Dead Zone by Melmo

made by Melmo for LD 42 (COMPO)

Defeat each wave of enemies; don't touch the forcefields surrounding the arena. Each enemy bullet that hits a forcefield generator increases the size of the forcefield.

Thanks for checking out my game. Dead Zone is a pseudo twin-axis bullet-storm shooter with ten rounds of enemies to defeat. Can you clear all ten? Get hit and it's Game Over; but be careful: each bullet you dodge could hit one of the forcefield generators at the edge of the arena - each hit increases the size of the forcefield!

Optimised for controller support but mouse and keyboard input available: WASD to move around; LMB to fire; mouse movement to aim (move left to rotate left; move right to rotate right). Controller is highly recommended for best experience, if available.

This is the first LD Jam I've entered; and the first game I've 'completed'. Hope you enjoy and thanks in advance for any feedback.

Complete waves by defeating all enemies. Avoid projectiles and forcefields!

The arena will shrink as the enemy projectiles hit forcefield generators. Comparison of early game vs. late game.

Software: Unity, Visual Studio, Blender, Inkscape, Bosca Ceoil.

Source code	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vUzSEeQjdfRwHDXVje_POxdmeu8PBmtr/view?usp=sharing
Windows	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-w9NdiZzvVTFda6tY2EC3qua6FTNQygo/view?usp=sharing
HTML5 (web)	https://indpc.itch.io/dead-zone
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/dead-zone

Ratings

Overall	560^th	3.024⭐	23🧑‍⚖️
Fun	506^th	2.952⭐	23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	616^th	2.619⭐	23🧑‍⚖️
Theme	516^th	3.214⭐	23🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	410^th	3.125⭐	22🧑‍⚖️
Audio	336^th	2.925⭐	22🧑‍⚖️
Given		19🗳️	23🗨️

Feedback

ysty

13. Aug 2018 · 10:38 UTC

Really good :) It look me a little while to get used to the aiming, but it's a lot of fun and the difficulty progression works really well.

🎤 Melmo

13. Aug 2018 · 13:15 UTC

@ysty Thanks very much for the feedback! Appreciated.

tulipekoni

13. Aug 2018 · 16:20 UTC

nice entry! pretty difficult shooter I would say. I think this game need a scoring system. it's a bit boring just to play if you can't compare your previous matches. also the mouseInput lagged pretty badly but i'm sure you're aware of that :D good job!

blobo

13. Aug 2018 · 17:15 UTC

Nice game! As others have mentioned, the aiming takes some time to figure out, but it's fun and tough!

🎤 Melmo

13. Aug 2018 · 17:29 UTC

Thanks @tulipekoni. The game was built for controller but I added mouse and keyboard for those without, although it definitely needed more work.

Scoring system is a good suggestion; would have been a good addition.

@blobo Thanks for taking the time to play and provide feedback!

CBdeVilla

13. Aug 2018 · 20:01 UTC

Ah, this game appeals to my love of bullet hell.

Aiming with the mouse was confusing at first. I assumed the usual "point to aim" system and thought it might be bugged because it was pointing every which way instead. It wasn't until my second or third try that I noticed that moving the mouse left and right corresponded to turning your character's aim. You may want to consider pointing that out more specifically.

Andy D

13. Aug 2018 · 20:32 UTC

Nice game! Really tough, and the mouse control seems weird - I thought the ship would aim at the mouse pointer, but it seemed like moving the mouse left and right was like pressing the left and right arrow keys instead. Nice graphics and sound, and sticks close to the theme too.

🎤 Melmo

13. Aug 2018 · 21:16 UTC

Thanks for the feedback @cbdevilla and @andy-d. Didn't think to implement cursor aiming when setting up keyboard and mouse support for some reason but is obvious in hindsight. Definitely missed a trick on that one.

Sharky3188

14. Aug 2018 · 05:58 UTC

Cool concept, i think it works well with the theme.
Music fits nicely.

I think a bit more feed back on the shields would be nice, it didnt feel like they were responding when getting hit.
The controls with a mouse felt a bit rough, making it hard to aim, if it was a bit more precise would make it a lot more fun.
This has a lot of potential to make some great art for, would love to see it expanded on.
Great effort for a first time.

Bungalow

14. Aug 2018 · 12:00 UTC

It works great on controller!

Blurred Lines

14. Aug 2018 · 20:56 UTC

Controlling and gameplay was very cool. But the camera should be less zoomed. It was over zoomed for the player which can cause it more difficult to find the enemy position. But overall, I love this game.

shp

14. Aug 2018 · 21:09 UTC

Got used to the weird mouse controls after a while, tricky to hit the small targets though!

JK studio

14. Aug 2018 · 22:19 UTC

That is very nice: the game gets more difficult by finishing waves and the color scheme was very nice and gave the game a nice visual expression and also the music wasnt to bad, so overall a very nice game.

Kale the Quick

15. Aug 2018 · 11:26 UTC

Interesting game, but it was kinda ruined by the strange controls. They caused me to keep unfocusing from the game, and clicking on other stuff. :<

PeachTreeOath

16. Aug 2018 · 06:10 UTC

I didn't mind the different controls. Tbh there are already a lot of twinstick shooters this LD so the controls changed how I played, where I had to keep my angle stationary and adjust position rather than run and gun with normal controls so you needed a different strategy. The game is definitely pretty challenging and I'm glad you put screenshots of what the later levels look like cuz I had a hard time getting there lol. Good job for a first jam, the only thing you should consider in future ones is to make it more forgiving so players can get to see everything you've done.