Ludum Dare #48compo
Dig 'Till You Drown!
My entry for Ludum Dare 48.
Theme: Deeper and Deeper
The goal of the game is to get as many water crystals as possible before the mines flood. As you progress the mines get more dangerous, but more rewarding! Whack the crystals with your pickaxe to gather them. Dig through dirt to explore the mines. Use the bucket elevator to get out before you drown!
Controls:
Movement - WASD or Arrow Keys
Jump: W or Up Arrow or Z
Swing Pickaxe: Spacebar or X
Dig Down: swing pickaxe while holding S or Down Arrow
The impossible pickaxe trick: while balancing on your pickaxe below you, hit the jump button
NOTE: the HTML5 version is having performance issues that I'm currently debugging, so I have included native builds for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. (on the itch.io page) Thanks!
Theme: Deeper and Deeper
The goal of the game is to get as many water crystals as possible before the mines flood. As you progress the mines get more dangerous, but more rewarding! Whack the crystals with your pickaxe to gather them. Dig through dirt to explore the mines. Use the bucket elevator to get out before you drown!
Controls:
Movement - WASD or Arrow Keys
Jump: W or Up Arrow or Z
Swing Pickaxe: Spacebar or X
Dig Down: swing pickaxe while holding S or Down Arrow
The impossible pickaxe trick: while balancing on your pickaxe below you, hit the jump button
NOTE: the HTML5 version is having performance issues that I'm currently debugging, so I have included native builds for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. (on the itch.io page) Thanks!
Genres: platformer
Comments14
LMB27 Apr 2021, 22:50
Cute game, but quite thelassophobic!
I found the controls a bit on the hard side (especially hard to do "pick grabings"). Was also a bit too hard to my taste: too easy to drown and when I die I lose all the crystals.
But, hey!, it _is_ a game, complete, without bugs, in 48 hours! :thumbsup:
I found the controls a bit on the hard side (especially hard to do "pick grabings"). Was also a bit too hard to my taste: too easy to drown and when I die I lose all the crystals.
But, hey!, it _is_ a game, complete, without bugs, in 48 hours! :thumbsup:
ImZary28 Apr 2021, 08:21
interesting game, as other people said, the controls are a bit hard, & the player movement kinda feel like he is in the moon, & i would have liked a main menu, But overall, that's pog, love the concept
Yeomsley29 Apr 2021, 04:25
@elsombrero Glad you enjoyed my programmer art :)
@LMB Thanks for trying out my game! I agree that the controls could use some more work. Holding down space helps a bit with the ledge grabbing.
@ImZary Thanks! I had plans to add Lady Cerulean and your growing pile of gems to the level select screen but the time got spent on other things.
@LMB Thanks for trying out my game! I agree that the controls could use some more work. Holding down space helps a bit with the ledge grabbing.
@ImZary Thanks! I had plans to add Lady Cerulean and your growing pile of gems to the level select screen but the time got spent on other things.
TheWinrawr29 Apr 2021, 20:29
There's some very creative mechanics in this game, but the controls definitely feel a little finnicky. I had a lot of trouble doing the "Impossible Pickaxe Trick" as well as swimming up the water. I also would've liked your gems to be saved after death, I wasn't a fan of losing all of them after drowning. The Lady Cerulean story looks really interesting though, and I would've liked to see what happens when you beat the game.
sakura_magika29 Apr 2021, 21:58
I like the mechanic of spamming the dig button to climb up walls, but it took me a while to get the hang of it. What was frustrating was getting stuck under a dirt tile that I was unable to dig through when trying to climb up.
Jumping felt a little floaty, could use a bit of tuning with the speed and acceleration curves, but at least all the controls felt very responsive.
Nice work for a compo! Overall you had graphics, sound, gameplay, and even a tiny idle animation. I think the feeling of anxiety of going under the water into the "caves" to get gems was well done.
Jumping felt a little floaty, could use a bit of tuning with the speed and acceleration curves, but at least all the controls felt very responsive.
Nice work for a compo! Overall you had graphics, sound, gameplay, and even a tiny idle animation. I think the feeling of anxiety of going under the water into the "caves" to get gems was well done.
Yeomsley30 Apr 2021, 15:02
@thewinrawr Ah good point about the gems. I should keep in mind that during a jam it is frustrating to get a "game over" screen or lose progress. With so many games to test/play we can't put too much time into a single game.
@sakura-magika I should have put a "dig up" command like the dig down one. Don't know how I missed that, thanks for the feedback!
@sakura-magika I should have put a "dig up" command like the dig down one. Don't know how I missed that, thanks for the feedback!
Tris2501 May 2021, 22:38
The game is pretty good, the small levels are pretty cool, the music is good, however the character does not go too well with the surroundings. It is basically a good and entertaining game, especially for a composition game.
fueelin4 May 2021, 07:06
Agree with the other posters. Cool idea, but the controls were pretty tricky to work with. Nice job overall!
nyxkn5 May 2021, 07:08
Niceee! I got to 18 gems and got the girl. The character was cute and game mechanics quite fun. Controls were a bit wonky. The hooking of the pickaxe onto ledges was a pretty fun idea though and made me chuckle when introduced.
mikouaji5 May 2021, 07:24
The game is fun, the levels are diverse so its not boring. The controls above the water felt weird and the underwater controls felt ok for me.
VixenMink6 May 2021, 04:44
Besides the goal being to make money for Lady Cerulean to notice you, I think it is an interesting way to mine a mine. Though I think for some of it I was digging up, which isn't digging deeper
icefallgames10 May 2021, 23:00
I think the controls could use a little work, but overall the game works pretty well. Played the WebGL version, and didn't have any performance issues!
qfeys17 May 2021, 20:35
The controls felt very 'floaty', and I thought that climbing with the pickaxe was hard to very hard. It was also not challenging, but frustrating. I think it could have done with stronger gravity, which would have make the game pacing a lot quicker.
The graphics were basic, but okay.
The sound design was decent. the music was just shy of being annoying. A bit longer loop could have helped.
The graphics were basic, but okay.
The sound design was decent. the music was just shy of being annoying. A bit longer loop could have helped.
I spent 5 minutes of my time for laughint to that😂
Good job