I really had no idea how to play this game. It would be super useful if you gave some kind of description - what is your goal, etc. I think it's based on audio cues (?) but I couldn't have figured out what to do.

A tutorial would be really nice. I was puzzled what the goal actually was - and sounds were a tad bit too loud.

@lisek-gagatek @buckmeister There's only one thing to do: dig. Click a location to send a worker there (in the top left you can switch between 3 available workers to speed things up), which will reveal a small area of the layer below. Once enough of the current level has been digged up, a new level will start, and you can follow along the story.

I was planning a more involved gameplay loop, but, well, this is what fit into the jam. If I get around to a post-jam update, I'll certainly add an in-game tutorial.

Very simple from a gameplay standpoint, but the dialogue and music helped create the mood and indicate that the game was taking us somewhere more sinister. Is where you choose to dig significant at all, or are the results pretty much random regardless of where you pick? Cool idea, cool vibe. :)

There needs to be a clearer indication of what is going on. It seemed that by randomly moving my diggers around (move, switch, move, switch, move, switch...) the entire dig site was advanced. If instead only the sections my diggers were in advanced, that would make me fell more like I was doing something. Instead I feel like I'm just clicking randomly until a dialog appears.

I clicked all the way to the end because I wanted to know what would happen.

It's not clear what's going when the workers dig, I wonder if Firefox is also bugged?

The dialogue weaves an interesting tale, and the concept is fun to play around with. I wish the strategy part was a big more fleshed out, as it seems like it doesn't really matter a ton where I mine, but the rest of it is really neat.

nice work!

@fireslash yeah, looks like it is also bugged in Firefox :( (At this point I have to ask myself, maybe my reference browser of Chrome on Windows is actually the bugged one? Heh.)
I'm thinking I'll just rewrite all the layering visuals with a different method. I'll give it a go one of these evenings, see how much of a hassle it is...

@jordantanner Thanks! The dig results are indeed random. The only reward is the visual reveal - some parts of the dig site might be more interesting than others.

@tsaot There's a chance you also ran into the browser compatibility issue I'm facing. Looks like the visuals (revealing parts of the layer below) only work properly in Chrome on Windows for now.

@ditam The easiest way to side step these kinds of issues is to render to canvas; those APIs are very consistent between browsers; only issues I ever have are audio codecs (Looking at you apple).

Obviously too late to make the change for this jam, but might be something to learn for the next one. If you want something a bit more robust than just the stock API, I had a good experience with Pixi.js.

This one has an old-school charm to it. I could definitely imagine it growing into something more with added visual layers or strategic depth. I got the idea that you need to dig deeper, but I wasn’t totally sure why — and I kept getting taken out pretty quickly. Feels like a strong foundation to build on. Nice work!

Nice concept, the "Jam" version didn't work for me on Chrome.
The "Jam" version worked for a while, but I got stuck after a workshop sequence.

The problem is, I don't really understand why some dig areas yield what they do? Some feedback would be a nice addition. (Maybe a spark for a good area.)

Good work though, guys.

yeah i figure out how to play, but sure there is plenty work to develop game) but idea is interesting - archeology simulator some sort of it, i like it) good job, guys!

I tried to play this but even in chrome on windows, I'm not seeing anything happen when I move my worker around. I like the sound effects and it's got a sinister vibe that I'd definitely be into! Let us know if you have a build that ends up working a bit better, I'd love to try it for reals.

@kristinamay Thanks to your comment, I've taken an other look at this bug, and discovered an easy fix - this is now applied to both the jam and post-jam versions, and **now it should work across all browsers and platforms!** (@alexis-brochec I'm afraid you might have run into a different non-visual bug, but maybe your case is improved now too.)

To everyone else, if you were frustrated or confused before due to not seeing any visual progress, maybe you want to give the fixed versions an other chance now. @lisek-gagatek @buckmeister @jordantanner @tsaot @quinn @fireslash @devilxrom @librory

Apologies for the confusion!

