FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD57 → Unearth

Unearth

By milestone-games, javve, ocwal, mascoll and voxar

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall2183.8231
Fun1783.7731
Innovation2333.6031
Theme684.2931
Graphics974.3731
Audio1523.8231
Humor2293.3828
Mood2563.8631

Comments

gaspar 2025-04-07 18:59

I enjoy mining games, and this one’s no exception. However, the controls feel a bit awkward, and worker movement options aren’t intuitive. Sometimes they even float in midair.

uzpykes 2025-04-07 20:27

Beautifully looking game. I wish there was some kind of explanation on how each tiers of miners and resource gatherers are different from one another.

P.S. I think clicking mouse wheel has some unwanted functionality :laughing:

milestone-games 2025-04-07 21:30

@gaspar @uzpykes We haven't finished the entire game yet, but thanks for letting us know! We'll publish the link at the deadline and ping you in case you want to try it! :)

milestone-games 2025-04-08 00:49

@gaspar @uzpykes Now we've published the game!

jcmonkey 2025-04-08 01:32

definitly a few bugs in the game. one being ghost colliders when the bug destroys a block its standing on, its standing in mid air. also when i kept mining straight up, the debris were lagging and getting stuck in the air, till the next block got broke. also the little collector guys would constantly stop so i had to keep telling them to move to an area. then after some time the collector guys were glitching out moving back and forth super fast. not sure what that was about. i did manage to make it to the top and win the game. also when you program a 10 by 10 area to mine out for a mining guy it does it wierd to the point where it gets blocked out from getting back to it. so maybe add in some smart mining so it can detect what blocks to get first so it can actually reach all the blocks programmed in to mine. other then that the game was fun and like i said i made it to the top and finished.

andrewkennedy 2025-04-08 04:16

Great music and artwork! I've already played so many games about digging down, it was a nice change of pace to dig upwards. Unfortunately RIGHT before I got to the top (like 5 blocks away), the game ended up freezing.

clymm 2025-04-09 22:03

Love the artwork! Great title art, and in game art and animations very atmospheric! Couple of glitches / bugs as mentioned above, mostly the collectors getting stuck and flipping left/right so you'd have to tell them to move to start collecting again. I think this is due to some of the resources falling below the floor level and flickering their position, so it could be confusing the worker AI? Great fun and felt rewarding getting to the top. I would say it felt un-needed having the upgrades though as I was able to get to the top with the basic miners. Would love to see the game developed more. Well done! :clap:

vegasword 2025-04-09 22:06

I'm not a good manager but still I provide for the Queen!

jddoesdev 2025-04-10 01:35

This was fun, although I killed way too many of my army with falling rocks. Also, I sent one worker into the void and broke the game, but I enjoyed the hell out of it. There were some bugs where the resources fell through the cracks and workers couldn't get to them, but other than that it was a solid experience.

deadroach 2025-04-10 03:55

Cool game! The gameplay is unique, the camera navigation is smooth and the little miner bugs are super charming. I can't say I enjoyed every squeal these little fucks make, the one that plays when you direct them could certainly wear on a weaker soul, but the scream when they get crushed to bits by falling rubble is quite satisfying!

flinge 2025-04-10 22:12

It’s great that you give the player a clear goal right from the start — no “what am I even supposed to do?” moments. The visuals are solid, and the sound design works too, though the worm (or whatever that is) squeaking can get a bit grating. Also, huge thanks for the camera recenter button — that’s a very welcome touch.

Now, the main issue I see at the moment is the lack of real incentive to upgrade or gather resources. There’s just no real reason for me to buy higher-tier workers — the first-tier worker can dig all the way to the top on their own. I could finish the game just fine with the basic unit. One simple and logical solution might be to make it so only higher-tier workers can dig through higher-tier blocks. And it would help a lot to have some kind of description for each worker — like what kind of blocks they can handle or how fast they dig. What sets the different collectors apart? As for the pathfinding quirks — totally get it. It’s a jam game, and yeah, that stuff’s hard to code under pressure. No complaints there.

