LudumData

Chthonic Brilliance by cassowary

[raw]
made by cassowary for Ludum Dare 48 (COMPO)

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You control a small slime who is trying to collect gems in the underground. Dig through blocks to make your way through all 20 levels!

You can destroy dirt and sand blocks, and push boxes, by selecting them with your mouse. Sand is affected by gravity. Collect all the small gems in the level first, and then collect the large gem.

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Controls:

  • mouse click to move the slime
  • R: reset level
  • M: toggle music

Tools:

  • Made with plain Javascript and HTML canvas.
  • I based the initial engine code off the engine of a previous LD game.
  • Graphics done with Aseprite, with the SimpleJPC-16 palette.
  • Music made (in like 15 minutes) with PXTone.
  • Sound effects made with the Magical 8 Bit VST.
  • Levels created with Tiled and compiled into a simpler format using the ulvl Python library.

Oh, and here is my personal website!

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Link https://github.com/cassowarii/ld48
Play on itch.io https://cassowary.itch.io/chthonic-brilliance-jam-version
Post-Jam Improved Version https://cassowary.itch.io/chthonic-brilliance
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/chthonic-brilliance

Ratings

Overall 68th 4.049⭐ 93🧑‍⚖️
Fun 71th 3.995⭐ 94🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 323th 3.451⭐ 93🧑‍⚖️
Theme 782th 2.875⭐ 94🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 75th 4.199⭐ 95🧑‍⚖️
Audio 151th 3.717⭐ 92🧑‍⚖️
Humor 338th 2.729⭐ 85🧑‍⚖️
Mood 318th 3.465⭐ 88🧑‍⚖️
Given 20🗳️ 18🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 243489
26. Apr 2021 · 02:17 UTC
Quite adorable, got stuck on 2 of the puzzles but eventually figured it out and got to the end!
Very polished experience and well rounded

Edit: Ah yes, forgot to mention, a level counter would be nice!
🎤 cassowary
26. Apr 2021 · 02:33 UTC
@pirate-rob I was going to put in a level counter but I ran out of time :cry:

I also would have liked to have it save your progress, but ah well, that's the way of the game jam I suppose
Paroxysmal
26. Apr 2021 · 03:35 UTC
Love the graphics and animation. Saw your blog posts and made sure to check out the finished game. Great job.
A0m1n3Zone
26. Apr 2021 · 09:09 UTC
The game look and feels very nice, good job :smiley:
But how you beat the first box level? :joy:
AppelNonSurtaxay
26. Apr 2021 · 12:38 UTC
Lovely! The game looks extremely clean (no visual cluttering, ugly buttons, aliasing blur / filtering). I got stuck at a level mid-game (I agree with @pirate-rob, a counter would be nice) but I'll try to come back when I'll have more time. Great job.
🎤 cassowary
26. Apr 2021 · 15:32 UTC
@a0m1n3zone for the first box level, push the box off the top, then push it under the platform with the small gems - you can jump up through the bottom of the thin platforms. Then you can push the box back over to the right and use it to complete the level.
nethead
26. Apr 2021 · 16:18 UTC
Love it :3 Sticking to a few well drawn sprites really worked in your favour. The levels were fun and well designed and everything felt really smooth.
frogmen
26. Apr 2021 · 16:29 UTC
for a game jam game, it's impressively polished! although (and this is a super tiny thing) i wish you had also drawn a custom cursor as well. i think that would've completed the aesthetic.

this game jam is making me realize how bad i am at puzzlers :sweat_smile: but from the levels i've been able to beat, there's a nice variety of new mechanics and challenge. great job!!
chriiis88
26. Apr 2021 · 16:32 UTC
Very polished, well done. Reminds me a lot of Supaplex. Some restrictions feel a bit arbitrary, e.g. why can you jump up through the slabs but not down?
Phobos001
26. Apr 2021 · 16:35 UTC
You did a fantastic job! The slime animations especially are very fluid. The puzzles were just the right difficulty. Super duper polished game. Great work man!
stevenjmiller
26. Apr 2021 · 16:41 UTC
Great game, I played through to the end. The presentation is wonderful and the difficulty curve is well done. I think it would be nice if there was an undo button or an option to make the slime move faster to make mistakes less punishing.
Wheffle
26. Apr 2021 · 16:57 UTC
This is a great example of simple mechanics with great execution. The slime animations were spot-on. I am not a puzzle game maker, I'm always impressed with level design in these types of games. Some of the levels had me scratching my head for a bit, but none of theme brick-walled me. Really nice balance. My only complaint would be that the game only just barely scratches the theme. Good work, I happily played through all the levels!
wizard sino
26. Apr 2021 · 17:19 UTC
Very fun, and with great graphics!
LDJam user 236545
26. Apr 2021 · 17:24 UTC
I was looking forward to playing this after seeing your blog posts. Really solid puzzle game! It was just the right amount of difficulty for me. The music and art style really made the game feel polished.

