Salvager by J4cko16

[raw]
made by J4cko16 for Ludum Dare 59 (COMPO)

ThumnailSalvage.png

SS1.png shopSS.png collectionSS.png Explore in the deepest depths of the sea in order to find various different kinds of gems and treasures!!! Earn coin, buy upgrades, and find the secrets of the sea all while trying to avoid the various monsters that live down below, or in other words, pufferfish!

Controls: A/D | Arrows: Horizontal Movement

W | Up Arrow: Break

S | Down Arrow: Sink

The theme for this jam was "signal" and in Salvager you use your trusty metal detector to locate rare gems. Hear the audio, see the waves, that there is a gem waiting to be claimed.

Ratings

Overall 84th 3.7⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Fun 106th 3.5⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 214th 3⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 209th 3.225⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 79th 3.825⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Audio 17th 4.1⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Mood 88th 3.694⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 13🗳️ 17🗨️

Feedback

richjbaron
Apr 20th · 05:03 UTC
omg this is so great!
I absolutely love the vibin' dude riding the rope down to the bottom of the ocean haha. Music is awesome too. Fun game and great entry!!
Jack Maxwell
Apr 20th · 05:11 UTC
Music is amazing! Love how it changes with the depth. I found a good strategy of sticking to the side of the wall at first. Graphics look great too and I love the variety of fish.
austinmerrick
Apr 20th · 05:14 UTC
fun game! reminds me a bit of ridiculous fishing.
LDJam user 285197
Apr 20th · 05:37 UTC
@austinmerrick I have never heard of that game lol, but i've already been told by a few people that it is like that. I'll check it out
Domenixius
Apr 20th · 09:03 UTC
Love the audio in this game! You did a great job at conveying the progressing depth!

I do feel like the game is a little too punishing in the beginning. You can rack up so many small fish very quickly and then the run is basically over. I also think it would have been fine if you could gather multiple treasures in a dive as that would speed up progression and I think the game is hard enough that it would not have made it too easy? Maybe at least limit it to a bag that can hold 3 treasures that then can be upgraded?

The overall feeling and art style really hit the mark tho and I love my little dude hanging on his rope and just exploring the depths. I really loved the glowing jellyfish!
Haln
Apr 21st · 04:06 UTC
Love the vibe of the game! Going deeper really feels like I'm sinking into the depths of the ocean.

I think it's super awesome how the music distorts as you get deeper, but I'm not enjoying the music in the first place so maybe that's not ideal.

The beginning feels pretty frustrating though, it takes more effort than I would like to get things going.
Roroto Sic
Apr 21st · 21:18 UTC
Nice game ! i encounter the jellyfish area and the deeper was 600m but i didnt find other stone :/
overall good polised game, and i love the audio and the walk animation !

![Capture d’écran 2026-04-21 231655.jpg](///raw/d93/94/z/72230.jpg)

even with my big rope
![Capture d’écran 2026-04-21 231922.jpg](///raw/d93/94/z/72234.jpg)
zakchaos
Apr 23rd · 04:30 UTC
Great addictive gameplay loop!
felt very polished and love how music shifted based on gameplay,
serious battletoads vibes,
it really made me want to try again just one more time to see if I could get farther,
well done!
Floonace
Apr 23rd · 14:26 UTC
The graphics when we go underwater are amazing, and the music is truly excellent. However, since we don't really do much with the signals directly, it feels only loosely related to the theme. Also, the fish won't leave the lamp alone, and after a point, it starts feeling like a "fish avoidance simulator."
I'm a sucker for these kind of replayable games, and this one is so well-done! Thank you! It always surprises me how good and polished experiences can come out of this compo <3
digital bacon
Apr 24th · 23:32 UTC
Interesting take on the theme. Very good use of audio, and damn those fish are annoying! :laughing:

Excellent work -- well done!
Paroxysmal
Apr 25th · 02:12 UTC
Love the graphics and how the sound slows down as fish cover the lantern, its a very nice touch. Well done.
William Corrin
Apr 25th · 10:29 UTC
Its really cute. Very replayable, and super polished for the time frame.

The audio all around is great. You added dynamic music I see, which is awesome. I love that the tracks fade in and out as you complete a level and rise back up

The graphics are also really charming, and the game works flawlessly with no bugs (as far as I encountered)

The gameplay is a bit shallow (no pun intended) but the shop helps with that. My only main issue is that I do think that the fish clambering onto the lantern and disrupting motion, although a cool idea in theory, is executed not the best - I found a coin off to the sides with 5 fish on my lantern, and i just sat there holding the right arrow key for literally 30 seconds as my character slowly moved to the right at like 0.001mph lol.

Its an awesome entry overall, great work!
Jimox
Apr 25th · 10:43 UTC
It’s the kind of game you start casually and end up playing longer than expected.😄
mathemagics
Apr 25th · 10:49 UTC
Great game, even with a little bit of meta-progression. The immersion effect of gradual darkening and music distortion is definitely cool. Thank you for the game!
brawnyfrogmouth
Apr 25th · 13:58 UTC
I enjoyed playing this, I liked how the background music changes depending on depth and health. It feels very polished!
fgreeman
Apr 25th · 18:26 UTC
Great design. I thougt that the game is also about fishing sometimes, and all the fishes that stick to you is ok. but then i realised, that you must skip EVERY fish. Looks like a small gamedesign problem, but for the jam game its very good.
Jed
Apr 26th · 01:02 UTC
Fun game, good job on the music! Took me a minute to realize I wasn't supposed to collect the fish.
VenomousMouse
Apr 26th · 12:31 UTC
Cool idea and nice execution. Also nice music.