Loopback by Dj Depressive

[raw]
made by Dj Depressive for Ludum Dare 47 (JAM)

main menu2.png

backstory.png

In the cybernetic future, there are many things to be feared. Among such fears is a threat only spoken of in hushed whispers. A threat that appears and returns to the void as quickly and ruthlessly, as it kills all who witness it.

You are that threat and it is time to leave the void once more.

credits.png

Amazing concepts and character art by Karin-G

Stunning UI art by PcGameHunter

Really cool tiles and breathtaking voice acting by Theheheo

Great AI and weapons programming by BloooBird

Shitty music, character programming & weapons programming by Dj. Depressive

Gameplay.png

ScreenshotLoopBack.png

You control 4 characters of different classes with the goal of eliminating all enemies in an insecure area. Each character has different abilities and you get to plan their upcomming actions. When the actions are planned you can see how they play out and decide between redoing the action or proceeding from them.

controls.png

controls page -notitle-.png

Changelog.png

There is now a hotfixed version which fixes the crashes and makes the menu more clickable

Ratings

Overall 1155th 3.25⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Fun 970th 3.202⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 364th 3.726⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Theme 689th 3.733⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 487th 3.9⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Audio 329th 3.744⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Humor 990th 2.419⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Mood 639th 3.547⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Given 45🗳️ 59🗨️

Feedback

mamon
06. Oct 2020 · 07:21 UTC
Can't hit _play button or am I stupid xD?
PcGameHunter
06. Oct 2020 · 07:28 UTC
Theres some delay in the input gotta spam click it.
PizzArt64
06. Oct 2020 · 07:42 UTC
Can't press the buttons?? (using wine to play)
Wiskey
06. Oct 2020 · 07:43 UTC
Couldn't start the game :(
Neonalig
06. Oct 2020 · 07:55 UTC
Game may be broken. Buttons on the menu are really hard to click, and when actually playing, the 'RESET' button appears to break everything; i.e. the player will randomly teleport to locations I had in previous discarded attempts. I can't tell where enemies are travelling since they stand still, and I have no idea how to control the other 3 people, if I even can. Apart from those issues stopping the game from being able to be played, the game looks like it has a LOT going for it. Great atmosphere, great music, great idea, and it even looks quite fun, but I just can't get it to play.
BloooBird
06. Oct 2020 · 07:56 UTC
@mamon @pizzart64 @wiskey The problem is hotfixed now, Would love it if you gave us a second chance <3
MrRedbeard
06. Oct 2020 · 07:59 UTC
I had issues with input lag or something so I had to give up trying after a few minutes. Sorry! It looks awesome Tho!
Leo Red
06. Oct 2020 · 08:00 UTC
@blooobird Is there any way you can add HTML5 support to your game, because my computer is a bit slow.
BloooBird
06. Oct 2020 · 08:04 UTC
@leo-red i will look into it :)
Leo Red
06. Oct 2020 · 08:10 UTC
@blooobird Thanks, please let me know after you have added it.
Scintillae_Creations
06. Oct 2020 · 08:15 UTC
I enjoyed playing this, even though I didn't finisfh it.
I saw couple of games, with similar concept, but playing for a full strike team, was so much better than having multiple same soldiers.

What killed it for me was the lack of user feedback. I didn't know if something didn't work because of a bug, or because I didn't understand some mechanic. Oh and I spent some time trying to figure out how to shoot, but that's just my small brain not realizing that it is not visible in the planning mode :laughing:

Good job nevertheless!

Btw, is the Threat image on top right supposed to change?
Josh Morris
06. Oct 2020 · 08:16 UTC
I really like this game, found myself going back and playing it again a couple of times. I really like how it forces you to think out each of your squad members actions and where the enemies might end up being, its quite tactical.

