips
05. Dec 2017 · 20:33 UTC
It was way too difficult for me. Other than that, it was very atmospheric and kinda creppy. Very well polished, great entry.
🎤 TobiasNL
05. Dec 2017 · 20:37 UTC
@leandre-renouard: I fear we cannot make it run in a browser or on a mac for the time being. Try emulating our game through a windows emulating tool for Mac. Could make the game more heavy for your machine though...
Leandre Renouard
05. Dec 2017 · 20:41 UTC
@tobiasnl thanks for the suggestion I'll find an emulator or someone's computer so I can play your game
BlakeMcDeezy
05. Dec 2017 · 20:45 UTC
If your game was any more polished I'd be able to see my reflection in it.
maoap
05. Dec 2017 · 20:53 UTC
Wow the best game I've played so far, btw. it is awesome that it is so difficult!
V-Ad
05. Dec 2017 · 20:59 UTC
Really nice game ! It looks really polished : )
Sherwood
05. Dec 2017 · 21:33 UTC
I really appreciate the main idea of living bullets. Sadly I broke my mouse a while ago so It is extremely hard for me to play this x)
It's a funny challenge actually to be the target of your own power. The atmosphere is nicely done thanks to the narrative aspects and the global quitness. I have to admit that, because of my mouse problem, I couldn't go far through the game. That's on me.

Thanks for the (future) experience.
meanmon13
05. Dec 2017 · 23:26 UTC
Wow! Your game is amazing! Shooting the bullets was a little hard because they fell pretty fast for a projectile
URNext7634
05. Dec 2017 · 23:35 UTC
A little difficult, but fun. I don't think I've ever seen a ludum dare game with better graphics. If I didn't know this was an LD entry, I'd think it was the result of at least a week of work. Fantastic job!
Daneeh
06. Dec 2017 · 00:24 UTC
I'm impressed. I like it when games are difficult but not punishing, and this does it for me. Also great aesthetics, it looks and sounds great! There is a little bug where W and A didn't work the first time I booted the game but I couldn't reproduce it. That doesn't take away from a great game tho. Well done!
Bloodless Tukan
06. Dec 2017 · 13:57 UTC
Hey Guys, just played for of few minutes and I'm super impressed!
Sound, graphics and the mechanic of the projectiles, all feels soo good and polished.

It is hard, what I got from the first two games xD
But I'll sure play it some more to get a better grasp of it.
Hope you keep working on it, maybe try to tweak the numbers so the start is easier and it can get harder after the player knows how to play . Really great work =)

edit : I found that after you die, the enemies keep shooting their projectiles at you. Just fyi.
Hurlu
06. Dec 2017 · 22:23 UTC
Amazingly pretty, and very polished !
I am at a bit of a disagreement over the decisions of the 90° forward "recover laser" and the falling projectiles, as the 2 mechanics feel restricitve : based on the difficulty on the game, I'd say one would be enough.
Other than that, amazing job, really!
Drury
07. Dec 2017 · 00:35 UTC
This is my favorite entry so far. Looks great, sounds great, feels great. Hats off.

However, I do wish there was a way to heal yourself, as it's pretty hard to keep track of everything and you lose quite a bit of progress when you die. Also the foreground in the second level can be kinda annoying when balls are returning from the bottom of the screen.

This being a bullet shmup-type game, I was expecting a smaller hitbox too.

ps: please tell me there is an ending I've been trying to beat this for a couple of hours
CaptainDreamcast
07. Dec 2017 · 03:03 UTC
Can't reach the ending either, I've been trying since yesterday ;_;

I originally reported mouse issues, but that appears to have been a mistake on my part. I tried a different mouse and everything worked normally. Sorry for the false alarm.

Anyway, it's a really amazing entry, definitely the one I had the most fun with.
🎤 TobiasNL
07. Dec 2017 · 12:21 UTC
Thanks folks for the great feedback! We indeed have to tweak a lot, we'll change things like the hitbox, firepower and foregrounds in future updates! We are sorry though, we feel really honered that you guys tried so hard to beat it but actually there's no ending yet. We lacked the time to make one. Joke's on us :p
nokusu
07. Dec 2017 · 15:59 UTC
Nice shmup with some atmosphere, visually and sound wise it's really well done, the gameplay is fine but it's kind of difficult to understand the mechanics on a first playthrough.

One tiny issue i'd say is that you should have put a way to choose playing this game windowed.

other than that it's really solid overall and fits the theme so well done guys ^^
Rosik
07. Dec 2017 · 20:58 UTC
Strangely, but I have black screen in fullscreen mode, while windowed works fine. I very like this game, although it's hard and game mechanics about missiles wasn't clear for me at first time. But I really liked how it tied to the LD theme and game atmosphere in general.
And I think, that some prefire enemies animation will make the game more predictable and less frustrating.
🎤 TobiasNL
08. Dec 2017 · 13:00 UTC
@rosik apparantly the black screen error goes away when booting the game in windows 8 mode. Quite strange indeed. Also enemies will get a small charge animation before attacking the player in future updates :)

@nokuse You enable windowed mode by pressing alt+enter!
Rosik
08. Dec 2017 · 13:17 UTC
@tobiasnl yeah, I can confirm, windows 8 mode fixed it for me. Good luck, guys!
IllaBom
12. Dec 2017 · 01:33 UTC
Nice game you have here. SUPER WELL DONE!

Come check out my game if you like!
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/virus-detected
maoap
13. Dec 2017 · 18:45 UTC
It is still the best game I've played this LD :) I play it over and over =D Well done, this game has a potential
CaylebLucas
16. Dec 2017 · 09:15 UTC
Really enjoyable game, well executed too :)
csanyk
19. Dec 2017 · 05:31 UTC
Challenging. I didn't quite get at first that you were supposed to suck in the enemies to turn them into bullets. But it's an interesting and unusual mechanic. Graphics and sound establish mood very well. Nice work.
icxon
23. Dec 2017 · 11:53 UTC
20 tries already and counting :smile: It's very hard, but I'm still trying (it's a good sign, isn't it?)

That's my favorite LD40 game now. Not sure about humor category though.

Here is my playtest:

https://youtu.be/D8AU9x9yVr8
Goat Toaster Games
24. Dec 2017 · 00:17 UTC
This was so awesome. It took me a couple goes to get the hang of it, but man that was a killer submission! Super fun, such an interesting concept and absolutely fantastic graphics. Surprisingly polished! Well done guys.
Behenate
27. Dec 2017 · 18:21 UTC
This game is so awesome! Really engaging, great atmosphere, music fith the arstyle, 5/5!
multiplexor
28. Dec 2017 · 00:32 UTC
Really awesome game! The concept is great (amunition that is also a challenge to manage) A kick ass implementation and awesome graphics! The only thing I miss is some epic background music!

The game was quite complicated but really amazing!

Kudos for this fantastic game that fits the theme perfectly!
🎤 TobiasNL
29. Dec 2017 · 19:56 UTC
@all

Thank you all for the support! We've decided to continue this project and have already released a small patch solving some issues and featuring new content:) You can find it above in the main post!