Depths Mining Co. by Jotlane
You play as Grover, a deep-sea miner for Depths Mining Co.
Mine your way to the bottom, and earn gold from precious materials. How deep can you go?

Made for Ludum Dare 48 (Theme: Deeper and deeper)
Music credits:
Wholesome by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesome
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Night In Venice by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5763-night-in-venice
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
| Link | https://jotlane.itch.io/depths-mining-co |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/depths-mining-co |
Ratings
| Overall | 1730th | 2.886⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1729th | 2.619⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1748th | 2.477⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1152th | 3.455⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 1655th | 2.727⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 1177th | 2.333⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 1711th | 2.595⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 15🗳️ | 20🗨️ |
Enjoyed it,
Minor feedback: in my opinion it would have been cooler if you would keep progressing on the same ground from run to run.
You should have definitely also implemented purchasable upgrades to swimming and digging speed!
The inspirations for this game are pretty obvious, but its still a nice entry :D
Nice game overall, maybe things could have been made a bit more difficult.
Might need some more depth to the gameplay, different upgrades and stuff, but hey, it is a solid entry, well done!
A big issue I have though is that when you go to the surface to sell, you loose the tunnel you've already made.
The graphics were a bit crap, but it was cool how the diver had different mining animations depending on their orientation.
The sound design was okay, but the music loop was just a bit too short.
But to really *engage* the player, there needs to be something that really feels worth working towards. Right now I don't particularly want to upgrade my oxygen all the way, as I don't really want to slowly dig all the way down to the bottom of the map.
If I could upgrade my movement and mining speed to be really fast, however, I definitely would want to do that! I would be super interested in playing if I could make myself faster and faster, and I would then definitely play long enough to get to the bottom. Because that kind of progression where things feel better and better to play is *really* like, a good incentive.
Even if the total cost of all the speed upgrades would be way more than the total cost of the oxygen upgrades as it stands, I would definitely do all the work to get those upgrades. It is just more engaging to get upgrades that make the player character more powerful, as it is enjoyable to feel powerful.
At least, that's my analysis of the upgrade system in this game. I hope you find it at least somewhat useful! :sweat_smile: