Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD57 → TRENCH
By Alexandra H, toilari, Lassi, mayrakissa, Nooodle and Minjaux
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 143 | 3.93 | 43 | |
| Fun | 327 | 3.53 | 43 | |
| Innovation | 645 | 2.92 | 43 | |
| Theme | 102 | 4.22 | 43 | |
| Graphics | 78 | 4.43 | 43 | |
| Audio | 139 | 3.87 | 43 | |
| Humor | 259 | 3.27 | 40 | |
| Mood | 286 | 3.81 | 43 |
The background details and all the animations are really nice. I like how before you can continue there is a force pushing upwards, which was also fun to use to get around. I found the process fairly monotonous killing all the different creatures oh each floor. Upside down crabs were especially annoying, mainly having to wait for them to come around. The shop with Slimak is nice and I like the mood of it. Nice game :D
love the graphics and the gameplay - great game
The visuals in the game are absolutely gorgeous — great job! I also made a game with a undersea theme, but your level of detail is on a different level. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to progress very far because in the browser version, only the arrow keys and spacebar worked for me, but Z, X, and C didn’t seem to respond.
Loved it! Especially the art & the music. Animations are smooth and the art style overall is very good-looking and consistent. The shop screen was freezing for me, and this is the only flaw I've encountered. Overall it was very fun, great job!
The art is SO pretty! The amount of love and dedication that went into the appearance of this game is incredible. The only thing is that I found the game a little slow, waiting for enemies to come around so that I would be able to shoot them took a little longer than it could. I think adding a option to shoot to different directions or something that could improve little bit of the pacing would make this perfect. The beginning custscene made me giggle with the boat name and comedic timing and I really enjoyed how the tutorial appeared during gameplay. Great game!!🐟🐟🐟
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Wow... your artwork is on another level.
This is truly superb work- excellent level design, artwork, sfx, controls, and theme. You nailed it!
@mremmele The weapons are unlocked as you progress in the game. You unlock the harpoon gun in the tutorial level (make sure to pick up the harpoons in the first level with enemies), and the other guns can be bought from the shop
The graphics are really nice! I love all the details and I had lots of fun while playing. Unfortunately I had the same struggles as @mremmele but you created a really nice game in that short time! Congrats 🙂
This is the best game so far! Super awesome! In the beginning the gameplay felt too repetitive and clunky, but it slowly got better as the character gained speed and better weapons. I still feel like the game was little bit too long for a game jam game. However it is super impressive how much content there is! Graphics and sounds are excellent and the boss design was solid! I am impressed by this game. :-)
The shop screen was very laggy for me for some reason. Also I think the first shop should have appeared earlier (I died once before reaching the shop, but still. I almost stopped playing before the first shop)
Thanks for making such a nice game <3
@lassi You're right — my bad, I occasionally skipped the harpoon. I found it now! Still, it felt like I got soft-locked when I missed the harpoon gun but was still able to enter the next level where I was asked to kill everyone.
A genuinely incredible game that deserves more attention. The pixel art is gorgeous, music lovely, designed super well and awesome to play! THe only small issue I have is dropping down and immediately hitting an enemy without anyway to avoid it, but I appreciated the generous checkpoint system, and the upgrades were super engaging and fun! The final boss was a tiny bit mashy, but still enjoyable! Loved the photo at the end, haha!
Nice game! Wish i could have used WASD but overall very good!
Visuals are really good, love the oxygen tank representing health, the mobility could be made easier with some more space in the levels
Absolutely amazing graphics, and i chuckled when the guy fell out of the boat ;). Shooting felt a bit awkward at times, would have been nice if the beginning went a bit faster. I want to buy stuff!
Wow, that's really really good! Really well done art style, gameplay and the game levels are procedurally generated, right?
I feel that i would bought a greatly expanded and polished version of this game with some form of metaprogression!
Also i managed to somehow drop right through the first update shop witout a chance to buy anything 🥲
I blame goddamn Frank!
Looks super awesome!
@mod-wiz Thanks for playing, and thanks for the kind words! :pray:
There is some procedural generation, yes! There are a few hand-made level parts, which are used to create the levels. Basically, there is a "top slot" and a "bottom slot" and two parts are chosen, at random, for each level. This allows for a lot of level variety with just a few parts. Similarly, there are a few different spawn pools for choosing enemies, which are used to randomly spawn a number of enemies on each floor. These scale on difficulty and harder spawn pools are used as player gets deeper.
Thanks for the feedback, glad to hear you enjoyed playing our little game!
Great graphism and really solid gameplay, this feel really polished for a 3 day game congrats!
Theses graphisme are amazing. Good job !
