Shuriken Master
high score based action game
Info
Its a simple highscore based game. Kill all monsters and proceed to the next room to gain a point. You only have one magical shurikan wich can be trhown and recalled. Every 5 rooms you will get an additional live. The rooms are procedurally generated with increasing difficulty.
Credits
Evreything was made by myself. The sound effects and music was created with the online tool 'beepbox' https://www.beepbox.co
Controls
- WASD to walk
- Arrow keys to throw/recall shurican
Comments (11)
This was a ton of fun to play! I enjoyed how the simple game mechanics makes it enjoyably difficult. I got up to maybe level 8 before I got swarmed.
One thing I found odd was that I was able to throw the shuriken diagonaly. I'm not sure if this was part of the mechanics, as I couldn't pull it off consistantly with ease. I kind of cheesed my way through some levels with this method.
Definitely screams retro games though with the pixel art and that beautiful shade of green.
Well done!
Thanks for the review!
Jea it gets a bit unfair at some point since the enemy count is endlessly increasing. Probably should have made some balancing improvements.
@SnowFox throwing diagonaly was not a intended mechanic. I knew it could be done but scine it was quite hard to pull off I couldn't be botherd to fix it :)
Lots of fun: I liked the mechanic and the gameboy palette. The procedurally generated levels were good, but the difficulty would fluctuate a fiar bit: I liked the randomness (keeps you on your toes). When going for a high-score, it would be good to have an option where you "lock-in" the random seed numbers for the levels, so you can learn from your mistakes in subsequent playthroughs and improve your reactions to each setting etc.
I had a couple of tries at this game, and although I didn't get far at all, I found it very fun to play! It definitely fitted the theme of retro whilst the smooth framerate makes it feel very fresh to play.
Weirdly, I loved the little title intro the most - it was very cute and quirky, and was an awesome way to get into the game. The way you led the player into the first room with instructions was also great.
Musically, I liked the little sting at the beginning (title theme) and the idea of the little loop in the game - however, a fully fleshed out loop as you get beyond a certain level would have been really cool (I understand if you aren't a musician, this is just something I notice as I am a composer).
Some extra little ideas for the game (if the formatting allows me to do this without turning my comment into a huge blob again):
- Colour! I understand the decision to make it without, though, as it fits a retro theme (you used black, white, and shading, with a greenish grey filter…I think!) :D
- Perhaps a backstory would be nice. Why is he in the castle?
- He could totally earn points and be able to spend them on weapon upgrades, new mechanics etc.
- More enemy types and mechanics! That could be part of higher levels, though, I just suck at the game :')
Once again, a nice fun little entry and you can give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done <3
The game looks awesome. I like the gameboy colour palette and the pixel art. I like the music. Mechanics are fun and controls feel good to play. Procedural gen seems good, I like that the rooms change size and aren't always identical.
Overall I think it's a really good little retro game submission.
I noticed that if you very quickly hit 2 different direction inputs like you're trying to do a diagonal throw you can like instantly recall your shuriken which is a bit weird. Other than that seems to work well. I like that you can trap enemies behind blocks then recall your shuriken through them to kill them. Nice mechanics :)
Awesome game! I really like the gameboy style of the graphics and the sounds. Please get one of those cartridges (https://krikzz.com/store/home/46-everdrive-gb.html) and bundle your game onto that! I would definitely play it. :)
The controls feel quite intuitive and direct, so good job there! Extra points for doing procedural generation, which is no easy task to do, while still keeping the levels palyable and fun (which they are!).
The gameplay itself was quite challenging. Although there was a small delay before the enemies start to walk, I still had a hard time to escape them. Most of the time I just tried to get them stuck behind a box and kill them afterwards from a safe distance, which does not work anymore if there are too many of them.
Of course there are endless possibilities to extend this, like adding more enemy types, power ups, special bosses, more levels or even a small story to the game.
Great presentation overall. The gameboy aesthetic worke really well, and the soundtrack was simple but satisfying for what it was.
This game feels so elemental with the shurikan mechanic that I have to wonder if you borrowed that from somewhere, because I've never seen it before but it was great. Having it hit on the way out and the return felt great and really seemed to open it up for players to get really good at the game.
I got to level 8. You should definately add high scores to the page and submit it for the tournament next week! I would love to dig deeper!
Thank you all for the valuable feedback!
@Laguna I wish it would be possible to export Unity games to cartridges…
@Kleinzach there was a LudumDare game with a similar weapon mechanic, which I played a long time ago. Sadly I can't remember its name. And well the rest of the game is definitely "inspiered" on Binding of Isaac.
Love that you went for a gameboy palette and low res pixel art for the retro theme, nicely done,
Had fun, with just the couple of enemy types (that i saw) and the shruiken mechanic makes for a surpisingly fun and well balanced game,only managed to make it to 7 so far, but makes you feel like playing another round. The beepbox soundtrack was also nice and suitably retro and fitting.
If i was trying to think of suggestions, maybe some more enemy types would be fun, but i can't think of much to critcise.
Nice work.
This a very difficult but fair little game! I liked how the game is balanced, and also the use of destructible elements to add some depth in the decision making. Thank you for adding the occasional health bonuses :)
After a few attempts, best I got was 8, but I'm sure I could do better!
This is a great use of a Game Boy-like palette, and the audio is fitting. I could definitely see myself playing this on an old handheld console. Excellent work!