🐍 Calamity Cobra in "A Sweet Surprise" (V1.0 - Gain Jam Ready!!)

[ShweetMagnet]

WILDCARDS USED:
New Game+ (Admin), Progress Through Failure (Patreon), Minions (Community)

Informational Poster

Screenshots

CREDITS
Art/programming by me (Twitter: @ShweetManget)
Music/sound by PlantBugs (Twitter: @bugsinplanters)

PLAY IT!!

Calamity Cobra in "A Sweet Surprise" by ShweetMagnet

TTNABIWTABITTI (Things That Nobody Asked But I Want To Answer Because I Think They’re Important

• “I pressed the fullscreen button and it broke.”

I did not program in fullscreen support and I don’t have time to. Sorry! Just refresh the page.

• “What game engine?”

My own with SDL2 and various libraries, written in C.

• “Ummm, only three enemies? Where’s the heckin’ contenterino, dude? ”

Much of my inspiration for this game was from a game like Doom where there’s only so many enemies, but because they all fill their own roles there’s EMERGENT GAMEPLAY that comes out of it. And technically there’s a fourth enemy. Just hit Wave 9 and you’ll understand.

I’m sure I could’ve thought up more enemies but I programmed this game terribly inefficiently and to be in-line with the other enemies I would have to rewrite them and it’d be more time wasted. Lessons learned for later. Also I came late to the jam and had nine days to make it so

• “Ummmmmmmmm, why is the perspective so bad for the sprites? And her hands in that one cutscene? Yikes!! ”

I tried my best and had to draw some of this stuff while putting an all nighter so sorry

• “Why aren’t the cutscenes/endings in color or so sketchy?”

Time. Plus I think my sketches tend to be better than my rendered works so.

• “Why do some things draw on top of each other weirdly?”

I am a terrible programmer and I should’ve implemented a system where entites are drawn in a sensible queue based on their Y position on the screen. I did not. But if I did want to fix it I don’t have much time.

• “Can I have your permission to use th-”

Yes. Very much yes. The software for this game is under the GNU GPLv3, and all the art is public domain (Creative Commons Zero), well except for one font but it’s still free as in freedom, so yeah. Do WHATEVER you want with this (except make the code proprietary that’s cringe). Attribution is appreciated ofc but I’m not one to care about that too much. Stream it, mod it, make cool fanart (do this pls) whatever. You can actually, genuinely, TRULY own my video game. Revolutionary.

• “Why do the sprites/enemy design look so much like Binding of Isaac’s?”

Easy to sprite and I like the style. Simple as!

• “Why does the intro music sound eerily similar to ‘More Gun’ from TF2?”

It’s a LEGALLY DISTINCT version of More Gun, I’ll tell you what. When prompted about the music I wanted for it, the composer said he’d just would make a bootleg version of More Gun, so that’s on him. It works, though!

• “How is New Game+ handled?”

After clearing Wave 10 and getting an ending, you’ll be prompted to exit your run and go to results or continue with New Game+. Enemies will be faster and have more health, but you’ll get more cash. I have not tested this too much and there are two endings pretty much locked to it, so better get grinding!

• “Calamity Cobra is cute! CUTE!!”

Nobody has said this YET as of writing this but if you do you are a patrician. I love fat snake women so much so that’s why I made a game about one. She has a REAL name, you know…maybe keep playing to find out!

Thanks, and have fun!

** NON-GAIM JAM VERSION (If you’re not a judge, play this)**

Calamity Cobra 1.2 (Windows)
Calamity Cobra 1.2 (Source code)

[Korota]

This is pretty irritating to play without WASD for movement, and the gun having no range(even with upgrades) means you’re going to run into the enemy half the time while trying to move or frantically redirect the shot(which I stopped trying to do because it’s better just to let the snake pass through the enemy twice anyways). Or I get hit by the bullets the cookies shoot that you don’t see and can’t dodge because you have to get so close to hit them. I actually got hit walking up to one of the falling cake things because its hitbox is bigger than its sprite and the gun’s range is so short.

