It's Nice Down There by TheJonu

You are in your house alone.
You hear your mom calling for you.
She asks you to bring a jar of pickles from the basement.
You open the old wooden door.
You say to yourself "It's Nice Down There" as you step on the wooden floors to the dark abyss.
Changelog - 29.04 - resolved level spawning issues (saws spawning near a ladder on 5th floor) - fixed enemy triggering (red block enemy was sometimes misplaced on 4th floor)
| Play on Itch.io | https://thejonu.itch.io/itsnicedownthere |
| Source code on GitHub | https://github.com/TheJonu/ld-48 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/its-nice-down-there |
Ratings
| Overall | 929th | 3.5⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1169th | 3.179⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1294th | 2.936⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 814th | 3.718⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 673th | 3.872⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 457th | 3.679⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 642th | 3.015⭐ | 36🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 349th | 3.949⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 74🗳️ | 61🗨️ |
I like the art design, the gameplay was fun and I loved the death messages, very helpful :)
Solid Game overall.
Now I need to go and get some pickels...

Fun factoid: I ended up playing the game twice because I missed a bit while taking a screenshot of the ending. It really helped that it was one of those short-but-sweet experiences, with solid movement (though wonky in just one bit with the stairs) and a very... unsettling atmosphere.
Graphics and sound went hand in hand to make this one of those psychological horror games I like so much. I mean, it has actual horrors too, but not of the "big scary in your face kind". I appreciate this a lot more. I'd usually try to come up with feedback, but honestly, none comes to mind. (Save for that bit with the perpendicular stairs, a saw at the top and some blocky blobs below. I could have done with the saw being moved just a few pixels to the left to not hit the player while already on the stairs. But that was otherwise minor).
Fantastic game! Love it from start to end! Does what it intends to do and does it just right! Kudos! :whale:
Intended or not, that showed that the colliders for the enemies are far larger than the enemy themselves, atleast for the rings. I feel like there was a tonal clash, voicelines and setup funny / visuals and music creepy, for me it was just neither in the end. The gameplay itself, while a bit wonky with the hitboxes and weird movement, was engaging enough for me to want to finish the game.
Short but on point. Well done!
Really, nothing more to say.
Maybe adding some kind of "hide behind something" mechanic could enhance/switch up gameplay a little but for a jam game, the one mechanic is done well and means you have a very well polished game so well done!
I didn't finish it unfortunately as I'm terrible at timing and coordination so I had to rage quit but I still enjoyed what I saw of the game. Mum will have to go without pickles this evening I guess :(
Even though there isn't much gameplay it was really enjoyable.
The level design, graphics and sounds are great. Just an awesome entry.