**Please consider using the standalone version, newer versions of Java have to have my site whitelisted or the security lowered in order to run applets. Also, custom levels and plugins are only possible on the standalone version. Thank you.**

Descent requires Java 7 or higher to run. If you're running Java 6 or earlier, please update to Java 8, Java 7's been out for over a year. (If you're running java 6 or earlier, you'll get the same error as josefnpat, see http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=KmUsni2A )

Descent is a strange cave exploration game. You control a droid, which continuously moves, through various caverns in order to find hidden artefacts. The further you travel, and the more artefacts you collect, the higher your scrore.

The game has four difficulty settings - Insane is nigh-on impossible, I would stick with Normal or below to have a good chance to explore the world.

Lighting, music, and sound effects are all toggleable.

You can control your droid with WASD or the arrow keys, and use space to shoot (once you have the laser).

The game includes a map editor to make your own levels & a plugin API if you wish to expand upon it.

The map editor is controlled using the mouse. Press the middle button to toggle scrolling and the left button to place a tile. The right panel allows you to select an object and tile to place.

Plugins may be placed in the plugins directory. They must be JAR files, and must contain a file named plugin.yml which should have to entries:
main: points to the main class (the one that extends Plugin) - for example io.github.lucariatias.ld29.MyExamplePlugin
name: the name of the plugin, for example MyExamplePlugin
To register listeners, simply override the onEnable method and call getDescent().getEventManager().registerListener(myListener); and events will be dispatched to your listener.
It should probably be noted that the plugin API is somewhat untested, so if you decide to experiment with it, please report bugs.

The zip includes several files:

run.sh - use this to run the game on OS X or GNU/Linux
run.bat - use this to run the game on Windows
map-editor.sh - use this to run the map editor on OS X or GNU/Linux
map-editor.bat - use this to run the map editor on Windows
ld29-0.1.0.jar - the game JAR
ld29-map-editor-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar - the map editor JAR
map.png - a copy of the main map. This could be useful as an example to create your own maps.
tiles.png - a copy of the tilesheet. Use this with the map editor.

Thanks for playing, I hope you enjoy the game :)