LudumData

Deeper Caverns by Quartzified Studios

[raw]
made by Quartzified Studios for Ludum Dare 48 (JAM)

Deeper Caverns is a simple Isometric Puzzler Game where you attempt to get through the Dragons evil Puzzles and slay the Dragon to save the Princess!

Hoppy Hop.gif

Banner_Story.png

The Princess has been captured by a dragon and the king has called to the most courageous Princes to save the Princess! You are the prince who must make their way through the different layers of obstacles to travel Deeper and Deeper into the Dragon Dens and finally slay the dragon and save the Princess!

Banner_Controls.png

Playing the game is very simple.

Use the WASD keys to move.
Press (K) to Enable or Disable the Directional Arrows.
Press (R) to Reset the Current Level.
Press (Escape) to return to the Menu.
Evade Spike traps, Dodge Fireballs, Defeat Skeleton Warriors and push boulders to reach the end level gate!

Banner_Obstacles.png

There are 6 Obstacles in the Ludum Dare 48 version. - Rocks - Immovable obstacles that just block your path. - Bridges - Use these to get over the water. - Boulder Rocks - A movable obstacle that you can push in a given direction. - Spike Traps - Sneaky holes that will shoot spikes every now and then. - Fireball Dispenser - Will spit out fireballs that fly across the room. - Skeleton Warriors - These bad boys will follow you around and try to kill you!

What will happen to the game?

A lot has to change with the game. What will definitely get done for an official release for this game, is a complete rewrite of all code, as currently it is extremely messy and hard to work with.
There will be definitely way more traps, monsters, and designs to work with if we were to make an official game out of this.

Possible Future Updates

An Idea that we had is adding a Level Editor to allow players to create their own levels, as well as including Steam Workshop or any service to allow for you to share your levels with others and to play them!
Multiple Platform Support: Windows, Mac, Linux, Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo Switch

Participants during Ludum Dare 48:

  • Quartzi (Programmer / 2D Artist / Sound)
  • Flaquero (Programmer)
  • Syrsa123 (2D Artist)
  • Antsa (Programmer)
  • Mei (Writer)
  • Parsival (The Moral Support)

Development Tools used during Ludum Dare 48:

  • Unity3D
  • Visual Studio
  • Aseprite
  • Bandlab
  • Bfxr
  • Clip Studio Paint
Windows Version https://quartzified-studios.itch.io/deeper-caverns
WebGL Version https://quartzified-studios.itch.io/deeper-caverns
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/deeper-caverns

Ratings

Overall 519th 3.761⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Fun 368th 3.739⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 551th 3.533⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1520th 3.098⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 381th 4.141⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Audio 834th 3.295⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Humor 902th 2.679⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Mood 828th 3.558⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Given 61🗳️ 62🗨️

Feedback

PookiPoot
26. Apr 2021 · 20:20 UTC
Wow, dude this game feels pretty polished. I'm not the best at puzzles but I found it engaging towards the later levels. Great job on the art!
etom
26. Apr 2021 · 20:25 UTC
Wow, I love the strategy side of the game! Nice one!
Mero
26. Apr 2021 · 20:25 UTC
That is a rly nice game
thou the difficulty doesnt make me want to play for long
CorbenG
26. Apr 2021 · 20:28 UTC
Lots of possibilities for puzzles here! Great visuals too! Its always hard to wrap my head around using WASD to control isometric...
LudumDareDevil
26. Apr 2021 · 20:29 UTC
I love the art!
🎤 Quartzified Studios
26. Apr 2021 · 20:30 UTC
@pookipoot @mero
The levels were purposely designed to be somewhat easier, especially the ones at the start. There are 2 harder levels though, but the idea was to allow every to have a chance to get through the game and view the end ^^
LDJam user 237588
26. Apr 2021 · 20:31 UTC
Looks and feels very polished. Using the arrow keys in this isometric game is a little bit confusing for me though, but I got used to it.
PSV Games Studio
26. Apr 2021 · 20:56 UTC
The look of the game is very beautiful, and the mechanics are well done but in my opinion there could be a tutorial that would appear when the person got stuck in one part, and it could also inform about the mechanics of movement in the game, but other than that, a great game!
Wallkysek
26. Apr 2021 · 21:09 UTC
Wow, that is one polished game. I loved the art, music was nice, movement feedback was there. Only problem I had was to beat that level with multiple skeletons divided by water.. but that's on me.. 11p.m. here
Full score by me!
TheEpsi
26. Apr 2021 · 21:16 UTC
Awesome game guys! GZ!! I got a little bit confused with the controls in further levels but that didn't prevent me for trying and trying and having fun learning it!
Harrison Dunn
26. Apr 2021 · 21:52 UTC
This is pretty neat. It has a few unintuitive aspects. It took me forever to figure out you needed to "spend a move" pushing to offset the spike/fireballs. I got stuck on the skeleton/double river level because I couldn't figure a way to offset their movement. I liked the game though. Looks excellent!
stuffedgravy
26. Apr 2021 · 21:53 UTC
The art and animations are cute and consistent, and the game has a great mechanics foundation for challenging and interesting levels.

Few issues I was running into is that it wasn't really obvious you could kill skeletons, which caused me a bit of frustration. I also found it very difficult to see where the fireballs were at / going to. I think those made the game feel a lot more frustratingly difficult than it was meant to be.