Great work! The end screen made me feel happy :)


![Untitled-1.png](///raw/10c/93/z/3dbca.png)
n-c0de-r
26. Apr 2021 · 17:54 UTC
Wow, this is the one I was looking out for! It's well made, gorgeous style.
The puzzles are very nice and fairly difficult. I'd love a level reset in some way?

Will also take a look at the code, I think it's a great chance to learn a lot.
Thank you
🎤 cassowary
26. Apr 2021 · 18:31 UTC
@n-c0de-r thanks! You should be able to reset the level by pressing R on your keyboard. I was planning on adding a move-by-move undo but didn't have enough time, haha.

Apologies in advance, the code is a huge mess. (and there are several bugs in the implementation which I "fixed" by designing the levels so they couldn't happen...) I hope reading it is still informative, though!
Gilokko
26. Apr 2021 · 18:57 UTC
I liked the game very much. I loved everything about it. Great job! :thumbsup:
ryannielson
26. Apr 2021 · 19:56 UTC
This was a real treat. There's a lot of polish in this from the animation blob animation to the puzzles themselves. This could make for a really cool full-release game if a few more gameplay elements were added. I could like to have seem some more automation in terms of character movement though. Instead of having to move block by block in some instances it'd be great if the multi-block movement always worked.

Nice job!
dpmzi
26. Apr 2021 · 20:26 UTC
Beautiful animation and creative puzzles! The way I often failed puzzles first and had to reset, made it feel really rewarding when I sat back and thought out my moves on beforehand. Really impressed with how complete the game feels, so much great polish in there!
squigglez
26. Apr 2021 · 22:36 UTC
very pretty and well designed game! love the way the mechanics come together, like the boxes on the crumbling platforms. also a big fan of the sound and music. good work!
Flatgub
27. Apr 2021 · 02:29 UTC
Very cute! I really enjoyed the puzzle design, the mechanics are simple to learn but there were multiple puzzles where I didn't immediately see the solution which made it more satisfying when I finally got it right! Really well done! There were times where I wish the "move multiple tiles in one click" thing knew how to go up stairs but its such a minor gripe I didn't mind too much!
Maple
27. Apr 2021 · 05:02 UTC
I really liked the graphics and vibe. The colours were particularly harmonious and the animation was done pretty well too. It gave me some cave story vibes, actually. Really nice level of polish given the time limit, and I enjoyed the progression of elements introduced. Well done :)
ErkaNec
27. Apr 2021 · 07:15 UTC
Fun and polished. Great job!
BrokenMatcha
27. Apr 2021 · 16:02 UTC
This is an amazing work! I love vim too and I'm so sad I can't use it easily with Godot engine.
Very nice work :)
tetrapteryx
27. Apr 2021 · 17:27 UTC
Really solid game! The feedback from the sound effects and animations make every click feel good, and the puzzle complexity scales beautifully. Every part of this is well executed, and super fun!
Okamit
27. Apr 2021 · 22:39 UTC
Supercute, graphics are very neat and fluid, love this kind of style! Great gameplay as well.

