Angler by Athaeryn

[raw]
made by Athaeryn for Ludum Dare 59 (JAM)

Angler is a short horror story game about a scientist who is tracking a mysterious signal.

Press space to dive.

I’m really happy with what I created within the timeframe, but I didn’t get as much content in as I had planned. I’m planning to release an updated version with a bit more going on. Fair warning, though, this version will take about 15 minutes of mostly just holding down the spacebar to reach the ending. I hope you still enjoy the vibes!

Note: the audio stops playing after a minute on the web build; best experience will be with the desktop builds. The Mac build works on my computer because it built the image, but it might be difficult or impossible to get past Gatekeeper and play. :/

Tools - Godot - Blender - Affinity - Ableton

AI Usage Statement

No AI was used in the creation of this game. Everything was made by hand during the 72 hours of the Jam, with the exception of the fonts and sound effects listed below.

Fonts - https://velvetyne.alwaysdata.net/fonts/picnic/ - https://open-foundry.com/fonts/libre-baskerville

Sound effects - https://opengameart.org/content/40-cc0-water-splash-slime-sfx - https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/nature-sea-and-seagull-wave-5932/

Ratings

Given 1🗳️ 2🗨️

Feedback

FlameSeer
Apr 21st · 03:23 UTC
Needs some gameplay. The premise was interesting but just holding space down for far too many minutes with nothing going on was not worth it.
ofoof
Apr 21st · 03:34 UTC
Story was intriguing at first, but the end doesn't pay off. nothing happens for about 15 ish minutes. I wanted to see the whole thing out to give accurate feedback, and had to weigh down space bar the whole time
MountainGoose
Apr 21st · 04:01 UTC
The vibe/general premise was good, I agree with what others have said just needed a bit more to happen.
LDJam user 424535
Apr 21st · 04:03 UTC
It was very atmospheric. Job well done!
Janku
Apr 21st · 13:50 UTC
Haha, I love the vibes! The sounds are also very rich and I loved the camera work in the intro! I got to the end, but I gotta admit as the other comment - I also weighed my spacebar and just watched it happen xD I think it has gameplay potential to add "faster going down", but make signal be way, way deeper, so the meters on the visuals go down faster (numbers flying by are satysfing xD). Then, by going slightly up when some danger passes by, a shark for example would be interesting to manage. Has great potential!
No spoilers! :D
![Zrzut ekranu 2026-04-21 153806.png](///raw/179/d3/z/71fa7.png)
Tanjou
Apr 21st · 15:56 UTC
Awesome atmosphere and camera work!

I feel like it was a bit too slow to dive, but just personal preference. The Mac build doesn't work :(
NonDev
Apr 22nd · 16:54 UTC
For science! I really dug the atmosphere and tone, and I was excited to check this one out, but I do agree with previous comments that it feels egregious to have 5+ minutes of holding space bar for something to happen.
🎤 Athaeryn
Apr 22nd · 17:12 UTC
@janku

I’m glad you enjoyed it! :) I definitely agree that more should happen, it’s a bit long without too much going on, but I’m still proud of what I made in a weekend. I ran out of time to balance the depth/speed/encounters but I’m planning to release a more polished version. I do think it’d help if the numbers were changing faster; I should probably add a decimal place or two. Thanks so much for the feedback!
🎤 Athaeryn
Apr 22nd · 17:16 UTC
@flameseer @ofoof @mountaingoose @toshiy @tanjou @nondev

I agree, there should be a little more going on and the ending could be a bit more satisfying. I had more content planned but ran out of time (like, I put the music together and added all the sound in the last 30 minutes). I wanted to make the dive a little shorter and/or speed it up a little, but I just ran out of runway to adjust it before the deadline. It was a really ambitious project for me, and I’m happy that I got it “done” but it’s definitely not complete.

I added a little bit to the description so folks have a better idea what they’re in for. :) Thank you for sticking with it & for the feedback!