The Cleaner of the depth by Egor Iv
"The Cleaner of the Depth" is a fun adventure inside a crocodile's dark mouth, where shadows lurk and loud breathing echoes. You’re a tiny cleaner bird—fast, brave, and nimble—darting between giant teeth! You scurry with your little feet, and you can even leap to the upper jaw and run upside down—whee, so cool!
The teeth in the mouth sing their own tunes. Healthy teeth ring long and clear—ding-dong, like a tuning fork—but they’re crawling with microbe colonies, tiny settlers giggling and building little dirt castles. You can eat them—the bird loves these tasty microbes. Sick teeth, though, grumble short and sad—bzz-bzz, as if angry. But beware! Touch a sick tooth, and the crocodile snaps its jaws—snap! Darkness swallows you, all goes quiet, and the crocodile sheds crocodile tears.
Your goal: be a nimble bird! Run across healthy teeth, gobble up microbes, jump to the upper jaw, flip upside down, but don’t touch the sick teeth. If you succeed, the crocodile will cheer up, open its mouth, and you’ll dash out into the sunshine, where you both enjoy a happy life—with clean teeth and joyful chirping!!!
Controls:
- Arrows - left and right
- Move to upper/lower jaw - up/down arrows
- Clean teeth - spacebar
- Tab - menu
Fixes:
- The bird no longer falls off the jaw or flies out of the crocodile's mouth.
- Starting a new game refreshes all teeth and triggers a full restart.
- Fixed camera shaking issue.
- Fixed a bug where the bird would get stuck in the air between teeth.
Improvements:
- Added several new animations for the bird.
- Added visual effects simulating microbes on the teeth.
- Introduced three additional notes.
- Added a melody that plays when all teeth are cleaned.
- Included extra ambient sounds for immersion.
- Timer/Speed-based game mode.
- Inversion of movement control depending on the up/down position.
In Progress:
- We are assembling a new screen with new characters and deploying to production
| Web version with fixes | https://egor69ok.itch.io/the-cleaner |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/the-cleaner-of-the-depth |
Ratings
| Overall | 310th | 3.713⭐ | 178🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 592th | 3.14⭐ | 174🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 151th | 3.809⭐ | 177🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 645th | 3.283⭐ | 177🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 20th | 4.67⭐ | 184🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 58th | 4.095⭐ | 176🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 175th | 3.539⭐ | 167🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 195th | 3.96⭐ | 177🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 215🗳️ | 262🗨️ |
Art looks super cool from the thumbnail though!
p.s. Bird can fall out of the mouth if go left
Had to read the description to get what to do :) This is a really unique take on the theme! The art and animations are also stunning!
Figured out the gameplay after a little trial and error but it still feels a little stiff.
Gorgeous watercolor style!
Although the controls were a bit hard to understand at first, as well as the gameplay.. It would have been nice to have some kind of explaination on how to play the game
Close-up animation and "bad end" animation blew my mind, so smooth and dynamic!
It must have been really challenging to work with assets this way—and sometimes you can feel it in the small bugs here and there.
But the idea is truly original, and the concept is engaging, even if it’s not immediately easy to grasp.
I can totally imagine the life of that little bird, moving from mouth to mouth, cleaning as it goes.
It’s a shame a few bugs remained. For example, once my bird fell off the edge of a tooth and dropped down. Also, unfortunately, I couldn’t finish it – I’m not sure why, but I think all the healthy teeth were already cleaned :с
Also the letters spelling "**EAT**" as they fell was a fun detail.
How did you make these drawings in this short time!?
Thats so amazing. The idea is a seller aswell, so innovate and creative, fantastic.
Amazing job to all of you!
Stunning art. The gameplay is a little clunky, but overall it's a very unique experience - unbelibbable that this was done for a game jam!
I was confused how the game was actually played, though. I had to come find the information from the page instead of in-game. I thought you had to do the opposite and especially clean the darker spots!
Good job!
I couldn’t quite figure out how to avoid getting eaten so I had to read game description on this page — it would be super helpful to have a brief in-game tutorial or some guidance at the start.
the gameplay was pretty hard to understand at first but I eventually got what the game wanted from me, tho there doesnt's seem to be an end goal? or at the very least I haven't gotten to the end. either way I love the presentation super chaming, one of my fave games in terms of style
I did have issues at the start of the game where the bird would instantly fall off the screen to the left of the crocodile (I just retried until it worked properly), and I also didn't realize that certain teeth were 'sick' and had to be avoided. I had to re-read your description to figure that out, which I guess works too in the end ^^
Awesome work overall, definitely one of my favorites!
My only feedback would be to make it clearer when we've reached a bath tooth, maybe adding visual cues as well as sounds, sand make the sound cue more distinguishable. As it is, the game is too hard to play, so I couldn't advance much.
I felt a little wronged for being eaten when I poked the right place, but that's okay. The art enchanted me so much that it didn't even hurt. Worthy of a children's book.
Congratulations!
This is one of the best looking LD games I've seen in a very very long time. The ridiculous amount of personality you were able to inject into such a small number of assets is a textbook example of how to "put your time into only the things that matter." The aura emanating from the alligator alone is just peak character design. :ok_hand:
Amazing job!
There are one or two sections on the top of the level, where the walking felt a little bit off and it was hard to navigate to the tooth in this area. It would have been great to have controls over the flying of the bird, so I can control the directions while moving up or down.
The sounds are nice, like the sounds of the teeth or the falling letters at the beginning of the game.
I really like the UI. It's visually appealing and very clear.
Great job! :)
Those are nitpicks though this is an immensely chill game, good job it's sick.