Took a couple of goes to start making progress, but was enjoying my time with it. Audio and the snippets of story you get in between the days are really cool and do a great job of building a spooky / foreboding atmosphere.

Nice mining game with an intriguing story and somewhat creepy atmosphere.

It's not clear where to dig though and I couldn't differentiate when I was doing something right or wrong. I tried multiple times, but each time I died at level 3, because Areem apparently destined to die at this point so I bought another miner at level 2 and then another later and we made it to level 5, but as I finished the level something went wrong, maybe because of the upgrades and as I smashed "continue" button game simply resumed the same level with refilled characters, but I tried clicking and they were moving but nothing happened so effectively I got stuck.

Well done on the entry!

I didn't realize I was playing a horror game XD great game :)

As others mentioned here already, it felt like something was missing visually. You can see where the mining takes place but you just reveal the underlying image. No treasures or ores or something. It feels very random to then get money after each round.
But besides that, very impressive entry with great music and even a little story :)

Really fun to play, definitely took a bit to get used to the fact that treasures weren't visually referenced but instead only appeared during the final tally. Apart from that, just wished it was longer, haha!

Great use of audio and dialogue to create an atmosphere. I like how it begins looking like a standard strategy game but becomes more sinister as you go deeper. It adds some tension and stakes to a type of game that often lacks those things.

I found the gameplay pretty lacking though. There's no challenge or strategy at all, and there's not even any way to know where the treasures you're looking for are, so the gameplay just consists of clicking around randomly until the plot progresses. On top of that, the way the graphics worked as you dug was incredibly confusing. There were so many layers and weird tiles stacked on top of each other that I had no idea what I was looking at. As the player, I felt like I had no real way to engage with the game, and I wasn't getting clear visual feedback to know what I was doing anyway. It doesn't need to be hard or anything, but I think the game needs *some* depth to the gameplay.

I haven't played the post-jam version, so it's possible you've addressed some of this already. I can see from the description that you added some strategy around buying workers which is great, but I think it's the digging itself which is most in need of improvement.

Overall, I really do like the atmosphere and progression in this game. I just think it needs a revamp to add some substance to the gameplay, and some better visual clarity to inform that gameplay, so the player stays invested in finishing the story.

Thanks @sam-gorman, I think you're spot on regarding the gameplay. I see the problems myself, I just didn't find the time :) Good insight on the digging being the focus - I was intentionally going for this subversion where a cookie cutter management game is slowly taken over by the ominous story, but for that effect to work best, it does need a more fleshed out strategy part. I'd like to touch this up in the near future.

During these jams I regularly set my scopes too large, and over the last few jams I had a couple of games (LD 53-54) where I spent too much time on the game mechanics to have proper stories - this time I intentionally swapped my priorities.

@ditam Believe me - I’ve done a few jam games with lots of vibes and no gameplay. I don’t think I’ve ever nailed both of those at.l once, and I don’t even work solo. Your intention with the sinister subversion still came through really well, so you’re already on a good track!

Very athmospheric game, especially love the music getting more intense the further down I went. It got a bit hard at times to where I still had to dig and I would have loved a bit more decision making (e.g. have indicators where to dig, or different abilities of the diggers).

I would loved to see more element of gameplay. Great atmosphere, audio and dialogue. Nice entry

Interesting game, took a while to figure out. Nice graphics and very atmospheric sound. Well done!

The "score" is confusing, it suggests that you as a player could do better or worse, but to me it seems random. The story, art and audio are great, but I have trouble understanding what's going on mechanics-wise.

I liked the simple story and the way that you see everything from the one fixed camera as it unfolds. I do wish there was a more obvious way to decide where you should dig--that seemed a little random to me. I loved the sound, particularly towards the end. Great work!

Very cool and moody game! The story and dread creeps up - I wish there was more of a challenge to the unveiling, a way to 'lose' or prevent losses. As far as I could tell revealing was enough. (and of course I dig deep!)
The music escalating is def very neat.