Expand.io

https://soundcloud.com/humberto-navarro-11595127/expandio

Single Player Controls:
Mouse to point your ship,
W to move forwards
Left click to shot
Shift to boost
Multiplayer Controls:

• Player One:*
  A and D to turn
  W to move forward
  shift to boost
  space to shoot
• Player Two:*
  left and right arrow to turn
  up to move forward
  right control to boost
  keypad enter to shoot

I dont know if it's normal but my screen here si really deformed and the ship is really zoomed so high I can't see most of the ennemies before they kill me. Not sure it's the normal behaviour

A fun little game, I liked the audio most I think.

One thing which felt a little awkward was how you could only move forward, It made shooting enemies frustrating as avoiding their shots became a reflex challenge.

Nice little game, strafing would be a big improvement, and at first, before the view grow, it's hard.

I really love this idea. The first time I started, I got killed right away because I couldn't figure out any of the controls. The next time I played, I just enjoyed riding around the area exploring things. The face was super creepy to find floating in space :D

The game needs to ease players into it more. Perhaps start the player off with a shield that lasts 20 seconds or more health? It's very difficult at the start. I love how the game evolves as you zoom out of the screen though.

I really hope you continue this game after the jam! With the right balancing and art, this could be a very cool game. :)

An ever expanding field of view is a neat, thematic idea; props for that.

The difficulty curve is quite bumpy. Starts off tough, enemies appear out of nowhere; then things become easier, few enemies with better visibility; next a turn to the worse, more enemies; suddenly much easier again, loads of space to ample about; and lastly it becomes impossible to stay alive for more than a few seconds as the screen is crawling with critters.

I think dropping health and other powerups from every single enemy is a mistake. This is the main reason for the lulls in difficulty between the extremes. Limiting the health pickup count especially would increase the challenge and you could even limit the spawn rate at the end of times.

The visuals commit many of the pixel graphics sins, namely: multiple pixel sizes, smooth rotation of massive pixels, inconsistent use of borders (player sprite and powerups have them, enemy sprites don't), and inconcistent use of color space (backgrounds have transparency and much more colors than the foreground sprites). Despite these sins the graphics don't actually make my eyes bleed so… That's good!

The sound effects are ok. The music would be ok if the tracks weren't 5 second loops. Those actually do make my ears bleed so… That's bad!

At times enjoyable, when the difficulty curve was just right (for me). The audio-visuals could use some work. Concentrate on those.

Overall: Average (5)
Graphics: Below average (4)
Audio: Bad (3)
Gameplay: Average (5)
Originality: Above average (6)
Theme: Good (7)

simple idea that was somewhat fun but was held back by some gameplay issues and lack of time to expand on stuff.
I liked:

1. The movement. I've seen comments complaining about it and while I was frustrated at first I managed to get used to it and it became more enjoyable. I do think that being able to move back (even a little) would have helped though.

2. The map. It felt quite vast and open, with lots of objects in it, which made it fun to fly around.

3. The combat. Despite being annoying at first with the limited view, the combat becomes more bearable over time as you see more. Shooting felt good, and I liked the powerups.

I found okay:

1. Graphics and Music. The main menu music was pretty alright, but the in-game music got (a bit) annoying over time. The graphics felt a bit too simple and boring, without any sort of style or much going for them. I DID, however, enjoy the parallax effect on the stars.

I disliked:

1. Despawning. I get that the gimmick is your field of view expanding but having shots disappear when they go off-screen was super annoying, as it made it really hard to shoot enemies from a safe distance, especially in the early game. Pickups despawning was also annoying, as it prevented you from collecting your rewards after large firefights.

2. View changing. This is the main mechanic of the game, and I feel it wasn't done very well. It creates a downward difficulty curve that makes the game really unenjoyable at the beginning, and too easy later on. Perhaps you could have other things grow as your view does, or have different enemies appear once your view gets big enough to keep things interesting.