Down in the Light Mine by gnerkus
I made it - and I'm alive!
Thanks for checking out my Ludum Dare entry. I present...
Down in the Light Mine

This game was made with Unity and Blender. I bit off more than I could chew and didn't have enough time for music or audio.
Background
The generator for a remote laboratory is quickly running out of power. You've discovered a mine rich in Ionium, the main power source for the generator.
Instructions
- Mine Ionium rich rocks underground
- Watch out for light-hungry spooks
- Keep an eye on your power bar
- Recharge the generator whenever you leave the mine
Remember to watch your step in the mine.
Controls
W, A, S, D keys to move.
The other controls are the left mouse button, right mouse button and spacebar. I encourage you to explore what they do.
Feedback
I'd appreciate any feedback: blunt or piercing; soothing or burning. Thanks, again, for playing.
Ratings
| Overall | 552th | 2.87⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 560th | 2.652⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 433th | 2.87⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 317th | 3.542⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 129th | 3.792⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 441th | 1.895⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 130th | 3.458⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 22🗳️ | 33🗨️ |
### I liked
* The graphics
* you really made great mood with it and showed skill/effort in terms of shaders.
* The models were simple but still very appealing and asthetically pleasing.
* The mood was great visually.
### I kinda disliked
* Unfinished/buggy state [after game over all bars are zeroed but the actual values are fine, I can shoot etc]
* lack of instructions - I think the instructions in the post are great, but just one picture saying I need to look for that arrow would go a long way. I was kinda confused at the first attempts at this game, improving this can really increase in orders of magnitude reception.
* lack of music - the mood is a little stale without music. It's kinda a shame since visually you did great.
* only one level - kinda takes away from the systems you prepared for the game. I really appreciate you made the upgrade system and it kinda bothers me it wasn't really used because there's only one level.
I guess the dislike list looks a bit long but rly I guess it's the time restriction and management to blame for all of this. So if there's a real criticism to take away is that next LD try to time management better.
Still - if this is your first [kinda looks like it] I'm sure you've learned a lot!
In that regard you did really well - it seem you learned a lot of pieces and implemented them quite well, it's the assembling of all of the components that was lacking.
Good job =]
This wasn't my first Ludum Dare but it's the first I've done with 3d art.
It mostly is a point-and-click shooter with cool glowy visuals, but there are some bugs that make it not so fun. The GUI glitches out when you restart, the ghosts sometimes lie down on the floor, and there aren't enough levels to make use of the generator functionality.
Still quite good for an LD game.
The bugs have been mentioned already - they're all pretty obvious and glaring, so I won't go over them again.
The core mechanic is interesting but as soon as you know that you can just walk around with the lights off and you know where the trap is, that's it. There needs to be a counterbalance to that so that the dark is actually frightening and you want to keep your lights on.
As with many of these games, I feel like the *feeling* of the character movement can really be improved, and that would add a lot to it. A linear straight-line movement is very... unappealing. A little animation, bobbing up and down, would have made a huge difference, for example.
Yes g-o made a great point - this looks like iti was overscoped for the time and skill level. it's great to challenge oneself, but finishing is also a worthy challenge to tackle :) Good luck :)
Basically, I'm really confused. I get what the buttons do, and that enemies won't shoot at you if you turn off the light, but beyond that I have no clue. The post above mine sums it up pretty well and I think you know where the issues are.
The actual use of light is quite nice. I like the overall aesthetic.
The glow effect is probably the best part about this game because it does so much in setting the mood and providing visual indicators for the player to follow. I think a good way to fix the problem described by @tusim (being able to just play with lights off), is to REMOVE the glow from the enemies and traps. It'll create a interesting situation where the player needs to turn on the light to see the enemies, but having the light on also attracts the enemies to the player, so the player needs to manage having the light on/off a lot more carefully. Maybe removing the ability to attack the enemies would also help to create the fear/tension.
It seems there are multiple interesting game mechanics, but I cannot really understand them. Like ..why monsters don't attack when there is no light etc. It could use some simple tooltips to teach player the basic concept.
Of course, it's too bad you didn't have time to finish it, but good job making it look cool.
Also, I liked how the light mechanic played into the game, stopping the enemies but impairing your navigational abilities. It was intriguing. I'd love to see more levels that take advantage of this.
A couple of constructive criticism comments, once you die, the bars don't seem to reset. I also wish there was some sort of music vibe going on, you could probably get away with a lot, depending on the atmosphere you are looking for - a slow minimalistic groove for stealth or a fast, heavy downbeat, blast through the enemies sort of track.
Overall, it is a great start to the game, adding more levels will automatically give it some more depth so keep up the great work!! :)