Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD57 → Sound the Innersea
By tukisboolukis and TheSmellofOxygen
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 546 | 3.40 | 37 | |
| Fun | 657 | 3.04 | 37 | |
| Innovation | 524 | 3.11 | 37 | |
| Theme | 136 | 4.15 | 38 | |
| Graphics | 207 | 4.12 | 38 | |
| Audio | 352 | 3.41 | 38 | |
| Humor | 630 | 2.22 | 29 | |
| Mood | 339 | 3.72 | 36 |
Excellent game on the theme of depth. I really liked that you need to use sonar to detect. Maybe I would change the laser control - it is not very obvious that the first time you press it, and the second time - it turns off. I would like to shoot from it by holding the button down.
Beautifully designed, especially liked the launch. The game is quite meditative. It is quite easy to pass. There is not enough challenge and need for pumping. A good solution would be to add development gates, to overcome which it will already make sense to pump.
This is a submarine game for sure! A couple of things. First, I felt I'd have been much more comfortable with LMB thrust and Space shoot instead of the reverse but no biggie. I was a bit sad deeper was just more sharks, which weirdly made some of the mid depths feel more dangerous because there were more mines. I very nearly reached 10k on the first run. After that, I noticed the ending screen never updated so it still showed 9362m or whatever even when I'm pretty sure I subsequently hit 10k. I think being able to just collect the health from the gasbags also made things a bit too trivial.
The fact the sharks hesitate a bit before biting proved crucial as you can hypnotize them easily by brushing them on the nose as they approach. You can also capture a few so the journey to 10k is less lonely.
sound_the_innersea.png
It has really good athmoshpere. The visuals are cohesive and evoke feeling the cold icea ocean in the darkness.
Sadly i did not enjoy the gameplay loop that much. It was cool to dive into the ocean but the combat mostly felt annoying to me. Since the ammo and movement were tied to together i felt that it was best to just stay still when fighting since you run out of energy so fast if you tried to move and fight. Since the movement is so fast once you accelerate, it was weird mix of stand still, dive, stand still. I dont really understand the how the yellow fish behave. They swim at you then run away if you shoot them enough? It was pretty annoying to get upgrades since the green one only gave hp and other enemy just runs away. Other option is to try to farm the hidden enemies but if i did that yello fish would come hit me and then id had to chaces them to get maybe a reward. I did not like the long delay of collectin the pickups either. Since you went with the more thematic scan etc idea and fish would run away when dmg but i think it clashed with the otherwise arcade like feeling of the movement, combat and upgrading. Maybe using some button to instanly "scan" the data so there is the interaction of scanning but you dont need to sit down for so long time.
Sorry for my rant but i really liked the potential that was there but I just didnt enjoy the game play loop, though the athmosphere was super good. I think the ideas are great and mechanics work but the balance is off.
I really liked the using inworld meter for energy, though it was little hard to notice at start.
I really liked the graphics, especially the color palette! I was able to buy all upgrades and reach 10000 m. Is there an ending ? The idea of deep diving and collecting samples was pretty cool.
Is there a way to go back to the upgrades without dying ? At some point, I really wanted to spend my money and it was actually difficult to get myself killed (especially after you upgraded some armor).
The concept is interesting, but it still requires some work on the balancing imo. On one hand, the very first enemies you encounter are pretty much unavoidable and unkillable with your starting gear, which is kind of frustrating. On the other hand, the sub is pretty tanky and there are tons of health everywhere. All in all, it balances itself, but you can almost ignore all enemies, which makes encounters kind of insignificant. It would've been more interesting to have way weaker enemies near the surface (that can be killed in one shot, and move a bit slower), but drastically increase their damage. In the current state, it was way too easy and I got kind of bored.
The controls are kind of unusual, but you get used to them after a while. Why do we have to hold RMB though? It would be way more comfortable to just look wherever you point your mouse cursor. My hand was getting sore after holding RMB all game =) It would be useful to have a reverse gear as well.
Some upgrades for the light could be great too. Relying on spamming the sonar is kind of tedious.
