jester1454 2025-04-08 15:57
cool complex concept! i liked core gameplay, controls, world generation, water physics for jam game - it's cool!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD57 → In the DEPTHS
By planetary
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 522 | 3.43 | 25 | |
| Fun | 518 | 3.26 | 25 | |
| Innovation | 260 | 3.54 | 25 | |
| Theme | 181 | 4.08 | 25 | |
| Graphics | 688 | 3.02 | 25 | |
| Audio | 482 | 2.97 | 23 | |
| Humor | 697 | 1.84 | 21 | |
| Mood | 776 | 2.88 | 24 |
cool complex concept! i liked core gameplay, controls, world generation, water physics for jam game - it's cool!
Interesting concept! Loved the world generation and controls. Nice job!
Cool game, straightforward but effective mechanics and nice, chill music. I had some things that were bugging me though: - visuals for trajectory don't really show the path that the ball will take. It doesn't take into account the hitbox size and might also be slightly shifted (?). It would be cool if I could gauge whether the ball would manage to fly over the hill, or will it hit it and stop. - materials pick up sounds are super loud.
@lisek-gagatek , thanks for your feedback! I didn't realize that the trajectory could be a little bit shifted, I use a formula to do this. Maybe because the game runs on your device at low FPS or when the ball launches, it can hit another collider and just go in another direction. Also, that sound will be lower!
@jester1454 , @nordus , thanks for playing!
Looks interesting, but wasn't able to get into the game :c The game always freezes on generating world 0% and never seems to progress anywhere from there.
The upgrade menu was a good idea! It was difficult to find a hole to start the descent at first, but once you do, the pleasure of finding the best path to descend as quickly as possible is very satisfying.
Nice game, loved the procedural generation, overall game feel and pixel art!
@raynorr , @thomas-bringer , thanks for playing!!
@toilari , I'm sorry you couldn't test my game properly. I just want to know if you played the HTML5 build version or you download it for Windows. If you test it on the HTML5, did you played on a PC or phone? And also can you please download the Windows version if so? Usually the HTML5 could not work well and that's why I put on the page the .exe file ready to download!
Impressive amount of progression and content in this one. I was a bit confused at first as to where to buy upgrades but once I figured it out things went smoothly! Love the controls, and the preview path for your launches was nice and accurate. Good work on this one, its the type of game that would benefit massively from a leaderboard :D
There is a lot of good things in this game, the vfx, the gameplay, the mood. I feel like its biggest flaw is in its progression. I played the game for quite some time, but was not able to find any gold or diamond. In the mean time, the grind for coal is a bit tedious. On some maps there are plenty available, but on others it's very hard to find. Since the early progression is what allows you to get the good stuff, it should be quite accessible, so you can move on to more interesting mechanics. But the game feels good and polished, I couldn't find any serious bugs or softlocks, for a game jam that is great!
@floppynub , thank you for playing! I like that you said that this game could be on leaderboard! :smile:
@tomtomgome , thank you for playing my game and for your feedback as well!! And yeah, I need to think for better upgrades, but when things are rushed, you can't really think for the best ones, and for the quickest implementation.
@planetary I was trying the HTML5 version. Tried again with the .exe version, and it worked flawlessly through Wine on Linux :pray:
What an interesting little game! The progression felt a bit grindy, but the gameplay was interesting enough to keep me hooked in. The upgrades felt meaningful and useful, but having to quit to menu to buy those felt like it broke the flow of the game a bit, as the restarts between runs were otherwise so smooth.
World generation seemed to sometimes (rarely) produce levels with entrance very far to the sides from where the player character spawns. This wasn't that game-breaking, but very annoying before getting the time upgrade, as there was so little time left to spend in the depths.
Great work! <3
@toilari , it's good that the game works for you too. And for that time upgrade, you can disable this in Sandbox Mode as well. (find it in Help menu)
Thank you so much for playing!!!
I think I understood the basic concept of tho did not understand what the purpose of the shock stuff were, the lamps I understood. I like the premise and sounds and graphics and the little ball thing feels smooth to operate and the line that catapults it is pretty accurate and consistent, which means as a player I can get a sense of where I need to land. I really like this game, I think its a solid entry
Really cool game! I always loved incremental games like that, so getting into it was pretty easy for me.
The physics-based movement is pretty cool. As others have mentioned, it sometimes displays inaccurate trajectory, but I think you're right that it's caused by character nudging another collider - I found that it most often happens when I'm either in a tighter spot or if I try to launch on a flat angle near the ground.
