LudumData

Trash Catchers by mira

[raw]
made by mira for Ludum Dare 58 (JAM)

You are in command of two steampunk ships, and your quest is to command both through treaturous waters, and collect trash, salvage and treassure along the way, using your net. Not only do you have to deal with sharp rocks, but you get to find our what the "here be dragons" means on the edges of your maps. Collect as much wealth as possible, upgrade your ship and most importantly, dont sink.

HOW TO PLAY

use WSAD to move one ship, and

use ←↑↓→ to move your other ship (or get a friend to do it for you!)

Credits:

Main programmer: mira

Programmer: Skel3ton

Programmer: radekvrs

Main pixealartist: Jadener

Pixelartist: MirovaManzelka

Music composer: Audris Franchesca

Writing and lore: Štáffa

Special thanks to the following stream viewers for joining in to help a little:

patrik0974 for his gray rock sprite

kokshi3914 for his brown rock sprites

hvezduska for his redhead girl reskin, rock and floating salvage sprites

play in full screen mode

Link https://quietmuffin.itch.io/trash-catchers
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/58/trash-catchers

Ratings

Overall 377th 3.529⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Fun 473th 3.227⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 242th 3.5⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Theme 239th 3.909⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 309th 3.848⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Audio 274th 3.47⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Humor 380th 3.03⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Mood 421th 3.5⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Given 26🗳️ 47🗨️

Feedback

Anderson Job Loeffler
Oct 07th · 00:15 UTC
![2025-10-06_21-11.png](///raw/79c/f5/z/6e60c.png) < that hurts :cry:


Jokes aside, this was a really fun game. I especially liked the character designs and the overall art style. Making them pirates was a great take on the theme. Keep up the great work!
Jcourt
Oct 07th · 06:22 UTC
At the beginning of the jam I was trying to think of a way to make an ocean trash collector game fun, and I couldn't think of anything, but this was really great! I'm jealous that I didn't think of the 2 player rope thing.

I felt like the speed was very manageable playing the game alone, but I think it might have felt a little bit too slow if I was playing with another person. And I thought the dragon was a really good addition. It made the game more interesting.

I do wish there was a little bit more variety to the game - more monsters like the dragon, maybe with different behaviors, etc. I think that's a good problem to have though.
PetaKlecko
Oct 07th · 06:39 UTC
Very nice game, great work !!! ♥ Love it!
beguilint
Oct 07th · 12:49 UTC
I loved the art and sound effects! Controls worked as expected :D
Semenchk
Oct 07th · 12:52 UTC
Very nice pixel characters, I love pixels. The artist is the best.
Antarktis
Oct 07th · 12:53 UTC
nice game
Jo Bettaque
Oct 07th · 12:58 UTC
Nice graphics, cool idea, i deffinitly enjoyed it! Only critique i found is the collisions aren't super clear but it wasnt a great issue :)
Hymirth
Oct 07th · 13:17 UTC
It was fun! I didn't really understand the reason not to just put the ships as far apart as possible, it might have been more intense if the rope interacted with the rocks. But I had fun.
atsh
Oct 08th · 19:43 UTC
Loved the art of the 2 girls, and the idea was unique

I wonder if the "winning" strategy is to just be on the 2 corners of the screen, and all the way to the back, and only move when rocks are on the way? Although it got me once, but the damage is not too bad

It's a solid idea with lots of potential - well done!
DeadCode
Oct 08th · 19:43 UTC
Awesome little game! Pretty art and characters!
Electric Sun
Oct 08th · 19:48 UTC
dragon bit was sick! Its cool idea that id love to see more of.
Solvenoff
Oct 08th · 20:02 UTC
Thumbs up for the art, music, and story. The idea is cool too — it would be even better if the rope could get tangled on the rocks and pull the ships back.

Also, the dragon comes out really fast and suddenly — that’s why I lost twice.

But overall, really great job, guys :)
spacecadet
Oct 08th · 21:23 UTC
I really enjoyed the art, music and the general atmosphere on your game. The game felt really polished and had the multiplayer aspect was nice. The resolution was too big for my screen which made playing a bit hard and the full screen button just turned everything black. Not sure if it was supposed to work. Other than that really great entry.
Starlight Glimmer is best poney
Oct 08th · 21:36 UTC
Collected 10k before feeding a ship to a dragon:

![Screenshot_20251008_230529-1.png](///raw/f90/1/z/6f02f.png)

Cute game. Loved how the ships could "hug" each other though I think the rope should have had a limited length.
skiddings
Oct 08th · 21:40 UTC
Great work! Impressive all round.
It was getting a little easy when I realised I could just keep the ships far apart to pick up everything but the dragon at the end made it really fun. A nice degree of polish.
One bug - if you're touching a rock while the shop is up it will kill you.
LDJam user 417758
Oct 09th · 02:32 UTC
Pretty art and characters!
Eugenik
Oct 09th · 03:33 UTC
Cool fun game!!!.
Divarium
Oct 09th · 08:30 UTC
Very original way of playing. I like when the gameplay is making me think like the characters are suposed to in ther job/lives. Well done !
Psevdonim
Oct 09th · 08:41 UTC
A very cute and cozy project.
I really like the core concept — it seems there wasn’t much time to fully expand on it within the game jam, but it’s definitely full of potential. The visuals are also great — such a warm and charming style!
Of course, some limitations could make the gameplay more challenging — for example, restricting the rope’s length or making the rocks able to break it.
Overall, a solid and well-made project. Great job!
HaaYaargh
Oct 09th · 10:55 UTC
At first I totally misunderstood the game. I thought it was something like the game Chained Together, where the rope between both ships can't go through rocks and it will cause collision with obstacles, and you have to pick up trash with ships, not that the rope is some kind of net :sweat_smile: But that's on me.

I like when there is even tiny bit of story and characters, it always gives the game more personality. The pixel art was very fine, and playing with both hands engaging. I wished the dragon was introduced earlier, because 3-4 rounds without anything new were a bit slow.

Very well done game :heart: Cheers!
Ira Baciu
Oct 09th · 11:10 UTC
A game for two is a cool concept <3
GonulGaye
Oct 09th · 18:29 UTC
I liked the style and gameplay of the game!
CGraen
Oct 09th · 18:32 UTC
Nice little chill game, being able to play it in couch coop is cool. The graphics and sound design was great aswell. Just found the scrap spawned a little close to the rocks pretty often so you could not collect it without taking damage i think.
Annie Owl
Oct 09th · 22:28 UTC
What a lovely game :slight_smile: Very cute graphics and interesting concept of two ships connected by a rope! I wish there were more mechanics tied to that concept though. Also it appears that hitboxes of obstacles are slightly larger than the obstacles themselves, while hitboxes of pickups are smaller than the items themselves. I think the gameplay would feel smoother if it were the other way around :smile:

Nonetheless, loved your game, great work!
floata3
Oct 10th · 22:11 UTC
i liked the music and the boats and the dragon and the endless water ways good entry
LemonInk
Oct 11th · 01:01 UTC
I love the pixel art used, definitely a game I'd want to grab a friend to play with!
ruruie
Oct 12th · 05:51 UTC
Cute!
ellaris
Oct 12th · 11:51 UTC
Interesting game, pretty cool experience, enjoyed steering both ships at the same time.
- At first I thought that increasing the sail speed increased the speed at which the map scrolls, but it turned out to be the actual ship move speed, which I feel wasn't that useful.
- I think it would be much better if there were consequences for the line hitting the rocks/reefs. Like both ships taking little damage, or even better both ships being pulled towards that rock.
CodeRaurus
Oct 12th · 15:33 UTC
Quite nice. It's fun to navigate two ships simultaneously. I also enjoyed the visuals and music.
I feel there could have been some different obstacles, like whirlpools or currents.

Sadly the window dimensions were too large for my monitor. I had to zoom out the browser to make it somewhat work. At least the shop and dialogue portraits on the right didn't scale that well.

Good work!
Wallted
Oct 14th · 23:38 UTC
Heartwarming game. What actually touched me was the dialogue and one-liner dynamic, it was not cheap at all and had a heart behind it, really awesome. I caught myself sad, when I read 'thats all from us'. I perceived the gameplay as a nice break between some sort of fun cheeky adventure party log. I would totally see a game with a complex story delivered as such, while you play a relaxing minigame in background. Like that dragon? Totally narrative-driven :D
snesgaard
Oct 21st · 20:08 UTC
Fun game. I like that all the collectable are highlighted with a white border. Game is very easy to cheese however, i think not having the rope collider would make it more interest.