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SAGE 2023 - Demo Mr. Shootem Breaks Out! (SAGE 2023 Demo)

epic
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A short but sweet game, I think it was fun for what it was and I can get creative with how I play the game.

With the gameplay it's mostly a combination of both Contra and Breakout, it's not something that I thought that would work, let alone something I never thought of, yet here we are, so points for originality.
The music is very good, while not super memorable it was nice to jam while I was destroying bricks on the stage.
The art style is all over the place, but honestly, that's part of the charm, it's a deliberate choice and mostly to make other characters stand out, from a chibi-like guy, to a shapeless alien to a realistic human, it's silly and I love it.

But I have two caviats with the game, a major and a minor one, the major one being that I can only aim in 8 directions, and the ball is fast... I think you can see the discrepancy here, fortunately the creator has taken notice of this and is adding proper mouse aim, so props to him for that. I'd also suggest that you put the hole in the lower left rather than the centre, because breakout's paddle was big and that was an entire hitbox, but bullets are small, and you can't slide all around, so place it on the lower part.
And the minor caviat is that there's no reload button, so I would want that.

Regardless, this game is very fun, I am looking forward to it.
defnotreal_
defnotreal_
Thanks for the review! I'm glad the high points were high for you, and your caveats were all very valid!

You're gonna hate me for this, but there is actually a manual reload input that I forgot to mention in-game. You can do it by holding down and pressing your shoot button. Also as mentioned, yes, I am completely redoing the gunplay under a new codebase now, which includes full 360 aiming, and will also most likely include a standalone reload button. Hopefully we get to show it off soon!
Seriously creative and fun spin on breakout, love the gun idea and the sense of humor!
defnotreal_
defnotreal_
The Freakmaster... it's an honor good sir...
Just got finished playing, and I really enjoyed it! Here are some random thoughts as I was playing through:
  • The cutscenes are really fun, I love the animated details in them and the characters are goofy af
  • The animation in the game itself is really fluid too, both on Shootem and the boss
  • Gamepad support out of the box is gucci
  • Premise of the game is really neat, I love when games combine genres like this
  • The music slaps hard, and the composers did an S-Tier job
  • The signs in the background are fun
  • For some reason I giggle a bit each time I send the ball flying right into the pit, knowing it's obviously my fault
  • Having to hit the ball diagonally to "serve" feels a bit odd, but no big deal
  • Did encounter a crash on the boss fight and had to play the game again. Thankfully it's pretty short, and it's a fun game to replay.
  • That being said, cutscene skipping would be nice for replays like that.
  • Skill ceiling is really nice, not too hard but you can get pretty creative with how you shoot the ball.
  • Getting the ball to ricochet between two rows of blocks in a breakout game is one of life's greatest pleasures
Really looking forward to see what else you do with this idea!
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