[Prototype] BITE THE BULLET (previously Grim)

edited in Projects
Hey everyone

I have been working on this prototype for my final year game design project. It is a 2D platformer roguelike, where your ammo is your life. There is a lot of stuff that still has to be fixed and added, but I thought I would share my progress and ask for feedback.

Also any suggestions for a theme and a new art style would be appreciated

Demo can be played here: https://hirohun.itch.io/bite-the-bullet

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Comments

  • This is a cool little thing!

    - I think to smoothly get players into the game, starting with 2 or 3 bullets might be kinder :P
    - Maybe worth looking into starting with a pressure-sensitive jump. In Super Mario they give you this to allow more control over your jump, and air time. It's also an important ability because of how crucial landing on enemies in that game is. Similarly here, because bullets are so valuable, it might make sense to allow players more control for landing on enemies
    - On one of my runs I got past all the first enemies then got a generated jump that felt impossible to make
    - Perhaps you need some enemies/level elements which require you to use the gun? Otherwise, I got into the habit of not shooting at all despite having 5+ bullets
    - Indeed, I think perhaps the bullets could maybe have a bit of depth to using them - give you some more meaningful choice? Perhaps enemies that get hit by bullets get a momentum that pushes them back, and if they hit another enemy while they are in this death motion, that enemy gets damaged too. This enables you to kill multiple enemies with single bullets, and makes a more interesting choice "do I want to use this bullet to potentially kill multiple enemies and risk health, or do I risk head bouncing them all"
    - Similarly, exploding barrels or other elements like this that can be triggered from afar might be cool for giving players more reasons to use the bullets
    - In terms of the camera, I think it works great for now, but you could look into a slightly more complex system that focuses it forward from the player's direction, like covered here. Just gives the player a bit more preperation/planning time.
    - Random idea too: perhaps if you want to push the player to move faster, you could make each bullet slowly tick down, if it reaches 0, then that bullet is lost, and the next bullet ticks down. This might just encourage the player to keep moving, but also might just be annoying.

    I liked the art direction you posted before you deleted it too! :0

    If you want/wanted specific feedback on anything just post a desired point, otherwise the feedback could be a bit messy and might cloud the direction you want :)
  • @Bensonance thank you so much for the feedback! Will definitely implement some of the suggestions. I really like the idea of barrels that could be triggered from afar. At the moment the game doesn't have enough enemy types that require the player to shoot, but longer range enemies that inflict more damage would give the player more incentive to shoot or enemies that can not be jumped on. Also I will be adding more bullet types that inflict more damage and act differently, like a shotgun or laser.

    In regards to the jump that felt impossible: that could be as a result of the amount of bullets you had. At the moment it is not clear but the more bullets you have the shorter you jump and the slower you move. I also thought this might add reason for the player to shoot as it becomes harder for the player to jump on the enemies heads. Will add all the suggestions i can, and update the build, thanks again!
    Thanked by 2Bensonance mattbenic
  • Started animating enemies in the new style and experimenting with the background
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  • Ey man I love the art style, I want to play the game now(:
    I'll give feedback later
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
  • nice game!!
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
  • Working on the character animation, for some reason there is a frame in the run animation that doesn't belong there so it also has a weird jump
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  • Your art work looks amazing so far! Keep it going!
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
  • Added player animations into the game and changed the death effect for the enemy. Also added aiming for the player

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  • Just a thought, but what if:
    A) You hit an enemy with a bullet, you get it back, and/or
    B) Killing an enemy gives you one bullet.

    Incentives the player to be a bit more aggressive by making bullets slightly less precious.
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
  • Woah dude, the new style is looking great. It's super juicy. I'm assuming you'll restyle the UI to fit as well? And do the enemies read better on full screen? Their teeth in the latest screenshot make them a little tricky to understand, and I probably wouldn't be able to figure it out if I hadn't already seen the more close-up shot with the background. Actually even there the moving one is pretty hard to read. The idle is the most clear. It might be something about the heavy contrasts moving so quickly together that loses the form? I don't know though. Might be a framerate thing as well. Obviously ignore all this if it reads better in game at full screen.
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
  • pieter said:
    Just a thought, but what if:
    A) You hit an enemy with a bullet, you get it back, and/or
    B) Killing an enemy gives you one bullet.