Really well don!
LelulaGames
27. Apr 2021 · 22:50 UTC
Adorable, and gets a bit challenging as you go. I love the mechanics and wouldn't mind seeing more levels with different kinds of blocks to use.
anactualhuman
27. Apr 2021 · 22:50 UTC
Really polished and good, the graphics are cute and the animation is fluid. The controls are really intuitive too.
Deseteral
27. Apr 2021 · 23:04 UTC
Very simple but polished graphics with very cute slime animation, great looking and helpful tutorial signs, clever level design and really nice music. Great game!
Seeko Studios
28. Apr 2021 · 00:28 UTC
I'm throughly surprised by the polish of this game, loved it!
nyanpierre
28. Apr 2021 · 02:50 UTC
I love the *squeeshi* character ! nice game
superpokeunicorn
28. Apr 2021 · 04:14 UTC
Fun little block pushing puzzle game. The interactions between the blocks made for some clever conundrums, and I'm surprised by just how many mechanics and puzzles you could fit in. I also like the cute art style and relaxing music. Controls worked well and were intuitive, though I think a keyboard control scheme would have been a bit easier to use. Overall, really solid entry. Nice work!
Slowfrog Again
28. Apr 2021 · 06:48 UTC
I can't resist a game like this. The pixel art animations are fantastic and an example on how to do things with very few colors and pixels. I don't know if I'll look at the code, but I'll certainly dissect the frames of the moving blob.
vsi-
28. Apr 2021 · 07:45 UTC
really liked the art and mechanics, good job!
Xenon27
28. Apr 2021 · 16:11 UTC
great game! polished to perfection and very fun to play
zimny11
28. Apr 2021 · 20:25 UTC
It was a fun puzzle game! Nice movement mechanics, graphics and music. I wish there was more types of blocks such as ice to slide or water that will allow you to swim up and down more than one square.
Slowfrog Again
28. Apr 2021 · 20:42 UTC
I've had a look at the spritesheet. With a bit more time, I bet we would have had ice blocks and aliens too.
:snowflake: :alien:
🎤 cassowary
28. Apr 2021 · 21:19 UTC
@slowfrog-again Haha, with more time there would have been ice blocks for sure -- I even had graphics for them! the alien was my initial attempt at the character pre-blob which somehow made it into the git repository. ;)
feralpoodles
28. Apr 2021 · 22:46 UTC
Super great game!! Puzzles were really elegant/simple while still being challenging enough to make me really think about it, and the art style is super cute. Great job!! :)
Peace Of Cake Games
29. Apr 2021 · 06:35 UTC
Really fun little game! Sadly I wasn't able to beat it since I'm tired and can't do puzzle games well when I'm getting sleepy, I'll have to get back to this later.
Acdia
29. Apr 2021 · 11:41 UTC
This is really cool! At the beginning I thought that the levels were a bit too easy, but then it didn't take long until the hard ones came. I like how you sometimes need to do things in an unusual order and think ahead. This is a special type of puzzle, that feels different from the standard ones (in a good way). The graphics are cute and you did a great job at introducing new elements. I found a little bug though. At this position I wasn't abled to move one tile to the right. I had to go one left and two right. But other than that, really well done!!

[SlimeSelectionBug.JPG](///raw/aaa/f2/z/418bb.jpg)
voidfishing
29. Apr 2021 · 19:06 UTC
The puzzles are really well-designed, and I love the art style! The slime is so cute and the little animations like the hearts popping up at the end of a level are a really nice touch, it makes the whole game feel really polished!!
Aurel300
29. Apr 2021 · 19:24 UTC
Very nice! I really like this style of controls.
AdamsMcCall
01. May 2021 · 04:06 UTC
Such a charming game. The graphics are simple yet works so well, everything seems so smooth. And the puzzles quickly get challenging without becoming frustrating, excellent work.