All in all, amazing job — wishing you the best in continuing development!

jtap 2025-04-11 22:35

The visuals and sound in the game are great, I didn't understand the difference between the different workers, but it was fun to play, thanks

str8griz 2025-04-12 04:20

Nice submission, chill vibe. I love the intro art, so sick.

jiri-hysek 2025-04-12 14:17

That was cool! What looked to be an ordinary digging game turned out to be a strategic path finding challenge! It was a great twist, I love it! Also, those bugs are super cute, too bad a lot of them must die until I learned how to play it :) Audio is great, visuals also... it's a great game! And I like "Keep playing" option! Now I'm digging from the top so my buggies are safe!

Snímek obrazovky 2025-04-12 v 16.14.29.png

texugo 2025-04-12 15:22

Really nice idea! The gameplay is quite fun and engaging. I've encountered some bugs where my creatures get stuck in a block and I can't move them or break the block they are currently in. Still, great game!

byebye 2025-04-12 17:55

Great game, very meditative. The only thing I want to note is that the ui buttons and text are too small.

leparlon 2025-04-12 18:31

I actually liked it, but I didn’t quite understand when my Duggots were supposed to be able to climb a block or not. I was both pleasantly and unpleasantly surprised a few times. It seems they can jump one block, but it’s still hard to judge sometimes. I enjoyed being the Duggot queen trying to prevent my Duggboys from crushing themselves.

The game is fun and charming, and it’s impressive that you managed to implement RTS-like controls in such a short time. Congrats on the game!

eeldam 2025-04-12 18:31

Really nice work, the art and music are especially good!

notnasiul 2025-04-12 18:42

Nice idea, albeit a bit confusing! But probably just because jam time restrictions - you should probably work on it a bit more! Things like what kind of dirt falls and when, why sometimes critters can't get to where you tell them. In general, just giving more information to players! Like tooltips over critters to tell why the first one is better than the second one? (I'm just guessing). Nice entry!!

duke-ua 2025-04-12 19:04

The visual style is clean and polished, and I enjoyed the overall vibe of the game. It definitely feels like a mining strategy game with a lot of potential. That said, the goal wasn’t very intuitive at first. I was a bit confused about what I was supposed to focus on. Also wasn’t totally sure what the differences between the units were, and I found it odd that carriers didn’t prioritize more valuable resources (which felt like a logical move). Still, I had fun playing it and really appreciate the work that went into it. Good job!

ammonit 2025-04-13 06:19

Wow, what a gorgeous thing!!! I really loved the visuals and the game's color palette.

borabee 2025-04-13 15:03

Very interesting idea and cool game, with beautiful art to accompany it. However, I found that the gameplay itself was a little difficult to understand. After playing for quite a while, I wasn't able to figure out some major aspects of the game, like, I don't undertand what exactly makes a rock fall or not, I don't understand the difference between the tiers of bugs, I don't get why sometimes they go where I tell them to and sometimes they don't. Also my collector bugs kept bugging out (lol) and not going anywhere, and I'm not sure if that's on account of something I did or a bug. In that way, I couldn't get to a really strategic gameplay in the end, and felt like I was just bruteforcing my way through the rocks. I think your game has quite a few complex mechanics that are difficult to grasp, and if you work to make the learning curve of the game a little less steep (ie. introducing new bug tiers more gradually and making them more distinct, making the initial digging area smaller or adding explicit explanation or visual feedback when the rocks fall, something like that), it has a lot of potential!

jahwffrey 2025-04-17 03:03

Really cool idea, and it was fun and relaxing! I loved that you could see the whole map from the very start and it's a solidly made and cute game about controlling a bunch of little guys. If I have a nitpick, the bug sounds themselves were kindof piercing sometimes.

commanderstitch 2025-04-19 16:11

such an amazing game. I made it out fine. I had to think about what i was doing. really neat stuff. xD

autotrophian 2025-04-19 23:44

I love the art style it reminds me of a game called pem

frank-gevaerts 2025-04-23 20:53

I made it! Like many other people I didn't really fully understand what I was doing, but that didn't matter much, just keep digging up, replacing diggers as needed!

I really liked all of the art and audio aspects of this, nice work!