BULLETS FROM THE PAST by Cambryx
Your timemachine is broken!
Now you are stuck in a terrible time loop where you have to fight alongside yourself from the past.
Watch out! Bullets from the past can hurt you in the present!
Can you beat our highscore and survive round 17?
Controls
- W A S D to move
- MOUSE to aim and shoot



| Youtube | https://cambryx.itch.io/bullets-from-the-past |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/bullets-from-the-past |
Ratings
| Overall | 4th | 4.5⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 6th | 4.411⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 26th | 4.321⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 4th | 4.679⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 14th | 4.732⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 79th | 4.148⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 695th | 2.833⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 136th | 4.077⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 17🗳️ | 28🗨️ |

its fun to figure out strategies in the early levels, just to abandon every rule of it to panic shoot everything away.
the game doesnt need it, since its perfect the way it is. but i could totaly see different levels with different enemies.
keep it up guys!

Some details I really liked: the music progression (it reminds me of a song from a certain webcomic's OST that does this thing with loops that keep adding instruments), and the way the time and health indicators are part of the scenario (with 413 bullets flying around I wouldn't want to have to look outside the area to check these things).
I think the tutorial could've mentioned that long shots deal more damage - I know, I should've noticed because the bullet effect gets larger, but for a while I was confused about why some enemies died in one shot while others took two. Maybe it's more like a bug between the keyboard and the chair, haha.
Anyway, amazing game! (I'm still trying to beat the high score, but my best is still Round 10)
I did find one bug: when I fire at a turret from point blank range, the bullet sometimes seems to pass straight through.
Also the point above about tutorialising farther bullets doing more damage is something I'd agree with. I didn't realise until I read Wendel's comment, but it certainly makes a lot more sense now!
The only nitpicks I have is that there seems to be a bug where your bullets pass through enemies if you are too close to them, and the health bar being hard to see in later rounds (which is also kind of fun).
The balancing is also pretty solid. From the premise you would think that there is some easy way to min-max this. However I didn't find the one way to completely cheese it and get an infinite highscore. But I got quite far, so here are some interesting thoughts I had: First of all, in this game you truly are your worst enemy. So I just avoided shooting as much as I could, except for when enemies where very close. Using leftover health to take shots for your future self can also work, but it doesn't seem very meaningful later on... Another trick is to keep moving in simple patterns so that you can later predict where safe spaces are. I also tried to move as little as possible and generally stayed at the edge of the map. The last trick I found was spinning violently when not shooting. This means that you can tell that a past self is about to shoot when he stops spinning, so you can watch out for that.
I hope this didn't come across as weird. I'm just genuinely surprised as to how long the game hooked my attention.
Current Highscore: 32
The art is beautiful and it has a pleasant color. I like that the timer and health is in the background. The health meter is a little weird because it's a slider but at least it's not the usual red health bar cause I don't think it will fit the art theme (with all cogs, clock, and walls portraying a mechanical theme) so good job for that.
My highscore is 52 and died at round 10.
**Here is my feedback:**
**What I liked?**
- I liked the main menu and the visuals.
- The UI looks very nice.
- I liked the tutorial.
- I liked only shooting, and when a new tower come out SFX.
- Very nice music.
- I really liked the music changing to a new one, when the time rewinds.
- I liked menus transitions.
- I really liked how you presented, player health, and round timer.
- I liked the UI on the Ground.
- I enjoyed the mechanics and the gameplay of the game.
**What I disliked?**
- The player is moving too slow.
- The bullet is moving too slow.
- Button navigation is not set to none. (The highlighted colour It keeps visualized after pressing the button)
- I played a bit, then I went to brush my teeth when I came back I saw this: [1] "Good job!" Seriously?!
- The SFX are noisy. (The SFX that I liked doesn't count)
- Bullet colliding with the wall SFX.
- The camera shake.
- The music feels it is unfinished.
- The music takes too long to restart.
**Bugs:**
- I can walk over the towers.
- The music only restarts if the time rewinds
**Suggestions:**
- Maybe, I should be able to pause the game, or to go to the main menu.
- Maybe, the ability to restart the game.
- Maybe, show that the enemy is taking damage.
- Maybe, can interact with past self, or with past towers.
- Play a SFX when the player gets destroyed.
--
**Sorry for the critical feedback.**
--
Endnotes:
[1]

Bonus one

Using your past inefficacy to produce a bullet hell of your own making is super clever. And it makes the difficulty curve natural (and makes me feel like I deserve it).
I like that the sound is synced up with the rhythm of the game, that's real classy.
Everything looks really pretty and juicy, and it's just satisfying to play.
Good job! :)
# Graphics and Audio
Graphics were cartoony, consistant and awesome.
Sound design was in the background serving the visuals- as it should be.
Loved the sound effect for the rewind, the music was good too.
# Fun, Innovation, Theme
The gameplay felt great and innovative, I loved the strategic twist of bullets growing over time. There was a lot of strategy, and I think that if I planned my actions really well, i could probably get well past 50 rounds. However, i do agree that camping in corners was a bit too easy. Also, a pause option would be great.
# Humor, Mood
Humor is where I rated the game lowest. I mean, it's not like you were trying for a comedy so it's not a bad thing.
The feel of the music and graphics were a bit too calm for the gameplay in my opinion. In a bullet hell, stress is the primary feeling and the presentation didn't build much on that. But that's really a nitpick.
# Overall
Simply amazing!
(I also more than doubled your high score)