[ShweetMagnet]

Thank you for your input, I can probably quickly cook up WASD movement. Some people WANT to play video games in a sensible manner, I suppose. I wanted the initial range (lifetime) to be short so the upgrade was more impactful but I can understand how it can be frustrating, I’ll up it.

The shadows/circles beneath the enemies are in truth what’s used for collision detection, so use that to your advantage.

[LusMich]

The project is quite interesting, i had my fun with what has been given so far and I’m excited to see how it looks like once all the currently missing visual flair is implemented.

I don’t have much issues with the short range of the weapon, if anything it fits well considering how limited the enemies’ area of effect is too, but WASD controls would definitely be welcome

[LusMich]

That design mentality is understandable, after all games like wii sport would technically be easier to control if they had standard button configurations, but it would kinda deminish the point behind a lot of its core design principles, which revolve around the motion controls, so your stance is valid.

And I’m willing to give that NG+ endless run a go and see if i can get a score impressive enough to record and showcase, after all I’ve been doing far, far more stubbornly challenges in the past (calamity master/death with as little mandatory boss fights as possible, fire emblem fates with no stat gains on level ups and with some top tier characters banned…), So this should be a cakewalk in comparison, no pun intended.

Although i do wonder if there’s a way to play the game outside of browser, it’s just more comfortable that way and the resources linked on the page doesn’t seem to give me much to work with, either that or I’m too dummy to understand what to do with them.

[ShweetMagnet]

Don’t bring up any memories of Calamity in my thread. I’m still frightened over those bosses.

As I said in my TTNABIWTABITTI, this game was developed on Linux and can be easily compiled for it, and firing up a Windows machine (which I don’t currently have? I’d have to open up a VM and do it which probably would not be fun for my Thinkpad’s CPU) just to compile it is just not in the cards at the moment. I’m a bit of a extremist when it comes to certain software and I’ve moved away from Windows for a number of reasons (and while I would say ‘I would want the people here to do the same’ that’s a commitment some people don’t want to do). I did mention MinGW, but as I said that’s likely too much effort. So unless you wanna go boot up Linux (please do!) there’s no Windows port unless somebody else would want to make one. Source code’s all there so they can figure it out. Sorry!! Pressed for time!!

For future reference, there are four endings: the one where you fail, and three based on the cash you currently hold at the time of the ending. Ending 1 is a variable amount of cash, Ending 2 requires $100,000 and Ending 3 requires $1,000,000. Eager to see who gets it first!

[LusMich]

1 million is um, a lot, but i think I’ll be able to do it, I’ll probably wait until 1.0v is released before trying (not sure how long it’ll take before that comes out tho) but I’ll begin doing some practicing right away

And fair enough, browser version runs well so thankfully it isn’t much of a bother, just a preference thing.

[SomeLemon]

Is there going to be a final update before the deadline is met? If there is what will it include?

[ShweetMagnet]

Just the missing sprites and cutscene graphics for now and mildly increased starting range.

After the jam I MAY come back to this, but it’d probably be a total rewrite of the code, but probably with some more features like enemies and the like. Let me know if there’s any interest in that.

[Korota]

@ShweetMagnet

After experimenting with some WASD controls, I’m going to act like a pretentious indie developer for one second and say that the current one-handed mouse-only control scheme is workable and part of the difficulty.

Making your game frustrating to control is not really a popular way to “add difficulty”.

@ShweetMagnet

I hate to say “git gud” but I suppose it applies here.

Maybe apply “git gud” to your game design instead of blaming the players.

[ShweetMagnet]

Making your game frustrating to control is not really a popular way to “add difficulty”.

It worked for Getting Over It! There’s a learning curve and I think it’s certainly manageable. I can understand your frustration with it but regardless if my judgement is clouded or not concerning the control scheme it’s too late in the process for me to account for it with a new one. Sorry!!

