The Well by FlyingKaida

[raw]
made by FlyingKaida for Ludum Dare 51 (JAM)

Controls: Move: WASD or Arrow keys Attack: Mouse Click

The mayor contemplates the well in the center of town bulging from the pavement. There's something evil about it, but he just couldn't remember why. Maybe something to do with why there seems to be houses for ten times the residents who live there. Maybe if we send an adventurer to investigate. weird how suddenly there are never any around anymore.

FlyingKaida's first roguelike dungeon. Kill 20 orcs to win. Just don't blink, everything seems to feel... different when you do. Almost like you can't quite remember what's happening down there.

I had SO much fun working on this game. I have so many features I'm hoping to implement after the jam. Such as an entire False Hydra narrative and boss fight. But for now enjoy fighting the orcs. ^-^

Ratings

Overall 1149th 2.806⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1121th 2.645⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1032th 2.767⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Theme 790th 3.438⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Humor 945th 2.038⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Mood 373th 3.672⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Given 15🗳️ 36🗨️

Feedback

frozenfire92
05. Oct 2022 · 12:09 UTC
Pretty good entry! The blacking out was disorienting and confusing at first, but I quickly realized it was part of the theme :smile: I tried a few rounds but found it difficult to win because the orcs drained my health way quicker than I could theirs, and the blacking out/teleporting made it hard to keep on one enough to kill it :sweat_smile:

Good work on the lighting/visibility implemented, nice touch
Steve7411
05. Oct 2022 · 23:59 UTC
I found myself wishing that the blackout transitions were a little shorter, but I enjoyed the maze exploration and combat!
etrealjunior
06. Oct 2022 · 02:27 UTC
I like what I saw and I loved the idea, being confused in the game did the game mechanics well, with this base in the future you open up a huge range of sequels, it can turn out to be an exploration game, a horror game or maybe both, very good your participation, I am grateful to have the honor to play your game, a big hug.
rosypenguin
06. Oct 2022 · 02:30 UTC
Cute little roguelike, but very challenging. Wish there were health pickups or some knockback on the enemies when I hit them. Good work!
JackOfCups
07. Oct 2022 · 14:49 UTC
That was fun! I find the premise very intriguing - lapsed memories, the mysterious well.
LDJam user 273626
07. Oct 2022 · 15:45 UTC
Thank you everyone! Item pick ups were definitely in mind for the game, if only I had time to add them in, or any of the many other ideas. And I regret so much for forgetting to put the orc hp back to 1-4 hp and left it on the testing 5 hp DX.

The lag time for the blackout is 100% the regenerating the level. Sadly, the engine just didn't want to handle that too quickly. And the sound bug during that! That will be fixed next iteration of the game.

And that ONE orc! I have NO idea where the invinci-orc came from but I will be digging and correct that bug. I'm just happy that you do NOT need to kill him to still win. But apparently a friend of mine played it and has dubbed him, 'Heroark' of the 'Herobrine' likeness lol. So he may be back in the game after fixing him off and on as a super rare spawn.... or I could just keep him in a constant line of , "Removed Heroark" in the changelogs XD
D34TH0FTIT4N5
07. Oct 2022 · 22:45 UTC
pretty cool entry, i liked the cool wall shadows! movement and controls felt nice! the weird blacking out was a bit strand at first tho!
ping78
08. Oct 2022 · 00:56 UTC
Nice game. Love the atmosphere. Well done.
Rincs
08. Oct 2022 · 03:42 UTC
Oh man I felt a little spooked!! That blink-blackout made me worry of what I might see next!! If you do continue working on this, I hope to see more of the story!! :D
Roitchie
08. Oct 2022 · 11:13 UTC
Honestly, the music in this might be the best of any game i've played this dare. The layering of the audio as the rounds go on, switching from left channel to right to both and then adding additional accompaniments sounded really great. It definitely deserves a 5 in that category, which is why it's such a shame you opted out of that category.

I am not sure if it was intentional but at the end of the 10 seconds the audio would glitch and keep skipping till the next round started.

The combat and movement felt good but maybe some upgrades or pickups as someone else suggested would've made that feel less repetitive. But this is a really solid entry, especially in audio and mood and you should be proud.
Shadowcast
11. Oct 2022 · 08:58 UTC
Gotta appreciate the stencil shader.
LDJam user 298496
11. Oct 2022 · 09:25 UTC
There's a good basis for a game here, but I couldn't work out if the audio was intentionally spatial. At first I was heading towards the music but I never found anything. It reminds me of when I accidentally use a AudioStreamPlayer2D node rather than a AudioStreamPlayer node in Godot.

I look forward to future development!
Lucas Simmons
12. Oct 2022 · 16:09 UTC
Really interesting idea, I would definitely love to see more of a game like this
Ryan Dotsikas
12. Oct 2022 · 17:57 UTC
Wow this was so interesting! What a brilliant idea! I love the mood you set up with the story up front and the whole idea of this "False Hydra" arc is great. Blinking and suddenly being somewhere else in the sewers is a great mechanic! I wish the blink was faster, since it definitely paused there for a few seconds and the audio would glitch out a bit. But with a cool blinking effect of darkness on the screen followed by immediately being elsewhere would be absolutely chilling! Really great job!
LDJam user 273626
12. Oct 2022 · 18:10 UTC
@ryan-dotsikas
Thank you! I'm still looking for a way to speed up the blinking process, but that is the time it takes to fully generate a new floor plan before placing you back in. I'm planning on a later iteration making that blinking mechanic more of a semi rare monster's attack or death throes or something like that. But thank you so much for your kind words! I have sooo much story I wanted to add and so many more mechanics like item drops, and maybe go about it like in dead cells where you could unlock certain better item drops to give more of a progressive feel to it.

@matt-ravenhall Yeah that was the exact issue. The sound was put in just before uploading and I legit forgot that lesson from my last jam rofl.

@rincs I plan on it! I'm wanting many more layers deep, boss monsters, items, actually having the false hydra in the end, and make a top town layer to buy goods etc, where the more you progress the less townsfolk there are. I'll be sure to push them to my itch as I make enough progress to it!

I had a lot of fun with this and I plan on putting much more work into it!
LoHii
12. Oct 2022 · 18:39 UTC
The mood is excellent, but as other have said, the transition is a bit logn and almost makes you feel like the game crashed.
Defrag
12. Oct 2022 · 21:12 UTC
I didn't have a sense of spatial awareness as I explored the maze. Were any of the 10 second sessions actually portions of the same maze? I thought this was a nice foundation for a moody RPG, especially with the thematic music and lighting. I also have some of the same feedback that it looks like other folks already listed (enemies too tough, blackout a little too long).
Guildo
12. Oct 2022 · 21:15 UTC
This is so well done! Simple, and yet, entertaining! I really love this dark vibe of the game, it makes me want to play more!
Ninjavitis
13. Oct 2022 · 03:22 UTC
A roguelike with built-in teleportitis? Rough, man. :)

The game stuttered whenever the player teleported, and given how core a mechanic it is, it ended up being disruptive. I'd encourage you to optimize the teleport code so the game can progress smoothly.
Gildar76
13. Oct 2022 · 20:41 UTC
Like it overall, the audio felt a little weird with headphones, but this was probably essentials
LDJam user 259666
14. Oct 2022 · 13:24 UTC
This is cute !
Sarah
20. Oct 2022 · 01:56 UTC
I was confused at first with what was happening during the black screen, maybe some text to explain that youre moving places would be helpful there.