HEX ATTACK by Robber

[raw]
made by Robber for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

A turn based tactical bullet hell kind of game involving centered around cell mitosis

Written entirely in vanilla javascript, without any additional libraries or basecode

Code, graphics and sound by Rob Bothof aka Robber https://twitter.com/RobBothof

[HINTS / SPOILERS]

"You Play Red, White is your opponent, capture all white cells to win the game"

"Avoid white's bullets, or use them to sacrifice one of your Red cells"

"You can switch between your cells with TAB or select them with left-click"

"Capturing a white cell performs a divide and gives you two red cells"

"Explosions can cause chain reactions, if other players or opponens are caught in the blast."

"White cells hit by white team crossfire can divide"

"It's hard to write proper A.I in a gamejam weekend"

"Keep Red Alive!"

[Gifs to get your hype on]

explosion chaining: r9oxRDrJJk.gif

white cell reproduction 9bM4PSeEHG.gif

takeing out a group of white cells KkMQNDrDpr.gif

Ratings

Overall 334th 3.904⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Fun 185th 3.942⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 63th 4.154⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 2016th 3.212⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1247th 3.615⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Audio 466th 3.692⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Mood 682th 3.68⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 4🗳️ 3🗨️

Feedback

NoThoughts
21. Apr 2020 · 00:39 UTC
I like it, ty for this game
Pyrotrap
21. Apr 2020 · 00:50 UTC
Really interesting. Wasn't really sure what was going on at first so maybe an info screen would help. Other than that it just seems a bit too easy once you understand what's going on.
BoltKey
21. Apr 2020 · 00:57 UTC
First of all, don't hide my mouse cursor please.

Second, I have no idea what is going on. I don't even know what the goal is - are the red cells enemies? Or are white the enemies? Should I destroy them? Or should I destroy the whole map? Should I create as many white cells as possible? I genuinely don't know.

I have lost several games. I have been trying to understand the game for good 10 minutes. So far, I have found out this: each turn, you move one of your tiles. If red tile meets white tile, white becomes red. White sometimes shoots. Red explodes. Thats' it. After understanding those concepts, I was able to destroy all white cells just to see what happens, turns out I won.

After winning, I still have no idea how most of the game works: How does white reproduce? No idea. How explosions work? No idea.

Nothing of this is explained in-game nor here.

I believe there is a good game underneath all that is "lost in translation", but I just don't see it right now. Sorry.
🎤 Robber
21. Apr 2020 · 01:20 UTC
@boltkey thank you for the feedback, i'll post some of the hints in the description
erebus
21. Apr 2020 · 02:26 UTC
Really cool idea! Thanks so much for bringing it by the stream!
BootyGangDisciple
21. Apr 2020 · 02:43 UTC
Great concept! This was so creative and interesting. I've never seen a concept like this before. Great work all around my friend.
Bobothegreat
21. Apr 2020 · 02:44 UTC
I love the sound this game makes! It's a really good concept, I got stuck a couple of times, but I had a good time after playing a few games
marcmagus
21. Apr 2020 · 05:19 UTC
The fact that I got briefly angry at your game means you definitely did something right. Good work.

A slightly smaller map might have been good: some games I felt like I was doing a lot of slow chasing of the enemy.

I could see playing this for a good few hours if more enemy types were introduced.

ETA: Thanks for bringing your game for me to play on stream! You can watch again at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/603497058
AfroAnt
21. Apr 2020 · 06:40 UTC
Thanks for sharing! I think the mechanics could really work as a puzzle game, or a smaller-mapped pvp experience. Graphics were simple and effective. Nice work!
AdamCYounis
21. Apr 2020 · 06:49 UTC
This is such a big brain game design. You've invented a new genre, and I could actually see myself playing this against a human in some format. Very much got Othello / Chinese Checkers vibes from the systems, and I totally get that the game was made in a weekend, so I would love to play a version that had a smarter AI. Standing close by would force it to spam bullets while I set up other pieces. Still, great work. I love it.
Horus
21. Apr 2020 · 07:03 UTC
Map is too big, game is too easy, and I'd like to have my mouse visible. HOWEVER, I love the graphical choice and audio choice, on top of interesting gameplay, I think you have the bones to a really cool game. I could see my father playing this more than myself, but there is an interesting puzzle this game is. I really like it.
Rein
21. Apr 2020 · 08:51 UTC
Very interesting concept. I agree with the other comments about the mouse. I feel like I spent a lot of time chasing down individual enemies. I was hoping there would be more large chunks of enemies like in the screenshot but that never happened. More activity on the board would be a massive improvement - make you actually think about which unit to sacrifice, etc.
Nothingness
21. Apr 2020 · 14:29 UTC
Awesome, had a lot of fun. Some more info in game would be great and start with a smaller map.
kara
21. Apr 2020 · 14:59 UTC
Nice take on cells game. I liked your concept.
Team-on
21. Apr 2020 · 20:44 UTC
Freash idea of combining bullet hell and turn-based game, I love that
Eli Delventhal
23. Apr 2020 · 00:43 UTC
Pretty cool (especially for pure JS and canvas)! Unfortunately I wasn't clear where the depth was... once I figured out that I just needed to "eat" the enemy and avoid their projectiles (except where I wanted to self-destruct an area) I wasn't clear on what the challenge really was. Echoing what others I have said, I want to see where this thing goes. There's a lot to like here, but its lack of clarity / challenge hampers it currently.
Rojola
23. Apr 2020 · 11:58 UTC
I really liked the visual presentation of this, simple and easy to read! I just wish I had brains to comprehend what is going on. I still managed to get a victory once. Altough this did not have music, the sound "effects" generated a tune when clicking really fast. That is nice idea :D