Hey y'all, this is my first PICO-8 game. Here are the controls + some tips:
A to use weapon
Hold B + Direction to switch weapons, press B to switch to gun.
Hold sword attack to charge laser.
Sword can deflect enemy projectiles.
Shield projectile will delete other projectiles.
Boost weapon will speed you up and insta-kill normal enemies.
Missiles insta-kill normal enemies and do AOE damage.
Enemies will drop missile and health pickups.
Occasionally boss enemies will spawn with 30 health.
Higher rank + chain gives you higher score per kill.
Higher rank spawns enemies faster.
Game is not finished yet, but close to being done.
I like it a lot!
I think the controls are well done. Loose so you get the feeling of being a spaceship, but with a little practice you start to get the feel for it.
I like the weapon choices. Particularly the slow blue shot and the rockets. They are both distinct and have clear uses. The green sword-ish thing seemed like a lot of risk for little reward (aka didn't do enough damage and I got shot trying to get close enough). Also the one that lets you charge through enemies wasn't clear. Maybe make that into a dash attack? What about a mine of some sort?
The tight arenas are nice. It's particularly nice when you can get enemies to walk around a corner into your shots.
I understand why your weapon changing works as it does (two buttons is hard). I still found myself struggling with it a little. Would it kill the game to pause while you switch? A sound to indicate that you've swapped would also be helpful.
Overall an excellent first game!
Sorry, I read your instructions and you explain the weapons clearly there. I like the booster weapon better now that I understand it. The sword deflecting shots is cool, but still hard to use without a big upside (that I have found).
Again, cool stuff.
this is cool - very arcady and fun to play - gets manic pretty quick -
wonder if you could do more than one screen maybe but works well with one screen
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