A top down slayer game where you play as an undying spirit and absorb souls to defeat the final boss!

Utilize your death beam to both clear the field for fast soul gain and to punish the three phase boss into submission!

Flashy graphics inspired by old school arcade machines.

I am very proud to be participating in my first ever gamejam! This project was done entirely by myself, I hope you enjoy!

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  • Peter 🌊 Jørgensen
    Organizer

    It's a fun concept and something that has a lot of potential. Maybe something to keep working on?

    Thanks for participating and hope to see you at our next game jam!

  • baku
    Patron

    Congratulations on entering your first gamejam!

    I liked the idea for the game, but since it takes so long to beat it, it got pretty repetitive very fast. Eventually I cheesed it by just sitting in the bottom center, clearing the entire screen with the charge attack every few seconds, which got enough charge back from the enemies that I could just continue doing this forever, until the boss eventually died.

    • Professor Stein
      Lv. 2
      Professor Stein Developer of TO HELL WITH DEATH

      4yrs ago

      A very good strategy! Boss HP could have definitely been half what it was, but I'm actually glad you found this cheese system as it was my own favorite method, and the smartest way to clear it c: a future note to self has already been made, "Don't make a gamejam boss feel like a final boss". Sorry it took so long ^.^ Thank you so much for your feedback :D

  • mrbbnbrn
    Lv. 6

    I found the game satisfying even thought it is pretty long. Killing enemies and using the laser felt good. Congrats on your first jam buddy!

    Barov
    Submitted

    Barov

  • Jonordona
    Lv. 2

    I loved this game. The art style really clicked with me and the characters had a lot of character. The visual effects were also very pretty.

    I found it to be a little bit too long without any new mechanism being added later in the game, but it was still a very pleasant experience.

    • Professor Stein
      Lv. 2
      Professor Stein Developer of TO HELL WITH DEATH

      4yrs ago

      Yeahhh I definitely could have shortened the health by at least half, that was a lack of play testing oopsie ^.^ definitely shouldn't have made it feel like a final boss for the game jam xD thank you so much for playing and I'm glad you liked the style of it ^.^ that means the world to me!

  • Tero Hannula
    Patron

    Well done with your first jame game :) I liked some effects, and the beam was satisfying :) It is good that you made enemies have buildup before shooting, small things but gives better feeling of the game. The player was bit slow and there was no treath. I feel this game wasn't totally finished, you had boss phases (faces, haha) implemented, but no way that he would attack player. But I would see him using different tactics with different phases. This could have been more fitting the alternative theme "Boss rush", which was in top 10. You should avoid large flashing areas for prolonged times, and the lava was bit, ugh :s But otherwise well done, and take these jams as a time to learn and try new things. For example next jam, think what mechanic you want to do beforehand (and to learn), hand how effectively you could implement theme in that.

    I played through and got the donuts ^^

    Reload
    Submitted

    Reload

    • Professor Stein
      Lv. 2
      Professor Stein Developer of TO HELL WITH DEATH

      4yrs ago

      Hey thank you for your feedback! And those things at the end were bagels hahaha I had to include them somewhere! The BG was just meant to be a trippy effect that would randomly skew, kind of like earthbound graphics and other etc. I definitely would have included more if I had the chance for sure! This gamejam definitely helped me get a better idea for a road map and you aren't the first person to mention the unnease with the flashing effects, I apologize for any uncomfort that may have caused. I have a big love for arcade games and always try to make them as juicy but I didn't keep in mind a setting for people that may be made uncomfortable, definitely will include some settings in the future to scale down said effects! Thank you so much for your time and for playing my game :D

  • PenguinCzar
    Lv. 5

    Okay so this game is addicting. Its like 1 am and I had to keep playing. Although there a so many great things ( the awesome boss, the AI, the great art, the fluid mechanics) I found two things maybe to work on. First, I know there was not a lot of time, but I do have to agree with the others, not having a death state is perfectly fine for a no death state competition but, you being so talented seems like you could have thought of an interesting take. Secondly, Oh my gosh the poor epileptics. The flashing white was so fast that at first I didn't notice it, but once I did, ouch. But that probably doesn't matter as I'm gonna play it again. Other than those two critiques, This is a great game. Good Luck!

    • Professor Stein
      Lv. 2
      Professor Stein Developer of TO HELL WITH DEATH

      4yrs ago

      Thank you so much! I'm extremely happy you found the game loop enjoyable as it's based off a concept for how I plan to base encounters for my big action RPG I've been slaving over! (Except it wouldn't have as much health and other etc for each encounter) and yes I definitely walked right over the epileptic stuff. My bad for being an arcade junky and not thinking of other players, I definitely need to make this an option to disable said flashes in the future! And yes, I could have definitely been more creative with the theme. I notice that as a pretty dominant feedback point and I'll definitely be more creative next jam. Thank you so much for playing the game and your valuable feedback! Cheers to becoming a better dev!

  • Kwis
    Lv. 67

    Wow, this was long!

