LudumData

Depths of Darvaza by ghost-in-the-toast

[raw]
made by ghost-in-the-toast for Ludum Dare 48 (JAM)

ludum dare 48 box art.png 1.PNG2.PNG

DESCRIPTION

Depths of Darvaza is a side scrolling adventure platformer loaded with character and personality. Dive deep into the chasms of Darvaza as you are led by The Foreman of Alpheus Corp through the many levels of the U.W.U.S (Ultra Wide Underground Shafts). Your goal is to collect "Hopite", a coveted resource found on planet Darvaza. Once you've collected enough Hopite, return to the elevator and deposite your loot to descend further!

GAMEPLAY

SPACE- jump X- interact Z- shoot

CREDITS

  • @conduit - Music Production/Sound Design/Script/Voice Actor (NPCs and ???) :speaker:
  • @ghost-in-the-toast - Game Direction/Programmer/Sound Design/Pixel Artwork :space_invader:
  • @Skawly - Cover Artwork :paintbrush:
  • @Tank - Voice Actor (NPCs and The Foreman) :microphone2:
  • Michelle - For constant morale support and PIZZA! :pizza:
  • Arc - Instrumentation/Being a Rad Dude :sunglasses:
  • TheeStanMan - Also being a Rad Dude & holding down the fort while Conduit got a tattoo :laughing: :v:

PROGRAMS USED

  • Game Maker Studio 2
  • Fl Studio 11
  • Photoshop
  • Pyxel Edit
  • Other sound generating software

Updated v2 9:52am Fixed a game breaking bug and added more dialogue

Winders https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f8gt1P0H0B5g9wQGN7LwbQpH0jimr3ks/view?usp=sharing
Soundtrack https://soundcloud.com/officialconduit/sets/depths-of-darvaza-the-official-soundtrack
Winders [POST DARE] v3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ALXz6FwV5cPGBMSSEYIUGWjeKAVq7LVR/view?usp=sharing
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/depths-of-darvaza

Ratings

Overall 42th 4.274⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Fun 125th 4.024⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 870th 3.25⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Theme 428th 3.988⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 67th 4.535⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Audio 6th 4.535⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Humor 38th 4.28⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Mood 105th 4.274⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Given 54🗳️ 70🗨️

Feedback

Advay
27. Apr 2021 · 09:43 UTC
Extremely polished! Loved the narration. Shooting felt juicy! Fine Submission. Great pixel art. Definitely 5 stars overall.
Marcenat
27. Apr 2021 · 10:08 UTC
Whoa ! Such a polish game.

The audio is amazing, I've never seen such a good voice acting in a jam game, and the soundtrack does a nice job establishing the mood.
The writing is top notch (definitly some portal vibes here) and really funny. The end game twist made me think about metroid fusion where you find a secret lab ou weren't suppose to see. There's also a good sense of "show don't tell" with some nemy being cleary zombified extractors.

In terms of gameplay it's a bit classic but effective, I found the momvement a bit too "floaty" to do some precise jump (in level 3 I never managed to go pass that nasty wide jump on the far right).
What I like is that at first I was collecitng hopite and wondering "if I can bank it why not just farm the same monster again and agin since it respawn between death", but at level 4 I realised the real thing I should have collected was health, and that was more difficult to do ^^ (pretty clever twist onthe game design)

The graphics are really cool, very clear (which is important in a jam) and consistent.

