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Down Under
Down Under
By theapplecake
View on ldjam.com
| Category | Rank | Score | Count |
|
|---|
| Overall | 524 | 3.75 | 31 | |
| Fun | 619 | 3.53 | 30 | |
| Innovation | 1322 | 2.90 | 29 | |
| Theme | 361 | 4.03 | 30 | |
| Graphics | 624 | 3.91 | 31 | |
| Humor | 1062 | 2.47 | 25 | |
| Mood | 883 | 3.51 | 29 | |
Comments
Hi! I really enjoyed the game! Despite the lack of way to quit the app! Overall, I find the core loop of the game relatively engaging! Initially I thought it was just a race against time digging downwards, until I realised that every action matters because the resource only went down if u dug. Along with not being able to dig back upwards, there was a good sense of player autonomy and meaningful decisions playing this game, which I enjoyed! Could be interesting to have another obstacle for the protagonist if youre looking to expand! Maybe a Digsite owner or a boss who demands a little bit in taxes every time you go down, so players have a stake at hand to have to consider and really have to plan their actions!
pepnou
2021-04-27 08:34
Great game! The relaxing music and the sound effects work really well with the game, and the core loop of going deeper while managing your energy & collecting ressources for upgrades is fun.
progdamn
2021-04-27 08:54
music and sounds are constantly on and off, but the graphics are very beautiful
nosfer
2021-04-27 11:32
Instant Steamworld Dig vibe - relaxing digging with calming music. I seem to often forget to extract in time :)
This game is very fun and reminds me of Hades. I really enjoyed playing this game, the structure is clear and the resource cycle is designed in an interesting way. I think there's a very big potential!
A game with good basis. You can polish it into something more. If you put some indestructible falling block, so player may think twice about digging under some rocks You can add some Area digging, and some rocks which selfdestruct when you touch them, etc etc
The mineral loss is quite punishing. You feel like beeing punished for gathering ressources and digging deeper. Instead of this try to reward the player.
Good minning simulation game, but the only issues are:
Not enough gained energy from green blocks
Too many loose of materials between each game
Thanks for the kind words and the reviews everyone ! I'll make sure to check and review your games too !
@keppersnapper If i had more time during the jam, obstacles and variety would have definitely been a priority to boost the gameplay. But i like these suggestions, and i'll consider them if i ever do a "full version" of this game !
@nosfer Believe it or not, but i had never heard of that game before your comment. When i explained to my friends on Discord what i was doing, one of them started "Oh it makes me think about-" and i stopped him, saying i didn't want to feel like i was coding an imitation of an already made game (even if i know this is impossible lol). Just asked him what game it was and turns out he was also thinking about this one. Guess i'll have to give it a shot haha
@icehunter-wm I actually had the code down for indestructible blocks. It was actually one of the first features i implemented but this was back when i was dabbling with the game design at the start of the project. In the end i ditched them when i decided the player couldn't go up to prevent being soft locked in a U shape of these blocks. But i like the idea of making it a risk to dig upward. I know the mineral loss feels a bit too harsh in the beginning and, again, with more time i would have balanced it a bit so it wouldn't be too frustrating in the early stages.
very nice, i tried it hard ahah <3
jyrio
2021-04-27 16:43
I really enjoyed it! I'd love to see this idea expanded
daaweed
2021-04-27 16:59
I really enjoyed playing Down Under, I found a taste of Mr. Driller, with a fairly good level of difficulty. Thank you for this good time
Very nice take on the theme, i think the game needs a little bit more balancing, the blocks should give a little bit more resources. Great work tho !
arista
2021-04-27 17:53
Very addictive roguelite game. The gameplay loop is great and well balanced. You really want to go deeper and... deeper! Like other commenters, I think that losing all your resources is too punitive, and not fair for bad players. But overall, awesome execution and super cool indie title. Well done!
timepass
2021-04-28 04:43
@theapplecake Nice and you should use itch to publish games
m11
2021-04-28 16:45
Really nice shading on the character!
Very nice pixel art, it's very addictive game. I really enjoyed to dig deeper and deeper.
Maybe it's a little bit too long to get more items.
Overall, it's a good game !
Solid entry for a relaxed minig session. I would have personally loved if you got currency a little bit quicker so you can progress on the tree faster.
ronch
2021-04-28 18:42
It was a fun game! I think it would be even better if I could hold down the space bar to dig and if I could keep more of my collected gems. Really nicely done considering the time limit!
I love the game and the arcade feel to it! A modern style take on Dig Dug!
I do think though there could be more saving of resources between rounds. That would be my recommendation
Great work! Played it way to long :D
erilhir
2021-04-28 19:42
Very nice little game, I really enjoyed the music and the mood ! With no originality, I think is too hard for the player to lose so many resources, but in other hand, it kept me playing ;) Good job !
Simply amazing game. I sat and played it for 2 hours straight. Got all the way to depth 1000 ... and then I fell indefinitely afterward lol. And I know you didn't make the music but it was a really great choice, I was jamming to it the whole time I was playing. The only criticism I can give is that you need more than 1000 depth, or at least start limiting the amount of green rocks exponentially to give it sort of a soft depth limit. Really, really great job though, I had a great time playing this game!
@kelvination One of my friends tested it yesterday and also had the same issue. To be honest it was intended to be limitless but it's actually a bug (and i know exactly where it's located). If i have enough time tomorrow, i'll try to correct the bug and provide an alternate download link for it, but i'm not sure how fair it's considered to patch the game after the time limit. Your idea of soft depth limit was actually what i was going for, but i didn't test the endgame enough to balance it correctly.
About the resource loss between each run, it's kind of a consequence of the first iterations of the game design. At first i wanted to make it a tough, unforgiving roguelite (e.g. Rogue Legacy). As the game advanced, this feeling got kinda lost in favour of a more relaxed, laid-back type of game. But i heard the criticism, and when i'll push the project further (which will most likely happen due to the good feedbacks i've gotten so far), i'll reconsider my thinking about it.
And thanks again everyone !
srrinio
2021-04-30 15:41
The resources lost for each run makes the game way harder, maybe nearly impossible to progress, since some upgrades need more money than you can get in a single run even with a great generation seed.
A nice, relaxing mining game.
I was very impressed by the amount of visual polish, as well as the great music. The sound effects sounded great, and the gameplay was nice. I think that this game could use a bit more variety in gameplay, but I understand that this is a jam game. Great job on this entry.
Very nice graphics and overall gameplay feel! I liked old-school styled gameplay of this entry.
dreadusa
2021-05-01 23:44
I really would've liked to more variety and maybe a bit more to do with your resources, when you're low on energy it doesn't feel like theres anything you can do and slowly dying with no hope of getting somewhere is a bit crushing! The movement feels nice and I like the feedback on breaking blocks though!
Couldn't quit the game anywhere. Also the music gave me some weird Stereopan at the start on my headphones, wasn't very pleasant.
But genious game! It's addictive like Minecraft. In fact its a really cool 2d minecraft clone. It was difficult at first, but boy, when the achievement systhem kicked in, the progress felt really rewarding. I have to say, the progression systhem was genious. After a while it felt like an enchanted diamond pickaxe. And the ore spawn rate and overall difficulty was super ballanced. Its not the first game of its kind, regarding the take on the theme. But it sure is the best one I've played so far! Really solid entry. Thank you for so much FUN!!!
The best game I tried this Jam! I liked the visuals and de simple objective of upgrading your tools to go even deeper! I think I found a bug with the orange rocks: I had 8 but when I died, it disappears ;( Nice job, nice game!