The code is right there though if you’d want to add it! I’d even guide you through the spaghetti.

Maybe apply “git gud” to your game design instead of blaming the players.

I find it fun and skillful personally, so at least there’s one person who enjoys it.

Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go draw big fat snake guts.

[someoneoutthere]

@ShweetMagnet

I find it fun and skillful personally, so at least there’s one person who enjoys it.

I think the fact that you shared the game here in the first place makes it perfectly clear that you didn’t make the game solely for your own enjoyment. You wanted to make something that other people would enjoy, and part of what you have to do to achieve that is to be open to feedback.

@ShweetMagnet

It worked for Getting Over It! There’s a learning curve and I think it’s certainly manageable.

Indeed, there’s no particular rhyme or reason as to why we play golf with clubs, or why we don’t allow most soccer players to touch the ball with their hands. People simply decided that it was fun to play that way, and that was that. But by the same token, if people decide that the tools you’ve given them to play the game result in a frustrating experience, they don’t have to give a logical dissertation on why. What’s important is that it’s not fun for them, and if you want them to enjoy the game, you’ll have to make some changes.

@ShweetMagnet

I can understand your frustration with it but regardless if my judgement is clouded or not concerning the control scheme it’s too late in the process for me to account for it with a new one.

It’s fine if you can’t/don’t want to change something due to time constraints, but you should be upfront about that. It’s disingenuous to pretend that you intentionally made the controls frustrating when it’s pretty clear that you just wanted to make a fun game.

[ShweetMagnet]

I will change the controls.

I am sorry for being so presumptuous about what people would find enjoyable. I apologize for calling those who didn’t like this stupid, unintuitive, frustrating control scheme unskilled and impatient. You get a certain narrow view point when you don’t have anyone else to bounce back off when you’re deep in a game’s development.

…give me like eight hours though.

[Stellaris1]

I found this quite fun actually, and i for one too enjoy snek’s that are large especially when they don’t have legs so good on ya. Probably be one of the few who didn’t mind the controls, i was having a hard time adjusting yes but it’s not really that bad

[ShweetMagnet]

glad to see someone talking positive! you have very good taste by the way.

not up yet on itch but the controls are now WASD. yeah it kinda works better I suppose.

almost done! just need to get to work on the sprites. see you guys in a few.

[Kaiser_Dragon]

Your idea for a game is very fun and even tough im not into the ladies, i adore your snek design and cant wait to see her getting bigger. I was able to clear once but never again and altough its your game and its “possible” to clear it, my wrist and probably everyone else who is looking for more of beautiful big snek ladies will appreciate the movement changes. Also, a lot of the time i was right clicking near the corners, it would consider outside the window and mess my movement, so full screen could also improve (i am a windows user)

[Cordite]

A snake wielding a snake that releases snakes. What could go wrong?

(I gave the initial version a whirl and also bounced kind of hard off the controls, but I think that was mainly because I ended up right-clicking outside the bounds during a level and managed to make a menu selection that busted my progress. I think it can work as a challenge as it was, but I’m still grateful there will be an easier version of the controls at some point.)

[ShweetMagnet]

I ran into the darn context menu thing too. This wouldn’t be an issue if you were playing it natively…maybe I really SHOULD look into compiling a Windows version for my next gain jam entry.

I’ll go ahead and bind the R key to redirecting now that I have embraced the keyboard, will be quick and dirty.

[FatAzureDragon]

I do like the movement of this game, though redirect feels a bit useless due to both A) it being bound to the same mouse button as movement, making it clunky to use, and B) you can just buy the ammo upgrade until you have 7 sneks, then you can always fire like you have the Berzerk mode active.

[ShweetMagnet]

I wouldn’t underestimate redirects. Redirected snakes get an EXPONENTIAL boost on each redirect. You can take down a Crumbler in one hit with a snake that’s only been redirected a few times.

though spamming sneks is a good strategy though. Make your own build! I thought this all through yep definitely