Overal I'm impressed :)
creepyface
27. Apr 2021 · 14:34 UTC
WOW!!! This game is AMAZING! everything from level to sound design to visuals,, theyre all gorgeous! but i was a bit confused by the ending? im not sure why the boss fight repeated
honestly your game deserves more ratings!!
tengusheath
28. Apr 2021 · 02:43 UTC
The art, music, humor, and mood were all great. Amazing job. The movement was a little stiff and made platforming and combat harder than it needed to be, but other than that really great game.
JaeLiinah
28. Apr 2021 · 03:12 UTC
Positively fantastic! I wish there were more.
Conduit
28. Apr 2021 · 03:32 UTC
@jaeliinah don't we all :laughing:
Cam Moore
28. Apr 2021 · 03:35 UTC
Dang this is my favorite so far. Great art, color scheme is awesome, narration added a really solid feel. Great job.
creepyface
28. Apr 2021 · 07:15 UTC
Do you have other games or an itch account by any chance? :)
Uppitydonkey57
28. Apr 2021 · 10:39 UTC
This is a really awesome game! I really like the art and the combat reminds me a little of games like nuclear throne. My only problem is that once you release the jump button I feel like you fall down too fast.
Tank
28. Apr 2021 · 13:03 UTC
That narrator sounds like a super cool guy. I had a lot of fun working on this and I hope to do more in the future! Thanks for letting me help out on this awesome game!
Conduit
28. Apr 2021 · 22:01 UTC
@tank yeahhhh, he's not as cool as you think! total amateur and really difficult to work with :laughing: jk jk it was a pleasure having you bro, you nailed that narration!
Conduit
28. Apr 2021 · 22:58 UTC
@creepyface absolutely! You can check out @ghost-in-the-toast 's profile for all the Ludum Dares he, @skawly and I have worked on as well as some solo submissions!
Advay
29. Apr 2021 · 12:28 UTC
Extremely good voice acting! Love the pixel art. The jump feels a bit off. Overall a well polished game!
spadekHemoglobiny
29. Apr 2021 · 12:40 UTC
The main thing I found annoying is that the movement feels a bit 'floaty'. Other than that I love the music, and the mood of the game
She Wrote
29. Apr 2021 · 13:23 UTC
I really like the voice acting, music, comedy, story and color scheme. Well done.
Amaroq
29. Apr 2021 · 19:20 UTC
That's a noice voice acting! The game feel when shooting was pretty good but the controls were a bit lacking for a action platformer. Still, amazing entry!
bereg
29. Apr 2021 · 20:56 UTC
That's one of the best jam games I've ever played. The only thing to complain is a bit wacky controls (or it's just me being a noob). Other than that everything's perfect. Graphics, sound, music, narrative part with all the references (babel station, huh). Very cool mechanics (like the jetpack one). It just feels like a ready to ship game rather than the Jam prototype. Great job you've done here! Congratulations!
Conduit
30. Apr 2021 · 02:05 UTC
@bereg lmao I was wondering if anyone was gonna catch that reference :laughing: :sob: :laughing: glad you liked it homie, we definitely took a more story oriented approach with more to see and interact with this time. Where as in the past we focused a lot on mechanics and soundtrack. This was an absolute blast to craft sonically and are really glad you enjoyed it <3
Conduit
30. Apr 2021 · 02:09 UTC
@spadekhemoglobiny I was one of "few" beta testers so I can tell you this game is pretty difficult at times XD @ghost-in-the-toast still struck a great balance I think with the balance of risk vs. reward (with a cheese strat as well lol).
spadekHemoglobiny
30. Apr 2021 · 07:13 UTC
@conduit what i meant by my comment is that it feels like walking on ice, once you stop moving you don't fully stop but kinda glide on the ground for a bit, but maybe that was intentional
Conduit
30. Apr 2021 · 12:15 UTC
@spadekhemoglobiny oooh gotcha, yeah the character was meant to have some momentum, I remember commenting on the slippery feel lol
Maniulo
30. Apr 2021 · 21:24 UTC
Amazing voice-over work! Had lots of fun with the jetpack, but do agree that moving felt too slippery at times. Was unpleasantly surprised that you had to pay again to get down if you returned to the higher level; but I guess that's just capitalism.
picross
03. May 2021 · 04:48 UTC
Holy cow this game is polished! I'm shocked this is a jam game. Really nice work with everything in its presentation. Level design is great but needs a tiny bit of tweaking on some of the jetpack sections because they felt a tad bit too hard to land sometimes. I'm nitpicking though. Great work.
Jakob Hellermann
03. May 2021 · 19:06 UTC
The game was awesome! I really liked the graphics and audio, the story was witty. My biggest gripe was the controls, having to use the right hand for the arrow keys and the left one for 'Z' didn't feel so nice as opposed to a more conventional WASD/Mouse setup.
Theg
03. May 2021 · 21:23 UTC
I don't mind a slippery game although that combined with high gravity makes it pretty tricky to control. Really liked the whole feel of this though, good job!
jandourek
03. May 2021 · 22:30 UTC
