LudumData

DICE - Demolition Into the Core of the Earth by Ghuyajil

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

Streamed on Twitch and YouTube, recordings are here: - Day 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilTL6nvDQ5A - Day 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXsHwP9PK6g

You need a special iron alloy in plastic form that is exceptionally impossible to create… Good thing that it exists in huge quantities: the Earth’s outer core is made of it! (*You only have to descend to 2800 km deep, or 2,800,000 m)

You designed a hover-digger, equipped with a TNT fabricator, using the Earth’s own heat to create that and ammunition for some other weapons you thought of bringing.

Why bring weapons? Well, as anyone who ever played Minecraft knows full well, there are a lot of monsters underground!

*Because some people didn't seem to get that: the 2800 km is meant to be humorous, not as the real goal - it would take about 200 days of descending 24/7 to get that deep :rofl:

Well, that was a fun Ludum Dare! There's not many types of weapons or monsters, so it's mostly a fun toy with cool effects, but we can still see who can get the deepest without dying :)

Bugfixes done after LD: music changes didn't trigger, monster spawn rate and damage fixed.

Disclaimer: I haven't yet tested on any other specs than my gaming rig with RTX2060. No idea how well it runs on lower specs. MacBook users beware: I just tested the Mac version and it's waaay too much for my quite new MacBook - use at your own risk!

LD48-DICE-screenshot.png

Link https://svdf.nl/ld48-dice-source.zip
Link https://svdf.nl/ld48-dice-windows.zip
Link https://svdf.nl/ld48-dice-mac.zip
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/dice-demolition-into-the-core-of-the-earth

Ratings

Overall 789th 2.905⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 796th 2.643⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 617th 2.929⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 397th 3.667⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 448th 3.452⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Audio 389th 3.25⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Humor 491th 2.342⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 786th 2.5⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Given 9🗳️ 6🗨️

Feedback

youthfulIdealism
25. Apr 2021 · 22:33 UTC
I died at 94 meters, shortly after starting the game (twice). I was immediately killed by green slimes. The dynamite did very little damage to either the slimes or the walls.

Are you supposed to dig with the dynamite? Are you supposed to kill the monsters with the dynamite?
🎤 Ghuyajil
26. Apr 2021 · 08:27 UTC
@youthfulidealism Yes to both, but it's quite hard - the TNT should instantly blow up the walls though, are you sure it didn't work? Also, the slimes shouldn't spawn directly where you're starting... I could personally get much deeper, but then again I've practised quite a bit. I'll check if there's something wrong with the damage or the spawning!

This jam was mostly about the graphics and the juice (VFX, screen shake, shaders, procedural cave generation), so I made it extra hard, but maybe a bit too much ;)
FabiGhindaru
26. Apr 2021 · 08:36 UTC
Really cool idea, too bad I suck at it :p
It really reminds me of Subnautica, is this where you drew inspiration from?

Besides that, you did a good job!
David Horning
26. Apr 2021 · 08:49 UTC
Going to be honest, it's super difficult! If it was easier to restart I might be able to practice enough... Really impressive though.

edit: oh and nice song
Jeremia
26. Apr 2021 · 08:53 UTC
I can confirm, that there are green slimes which attack you upon starting the game.
Digging, and moving is very slow.
I managed to get to 106 meters, but then all my dynamite was used up, and i did not want to wait for it to replenish slowly.

I can not imagine anyone getting 2,800,000 meters deep.
VeryGenuineCraze
26. Apr 2021 · 09:11 UTC
Nice work! The feeling is cool. Throwing dynamite and see it explode is very satisfying.
The game is super difficult and it might be cool to have a first room where you can test freely the controls.
Congrats :clap:
🎤 Ghuyajil
26. Apr 2021 · 11:36 UTC
@fabighindaru @david-horning @jeremia @verygenuinecraze Thanks! I have found that they do indeed spawn around the player immediately which they shouldn't... Will make an update when I have time... :innocent:
Jupiter_Hadley
27. Apr 2021 · 10:18 UTC
Interesting game! I included it in my compilation video series of a bunch of LDJAM games!
https://youtu.be/5_7QHLz41l4
ElSombrero
11. May 2021 · 04:18 UTC
Very strange light but the game is good
QYOUK
14. May 2021 · 14:17 UTC
The game looks nice, i definitely wanted to go deeper and deeper to explore the cave you created but I found the game a little bit to frustrating. The ammos reloading really slowly, the ennemies taking multiple explosions to kill, the really slow speed of the ship... It seems that you spent lots of time creating a mysterious world to explore, but didn't let the player the possibility to explore it. Maybe with some little adjustments, the game could really be a call to adventure ! Anyway, congrats for the hard job!
🎤 Ghuyajil
17. May 2021 · 09:29 UTC
@jupiter-hadley Thanks, I appreciate it!
🎤 Ghuyajil
17. May 2021 · 09:30 UTC
@elsombrero Thanks for that! Can you explain what you meant with strange light?
🎤 Ghuyajil
17. May 2021 · 09:33 UTC
@qyouk Thanks for the compliments :)