    Incentives the player to be a bit more aggressive by making bullets slightly less precious.
    @pieter Thanks for the feedback! At the moment when an enemy is killed it spawns ammo. There are gonna be different bullets with more damage and effects, making it easier and more fun to kill enemies and collect certain types of ammo. Still gonna work on it though and get feedback when it is implemented
    Bracula said:
    Woah dude, the new style is looking great. It's super juicy. I'm assuming you'll restyle the UI to fit as well? And do the enemies read better on full screen? Their teeth in the latest screenshot make them a little tricky to understand, and I probably wouldn't be able to figure it out if I hadn't already seen the more close-up shot with the background. Actually even there the moving one is pretty hard to read. The idle is the most clear. It might be something about the heavy contrasts moving so quickly together that loses the form? I don't know though. Might be a framerate thing as well. Obviously ignore all this if it reads better in game at full screen.
    @Bracula Thanks dude! Yeah the UI is going to change. Will try make it less deformed but it doesn't look to bad when it is full screen (but that might just be me)
  • A point of feedback, it was a bit hard to read the UI as intended, I thought the dark bits were "empty" while the white bits were the bits that contained stuff. After staring at it for a while I realised it was the other way around. So maybe give that a look.

    Otherwise looks good :) I think it looks great as a base, now I think would be a great time to focus more on the gameplay and finding how it could feel unique and fun, just by looking at it the idea of losing bullets as you shot feels like it could make the game super frustrating if you just missed all the time. The question would be if the rest of the gameplay supports the idea of frustrates it. From playing the first prototype it feels like it doesn't reward risk-taking behaviour which is what I feel many roguelikes relies on to feel "good".

    Good luck :)
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
  • @Tuism thank you for the feedback! Yeah the UI was from the old prototype so I’m still working on that. Colours will definitely change now.

    Awesome! Yeah next step is gameplay, will definitely think about the reward system and how to incourage risk taking behavior. Thanks!
  • edited
    So I haven't posted on this thread in a while cause I got stuck with coding stuff and then gave up for a while. But, recently got back into it...here is my new style/theme. Will post more updates as soon as they are implemented!

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  • Update on the game: I changed the name. Also changed the gameplay. It is still pretty broken but I will be making changes soon

    New link: https://hirohun.itch.io/bite-the-bullet

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    Thanked by 2critic Jurgen
  • 1. The game itself is amazing and i personally see a lot of potential for it and would definitely purchase a copy myself.
    I found the controls to be super tight, well polished and always felt like i had full control of every situation due to responsive everything is from jumping to even simply walking around.
    The shooting mechanic also feels very polished at times and helps create a fast paced experience that i really enjoyed, it reminded me of the “old school” arcade games.

    2. At times i felt like the game needed a bit more to be added to it to keep it feeling fresh maybe another mechanic/weapon.

    3. At the core i feel as if this game is so close to a really well made/polished experience and that the foundation is there and the only thing left really is the building blocks that need to be placed to expand upon it.
    A co-op mode of some sort could possibly benefit this game as i feel the mechanics and the fast paced gameplay could definitely make for an awesome 2-4 player experience.

    4. Do you plan on making this co-op at all and which platforms are you aiming to release it on?

    -Swimming777
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
  • The game as it is, I can already see a lot of potential in the mechanics and the style being as simple as it is makes it better in a way. I really like the pace of the game, the whole ‘think as you go’ gameplay is exciting and having the controls easy to figure out doesn’t result in it being frustrating. I like the designs of the characters and the different adversaries, the ones that bump into you until you die, and the ones armed and dangerous, as well as the smooth reactions of the controls.

    Keeping the basic gameplay of arcade like games like this are nostalgic for older gamers, it’s a good starting point and gives you a lot of space to add more to the game such as harder adversaries to beat in higher levels. I like the layout of the game although getting the higher platforms proved to be a little more difficult so maybe try make it so that you have to jump on the head of a adversary to be able to boost up to the higher platforms, that would mean the player can’t just kill all the adversaries from the start.

    I didn’t really like the feeling of endless ammo, I know you get ammo from killing the adversaries but maybe try limiting that more. Movement around the map was difficult like I said earlier it was a hard to get to the higher platforms.

    Finally, are you planning on having a ‘boss’ level towards the end of the game? And if you are what kind abilities will the boss have?
    Thanked by 1riders_of_rohun
  • @SashaRebecca thank you for your feedback! The build was an old build and there are some stuff that have been updated. The ammo is more constrained, with the player only getting 10 bullets. The player also can recollect the ammo. I may post the game on my itch.

    I am not sure if i want to continue making this game, but might make something similar to it in the future. Definitely think upgrades and multiplayer options would be added.
    Thanked by 1Sigh_Leeeee
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