This is adorable! I only wish I had someone to play it with at the moment, I'll have to try it co-op sometime! I love how deliciously satisfying making the trails of candy and gathering them up is. :D
Hey, thanks! It gets a bit busy with so many candies on the floor, haha. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I'd like to update this game some day fixing all the issues (like maybe movement, enemy non-determinism, level design, etc.), but life gets in the way.
If you do end up playing co-op, gamepads would be ideal, as two people on the same keyboard can feel a bit cramped. Though I think it's also nice playing shoulder to shoulder.
This is so ridiculously good! I am uncovering more gameplay tricks and depth each time I play. Seriously well done! Gives me that classic Taito/MTJ vibe, too, which is the cherry on the cake. Love it! Release it on Switch.
Hey, thanks for the kind words. I don't even have the money for a Steam port, so I'm not sure a Switch one would be possible right now. Plus, I'd like to explore other game ideas. But who knows? Maybe in the future I'll remake this for a Nintendo console. That'd be nice.
Thanks! You may not know it, but this is really good feedback. The timer stops when a spell absorbs the last enemy, so that you don't feel cheated if time runs out after you defeated all enemies. I didn't even know that enemies killed you if they landed on top of you! I'm going to call that bug a feature. You also made me realize some animations were broken by the last build. I'm uploading a small fix now.
Happy our video could help, so the timer wasn't just really slow or something it was to keep the player from losing in a cheap way, thought the enemies landing on the player was just to add more difficulty to the game, and yeah we enjoyed it.
Loved the game so much! It's really fun and charming. 8yo me would have played the hell out of this in the good old NES!
If you don't mind, I wanted to ask you some questions (and maybe make some comments) about the design... Not in the way of 'unsolicited advice', mind you.
1. I think this kind of game would really benefit of having a web build. But, now that I think of it, maybe you used the C# option for Godot and didn't have that one available. I say this because all of my prototypes and demos got a significant boost in visits when I ported them.
2. The controls feel really smooth! One thing that came to my mind, though, was "why is everything on a grid and my movement isn't?". Have you tried that version (movement on one direction at a time)? If so, why have you settled for the 360° one?
3. My favorite monster is the thief mouse. It's a pretty complex enemy to fight, but it's really easy to understand. It provides tension and fun in the right amounts.
4. Loved the little flamey guys too! The time constraint that these guys put on the player puts a bit of spice to each level they are in. The thing about them is that, once they breed too much, you instantly lose; there's a certain threshold where nothing more can be done to handle them. Or, at least that was my perception. Maybe you could limit the total amount of flameys (or even total enemies) that are on screen at any given time? That way you can fine tune that number, have more control over it, and provide a more forgiving experience (i.e. "really hard but not impossible"). If that's how it works already, then I'm a moron and didn't notice that. Sorry, hahaha.
5. Great palette selection, btw. Reminds me of the one that pico-8 uses. Sharp contrast, distinctive shades.
6. I'd love to have the current play mode as a "Casual Mode", and then another one that limits the amount of credits you have, kinda like an "Arcade Mode". Again, if that's already available, then I'm twice a moron.
7. This is just being picky, but when you "detonate" enemies, the sound they all make overlaps with each other. You could either make them interrupt one another when playing the same type of sound, or maybe you could have like a pool of similar sounds that can be played at the same time (which was my approach for our GGJ2020 little game). Just my two cents!
I know that getting the "modern retro" feel can be pretty difficult and exhausting, but I hope you had a great time making it because I had a great one playing it.
I considered this, but ultimately decided against it. Although I'm not really sure now why. I think I like the idea of people having a small app with an icon and the little manual. I'll try making a web build some time in the near future. I didn't use C#, so it's not really a technical problem.
Heh, this was on purpose. It was kind of a compromise. I like the *look* of things on a grid, but I don't really like moving along one. Even 8-way movement would've felt a bit clunky for my tastes. I wanted the movement to feel responsive and FAST, somewhat akin to top-down Zeldas. That was all nice and well, but I had a problem: I wanted the spell to move like snake! So it HAD to be on a grid. That's why I say it was a compromise.
Lupin, the mouse thief, is one of the first enemies I came up with. I wanted the player to think "Hey! That guy is stealing my candy!" and rush over to beat them and then get killed for not paying attention to their own surroundings.
Ah, yes, the Flam Fams... I did put a limit on how many can be on screen, but it may still be too large a number. Buggies (the ducks) won't spawn enemies either past this limit. A good strategy to counter Flam Fams if you get overwhelmed is to get rid of the candy as fast as possible, 'cause they can't spawn without touching them. But in general, you'd like to avoid this situation in the first place.
Although there *is* a global palette, I try not to limit myself to it that much and add colors accordingly. I also try to reuse them as much as I can. Enemies have their own palettes and the only general rule is to have < 4 colors (counting black), but I break this too once or twice.