Anyway, I enjoyed the atmosphere and I kind of played it as a peaceful exploration game =)
Very atmospheric, but does need some balance as previously mentioned, so I don't have anything new to add. First I tried killing the fellas, but just completed the mission later on without doing any violence at all almost~ Loved the mood it created a lot and the graphics were solid. Awesome work!
I struggled a bit with the controls and the balance of the gameplay, but was too enamored by your graphics and aesthetic to stop! I love the submarine launching screen you drew to go with the story, and the home screen with the floating moon is a really fun touch. The graphics and low-res text all worked beautifully. Great job on the visuals!
At first I thought I was running around doing nothing, then when I realized 10k was the magic number I became possessed to it hit. I enjoyed attempting to out maneuver the yellow guys. However then I never hit any form of end game -- around upper 9xxx I got a dead sub picture with 5863 ft.
Looks like we've got a bug with the victory screen @runningopenloop, which in the rush used the same assets as the death screen, but without the cracks on the depth meter. If you hit the seafloor and the game abruptly stopped you like that, you did complete your mission! We're working on fixing that post-jam.
Really loved how the visuals and music synced up — made the whole experience super immersive!
A good looking and nicely polished game, and a good take on the theme. However I found the gameplay rather strange. For one it seems impossible to lose. You need to die to upgrade; fights are kind of annoying but not so dangerous, as there seem to be plenty of sacks floating around. Also, controls are unusual and I wasn't always sure what I was doing. The light regularly went out but always came back on again.
I like the art and the overall atmosphere, especially with the shadows in the background and the fog that creates a feeling there's something hidden behind, like monsters, love it! The sound also helps a lot to create this mood, and I liked the SFX's too.
About the gameplay, I struggled a bit at first to get used to using space + RMB, but once I understood it, I was able to make progress and it became quite easy. I also liked the effect when your energy runs out, it gives off a strange, eerie sensation. At the start, it was fun to kill enemies, but after a while, I realized I could just go downward and avoid them entirely, as they didn't seem able to damage the ship from behind.
Overall, it looks great and creates a strong, immersive atmosphere. Nice work!
Very nice graphics, interesting gameplay. I really enjoyed it! Interesting mechanics, the deeper you go down, the more aggressive the monsters become. You can see that a lot of work has been done!
Nice work, the control is a bit confused at first but it's really fun when familiar with that. the atmosphere is great and very fit the theme!
The pixel art in this game is great! Good work at creating an immersive atmosphere. Though sometimes its hard to know when it's useful to use the sonar. It helps locating those fishes that tries to headbutt the sub. Though it is a bit hard to escape when the energy gets empty fast when trying to switch between thrusting and using the bullets.
I love the visuals for the basecamp. The entire game reminds me of the early 2000s infinite digger flash games. Things are a bit confusing at first, especially movement, but you eventually fall into a nice rhythm of collecting points at the surface and then making a mad dash for the depths. Wish there was more variation as you went along, or some way to increase your vision cone, since most of the game just ends up being pitch black, but nonetheless this is a solid entry.
very fun game with good visuals but would be better if movement was present
Really atmospheric, and a really solid direction with the visuals - it all feels super consistent. I loved the designs of the aliens and the submarine thing. The base camp / launcher stuff is also an excellent bit of polish! I think I would have liked to be able to return to base without getting killed, I found myself just kind of letting the enemies get me so I could check out the upgrades but A. I might have missed a way to do this, B. ultimately it's a personal taste thing. Generally very cool, and the control scheme felt quite fresh and new to me!
Controls are wacky but fun! I've really enjoyed the atmosphere, the graphics and sounds are coming together really nicely
I love pixel art games, especially liked the little wiggle the sub would do when you were changing directions while descending. Sound was nice. Controls were a bit odd, but so were the ones in my entry :laughing:
Great job!
Whoa absolutely beautiful graphics and smooth gameplay! The atmosphere is perfect, you were able to convey a sense of depth and darkness, super spooky, I love it!
Great game with amazing visuals and smooth implementation of gameplay idea!