Cavernicus by Rashcan

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

Play as brave explorer Cavernicus as he faces his two greatest fears: staggering heights and consuming darkness. Using only the scant light of glowsticks, descend the endless, treacherous depths. Watch yourself! One wrong step will send him plummeting to his doom.

Cavernicus.png

Cavernicus_Preview1.png

Cavernicus_Preview2.png

Ratings

Overall 776th 3.595⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 607th 3.548⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 689th 3.405⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 201th 4.167⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Mood 547th 3.762⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Given 20🗳️ 24🗨️

Feedback

Ringabell
27. Apr 2021 · 17:54 UTC
I became slightly claustrophobic. very cool!
mlho7
28. Apr 2021 · 06:04 UTC
My best score is 2244m, but I jumped, falling straight and avoiding things by throwing glowsticks like a reflex race game, that was fun.
I really liked the lighting effect, good job.
tengusheath
28. Apr 2021 · 06:08 UTC
Missing the platform and falling down is really satisfying lol. Very creepy. Nice job
Alina Baybulatova
28. Apr 2021 · 15:21 UTC
Woow so cool atmosphere! You did what I expected from "deeper and deeper". I really liked it. Good job! Great mood)
Behdad
28. Apr 2021 · 15:29 UTC
It was fun :))) nice job! it was giving me a lot of stress though hahha!
LRVStudios
30. Apr 2021 · 03:51 UTC
Amazing atmosphere. with two ways of playing.

in a polite way, i tried first to throw the light sticks and go from platform to platform. Obviously, there are no sufficient light sticks to throw - and the claustrophobic atmosphere gets really intense...i loved it!

The second - and fun - way it's just play as @mlho7 said - a "deeper" racing and crazy game.

In any way, the game is amazing! Great atmosphere and mood, simple to get what to do and yet pretty chalenging.
PixelPlayToy
01. May 2021 · 04:31 UTC
This is a really simple idea but it was very fun. Good job!
darthone
01. May 2021 · 19:01 UTC
Very simple concept yet so atmospheric!
FireSlash
01. May 2021 · 20:39 UTC
Simple concept with solid execution, and surprisingly fun.

I wish it was a bit more clear how far you could fall before death; felt like there was a mechanic there I just wasn't seeing.

I found it pretty fun trying to "chase" lightsticks down to get multiple uses out of each one.

the audio also did a great job setting the mood. Graphics were simple but effective.

Nice work!
ardorugus
01. May 2021 · 23:24 UTC
Harsh sfx. A cruel one, but theme based game to score with. I actually needed some narrative purpose (within game) for why should I do that stunt jump.
🎤 Rashcan
02. May 2021 · 06:05 UTC
@mlho7 @lrvstudios The reflex game was unintentional but too fun not to keep in the game. I'm glad others are enjoying it as well!

@fireslash I definitely agree with the deadly fall distance being ambiguous. The main way I tell the player how close a fall is to being fatal is by how loud the landing is. It's (mostly) consistent that two platforms is the most you can drop. In hindsight, I probably should have used a fixed falling distance rather than velocity to determine player survival.

@ardorugus During development, I actually entertained the thought of providing a "motivator" in the form of a giant worm descending from above. It was a bit too late to throw that in, though, so the best I could do was say that it's the call of the abyss compelling our hero down the hole.

Thanks for playing the game, everyone!
ishmandoo
03. May 2021 · 02:53 UTC
Really nice work. Simple but effective!
cireneikual222464
03. May 2021 · 23:21 UTC
Simple but cool concept! I like the use of lighting to figure out where to go. Recommendation: I feel like it should maybe only count the distance descended up until the last time you landed, since right now just falling on purpose is the quickest way to get a high score.
Alexey Erzyukov
04. May 2021 · 09:45 UTC
1758m

Atmospheric game. Great idea. You can get stuck in the game for a long time. :)
leadphalanx
05. May 2021 · 23:28 UTC
The randomly generated platforms is a nice touch, can't just find one route to stick to. Simple but fun, wasn't sure if you intended on the 'falling' style of gameplay or not but they both work.
LDJam user 234807
08. May 2021 · 15:41 UTC
Very good visceral game! Graphics are very well done. I like the sound as well (played in Web version and unmuted). Can play this game for a long time. I like how the landing places change every time you die. In one of the tries I even found two extra glow sticks!! Too bad if you miss a few landing places the last thing you hear will be a thud as you smash onto a boulder. Ouch. Good job. Was very enjoyable! No lag or anything. Well rounded game.

PS: Nice catchy name for the game as well which you can remember when you need to find it again (after Ludum Dare kicks you out and you have to login again for the hundredth time before you can rate after playing for a while) sigh :/