    • A bit too long. It'd be fine if it had different gameplays, but
    • The gameplay gets exhausted a bit quickly cause the most you're going to do is spin with your sword open, wander around and laser beam everyone when it's ready while also aimging at the floating head. It's fune to mow them down, but you gotta do this for so long without much changes. Yes, juicy things are cool, but it's not keeping me that long ^^
    • I mean, as a result, the sword should just be kept drawn out. It didn't feel like you had to manage it, just had to keep it always out. :D
    • I concurr about the theme. I'm not a fan of the concept of "you just don't reach the death state" as I'd prefer something to happen instead . For example, instead of dying, you're teleported to another world insteady of dying, you could for example turn into a bagel. Maybe that new state would force you to play differently. ...And I should have definitely have done something like that, why didn't I get that idea before. xD
    • The boss changing forms was hella cool!
    • The atmosphere as well fits.
    • The music is a tad to uneventful considering the action going, but I'm guessing it's best to have a fitting them as simple as it is. Cause it fitted the atmosphere!
    • The flashing colored background at the end hem... Thank god I'm not epileptic, I didn't expect it. Caught me off guard and made things harder to read!

    Was still fun, would have mostly liked a way lower health pool from the skull aha

    Trapped
    Submitted

    Trapped

    • Professor Stein
      Lv. 2
      Professor Stein Developer of TO HELL WITH DEATH

      4yrs ago

      Thank you for the critique! I really like the thought of keeping the sword constantly out as that would have freed up more button controls for sure. I feel like the theme, however, is pretty well implemented. Not having a death state in a no death state challenge seems pretty ok to me but i definitely understand where you are coming from, which is why all damage received was converted to a loss of souls and a loss of charge :3 It wasn't an "alternative state other than death challenge" or I would have heavily focused on transformation states and other etc. And the health pool was definitely a bit chunky fo sho, making a "final boss" type enemy for an introductory level/game jam is definitely something much clearer in hindsight! These are all excellent notes though, I don't mean to seem argumentative as it's super appreciated that you took your time to tell me all this. All of you guys are helping alot with my quest to be a better solo dev and i love you all <3

  • GhostlyFeline
    Lv. 5

    I really dig the attack mechanics, and the art was pretty cool. Unfortunately, the lack of death, while appropriate for the theme, made the whole game lack tension and feel rather tedious to play after a while. It was the same short gameplay loop of sword a bunch of guys, then blast all your energy on the boss, for what felt like an eternity. There's definitely a good game in here, but I think it could have used some tweaking.

    • Professor Stein
      Lv. 2
      Professor Stein Developer of TO HELL WITH DEATH

      4yrs ago

      You can blast the enemies with the laser too :b I wonder how many people miss out on the joys of sweeping a field with a mega beam~ but thank you kindly for your feedback, it makes me happy to hear any and all criticism ^.^ and thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with this feedback. I would have def made a smash bros like intro tutorial if I had more time or a team at my disposal, goals for next time c:

  • Yosi
    Lv. 46

    I think this game is pretty fun. The graphics fit well and the special effects are good. Unfortunately, there were a few parts I personally didn't really like. The constantly moving red and black background was interesting at the start, but after a while it was too much for my eyes. Instead of having that effect the entire game, I think you should start out the game with something like a pure black background and then only introduce the glitching background in the final stretch. The screenshake was also a bit much. If you plan on putting in a lot of screenshake, it's usually a good idea to add a menu to allow players to tone down the screenshake amount. I know that it is hard to fit in extra features like this in a Gm48, but it definitely hurts the playability of the game for people like me who will get dizzy easily. This doesn't really apply to this game, but I think having a bar visual instead of just text for the charge amount would be useful so you don't have to glance up in the corner every once in a while. Since you can't die in this game it isn't really necessary, but if you could die I think that would be a good change. Overall I thought this was a good game. The gameplay is enjoyable and it fits the theme. EDIT: No need to be sorry about it! I still had a lot of fun playing.

    Leviatron
    Submitted

    Leviatron

    • Professor Stein
      Lv. 2
      Professor Stein Developer of TO HELL WITH DEATH

      4yrs ago

      Sorry yosi! I can kind of be a dink with effects sometimes due to my obsession with old arcade machines. I grew up staring at flashing screens so i guess i never would have imagined that effect on other players. Thank you so much for the valuable critique. It will help alot when i go to implement similar mechanics into my future action RPG! I'll make sure to include more settings in the future, thank you for the thoughtful feedback :D

  • havik
    Patron

    1021 enemies killed, 3080 souls absorbed, unlimited bagels. (Why the bagels? Is this the new fish with legs?!)

    At the start I was wondering how many hours I'd have to be going to kill the boss since it takes quite a while to save up souls. Then I figured out you can spin around to kill them faster which helped. Then I figured out you can get 20% energy then clear the entire field with the beam and let it basically charge itself. So, I did that, and it went much quicker!

    A game that let's you discover ways to beat it that are more efficient each time, that's always a good sign, so well done there.

    I wasn't completely sure if the enemies are doing 'damage' to you? Or removing souls when they hit you? I could have checked that but I was too busy swinging my sword around and firing my laser.

    It would be cool if the boss did something, some sort of attack maybe. You could do that and reduce it's health a bit to add some more tactical gameplay if you were going to carry on with it.

    I enjoyed it! First time GM entry too right? Good job!

    • Professor Stein
      Lv. 2
      Professor Stein Developer of TO HELL WITH DEATH

      4yrs ago

      BAGELS! I just had to, I could not resist ^.^ I can definitely see it being the next fish with legs c; Lets hope for a bagel jam soon! Thank you so much for your feedback and i'm glad you enjoyed it :D First jam, and i'm so happy to have finished without a team :D