Deep into the Volcano by JoelChrono12

made by JoelChrono12 for Ludum Dare 48 (JAM)

Escape from a Volcano and go through its inner caves. Use your jetpack and platforming shenanigans to escape from the Lava flowing towards you.

There is no menu screen
~~I forgot to disable the State Machine label~~
Featuring the Godot icon as the level exit!
There are two levels (the second one loops when finished)
~~Turn down the volume of the tab, the music and sfx are good IMO but I didn't modulate them~~

This is my first ludum dare btw :D

Controls

Left and Right to move
Z to jump
X to use jetpack (needs gasoline)
Shift to use Wall grab (you can wall jump too, kinda useless due to level design)
R to restart

Credits

Here I credit every asset used for the game. - Font: Press Start 2P by CodeMan 38. licensed under the Open Font License - Music: Abstraction - Music Loop Bundle from itch.io by Tallbeard Studios - SFX: sfxr - Sprites: Made by me, using GIMP

Game built with the Godot Engine

Changelog

I have done small changes due to mistakes during original upload. - Set time for lava back to 25 seconds (I was debugging and it was too short at first) - Removed state machine text label - Disabled movement while camera transitions to played - Disabled lava flowing down inmediately - Turned down default volume - Disabled state machine label

Link	https://github.com/joelchrono12/ludumdare48
Link	https://joelchrono12.itch.io/deep-into-the-volcano
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/deep-into-the-volcano

Ratings

Overall	712^th	3.629⭐	37🧑‍⚖️
Fun	275^th	3.829⭐	37🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	1201^th	3.015⭐	36🧑‍⚖️
Theme	799^th	3.729⭐	37🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	562^th	3.971⭐	37🧑‍⚖️
Audio	672^th	3.483⭐	31🧑‍⚖️
Humor	947^th	2.625⭐	26🧑‍⚖️
Mood	1073^th	3.371⭐	33🧑‍⚖️
Given		18🗳️	25🗨️

Feedback

Game Endeavor

27. Apr 2021 · 03:37 UTC

Cute game. Very challenging as the lava falls really quickly and the jetpack is really weak. When starting out, I would give the player a moment to figure out the controls, then drop the lava after they've moved a ways from the platform.

vegmuffin

27. Apr 2021 · 07:05 UTC

Agree with above, the game just starts, random camera movement and a bunch of text on screen. Once I figured the controls I quite enjoyed the physics & art, music was a little too loud. If it's cleaned up a little more I think it can be really good.

jasontherand

27. Apr 2021 · 12:53 UTC

After figuring out the controls, and that the jetpack ran out of gas, the game was very fun and a good challenge. It felt fun to play, although I admit I never used the wall grab, but that didnt keep me from winning. Also the music and sound effects were nice.

🎤 JoelChrono12

27. Apr 2021 · 13:07 UTC

@jasontherand Yeah, I originaly wanted to use the wall grab more, but I didnt manage to make good use of it due to the lack of levels. I will try to keep improving my level design xD

oeschmid

27. Apr 2021 · 13:42 UTC

The platforming in this is really fun! The jetpack is great in my opinion, I like that it can be used to correct your jumps just a little bit, but isn't too strong. I'd be excited to see more levels!

🎤 JoelChrono12

27. Apr 2021 · 15:56 UTC

@oeschmid Thank you! I tried my best to make the jetpack work while not making the levels too easy by just flying around on it. Sadly, I think I didnt handle the wall grabbing as well, since it has no use. But I am quite inspired with this and will add more levels when the jam ends, as well as a proper main menu xD. I wonder if I can just add it rn without costing me to be disqualified

oeschmid

27. Apr 2021 · 16:07 UTC

@joelchrono12 you should ask in the discord! I think you can make small changes like that, but this is my first jam so I'm not 100% certain.

🎤 JoelChrono12

27. Apr 2021 · 16:08 UTC

@oeschmid wait, your first jam? the game you did is noe even more awesome

oeschmid

27. Apr 2021 · 16:16 UTC

@joelchrono12 thank you!!

GrimsBaldruk

27. Apr 2021 · 20:44 UTC

The overall work you put into this is awesome, artistic direction is coherent, player controls are challenging like the jetpack, it's not that easy to use and sometimes you can take a better path using jump to save fuel, it feels like I'm bipolar, be fast or be dead but think wise or be dead, that kind of stuff, love it !

🎤 JoelChrono12

28. Apr 2021 · 00:23 UTC

@grimsbaldruk Thank you so much for your feedback, I am glad you liked it. I will try to improve upon this game after the jam ends :D

DoctorTM

28. Apr 2021 · 13:41 UTC

Cute game. The graphics and audios are nice. The gliding mechanics is nice!

PD Dev

28. Apr 2021 · 14:49 UTC

I really like the graphics of your game. The controlls are rather challenging, especially as the jetpack is pretty weak. I just don't quite get why there is a text telling you what "mode" you are in (like "falling" and "idle"). It's good for debugging but I can't see an obvious reason to keep it in the release version.

🎤 JoelChrono12

28. Apr 2021 · 15:07 UTC

@pd-dev Yeah, the state machine was a bit of a mistake by me and I kept it for the release, I guess I can remove it without any penalty, so I will do so, just comment a line of code xD. Thanks, I worked quite a bit to get those graphics going

JUSTCAMH

28. Apr 2021 · 16:24 UTC

Hey matey, thanks for submitting your game to the stream! I hope my feedback is helpful, I really enjoyed the game! Here's the twitch vod if you wanna rewatch:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1003703630

steelax

28. Apr 2021 · 17:32 UTC

Short but sweet, art and sounds worked together really well, and the character controller was spot on.