Good Graphics, Good Sound, Good art and very good game-play!
BloooBird
06. Oct 2020 · 08:22 UTC
@josh-morris Thank you alot :)
BloooBird
06. Oct 2020 · 08:24 UTC
@scintillae-creations Thank you for the feedback, yes we had plans to add some indication for shooting in the planning aswell and also the game is a bit rough around all edges haha, But thank you lots for playing
PizzArt64
06. Oct 2020 · 08:32 UTC
Very nice UI design, interesting concept, cool art, but not enough visual feedback, I didn't quite understand what I have to do, and I somehow softlocked. Still though, a pretty good game.
BloooBird
06. Oct 2020 · 10:52 UTC
@pizzart64 Thank you very much for the feedback :)
BloooBird
06. Oct 2020 · 10:53 UTC
@neonalig Thank you for the feedback, we have hotfixed the menu and the reset button now :D
SkelleRoznik
06. Oct 2020 · 16:58 UTC
Good game and interesting concept. Audio is cool, art style and UI are beautiful. But it took me some time to figure out what to do as I'm just thrown into the game without explanation. But once I realised how to play i enjoyed it. Pretty good.
Game_Coder28
06. Oct 2020 · 18:27 UTC
This is a great game, the audio, art and UI is amazing! Great concept and it plays very well! Congrats!
Karin G
06. Oct 2020 · 18:31 UTC
@skelleroznik Thank you for the feedback :)
Karin G
06. Oct 2020 · 18:32 UTC
@r3l0ad1 Thank you and I am glad you enjoyed the game :D
Lenophie
06. Oct 2020 · 18:32 UTC
Very nice concept! It feels a bit weird and the game could definitely give more feedback here and there (I realized only after 2 loops that I had to fire the guns and then that they had different ranges), but there's definitely some nice things to be done! Great job!
Karin G
07. Oct 2020 · 06:44 UTC
@lenophie Thank you for the feedback :)
Tunahead
07. Oct 2020 · 18:18 UTC
Yeah...I like the idea.
But it's a bit complicated and not very well explained?

There needs to be a bit more Feedback. I didn't even notice if an Enemy takes Damage from my shots.
Also... the Bars for each characters Loop time should be bigger.
Abiral
07. Oct 2020 · 18:20 UTC
Awesome gameplay & loved the minimal art. Good luck for future projects!
Shay Cichocki
07. Oct 2020 · 18:27 UTC
Great game for a jam game. I like a few others felt a little bit lacking in feedback. But I enjoyed the game play and the audio design good job.
Marinee
07. Oct 2020 · 18:28 UTC
perfect style! i liked the theme, graphics and style, but hard to undestand(
Kultisti
07. Oct 2020 · 18:28 UTC
The main mechanic is really cool! Also loved the art and b a n g e r soundtrack!
I had some issues with that i really didn't know what shots were mine and what enemies, and in which situations my troops would be able to shoot etc. but i think with some kind of a tutorial etc. this could be fixed if you decide to work on this post-jam ^^
randomLockNess
07. Oct 2020 · 18:30 UTC
A little confusing at first about the weapons but after that really enjoying it.
MikeSalyh
07. Oct 2020 · 18:33 UTC
I love tactical games! This was a blast to play and the art/audio suited it well. I don't think I've ever played a game with mechanics like this one before.

I wish the game had better feedback to show when my shots were hitting vs. when they were missing. And by the bossfight, my sequence had gotten pretty long (10+ moves). It would have been nice to have a way to fast-forward the replay, so I wasn't watching the same action over and over.

Overall, this is one of the coolest games I've played in this jam so far!
Untitled Studios
07. Oct 2020 · 18:37 UTC
Really liked the art and ideas. Like others have said, could REALLY benefit from some juice, feedback, and tutorialisation (maybe multiple levels, each soldier introduced one at a time?). Might have gone a bit too ambitious on this one.
a333
07. Oct 2020 · 19:30 UTC
Sorry, I don't want to give you some "nice graphics, great mechanics" shit, I liked the game, so I'll just stream my honest thoughts directly. Maybe you can find it useful, maybe not, whatever.

`%stream starts%`
> Finally, a tactical game! With the team of differently able operators, no less! I'm so excited.
Okay, the walking seems pretty straigtforward. Cool, I can rewind! Niiiice smooth effect.

> No enemies nearby, let's end the turn.
`*shooting sounds*`
What? where did you come from?

> Ok, the second turn, let's kick some ass, blue 1 go go! how do I shoot? I just.. click? Ok, apparently.
*some weird stuff happens, apparently, because I cannot in my life predict how enemies would move*

> What's next? wait, replay starts from turn 1 instead of where I left? that's.. not very convenient.

> Sniper shots are cool. Too bad I cannot see where I'm shooting. Although I can go look, rewind and aim, hmm...

*after that I've re-read the instructions and felt some shame about shift key.

> Tough guy activated shield. Cool, shield is damageable! nice effect. Oh wait, he is chonk and stuck in the corridor now. Rewind cannot pull his ass back out, he's apparently too heavy for the temporal generator! **Sir, we have a problem..**

> Oh what's that in the end? a boss? I'm gonna unload everything! It's going to be an epic fight! it's.. wait he just died?

> ..ok, the zone is clear, what do I do next? guys? guys?..

