Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD57 → Shafted
By decadedecaf
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 184 | 3.34 | 21 | |
| Fun | 98 | 3.52 | 21 | |
| Innovation | 121 | 3.44 | 21 | |
| Theme | 261 | 2.78 | 21 | |
| Graphics | 134 | 3.52 | 21 | |
| Audio | 66 | 3.68 | 21 | |
| Humor | 86 | 3.19 | 20 | |
| Mood | 228 | 3.02 | 20 |
Good gameloop, I enjoyed playing it :) I think the whole game could be better if it was more nervous : faster movements, faster transition (like when the card stops for the upgrades picking), game over immediately if you don't have pickaxe anymore and not enough gold to buy a new one, etc. Otherwise it's pretty solid, nice job!
Interesting concept. It's hard to predict coin path at first, so was some dry runs. Amusing that you can catch unused dynamite. I've got to the past to the guy but haven't managed to hit him with dynamite, so guess message is that paperwork will hurt you in the end. Probably he's punishing for dangerous job without helmets.
This is awesome and really addicting. Super satisfying hitting a chain and bouncing multiple gold pieces, especially when you get more and more pickaxes. I would play an expanded version of this for an unhealthy amount of time. You also seriously cooked with the music, really really good stuff. Extremely fun, I wish I could through pickaxes at rich people in real life.
A bit hard to predict where the coin will land but I think this is just one of those things where you just need to play to get the hang of it, love the concept and the music!
Thanks @munmungames! If I had more than a couple hours to test, I definitely would've made the early game feel a bit less... sluggish. Those quality-of-life niceties you're suggesting are very sensible and would've cut down on a lot of the downtime. It feels *especially* punishing to be sent back to the beginning of the mineshaft if you die to the boss, since there's no reason to collect gold anymore.
Thank you @gdman and @angry-fridge for the comments as well! I like how the game sometimes forces you to choose between collecting your pickaxes or collecting gold, but admittedly, sometimes it's outright impossible. The idea was that, eventually, enough gold would fall to where it'd barely matter if you missed a few, but I think I went overboard with the randomization. Definitely would've tweaked this if I had more time.
And thank you @tad-i-guess for your super kind comment. Here's the secret: you CAN throw pickaxes at rich people in real life!
I really really liked the interaction with the pickaxes bouncing over the multiple gold ores, it felt really rewarding to strategically throw them in a way that they would bounce 3-4 times. I did NOT expect the gold node to burst and that was a lot of fun too!
I do have to agree that dying to the boss feels a little punishing but it's really not a big deal. All in all great game @decadedecaf !
I first played this during ~early 2nd day of the Jam and I was quite impressed by the quality that was delivered by that time. Played it fully cause gameplay is quite addicting and if there was more content added I would definitely play again :eyes:
Cool game! Funny ending too. Only real thing I'd say for "what'd be better" is what's already been said about the downtime (e.g. it'd be good if it made you get to the end quicker when no throwables left and if it started you 1/2 - 2/3 into the path after dying to the boss). I liked the overall feel a lot though and it was cool to see the multibounce (which also lets you get gold easier). The dynamite being thrown specifically after the pickaxes I was mixed on at the start, but it stops you spamming throw without counting and also means that having more pickaxes comes at the cost of not being able to use your more powerful tools immediately, which I find to be an interesting strategic trade-off in a good way
Wow - loved this one! Shocking amount of skill expression and engagement - I was enwrapped the whole way through! I can't believe I've never seen a game like this before - it's like a whole new derivation on brick-breaker, and so fun! Juggling my own items alongside the desire for gold was this constant push-pull that never got boring, and only got more satisfying as the dynamite and whatnot allowed me to shower the screen with goodies.
Loved that the boss's throwables were deterministic so you could time it out properly (though I was never quite able to beat him, haha).
If you decide to take this further - I wonder if there would be a way to make the ejection angle of the gold nugget relative to where the pickaxe hit it? That way, if you are looking for an easy 'grab gold and pickaxe' - you could achieve it by hitting the deposit 'dead on' in the middle.
The flat vector art is super readable (and cute) - and I love the almost clown-like smile on the bosses face! Almost reminds me of the emotionality behind 'Going Under' (a roguelike soulslike in the flat, colorful 'corporate memphis' style - amazing game, if you haven't seen it)
Fantastic entry - really enjoyed my time with it - thanks for submitting! Great work!
I struggled a little bit at the beginning trying to collect the gold ( Im horrible predicting ) but after a few tries I could buy some upgrades, nice game loop your game hold me for a few hours, nice entry
@ugly-robot the suggestion about the pickaxe's relative position is GREAT. It would reward attentive players while simultaneously limiting the frustration that comes with too much randomization. I'm happy to hear the core of the game works so well in spite of that.
It's actually raster art, if you can believe it! I can definitely see the similarity to the vector Corporate Memphis artstyle co-opted by Going Under, though. Absolutely LOVE that game btw—Another Crab's Treasure is also a banger. It's an honor to be compared.
Thank you so much for the in-depth comment! Very kind of you.
The ending is very difficult, but I very much enjoyed playing through it! Awesome job :smile:
pretty fun game, i dont know about how on theme it is because the minecart doesnt really go down or anything, and the map is really small, I think just increasing the map's size would help the game and maybe adding a pause menu too where you can also buy upgrades. I like the sound effect of the pickaxe hitting the gold, however I think maybe a sound effect for the minecart moving and speeding up would be nice too
I like the gameplay concept a lot, and it's a good idea for an upgrade loop. Music and audio was also very good.
I think this wants a lot of tweaking. The cart is painfully slow to move across the board before you get any upgrades to that. This could also be fixed by making objects fall more slowly. I think it could also be more fun to have objects move or bounce around in less obvious ways, at different angles based on chance and/or the angle of impact.
Amazing game with cool graphics!.
The boss took five attempts, but it worked out in the end! Skärmbild 2025-04-21 224711.png
I really enjoyed the game loop - very satisfying to break the nuggets!
Great entry, took me a while to get there but was a fun experience. That boss was so difficult :cry: . Well done!
Definitely one of my favorite entries, well done! The loop was satisfying, I was NOT expecting a boss fight (??), let alone one so satisfying to win! The sounds were well mixed and not tedious, the music loop was catchy and not annoying. Really impressive stuff!
Nice game! It took me quite a few tries to figure out what I was supposed to do when the crazy clown showed up at the end, I didn't notice the health bar at all, and my pickaxes went right through him (on the way up), so I just dodges for a while, until a few tries later I managed to actually land a hit (and then take a few more tries to get the win). Was satisfying when I did. Nicely done with being text-less, I always like that in a game if pulled off well, and you pulled it off well!
That was really fun! It's a very unique game, the gameplay loop is engaging. I was hooked from the get go. So cool, congrats on your entry! Oh, the sound is great! Loved the sound when you slow the cart.