The Shifting Catacombs of Mu'ralagh by Madgvox

Explore shifting catacombs! Solve some kind of puzzle! Marvel at the abrupt ending!
Download it over on itch.io!
Controls
Arrow keys to move
Space to jump
Changelog
0.1.2 - May 10 2017 - Updated game metadata (added an app icon, updated the game name, etc.) - Support for multiple resolutions! There's still some resolutions the pixel-perfect will crap out on, but it should work for most standard resolutions. Please let me know if none of the resolutions work for you. - Added a space to jump prompt to the game
0.1.1 - April 24 2017 - Fixed softlock bug
0.1.0 - April 23 2017 - Released!
Credits
JukeDeck for the procedural music. Create your own tracks at http://jukedeck.com!
Most SFX made using cfxr.
Ratings
| Overall | 9th | 4.263⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 80th | 3.737⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 79th | 3.737⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 298th | 3.316⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 6th | 4.632⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 5th | 4.421⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 1🗳️ | 0🗨️ |
The art has loads of character. Plenty of variation in the world art which is really nice. The effect when the world is changing is very cool.
The noise of the constantly changing spike path at the end is a bit grating but otherwise the sounds were great.
The jumping puzzles were a bit frustrating in a 90's platformer sort of (bad) way, but otherwise it was really neat. I could see this being expanded into a bigger game for sure. Superb.
My favorite part of this game is how the catacombs emerge and evolve as you play the game. The level design is extremely well-done, and it's rewarding to unlock a new section of the level. In the beginning, there is nothing visible except the main button, which immediately draws in the player and teaches them what they're going to be doing in the game. Regardless of the level's small size, I never felt mislead, confused, or unguided by the layout. I think having the view zoomed out to see the entire level was a good choice (whether that was intentional or not)!
Very impressed this was for the compo! Great work!
I'm not a huge fan of isometric jumping myself, but I slogged through that part, but the rest was fun!
As others have pointed out, jumping could be better but wasn't really an issue with the current puzzles that required it. It was made harder by playing on higher resolution which resulted in everything being super tiny. Played a second time through with 800x600 fullscreen and it was a lot better.
So yeah. Beat it (twice) wanting more...
You really have a knack for level design, taking a few simple game mechanics and combining them in interesting ways. The setup is perfect and the game is really engaging throughout. There is one bug that soured the whole experience for me and that is apparently you cannot move up-left and jump at the same time which made some of the jumping puzzles really frustrating especially if you don't figure out why your guy is dropping into the water.
I would have loved to have a little outro similar to the intro, maybe with the whole catacombs collapsing and your guy escaping at the last moment, but there is only so much you can do in 48 hours.
A really lovely entry.
One remark though in case you didn't know: You can and should increase visibility of your game by rating other people. You receive a coolness score based on your ratings and comments, so if you receive lots of votes but don't vote/comment yourself, you will drop down in the game list which is a shame because I would consider your game a hidden gem in LD and I wish you all the best for getting the 20 votes necessary to end up in the ranking.
I'm still shocked by how polished this game is. It's amazing that you were able to pull this off in just 48h.
The game looks awesome, sounds awesome and feels awesome.
I hope one day I get to your level.
Congratulations!