This is a really, really good game idea. The last level was an excellent showcase of the potential of the game. I figured out how to beat it pretty quickly, but I still had to replay it a lot because I kept messing up on jumps or shots.
I had a lot of trouble hitting anything. I started getting better, but I kinda wish there was an accurate aiming arc display and/or mouse aiming. It would make the game a lot easier, but I think you could make up for it by adding things like faster enemies or shots that require exact precision.
I also fell into lava on accident a lot, I think movement and collision could feel better.
Really awesome melting effect. Pretty! Cool song. I think almost no levels are impossible, just very hard. I had one that was nearly impossible, but managed to figure out a way to beat it, was almost out of light by the end.
It's like Robotron except better! Really fun and tense. Reading your earlier post, it's interesting how your concept evolved. I think you took it somewhere great. Computer controlled blobs are boring, anyway.
Harder than the helicopters in Battlefield :P I did get a feeling of accomplishment after getting the 4th scientist though... easier controls but a harder course might be a way to get the same challenge with less frustration?
This is really cool. I can't vouch for the quality of the levels I (quickly) built for myself, but the game was fun from both sides. Things were easy going until I filled the room with like 10x tasty demon, skull, and goos. That was intense.
Ahahaha. "Oh, let me turn the light on... I wonder if I'm actually in the room" I still jumped, but I'm easily startled :P Yeah the sprite for the player is a bit bland, but you had a lot of atmosphere! Would be great with music.
Sooo good! It needs more art, better unit AI, more sound, more units, etc, but for a game concept/prototype this is absolutely perfect. I didn't have a whole lot of trouble except once in an earlier level. Just as fun as DoW2 in a lot of ways. I hope the tanks have less armor in the rear :)
I also never noticed you could move the camera, but that's okay.
I love it. Though it does seem like digging out large areas is often too viable a strategy. I'm not sure if that was intended. Replaying it, I definitely approach the puzzles differently than the first time I beat them.
I discovered a cool bug for getting lots of points though. If you totally plow into the wall (I only tried it with the left wall), and you keep running into it for a few seconds, you can get into a state where there's no collision anymore and you can just rack up like an 80x multiplier doing infinite kickflips.
The Gameboy screen needs to be bigger :) Love the backstory + style, and it has music! Really hard though. With respect to the controls: You slide a fair bit, but it also seems like you fall faster than you rise when jumping. It's kind of old school feeling, but maybe a bit extreme? Also the attack zone on the goombas is vicious, I can died while jumping on 2 enemies near each other a few times.
Platforming gameplay is solid, and nice art. I had keys get stuck a couple times (had to press the direction again to unstick), and also the aforementioned slowness was noticeable.
Clever, I think the core mechanic (or well, the idea of you being this miner with this useful vehicle yet you have to get out of it) could be expanded on.
Yeah, quite solid overall! Great take on the theme, too, if quite literal about it :) The critters are pretty hard to predict. Music done in Reason? Now I'm tempted to try that next time, hadn't even considered it.
I'm letting the song play out :) I also agree the static background is actually pretty cool, especially if it changed based on area or gameplay events. In general, I think grid based movement is pretty frustrating. It makes some gameplay logic very easy to code and certain things very unambiguous tp the player (ie, which block am I in front of?) but it never feels right in real time games.
Love the game idea, I think it's a pretty perfect incarnation of stealth gameplay in a 2d puzzle context. Wish there were more levels, better graphics, and non-grid based movement :) Also, it would be cool to know how fast the spiders are without having to have them chase you.
I found the gameplay to be surprisingly compelling. It's sort of like a video game equivalent of one of those "scratch and see if you won" tickets. I made it to level 7 or so, and I lost while I was in the middle of jumping at the last gem :( Very fun! I guess I have to agree that the default pick is kind of weak - maybe have 2 pick upgrades, silver and gold?
I think it gave me an unjumpable jump at 9,600. Yeah it does need random obstacles and traps :) Also the materializing logs is sort of suprising. If you land just right, you can push the ground blocks by about 1 pixel. The gameplay makes sense though, fun when you zone out and just keep jumping.
This is harddd..... WASD worked for the left player for me, the gameplay is really quite cool but difficult, the enemy movement is so random it's hard to predict.