🎤 JoelChrono12

28. Apr 2021 · 20:57 UTC

@steelax I appreciate it dude. Thanks for the support, will try to do better

felo07

28. Apr 2021 · 21:20 UTC

hello, I came from JoeCreates twitch. I dont know if understand right, theres only one stage? tutorial plus first stage? also, I liked the art style, is very nice. Music its too loud but its matching with the game. Its a fun mechanic to play, congrats =)

🎤 JoelChrono12

28. Apr 2021 · 21:26 UTC

@felo07 its more of a two levels only thing, I would not consider any of them a tutorial xD. Its just some levels I barely tested tbh. But thanks for playing, glad you liked it

Dante2001

28. Apr 2021 · 23:09 UTC

pretty cool dude!

ilPrinny

28. Apr 2021 · 23:11 UTC

Awesome entry! really fun, I wish it was longer tho, but considering the polish being so high, time might not have been on your side haha. Well done

Turquoise Moon

28. Apr 2021 · 23:13 UTC

Very nice!

Emiliabea

29. Apr 2021 · 01:48 UTC

I think the little lava spots are cute + your character design. Platformers are hard for me so I watched a streamer play it, but I could tell a lot of effort went into the mechanics.

Artyom Volkov

29. Apr 2021 · 17:12 UTC

Congratulation with the very first ludum dare! It's a really good game for a first try, don't give up! By the way, you can use my [**small template project**](https://github.com/TrickyFatCat/game-jam-template) in the future.

jitspoe

30. Apr 2021 · 00:16 UTC

Fun little game -- controls screen disappeared before I had time to read it, so it took me a couple tries to realize there was a jetpack, which made thing s MUCH easier.

SirRed

30. Apr 2021 · 00:25 UTC

Solid movement and controls which are key for a good platformer. I think some more levels would have been nice as the game is a bit short. Some more levels and mechanics would improve this game a lot. Good job.

Simpathey

30. Apr 2021 · 02:07 UTC

Fun game, I think the movement was vary nice.

ShaunJS

30. Apr 2021 · 13:04 UTC

Thanks for submitting! I hope my in-stream feedback was helpful!

TommyTheITGuy

30. Apr 2021 · 17:38 UTC

A short but enjoyable game. I liked that you have to combine both jumps and the jetpack to progress. The jetpack was a bit weird to me, but I guess it works as intended. Level design was alright, although I wish there weren't so many blind spots to jump into. Definitely would like to play more levels. I hope you update the game with more content!

🎤 JoelChrono12

30. Apr 2021 · 20:20 UTC

@tommytheitguy Thank you so much, I missed it live but I rewatched the link you sent me. oof. I have done a couple bugfixes like removing the state machine indicator and such.

@jitspoe I actually decided to fix that, now the text should stay until you jump down, so you can try the controls in that little platform you appear in.

@tricky-fat-cat Thats a pretty great resource! I will take a look at it for future game jams xD

@emiliabea Thank you so much, I am pretty happy with the art too, if it wasnt because of that huge scaled up lava sprite xD

marcmagus

02. May 2021 · 17:34 UTC

Thanks for bringing your game by my stream for playtesting! If you’d like to revisit the play and commentary you can view the highlight at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1008724060

Rodrysson

03. May 2021 · 09:34 UTC

The game is pretty nice, it has a lot of potential!
I think this is a good game, very enjoyable, but as suggestions, I think zoom out the camera would help to see where the character go haha. Also, the measurement of the jetpack would be visible all the time to calculate some jumps. However, the game was very fun and the visuals reminds me Celeste in Pico-8

CG_Fred

14. May 2021 · 17:22 UTC

LOVED IT! The music is great and super stressful which I like. At first I was yeah this is ok no stress and then the lava came and the stress level went through the roof. Excellent game.

CJGladback

18. May 2021 · 02:31 UTC

Thank you for letting me play this on stream (forever ago)! [Here's that clip](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1007876502?t=1h54m10s) in case you want to rewatch it. It was cute and challenging; as I think you pointed out, it will be better with wall jump not requiring fuel (and having more straight sections of wall to try it on) but it was already fun. Even without sound, when I accidentally muted my headphones. Regarding the pixel art scale question that I brought up during stream, a fix I didn't think of during stream--if you want to lean into the large-pixeled lava wall descending (hmm, that phrasing :thinking: ), you could further illustrate depth by having fine-grain pixel art in the background. It's not standard, but it would feel more intentional and could definitely be cool ( :thinking: ).

AlejandrodeCea

18. May 2021 · 19:12 UTC

Cool entry! Mechanic-wise the game is fun, it has the potential to expand into more complex levels, and speaking of those, they were fun as introductory levels in which you learn the main mechanic of the game (the jetpack), but that's about it, a few challenging levels could've been done only by using your already existing tileset and tightening the flow of the lava so you barely made it to the end. Speaking of the lava, it would be cool to have it only flow inside the empty tiles of the tileset, kind of like lava in spelunky 2 or noita, that could give you some fun ways to lay your levels out :smile: but I understand the time constraint is a big problem in jams hehe, overall good job!