Congratulations for your first compo entry.
I think ots not good to fix the croshair to the playr cos is kinda unnatural when player moves with croshair when player move move.

I like the style of the game. the controls need work, having the aim shift when the player moves is difficult to aim and at times the character would just stop moving. overall nice work though.

You got me really engaged by the final boss fight (the previous 3 damage sponges took a bit too long though). I think it would work really well with twin-stick controls on a pad, the current mouse aiming is really uncomfortable. I especially like the hp=ammo mechanic as it forces me to calculate my attacks better, and the screen shake. Good job

Fun game, great mechanics. I would add more power to the basic shot and take away some power from the special shot - the basic shot deals very little damage but the special shot, if you fire multiple of them at once, can take down enemies with a second. The boss fight was very fun though and the music is great! Great job on the game overall!

Loved the art style and the concept, good job!

Nice work. It was my first compo too. Liked the visuals for the health. It was a little easy to circle around the enemy and just shoot. It thought the enemy would shoot too slow. The hp/ammon is a neat idea, just the enemies didn't hit me enough so I always had full health. But it was cool.

I made a mistake when publishing the game and tagged it as Compo by mistake. I actually participated in the Jam version. Alone but in 72hs.
Thanks for trying it. I will try all of your games as soon as I can.

Quick reminder to get more players: Use a thumbnail for your game. Otherwise your game is presented with this grey box. Some great Games are not played because of a missing thumbnail ... You can still change it by editing your submission page :)


Thanks @pilarius ! I didn't realize that. Is that how it appears in the main page? I tried to look for it but there are soooo many games that couldn't find it lol.

I'll try your "Mutiny" in a bit.

Thanks for the tip.

@kkrac I missed this at an earlier LD myself. You can check how your game appears if you click on your profile and maneuver to games. I'm excited to hear your feedback :)

Pretty interesting concept but as said before the control are underwhelming and I got stuck to the circle and I couldn't take damage.Did like the sound effects but they do get annoying after a while.Although good game I liked it !

I realize that I have quite a few things to say so I'm sorry if it sounds harsh that's not the idea at all ^^".
On the technical side I found strange the fact that the music stops then refreshes every so often and the sticky collisions with the arena borders. Also I think the special weapon should slow down everything, the fact that enemies can still shoot at you while you're slowed makes it suicidal to use for not that much benefits. And finally in that kind of game you should aim for a steady rhythm, one easy fix could be halving enemy hp while doubling their spawn.
The mechanics are cool anyway, congrats and well done!

The link on this page says Microsoft Windows, but it's actually a web game. You should change that.

The minimalist graphics work very nicely. The abstract way the health is represented with the particles is very effective. This style does a lot with very little, and I admire that.

The difficulty could be harder. I beat it on the first attempt, without ever using the special shot. I was just shooting constantly and not conserving ammo/HP but it never got close to running out. The gameplay is simple, but essentially fun for a few minutes at least.

I like the little bit of music that plays, but it's very short and seems to stop suddenly and just repeat. It would have been nice to have more of a continuous loop.

Cool mini-game, fun to play !

First of all, loved the "HP is your Ammo" mechanic ! That was a cool concept to go with (sadly not too original...) but you nailed it !! And it fits the theme, so... congrats !

The music, despite being frantically cool, suddenly stopped a few time before starting all over. If it was the end of the soundtrack, it would have been cool to loop it :)
I didn't think the controls were that bad. Though, I don't think the choice of having a square collider collide with the inside of a circle collider was a good idea. When reaching the poles, both vertices from the square were colliding with the circle, making it impossible to move unless going back towards the center. To remedy to this problem, or all characters should be circles or just remove the ring :)

Overall, this was a great entry and a good execution of the theme.

@theothersamp you can actually find both: the web version and the installer. You can find the link for the installer at the bottom of the itch io page.

Edit: I was able to make it so the link is visible at the bottom without the need to scroll the page.

As for your feedback, thanks a lot. Great you found it sort of pleasing.
Yeah, agreed about the difficulty, I'm still tweaking it and trying to balance it to make it more difficult.

@kkrac I think you should list it as HTML5 on this page too. I'm more likely to click through to a game if I don't have to download it, so you might be missing out on plays by not making it obvious that it can be played online.

@theothersamp just did that. Thanks for the tip.

Thanks @louis-mareau for the feedback.
Not sure how to loop the music, I didn't create it nor I know much about music editing so I'll have to dig into that, but you're not the first one that mentions it.

As for the shape of the characters, true. They collide in not the better way with the circular border. I have to fix that or change it. If I continue evolving this, that border might go away entirely and be more about dungeon with rooms.

Thanks again.

Great feedback @rongefilet, I appreciate it. That's the kind of feedback I prefer anyway than just compliments.

Sure thing about the music, not sure how to make it loop... not skillful at all with music or music editing apps. The music is not even mine, so I'll have to start learning a bit about music editing I guess.

True also about the collisions with the arena borders, I have to fix it or just get rid of the arena borders.

Good idea about slowing everything down with the special weapon. The idea was that it increases damage drastically, but I agree that it's not yet worth it if everything isn't slowed down.

And regarding the rythm... good point. I'll see what I can do about that.

Thanks again.

I like the idea!

Having your HP as ammo is a neat idea, it asks for thinking bullets you shoot, while still having to be fast in your actions (though, if the game was a bit faster it could be even better, I think it would offer for a great challenge)


The music is nice but I wish it would continue into a loop instead of stoping suddently :c


The arena having a circular shape is a bit problematic because it blocks the character when the latter is colliding with it, it would be better if the character could slide against the border of the arena and move in circles instead of blocking (I don't know if you see what I mean)

The graphisms are simple but nice, I like the way you display the HP/Ammo left!


But anyhow, I live this game, I like the idea, if you keep working on it it could turn out really nice!



This was fun! I liked the double whammy of trying to keep yourself alive while simultaneously bleeding bullets. This is mentioned above, but a slide would be really nice to add to something like this. Or perhaps a bounce! That could prevent the player from cheesing it and just running circles around the enemies. In my first play through I got pinned by someone that spawned right next time me, so a spawning deadzone around the player would be handy too. Thank you for sharing this game, and well done!

thanks for the feedback @hwaet.
True thing about the arena border, I'll probably remove it and let an open space world or dungeon.
And I have to improve the spawning mechanism as well so it doesn't happen what you experienced.

Very cool game, even tho the game is not balanced AT ALL

@slimbun yeah, I am tweaking balance now to make it more playable.

I actually liked the game it's pretty fun tobplay when you are bored

Thanks for the feedback @giordas , glad you liked it.

Ammo is your HP idea is great and kind of cool for the theme. Execution is simple and effective with nice graphics. Instead of an arena, I would like to see this concept in a dungeon as you say. Dungeon definitely give much more to the core mechanics in my opinion. Well done!

Thanks @noirdrive !
Yeah, I probably expand this a little and make it in a dungeon and see how it goes.

This game was good. I enjoyed the background music and the sound effects. I did notice that the music seemed to cut out every here and then, but other than that good game.

Fun idea having your health be your ammo! I like bullet hells, and that's a pretty solid one! I'd love to see more abilities if you work on the game more, maybe something like a dash to make you feel a bit zippier. Really good job, it's fun and well executed!

I liked the idea of your HP being your ammo. I kinda wish the level wasn't a circle, because it made it hard to move around cleanly, I kept getting stuck on the circle, and I feel like the focus should be on dodging bullets/hitting enemies, not on avoiding the edges of the map so much.

Great gameplay mechanics! I like the post processing! :smile:
Greato Jobu! :smile:

Having health as anmo is a very cool mechanic.
If I saw this right, then having the coloured part of the enemy being the hitbox of them is also very interesting.
It is a bit annoying getting struck in the circle, but the game overall was a fun experience.

Looks cool and fun to dodge between enemy bullets. It would have been nice if the edges of the map were "slippery", because it's not very fun to have your movement stopped by touching the edge. The difficulty increased reasonably until one level where the map is suddenly filled with enemies. Very tough, but I think I could make it one more level with more practice. Good entry!

Thanks @stefanie-leitch for the feedback. You're right about the circle arena. If I develop this further I'll probably just get rid of it. Or fix it. But more inclined on removing it and setting the game in a dungeon.

Thanks @god-colo !

You're right, @sky-fighter. HP = ammo. And the green part is the meter of the HP/ammo and the hitbox as well.
Agree about the circle.
Thanks for the feedback.

@boxedmeatrevolution : yeah I'm continuously tweaking the difficulty/balance of the prototype. At first it was too easy, now a bit too hard maybe. I'll continue experimenting as I make progress.
Thanks for the feedback.

I agree with @stefanie-leitch on the shape of the map, making it a square would be better. I also found it hard to see how much health I had left.

Thanks for the feedback @mika-la-grand

I get a 404 error on itch.io when trying to access the link! https://kkrac.itch.io/keep-it-alive

Where did it go? I want to play it!

@xel please try again now.

The controls feels nice and the core of the game is well developped. But that's all to it. It's more of a prototype than a complete game to me, I would definetelly add scoring.

Thanks @kkrac! Was able to play it now.

Short but one of the most fun games I've played yet! The graphics are simple but feel very clean and polished. Love the glow & the subtle screen shake when enemies fire. The final boss felt pretty good in terms of difficulty. Would love to see this expanded into a larger game post-jam! Good work!

Thanks @kkrac! Was able to play it now.

Short but one of the most fun games I've played yet! The graphics are simple but feel very clean and polished. Love the glow & the subtle screen shake when enemies fire. The final boss felt pretty good in terms of difficulty. Would love to see this expanded into a larger game post-jam! Good work!

Thanks @xel for the feedback!
It is of course not a finished game but more of a prototype, but I might expand it and see how it goes.
Thx

@prackli Definitely, I wasn't able to do much more.
Thanks for stopping by.

Cool :) Maybe a little time between waves could help with the pacing!

great work, i think you've got something here. flesh out a theme, graphics, levels, progression etc & this will be quite fun.

Really solid and nice entry you got there! The take on theme is well handled and I like how you used the life/ammo visualisation. From what I have read in the comments I wouldn´t be giving you any new advices, so I would just like to thank you, for this nice experience. Good job

Good job! Enjoined playing it!

I've enjoyed a lot playing this, the health bar mechanic is awesome and watching how enemies "unfill" when you hit them is super pleasant.

The music made some ups and downs, I don't know if it's intentional or not, but it's a bit weird while playing.

Nice entry.


Análise...

1 - Mecânicas, Aprendizado e Fluxo:
Precisei de duas tentativas para vencer.
A mecânica de tiros custarem pontos de vida e derrotar inimigos render pontos de vida tem duplo benefício e dupla penalidade (ou seja, acelera a vitória ou a derrota bastante).
Precisei de algum tempo para aprender a atirar de forma adequada; então consegui perceber que a mira funciona muito bem e as coisas se tornaram mais simples.
Enquanto eu dava voltas em torno dos meus inimigos (principal estratégia que utilizei para vencer as waves de monstros), eu conseguia tempo para aprender sobre eles, sobre minha movimentação e sobre o tiro (já mencionado).
Os inimigos foram bastante implacáveis (rápidos, metódicos, hahahahah).
Gostaria de ter visto algumas variações de inteligência neles (seria uma boa, caso você queira deixar o jogo mais interessante e, provavelmente, mais divertido).
Sobre o fluxo, achei bastante desafiador a princípio. Depois peguei o jeito (não ficar preso fora da tela, manter-se em movimento, atirar sempre mirando nos inimigos).
Pensei que não fosse sobreviver à última onda. ^^'

2 - Gráficos, Áudio, Narrativa e Polimento:
Gráficos simples, minimalistas e reluzentes. Conseguiu passar a sensação pretendida pelo jogo, creio.
O áudio ambientou bem e os efeitos sonoros foram suficientes.
Não tenho muito a dizer sobre narrativa.

3 - Cultura:
Por ser um jogo de tiro, experimental em ondas; acaba bebendo de diversas fontes que fazem referências culturais (suponho que tenha sido referência ao Matrix (ou a algum jogo ou filme dele derivado) no que diz respeito ao tiro em câmera lenta (um efeito muito legal ao meu ver)).
Por conta da estética brilhante e da música "frenética", creio que faça referência a algo mais futurístico.
Nesse sentido, para tirar melhor proveito de tudo isso, caso o intuito seja dar continuidade ao projeto, creio que o ideal será repaginar a arte e ir atrás dos nichos (em redes sociais como o Facebook etc). Creio que daria certo com o devido empenho.

4 - Monetização:
Se o jogo avançar além do experimental, alcançando boa roteirização e uma boa arte final, creio que poderia vender no Steam e em outras stores.

Analysis...

1 - Mechanics, Learning and Flow:
It took me two attempts to win.
Shooting mechanics cost life points and defeating enemies yielding life points has a double benefit and a double penalty (that is, it speeds up victory or defeat a lot).
It took me some time to learn how to shoot properly; so I could see that the crosshairs work very well and things have become simpler.
While going around my enemies (the main strategy I used to beat the waves of monsters), I got time to learn about them, about my movement and about the shooting (already mentioned).
The enemies were very relentless (fast, methodical, hahahahah).
I would have liked to see some variations of intelligence in them (it would be a good one, in case you want to make the game more interesting and probably more fun).
About the flow, I found it quite challenging at first. Then I got the hang of it (don't get stuck off the screen, keep moving, always shoot aiming at enemies).
I thought you weren't going to survive the last wave. ^^ '

2 - Graphics, Audio, Narrative and Polishment:
Simple, minimalist and shiny graphics. I managed to get the feeling intended by the game, I think.
The audio set in well and the sound effects were sufficient.
I don't have much to say about narrative.

3 - Culture:
For being a shooting game, experimental on waves; he ends up drinking from several sources that make cultural references (I suppose it was a reference to the Matrix (or some game or film derived from it) with regard to slow motion shooting (a very cool effect in my view)).
Because of the brilliant aesthetics and the "frantic" music, I think it refers to something more futuristic.
In this sense, to take better advantage of all this, if the intention is to continue the project, I believe that the ideal will be to redesign art and go after the niches (on social networks such as Facebook etc). I believe it would work with due diligence.

4 - Monetization:
If the game goes beyond the experimental, achieving good scripting and good final art, I think it could sell on Steam and other stores.