Confused by Rombus

[raw]
made by Rombus for Ludum Dare 45 (COMPO)

confused-card.png

When I was a kid I used to rent a lot of Famicom cartdriges.
Of course they came without instructions, just the cart in a plastic transparent bag.
You had to figure out the game by just playing it.
I want this game to be a similar experience, so I wont describe anything here, not even a single screenshot (except for the controls).

Controls:
- Arrows to move.
- C to jump
- V to dismiss screen and attack
Note for Phil: the remap button functionality seems to have been broken on a pico8 update, but it now supports C&V keys, and those are close to each other in qwertz keyboards ;)

Made with SFF & pico8

POSTMORTEM:

I had very little time to work on this LD, so the first reasonable idea I got I went with it.
The theme sucks and the interpretation I've made it's not as obvious (and not as profound either), but you can let me know in the comments what you think it is.
I was creating a music piece in Pico8 and just like in the last LD, I tried to save it while it was playing. It crashed and erased the entire song... I still managed to include some bleeps and blops in there though.
The boss battle is recycled from a previous LD entry. That's the advantage of using the same engine over and over, and due to the architecture of SFF it's easy to do stuff like this.
The title is due to how I felt while during the jam hahahaha....

Ratings

Overall 194th 3.542⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Fun 164th 3.44⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 250th 3.239⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Theme 144th 3.7⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 260th 3.28⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Audio 190th 3.25⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Humor 84th 3.333⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Mood 149th 3.458⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Given 7🗳️ 8🗨️

Feedback

dqmhose
06. Oct 2019 · 14:54 UTC
I was just quickly trying to check some games out and this was really fun. Figuring out what exactly to do.. realizing I just didn't read the instructions properly. Goold old times. Didn't manage to beat the boss at the end though, I kept jumping into him or into the projectiles but I suck at those games. Nice pixelart!
blobo
07. Oct 2019 · 00:26 UTC
Haha, that's a great take on the theme! I love how the game explains its self through playing it!
NachtWitch
07. Oct 2019 · 00:31 UTC
I think the lack of instructions is a big turn off when we only have a few minutes to play the game, maybe save the concept for a bigger and more easy to understand game?
patvanmackelberg
07. Oct 2019 · 00:45 UTC
Really good entry, I couldn't really find anything wrong with it - the boss was a tad hard but that's the fun of it lol
Frank Gevaerts
07. Oct 2019 · 12:39 UTC
Nice game! I didn't manage to beat the boss (as expected, that's just me). I like the character progression. One minor issue is that the level screen says "press (x) to restart" where I'd have expected "continue", but I don't know if that's an engine limitation.
Frank Gevaerts
07. Oct 2019 · 12:40 UTC
@nachtwitch it took about 30 seconds to figure out, is that really too long?
NachtWitch
07. Oct 2019 · 12:49 UTC
@frank-gevaerts it's not so much as it's too long as the amount of games needed to be played,I'm no gamer so maybe that is why it took me so long
Jiri Hysek
07. Oct 2019 · 16:56 UTC
Funny little game :) The boss got me by surprise, luckily I can fight boss again without searching bones and flash again. I don't know if it's just my computer but I think the boss is hitting way me before bullets arrives to the player. Nice entry anyway.
Hedgy
07. Oct 2019 · 20:11 UTC
A fun small game! The boss took me longer than I wish to admit.
DeathStorm
08. Oct 2019 · 15:51 UTC
It toally reminds me on my younger age with the games we had there. Awesome Game, the idea is nice, the twist is cruel.
Well Done, very good job.
GuitarBro
10. Oct 2019 · 00:01 UTC
Well... I am confused too lol. The boss was legitimately somewhat challenging so good job with making it feel like an actual boss fight. Definitely captures that retro "here's a game, just play it" vibe. My biggest complaint would be that it felt pretty short. The entire first bit of the game took about as long as it took me to defeat the boss, but given this was a compo entry, I'd say it was alright.
Webox
10. Oct 2019 · 02:01 UTC
I wasn't able to use C or V, for some reason. I love picon 8 games, how people manage to create meaningful art and music with so little resources. Great job! If you know what's wrong with my controls please let me know!
koemeterion
10. Oct 2019 · 10:05 UTC
Fun little game. The gathering part is a bit meaningless because it isnt challenging at all, but that comes from your limited time frame you had I guess. Still a nice expierence with a twist at the end. I enjoyed it!
RedHermit
12. Oct 2019 · 18:48 UTC
I had a great time! I love the progression.. and killing things into piles of bones in gook gave me a great laugh with the art style. Excellent soundtrack too! The boss battle was like the Dark Souls of Pico8 games for me though.. managed it eventually though. Nice work putting together a complete experience!
itsdanidre
13. Oct 2019 · 00:09 UTC
Cool simple game. You're excused for so little. But it was neat and straightforward, so it's a yes from me!
commanderstitch
13. Oct 2019 · 02:51 UTC
This ghostly little game was so barebones it wasn't fleshed out but seemed spirited and resolved to conquer your demons. This sentence explains the game so well it should be set in a pico game. ;-) loved it. Beat it. You nailed the theme as well!
Geckoo1337
13. Oct 2019 · 09:53 UTC
Hi Rombus. Really nice entry using Pico8. The main aesthetic reminds to me some old games under Atari Linx. The gameplay is fun fitting with the theme. But the chaman is too strong for me. I noticed that hit boxes for collider are a little bit too big. However I had fun playing. Thank you ++
gamebuilder
14. Oct 2019 · 16:18 UTC
The wobbling fireballs are diabolical. I could not defeat the boss. I wish there was a way to go back to the first area to collect health points or power-ups, and then revisit the boss. Anyway I like the graphics and mood of this game.
PhilStrahl
21. Oct 2019 · 20:41 UTC
I almost wished that the game confused me more, nevertheless I had an enjoyable time figuring things out and the boss battle at the end was a nice conclusion (once I discovered the strategy to beat it) ;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u3BIVgcKdQ
mao
25. Oct 2019 · 05:22 UTC
Neat! It wasn't too hard to figure out what to do, and it was fun discovering the environment. I like the transition to a different gameplay style at the end.