About the "Arcade Mode", it was originally going to be that. I mean, I wanted to have a game for when (if?) I eventually build an arcade cabinet. The idea of limitless credits was taken from (I think) PS2 versions of the Metal Slug games. So no, it's not implemented. You'll notice though that if you "continue", you'll lose your score. And even if it was a high score, it won't be saved in the high score table.
Hmm, they don't? I must have overlooked that. I wanted to have them interrupt one another, and that's why sfxs are all on the same bus. I'll check it out.
Thank you for the kind words, your interest and feedback! I had fun working on this, but eventually wanted to move on and have it released, so sorry for the missing features and general lack of UX. I may add the "Arcade Mode" and some more features in the future, when I have the time to do so!
And also, thank you for playing :)
PS: Not that they add much to the game, but there are two secrets, the hints being on the manual.
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This is adorable! I only wish I had someone to play it with at the moment, I'll have to try it co-op sometime! I love how deliciously satisfying making the trails of candy and gathering them up is. :D
Hey, thanks! It gets a bit busy with so many candies on the floor, haha. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I'd like to update this game some day fixing all the issues (like maybe movement, enemy non-determinism, level design, etc.), but life gets in the way.
If you do end up playing co-op, gamepads would be ideal, as two people on the same keyboard can feel a bit cramped. Though I think it's also nice playing shoulder to shoulder.
This is so ridiculously good! I am uncovering more gameplay tricks and depth each time I play. Seriously well done! Gives me that classic Taito/MTJ vibe, too, which is the cherry on the cake. Love it! Release it on Switch.
Hey, thanks for the kind words. I don't even have the money for a Steam port, so I'm not sure a Switch one would be possible right now. Plus, I'd like to explore other game ideas. But who knows? Maybe in the future I'll remake this for a Nintendo console. That'd be nice.
Made a video
Thanks! You may not know it, but this is really good feedback.
The timer stops when a spell absorbs the last enemy, so that you don't feel cheated if time runs out after you defeated all enemies.
I didn't even know that enemies killed you if they landed on top of you! I'm going to call that bug a feature.
You also made me realize some animations were broken by the last build. I'm uploading a small fix now.
Hope you liked it!
Happy our video could help, so the timer wasn't just really slow or something it was to keep the player from losing in a cheap way, thought the enemies landing on the player was just to add more difficulty to the game, and yeah we enjoyed it.
Loved the game so much! It's really fun and charming. 8yo me would have played the hell out of this in the good old NES!
If you don't mind, I wanted to ask you some questions (and maybe make some comments) about the design... Not in the way of 'unsolicited advice', mind you.
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it. Please, go ahead. I appreciate the feedback :)
Great then!
1. I think this kind of game would really benefit of having a web build. But, now that I think of it, maybe you used the C# option for Godot and didn't have that one available. I say this because all of my prototypes and demos got a significant boost in visits when I ported them.
2. The controls feel really smooth! One thing that came to my mind, though, was "why is everything on a grid and my movement isn't?". Have you tried that version (movement on one direction at a time)? If so, why have you settled for the 360° one?
3. My favorite monster is the thief mouse. It's a pretty complex enemy to fight, but it's really easy to understand. It provides tension and fun in the right amounts.
4. Loved the little flamey guys too! The time constraint that these guys put on the player puts a bit of spice to each level they are in. The thing about them is that, once they breed too much, you instantly lose; there's a certain threshold where nothing more can be done to handle them. Or, at least that was my perception. Maybe you could limit the total amount of flameys (or even total enemies) that are on screen at any given time? That way you can fine tune that number, have more control over it, and provide a more forgiving experience (i.e. "really hard but not impossible"). If that's how it works already, then I'm a moron and didn't notice that. Sorry, hahaha.
5. Great palette selection, btw. Reminds me of the one that pico-8 uses. Sharp contrast, distinctive shades.
6. I'd love to have the current play mode as a "Casual Mode", and then another one that limits the amount of credits you have, kinda like an "Arcade Mode". Again, if that's already available, then I'm twice a moron.
7. This is just being picky, but when you "detonate" enemies, the sound they all make overlaps with each other. You could either make them interrupt one another when playing the same type of sound, or maybe you could have like a pool of similar sounds that can be played at the same time (which was my approach for our GGJ2020 little game). Just my two cents!
I know that getting the "modern retro" feel can be pretty difficult and exhausting, but I hope you had a great time making it because I had a great one playing it.
Cheers!
Sorry for the delayed answer!
Thank you for the kind words, your interest and feedback! I had fun working on this, but eventually wanted to move on and have it released, so sorry for the missing features and general lack of UX. I may add the "Arcade Mode" and some more features in the future, when I have the time to do so!
And also, thank you for playing :)
PS: Not that they add much to the game, but there are two secrets, the hints being on the manual.
Cute!
Thanks! :)