I finally got around to uploading the bugfixed version, you are absolutely correct that it was too hard. Maybe you can see how far you can get now ;) By the way, the cave is procedurally generated, so it will be infinite...
🎤 Ghuyajil
17. May 2021 · 09:35 UTC
@youthfulidealism @fabighindaru @david-horning @jeremia @verygenuinecraze In case you want to check out the bugfixed version, it is now online (the difficulty is way better now, and the music also changes with the game as it should).
Brice Mahier
17. May 2021 · 14:01 UTC
Pretty nice, reminds me of old PS1 games at some point. The only downfall: the music, it does not seem to fit to the experience. Nice entry!
ElSombrero
17. May 2021 · 14:05 UTC
@ghuyajil i found the light effect too bright for my eyes
The problem is from me not from the game XD
🎤 Ghuyajil
17. May 2021 · 14:21 UTC
@brice-mahier You are absolutely right, I wrote the music before I even made anything, to test the adaptive system; did not have time in the end to make something more fitting ;)
🎤 Ghuyajil
17. May 2021 · 14:21 UTC
@elsombrero Ah, gotcha. I should add a warning ;)
MeritCoding
17. May 2021 · 14:41 UTC
It was cool but couldn't really move so I got stuck
DesertMawTobi
17. May 2021 · 14:41 UTC
Hey really nice game you made there, well done!
vsi-
17. May 2021 · 14:49 UTC
nice game!
dans17
17. May 2021 · 16:14 UTC
This is a cool concept, and the explosion effect from the TNT looks really nice and feels satisfying! There were a couple of disorienting things that prevented me from getting very far though. First of all, the lightning was very dark, which made it hard to see. I think it would help if your ship had some headlights that lit up your path. Also, I'm not sure if this was intentional, but my mouse would constantly be slowly interpolating back to the default orientation, which made it hard to steer and aim at enemies.
bmacintosh
17. May 2021 · 16:46 UTC
Even though the music was like a 15-second loop I kind of dig it. It was decently fun to play for a bit and smash up some rocks. My biggest complaint would be that I spent a lot of time strongly fighting where the craft wanted to go. It seemed to really want to be level for some reason and I kept having to force it to point down because that's where I wanted to go. It also felt a bit larger than I expected and would get stuck on the edges of a one-dynamic tunnel. Perhaps some external pieces that stick into the player's view would help gauge the size, or just make the dynamite blasts big enough that the player can properly fit through them.
Viperux
17. May 2021 · 18:51 UTC
The interface and the graphic where nice. As @bmacintosh said I found the same problem at control the craft... I had to keep it down while it was trying to get back horizontal... I wasted a lot of dinamytes throwing them in the hole I created, it seems that if they travel a bit they doesn't explode. This makes killing the slimes almost impossible, especially if you dig a big hole and they attack you from that direction.
🎤 Ghuyajil
17. May 2021 · 19:36 UTC
@meritcoding @desertmawtobi @vsi @dans17 @bmacintosh @viperux thanks all for playing and rating, and thanks for the feedback, I will play and rate your games in the morning! My main goal for this jam was VFX: the explosions feeling nice and creating the screen shake effects and the correct forces throwing you off.

I personally also get frustrated by the controls, but that was indeed intentional, to make it kind of hard to control a kind of hovering craft; it wants to right itself all the time... If I would continue with this I would likely make that a bit less annoying indeed ;)
Tek
17. May 2021 · 20:09 UTC
I couldn't move and was hard to hit enemys but was fun :)
LDJam user 2331
18. May 2021 · 03:30 UTC
I really like the visuals, HUD elements, and special effects. However, like others have pointed out, it was really difficult to control the ship. :( If such control is intentional, it might make things more accessible if you started out in a more open (and visible) area to get a feel of how the ship responds to controls- I tried to move at the start, got locked against terrain, and no longer had feedback for what any of the controls were supposed to be doing. Controls aside, the level of visual polish is really impressive for the compo- hope to see this refined further post-compo :D
🎤 Ghuyajil
18. May 2021 · 12:33 UTC
@tek @meep Thanks for the feedback! I did not have more time to create a more open area to start in, as the rocks are procedurally generated I just found a kind of clear spot, but I would definitely tweak that if I would continue... Right now I am already working on 3 bigger game projects with my studio so this one will not see much love in the near future - but it is a nice start so maybe later...