Also, never get the closest gem first, I'll remember that.
6smith
01. May 2021 · 04:23 UTC
great little puzzle game, no complaints!
LDJam user 5109
01. May 2021 · 04:27 UTC
Such a well done little puzzle game. I'm quite enjoyed the puzzles here =) The simple controls accentuate the puzzles so well. Great job!
Notan Lemon
01. May 2021 · 10:40 UTC
Nice little game. The graphics are really cute! I really wish the control was smoother, like faster animation and more intuitive character navigation, if possible.
Revilo
02. May 2021 · 05:35 UTC
Nice graphics and sound, Would be interesting to see some sort of par system or limited moves to make the player think about the best moves, but overall a great little game :D well done
DDRKirbyISQ
03. May 2021 · 05:17 UTC
Nice. That was short and sweet, and none of the puzzles overstayed their welcome. Not all of them were perfect, but there were some elegant ones. The last one in particular, I liked, as it was a nice bit of complexity using only a few pieces. Those are the most impressively-designed type of puzzles, I think.
Jordan Ottesen
03. May 2021 · 05:21 UTC
The animations really make this game shine. You've done a great job building something polished and engaging around a relatively simple mechanic. The puzzles are a good chill level of difficulty, never getting too hard but still making me stop to think before I blindly charge to each gem. The music fits that vibe super well. All in all, this is a solid submission.
zondarg
03. May 2021 · 10:38 UTC
Too cute this little slime. Good gameplay, difficulty is well balanced, easy to understand and control. Music and art go well together too. I really liked it, even if I often had to reset the level because I smashed one piece too early. :slight_smile: Good entry! :thumbsup:
fae.exe
04. May 2021 · 15:41 UTC
Oh boy! What a cute, smart puzzle game! I loved this! Really liked how you introduced your mechanics and exploited them. Loved the level with the destructible ground and the two boxes! It felt really good to plan out the solutions and execute upon them smoothly. I don't know why, but there's something in those point and click controls that were an absolute JOY to play!! That music is really nice. Beautiful polish! These animations and wonderfully crunchy, retro SFX really pulled it all together!
Wonderful <3 <3
John Chapman
08. May 2021 · 20:59 UTC
I love the readability of the pixel art. It's mechanically and visually really solid. One small gripe with it is that the sound of the slime moving doesnt seem to sync up with the animation. Also, the puzzle design and the fact that the hints are actual signs in the game are both very clever.
asdehielo
08. May 2021 · 23:58 UTC
Fantastic puzzle game, cute character, great sound design, good music. I liked the way you introduced every new mechanic through a simple puzzle. The levels were well designed, some of them maybe a little bit confusing at first (specially the sand levels), but there was always a logical solution.

This is a 10/10 from me, very good job!
tanis
10. May 2021 · 18:05 UTC
Such cute art! The puzzles are damn good and the tutorial as you advance is definitely well done. I don't like that much the music, but that's mainly because it becomes repetitive after a while.. which is kind of normal considering the time-constraints. No matter what, it's really polished. Good job!
Villanelle
11. May 2021 · 06:24 UTC
This is a great puzzle game! The difficulty curve is on point. You are able to learn the basic mechanics and then the game starts progressing organically. I enjoyed the music and graphics and the challenges are really well put together. Great entry!
8BitCharlie
11. May 2021 · 13:25 UTC
Pretty, simple and polished. Feedback: I would consider to add more complex deduction of taps. In other words, if you tap on any square and small slime can do one (unambiguous) action it should do it. One of the best entries so far!
blubberquark
12. May 2021 · 12:45 UTC
At first I was a bit annoyed by no arrow keys, but then I realised your game has *touch controls*
pancelor
12. May 2021 · 19:42 UTC
nice! I wish movement was faster, but I may just be spoiled from playing too many puzzlescript games haha. Some really nice levels in there. Nice work making all the levels and mechanics i just 48 hours!!
🎤 cassowary
12. May 2021 · 20:35 UTC
@blubberquark haha, it would, if it actually ran properly on phones. Definitely going to make it phone-accessible for the post-jam version, though. [edit: I have uploaded a very tiny bugfix change that should make it run a little better on phones. At least it's now playable, though only in portrait mode haha]

@pancelor I agree the movement is a bit slow; I've sped it up in the version I'm working on and now the jam version feels kind of unbearable lol
almost
13. May 2021 · 22:39 UTC
Really polished! I thought the green blob character was really cute :)

I made it to the end. I was stuck for a while on the first box-pushing level because I didnt realize that the platforms were one-way and I could hop up from below. I liked that there were simple levels to introduce new mechanics, though the difficulty curve overall was a bit back-and-forth between easy and hard. Arrow key controls would have been nice, other than the ambiguity for diagonally up to platforms.
DwightDavis
14. May 2021 · 03:16 UTC
Loved this! Great polish, super fun. Difficulty curve felt a bit random at times, but definitely there was a much higher level of challenge than I expected when I first started playing. Well done!
drludos
15. May 2021 · 00:23 UTC
really solid game, very polished, great music, great graphics, and fun to play! I really love the blob animations, and all the tiny details around here.
The control scheme is very easy to pick up, and although I played it on a computer I guess it mobile friendly too!

I can't believe you made it in 48h only, congrats!
hypp
16. May 2021 · 18:46 UTC
Well done. Really fun to play.