One thing I'd change is to make the upgrades cheaper, or increased the amount of resources you get from pickups. Maybe it's cause I'm bad at the game, but so far I've spent around 15 minutes on it and barely got to 200 meters. I've followed the initial guide, but every run I managed to get enough coal to get just one or two upgrades, so the progress was really slow. I can see that there's way more to discover in the game, but at that pace it would probably take me a few hours to see it through to the end. At least I got to the stage where there were some enemies trying to make me into a pincushion! :D
The graphics look pretty cool, I especially enjoyed the falling water and that it wasn't just a decorative in the background, but physical particles that interact with your character as you move through the water stream. A simple music in the background and sounds on movement and interactions worked pretty good as well.
Overall, it's a surprisingly big game for a jam entry, but it's a fun one! And unless I'm mistaken, it does save the progress, so thankfully I'll be able to return to it later and see if I can get further instead of having to start from scratch! Nice work! :)
The timer feels like an awkward addition as a default on feature. Unless I'm just not understanding something, it's more or less impossible to experience a lot of the content inside the time limit, I time out around when I see my first gem, nevermind going after it.
Feels like the game is stuck between two different designs.
I switched to sandbox mode and enjoyed the experience a lot more. Art is simple but consistent, the light mechanic is neat.
Nice work!
Cool idea!.
@fireslash , thanks for playing my game! Also, I didn't understand by "stuck between 2 different designs", so can you please describe it?
@lcstark , thanks for playing and your detailed feedback! I really enjoy that you like the game!
In terms of upgrades, you're right, even if I did the same for the last 2 games I made for these events (LD 55 & 56). Also, if you didn't realize, I left a Sandbox Mode under Help menu, so you can have infinite time.
Also, if you are playing the HTML5 version, don't be a fool! Even if the progress is saved, the browser usually deletes this after some days of inactivity.
Great game but a little too long and difficult I think. But the idea is very well executed.
I really like the feel of the game. The controls feel really good and smooth and the movement is fun. I really liked the music and the overall look. I highly appreciate the customization feature!! However, the progression is a bit off. I went in blind without reading any instructions and for like 10 mins I couldn't find anything. Then I found coal spawning on walls, but that felt really grindy. I think this needs a bit more work but the core idea is good so just balance it more. I would also appreciate keyboard keys E and Q in game showing at their abilities, I think it wouldn't distract the player and would allow playing with abilities without having to read the manual. Other than that, I find the game really fun, mostly for its feel. Thank you for your submission and keep going!
@chuckeles , @gerswick , thanks for playing!
The idea of tossing player in an arc might work well if there were no time limit cause couple seconds is consumed to launch then drop. IOW this game is best played in sandbox mode. Other than that, it would be nicer if there were less soil blocking the hole and more resources to find so player won't waste time finding hole to get deeper and won't waste time to even see a resource. TLDR, this game needs rebalancing to make it fun.
Very interesting game! I will forever be fascinated by how people are able to cram entire procedural generation systems into their *jam entries*! Truly truly very cool. I really liked the core game loop. I thought the gravitational, almost putt-putt style traversal system was unique, and very fun to mess around with. There were a few times where the "putt preview" (as I'll call it) was WAY off from where I ended up going, but that's truly my only complaint with the system. Also, the world generation was very cool! The way that rocks become more sparse, and gravel (the rocks you slide across) becomes more common, the way that the flowers and light change, and the ore generation were all very well thought out! I also really liked the roguelike aspects of the game - the upgrade system really lends to replayability, although there isn't too much room to replay with different playstyles, so I imagine that the game could feel a bit stale after long periods. Additionally, I was a bit confused when I initially started playing about how to actually access the upgrades system (for anyone wondering, go to the menu, then click upgrades - your progress will be saved!) - adding a screen between a run ending and the screen asking to do another run or return to menu might help with communicating the game loop to players in a more natural way. Overall though, I was very impressed by this entry, and I had a ton of fun! Congrats.
Wow! Feels like a completed game! I think, this game could be released on the mobile right in this state. I liked visuals and soundtrack, the main gameplay loop is quite addictive.
Progression felt a little slow, though.
@bloodbane , @tetrergeru , thanks for playing!
@rbbhn , thanks for playing my game and for your feedback!
A procedurally generated world is incredibly complex, to think you pulled this off in 3 days is amazing! That said, the progression in this game feels sluggish, I played for a good 15 minutes and couldn't find a single of what I assume are gold and diamond. That said, this is a great game you have here, thank you for making it :pray: