Dark Soils by TheGrieve

made by TheGrieve for LD29 (JAM)

Samuel doesn't know who, what or where he is, but he knows things aren't going well. Dig up evil from beneath your feet and try to stave off whatever fate awaits him.

- Arrows to moves
- Space to dig
- Find essence to stay alive
- Avoid the Groundskeeper
- Secret items and powers to find
- Reunite with your beloved pet

We never got to finish our level structure for this so we wrapped it up into a survival style effort. Stay alive and find more essence.

Made in Javascript with PhaserJS

- Art + animation: @DesignThenCode, @BirdKing
- Game code + concept: @thegrieve, @NJMcode

Web	http://darksoils.jamgam.es/
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-29/?action=preview&uid=1947

Ratings

Coolness	46%	1460
Overall(Jam)	3.18	387

Audio(Jam)	1.48	671
Fun(Jam)	2.69	530
Graphics(Jam)	3.79	214
Humor(Jam)	2.64	345
Innovation(Jam)	3.09	335
Mood(Jam)	3.21	296
Theme(Jam)	3.48	210

Feedback

jtpup0

29. Apr 2014 · 02:55 UTC

Very well done, the mechanics, art style, and story were unique and fun

Exeneva

29. Apr 2014 · 02:56 UTC

I loved the narration, even if there wasn't any sound that I could hear in the game. It's an interesting take on the theme, but the lack of skill-based challenges (whether you dig up something or not is random) makes it hard for me to get into.

theundeadwarrior

29. Apr 2014 · 03:31 UTC

Wow! I love the style and he narration :) Good job!

olkeencole

29. Apr 2014 · 03:48 UTC

Simple mechanics but they work together very well. Excellent job! Perhaps more enemies to dodge would be nice like projectile throwing ghosts or something.

Nuclear_Hammer

29. Apr 2014 · 03:52 UTC

Hahahahah jack skelenton? Very funny i like your style.

valid4life

29. Apr 2014 · 04:29 UTC

A different type of "digging" game! I like!

Garris

29. Apr 2014 · 05:28 UTC

Great atmosphere. Great art. I wish there was a little more to do, but what's there is well done.

ren

29. Apr 2014 · 05:41 UTC

nice touch with the narration. I like how this suits the theme both literally and figuratively. Digging did get old after a little while.

Lost King

29. Apr 2014 · 07:34 UTC

The narration was tasteful, and I liked the art, at least what I saw of it. For some reason the ground tiles failed to load.

8BitPimp

29. Apr 2014 · 08:18 UTC

The drawings are lovely! Not sure i like the star-field as the background.

🎤 TheGrieve

29. Apr 2014 · 08:45 UTC

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the feedback, we had plans for a level progression that explains the beacons and the ghost dog (he's still in there if you find his grave, and dig it up), which added a bit more skilled searching, but alas, there's a time limit :D

Re: the starfield, seems the tilemap isn't loading in for some people, and the rain makes it look like a starfield, please try Ctrl+F5 and hopefully it loads in second time around.

Thanks for checking it out,

Grieve

zdonkeyx

29. Apr 2014 · 08:49 UTC

Seems really nicely polished :) For my browser though, space made it scroll to the bottom making it frustrating to play. It seems like this is only a problem for me though

Thorig

29. Apr 2014 · 09:10 UTC

This is the beginning of a nice survival game. Your pet could scare of a few types of creepies. Good entry with nice art style.

Guybrusch

29. Apr 2014 · 10:06 UTC

When i hit space the site is scrolling down and i cant see the whole game. The art is nice.

bombjack

29. Apr 2014 · 10:24 UTC

Great art ! I liked it

zzorn

29. Apr 2014 · 12:47 UTC

Love the narrative comments, that work as a tutorial at the same time. Nice mechanics idea with standing still to detect essence. And love the character graphics, and the dog! :)

Not quite challening enough for a survival game, but that's a minor tuning issue.

theengineers

29. Apr 2014 · 12:53 UTC

Great theme, but has a complete lack of challenge. Great narration though, overall the mood is great, work on the gameplay and this could make a great game.

pancakecity

29. Apr 2014 · 13:37 UTC

The narration was excellent!

XrXr

29. Apr 2014 · 14:03 UTC

Great art! Some sound would add to the mood. Good job!

Slader16

29. Apr 2014 · 14:10 UTC

I thought it was really fun! And that health bar, amazing!

njmcode

29. Apr 2014 · 14:30 UTC

Thanks for the comments everyone! Regarding the lack of sound: we simply ran out of time. I have some music and ambience in progress that will get added to a release in the very near future. We'll be hacking away and improving this for quite some time yet!

randoman

29. Apr 2014 · 14:30 UTC

The game has a great atmosphere but it could use some music to make it even better. Love the art style and gameplay. Well done!

Muciojad

29. Apr 2014 · 17:43 UTC

Nice graphic, but that's pity that there isn't any sound and difficulty challenge ;] Anyway it is very solid entry. I like main-character look, it's... so specific ;D

Osteoblast Labs

29. Apr 2014 · 19:35 UTC

Well done, great name!

Lukbebalduke

29. Apr 2014 · 20:41 UTC

Nice Graphics, but dont have songs, dont it ?

perfect victim

29. Apr 2014 · 22:53 UTC

a little to macabre for my taste ,
except that a very well done game .

ghostmaple

29. Apr 2014 · 23:21 UTC

I'm a big fan of the tutorial through plot dialogue. It's well done here.

Danvil

29. Apr 2014 · 23:51 UTC

The ground does not render correctly for me. It is just pitch black...

ruerob

06. May 2014 · 01:17 UTC

For me the ground doesn't render, too. All I see is black. I didn't give a rating before it is fixed, because I want to see the whole experience before. I think it is a great game and want to thank you for your entry.

SecondDimension

06. May 2014 · 09:16 UTC

Great art style and narration, a bit more of a challenge would have been nice.

camlang

06. May 2014 · 13:52 UTC

Nice work. Realy like graphics style

Rick Hoppmann

06. May 2014 · 22:13 UTC

Bug: Zombies can walk trough walls.

The graphics are really cool! Cool detail on the players head! I like the text-bounce effect a lot! :)

I somewhat didn't come to such places as seen in your screenshots, but I looted some graves.
I kinda dislike there is no player input when digging - it would be cool to dig faster when pressing space rapidly.

I'm really missing the audio on this entry, it would possibly have created a great mood.

All in all very cool graphics, but the game soon gets repetitive.

Atridas

10. May 2014 · 15:13 UTC

Nice idea and art work. Try adding some sound, that would make the experience more enjoyable!

end3r

18. May 2014 · 14:11 UTC

Very cool graphic style and the atmosphere in the game, good job!