FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD27 → Under Water

Under Water

By orava

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Coolness283
Graphics1863.59
Mood1933.29
Innovation2503.41
Theme5783.16
Overall6083.01
Humor9061.59
Audio9661.30
Fun9852.35

Comments

devwil 2013-08-26 03:41

Quite beautiful, but I had trouble discerning what I was supposed to be doing or if I was succeeding.

tetha 2013-08-26 04:35

Well done.

It is noticeable though that you ran out of time, for one, it is very hard to move around (the air lasts for 1/3 of a screen, because shaking the plants takes so long) and there's not much to do (or I didn't find it due to problem 1).

titans 2013-08-26 04:35

Beautiful game. The way the plants light up is hypnotizing.

toadfrogs 2013-08-26 04:35

I like the visuals. But I kept on swimming through the game...

soundboy 2013-08-26 04:36

Really cool mechanic, it took me a few moments to realize how it worked but it totally makes sense! Great job!

ranf 2013-08-26 04:41

It took me a while to figure out that I needed to go up to breathe. After I got the hang of it, though, I enjoyed the little program.

ethankennerly 2013-08-26 04:56

Shaking the plants to extract air bubbles fascinated me! When the circle expanded, I felt the surprise of discovering the goal and the feedback. If you continue to develop this, have you considered hinting earlier at an additional task to do while also retaining air?

rylgh 2013-08-26 05:01

GORGEOUS

snail_man 2013-08-26 05:23

Nice game! I really liked the visuals, but I think it really could have done with some audio.

laserbeam 2013-08-26 05:25

Beautiful. Really hard and feels unplayable at some points, but the idea is worth lots of points :) really cool.

deadlyapps 2013-08-26 05:25

I really liked the atmosphere. Also the fact that everything in the area was moving a little.

noom 2013-08-26 05:26

Pleasing visually though gameplay I struggled with, I couldn't make / use air pockets the ceiling seemed too far away, couldn't really figure out a goal.

lancey 2013-08-26 05:26

Good idea. The resolution makes it difficult to tell where air pockets will form though.

scriptorum 2013-08-26 05:28

Phew! Made it. Very nicely done. I like the art. Once you get the hang of it, it's quite serene under water. It's a little hard to angle the character when swimming toward the air pockets but I didn't mind the effect - it creates good tension. Nice job.

vitou3d 2013-08-26 05:29

Unique gameplay. Only thing I'm struggling with is control. But overall, this is nice.

lambomang 2013-08-26 05:36

Very nice looking game. Could've been spectacular with some audio.

zillix 2013-08-26 05:45

really great presentation. fantastic job!

orava 2013-08-26 05:48

@everyone: thanks for the comments so far, I'm glad that I've succeeded in the visual department.

@ethankennerly: That would be the next step indeed, it's definitely lacking in the actual gameplay side. But as mentioned in the description, I've been wanting to do a style/feel experiment for a while now, since I've already done several feature-complex games during several jams this summer.

oldpeculier 2013-08-26 06:14

If there was a category for "Particles" I'd give you a 10 (out of 5). There's tremendous potential here. I'm intrigued. The bubbles and plants are amazing. Tons of goodness. But I didn't find much of a game. Not sure what to do. Not sure why the world kept resetting. Confused.

matthias_zarzecki 2013-08-26 06:57

Nice job on using few colors. The plants animating is cool too :)

andrewves 2013-08-26 07:15

Fun game. I like how the bubbles form and the color scheme creates a great atmosphere.

tacospice 2013-08-26 07:58

Very nice atmosphere. I die very quickly though and it's difficult to refill air. Controls are rather imprecise. Needs moody underwater sounds! Overall good job considering the focus on feel.

reaperguy 2013-08-26 07:59

Didn't get how to refill my health, but the graphics are very nice.

avh4 2013-08-26 08:33

Awesome particle effects and simulation. I felt like I didn't quite get the balance of the air bubbles... I seemed to run out of air too quickly to make use of the air from the plants (it took most of my air just to get to the ceiling), and if I used Space to push off, it seemed like I would bounce off the top. So I ended up just swimming to the ceiling and breathing from my own exhaled bubbles, which can't be healthy!

thehermit 2013-08-26 08:42

There's a very interesting gameplay dynamic between creating the resources you need to continue and actually going forward, especially because of the delay between shaking the plants and the bubbles settling.

nexust 2013-08-26 11:43

I loved the graphics in this, the plants looked great. I love pixelated graphics.

red-mike 2013-08-26 12:22

Really cool mood set by the graphics. Took me a while to get a hang of the controls, but it works. Audio and a clear goal would have made this an excellent game.

flamecow 2013-08-26 12:32

This game is visually pleasant and rather interesting!

g_o 2013-08-26 13:16

Great visual, wasn't sure what I was doing XD

josefnpat 2013-08-26 13:50

Nice job. I love the art!

nek 2013-08-26 14:16

There wasn't a lot of a goal but it was really beautiful and moody.
I can see the potential here.

ratalaika 2013-08-26 14:57

Nice work!

capro 2013-08-26 15:40

Nice atmosphere. Keep working on it, you can obtain a very good game.

jaj 2013-08-26 15:57

I like the idea but I have to say I didn't understand the physics behind the controls at all

munchor 2013-08-26 16:21

>It is noticeable though that you ran out of time, for one, it is very hard to move around (the air lasts for 1/3 of a screen, because shaking the plants takes so long) and there's not much to do (or I didn't find it due to problem 1).