Pretty solid overall. And has music! (which was catchy) I thought it was hard, but the gameplay concept is pretty good. Also, the text is hard to read :P
lol! My first play I spent all the starting money on fire, and used it on a babe at the very top, netting me $4... so I restarted and then ended up getting something around 700. Like the blobber. Yay for music!
Well I can see why the bat explodes when he hits a wall, considering the speed he's flying at. I'm thinking there's a bug with flying speed, or perhaps the game speed globally.
It does need more obvious cause/effect going on. I don't think it really runs that slow, it just seems like not much is happening.
At first I thought the pathfinding was insufficient, but once I built a more open layout it seemed much happier. Maybe they should have some special idling behavior when they can't move to do anything useful.
Not really a standard cave flyer, I like your idea a lot more. Cool! The screens seemed small to me - since what's on them is randomized when you enter, switching screens all the time makes things a bit discontinuous.
I had some buggy level starts, I tend to just smash buttons during any point where the game won't let me play, so maybe that contributed.
Really fun idea. It seemed a bit easy. Didn't mind the controls at all. You should've added some sounds using sfxr, I think they would've fit quite well. Fun graphics, if the levels had more of a marbling effect going (at least visually) it would probably look really cool :)
Amazing stuff! I actually didn't beat it... got frustrated trying to escape the area where you get the small power, but I'll definitely be trying to beat it later. Part of what makes it hard for me is that your controls are never quite perfect. You've got 8 directions to choose to move in, but since the planet is rotating, usually none of those directions are quite the one you want.
Whaaaa? This is awesome! I literally clapped at the end. Really, really good. The difficulty was perfect for me - just as an area started to get frustrating, I'd beat it. Really enjoyed the experience, thanks!
Cool idea, and yay, music! Also liked the detail of the art. I sort of wish there was no time limit, but then the game would need to be more of a puzzle game.
LD15 — Caverns (53)
Bunker by jazmeister
Cool game. The later levels are worth playing, just for sheer wackiness, I'm glad you were able to try some really different things out.
Ninja Spelunker by ExciteMike
Progress could be shown with a bar, and the text popups moved to the side. Fun, nice cave wall texture.
Cave Ninja by jolle
This is a really, really good game idea. The last level was an excellent showcase of the potential of the game. I figured out how to beat it pretty quickly, but I still had to replay it a lot because I kept messing up on jumps or shots.
I had a lot of trouble hitting anything. I started getting better, but I kinda wish there was an accurate aiming arc display and/or mouse aiming. It would make the game a lot easier, but I think you could make up for it by adding things like faster enemies or shots that require exact precision.
I also fell into lava on accident a lot, I think movement and collision could feel better.
Candle by Problem Machine
Really awesome melting effect.
Pretty!
Cool song.
I think almost no levels are impossible, just very hard. I had one that was nearly impossible, but managed to figure out a way to beat it, was almost out of light by the end.
I'm In A Cave by havchr
lol.
middle mouse is overpowered. My wasd movement would ocasionally get stuck, too.
Ascent by Terry
26 :)
Kinda wanted to be able to land on top of the bat and ride it.
Collapse by gimblll
It's like Robotron except better! Really fun and tense. Reading your earlier post, it's interesting how your concept evolved. I think you took it somewhere great. Computer controlled blobs are boring, anyway.
The Walls are Not Cheese by Sparky
I basically echo the above comments.
Made me think of liero
Cavern Copter by badlydrawnrod
Harder than the helicopters in Battlefield :P
I did get a feeling of accomplishment after getting the 4th scientist though... easier controls but a harder course might be a way to get the same challenge with less frustration?
2XUE by Radix
This is really cool. I can't vouch for the quality of the levels I (quickly) built for myself, but the game was fun from both sides. Things were easy going until I filled the room with like 10x tasty demon, skull, and goos. That was intense.
Cave Trip by agj
Agree with pretty much everything above - its a good start.
I noticed you can drag the camera so low that you can't hit any orbs.
Trippy :P
Cavern Relics by flashkick
lol @ powerup that lets you look left
The sight beyond sight part was really confusing.
Knight of the Cave Dragon by Jonny D
I like the torches :)
Had a torch disappear when I threw it off screen on the first gate, but I restarted and got past it fine the second time.