Overall it was fun to play, and I felt pretty smart after completing some of the levels :)
Jinny Kang
26. Apr 2021 · 22:07 UTC
The gameplay was so innovative! I really like this style of gaming--reminds me of Nitrome's Rust Bucket which is one of my favorite games. I liked how some of the levels seemed hard at first glance, but then you realize you can just go straight without having to struggle with some of the skeletons. Personally, your game had the right amount of difficulty and fun that I wanted to keep playing even after the end!
Valid
27. Apr 2021 · 04:15 UTC
Very cute game! Lovely art and mechanics
Szymon OGD
27. Apr 2021 · 04:19 UTC
Love the pixel art, you made a lot of work. I had problems with steering, it was not so intuitive.
PS. The character looks like he was taken out from Dragonball xD
syrsa123
27. Apr 2021 · 05:44 UTC
Thank you everyone that have been enjoying this game so far. I had a lot of fun making the art for it, and I'm happy to see so many people liking it.
Finn_Tr
27. Apr 2021 · 09:32 UTC
This game is sooo cool! The art is fantastic and the game design is challenging and very fun, I had a lot of fun playing this! Super impressive game!! Great work!
LocustJin
27. Apr 2021 · 10:09 UTC
Very nice pixel art, amazing game with nice feeling. Good job!
Seng Yong
27. Apr 2021 · 11:13 UTC
nice to play
maybe making it a top view or something could helps lower the development time
and results in more time for content
Rayo
27. Apr 2021 · 12:00 UTC
The first game I tried in this jam. I like the presentation page it really catches the player attention to try the game out. The gameplay is solid and makes fun. It's easy and also challenging some time, which is good.

There were two times I was stuck because it was not obvious how you could kill skeletons and how they move/when they don't move. After I figured out how to kill them and that they don't move when I am on a bridge I was able to "win" the game.

Nicely done!
Game-mon
27. Apr 2021 · 15:14 UTC
Cool game! I especially liked that turn-based combat ungainst these clever skeleton AI. Very strategic & interesting, feels like playing chess. Liked the pixel art, too :) (One downside could be that the theme is not that much used.) Overall great job :D
Patsui
27. Apr 2021 · 18:47 UTC
Loved the graphics, isometric is rarely done in these jams! Great entry!
Parsival
27. Apr 2021 · 19:58 UTC
Thanks to everyone who tried out and enjoyed the game so far. We're glad you had (and hopefully still having :P) fun and thanks to all the feedback :D
No Grapes Games
27. Apr 2021 · 22:35 UTC
Cool game. The art is really well done. I like these kind of puzzle games. It was very well executed and this is a solid entry for sure. And a breath of fresh air to be honest. Keep it up!
rhoff95
28. Apr 2021 · 00:52 UTC
Is is one of the best games I have played this jam. Awesome design. Only thing I would like is for a visual indication that you can move into the skeletons to kill them. I had to trial and error a bit to figure that out, maybe if the arrow was red when you were next to them, it would be quicker to pick up without having to read directions. Well done.
🎤 Quartzified Studios
28. Apr 2021 · 08:30 UTC
@rayo @rhoff95
We are very aware that there was no showcase that skeletons were defeatable and we did do newer a better levels, yet this was after the submission period was over, therefore we did not submit them.

For anyone who interested in knowing, we are officially picking this game up, and further developing it with a custom level editor and sharing system in mind, so you can create your own levels and share them with your friends.
MetalFox Dioxymore
29. Apr 2021 · 08:13 UTC
Very solid and interesting game ! That's a very good concept, with an awesome execution !
Laurari
29. Apr 2021 · 20:06 UTC
made it till the end, but man those puzzles are hard!! btw, I had to play with my head tilted 45degr or I was confusing the arrow keys all the time xD I would suggest as an improvement, a change of perspective so it is orthogonal and not diagonal
great work!!
rosypenguin
30. Apr 2021 · 01:58 UTC
That was really tricky but a nicely polished experience. I also did not know about defeating the skeletons, and took a really long time figuring out that I could walk into the side of the exit door on the level with 2 skeletons in it. Overall, a solid entry with nice sprites, clear objectives, and challenging puzzles!
leggy
30. Apr 2021 · 12:37 UTC
The graphic design is beautiful and is really well polished. You made a wise choice, to have a bunch of features well-defined and a nice and clean lvel design. I like that! Good job
Glaikunt
30. Apr 2021 · 22:34 UTC
Great little game. Took me 10 mins to complete and was worth it xD Thanks for making it! ;)
DoctorTM
01. May 2021 · 02:56 UTC
Great jam! Love the puzzles. The graphics and sounds are well done. The ending though XD
beats
01. May 2021 · 04:42 UTC
Decent little puzzler, I thought the graphics were solid and gameplay was easy to follow, also nice touch adding dialogue at the end and the timer/moves taken. Some of the earlier levels felt more difficult than the latter ones. The isometric controls took a while to get used to, the isometric layout I felt was quite difficult to maneuver around in the fireball level. The spikes were also unusual in how they moved twice in one step when activating. But overall good entry with more fine tuning could be a even better.
Birdwards
16. May 2021 · 01:54 UTC
Thanks for submitting your game to my stream! I played it yesterday. You can watch me play it here (I start yours at 1:53:17):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsMPyOopzzU

Sorry for no game audio - OBS somehow stopped recording the computer audio without me noticing, but I could hear the audio just fine when I was playing it.