Boris the Bear Hunter by ForgeronStudio

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

Banner.png A damp wind brushes by your face. You grimace. A warm, pungent musk, evoking thoughts of molten March snow and rotting salmon. An unforgettable smell, unlike anything else in the world, a smoking gun in the wind pointing straight to -

"Bear."

You snort. You hate bears. Something about their large bulk, their unrefined manners, their rustic way of living disgusts you, burns you to your very core. You stand large as an oak and spit into the wind. It doesn't spit back.

"I catch bear," you think to yourself. A good thought, strong and simple.

"Catch bear." Yes, that is what you will do.

Controls:

  • MOVE: wasd or arrows
  • CATCH BEARS: hold left mouse button or space, then draw loops around enemies with your mouse
  • Your weapon changes colour each time you successfully draw a loop around an enemy

fyodor<em>cut</em>optimized.gif

Made With:

  • Unity
  • Photoshop
  • GarageBand
  • sfxr
  • an accordion

Boris the Bear Hunter is the world's first Russian Bear Hunting-type game. But just what is a Russian Bear Hunting-type game?

It is a game where you go through the forest and capture bears. But don't take our word for it - see for yourself. Hold space or the mouse button, and use the mouse to draw loops around the bear. Avoid fire and bears; they can hurt you or break your hook.

Feedback

We love feedback. Please leave as much as you can think of! It will really help us improve our game :)

Ratings

Overall 1241th 3.179⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1231th 2.963⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 835th 3.302⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1136th 3.274⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1135th 3.185⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Audio 519th 3.491⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Humor 253th 3.62⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Mood 882th 3.31⭐ 52🧑‍⚖️
Given 50🗳️ 81🗨️

Feedback

Kpedatte
06. Oct 2020 · 16:28 UTC
Nice game and nice music. Also it's great to have a game playable on webgl.
Good job
thunderkerrigan
06. Oct 2020 · 16:29 UTC
interesting game mechanics :smiley:
delightful graphics and a big effort to wrap up a story within your game. that's refreshing for sure :thumbsup:

Good job
Heho
06. Oct 2020 · 16:31 UTC
nice main mechanic. The music is also really great. First time I tried it the controls where not working but that was fixed by reloading the page
Yigit Doruk
06. Oct 2020 · 16:34 UTC
If there is one thing that Moscow Bear Catching Academy has taught me, Fyodor Fireovitch is a fckn huge bear who is impossible to beat! Boris the Bear Hunter is a fun and interesting game with great music, however gameplay is kinda lacking and players couldn't find what they are supposed to do. But other than that, it is a brilliant game that can put a smile on my face, keep up your good work!
TwoHands
06. Oct 2020 · 16:39 UTC
Funny game, maybe you could put some controls in the description ^^
Kevin Meissner
06. Oct 2020 · 16:42 UTC
very nice good job was really cool and funny :-D
Walkingtall85
06. Oct 2020 · 16:48 UTC
I am not sure why my line turned green from blue and I don't seem to be able to catch bears anymore. Must be soviet russia, bear catch me all the time.
hyblis
06. Oct 2020 · 16:49 UTC
Very fun game - love the graphics! Though I'd say bosses take a bit long to kill. Oh and the audio is amazing!
Duck Reaction
06. Oct 2020 · 18:57 UTC
I love the idea. Explanations at the beginning of the game are very helpful.
I think that enemis are too fast to be catch.

Good job.
DmitryGalias
06. Oct 2020 · 19:10 UTC
Good job, comrade! But hunting a bear with a rope is kind of weird)
🎤 ForgeronStudio
06. Oct 2020 · 20:04 UTC
@dmitrygalias Really? That's the way I've always done it. Why, what other methods are there?
Koolruz
06. Oct 2020 · 20:51 UTC
I thought you did a good job explaining the general controls to the player, and I felt like I knew what to do right off the bat. The post-death scene explaining the controls was also a nice touch :) I died by burning my rope a few times to the boss, and having the post-death screen specifically tell me that you would die if your hook got burned helped me realize what I was doing wrong.

That said, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do to get to the boss on my first few playthroughs - I was wandering lost for quite some time before stumbling into the boss fight in an area I thought that I had already explored. Once I discovered the boss, it also would have been nice to be able to restart the fight without spending 20 seconds walking all the way back between attempts.

I also really liked the music - As soon as I booted the game up, the music immediately set a distinct mood. :)
🎤 ForgeronStudio
06. Oct 2020 · 21:03 UTC
Thanks for the comments @koolruz ! I agree that the levels are a bit big. As a developer, I know how to get to the bosses, so I didn't realise how difficult they would be to find the first time around! Checkpoints are a great idea. We didn't think of that :)
Blue Pin Studio
06. Oct 2020 · 23:41 UTC
I liked the art and the music! The small enemies were a bit too fast and unavoidable at times though.
SophieMae0
07. Oct 2020 · 02:05 UTC
I love the art and music. Great mood overall. I got mad cause I kept dying though tbh.
Asue
07. Oct 2020 · 15:20 UTC
It's an original game with a very interesting main mechanics. The idea of reminding the controls and the goal of the game when you're dead is a very good idea. Personally, I was very bad at the game because the bears are going too fast xD It would be nice to add a little warning sign on the edges of the screen to warn us! Anyway, good job =D
🎤 ForgeronStudio
07. Oct 2020 · 16:54 UTC
Thanks for the idea, @asue ! I thought it would be fun to be surprised by bears constantly, but it sounds like a lot of people find them too fast. @sophiemae0 @blue-pin-studio glad to hear you both liked the art and music! We'll probably make the first level easier in the future, but no promises for the second level ;)
Marinee
07. Oct 2020 · 18:06 UTC
HAahaha , so nice strong Boris!! Very interesting character! and i loved the music!
🎤 ForgeronStudio
07. Oct 2020 · 18:19 UTC
Boris thanks you @marinee . His excessively manly physique was tuned over many winters of bear hunting. Canonically, he composed the soundtrack himself by the campfire using a hand-bellow after it was revealed to him in a vision.
Yossarian
07. Oct 2020 · 18:49 UTC
Nice job on the hand-drawn art! Also- your description is extremely well written (does that count as part of the game??). I found the gameplay itself a bit difficult- the post-death tip about doing tight circles certainly helped. But I can't seem to beat Fyodor! I'm not sure what is hitting me. I saw another comment say that the hook takes damage for you, so that must be it. I will try again now- back to the woods!
JavaSaurus
07. Oct 2020 · 22:29 UTC
Heya! Thanks for submitting your game to my stream [twitch.tv/drjavasaurus)[www.twitch.tv/drjavasaurus]. I had a great time playing it ! Great to see a funny entry with a great take on a loop theme. The game is way more challenging that you'd give it credit for at first ! Maybe the first couple of bears should be a bit slower since they really hit me like a bullet. Overall, great entry well done !
🎤 ForgeronStudio
07. Oct 2020 · 22:36 UTC
Thank you so much for playing @javasaurus ! It was really cool to see how you approached the game and so exciting to watch, we put it on the TV and cheered haha. Highlight of the jam so far :) will definitely catch some future streams.
Tauheed Game Dev
08. Oct 2020 · 06:36 UTC
Nice game, Really liked the music and fighting mechanic.
UnhandyRed
08. Oct 2020 · 06:44 UTC
Playing this game I felt my Russian ancestors smiling down on me. Which is weird since I'm fairly certain that I don't have any Russian ancestors
Eldelhas
08. Oct 2020 · 11:57 UTC
This game is really fun and well done : the recall of mechanics when you di = perfect feedback for the player and a veeeery nice idea to catch him on the game !!) i got fun playing it so thanks for the experience :) Good job !
madnesssguschenka
08. Oct 2020 · 19:02 UTC
Extremely hilarious, but I feel sorry for the bears. I would play for the bears with more excitement.
wizard sino
08. Oct 2020 · 20:50 UTC
I hate squirrels with a burning passion now. I couldn't even get to the bear.
Eugenik
09. Oct 2020 · 01:04 UTC
Very fun game!
piscythe
09. Oct 2020 · 01:46 UTC
I would prefer it if the best strategy for the final boss were to fight like a proper warrior instead of hiding behind a rock, but I guess Boris is a hunter. This is a very creative idea, and I'm glad I played it all the way through.
🎤 ForgeronStudio
09. Oct 2020 · 06:56 UTC
@piscythe thank you for playing - this is a good point! The goal for that battle was to force the player to move around and get Ivan to crash into rocks; one idea was that the rock would break when Ivan charged and eventually respawn, but we didn’t get time to make that work. Currently, you’re right that it’s sometimes best to hide (though it sometimes also will end up with Ivan cornering you ;) ). Moving the rocks to the very edge so you can’t really get behind them is another idea, if we end up tuning it a bit more.
Actually, on *some* level this seems to be an issue with a lot of bossfights in games, where the best strategy is to be hyperdefensive or exploit the AI rather than aggression. A fun problem to tackle, and one we want to put more thought into :)
Jima
10. Oct 2020 · 15:22 UTC
Very fun game, I liked it a lot! Мне понравилось, привет из Москвы
Fonics
10. Oct 2020 · 20:15 UTC
I catch bear. Very fun game, I love the artstyle, the music adds a nice touch, and I do love catch bear.
Honest Dan
12. Oct 2020 · 10:22 UTC
A lot of character to this game! I appreciated the effort put in to the backstories. Took a while to get used to the mechanic, but got there in the end. I liked your way of giving a tutorial after you've failed once, rather than a wall of text before you even try.
🎤 ForgeronStudio
12. Oct 2020 · 12:02 UTC
Cheers @honest-dan , really appreciate you playing and showing our game! Struggling with the mechanic is the most common issue we saw by a good margin, having a smoother difficulty gradient so players have more of a chance to figure it out is our biggest lesson for a future game/future release of this one
Peace Of Cake Games
15. Oct 2020 · 21:21 UTC
Nice game! Every time I find the bear the camera zooms in and then no scrolling, cutscenes, unzooming, or anything happens. Then I immediately get killed when I can't even see myself. Is this a bug, or just something I'm supposed to avoid?
🎤 ForgeronStudio
15. Oct 2020 · 22:22 UTC
Thanks for letting us know @peace-of-cake-games ! I've never heard of that bug before unfortunately, I'll have to look into it. I suspect you might be encountering the bear from a weird angle we haven't tested. Are you playing the game in fullscreen, and are you using an uncommon computer or web browser?
Peace Of Cake Games
15. Oct 2020 · 22:37 UTC
I'm using fullscreen in Google Chrome. The operating system is just Windows 10, maybe it's because I'm approaching the bear from the left, and a little bit up?
🎤 ForgeronStudio
15. Oct 2020 · 22:41 UTC
ah okay that's weird, should be working. Thanks so much for the help!
maskinmask
19. Oct 2020 · 18:30 UTC
i like bears.
Barvaz
25. Oct 2020 · 09:11 UTC
A very nice game, though I felt the little bears that shoot at you are too fast, but overall a great game with great music!