I liked this game a lot! Good job on the audio, story, voice acting, graphics and challenge variety. The controls were a bit slippery as others have mentioned, but overall the game was pretty polished. I got really confused by the ending though. After you defeat the boss and finish the dialogue on the platform behind him, the level just restarts. And when I go up and then back down, the game crashes. I'm not sure if that's how it ends, or if I'm missing something. Other than that, good job!
Bajtix
03. May 2021 · 23:47 UTC
One of the most polished games I've seen for the jam, although there were some bugs (like clipping into the walls and skipping the bossfight). The voice acting together with the other sfx created a really nice atmospheric mood, It really felt like the planet was owned by a corrupt corporation. I think that it's difficulty is a little weird, though. There are some very hard jumps in some places, but theoretically you can cheese the whole game by killing the same enemies over and over. The artsyle is also very nice, kinda makes me think of the 80s
Conduit
04. May 2021 · 16:50 UTC
@bajtix @jandourek really glad you all enjoyed it! We focused a lot of atmosphere and the vibe this time rather than a mechanically focused jam like we have in the past. The game does end after the boss fight, so gz on a job well done! <3
evn
04. May 2021 · 23:32 UTC
I'm on mac so can't actually play but the soundtrack is fantastic!!! My favorite songs are 24 Kilometers and Corporate Dub. If I could rate audio more than 5 stars I would. Also from those screenshots graphics look amazing too. Hoping for a mac / web port!
Conduit
05. May 2021 · 01:28 UTC
@evn much appreciated! I actually didn't spend as much time as I usually do on the soundtrack, we heavily featured voice acting in this jam so that ate up a lot of time XD @ghost-in-the-toast would be the man to talk to about a web port :eyes:
Jvdwijk
05. May 2021 · 02:20 UTC
This was a really cool game! Really loves=d the voice lines and the story that came with it. The combat was a bit easy since the enemies kind of lined up to get killed. An 'easy' fix would be to add some randomness to the AI's movement ^^
SpacialSeasoning
05. May 2021 · 04:07 UTC
Great story for a dare game! For some reason, the elevator reminds me of half life.
mariszin
05. May 2021 · 06:00 UTC
Great game, the story and dialogue awesome. Fantastic job!
Sheol
05. May 2021 · 06:50 UTC
I loved everything about the game!! Really love that there was voice acting for the narrator and the other characters in the game! I played the non post jam version and found the movement to be a bit too slidey and floaty, but apart from that I'd say that the polish on this game is really good!! My only feedback would be to maybe add in a jump buffer and coyote time to make the platforming aspect slightly easier. Other than that, really good job!!
Lisichka
05. May 2021 · 08:48 UTC
the graphics are very cool but I think the character is very carried away. And these abbreviations)))
Amar Ravi
05. May 2021 · 09:36 UTC
Thats some really good voice acting! I couldnt finish the story, but youve done a great job with the polished visuals and sounds. Also dig the humor sprinkled throughout the dialogues! I do wish the combat was different though, in such close encounters, relying on a gun for combat felt unnaturally difficult for me, I'd have loved to be able to jump on enemies to take them out, or even a melee option.
badabooom63
05. May 2021 · 21:59 UTC
Great game, I liked the humour and graphics a lot! Gameplay is also nice, I liked that you have new abilities and new health each time you go deeper. Had quite hardtime at 3rd level (and also didn't find out how to reach left high platform at danger zone there), but I liked the "secret ceiling" ommage to Mario at the second floor :D
Great game, I would not be surprised if it was a big full game at Newgrounds at its best days (I hope that it is not considered as insult, I just got really strong vibe from that time - and I loved that time :D)
etrealjunior
07. May 2021 · 16:53 UTC
Wow, I have to applaud the work of this team, I do not remember seeing in Jams an audio quality mainly so good, it is very professional, the intonation of words, performance, clarity, everything is very beautiful, apart from the arts that have a lovely color palette only thing that in my opinion was not good, not that it is wrong, but the level of the game is so high that it seems wrong for enemies to slip, and not seem to feel the real impact of a lightning bolt that is the size of it, suggestion do not need to press the button 2 times to restart, I played the Ludum version to make my observations to be fair to others, I hope I helped, I await your feedback, I will be very happy, a big hug.
Conduit
07. May 2021 · 22:22 UTC
@jvdwijk @spacialseasoning @mariszin @sheol @lisichka @amar-ravi @badabooom63 @etrealjunior thank you guys so much for all the amazing feedback! We're very proud of the work we put into LD48, again a big thanks to @tank for absolutely selling the role of the Foreman, if it wasn't for him Depths of Daravaza wouldn't have nearly shined as bright as it does. Again, thank you all for the very detailed feedback :)