I had that problem, making an air trap takes too long, so I couldn't really do anything.

jordans 2013-08-26 16:43

Really cool graphics! This game definitely triggered a sense of claustrophobia with me. I wish there was more of an incentive to explore. I hope you keep developing this!

gaspard_ 2013-08-26 17:03

Cool game mecanics!Where's the theme though?

spiralcodestudio 2013-08-26 17:06

Nice look, but hard to play!

dmastergames 2013-08-26 17:45

The graphics are great It was quit fun but challenging. Good Game but I wish there was Audio but never mind it was a good game :)

thriek 2013-08-26 17:48

Really nice, Not a cohesive whole, but I would love to see a finished version of this. Reminds me of the undergarden :)

krides 2013-08-26 18:16

Looks cool, and it's a nice concept. It's a shame there's no sound, I can totally imagine some cool underwater sounds with nice reverb there :-) Another thing: the camera moves, but then it teleports when you reach some trigger. I'm pretty sure that it should be either one or the other, not both. Overall, good job.

omar_q8 2013-08-26 18:23

nice atmosphere i struggled a bit with the controls and with the breathing thing but enjoyed most of it

rincewind_cz 2013-08-26 18:26

Good looking and good concept. Pity there isn't other goal then the swimming :)

bradleysmith 2013-08-26 18:38

Cool gameplay mechanic, wasn't sure what to do at first but pretty good regardless.

ivo 2013-08-26 18:46

Love the bubbles, looks great. Too bad you couldn't add more content.

keithe 2013-08-26 19:19

If mood is what you were going for that great job. I love that the Phosphorescence light up and the physical based particles that pool up on the ceiling are great. Really felt like it needed some moody audio to go along with the visuals.

zappi 2013-08-26 19:19

Awesome! I also had an idea about swimming in the cave and not drowning :)

gikdew 2013-08-26 20:01

very moody, cool mechanics and art!

atmospherium 2013-08-26 21:22

Really cool concept, I just wish there was more time for you to have developed it. The air pockets seemed a bit finicky to me and it would really benefit from some sound, but it was enjoyable.

leafo 2013-08-27 06:33

great visuals

lcarpentier 2013-08-27 09:30

Beatiful game but I'm not sure I understood what I was doing.

pbdiode 2013-08-27 16:16

Very good looking! Some sort of goal stated up front, and some audio would have made this spectacular! As it stands, it is quite the pleasant experience though, very good job on the visuals.

dooleus 2013-08-27 17:19

Good mechanics, very fresh. The art is good at establishing the atmosphere - love the plants swaying, the bubbles rising, and the character's health/breath indicator is fantastic. Definitely needs audio, though - felt very cold without anything there. It was also a tad on the difficult side - maybe starting with a few built-in air pockets, and later having to using the plants to survive would have been a better way to go? Anyways, the difficulty put me off getting further than a few screens, so I'm not sure how much more content there is here, but I did enjoy the freshness of the gameplay for the short period I spent with it.

angrygeometry 2013-08-27 20:31

some of the animations are really really pretty. i'm terrible at games and couldn't work it out, but i enjoyed it still.

orava 2013-08-28 05:26

To everyone who mentioned audio: I totally agree, it's just that I'm no good with sounds so I decided to leave it mute.

To everyone who mentioned animations: There are none. Other than the main menu, everything is drawn via code.

To everyone in general: Thanks for the comments again, glad to see that I did indeed succeed in the visual department.

rezoner 2013-08-31 12:41

I love the artistic approach of this entry<3

sylvain-p 2013-08-31 20:48

I love the oxygen concept, it need to be polished but it's nice gameplay idea.

rawbits 2013-09-01 17:49

It's hard to tell how much oxygen you have in the bubble or if there is enough in the air poket to refill it. This makes it very hard and confusing along with the swimming mechanic that makes moving less controllable.

I like the idea though it's sad that you couldn't add all things you wanted. Maybe in post-compo. ;)

otus 2013-09-01 20:20

The concept of shaking plants and useing the ceiling to get oxygen is neat.

Nice work!

jacob123 2013-09-04 11:39

Cool game. Nice graphics. Although getting the air bubbles from the ceiling takes too long.

mrblade 2013-09-15 03:37

Nice game! I love games like this without a HUD or anything. Looks really clean. No AIR: 5 I hate that. Interesting concept of plants giving off air when they get agitated. Nice work. 8/10.