`%stream ends%`


Replays from the start majorly suck, 1) because I'm tired seeing same events again and 2) they are not really consistent, one time my guy is killed, the next loop he's alive and well! Action feedback is also really required here to be able to play somewhat predictably. Also, some explanations about units and abilities will be nice. You've made a hell of a lot of abilities/secondary fire options, but I cannot really know how and when to use them.

Otherwise - nice graphics, great mechanics, got quite a bit of fun out of it <3
HOOLOP
07. Oct 2020 · 21:10 UTC
Interesting idea, I really like the tactical gameplay with loop, graphics are pretty cool but I think musics between prep phase and action phase are too different even if I like them both. Good job !
Karin G
08. Oct 2020 · 06:58 UTC
@hoolop I am glad you liked it, and thank you for the feedback :)
🎤 Dj Depressive
08. Oct 2020 · 07:09 UTC
@tunahead @shay-cichocki @marinee @kultisti @untitled-studios Glad you liked our game :) Yeah I had planned on making a tutorial scene and adding icons that appeared when you perform actions in the planning phase but never found the time :sweat: Also wanted to add some sliders for ammo and such but never got to it. Maybe we'll add it in a post-jam version ;) Thank you for the great feedback :)
PcGameHunter
08. Oct 2020 · 07:19 UTC
@a333 Thanks for the thought stream and feedback. We'll keep a bunch of that in mind in the future :). Glad you got some fun out of it!
blobo
08. Oct 2020 · 16:14 UTC
This was awesome! I love how each character has their own stats, I just wish they had a health bar. I really enjoyed the map, and the music fit perfectly! Great job all around.
MohamedSaid
08. Oct 2020 · 16:17 UTC
this is really a good idea
good looking
smooth controls
just need to fix some bugs like display offset and but some in game options and this will be perfect nice job mate
Karin G
08. Oct 2020 · 17:13 UTC
@blobo @mohamedsaid Thank you for the feedback,and I am glad you enjoyed the game :D
🎤 Dj Depressive
08. Oct 2020 · 17:43 UTC
@a333 Great feedback! We were thinking that it would have been nice to not have it replay from the beginning each time but decided that it would fit the theme a lot better if it did. Should probably change that if we make a post-jam version. As for the aiming: we meant to add a line from the gun in the direction it would shoot but time caught up with us and ran straight past, same with adding a tutorial. Had a system in mind for consistent interactions with enemies as well but, well, time. Loved your stream of thoughts, it was nice to be able to read someone's initial thoughts and reactions when playing the game since we weren't able to playtest much and I'm really touched that you spent that much effort reviewing our game :)
nusan
08. Oct 2020 · 20:59 UTC
I really like the visual and audio and also the promise. During the game it was a bit to understand everything that happen, and there was strange things changing between replay, like guards not in the same place, one of my crew dying while it didn't happen the first time and thing like that. I think restarting from the start was a bit boring after a while because you can't change it anymore. So I feel like you could rewind only the last section until you finish the level, and then you replay everything. You could also have some checkpoint in section with no enemies so the replay would start from the last one. Also having more infos on what do each weapon would be cool, displaying the range and thing like that. Also I don't know if they aim automatically or if you really have to imagine where the enemy will be exactly. In some other tactical game you just say that your character shoot, or a general direction and they will aim to the closest enemy, which is more manageable. Anyway, I did kill the robot which is the end I suppose. I like the UI and it really was immersive, so great work!
Coding4rtist
08. Oct 2020 · 21:06 UTC
Really funny game, I like the concept! After beating the game normally, I enjoyed having them fight each other a couple of times xD. Art and sounds are cool. You can try to add some graphical and sound feedback when you hit someone.
🎤 Dj Depressive
09. Oct 2020 · 07:04 UTC
@nusan Glad you enjoyed it! Yeah we never got to implementing consistent randomness so each time you replay the outcome can vary greatly. A character that died previously could suddenly be revived and an enemy that previously died could survive. We're also gonna add a bunch of indicators and a tutorial if we ever make a post-jam version. Thanks for the great feedback :)
🎤 Dj Depressive
09. Oct 2020 · 07:06 UTC
@coding4rtist Haha we did that to a bunch of times when testing the game ;D It's always fun to see who ends up coming out on top. Glad you had fun playing our game :)
NesiAwesomeness
09. Oct 2020 · 22:01 UTC
Could you make a Browser version soon?
chispaLBC
09. Oct 2020 · 22:28 UTC
The aesthetics are quite clean! The theme also fits well and the gameplay seems fun although i had a couple problems. For example it's hard to know where to aim and (i think?) sometimes the enemies move differently. I guess making everything more deterministic would be really hard tho so it's understandable.
Good job!
lilkrit
19. Oct 2020 · 15:49 UTC
Very impressive for 72 hours.