-much love,
Conduit :cloud_lightning:
MarkoPoloDev
08. May 2021 · 18:00 UTC
I don't have much to add to the praise from the other comments, great work! I do have a crash report: after descending from level 4 to level '????' I foolishly listened to the guy telling me to turn around and went back up the elevator instead of continuing. Then, after going through level 4 again and trying to use the elevator to level '????' a second time, I got this:
![Screenshot (6).png](///raw/988/e/z/424b1.png)
etrealjunior
08. May 2021 · 20:59 UTC
I really enjoyed your game and paid tribute in voxel.
![ludum48_Depths of Darvaza.png](///raw/eb2/53/z/424d4.png)
Conduit
09. May 2021 · 01:52 UTC
@markopolodev one of our friends who tried the game had the same thing happen to him, unfortunately it seems to be one of the fatal game jam bugs :laughing: @etrealjunior OH MY GOD! This is absolutely STUNNING, thank you so much for the love :heart:
nsadie
09. May 2021 · 19:35 UTC
Nice game! I enjoyed the story, colours and the voice acting!

The controls felt a little imprecise to me, I felt like there was a bit too much slide when jumping onto a platform and with the relatively low jump height I would often miss jumps or slide over the platform when making the jump.
Euler Moises
10. May 2021 · 14:59 UTC
With nothing to say. An absolutely complete game! Good art (well chosen and unexpected color palette). I love limited palettes. Music plays exactly its role in creating the mood and as we descend the music changes. Perfect! Narration is the best of audio. The most surprising to me: A suspense story with an unexpected ending!

Congratulations to those involved!
Conduit
10. May 2021 · 21:06 UTC
@euler-moises thank you so much for the kind words, I can speak for all involved that it was a sincere work of passion 😊 thank you again for playing!
tessahardin
11. May 2021 · 14:55 UTC
incredible entry. loved the nether color palette, the art, the sound design, the voice acting, etc. could not praise this enough. talk about a 5 star entry.
Conduit
11. May 2021 · 16:28 UTC
@tessahardin thank you so much for the kind words <3 we're beyond glad you enjoyed our jam game :smile:
Chase of Bass
14. May 2021 · 01:41 UTC
This one was really impressive! :o Loved the art and palette! Also the use of sound design was excellent! Amazing work!! :D
GuitarBro
16. May 2021 · 21:21 UTC
Nice polish you've got with the voice acting! Found a way off the map and softlocked myself on level 3 (oops). Gameplay was solid though I felt the movement was a little on the slide-y side (perhaps that's just my taste). Graphics were minimal but pretty aesthetic and the music fit nicely. Well done!
xatulu
17. May 2021 · 15:13 UTC
Hi there,

so right of the bat, I noticed one thing with your game - shooting the gun requires the Z button. Due to me using a german PC, this setup is highly inconvenient (Z is next to T on the keyboard).
So, after some tinkering, that was fixed (and I didn't factor that into my scoring, just letting you know)

Overall, I really dig the artstyle. The color palettes are coming together nicely and it is just pleasing to look at. Great Spritework as well!

The Sound design is suberp - I love the voice lines.

Gameplay wise, I'm really bad at dodging the enemies, so i didn't get very far on the first try, but getting there. Solid game, would recommend playing!