Lovely, Dark and Deep by randomhuman

[raw]
made by randomhuman for Ludum Dare 57 (JAM)

forest<em>background</em>banner_starmix.png

Help John and Sully escape into the depths of the woods.

Mostly mouse driven, click the things. Space to advance dialog. You get a selection of cards at each location that use up a number of action points, of which you have a limited number each turn, but they are replenished at the start of the next turn. Try to use the cards to maintain your stats and see how long you can survive.

Screenshot From 2025-04-08 14-36-31.png Screenshot From 2025-04-08 14-37-33.png

Update

The version on itch.io has been updated with a couple of bug fixes and one tweak to the input, to allow dialogue to be advanced with a mouse click. I would recommend playing that version. If you think that is too many changes play the web version here, or the original desktop version is still available on itch.io as well as the new one.

Ratings

Overall 257th 3.768⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Fun 600th 3.125⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 256th 3.554⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Theme 446th 3.679⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 80th 4.431⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Audio 49th 4.125⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Humor 48th 4.13⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Mood 70th 4.196⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Given 30🗳️ 37🗨️

Feedback

HalfdanTheVillain
08. Apr 2025 · 10:54 UTC
Great artwrok and good humor fitted in. Is there a end? I just kept going for a and didn't seem to find a end. Liked the feel of the game very cozy having going in the backgroudn, good take on a endless scroller. If it indeed is endless or i just gave up to early.
🎤 randomhuman
08. Apr 2025 · 12:56 UTC
@halfdanthevillain Thanks! No there's no end. I figured death would be inevitable eventually and the distance traveled would serve as a score, but depending on how the numbers work out it might be a bit too easy for that!
Reed Molbak
08. Apr 2025 · 16:19 UTC
I like the artwork. I felt like the gameplay was a little out of my hands though -- for instance, I could see I was running out of water but I was just hoping that the next node would have some. If there was a way to reason about how to stay alive, I must have missed it :/
Haastaggi
08. Apr 2025 · 16:26 UTC
A really nice cozy game with a lovely soundscape. Great job!
Soleyeer
08. Apr 2025 · 16:33 UTC
Really good artistically-wise. This game tips the scales a bit against the player, but not too much to feel unfair. I like it. Although I couldn't die and just got the "Ohh, untimely death..." message each time I visited a location, but I was still alive. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this game
Nicso
08. Apr 2025 · 16:33 UTC
is there a sixth star for mood ?

i hade a pretty easy run and had to stop but really cool entry overall
ludokai
08. Apr 2025 · 16:35 UTC
Lovely mood and humor, great entry!
Jim jagers
08. Apr 2025 · 16:39 UTC
I wasn't that engaged by the gameplay, could be a design issue but it could also be that this simply wasnt my cup of tea, i havent played too many point and click games in my time after all. The graphics, music, sound and writing are all exceptionally well done though! Those alone made me continue playing for a bit
Annie Owl
08. Apr 2025 · 17:31 UTC
Loved my journey :slight_smile: Never knew cultist were so chill and you can get free coffee and weed just by wondering through the woods :smile: But I have one question left: Was Sully killed by John? And that's the reason why they are fleeing into the woods? :sweat_smile:
Local Minimum
09. Apr 2025 · 14:18 UTC
@annie-owl I was also wondering about the backstory of Sully's and John's friendship / history / relationship?

In general very well written, fun little bits of story. Extremely beautiful cycling scene and great audio with it too!

The only thing that bugged me a little was the selection of where to go, that it didn't feel like I was progressing there and that I wasn't sure if the game had a good ending or if it was "try and see how far you can get before you die".

It made me want to get a cup of tea. So I should do that! Very cozy and high quality game!

Oh and yeah here's a recording of me playing it:
https://youtu.be/XqQY6iGyAns
BadPiggy
11. Apr 2025 · 16:31 UTC
![Screenshot 2025-04-11 214653.png](///raw/8f7/d2/z/6c014.png)


Very charming game here. Great presentation as a whole. Good humour as well

My only real issue with the game was that it felt a little too random at times. That said, exploring the world of the game was still fun. Solid game here
Skvader_418
11. Apr 2025 · 20:36 UTC
Beautiful. I really liked the art and 4th wall breaks. It was oddly addicting. I played for almost 20 minutes and was at 40% health. It was really fun. Only gripe is that there aren't enough random encounters honestly. Could do with way more. But I enjoy the idea, it reminds me alot of 60 seconds.
ruruie
12. Apr 2025 · 16:27 UTC
Nice and looks good. It felt weird having loads of food/water and not getting drink/eat cards and just being unable to sort things out. Bike went to 0% and didn't seem to do anything?
Wuppos
12. Apr 2025 · 19:39 UTC
This game had an amazing vibe! I think the pixel art really worked wonders, with the beautiful, but a little weird style. This fit the fun, but a little weird game really well :D I also loved the mood you set by the odd encounters and the chat between John and Sully. It was very funny and often made my chuckle out loud.

My only complaint would be the randomness. Sometimes I died very early from starvation, simply because I never got any food. Then the game told me I did not do very good, so I thought I missed something somewhere (if I did, please let me know). That being said, I did not mind the randomness too much for this game. It also kind of fit the vibe :)

All in all, really well done! I enjoyed this game a lot :D
jtap
13. Apr 2025 · 01:42 UTC
Great atmosphere and very beautiful graphics. It's very enjoyable to play. I drove 812 km before I died there. Thanks for this unusual experience
LDJam user 383013
13. Apr 2025 · 20:29 UTC
Really cool, nothing else to say
Eugenik
14. Apr 2025 · 07:11 UTC
very good atmosphere ^^.
oliver_day
17. Apr 2025 · 05:57 UTC
I really liked the art and the dialog (like "the moaning of twitch streamers" very indirect humor which was nice). It took a while for me to get a feel for the game: like how you needed to search and that this was an endless game.

My main problem is the overall story felt really disjointed, why is there a talking skull and you need to go into a forest and talk to random people. I guess gradual hints like how the skull says he died and the player took his head (but not his feet) is part of the vibe - it just didn't really work for me.
Mamboman
17. Apr 2025 · 20:37 UTC
I love this. The art, the atmosphere and the humorous sarcastic tone. The game play could have some extra feature to make it a little less repetitive. But overall I had a good time with this game, thanks =)
r8teful
19. Apr 2025 · 16:07 UTC
Loved the art and the music. I kept playing because the atmosphere was so good. The gameplay itself got a bit repetitive but I'm impressed with how much you managed to do for the jam. I also felt it was missing some kind of indication of progress and tension. It didn't feel super tense because I didn't really know what would kill me, I kept going for a while with a category at 0% so the stakes kind of seemed a bit low in that regard. I really enjoyed playing though. I really liked the sound effects, the card sounds were really good. Would love to see what fort of events / encounters would be included if you get more time to work on the game!
Loka
21. Apr 2025 · 14:13 UTC
Incredible game. 10/10
Euler Moises
24. Apr 2025 · 02:07 UTC
I loved your game. It captivated me in a surprising way. I was disappointed to realize that even though I made an organized map of the paths, in the end they didn't make much sense and didn't follow any order most of the time (even though I always stopped at Barista. I almost stayed there drinking coffee). The art is simple and very beautiful and your music is also very engaging (your breathing SFX and bicycle sounds are charming in their own right).

In the end, I walked more than 3,000 kilometers and didn't get anywhere. An end to John and Sully's adventure would be the cherry on the cake.

![Sem título.png](///raw/23f/f1/z/6c6cc.png)

Of course, I loved the joke with the LD57 theme. And I agree with John: *Deeper and Deeper* and *Depths* are "very different" themes. :smirk:
Texugo
25. Apr 2025 · 18:24 UTC
The LD48 theme joke made me giggle! This was such a interesting experience with great graphics.