Shipshift Pronto by KhaoTom

[raw]
made by KhaoTom for LD35 (JAM)
Shipshift Pronto

Created by Edwin DeNicholas (@edenicholas)
for Ludum Dare 35 - Shapeshift.
Featuring artwork by Patrick Webster (@tapretsbew)

Synopsis:
* A shmup where you change the shape of your firing pattern and hitbox
formation.

CONTROLS:

* Move: Arrow keys, WASD, Left Analog Stick on gamepad.
* Shoot: Z key, Left Ctrl, Left Mouse Button, or A button on gamepad.
* Bomb: X key, Left Alt, Right Mouse Button, or B button on gamepad.
* Shift Shape: C key, Left Shift, Spacebar, or X button on gamepad.
* Pause: Escape key, Start button on gamepad.
* Quit: Pause the game and press Q key, Q key again on title screen.


SAVE GAME:
* Your high score is saved.

EXIT GAME:
* Press ALT+F4 (Command-Q) to quit
* Pause the game and press Q key, Q key again on title screen.

Font: Samuel Reynolds http://www.spinwardstars.com/scrfonts/lcdmono.html

Ratings

Coolness 45% 1350
Overall(Jam) 3.58 239
Audio(Jam) 3.39 269
Fun(Jam) 3.38 314
Graphics(Jam) 3.63 370
Humor(Jam) 3.52 120
Innovation(Jam) 3.88 68
Mood(Jam) 3.55 224
Theme(Jam) 4.00 91

Feedback

MandolinQuinn
19. Apr 2016 · 04:53 UTC
Fantastic entry!
dcolgan
19. Apr 2016 · 04:56 UTC
Cool idea, I just wish I didn't have to play through the whole tutorial every time I wanted to start over.
Zgragselus
19. Apr 2016 · 05:00 UTC
Great entry! Too hard for me to play in the morning, but I like the concept of losing one hitbox after another.
w1n5t0n
19. Apr 2016 · 05:04 UTC
I had a lot of fun playing the game. Having to go through the tutorial every time I died was annoying.
ratking
19. Apr 2016 · 12:34 UTC
Hey, I like the idea a lot - I gave a good rating!

I had a bug though, which made the game somewhat easy. ;-) http://i.imgur.com/wrzovRe.png
🎤 KhaoTom
20. Apr 2016 · 03:45 UTC
Hey guys, thanks for the feedback and sorry about the tutorial after every restart, I'll do better next time. ratking... how did you do that?!? If you are tapping fire rapidly then that is by design :)
andyman404
20. Apr 2016 · 04:34 UTC
Great game. Interesting use of the theme to shift the hitbox and firing configuration. I had the same bug ratking had. It was autofiring by default, from the start, at a rapid pace without me pressing the fire button. I kind of liked it that way. In the second playthrough, it worked in the "normal" way where you have to press z to fire.
Weeping Rupee
20. Apr 2016 · 04:36 UTC
Very innovative concept where your weapons themselves are your health and they become disarmed one by one. way to think outside the box! On top of that the shifting into acrobatic like shapes that affect firing patterns was the icing on the cake.

my only criticisms: wish i didnt have to re watch the tutorial when I died. At first it gave me time to check out my postures. After a while this made doing several runs kind of annoying.

Still, a solid entry. With some careful balancing and a more lively art style this thing could go places. Also, maybe even consider a two player mode where you both dynamically control the posturing and two guns/hearts each.

Nice, man ( or lady )
pkenney
20. Apr 2016 · 12:54 UTC
This was cool! I really liked the idea of rearranging your shape, and the way that it affected both offense and defense. Plus the graphics looked really nice, and the game had a nice feel.

This is a really solid entry, so let me mention a few tiny things that dinged me while I was playing.

Others mentioned the repeated tutorial but I agree that was the only really big one. I do want to say the tutorial was well designed in the way that it forced me to use the ability to start, though.

Next, I really like the visual look but maybe the projectiles and the hearts could "pop" a bit more - I kind of lost them when the screen got hectic. The projectiles currently have this dark purple which is a very low contrast against the dark blue background, so they're the first thing my eye loses track of when they should be the last. The hearts are also kind of a desaturated fleshy pink and could stand a little more intensity.

Lastly, I had a little trouble making heavy use of the main mechanic. I liked that I was *forced* to by the tutorial, but I would have enjoyed the game even more if I would have *wanted* to use it more. Instead, my best runs were when I used the vertical column to get past the tutorial, and then changed to the horizontal column and played the whole game that way.

I am not totally certain what the main friction here was. I think it was learning... I knew I could push that button and change shape, but because there were three shapes it required a learning phase before I could internalize what shape would come out when I hit the button. There was this combination: In a firefight I was afraid to hit the button because if I did I wasn't sure what would happen, and I might lose control and die quickly and have to do the tutorial again. So I just didn't hit the button. But then I didn't learn the button. So I never got over this really.

I don't know if that makes sense... And I will say that it's not only this game. A ton of shape-shifting games offered three shapes but I had this problem of learning the button 'shift-order' with every one. So maybe it's me!

But I wonder if having only two shapes would let the player integrate it into their play easier.

Anyway that's a lot of nitpicks but it's not to say I didn't like it! It's because I did like it that I put a bunch of feedback.
TheMeorch
20. Apr 2016 · 17:43 UTC
Letting the player change their shape in order to simultaneously reposition their hitboxes AND change where they're shooting is brilliantly elegant. I'd love to see that expanded into a larger game. Great work!
🎤 KhaoTom
21. Apr 2016 · 04:23 UTC
Thanks for all the feedback guys. Totally with you all on the tutorial, it was just something I should have found the time to fix, but didn't. Again, sorry!

pkenney, I totally get what you mean about not wanting to shift. I actually felt the same way while testing it. I think ultimately I just didn't get it to work as well as I had imagined (which to be honest was early Saturday morning as I groggily made my way to the toilet). Better balancing, especially shape of player and enemy spawns might help, though it's doubtful I will revisit this. Thanks for the detailed feedback!
🎤 KhaoTom
21. Apr 2016 · 06:38 UTC
Ahhh, I repro'd the ridiculous fast shooting bug! Haha, it is actually kinda more fun when you don't have to worry about pressing fire.
funisfun8
21. Apr 2016 · 06:48 UTC
Interesting concept. It was a bit frustrating. To be 100% honest, I got a little bored. I feel horrible saying that because I can't imagine how that would feel but I honestly lost interest. Just one persons opinion and this isn't exactly my genre. Hope you do well in the ranking.
Green Soda
22. Apr 2016 · 05:24 UTC
That pun tho xDD

Interesting idea and concept! had a lot of fun... would be better with a little bit of game balancing... game dynamics is nice!
blockdroppers
22. Apr 2016 · 09:55 UTC
Really fun and creative game!
siryakko
23. Apr 2016 · 17:45 UTC
Weird and Glorious Entry
giordanno92
24. Apr 2016 · 17:09 UTC
Interesting tackle on the shapeshifting theme. I liked the transitions of the characters, although I wasn't able to defeat or dodge the cubes at the beginning XD Cool concept!
Atridas
24. Apr 2016 · 17:14 UTC
Very original and a funny entry. The music is very well chosen.
Yakka
03. May 2016 · 11:49 UTC
Wow I really love the concept and the character! I found a bit difficult that you cannot shoot from guns where you have been hit, especially because the shape shift doesn't allow to have a same character on different sides. Except this point, I really liked it! :D
cheshire
03. May 2016 · 11:51 UTC
J'adore excellent jeu trés stylé !!!