The controls are really slidey, and I was popped up onto a platform once when jumping at it.
The bats have a weird hit box.
Nice little adventure.
My Little Cavern by laremere
Makes me feel like a miner in Dwarf Fortress.
In your journal I see you had some curvy, detailed edge tiles! Too bad you couldn't get those in, but that sort of stuff is a pain to code.
below the house by dessgeega
Ahahaha. "Oh, let me turn the light on... I wonder if I'm actually in the room" I still jumped, but I'm easily startled :P
Yeah the sprite for the player is a bit bland, but you had a lot of atmosphere! Would be great with music.
The Killbots of Cavern Station by Gilvado
Sooo good! It needs more art, better unit AI, more sound, more units, etc, but for a game concept/prototype this is absolutely perfect. I didn't have a whole lot of trouble except once in an earlier level. Just as fun as DoW2 in a lot of ways. I hope the tanks have less armor in the rear :)
I also never noticed you could move the camera, but that's okay.
DiggR by drZool
I love it. Though it does seem like digging out large areas is often too viable a strategy. I'm not sure if that was intended. Replaying it, I definitely approach the puzzles differently than the first time I beat them.
Cevern0048 by Sophie Houlden
This is so cool. The animations are great.
I discovered a cool bug for getting lots of points though. If you totally plow into the wall (I only tried it with the left wall), and you keep running into it for a few seconds, you can get into a state where there's no collision anymore and you can just rack up like an 80x multiplier doing infinite kickflips.
That's not as fun as actually playing though :)
Super Bean Kid by dstrysnd
The Gameboy screen needs to be bigger :)
Love the backstory + style, and it has music!
Really hard though.
With respect to the controls: You slide a fair bit, but it also seems like you fall faster than you rise when jumping. It's kind of old school feeling, but maybe a bit extreme?
Also the attack zone on the goombas is vicious, I can died while jumping on 2 enemies near each other a few times.
Cave Miner by Wiering
Platforming gameplay is solid, and nice art. I had keys get stuck a couple times (had to press the direction again to unstick), and also the aforementioned slowness was noticeable.
Mineral Miner by GBGames
Clever, I think the core mechanic (or well, the idea of you being this miner with this useful vehicle yet you have to get out of it) could be expanded on.
Angry Caverns by HybridMind
Yeah, quite solid overall! Great take on the theme, too, if quite literal about it :)
The critters are pretty hard to predict.
Music done in Reason? Now I'm tempted to try that next time, hadn't even considered it.
mjau's entry (unfinished) by mjau
I'm letting the song play out :)
I also agree the static background is actually pretty cool, especially if it changed based on area or gameplay events.
In general, I think grid based movement is pretty frustrating. It makes some gameplay logic very easy to code and certain things very unambiguous tp the player (ie, which block am I in front of?) but it never feels right in real time games.
Cavern Escape by psnake
Love the game idea, I think it's a pretty perfect incarnation of stealth gameplay in a 2d puzzle context. Wish there were more levels, better graphics, and non-grid based movement :)
Also, it would be cool to know how fast the spiders are without having to have them chase you.
Cavern Greed by LunarCrisis
Tile rumbling is great :)
The end screen is also nice.
Alien Artifact by lexaloffle
Full of twitch and strategery, quite fun!
Took me I think 5 deaths before I found a route that worked.
Akin Revenge by Ariel Yust
Controls are fine. Got to the boss and beat him.
Things got a lot easier when I discovered the axes... probably too useful :)
Great art!
Fake Gold by BlademasterBobo
The concept is awesome! Really really clever!
Burrow by Incendia
I found the gameplay to be surprisingly compelling. It's sort of like a video game equivalent of one of those "scratch and see if you won" tickets. I made it to level 7 or so, and I lost while I was in the middle of jumping at the last gem :(
Very fun!
I guess I have to agree that the default pick is kind of weak - maybe have 2 pick upgrades, silver and gold?
Cavern Chase by Devlin
I think it gave me an unjumpable jump at 9,600.
Yeah it does need random obstacles and traps :)
Also the materializing logs is sort of suprising.
If you land just right, you can push the ground blocks by about 1 pixel.
