Mr. & Ms. Deeper: Descent to Inner Depth

by sigill
co-authored: @oxysocks
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.41
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.29
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.46
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.67
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.31
Audio★★★★★★★★★★1.92
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.76
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.19
A singleplayer splitscreen platformer game where Mr. & Ms. Deeper descent deeper and deeper and have to cooperate to find the true meaning of life. Will you survive the dangers of the depths with lurking slimes, devious traps and mysterious contraptions?

Made by team SoulSocks using Unity, Pyxel Edit and Asesprite. No pre-made or third party assets are used, all scripts and art are made during the jam.

_The game is designed to be running in 16:9 aspect ratio!_ Other aspect ratios will cause the game to be displayed incorrectly.

#### The game has been updated to version 1.1 to fix some issues, 10.5 hours after the submission deadline. The following changes are made:
- Fixes camera not displaying the entire level. This limits the supported aspect ratio to 16:9.
- Game can now be quit using the escape button.
- Updates main menu screen to show space key for jumping in the list of controls, as this was missing.
- Adds level reset on player death. Before players could play on with negative health without consequences.
- Adds missing health display in second level.
- Improves health visibility by making the text a bit larger and red instead of white.

Comments21

MandaRad27 Apr 2021, 15:05
A pretty solid entry. I liked the switching between players puzzle aspect and overall story.

Good job!
Judah Doupe27 Apr 2021, 18:26
Fun little game. Definately fit well witht he theme. I wished there would have been some more feadback when the players were taking dameage. I didn't notice I was getting hurt until I died.
Trigrab27 Apr 2021, 18:32
Nice game. Sadly no sound. Not sure if this is intended.
For future games, maybe use less keys for actions. some actions could have the same key depending on the context.
2rek27 Apr 2021, 18:33
Very interesting mechanic with character switching.
I like it.
audrey27 Apr 2021, 18:34
Nice simple game! Only actual problem I encountered was that jumping out of water can be a little fickle and I thought I was stuck.. other than that nothing else stood out as bad! The timed doors were nice, and you made probably just as much use as you could out of the different mechanics.
stipple3D27 Apr 2021, 18:38
Nice entry! I like the concept. The difference in controls between the water and normal physics is interesting. Would be good if the players stuck to the moving platforms (got kicked off before I could switch players, but that is probably a me thing :) ).

Nice job!
Skvader_41827 Apr 2021, 18:43
the art style was very cute and simplistic witch i like, the gameplay wa very fire boy and water girl wich i grew up with, it could use some sound and music though, the controls were not intuitive in my opinion, placing so many actions for one hand is hard to control at times, i would place the "switch character" and "interact" keys farther from the movement keys but overall, its a really nice game
Marcari27 Apr 2021, 18:46
Having to control two characters is a nice idea. It adds some puzzling to the platformer gameplay. I also like the level design, but the controls could need some more polish, also some feedback, when getting hit would have been nice. But overall I had a nice time playing this.
thesambassador27 Apr 2021, 18:46
Not bad! I liked the splitscreen, and swapping back and forth was a cool idea. My only thoughts:
- It was pretty unclear what each button did, especially for the doors. It seemed like the only difference between an open and closed door was the little handle, which I didn't even see at first. I didn't even realize that some (all?) buttons were timed until I messed up in level 2. Some more dramatic animations might help, or you could link the buttons and doors with colors to signify the link.
- I didn't really know what the red arrow was supposed to signify? Seemed like it might be pointing towards the other player?
- Player move speed was pretty slow. You could easily double the movement speed and get a nice result.

Overall, great job!
Dazrow
Dazrow27 Apr 2021, 18:48
I see the concept you've went after here, but I really lacked basic tutorials on how to play and also sounds and other effects could really help me feel the vibe better.
Anyway, thanks for the game and best of luck!
OxySocks27 Apr 2021, 18:51
Hey everyone, thanks for the great comments so far. Unfortunately we just didn't have time for audio, but we agree it would've been a great addition :(. Again, thank you!
cannashblue
cannashblue27 Apr 2021, 18:53
Fun game. And very cute story/premise. The biggest improvement I could suggest is sound effects. Even very quick simple sound effects made with sfxr would go a long way if you have time for it. Another rather unimportant addition that would have been nice for me is a two player option. My wife and I actually worked together on this jam. This would be fun to play together.
Tarcisiotm27 Apr 2021, 19:54
Good job! Really enjoyed the puzzle nature of it. As previously said, a solid entry!

The only thing I'd love to see improved is the cameras vs the red arrow. It was a bit difficult sorting those out, and trying to find alignment for the puzzles was a trial and error sort of thing.
juninhostrife
juninhostrife27 Apr 2021, 20:55
The splitscreen with the switch mechanic is really cool. I like it!! I think a coop mode would work well also, instead of the switching.
Good job!!
SIGILL
SIGILLauthor27 Apr 2021, 21:56
Thank you @thesambassador for your feedback and suggestions. The arrow does indeed point towards the other character, so you have an idea whether they're at about the same depth/area. I totally agree with you on your other points, unfortunately there wasn't enough time to improve those things. We're planning to continue working on the game and we'll definitely take them into account!
cpv28 Apr 2021, 07:46
I think it has interesting mechanics, combining some "deep" theme and puzzles. The graphics are nice and simple. Had some character movement problems (web), and tried to figure a bit some things. But considering the time constraints of the game jam, it's a good submission, which you can improve after :)
leggy
leggy29 Apr 2021, 06:46
Really nice submission. The mechanic is built very well and the graphic is really cute, a bit nostalgic. Nice hearthwarming adventure. Very well crafted. Only complaint is the lack of background music. The right track would have accomplished a nearly flawless jewel. Well done!
shubart6 May 2021, 22:24
Very cool game. Great idea to have to characters that help each others. Thank you for your game
Monkosum
Monkosum10 May 2021, 15:12
I like how you only used a few mechanics while utilizing them in unique ways that make every puzzle feel different from each other. I think it works even better with the main mechanic, since each character plays differently. The lack of sound is a bummer, but this game is really good regardless.
asdehielo11 May 2021, 10:52
Good little game, nice art, and that little bit of story made me invested in the characters.

I have a few suggestions:
- Have the buttons and doors be color coded so it's easier to identify which button opens which door.
- Have the character move with the moving platforms.
- Add a 2 player mode. Feels like it would be very fun with a partner :)

Solid entry, good job!
LDJam user 22249517 May 2021, 00:41
That was great! I particularly liked the play on "Deeper and Deeper", and I had fun figuring out the puzzles.

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