Dwarfsplosion

by fabsy
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.88
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.94
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.44
Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.91
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.77
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.94
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.33
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★71%
/* Description */

You are a dwarf who got stuck in a dark cave.

Using nothing but your helmet and mining tools, you must try to find the cave's exit while dealing with the native dwarves who inhabit it, as well as avoiding its natural hazards.

NOTE: We've added a quality-of-life update to our game to address some post-jam issues. The changelog is available below to help you decide which version to download. The gameplay was unchanged.

/* Features */

- Navigate your way through a procedurally-generated cave using nothing but your helmet's light to see!
- Follow somewhat ambiguous directions in order to find the exit!
- Dig tunnels with your faithful Electric Drill-It!
- Kill enemies and blast your way through the terrain with your Rock-It Launcher!
- 3 enemy types that kill you
--- The Bomber - shoots rockets that kill you
--- The Miner - throws pickaxes that kill you
--- The Mole - kills you with his bare hands
- Environmental hazards
--- Cave-ins - triggered periodically, they block your path
--- Lava - spawned by cave-ins, it flows fast and kills you on touch
- Explosions increase the chance of cave-ins, so don't abuse your Rock-it Launcher!

/* Controls */

- [WASD] Moves the player
- [Arrow keys] Shoots the Rock-it Launcher
- [Move towards a wall] Activates the Electric Drill-it
- [ESC / Start button] Opens the Instructions/Pause screen

/* Credits */

- Programming: fabsy (@_fabsy), jcrmartini (https://joaocrmartins.itch.io)
- Graphics: Michael (@_itsmycall)
- Sound Fx generated using LabChirp (http://labbed.net/software/labchirp/)
- Keyboard/Controller Keys thanks to Hyohnoo (@Hyohnoo)

/* Changelog */

[UPDATE 1] (v0.1, 2016-12-28)
- Improvements
--- Added builds for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows (32-bit) and WebGL
--- Added gamepad support
--- Slightly better enemy sprites
--- Added new sound effects for the drilling, shooting, and dig actions (for enemies too)
--- Added an instructions/pause screen
--- Added the ability to quit and restart the game
- Fixes
--- Enemy animations now work correctly
--- The camera is now limited to the bounds of the level

[LD37] (v0.0 - 2016-12-12)
- Original, raw, unfiltered, unfixed and unpolished submission version
- The origin of life as we know it
Tools: Unity

Comments19

Linear24 Dec 2016, 23:02
The Lava was terrifying. I'm not sure why I would ever choose to dig instead of use the explosions themselves
fabsy
fabsyauthor27 Dec 2016, 14:56
@james-gillespie Thanks a lot :)

@Linear You're right. There is actually a reason not to overuse the explosions - each explosion increases the chance of a cave collapse (which leads to more terrifying lava). We've added a more detailed description and instructions. Thanks!
Boberro29 Dec 2016, 10:02
Woah, nice one. Really addictive. Can't play v0 (no win64 at hand) so I had to ignore the graphics.
Flaterectomy
Flaterectomy29 Dec 2016, 15:01
A pretty cute dungeon crawler! Doesn't really suit the theme, but it's got some meat to it. At first I didn't realize I could drill. I just shot my way through, and made it to the exit most of the time.

At one point lava spawned on the exit. Another time I fired at an enemy and a cave-in right in front of me happened, and I died in the explosion. Crumbling rocks falling down on the tiles that are about to be caved-in would've helped.

The graphics are quite good, you have a strong, concise style. Sounds were simple but worked for a gamejam. Music would've set the mood a lot.

All in all quite polished and wouldn't need that much more to become a pretty complete game.
ShuddaHaddaLottaFun29 Dec 2016, 23:53
this is a fun one to play... a little difficult though. I have yet to find the exit and die many different deaths. Controls on the joysticks are a little wonky, just because there is no analog movement, so there are deadzones in the controller response in the angles. made it a little hard to turn because I had to have the stick at a specific point.
Zener31 Dec 2016, 10:41
Very very fun! Solid and nice mechanics
SimonHutchinson
SimonHutchinson31 Dec 2016, 13:56
Wow, really impressive work for 72 hours. I love the detail in the graphics and gameplay.
TerraCottaFrog
TerraCottaFrog31 Dec 2016, 17:35
Really fun game, but I think the grid based controls were a real issue. When there were a lot of enemies it sort of felt like I wasn't in control. Turning around instantly for the Rock-it Launcher would help with the more "action packed" sections.

Other than the controls, I really love the idea, and I can see myself putting a lot of time into this if the controls were improved and it was expanded.

Good work.
automatonvx
automatonvx31 Dec 2016, 22:21
Cool interesting game, a bit unforgiving but i like it alot.
handoharken1 Jan 2017, 21:44
Great polished entry! The enemies were a little too difficult to deal with but it was still great fun to play. Great entry! :D
rjhelms2 Jan 2017, 05:36
Really polished! Great job.
ciaodavinci
ciaodavinci2 Jan 2017, 06:29
This is fantastic. Really liked the way the pacing unfolded. It felt natural to move between the drill and the explosives.
The camera felt nice and elastic.
There's a lot to admire here and I hope you develop it further!
Xanjos2 Jan 2017, 22:21
Played the original version to make things fair. Pretty cool mechanics (despite the fact that I accidentally killed myself with the rocket launcher a lot quite early) and the lighting adds quite a lot to the atmosphere. I was half expecting some stuff to collect (like coins and gems) though given the setting of the game.
fabsy
fabsyauthor3 Jan 2017, 01:10
Thanks everyone for the feedback! We're glad you enjoyed it. Some observations in response to your comments:

@Flaterectomy Thanks for the detailed feedback. You'll be glad to know that none of those issues escaped our radar (just the jam's deadline). At least we hope they provided you with some funny and unexpected moments.

@ShuddaHaddaLottaFun, @TerraCottaFrog The way the controls work with the grid-like system is completely intentional but we understand where you're coming from. Our initial idea involved multiple (human) players and the grid restriction allowed for the strategic placement of their bullets and also make sure they always travel in a straight line, especially in narrow 1-tile wide tunnels. Needless to say, multiplayer was out of the question pretty much after the second day. Thanks for the feedback!

@Xanjos If we ever develop it further, collectables and progression-related stuff are definitely on the list. Thanks for playing!
CosmicAdventureSquad
CosmicAdventureSquad3 Jan 2017, 01:51
Nice VFXs and sprites. I accidentally blew myself up a few times >_<
Maple
Maple3 Jan 2017, 02:01
Haha, it was hilarious. I tried to drill through the wall with the arrow keys and died! Nice explosive effects!

I played for a bit -- eventually I just used the rocket to dig through, as it was faster and sometimes safer. Also, the controller input for up and down was very narrow. You needed to be pretty precise with the analogue stick when travelling vertically, so I ended up using the keyboard instead.

I liked how there could be an earthquake that blocked some of the stage. Overall a pretty good concept -- I reckon you could really turn this into something.

Nice work! :>

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