InfiniProspector

by james-dunlap

co-authored: @anthony-dunlap, @cameron-dunlap, @oliver-richmeier

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.45

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.21

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.60

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.07

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.74

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.38

InfiniProspector

Welcome to our eighth straight Ludum Dare entry! While the team has grown, we feel that we have a good combination of talent going.

Description

Infinite Prospector is a game about a lowly prospector who finds himself at a hole in the ground with nothing to his name. He must begin prospecting the area for minerals and gems of ever increasing value. He must find some in order to be able to purchase more fuel for his lantern. Be careful, however, as there are dangers in the ground.

How deep can you go?

Update (Oct. 7, 2019)

We noticed a bug shortly after publishing that makes the game pretty unplayable in the lower levels. It was also mentioned in comments. The bugfix that has been uploaded is to fix this issue.

Controls

You can choose to use either WASD or ZQSD keys to control the prospector when he moves.

The arrow keys instruct him to dig in a particular direction.

Pressing the L key will place a ladder (if you have one) where you are standing.

Be careful how deep you dig at a time as you can only jump up two tiles.

Contributions

We divided the work as follows:

James: Coding

Cameron: Graphics

Oliver: Music

Anthony: UI, Sounds

Screenshots

Review In Kind

We are always looking to improve what we are doing. As such, please give as honest feedback as possible. Whether we like what you have to say about our game or not, we always come by and look at your game as well. We appreciate all the feedback that you can give.

Comments15

ItsBamboo7 Oct 2019, 22:40

This is pretty neat! The player kind of looks like Mario! Nice work!

OrdiNeu7 Oct 2019, 22:42

This was quite fun, although I think the zones stopped changing after a while and the rocks became invisible. It'd be nice if we could upgrade our pickaxe -- after a while the *tink tink tink tink tink tink* noise went from rhythmic to repetitive.

TaqoShaq7 Oct 2019, 22:44

Nice work, impressed with the amount you guys got done in the 72 hours.

Unfortunately, I wasn't quite able to figure out the second game-loop. I saw that I was able to dig through some tiles but not others, that my oil (and light) depletes over time, and that some tiles yield materials.

However, I wasn't able to figure out what to do once I got those materials. Was the button next to the money counter in the top left supposed to do something? Open an inventory? For reference, I was playing using the WebGL build. Maybe I'm just dense and missed something!

Otherwise, it looks like you all made a pretty ambitious game for a jam, and seem to have really executed. Nice work!

Yolziii7 Oct 2019, 22:46

Nice atmosphere, good work!

mikymod7 Oct 2019, 22:47

I found it really interesting! It reminds me to the good old days! I found the music a little bit minimalistic but it fits well with the theme. Thank you!

James Dunlapauthor7 Oct 2019, 22:48

@itsbamboo Thanks for playing! Yes, he does look like a famous plumber. We discussed changing that as it wasn't really intentional, but decided to keep it.

James Dunlapauthor7 Oct 2019, 22:50

@ordineu Yes, the zones stop changing and the rocks become invisible. The first was because of the limited time. With more time, we would have kept adding zones. The second is a bug that I plan to track down, swat, and upload a fixed build. We did discuss upgrading the pickaxe, but did not get it implemented in time.

James Dunlapauthor7 Oct 2019, 22:51

@yolzii Thanks for playing and for the compliment!

James Dunlapauthor7 Oct 2019, 22:52

@taqoshaq Thanks for trying the game. In order to sell materials and buy more fuel, you have to return to the surface where there is a shop. When you are standing next to the shop, a second button will appear next to the one you saw. The first button is not intended to do anything other than to display how full your backpack is.

TaqoShaq7 Oct 2019, 22:58

@james-dunlap Aha! Got it! I think there might have been a hover-over or selection animation on the backpack icon, implying that it was meant to have interaction. I didn't see the sell button at the shop!

kruemelkeksfan7 Oct 2019, 23:04

You built a very fun core game loop, but my exhausted mind did not allow me to live long enough to see the second layer. With money being that scarce on the first shopping run (I can barely afford the oil) it would be nice to have some ladders from the beginning, to counter 1 or 2 rookie mistakes (although this contradicts the theme, although you obviously already have a pickaxe, lantern and full load of oil). I don't think, that the game necessarily needs pickaxe upgrades, it would already help a lot to speed up the mining speed of the default pickaxe, to minimize the boring part of the game.

Hydezeke8 Oct 2019, 03:33

> Be careful how deep you dig at a time as you can only jump up two tiles.

Ignored this, immediately dug down and lost hahaha. I liked figuring out how to safely get to minerals while making sure I can get back up! And questioning 'is it worth using a ladder here?'
The ambient music was really pleasing too. Good job!

James Dunlapauthor8 Oct 2019, 03:45

@hydezeke Thanks for playing! Yes, that is all part of the fun of the game. There is a "suicide" button in the upper right, but you lose all of your minerals when you die, so use it with caution!

Starblast8 Oct 2019, 13:28

I love mining games, I love Terraria, this was an immediate yes for me

daria-toni9 Oct 2019, 15:58

It's a bit difficult to calculate your actions immediately, so as not to die as soon as possible. Haha. But it was interesting to play, simple controls, nice design. I'm pretty sure more can be made of this idea.

Other games by @james-dunlap

★2.82

★3.02

★3.72