LudumData

Deep BO-12 by themorfeus

[raw]
made by themorfeus for Ludum Dare 48 (JAM)

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Welcome to BO-12!

You have been sent here as one of the pioneers of interdimensional research.

However, the portal closed and you have been cut off from its power source! Luckily, we've got just the right fix for you.

Collect the gems from crystals scattered around this procedurally generated world, but beware! Your weapon has only so much juice in it and has to be recharged at one of our certified active recharge stations, and the crystals are filled with dangerous, flying, exploding dino heads!

Doubt you'll be able to do it? We'll throw in our top-of-none-class grappling rope!

Have enough crystals already? Jam them into our pending-approval interdimensional portal! and travel back home safely!

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Players' goal

  • Gather 6 gems by destroying crystals scattered around the level.
  • Use the sonar to locate active weapon recharging stations if your weapon runs out of ammo.
  • Activate the portal at the bottom of the level and jump in.
  • Don't die in the process.

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Controls

  • WSAD - Movement
  • LEFT CTRL - Crouch
  • LEFT CLICK - Fire weapon
  • RIGHT CLICK - Attach rope (You are pulled towards the rope once ungrounded - i.e. jump. The rope stays attached as long as you are holding RMB down.)
  • Q - Send out a sonar
  • E - Interact with stuff
  • ESCAPE - Return to main menu

You reload by recharging your weapon at one of the active recharge stations. Active recharge stations can be found using the sonar (Q)

Made by themorfeus and _j4nw

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Play In Browser https://themorfeus.itch.io/deep-bo-12
Jam Version - Windows 64bit http://files.themorfeus.net/ld48/DeepBO12_Jam.zip
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/deep-bo-12

Ratings

Overall 565th 3.729⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Fun 504th 3.625⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 246th 3.875⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1457th 3.167⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 516th 4⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Audio 643th 3.5⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Mood 632th 3.696⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Given 30🗳️ 17🗨️

Feedback

gimmers
27. Apr 2021 · 11:28 UTC
This was a super interesting take, and a cool FPS aimed at hitting the theme. The ammo capacity felt quite restrictive, but I had a lot of fun with the rope!
NoeF
27. Apr 2021 · 19:49 UTC
Realy liked your game, the sonar effect looks f**ing amazing, the sound works realy well, and your art style was also pretty nice. Was a bit starved for bullets though, might be due to me not being able to aim
🎤 themorfeus
27. Apr 2021 · 19:52 UTC
tbh the weapon spread might be a bit too much :sweat_smile: We've had very little time to balance the game, so if we ever get around to developing it further we'll probably tweak this stuff
TomatoLamp
28. Apr 2021 · 21:27 UTC
I'm very impressed - a 3D game with a grapple hook for a gamejam is no small undertaking but this a fun and clean idea that works! I agree with others about the ammo capacity being a bit low but it was frantic and kept me moving about at least. Nice work!
cireneikual222464
28. Apr 2021 · 23:13 UTC
The grappling is quite fun, but I think maybe a jump you can do while hanging on to it would be great so you can get on top of certain areas. I like the dino heads and the noise they make! I found it best to not use too much ammo on them and instead swing through them so they detonate on their own without damaging me.
Space_man
28. Apr 2021 · 23:43 UTC
Very nice, the sonar effect is great. Grappling around was fun, though it was sometimes hard to get where I was actually trying to go. As others mentioned the ammo capacity is a bit low - I wanted to destroy swarms of dino heads but had to spend most of the time trying to get more ammo. Impressive game overall though, great job!
heidelbert
29. Apr 2021 · 21:34 UTC
Cool entry! I couldn't really manage to properly swing to collect all crystals but had fun trying and it's great that it runs in the browser!
guladam
29. Apr 2021 · 22:07 UTC
Awesome work! :wink: The dark meteorite atmosphere was really setting up the mood. :new_moon: :gun: The sound effects were great and the sonar effect is just outstanding, especially with the polished node popups. The rope mechanics is really a must have, it makes navigating the level a breeze. The only thing that was missing in my opinion were ammo pickups. I think, having to reload the weapon at stations breaks the flow of the game. :thinking:
Guax
30. Apr 2021 · 00:53 UTC
I like it, really like the concept, and overall goofyness of flying robot dinossaur heads. I would've liked to see a different icon marking the station I left my weapon at, and maybe some jetpack or double jump mechanics, but what's already there is pretty fun
HerryFabien
30. Apr 2021 · 01:03 UTC
Really fun game and the different mechanics where pretty sweet : the grappling hook feeling if a bit weird at time (no control over pull and pull coming strong a bit delayed) was fun to master , the weapon recharge while anxioulsy looking at those dino head flying closer and close , the explosion of monster from crystal causing instant panic in front of the swarm realeased ect ect .

Having TONS of ennemys spawn can be interesting , having recharge pad for ammo can be interesting , having no health regen and be pressure that every hit taken is really impactful can be fun . The combination sadly feel to mo as to much.
The fact that the health don't regen really impede on the fun aspect of it and would be the easiest fix to boost enjoyement . Maybe easing the player into the dinoplosion when you destroy the crystal , having more and more spawn in.
FireSlash
30. Apr 2021 · 01:08 UTC
grappling hooks are always fun, though I found it a bit trick to navigate the world with it. Seems the only way to ever go up was to fall through the portal and take damage.

The ammo clip being small forces you into a fairly specific playstyle, but the grappling hook makes it difficult to actually avoid combat with the crystal spawns.

Graphics and mood were solid, and the audio worked well.

Nice work!
🎤 themorfeus
30. Apr 2021 · 08:58 UTC
@fireslash The grappling hook will pull you up when you jump, albeit it is a bit slow - so that's one way to reach higher places. It can be a big challenge to get up on the topmost islands though :sweat_smile: - though crouch jumping may aid in that (you press left ctrl for crouch)

As for the falling down - any fall out of the world will teleport you somewhere on the top. Falling through portal only works (and actually finishes the game) when the portal is active!

As for the tons of enemies and lack of ammo - that was a decision made just before submission, because we were done with the enemies really late on the 3rd day - so we had no real time to balance. If we decide to go further with the project, we'll probably adjust it.
🎤 themorfeus
30. Apr 2021 · 08:59 UTC
I also have a question - has anyone actually managed to activate the portal and jump through it? I am super proud of the opening animation, so I'm wondering if anyone has experienced it :smile:
StarryNiteGames
30. Apr 2021 · 18:38 UTC
This is a great jam game! I am super sold on the grappling hook idea, even though I think the mechanic could use a little work. I found it impossible at first to use, but I did get a little better with practice. I wonder if giving the player more control over it could make it more accessible? Maybe when you are grappled **W** and **S** keys could switch to controlling your winding and unwinding of the grapple respectively?

I notice when the dinos are destroyed they'd cease their movement and then explode half a second later. I found this unsatisfying. I think if they explode immediately when they take enough damage it would feel more reactive for the player.

Overall this is really good entry! Anytime a game has a grappling hook, I am all in. I imagine it will take time and several more iterations to balance properly, but I'm sure yours will get their if you keep working on this.

Great work! Thank you for this really fun LD game. :smile:
Bamallama
30. Apr 2021 · 18:40 UTC
Really impressive game! Grappling hook was weird though.

Also would have loved a Mac OS version, I ended up playing in the browser.
🎤 themorfeus
30. Apr 2021 · 19:05 UTC
@StarryNiteGames Thanks for the feedback! I feel like assigning grapple control to those two keys wouldn't work particularly well (as you can control the mid-air movement with them), but it's certainly an interesting idea to put them to another keys (Like Q and E on QWERTY layout).

As for the dino hit behavior - that was implemented like 2 hours before the deadline, so we didn't have much time to polish, but I would have done the same given more time :sweat_smile: But yeah, those are the things on the post-jam to-do list
🎤 themorfeus
30. Apr 2021 · 19:06 UTC
@bamallama I will look into posting a mac OS version! Although no promises - the Catalina notarization requirements are a bit cumbersome at the moment :slight_frown:
BinaryPrinciple
01. May 2021 · 02:09 UTC
Nice concept and the gameplay feels smooth. The sound is very reach.
I would recommend adding different enemies, and maybe more momentum on the rope so I can swing my way out more freely. Nonetheless fun game!
pabulum
01. May 2021 · 17:38 UTC
This is a lot of fun. Laughed out loud when I first saw the flying head enemies before running the heck away! Zipping about on the grapple was really fun although i did find it hard to get up some places so maybe a mantle feature when your close enough to the top of an asteroid? That sonar effect is awesome btw! Great work!
chrissx2
04. May 2021 · 00:08 UTC
Interesting idea and satisfying movement system!
jitspoe
11. May 2021 · 11:05 UTC
Grappling hooks are the way to my heart. I had a lot of fun with this one! The fact that you had to drop off your weapon to reload it forced you to be very tactical about when you shoot and also forced you to use the grapple mechanic to dodge and swing around while waiting for your weapon to charge. One suggestion I have is to make the terrain a little more player friendly. With the current blobby shapes, there's a lot of ambiguous slopes, so sometimes you think you can run on a surface but end up sliding off. More deliberately designed areas with clearer indicators of what is and isn't walkable would help things feel better if you want to push this further post-jam.

Edit: Here's the VOD where I played it, in case you want to watch it again: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1006662463?t=1h40s