The cleaning control felt a little clunky at times, maybe I was trying to press it too fast? Still, fun little game, great job!
The sound design is also great, though I'd love it even more if there was some sound effect for the teeth cleaning (maybe there is? But I couldn't pick it out). It would make me even more immersed.
I enjoyed the way the camera moved and rotated as I walked around. It was immersive (somewhat following the path I was walking) and unsettling (as if my position, literally and figuratively, was unstable. Very appropriate). I did occasionally have the camera almost move the bird out of screen when nearing the left edge. That was a bit too unsettling ;)
The way the game simply resets to the start screen when you get eaten was brilliant. It reinforced the feeling that I (the bird) was entirely insignificant to this giant reptile, so I better be careful.
I'll echo @jimmothysanchez, it would be nice to have some kind of end game condition. An acknowledgement some sort that the cleaning is done.
Super lovely game. I'm impressed that it's so polished in so little time.
I looked at the picture with the controls on itch and assumed that tab must allow me to escape, but turns out it just opens a menu :laughing:
One thing that I think would improve the game is some art or animation differences for the rotten teeth to reinforce the sound cue. I found it difficult to distinguish the sounds all the time but I love the idea of having to figure out which teeth to clean and which to avoid.
**Guys, first of all, huge thanks for the ratings, comments with suggestions for improvements, and descriptions of the challenges you faced!** We’ll take all your feedback into account. The idea was that the game is very short, and the tooth mechanic added complexity to the gameplay for such a brief game. There are sick and healthy teeth. A sick tooth sounds dissonant compared to a healthy one; the note it makes is shorter and less melodic. We had an idea to visually highlight and enhance the effect of a sick tooth to make it visibly different from a healthy one, but we felt it would make the game too simple and obvious. So, we settled on a sort of puzzle-riddle that the player needs to figure out after the crocodile eats you a couple of times))) We added a description, and if you read it carefully, everything becomes clear and obvious. The best solution would be a short intro with a visual representation of what’s written in the description. We’ll likely address this issue in the future! Thanks for the experience!!!
You're right! As they say, "everything comes from childhood." Usually, an idea lingers somewhere in the subconscious and randomly takes shape when you need to solve a problem. This is exactly that case))) We came up with a mechanic involving movement and reacting to sound, which you can see in the slide labeled "first prototype." Later, it evolved into the crocodile’s teeth and the bird. It was at that moment that an old cartoon came to mind, and it gave a great push for further development as a reference.
Didn't have any trouble playing once I had read the instructions, and once I understood that the cleaning area is where the bird is (as opposed to in front of it, which was my first instinct, but the animations made it quite easy to adjust!).
Obviously loved the art. The watercolor effects, all the little animations, the variations, wow.
The game feel is equally amazing. The camera turning, how the bird's movements follow the slopes, the fact that basically if you stop every time you hear a nice tune, you are already in the right spot to clean...
The sound design is also very cool, not too crowded, so the music is basically only the teeth sounds...
I'm slightly frustrated I never managed to finish it though, if there's an end??? Cleaned all the teeth multiple times, but each time I "finish", nothing happens, so I go back on my steps to check for any forgotten teeth, and this time the teeth that used to be sick sound good, so I clean them, and die :rofl:
(At first I thought that once you clean all the safe teeth, you can clean the other ones, which I found was a super interesting mechanic, but I guess it's just a bug? or I should try to download the game. Anyway probably the mechanic would only work for players that do it linearly, unfortunately)
Anyway, super soothing experience, really had the feeling of BEING THE BIRD :bird:
(And well... please make multiple levels where the game is to guess the criterion for cleaning the teeth, I want to play more :laughing: :sparkles: )
Thank you so much for this game!!!
Was fun playing and loved the artstyle and audio.
**Just WOW!!! What an incredible list turned out!!!** It took a while, but with so much love, I went through your comments and collected your names to give a shoutout and express my huge gratitude for your warm words! Thank you each and every one of you for playing our game and spending your precious time on us! Many of you faced various issues during the game, so we’ve fixed a few things and are letting you know so you can give it another try! 😊
This is our first time participating in a jam, and I see that many of you are no strangers to Ludum Dare. It’s amazing how friendly the atmosphere is here and how warmly we were welcomed! In return, we also checked out, played, rated, and commented on your wonderful creations. It’s inspiring to see so many people with such passion for creating and bringing their ideas to life! **The love for creativity makes our world a little more beautiful, don’t you think?**
But now there's a fix, I had to retry it for a full game, and I spent a good time with it!
However, I'm pretty sure I have cleaned all the healthy teeth, as I had enough time left to check again each one, and then, despite of that, my host didn't let me go and ate me :confused: :sweat_smile:
The whole arts, animations and design are awesome, and serves well a simple and fun gameplay, so: good job and very well done!
I think I may have been playing the fixed version so I don't know if it used to be different, but it all seemed quite polished. The only issue I had was that the first time I lost the web player lost the OpenGL context and I had to reload the page. It didn't happen the second time. I also think I cleaned every healthy tooth but wasn't able to progress beyond that. Hope I didn't miss a pretty cutscene :(
Gameplay felt good and the animations did a lot. Seeing the croc blink, flare its nostrils etc. gave it just the right amount of life, tho I'd've preferred a little less rotation and zooming. Got a little motion sick. The bird itself moves so nicely and I like when there's that extra animation of it struggling a little bit to get at the food! Really lovely watercolour effect on microbes :)
Super cool!
You can now add the game to your wishlist — it’s the simplest and most powerful way to support us right now ❤️
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Thank you to everyone supporting us at the start!
A demo will be available soon.