Deep down the asteroid by FrauKauz
Deep down the asteroid
It’s about an astronaut who has to take soil samples deep inside an asteroid and then find a mysterious artifact (a portal?).
Dig deeper and deeper down, but think carefully, because you can’t go back up, and before you know it, you’ll miss more of those promising soil samples.
Or you’ll be sharing a cozy narrow passage with several aliens. Oh and, yes, there are dangerous aliens.
How to play
- left and right arrow to walk
- down arrow to dig
- you can only move horizontally (no jumping) or fall down
Your goal is the green hovering circle. Collect as much green goo as possible! Avoid the purple spikes and alien walkers! The alien walkers will move horizontally and eventually fall down holes.
Backlog (for post jam updates)
- Tweak hit boxes (fixed in post jam version we'll upload soon)
- Tweak falling animation and acceleration (fixed in post jam version we'll upload soon)
- Create more levels
- Add (3rd party) music and sound effects
- Add animation to the bottom tile that is destroyed by the astronaut (fixed in post jam version we'll upload soon)
- ...
About us
We are a couple from Germany and this is our third jam as a couple. We started quite late this time (Saturday evening) and are excited to see what we will achieve in the coming hours. After our last game (the Cashier Simulator) was unfortunately more work than fun (both for the developer and the player, but especially for the player), we agreed to do less experiments this time. This time we chose a more common gameplay that might already look familiar to some of you. We also use a technology that is also meant for game development (Game Maker Studio 2) and try a space retro pixel look. So far we're having a lot of fun and we're very curious to see what else this Game Jam will bring to light!
The whole game, including the graphics, are done in Game Maker Studio 2 - the first time we settled on this engine for a game jam.
| Link | https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jdwuq1eyv3aqszu/AADZSgaKTfhU2ztguFQQcGwda?dl=0 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/deeper-and-deeper-9 |
Ratings
| Overall | 1232th | 3.333⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1049th | 3.256⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1174th | 3.026⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 837th | 3.705⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 1110th | 3.5⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 1068th | 2.472⭐ | 38🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 1400th | 3.115⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 36🗳️ | 55🗨️ |
I must say I'm impressed by the design. At first I was a bit annoyed about the digging speed and being unable to move around while falling (since it felt a bit clunky), but after a pair of rounds, I started to "get it".
Rather than a 2D platformer, I started seeing this as a 2D puzzle thriller, where I couldn't jump around obstacles and clearing my path also helped the enemies find me. Taking quick decisions about the best route for the most points started pumping me up. I certainly can see the potential in something like this having multiple levels and new mechanics. Is there anything you wanted to implement for this that you couldn't because of time restraints? I think it'd be fascinating insight!
Anyhow, that's my two cents on this. Good game with good scope and size for what it is. Can't wait to see if people start optimizing the time and route to get even better highscores! :whale:
Thanks for posting your high score!
Well, we had the idea to add a small storyline and at least a win screen or animation when reaching the portal.
And maybe some ladders (as in the board game Ladders and Snakes) could be interesting, what do you think?
It's simple but really fun. At the start it felt pretty clunky and I thought I got bugged inside the wall, but after I undertsood what's going on it became a fast decision action game. I can see myself playing it on my phone if you make it possible and add more levels.
Btw, you started late on friday evening? You mean saturday? :wink: Or else it wouldn't be late, haha
But taking into account that it took you 8 hours (commented above), good job.
Nice one
The hitbox of the spikes specifially was too big in my opinion, but maybe that was part of the leveldesign?
I wasn't able to pick all the plants but as they count as score, I think you may not have to get all of them.
Not going up perfectly fit the theme and the animations are also really cute. ^^
@WormholeGames Thanks :D we're flattered!
@Lintfordpickle We are glad that the game encouraged you to play several times!
If critique is your style:
Personally I think the UI shoul not have been all lowercase, but that's my preference
Would've loved more levels, since it was actually really fun!
Good job guys!
For example like the Soundtrack in Candice DeBébé (see link at bottom as it doesnt want to be inline).
But between very bad (not funny ones) and none, I guess none is better.
https://youtu.be/3pFw90XzS5w
Pros:
- simple concept
- acid drilling ftw
- funky graphics
Cons:
- Wish there was ANY sound!
- kinda unpredictable enemy behaviour
- A bit too short??
- Can still die after winning
Decent job nontheless. Congrats!
This was a fun one to mess around with and try for the high score. Would be nice if you could add some post-jam audio to make the game pop a bit more, but everything else from the art to the concept to the programming was solid. Nice job! :thumbsup:
After playing through, some constructive feedback if you like:
Wonderful things:
- BEAUTIFUL pixel art and animations with great colors
- Simple, yet fun gameplay loop
- Great strategy between choosing simply falling down vs. digging
- Just about right difficulty
Things to improve on:
- Add some variety in enemies / power-ups (I know it's hard in a game jam timeframe)
- I really missed sounds and music :(
- Maybe more, or random-generated levels?
Anyways it's great fun to play! :v:
@Dan McAlister @MikoziQ Sound effects and background music are definitely something we want to include in the next LD, even if they are ridiculous pew pew noises :D
@nsadie @MikoziQ Thank you for reporting this bug, we fixed it and we'll upload a fixed post jam version of the game later this day!
@ColeSlaughter We had a blast watching you guys play our game, thank you for your feedback!
@panurge Thanks :D
@guladam We're flattered :D. Yes, it's kind of a MVP of a game and more levels, more types of enemies were a stretch goal that we couldn't archieve. We opted out background music and sound effects from the beginning, but since a lot of you critized the lack of any sound, we will give it a try next LD!
Being unable to jump made the decision-making and planning ahead much more interesting and challenging. However, it sometimes meant there was no way to get all the goo. Maybe some sort of limited number of short jumps (like only 1-3 or so) would be interesting?
The digging animation felt a little bit slow to me. I think the pace of the game could be picked up a bit.
Overall this was a short and sweet game. Good work.
I really liked it - gave me the great nostalgic feeling, likes games in Windows' Microsoft Entertainment Packs from the 90s. The monsters were tricky to avoid! -M