StarNinja Vs SpaceHydra
StarNinja Vs SpaceHydra was developed over 2 days for Ludum Dare 34 where the theme was '2 button controls'.
Based off of an older prototype about a cowboy shootout, I wanted to try simplifying the controls whilst combining both the shooting and the reflecting game modes all packaged as a single-player arcade game.
This game was one of the major milestones in developing Neon Parasite (2020) and features early versions of the air jumping, hydra boss, and timed reflectors (tied to the shoot button).
If I were to go back and improve this game now I'd change the jumping to be more like the current Neon Parasite version, as a lot of users struggled to understand they had to quickly double tap the jump button. Neon Parasite is a lot more lenient with this timing and results in a lot more freedom of movement. I'd also change the Spacehydra to have different bullet patterns rather than shooting randomly so as to create interesting patterns and challenges as the game progresses and also to act as a reward (See new patterns) for progressing.
