LudumData

Elthus by ejmejm

[raw]
made by ejmejm for LD 44 (JAM)

Dive deeper and deeper into The Caves of Elthus to replenish your supply. But be careful, the farther you delve, the more dangerous it gets.

(Fullscreen Recommended)

I recommend playing around with the grappling hook. After a little practice you can make a lot of different movements. The map is randomly and procedural generated, so each play through is different. As you dive down, the difficult increases.

Post your highest score in the comments! I've hit 2000.

Controls
Move - WASD & Mouse
Fire - Left Mouse
Throw Grappling Hook - E
Grappling Hook Movement - W (Repel), A (Left), D (Right), Space (Unhook)

Some Tips: - You can run and jump over most hole monsters without taking damage - Using a combination of 'A' and 'W' or 'D' and 'W' while grappling gives you the most speed - Movement speed and jump height upgrades help your grappling hook maneuvering - I think the game is most fun when you bolt down the caves at max speed (probably also better for score)

Feel free to check out a gameplay preview in the video below:

https://youtu.be/UU4XL9tylgI

First time ever touching music and art, and I had a great time with it. Had a really great with my first Game Jam, can't wait to do another.

HTML5 (web) https://ejmejm.itch.io/elthus
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/elthus

Ratings

Given 32🗳️ 31🗨️

Feedback

klekky
30. Apr 2019 · 03:33 UTC
So much fun! My high score was 1326.
Here's some things I noticed while playing:
- blue monsters killed me all the time
- got stuck in the ground at the beginning
This was a great submission! Easily the most fun I've had on an LD game until now.
jlelez
30. Apr 2019 · 03:38 UTC
Hello !

There is some loading issues
But the gameplay and graphics are cool ! I reached 545 meters, it's cool ? :p

Good job !
JediNeeson
30. Apr 2019 · 03:40 UTC
It was a pleasure to play it, good job!
Jiink
30. Apr 2019 · 04:53 UTC
Fun game, I really like the grappling hook. Hope you do more game jams, this was really good for your first one!
Shaolin Dave
30. Apr 2019 · 04:58 UTC
Character graphics are pretty good. Sound was minimalistic, but in a great way.
The level graphics were way too dark, navigating the level was pretty much impossible to me.
The grappeling hook mechanic was a great idea that was almost executed well too. I liked the freedom of movement, but I think it could have stood to be maybe a little more restictive. You should definitely build on that mechanic in a later game.
GoatBoatGames
30. Apr 2019 · 05:02 UTC
The mechanics are excellently implemented, really impressive game!
superpokeunicorn
30. Apr 2019 · 05:10 UTC
I like how much use you get out of the elthus meter. Elthus serves not only as health and ammo, but also a timer, tying together so much of the game's design. My biggest complaint with the game would have to be the controls. I don't know why you've mapped grappling hook to E instead of right mouse button. Assigning it to E means I have to take my finger off of D in order to grapple, making swinging right significantly harder than swinging left. I will say that I really liked the game's presentation. The lighting effects made the game very mysterious while also obscuring elements in the distance, thus serving a gameplay purpose. Overall, I really enjoyed this game. Nice work!
🎤 ejmejm
30. Apr 2019 · 05:30 UTC
@klekky Glad to hear you enjoyed it! The blue wisps are definitely tough. They're mechanics are actually a bit off what originally intended, but I opted out of fixing it because it would have ended up too hard I think haha.
🎤 ejmejm
30. Apr 2019 · 05:31 UTC
@jiink Thank you! I definitely will be doing more, I really had a great time. Next time I would love to get a group together that can cover for my deficiencies in art and sound design.
🎤 ejmejm
30. Apr 2019 · 05:33 UTC
@shaolin-dave Thanks for the review! Looking back, I definitely do think it should be a little lighter. Someone gave a great idea of having an upgrade for your light, but it was too late to implement by that point. The grappling hook definitely was a bit wonky, wish I had had a little more time to work with it, but getting just the base logic for it turned out to be quite the challenge.
🎤 ejmejm
30. Apr 2019 · 05:34 UTC
@goatboatgames Thanks! Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
🎤 ejmejm
30. Apr 2019 · 05:35 UTC
@superpokeunicorn Thanks for the feedback! I was considering putting it on right click, but I think my previous experience playing Terraria (which has a grappling hook bound to E), ended up biasing me a bit. Next time if time permits I'll add options for those things.
zampi
30. Apr 2019 · 06:04 UTC
All 5! Very great for first jam submission. I like grapple hook mechanic
Nayaki Anandan
30. Apr 2019 · 06:09 UTC
This was decently fun! I enjoyed the premise and would like to see more. Impressive for a one person game, there's a lot of mechanics. Definitely needs work on art, but I didn't think the sound was too bad. I might work on fine tuning the game design more next time but good job!
Dennis Jeong
30. Apr 2019 · 06:09 UTC
I thought the blue wisps were items at first! So I was very confused when I started taking a bunch of damage.
🎤 ejmejm
30. Apr 2019 · 06:15 UTC
@zampi Really glad to hear you enjoyed it!
🎤 ejmejm
30. Apr 2019 · 06:17 UTC
@nayaki-anandan It was my first time putting my hand at music and art, so I'm happy to hear that they were anything but awful lol. The grappling hook could certainly use some fine tuning, but I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it!
🎤 ejmejm
30. Apr 2019 · 06:17 UTC
@dennis-jeong lmao, I probably should have made that more clear. Thanks for playing!
Vertuga32
30. Apr 2019 · 06:23 UTC
Very cool everything is done - control of the character, idea, levels, graphics. Slightly harsh sounds for a shot. Overall very cool!

The idea of the competition is revealed rather weakly)
🎤 ejmejm
30. Apr 2019 · 06:24 UTC
@vertuga32 Yeah, I actually softened the sound of the shot quite I bit from the initial bit I had, still overkill though.
Gronther
30. Apr 2019 · 07:33 UTC
Fun little platformer. I like the hookshot mechanics, although because it had no cooldown or resource cost, it made the jump upgrades almost completely useless. I would have liked a bit more of a connected feel between your life and the resources you spend, because it felt a bit more like a timer than a resource/life bar that lowers when you perform actions. Otherwise good implementation of the theme.
NoobException
30. Apr 2019 · 07:50 UTC
After a couple of trials I managed to get about 1200 :smiley:

Very interesting idea and very well achieved.

It was fun to explore those caves and destroy everything :smile:

As I was going deeper there were less resources, even if I avoided enemies, I could run of Elthus.
I've also noticed, that you spawn bullets and the end of the gun. It lets shooting through thin walls, which may not be wanted.

People here complain about E and sound, but for me it wasn't a problem at all.

Great job!
enichols
30. Apr 2019 · 09:05 UTC
Awesome :) The upgrade system is great, and the enemies are really tough.
bigwhiteshogun
30. Apr 2019 · 10:20 UTC
Got 1.4 k deep. Very fun and enjoyable, constant upgrades makes you want to go further and play more.
DidiGameBoy
30. Apr 2019 · 13:53 UTC
Great mood!
RaineTheGlutton
30. Apr 2019 · 14:36 UTC
I managed to hit a depth of about 1100. The grappling hook was a nice addition that really tied the gameplay together. It would be nice to have some type of indication of what each ore color did or a HUD that lists your current stats so you know what to prioritize. Overall, great game and I would be interested in playing a finalized version if you decide to continue development.

Thanks for rating our game!
jellzilla
01. May 2019 · 03:30 UTC
The grappling hook was a great idea!