Kitty City

Do I suck at bullet hells, or was this just not playtested at all?

It looks and sounds nice though! I wish it wasn't so unplayably difficult :'(

https://youtu.be/wf2w3Het3IE yo I made a video :D

As said, extremely unbalanced and unfun. The player and the enemies shoot at the same rate, the player has to hit enemies 3 times while the enemies only have to hit the player once. The math is clear, you're going to die.

One of the best looking games I have played in the jam. I also loved the music. There definitely needs to be some rebalancing, and having the meter reset after every hit is very punishing, especially because once you get the werewolf meter filled, you can continuously use it.

The first time I played I got into the city level and no enemies spawned it just went on forever. Maybe it's because I died in the tutorial before it switched over. Anyways I restarted and it worked fine. The music was rockin! The art was fantastic and the little details like the bone statue on top of the sky scraper in the background were great. I thought the gameplay could use some minor tweaks. Personally I would keep everything the same but cut the health of enemies in half in addition to faster wolf meter generation. A state of brief invulnerability after coming out of werewolf mode with a blinking effect or something would be nice. I would also give the players bullets a different color. I know everyone loves unsolicited advice ;) but I'm only nitpicking because I think it's really good.

Very attractive game! It's very good looking. I also enjoy the concept you used when switching sides. I enjoy bullet hells and found the patterns very pretty. Main issue was the balancing. Found the movements a little difficult and the enemies a little too tough. Wasn't able to see werewolf mode very much.

Nice work!

Okay first I'm gonna say that I love bullet hell games, (not the best at them) but I really do like them, so this hit a soft spot for me.

so I'm going to give you as much feedback as I can.

first up please change your description to not advertise the post-jam game as an alternative to this one. The gm48 upload is what we must rate you on, and you can get disqualified if you ask otherwise.

you can still have it there, just make sure you ask people to rate you on the jam game and NOT the post jam.

But anyways let's get into the gameplay feedback.

PROS:

• The sprite work is phenomenal, it's elegant and beautiful. this game is a complete treat to look at.

• The music fits well and is nice to listen to.

• The concept of switching and stealing enemies weapons is great, and you guys should feel really good about coming up with the idea.

sadly that's where the pros end, yo be honest the gameplay really was the weakest part of this game. and held it back.

so this next part is me going over every issue I have, and a way to fix it.

so this next part is me going over every issue I have, and a way to fix it.

*CONS

• First up, the main issue is that it's hard to avoid enemy bullets. The thing about bullet hells is that there is an overload of bullets coming at you, and you need to navigate this maze of death while fighting back.

To fix this I would outline the white bullets it a color that has strong contrast to the background. the easier it is to see the better. second slow the bullets down, making them feel like moving mines are fine. third make the enemies stay on the right side until they fire once. then let them slowly move to the left. This will give the player more time to react to the bullets, and still make the enemies feel like a threat as they approach. and last give the player a way to slow down. a button that lets them move precisely to slip between the cracks is really helpful.

all of this would make it feel more like the players fault for getting hit and less like the games cheating.

• Next up the player gun is too weak. even after stealing a gun, the bullets are too slow to help keep the ever increasing enemy numbers in check. but the base gun is so weak, that even getting that far is tricky.

I would double the fire rate of the base gun. and make sure the guns you steal are powered up versions of the enemy you took them from. so increase players bullet speed across the board and maybe the power.

also on the side, while it's good you made the werewolf invincible, make him also destroy bullets you run in to as well. not only will it make the wolf from feel stronger, it will prevent you from dying from a bullet that overlapping you when you turn back.

• also I don't know if you know this already or not, but after two game overs the game kinda broke for me, and nothing spawned.

not sure if I was unlucky, cus I tried to get it again. and same results.

final thoughts

I still really like the game, and I think that if you take some base clues from other bullet hell games, like Touhou project and ikaruga** and whatnot. then this can be a really fun game to play.

good luck and keep up the great work!

I had a hard time getting werewolf mode. A lot of times the enemies would get to the end of the screen before I had the chance to finish them. I think having the gun shoot faster or having enemies move slower at the start would have been a good idea.

The art and music in the game are great! Really fantastic stuff. I'll be honest though, I never even saw werewolf mode, not even in the tutorial. I'm just not good enough at bullet hell games, and this game is really quite hard. It feels extra punishing to empty the meter when you die, since I already don't want to die due to the life system.

I wish I could have seen more of this game, but after a while bashing my head against it I gave up. I wish I got to see all of this game, but what I did see was quite good.

I love the art in this game, particularly the use of color.