The gameplay makes sense though, fun when you zone out and just keep jumping.
Key-Verne (A journey to the center of the Earth) by yanngordon
This is harddd..... WASD worked for the left player for me, the gameplay is really quite cool but difficult, the enemy movement is so random it's hard to predict.
XOUT by X-0ut
Nice wall jumps, very Mega Man X. Air control felt kinda weird though. The sprite when you're doing the wall slide looks really cool, too.
Crystal Cave by BenHem
These are always hard. I got a high score though :)
Clocksey and the Cavern by ajdef3
Pretty solid overall. And has music! (which was catchy) I thought it was hard, but the gameplay concept is pretty good. Also, the text is hard to read :P
Lurking. by Six
I am so glad my room was very well lit when I played this.
Kung-Fu Kaverns by frosty
Makes good use of its minimalism.
I like the difficulty level. I got some really difficult caves, but them's the ropes with random levels :)
Miner Distraction by bentosmile
Played through it 3 times, had to make sure I explored everything :)
Great art!
Cave Bounce by Almost
Yay, I win! I beat it mostly just to spite the missiles, those bastards. I kinda skipped collecting all the coins. Fun.
FallingTown by TFernando
I greatly enjoyed suicidally harassing player 2, we both ended with huge negative points, but at least he didn't win. Player 3 won instead :P
I had some wacky input problem going on any time I had the stress map up.
A CAVE FOR MY BIKINI BABES by bburbank
lol! My first play I spent all the starting money on fire, and used it on a babe at the very top, netting me $4... so I restarted and then ended up getting something around 700. Like the blobber. Yay for music!
Dwarven Rock Smash by Mag Roader
This is exactly how I imagine dwarfs smash rocks!
Controls are fine, maybe the gameplay maybe gets a little too chaotic at times though.
cavern.laser.bat by mattdev
Well I can see why the bat explodes when he hits a wall, considering the speed he's flying at. I'm thinking there's a bug with flying speed, or perhaps the game speed globally.
Sim Cavern by Parthon
It does need more obvious cause/effect going on. I don't think it really runs that slow, it just seems like not much is happening.
At first I thought the pathfinding was insufficient, but once I built a more open layout it seemed much happier. Maybe they should have some special idling behavior when they can't move to do anything useful.
Mr Monocle And His Marvelous Madcap Underground Race by deps
Simple but fun. Diagonal movement seemed extra fast, which made control a bit difficult.
Cave Flyer (blue) by localcoder
Not really a standard cave flyer, I like your idea a lot more. Cool! The screens seemed small to me - since what's on them is randomized when you enter, switching screens all the time makes things a bit discontinuous.
The Narwhal Bacons At Midnight by Svenstaro
lol!
And I can see what you were going for on the controls, there's probably a more intuitive way to do it. This setup kind of hurt my fingers actually.
Cavern Retreat by SwiftFalcn
I had some buggy level starts, I tend to just smash buttons during any point where the game won't let me play, so maybe that contributed.
Really fun idea.
It seemed a bit easy.
Didn't mind the controls at all.
You should've added some sounds using sfxr, I think they would've fit quite well.
Fun graphics, if the levels had more of a marbling effect going (at least visually) it would probably look really cool :)
Heart of Gold by L
Amazing stuff! I actually didn't beat it... got frustrated trying to escape the area where you get the small power, but I'll definitely be trying to beat it later. Part of what makes it hard for me is that your controls are never quite perfect. You've got 8 directions to choose to move in, but since the planet is rotating, usually none of those directions are quite the one you want.
Beacon by ChevyRay
Whaaaa? This is awesome! I literally clapped at the end. Really, really good. The difficulty was perfect for me - just as an area started to get frustrating, I'd beat it. Really enjoyed the experience, thanks!
Cavern Pellet Eater Creatures by jplur
Cool idea, and yay, music! Also liked the detail of the art.
I sort of wish there was no time limit, but then the game would need to be more of a puzzle game.
mine by zacaj
This is really specific, but I do like the graphics of the little fringe grass :P
Gameplay works pretty well.
Caverns of Venus by Endurion
This is pretty wicked. Wish it were longer. The grenade puzzle was quite cool :)
Cave Fishter by DrPetter
Cool movement, like the music.