Beneath the... hey, look, shiny things! by Yaru

[raw]
made by Yaru for LD29 (COMPO)
Just follow the instructions in screen, and try to grab all the jewels (that is, the blue squares) as quickly as possible.

Ratings

Coolness 44% 1633
Overall 2.92 812
Audio 2.11 861
Fun 2.73 818
Graphics 2.38 1051
Humor 2.29 659
Innovation 2.25 1100
Mood 2.57 926
Theme 3.76 154

Feedback

Lacaranian
28. Apr 2014 · 08:27 UTC
Found all but one shiny blue box. And found a ghost skeleton! Heh. Good exploration platformer- nothing fancy, but no small thing either.
xhunterko
28. Apr 2014 · 09:17 UTC
Simple, short, and a little lifeless. But I'm STILL impressed by that lighting effect you got. Nicely done overall!
Ludipe
28. Apr 2014 · 21:17 UTC
Found 27 blue things but I missed the skeleton the other players mention in the comments above, I'll play again tomorrow.

Nice simple exploration game, it'd be great to have more secrets to find.
dj_pale
29. Apr 2014 · 10:07 UTC
Nailed the basic platformer basics. Would have been nice withm some level progression since it is a lot to collect. Also, got stuck at some point near the LD29 signature and could not get up again.
jestar_jokin
29. Apr 2014 · 10:40 UTC
Cute cave diver!
bushmango
30. Apr 2014 · 01:24 UTC
I like the name of the game.
Tipyx
30. Apr 2014 · 16:48 UTC
Ah ah ah, it reminds me when you are stuck in a cave in Minecraft and you're are wondering where is the fuckin'exit X). Good work :)
Rad Star
30. Apr 2014 · 16:48 UTC
Good little game :)
I got all the blue boxes in 5:51 minutes !
mjau
30. Apr 2014 · 20:42 UTC
Managed to find all the gems somehow, just when i was about to quit. That last one took me a long time though. Total playtime was around 18-19 minutes, and more than half of that was just the last gem. When i found it, i was mostly just glad it was over.

I think one of the most important things about exploration games is that there's something to discover, apart from collectibles like gems. Your map doesn't really have much to offer there, though -- it just feels... random, like it's partially randomly generated. There's really only two landmarks: The skull, and the LD room. Those were nice to discover, but everywhere else is mostly just the same. You start to recognize some of the formations after a while, but it's still just piles of dirt in the darkness. Not very engaging on their own.

Landmarks are interesting, but they're also clues that help the player remember things. Have they been here before, or is it someplace new? They give purpose. "Let's try *this* path now, i didn't go up there last time. I wonder if there's anything there?". They don't have to be big, impressive things, just something different. Give a place an identity.

Keep making games =)
GodsBoss
01. May 2014 · 12:07 UTC
That was surprisingly funny, but am I supposed to jump off the screen to the left, when still at the surface, then fall beyond everything into oblivion?
🎤 Yaru
01. May 2014 · 18:52 UTC
@xhunterko
I used this tutorial, although I did some changes (you can see them in the source code) to keep it working
http://flashgamedojo.com/wiki/index.php?title=Dynamic_Lighting_%28Flixel%29
@mjau
Thank you very much for your review! I absolutely agree with you: I want to continue improving this game, adding new things and secrets and that kind of stuff. I'll consider your suggestions!
@GodsBoss
O-Of course! It's a... uh... a metaphor of the futility of life and... uh... okay, no, that's a bug I forgot to solve. Yay me.
@Everyone Else
Thank you very much for playing!
KeyMaster
01. May 2014 · 20:25 UTC
Pretty basic but nice idea. Nice sound effect and lighting effect. Unfortunately I got stuck in a cave and couldn't see all the stuff others have mentioned. A little more direction would be good.
gnerkus
01. May 2014 · 20:39 UTC
I got trapped.
🎤 Yaru
01. May 2014 · 20:48 UTC
@KeyMaster, gnerkus
You can return to the surface at any time by pressing Enter.
Zed
05. May 2014 · 15:31 UTC
Simple idea, well implemented.

That hunt for the last one! Oh my gosh. I only found it because I discovered you can jump over the holes in the floor at the beginning and kinda 'fall off' the world, and I saw the location of the last one as I plummeted into oblivion.

Good stuff. Took me 8:30.
Jupiter_Hadley
10. May 2014 · 18:01 UTC
Simple game, but well done. I included it in part 19 of my Ludum Dare Compilation video series, if you'd like to take a look :) http://youtu.be/KGS8tZwHKag
🎤 Yaru
12. May 2014 · 09:04 UTC
@Zed, Jupiter_Hadley
Thank you very much!
hnjslater
18. May 2014 · 09:13 UTC
Well executed but needed a challenge: moving platforms, baddies, something. Pretty though.