The Forgotten Crawler by wolderado
You're stuck in an old dungeon crawler game that is being deleted 💾🗑️
Every 10 seconds game deletes a bunch of game elements. Will you be able to stop the operation or deteriorate along with the world?
Sidenote: You can download the game from below if you're having performance issues or want to play it fullscreen
Features:
- Old school dungeon crawler/FPS gameplay
- Talk to other NPCs while the game slowly deteriorates
- 4 different endings
- 4 different levels with classic RPG environmental themes
Controls:
- WASD move
- Mouse Look
- E Interact
- Hold ESC to quit
I originally wanted to join Compo category but couldn't make it in time. So everything in this game made from scratch. I'll work on a post-jam update to add custom sounds and musics! Update: Post-Jam update is here!
Post Jam version (1.1.0) changes: * Added various old-style sound effects! * Custom musics with a creepy atmosphere * New 3 NPCs to talk to at the last level * Adjustments to dialogues * Added visible markers to levels to help with guidance after corruption rises to high levels
Change log 1.0.1 (Jam version) * Fixed various the bugs that cause the other 3 endings to be not reachable * Player y-axis camera bug fixed * Shortcut in level 4 fixed * Moved the some ending sequences to another scene * Bug that respawns the picked-up item fixed * Old man not reacting to your artifact bug fixed * Bug that causes your data to reset after every level fixed * Invisible sword bug at level 1 fixed
Ratings
| Overall | 40th | 4.225⭐ | 42🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 216th | 3.813⭐ | 42🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 9th | 4.45⭐ | 42🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 20th | 4.463⭐ | 42🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 64th | 4.475⭐ | 42🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 34th | 4.269⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 95th | 4.103⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 42🗳️ | 41🗨️ |
Absolutely great art too! I got the bad ending the first try, as I got extremely lost at the end, and virtually had no idea where I just was. But that also fits the genre, and I still felt some kind of direction at least, unlike if I were playing Daggerfall for example haha. Also the fact that there *is* a bad ending is really reassuring, I feared I were destined to roam these similar looking halls for minutes on end before quitting in frustration.
Hope in the future you could expand it a little bit, maybe give it some sound effects! But for the jam it's a really really great entry. Congrats!
well done you really managed to give that retro aesthetic !!
Although, I have missed some other mechanics apart from walking, I'm sure you had a lot of ideas but of course, no time! Really good job!
Nevertheless, the game was great and really fun! Really enjoyed the dialogues and overall dialogue script too. Well done!
It's kind of sad when you think about it, all those worlds that got deleted forever just because they weren't popular enough for someone to bother porting them. The same thing might happen with us.
I only have 3 minor gripes.
1. Backtracking was super confusing. Lots of the rooms looked pretty similar, especially when the world was falling apart. Having a distinguishing feature per room would have been nice (which, yeah you did do. Trees, lava, water, sewer, etc.) It still felt confusing, but maybe it was just me.
2. The lack of audio was kinda disappointing, but considering you did this by yourself and intended it to be a compo, it's completely forgivable. You managed to put a ton of stuff into this, so I wouldn't worry too much about something like that.
3. The HUD was way too big. It obscured at least 1/3 of the screen, which I don't really think is acceptable. Luckily it didn't take away from the experience, but if I was playing the web version, it might have been pretty bad.
Those were only very minor gripes, and when I have to get nitpicky you know you did a wonderful job.
Also, I loved the humor of the NPC's. They were so self aware, had references to other games, and in general were just super funny.
Great game. This is super impressive!
The only issue is that something was amiss without music.
Like everyone else has said, amazing progress with the quality of your games, keep at it! :v:
@johnnysix How did you clip into the void :smile: That shouldn't be possible :smile: I mean game deletes the level but game shouldn't be that buggy :smile:
@paul-avallone Thanks! I'm glad you liked it! I've done some improvements to help with the navigation in the post-jam version.
@mateu Thanks a lot for the detailed comment! Backtracking definitely should be improved. And I couldn't make the audio in time for the jam sadly. But there are sounds and music in the post-jam version. I understand why you think the UI is annoying and I agree too! But it's part of the aesthetic. Old games (especially RPG games) have this huge unnessary panels with small game screens :smile: So I wanted to copy that aesthetic
@harry-alissavakis Thanks a lot! Yeah that accidentaly returning to the previous world was kind of annoying. I did a temporary fix on that in the post-jam version
@chase-of-bass Thanks! I'm glad you liked the game!
When backtracking, sometimes I entered the sewer level at the entrance, rather than the exit which seemed weird. Also one time I managed to get the admin key without needing the artefact first.
Some music would have been nice.
@someone Oh you reached all four endings?! Congrats! Did you download the post-jam version (1.1.0)? It should include sound fx and music
A suggestion: Maybe put the NPC that tells you that the important NPCs don't get deleted in an easier to spot location? I waited longer that I care to admit for the troll guy asking for money to get deleted before figuring out what I needed to do, haha.
I do kinda wish the deletion mechanic affected the gameplay more, but you got a LOT done for solo game jam projection. I'm curious actually, what was your workflow to get this amount of systems/content done so quickly?
In any case, fantastic work for a game jam!
@allie-vera Thanks!
@nick-shooter Actually all npcs gets deleted. Even important ones. But they get deleted on high corruption levels. Ideally you shouldn't have to wait for an NPC to disappear :smile: There is a purse on that same level that you can give it to the troll.
I wanted to affect gameplay a much more too but then the player experience suffers too much. I do join a lot of game jams. So the secret is game jam practice and cruching really hard :smile: Also I wrote some of game systems for my other games too many times so I don't need to test them too much. Like dialogue system or player movement.
Thanks a lot for the feedback!
Seeing the levels getting destroyed around you sure adds a nice sense of urgency :smile:
The level design and dialogue system are great. I can't believe it has 4 endings.
WP!
Overall, this was a really great submission; keep it up! :thumbsup: