FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD57 → Deep Delve

Deep Delve

By p1x3lc0w

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall1603.4130
Fun1593.2530
Innovation2732.5830
Theme1303.6630
Graphics1563.3730
Audio1673.1230
Mood1623.3230

Comments

badpinkchicken 2025-04-07 09:38

Great retro graphics! Loved it

p1x3lc0w 2025-04-07 11:43

@badpinkchicken Thanks, glad you had fun!

immortalfox 2025-04-07 12:20

Classic retro style. Never gets old. Good game

manabreak 2025-04-07 12:22

Nice work. :) It got a bit slow after a while though, and I'm not sure if the levels were meant to repeat?

p1x3lc0w 2025-04-07 12:23

@immortalfox Thank you! Glad you liked it!

p1x3lc0w 2025-04-07 12:26

@manabreak Thanks! Levels are meant to repeat (there selected randomly after the first), though enemy spawns and health/damage scale up with depth and difficulty.

haokai-xu-1999 2025-04-07 13:38

It looks good, could you please upload a Mac version?

k1n 2025-04-07 13:40

Good work, it will be better with a little bit more movespeed

dzejpi 2025-04-07 14:54

Well crafted retro platformer. In my delirious state, I expected some ending, but then I figured out levels just repeated eventually. I noticed it earlier, but I thought it was a bug, then it got quite obvious that it was a feature instead! I think speeding up the movement a bit would make it even more fun. I think I would prefer upgrade window to be its separate closeable popup that would pause the game instead of displaying like this while the game is still running, but it gets the job done! Overall, very solid entry. Add more weapons, levels, enemies, some story, and you have a nice full feature game here. :slight_smile:

polymathld 2025-04-07 19:09

Very ambitious to tackle a metroidvania roguelike in a 48 hour game jam! Well-done! I had so much fun I immediately started a second run. There are things I could constructively criticize, but I'm sure you're well-aware of them already, I'm just amazed you made something with this much content, gameplay, and complexity at all in such limited time. One small tip from a fellow Godot dev on a good way to reduce the repetiveness in a random system--I've been sticking things into Arrays and using Array.shuffle(), then pulling the front one out and removing it from the array every time I need something random but don't want it to repeat. Deck of cards idea. You probably already know that trick though!

Anyway, loved the early NES style pixel art and audio, very consistent and nicely done. The gameplay functioned well. It was addictive being able to upgrade my weapon and buy new ones. Super cool how the enemies get harder and add abilities as you go deeper. Lots to love here!

conradoclark 2025-04-08 01:46

I really like the upgrades/weapons system, and the game loop is very fun! My feedback is that I think the randomness could be a little more guided, like prevent shops from spawning one after another, etc. Also, it'd be nice if every enemy dropped coins, even if just one. It would make chasing after them more satisfying. The game is super cool nonetheless.

The visuals are really nice, it nails the retro feel, and the audio goes very well along with it. Great job!

p1x3lc0w 2025-04-08 19:51

@haokai-xu-1999 from what i can tell i would need some sort of apple developer id to properly export the game for mac unfortunately

p1x3lc0w 2025-04-08 19:52

@k1n Thanks, could have definitely tweaked the movement a bit more with more time. Glad you enjoyed!

p1x3lc0w 2025-04-08 19:53

@dzejpi Thank you! UI is definitely one of the first things i would have spent more time on. Glad you had fun!

p1x3lc0w 2025-04-08 19:56

@polymathld Thanks! Definitely used a lot of the time :smile:. Adding something to avoid repetitiveness in the level selection was definitely something i thought about but didn't get around to implementing sadly. Glad you enjoyed it!

p1x3lc0w 2025-04-08 19:57

@conradoclark Thank you! Glad you liked it!

devilxrom 2025-04-08 21:59

I really dig the visuals, but the character feels kinda clunky to control — especially when jumping. Also, not sure why the anvil and shop are so far away. I’d totally put them near the start and let the player buy stuff right away! Honestly, this could make an awesome roguelike, something in the vein of The Binding of Isaac. That would be sick!

dingbat 2025-04-08 22:08

Who doesn't love a little roguelike platformer? You've got some solid mechanics, multiple enemy designs, combat, and even some good music. Nice!

I definitely think the combat could have been tuned to be a bit more enjoyable. For example: on easy mode it seems like every enemy is 1 shot and there are very few enemies, but on hard mode everything takes multiple hits and there's a good number of enemies. This makes easy mode kind of boring (half of the time no enemies even spawn) and hard mode kind of unenjoyable as the combat makes it really hard to land multiple hits without taking damage. I personally think a happy medium would have been making every enemy 1 shot, but having a lot more enemies. That way the player feels powerful and fluid while not being too easy. Obviously later stages would have tougher enemies.

Anyways, that's my only criticism. Great job on get a polished platformer done in this short a time!

henk 2025-04-08 23:07

This felt painfully difficult to me, but based on praise from the other commenters maybe I was just super unlucky? Even on "normal" difficulty baddies wouldn't drop enough loot for me to afford shop upgrades before the difficulty scaling got beyond what my little sword could handle. I eventually gave up and switched to "easy," but it still took what felt like an excruciatingly long time before I could afford a ranged weapon (which you need after a while as enemies can spawn in places where it's impossible to get close enough to hit them without taking damage).

