Deeper into Darkness

by foolslynx

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.60

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.17

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.60

Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.87

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.73

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.37

About

Deeper into Darkness was a game that I had created a concept for ages ago, but never went anywhere with. With the Theme of Deeper and Deeper that idea can now come into being.

Deeper into Darkness (or DiD for short) follows an unknown character that finds themselves in a strange place. As they explore and delve deeper into the place, they will learn the reason why they are there.

Controls

#### Keyboard
- Left - Left Arrow
- Right - Right Arrow
- Up - Up Arrow
- Down - Down Arrow
- Jump - Spacebar
- Attack - Z
- Menu - Return / Enter
- Cancel - X

#### Gamepad
- Left - DPad Left / Axis Left Horizontal
- Right - DPad Right / Axis Left Horizontal
- Up - DPad Up / Axis Left Vertical
- Down - DPad Down / Axis Left Vertical
- Jump - Face 1 / (X)PS / (A)XBOX / (B)Switch
- Attack - Face 4 / ([])PS / (X)XBOX / (Y)Switch
- Menu - Face 3 / (/\)PS / (Y)XBOX / (X)Switch
- Cancel - Face 2 / (O)PS / (B)XBOX / (A)Switch

#### Utility
- Scale Down - F5
- Scale Up - F6
- Fullscreen - F8
- Game Restart - F12

Issues

- Bats and the Player may cause an infinite loop if they hit a corner of collision in a certain way.
- Knockback sometimes fails to work properly.
- Not ability to switch to gamepad despite adding gamepad controls. 10/10 logic there.

Change Log

1.0.0.0 - Initial Release
1.0.1.0 - Bug Fixes (Boss caused an error message when killed), SFX Implemented

Tags: #1-bit, #retro

Genres: platformer, role playing

Comments18

theArchitect26 Apr 2021, 14:29

Hi there, just want you to know that download link is missing in itch webpage~

FoolsLynxauthor26 Apr 2021, 15:03

I am currently aware that it is missing from the page. Wanted to get the page up and ready before I forget. It should hopefully be up in the next few hours, assuming this code doesn't mess up

creepyface26 Apr 2021, 15:34

Great! im looking forward to playing it :]

hamzaplayssssssssss26 Apr 2021, 18:38

VeryGenuineCraze27 Apr 2021, 12:44

Good game. The graphics in black and white is perfect for the gameplay.
I think it need a sound design to be very good!
The fact that there is some path more rewarding than other is a nice touch
Very nice work !

creepyface27 Apr 2021, 13:12

alright! i played it and i really like the bit style and the feel, the only thing i would change about it is make the game full screen rather than windowed and add sounds but other than that pretty cool!

FoolsLynxauthor27 Apr 2021, 13:23

Fun fact, as I uploaded I remembered I got a bundle of stuff from Itch which had some 8 bit sounds which would have fit the game. I might add those. Fullscreen was something I have in the code just forgot to implement. (like you can scale the window up and down with F5 and F6. And I was going to add F8 for Fullscreen but managed to forget.

audrey28 Apr 2021, 20:52

Good art + audio! The sound effects and the little ambient noises really matched well with the art style and captured that specific mood! My only problem was that the combat wasn't very fun with no enemy knockback with such a short-ranged weapon. Having to get one hit on a spider then wait a few seconds for them to come back down wasn't very fun, but really it was so torturous because I wanted to get back to the rest of the game!! The branching paths were a nice touch and the fact that it has a BOSS (multiple? i didn't get very far) is so wild.

MetalFox Dioxymore28 Apr 2021, 21:29

The game is pretty cool ! I love the graphical style and the level design ! However, I killed the first boss, and the game closed with the error message :

___________________________________________
############################################################################################
ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0

for object objConditionHandler:

Variable objConditionHandler._xp(102078, -2147483648) not set before reading it.
at gml_Script_anon_gml_Object_objRuinedSoul_Destroy_0_467_gml_Object_objRuinedSoul_Destroy_0
############################################################################################
gml_Script_anon_gml_Object_objRuinedSoul_Destroy_0_467_gml_Object_objRuinedSoul_Destroy_0 (line -1)
gml_Object_objConditionHandler_Step_0

I suppose that it's not the intended ending ^^' ?

A bit of music would have been a plus, and the attack hitbox is sometimes a bit frustrating because it doesn't harm ennemies that are "inside" the character, but otherwise, that was an enjoyable experience !

FoolsLynxauthor28 Apr 2021, 21:54

That was pretty much the end of it. I thought I fixed that bug... unless I fixed it one way but caused a bug another way. Due to time constraints in that I only had like 12 hours or development time over the weekend, I was limited on how much I could do. Once you beat the boss, you would have got a little message with "Thanks for Playing". This version is more a concept piece for the new version I am working on now. This will improve all the issues I know there is with the LD version. The plan was to have the 3 weapon types, (Sword, Wand and Darts) implemented into the game but I ran out of time. So the Sword was all that was provided. The Wand and Darts would have made fighting some enemies better than waiting around. I will take all the feedback onboard and use it in the official version.

Jeremy Ryan1 May 2021, 17:12

Got the same error as @metalfox-dioxymore directly after the boss fight. Nice entry!

The graphics are really simple and one-bit, but they're very clean and do a great job of getting the desired effect across. The boss is particularly nice-looking. The enemies are varied enough that you have to approach each one differently, but they're intuitive enough you don't get surprised by them (other than maybe the first time the boss attacks).

It was neat that you even had a level system, an inventory, and a shop --- I just wish there was more content to be able to really see them in use.

Other than the crash at the end, I did encounter one bug; one of the bats just flew into a corner in the ceiling and wouldn't come down, which meant I couldn't clear the room it was in. This happened in both runs, but didn't prevent you from following the main route.

Simple music would have done a lot to add to the atmosphere!

Nice work for a jam game.

FoolsLynxauthor2 May 2021, 00:34

Thanks for the feedback @jeremy-ryan the crash at the end I am not sure why it happened after I fixed it haha but that was pretty much the end anyway. For some reason, the collision system doesn't correctly notice that the bat is touching a corner and as a result gets stuck. In the new version I am working on, the whole AI system will be overhauled to (hopefully) prevent this problem.

kinolebedev5 May 2021, 06:58

Please add a RUN button to make some speed in it)

LukiX6 May 2021, 07:30

I like this game for nice reference to jam theme and good realization. It is fun to play and explore deeper areas.

Gamezopher6 May 2021, 12:12

Very nice game boy inspired game. I love the simplicity of the graphics and gameplay.

The White Kiwi7 May 2021, 01:08

I enjoyed this game a lot! The graphics are perfect, and it feels like a polished retro game.

My only real concern with this game is that I constantly get stuck on the corners of platforms in the boss fight which ultimately causes me to die.

I also get an error after beating the boss.

Otherwise, I loved it!

FoolsLynxauthor8 May 2021, 16:20

@the-white-kiwi Yeah, the collision system during this was really rough and badly done. The non-ld version has a much better collision system done. Unfortunately, with the LD version, we have to suffer the bad collision. And the error after the boss has been mentioned a few times. The only thing that happens after the boss is you go into a small room that says thanks for playing.

pixelbug8 May 2021, 22:39

Very nicely done! I really liked the atmosphere between the minimal color palette and sounds (despite being just one sound, the ambient ringing worked really well), and even with just the current setup I can see it being a very solid game with only a few quality of life improvements (mainly the AI, already mentioned here).