LudumData

Sea of Lies by Erkberg

[raw]
made by Erkberg for Ludum Dare 48 (COMPO)

A deep sea conspiracy theory dodge 'em up.
All platform versions are available on itch.io: https://erkberg.itch.io/sea-of-lies

Title169.png

All controls are explained ingame, except one: Esc / Gamepad start button to open pause menu.
There are two different endings. If you're having trouble getting the good ending, try just perma-dashing downwards, it usually works :) (the game is not meant to be failed anyway)

Although I pretty much missed all of the points I stated in my I'm-in-post, I had an amazing time this jam, was enthusiastic all the way through and am really happy with how the game turned out! And I got quite the long list of nice-to-haves that didn't make it into the game, just feeling really inspired all around :)

I hope you all had an awesome time as well and I'm really looking forward to playing your games, cheers!

PS: Check out the game from my jam brainstorming partner Flo: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/lunar-laundry

Timelapse
https://youtu.be/mXjMvhGTIFw

Link https://erkberg.itch.io/sea-of-lies
Link https://erkberg.itch.io/sea-of-lies
Link https://erkberg.itch.io/sea-of-lies
Link https://erkberg.itch.io/sea-of-lies
Link https://github.com/Erkberg/LudumDare48
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/sea-of-lies

Ratings

Overall 614th 3.217⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Fun 746th 2.783⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 438th 3.233⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Theme 189th 3.967⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 641th 3.083⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Audio 201th 3.603⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Humor 147th 3.414⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Mood 217th 3.661⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Given 22🗳️ 38🗨️

Feedback

ElSombrero
26. Apr 2021 · 05:20 UTC
So simple
But appreciate your work
First Ludum?!
mrnyarlathotep
26. Apr 2021 · 16:44 UTC
I heard at the bottom of the ocean is a chest that will dispel all lies and then send the finder flying into the sky in a beam of light, and this is definitely true because I saw it on the internet
godsboss
26. Apr 2021 · 17:09 UTC
This is great! I found both endings (well, you mentioned them in your description).
Quetzakol
26. Apr 2021 · 17:54 UTC
Excellent! Very fun idea! The most difficult part was dodging the enemies while also trying to read what they say ^^

Very nice music also!
Nick Rafalski
27. Apr 2021 · 00:42 UTC
I liked the music and the ocean background, it really set the atmosphere! Overall, the gameplay was fine, but I felt kinda torn between trying actually read the witty comments, and avoid the enemies. I think this was intentional, but I found it more frustrating than interesting unfortunately. Still, a nice little game, with a twist. Good job!
Mykola
27. Apr 2021 · 21:42 UTC
Deep idea, as usual! Very relevant and really well implemented. The gameplay is pretty simple but has a lot of great details, such as different enemy types, changing background, funny comments. The mood is great, very nice music and decent graphics. I really enjoyed playing the game, thank you for creating it!
JaviCoder
27. Apr 2021 · 21:55 UTC
Interesting idea, i love it, that was fun.
FussenKuh
28. Apr 2021 · 03:02 UTC
Having an amazing time is what this Jam is all about! We all have a long list of "nice-to-haves" at the end of the 48 hours. For me, that just means I take what I learn from this jam and inspires me to squeeze in more features during the next jam!

You've implemented a very nice Jam game with a thought provoking message. Well done.
FloGames
28. Apr 2021 · 18:04 UTC
Haha I love the fact that you can jump out of the water :D What can I say, the controls are smooth (setting direction via keyboard and dashing with mousebutton worked best for me) and the dramatic climaxing soundtrack - in true Erkberg fashion - really adds to the mood, especially when all the creatures are ganging up on you, you really feel like this is a place where you don't want to be. Sure, the graphics could have used a bit more variety (creatures and some elements to make the sea background feel more interesting), but all in all good job! I almost liked the bad ending better because of the element of surprise - it kinda all makes sense in that moment :bulb:. Thanks for our motivational feedback talks during the jam, it really helps to keep the spirit going!
chris-delta
28. Apr 2021 · 18:40 UTC
Is this what really happens to the frogs when you put chemicals in the water?
alec
29. Apr 2021 · 01:12 UTC
Love the message of this game, and dashing felt really good! I was a little hard to read the text boxes of the enemies, but I appreciated the red marker of where they were off screen (really nice touch). Great work!
tylerkealy
29. Apr 2021 · 01:14 UTC
Funny idea! Refreshing.
incobalt
29. Apr 2021 · 03:13 UTC
A very strange game. Gives me art game vibes. Obviously it's a game with a message (and a good one at that). I'll be honest, I didn't quite get it at first. When I accidentally grabbed a thought and the bar started to fill up, I wondered, "Oh, am I supposed to be collecting these?" But of course, that's part of the message, perhaps. I think it's a bit too far down to reach those endings. I'd gone down for quite a while before I decided that I wasn't accomplishing something by doing so. I did like how some of the thoughts chased after you, while others just floated by. I think I might like this a bit better if there were some "good thoughts" intermingled, allowing me to pick and choose what I grabbed. I also rarely had time to read the thoughts as they passed. A smaller playing field, a higher density of thoughts, and maybe a pause? Or maybe things don't move unless you're moving? It was interesting, anyway!
IcyySilver
29. Apr 2021 · 21:37 UTC
This game is pretty fun! I had to play through it a few times to be able to read all the text. It was hard to avoid the enemies while tryinng to read at the same time. But overall I really liked it! Kinda scary when they are all around me!
trieckaga
29. Apr 2021 · 21:45 UTC
I like the message that this game tries to show and the music is great, I think it's a very interesting and atmospheric game!
binroot
30. Apr 2021 · 00:10 UTC
LOL I had NO suspicion that this game was going to have an ending! When the music started ramping up and the light started fading, I was like "OH SHI- somethings happening!"

Pleasantly surprised by the game!
hutchings90
30. Apr 2021 · 01:50 UTC
What in the world did I just play? Whatever it was, I liked it. The absurdity of the game matches the absurdity of many human beliefs.
Crazybot
30. Apr 2021 · 07:35 UTC
I liked it, I liked that there were so many different types of squid and conspiracies they could be saying

I did get a glitch however, My health was at 0 and I didn't die. only the healthbar changed...

I also think the dashing is a bit overpowered and could really use a cooldown timer

other than it was fun to play and really funny
YellowKamel
30. Apr 2021 · 07:36 UTC
I liked it, cute little game, great art, and stellar sound design. It got its point across!
Sandra Jasionowska
02. May 2021 · 13:42 UTC
I've reached the end. Now I know everything about the world we live in! (It felt like entering Facebook sometimes, hahaha)
Cool game with nice sounds!
AndrewAPrice
02. May 2021 · 13:57 UTC
Fun idea! Sound was great. I've never seen this concept before.
skiddings
02. May 2021 · 21:26 UTC
I really liked that!
bmacintosh
06. May 2021 · 04:51 UTC
Really enjoyable simple experience. I liked the practical message the game had, and unrelatedly also the squash/stretch animations for the creatures. As I eventually fell into dashing quickly down, I noticed that the speech bubbles became hard to read. Perhaps that could be considered part of the point, but I wonder if you could do something where the bubbles are biased toward the center of the screen at higher speeds, to make them hold a little stiller in the center for a moment to be read before they zip off.
duo-afgebeld
08. May 2021 · 09:57 UTC
This is a blatant smear against political dissidents. Not amused.
You distort valid criticisms and conflate them with crackpot theories (lik flat earth).

For example, you make the enemies say:

"COVID-19 does not exist" => distortion of valid criticisms, for example problems with the validity of the PCR test which has been validated in court.

"Bill Gates tries to steal the sunlight from us" => Bill Gates's crazy plan to diminish the sunlight by dispersing particles in the atmosphere is not a conspiracy!
LDJam user 0
18. May 2021 · 14:38 UTC
Really liked the game. Very interesting, loved the way the music layered as you got deeper. Surprised you got that working in the time format. Wish there were some more speech bubbles. Maybe slightly boring, but there's a lot more to games than gameplay. Unique idea and I liked the character design. Also lmao to the comments of ppl tryna justify some of the conspiracies