Tear Them All is a silly, fast-paced Doom-inspired arena shooter made in Godot 4.6!
You are trapped in a notebook fighting doodle enemies with a pencil. You have to sharpen your weapon, survive through waves, and tear those paper evils apart.
The demo is officially live for Steam Next Fest right now!
Steam: Tear Them All on Steam
I’d really love to hear your thoughts on the game feel, the combat loop, or any general feedback from fellow Godot devs. Any feedback appreciated!
As you wrote, it’s a Doom-inspired arena shooter - not much more to say at the moment 
The idea is fun, but I feel like the environment doesn’t really fit the theme.
In terms of mechanics, awarding health pickups on glory kills would be an obvious one.
I like that one can air dash, it gives some control over the floaty jumps, and it’s fun - might be interesting to factor that into how the level(s) are navigated.
A thought - using the pencil to draw something that would then become real… a pickup / weapon / ally / hole in the wall / and so on. Might be a fun framing for a mechanic.
Thanks for the detailed feedback! You’re completely right about the arena needing some work. I actually have a shader that makes the environment textures look like doodles to match the theme. I didn’t use it at first because I was worried it might be too harsh on the eyes. (Maybe I can overcome that by applying the shader only to specific objects.) I’ll definitely give it another try and see if I can tweak it.
The shader I was talking about:
Regarding the combat, glory kills currently double the chance of a health pickup dropping. However, making it a 100% guaranteed drop sounds like a better idea that I can easily implement. As for the movement, the dash really does gives great mobility, but I’m just a bit unsure how to properly build the map navigation around it. Do you have any specific ideas or examples on how I could use that in the level design?
I also thought about a drawing mechanic! Since the full release will feature a lot of additional weapons alongside the pencil, a deep drawing system might be tough. That said, adding a few interactive drawing elements like you mentioned could be really cool. Thanks again for the awesome ideas!
No problem, I quite enjoy trying games in development
If the other weapons are also drawing implements (like pen, paintbrush, …), they could have the same abilities, so the system is more contained? Another, simpler route might be something like having things in a map for the player to color in (like an area or object), which then produces a reward, like a weapon / powerup / upgrade / …
I was thinking things like long jumps connecting hub areas, or semi-secret areas you can see but only get to with a change of direction in mid air. The baddies are (currently) always approaching, so being able to get around quickly is very valuable (as opposed to if baddies are spread out over the level).
Have you tried having one or two additional air dashes? It might be a little overpowered in terms of escaping enemies, but I have a feeling it would be quite fun and fast-paced
Yes, the other weapons will mostly be drawing implements. I have a few in mind for now: a ballpoint pen, a paintbrush, and a stapler shotgun (I know the stapler is a bit random, but yeah haha). I think your idea about coloring specific things on the map is the better route, as giving all weapons the exact same drawing abilities might get a bit repetitive. Also, once I add more weapons alongside the pencil, I’m planning to implement a quick switch mechanic so players can swap weapons at any time.
Oh, that’s actually really smart. I haven’t tried adding a second air dash yet. Do you think tying the extra dash to a temporary upgrade/pickup would work well for that?
Are you the pencil? If not, it may make sense to have a hand holding the pencil.
No, you aren’t the pencil. I think a floating weapon feels a lot cleaner for the doodle art style. It keeps the screen uncluttered and makes the animations look much smoother. I’ll probably stick to this style, but thanks for the feedback!