The Depths of Magic by benjamm

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

The Depths of Magic Title.png

Use the Itch.io link to play in browser

If it fails to run try using Chrome or Microsoft Edge

You are a wizard in search of magical knowledge and power, and have arrived at The Dungeon in search of such things.

The Dungeon's own magic spawns guardians: Bugs, Imps, and Demon Dogs. But, some of that magic lies behind each door for you to claim as your own.

The Dungeon's magic is dark and powerful, and your greed grows as you delve, becoming unable to leave.

How far into the depths will you get before you succumb to the magic you have made your own?

WASD to move - Click (can hold) to shoot at mouse pointer

GameplayImage.png

The Depths of Magic Pick Power.png

  • Engine: Godot 4.4.1
  • Programming: Hungry and MrDandro
  • Art and sound effects: benjamm
  • Song: bgm action 1 by CodeManu - 8-bit Music Pack

Ratings

Overall 719th 3.105⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 614th 3.105⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 842th 2.342⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 857th 2.079⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 586th 3.342⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 451th 3.132⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 505th 2.647⭐ 19🧑‍⚖️
Mood 743th 2.974⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Given 54🗳️ 12🗨️

Feedback

smilewood
08. Apr 2025 · 02:01 UTC
Generally a fun gameplay concept, although it did not manage to hook me into playing over and over again I could see a refinement of this getting there. The loop of picking upgrades from three choices then going forward with those upgrades is tried and true, and I think that you had enough variety of upgrades to keep it interesting. Some of the upgrades seemed wildly more potent than others (the first one I saw was +3 shots; the next round I was offered a little more range, which was hardly noticeable) which left some choices being more predetermined then others. It could have been interesting to have upgrades that locked me into a path, something like splash damage vs multiple projectiles.

The character art is fun, I like all the animations that the creatures do when coming after you. I did find some of the death animations hard to differentiate from their attacks, but as they were then dead that did not affect gameplay. I did notice that dying enemies still absorbed shots; especially in the first few floors it was a bit painful to fire a spread of four shots that all went into a single enemy that a single one would have killed. I could certainly feel the enemy scaling in health as I got deeper into the tower, although I couldn’t tell if the number of enemies was also meant to scale. I definitely saw some waves on the later floors with a single flying enemy.

Overall a great game jam entry, well done!
Hoichael
09. Apr 2025 · 11:05 UTC
Very solid all around, both the audiovisual presentation as well as the gameplay are well realized.
The cartoony colors and the inverted hull outlines look great on the character models and the animations have a lot of charm.

I also really liked the funky sfx, but speaking of sfx, there's some clipping going on with the same sfx playing simultaneously. Unfortunately the problem gets worse as the game progresses due to the upgrade system scaling projectile amounts and such.

Pretty good replayability factor too due to the rouguelike upgrade system and the surprisingly high skill ceiling.

Great game overall, definitely something thats worth expanding on.
FancyReckless
09. Apr 2025 · 11:06 UTC
Plays a bit like vampire survivors, but with a bit of a less chaotic gameplay, since enemies come in small ways. It starts a bit slow, but upgrade options are engaging and you can make your projectile power grow pretty fast, which gives depth and enjoyability to the game. Overall pretty fun. Sometimes it froze for a second.
Spookyman999
09. Apr 2025 · 11:07 UTC
i liked it! liked the visual style and the gameplay waas cool!
GreenRadiation
09. Apr 2025 · 14:52 UTC
Cool animation and stylization, but at the beginning of the game I had enemies spawn twice directly on me, causing inevitable damage. Anyway, good job!
ScoobySnacks
09. Apr 2025 · 19:14 UTC
Simple but cute style. I love roguelikes and love being overpowered with every upgrade.
LDJam user 383241
11. Apr 2025 · 04:43 UTC
I had a lot of fun playing this. The animations of the enemies were very fun to see and the wave mechanics with the doors were not what I was initially expecting. Neat concept, would love to see where else you take this!
MadelineF
20. Apr 2025 · 17:03 UTC
I had fun playing this, the graphics are really good ! Music is also nice and fitting. Good job.
outstar
23. Apr 2025 · 18:44 UTC
This was fun, I like the simple roguelite-y "pick one of three upgrades" before moving on, although it seems I had some pretty weak choices (never found the +3 one)! Here's my feedback:
- Bottom collision seemed to be a bit wonky, with my character getting slightly stuck there with enemies once,
- Spawn points are very tricky, enemies sometimes spawned right on me and I couldn't avoid taking damage
- The music was fun and if I heard right, it was changing with the speed of the projectiles, but got slightly repetitive after a bit

Overall, cool game!
LDJam user 365791
23. Apr 2025 · 20:22 UTC
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEnnter The Depths!

Loved this. The animations are so good. I loved that the upgrades felt powerful. Kept me wanting to see what hte next room was like. Only issue I had was that the enemy spawns had to lead-in or neutral zone so the spawns were where most of my damage came from.

Really cool entry. Thank you!
Wallted
23. Apr 2025 · 20:28 UTC
This was quite fun. I have two wolves in me - I loved the mage model, random furniture and sound effects really reminded me of Runescape - this was hit in my nostalgia :D On the other hand, dungeon seemed kinda dull and overall depths theme was not really visible until the end screen which showed me the number of floors. The mechanic itself was solidly executed and I enjoyed shooting fireballs until I died :)
someone
23. Apr 2025 · 22:50 UTC
Cure graphical style. The animations were great.
The upgrades seemed very random in terms of power. The rate of fire upgrade barely seemed to do anything, despite acquiring many of them, and I randomly got a +5 damage and a +5 shots upgrade near the start which felt overpowered.
I never bothered with health upgrades because it was easy to just never be hit - until they spawned surrounding me and I couldn't move. You die very quickly if you get trapped.
It would be nice if there was a wave counter displayed somewhere so you know if another group is about to spawn.