Very impressive. Really liked the visuals obviously, but it's honestly mind boggling how y'all managed to get so much stuff and variety into the game in such a short time! The selection in weapons and the different and distinct enemies really make the game stand out from most game jam entries
Cool game, really great art! It plays nicely as well. I was a big fan of the on screen text as you enter new areas, felt really punchy and professional. I think some of the sound effects were a bit too loud, a quick balance pass there could be beneficial. Overall an impressive entry, good work!
For whatever reason I especially liked the "KILL EVERY FISH" text coming up. It has something of an old Duke Nuke'm vibe. :sunglasses: Obviously the game is quite polished, there's even an intro - way more I'd expect from a LD entry.
The gameplay is good and enjoyable, though for me there could have been less levels. It also seems that when repeating levels, I may get different types of fish. This kind of breaks the balance a bit, because sometimes I get the pink ones, which are generally harder, and sometimes eels, which my net handles well. Btw. after getting the net I rarely used the harpoon anymore - it's not that it's overpowered, it's actually well balanced IMHO. I think I would use the harpoon more if I could aim it somehow. The anchor weapon wasn't doing anything for me, I tried to use it but just died because of that.
Btw. I got some encoding problems with the letters. I appreciate "Slimak" though, being from Poland. :snail: 2025_04_10_00_06_14_TRENCH_ldjam.com_Ludum_Dare_game_jam.png
Spent way too much time playing! :sweat_smile: Very solid entry! Thanks!
Graphics are top tier! enjoyed the enemy and weapon variety. could have used a couple of seconds of invincibility after level transitions due to how many times I landed directly on top of an enemy at the beginning of the level. Super cool how much was made in a short time!
Really impressive that you guys made such a big game in such a short amount of time! I did found the controls to be a bit slippery, but it handles well enough. The game looks stunning as well.
Nice work! I was a little confused the harpoon didn't work on the first couple screens, but other than that great presentation!
Really cool entry! Love the art. I wish there were alternate WASD controls and diagonal shooting.
This was super fun!! I beat it and loved the upgrades
This was great! For a jam entry, it feels like such a complete game. It took me around 30 minutes to beat the game. Managing to cram a boss - let alone two! - into a jam game is always hella impressive. :grinning:
The only real issue I had was that going to the next level was always a dice roll of do you land safely or is there a bunch of fish directly below you. It felt as if sometimes you simply can't avoid taking damage when the enemy spawns are unfavorable.
That's a very minor gripe, though. Overall you still did a fantastic job!
Also, why do you hate fish so much? :slight_frown:
Wow, that was a real voyage! What an intense game. I found the intro very funny, the way Frank fell overboard was hilarious.
When the game started, I was immediately impressed by the beautiful and peaceful underwater scenery. And the game went: KILL
EVERY
FISH!
:laughing:
The gameplay was fun and well balanced. I struggled a bit on levels 40 and onwards, but I made it in the end. I hope Frank is grateful for the effort!
Super well made game, with beautiful art and very nice music.
@toilari thanks for explanation about how procedural generation works. It's really smart!
Very beautiful and funny game, I really liked the sprites of the character and sea creatures. Thank you for this game
The music is really good—I got really pulled into the game and made it to level 35. The boss could use either more HP or some invulnerability time; I just spammed the anchor on him and got through really fast.
I’d also love to have a bit more control over the movement. It often felt like I was just bouncing in place, trying to line up the right weapon to hit an enemy.
The art is INSANE!!! I do pixel art myself, but nowhere near this level.
This is a really impressive entry across multiple categories—it's fun, has a great mood, strong music, and you nailed the theme. Well done! When does it end.JPG
really nice work on this game -- really impressed with the "depth" and the artwork -- outstanding!!!
Wow i loved the art so much man! Is struggled a bit with the character controller but its was cool :)
Really well done! awesome work. Only thing I would have prefered is an option to select which keys to use. my hands are really cramped on the arrow keys...
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A fine execution you've made! It is a quite game, the work you've have done can be easily observed in different aspects of this creation.
Incredible work for such a short amount of time. Love the art, the sound, and the gameplay. It was extra challenging for me because I have a 65% keyboard and have to press a function key the arrows, but the function key invalidates my "Z" in-game. Made for a a fun, challenging time.
What a fantastic game! I played lots of games on ludum dare, but none hooked (no pun intended) me like this one. At first I thought the web was too powerful, and it probably is, but the game is challenging enough that you really need the tools you're given, and it's really fun to abuse the enemies which can so easily kill you
Some nitpicks - when you walk against the door the sprite jitters. Also falling into enemies feel a little unfair sometimes
All criticisms are off course null and void compared to the amazing sign animation, and you choosing the same game name as me :) Really well done!