Fathoms Below

by richardstampdev

co-authored: @jelleh, @staticsalamander, @villainessa

Overall★★★★★★★★★★4.22

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.63

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.83

Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.35

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.81

Mood★★★★★★★★★★4.44

-.-- --- ..- .-. / -- .. ... ... .. --- -. / .. ... / ... .. -- .--. .-.. . .-.-.-

OPERATOR LD57

DESCEND INTO HOSTILE WATERS.

STAY SAFE.

STICK TO THE MISSION.

-.-- --- ..- / .- .-. . / -. --- - / .- .-.. --- -. . .-.-.-

Itch.io Link: https://jellehtea.itch.io/fathoms-below

You are in an old submarine, tasked with reaching locations deep in the sea to drill -an identified liquid-.

You will have to manage the status of this ship, lowering pressure levels with valves, welding hull breaches and broken pipes and manning torpedoes to clear the way towards your goal.

-. --- / --- -. . / -.-. .- -. / .... . .- .-. / -.-- --- ..- .-.-.-

Controls:

Interact & Pick Up/Use Tool: Left Click

Move: WASD

Drop Tool: Right Click

The welder fixes all hull breaches and pipe breaks. The screwdriver and wrench are there to pose with. Have fun.

.-- . .----. ...- . / -... . . -. / - .-. -.-- .. -. --. / - --- / .-. . .- -.-. .... / -.-- --- ..- / .- -... --- ..- - / -.-- --- ..- .-. / ... ..- -... -- .- .-. .. -. . .----. ... / . -..- - . -. -.. . -.. / .-- .- .-. .-. .- -. - -.-- .-.-.-

Team

Richard (Programming & Design) - Itch.io

Jemma (3D Art & Tech Art) - Itch.io

Static (2D Art) - Itch.io

Rainy (Writing) - Itch.io

-.-- --- ..- / -.-. .- -. / --. . - / --- -. / - --- .--. / --- ..-. / - .... . / ... ..- -... -- .- .-. .. -. . / -... -.-- / .--- ..- -- .--. .. -. --. / --- -. / - --- .-. .--. . -.. --- . ... .-.-.-

Engine: Unity

Art Tools: Crocotile 3D, Aseprite, Clip Studio Paint

Outsourced Audio:

Friendly Free Sounds on YouTube

FreeSFX.com

Microsoft Sam

No AI was used in the making of this game. >:(

-.. --- -. .----. - / - . .-.. .-.. / --- ..- .-. / .--. .-. --- --. .-. .- -- -- . .-. --..-- / .... . / ..-. --- .-. --. --- - / - --- / - ..- .-. -. / --- ..-. ..-. / - .... . / -.-. --- .-.. .-.. .. -.. . .-. ... .-.-.-

Tags: #3d, #atmospheric, #creepy, #dark, #no ai, #pixel art, #psychological horror, #singleplayer

Genres: simulation

Tools: Aseprite

Comments20

UnidayStudio7 Apr 2025, 23:59

Nice. I've also made a submarine game and something that I was finding very interesting while developing the game and reading through LD's Feed and now playing the games is that not many people decided to go with this route and this is exactly the opposite of what I was expecting. So I think we are definitely different for making a submarine game and honestly I like this.

I loved the art style of your game. I tried to make a 3D pixel graphics game once and it's harder than people expect. Well done!

MagnesiumNinja8 Apr 2025, 00:41

Well done! The hostile and claustrophobic mood is excellent executed here. It took me a bit to figure out how the gameplay loop works, but the theme is really well delivered.

I love how hostile the submarine is down to the smallest details, like certain valves not letting you even see the pressure gauge while they're being turned, or the launch code displaying in an entirely different room to the launch button. It felt like an escape room designed for a team of four, but you're just one person.

basic_eagles8 Apr 2025, 12:56

Liked the style, kinda familiar to the Iron Lung. But that image on the screen with a vignette ruins all the atmosphere. I recommend to remove this image and play with light to achieve that vignette. Also, I'll recommend to add some noise postfx at 2-4%, because In real life we also see some noise while being in dark room.

basic_eagles8 Apr 2025, 13:02

This is how it looks with some noise

DennisPerSecond8 Apr 2025, 17:41

This is peak 3D-Pixelart! Well done^^

Limina Wayfarer8 Apr 2025, 22:35

Stellar work! Pleaseantly surprised of how polished the whole thing is. Well done!

EvilScotsman8 Apr 2025, 22:53

Really good art and very suspenseful. Only problem I really had was that 80% of the game was staring at the red valves, I would have preferred something like pressing the valves once to reset them, although that would have thrown off the balance so probably not a great solution. Otherwise really good work!

LDJam user 410086author9 Apr 2025, 10:41

@evilscotsman I had so many other things I wanted to add (the screwdriver and wrench weren't just for decoration, initially!) but you know how Game Jams are the death of scope!
Considering a longer version, which would fix that for sure.

NAKS9 Apr 2025, 14:46

Really well done! You can immediately tell it was made by a team – the graphics are super pleasing

ten10gu9 Apr 2025, 15:54

I absolutely loved this! The narrative presentation, and reliance on mini-games to pass time in an isolated, claustrophobic space reminded me a lot of Presentable Liberty, which is a personal favorite. You genuinely had me gripped for the entire playtime, just because I wanted to see what happens next. I would LOVE to see this expanded upon, and given more room to shine as a narrative gem. Incredibly well executed!

Some feedback:

- The text-to-speech was a little hard to make out at times, and mispronounced a lot of stuff. Some kind of text log that pauses the game would be appreciated, if not a change of the voice.

- If you make a larger version (which you stated above as a possibility), then I'd love to see you add a larger cast of characters. Your characterization is incredibly fun, and is definitely the main draw.

Neon Kuroasa9 Apr 2025, 21:39

Dayum.

Just dayum.

If I wasn't thalassophobic I would have nothing but high praise for this.

Graphics are crazy good, i'm a sucker for intra-digetic UI, everything falls in place neatly. The gameplay does put an immense amount of pressure on you. The only thing I was not able to interact with was the weapon system, I still have to understand how it works.

The story is super interesting, I fear i wasn't in the best place to take it all in, but this really feels like a fully fleshed out horror game rather than a weekend project.

Could very well be my personal favorite this ludum dare.

LDJam user 410086author10 Apr 2025, 09:32

@neon-kuroasa I checked out your channel after I read this, was thrilled to find the livestream! My French is nonexistent sadly, but the vibes were immaculate - when you reached the ended and just switched to English for "What the fuck.... I don't want to fucking play this game anymore" creased me up. Thank you for playing and for your kind words! Will let you know if we get our plans for a longer version off the ground ;)

Sarah Upton10 Apr 2025, 09:41

graphics are insane! good job

Nicso10 Apr 2025, 09:42

It took me way to long to understand that what i had to do with the valves 😂

Really cool game and awesome artistic direction overall (sound and graphics)

Well done !

CrozzY11 Apr 2025, 16:08

Pretty interesting game, really liked the graphics, way to go) Interesting story, great work was done in those 3 days)

floppynub11 Apr 2025, 16:23

Cool game, a bit tricky to figure out what to do but in a good way. It's not tricky because you don't communicate it anywhere, it's tricky because I had to pay attention to my ship and figure how it works, which was good fun! Looked great, impressively consistent art style, and it ran great too. Good work on this, fantastic entry!

DrSmey11 Apr 2025, 17:11

This is insanely well-made for just a game jam. It's very stressful, but the art and atmosphere is just phenomenal. There is very little negative that I can find about this, besides it maybe being a little hard.

LDJam user 24879911 Apr 2025, 22:34

Wow well done! The environment is really polished and the submarine ambiance is great! At first I didn't understand with what I could interact (maybe an improvement will be to add some highlight at hover), but after one game over I was ready to go deeper and deeper! I'm wondering if there is an alternate ending if I shoot the thing at the end instead of drilling. I've loved the human touch of receiving some coworker messages.

Great game, well done!

cherrybcake15 Apr 2025, 22:09

Absolutely amazing, I have no words. The mood, graphics, details, level design, I love it! This kind of game inspires me. Good job! .-- . .-.. .-.. / -.. --- -. .

mars8817 Apr 2025, 03:13

Can't believe this was done in 3 days, very amazing work. Very interesting!