That said, I liked the visuals, especially the choice of color palette, and once I _did_ get a ranged weapon the combat became much more interesting.

broco 2025-04-08 23:34

Nice retro game! I liked it! I just found it really slow. Going after the further enemies, especially that level where there is only one enemy and you have to go through some platforms and spikes, it felt like a pain more than a challenge, due to the character's slow movement and slow music. I think it's a good formula tho, maybe for something like a roguelike, with more levels and different powerups! Anyways, great game!

onhore 2025-04-09 12:58

Loving the retro vibes and punchy pixel art here!

p1x3lc0w 2025-04-09 21:18

@devilxrom Thanks! Levels are picked randomly after the first including shops/anvils but adding some sort of system to the rng to make shops/avils appear at more consistent time is something i could definitely see improving the game.

p1x3lc0w 2025-04-09 21:20

@dingbat Thanks, glad you enjoyed! Tuning some of the difficulty values a bit more is definitely among the first things i would have done with more time.

p1x3lc0w 2025-04-09 21:26

@henk I think some of the rng with level selection/enemy spawns/drops can definitely affect how the beginning of the game feels, like i already mentioned in other comments i was thinking about some ways the make some of the rng elements more consistent but didn't end up getting around to implementing something; although i also think the ability to have lucky and unlucky runs is a core part of rougelikes, so the best design would probably end up being a mix of both. Thank you for the feedback!

p1x3lc0w 2025-04-09 21:28

@broco Thank you! I think part of turning this into a more full-fledged game would definitely be tuning the movement and adding some more movement tools/abilities. Glad you liked it!

p1x3lc0w 2025-04-09 21:28

@onhore Thanks, glad you liked it!

bentglasstube 2025-04-09 23:11

I really enjoyed the gameplay and the upgrade mechanics. The music and graphics were top notch. As others have mentioned, it felt a little slow at times, but overall I had a lot of fun with it. One thing that felt a little jarring was when you enter a new room you appear in the starting area instead of falling in from above. This meant I had to spend a split second looking for my character and distracted from the cave feeling a little bit. Great work.

sypiac 2025-04-10 08:43

550 meters until the bat blocked me into the corner. I enjoyed it. Surprisingly many mechanics for how short the compo is.

silkworm-sweatshop 2025-04-10 14:58

Cool little roguelike with a nice upgrade system! Feels a bit floaty, not necessarily bad, it's one of those things you can get used to. I don't expect a super sophisticated level selection algorithm for a jam game but preventing the same level from repeating twice would add some polish and make it feel less repetitive even with a limited level amount.

p1x3lc0w 2025-04-10 20:05

@bentglasstube Thanks! I did think about having the player fall from the top but felt that starting on the ground gave me more flexibility with level design and let the player start each level faster. Can definitely see how that's a bit of a break in continuity tho, maybe at least having a plausible place from the character a have fallen from in each level would have helped that. Glad you liked it!

p1x3lc0w 2025-04-10 20:05

@sypiac Thanks, glad you enjoyed!

p1x3lc0w 2025-04-10 20:08

@silkworm-sweatshop Thanks! Adding some method of preventing repetition in level selection is definitely one of the first avenues of improvement. Glad you liked it!

soul-grinder 2025-04-10 20:57

Cool old school platformer with some nice upgrade and was a lot of fun to play, nice work!

p1x3lc0w 2025-04-10 20:59

@soul-grinder Thank you, glad you had fun!

baknik 2025-04-10 22:39

Controls for platforming were a bit floaty, and I got stuck under the big coin (couldn't move until it vanished). Regardless, I enjoyed myself!

gamescodedogs 2025-04-11 06:31

Oh, great and solid pixel art. Good old ZXSpectrum vibes. 5/5 for mood and gfx.

atsh 2025-04-12 07:29

Very cool classic game. I really liked the pixel art, mood, the weapons and the enemies, and that they develop as you progress (e.g start shooting and have more hp)

I wanted to continue playing, but I encountered some nasty bug where one of the robots got stuck on the spikes, so I couldn't kill him wihout taking damage - and I died (the jumping is a little clunky and didn't help). Honestly the game felt a little repetitive before, so maybe few more levels / enemies, or little faster progression (the game is stingy with coins)

All in all, very nice game, with a little more polish it can be very addictive!

tomas88a 2025-04-12 16:14

the control for example movenment speed can be develop a bit, i like your pixel art, overall it's a classic and good game, good job!

plexium-nerd 2025-04-15 00:05

Love the pixel art and the upgrade system. As well as the randomization. Nice game!

torte478 2025-04-16 18:20

An incredible amount of content for a COMPO entry. Outstanding work!

conduit 2025-04-21 06:56

I was a big fan of the audio and visuals, very old school! I couldn't find out how to buy things in the store however, which also brings me to my next point, which every item in the store was the same sword that I already had with the exception of a dagger in the first shop (which I couldn't afford lol). I had a really great time and was taken to a place of nostalgia with this entry! I probably would've kept playing had I figured out how to buy things lol

koalabear 2025-04-23 16:38

Slow paced but cute & deadly ! great game