LudumData

From The Depths by Whysguy52

[raw]
made by Whysguy52 for Ludum Dare 57 (JAM)

Screenshot 2025-04-07 203216.jpg

Fight Your way out of the depths of hell!

Find the boss, kill him, ascend!

(inspired by The Binding of Isaac)

Make it to the 5th level to win!

(Level is shown in the top right corner. I forgot to label it. what's there is for my debugging but it works) (The game doesn't have a "win" scenario. it just goes on forever)

LEVELS SCALE!

On each level, there are more rooms, more enemies spawn per room and move faster. Health replenishes each floor. Couldn't make health drops :( sorry. I tried.

Controls:

``` W - forward A - left S - down D - right

LMB (Left Mouse Button/click) - Attack - swing sword RMB (Right Mouse Button/click) - block - raise shield in front of you

To release the mouse, press Alt + Tab (sorry I didn't make it a button)

```

Woo Hoo! Another Solo Jam under my belt. Haven't done it alone since my first Jam! and it's (technically) a full game!... and by that I mean it has

Things I wish I could have done:

  1. Health and item drops
  2. Different weapons - including bows and other swords
  3. different shields with different sizes or weights or something
  4. more enemies and bosses - sorry there's only 1 enemy type of each but at least they scale per level
  5. Win state - although I do like the infinite version.
  6. tweaked enemies
  7. better sounds - yeah... my sounds are pretty basic clips of recordings of myself
  8. music - ugh this needs it but I lowered the priority on that to get the game out. a few sound effects were last
  9. improved environments - yeah they are flat and boring as hell but I was trying to push this through on my own! QQ I wanted to add rocks and textures and torches and spikes and pits and so much more.
  10. controller support
  11. better player controls - you can't even jump. wasn't critical so I put it off and ended up not having enough time
  12. title screen menu and more options
  13. more room variety
  14. Game Over - I only display game over but you can still keep playing in the background

New skills/techniques for this game (things I've never done before)

  1. Procedurally generated maps - each map will be unique (I was excited that I got the doors to spawn correctly too!)
  2. First actual melee mechanics! - I usually make exploration or adventure games and combat, in the past has only been randomly exchanging numbers
  3. Level Switching - this is the first time I've ever implemented multiple levels. All previous jams have been single level/scene

Tools used: Game Engine: Godot 3D stuff: Blender 2D stuff: Piskel (past: LibreSprite/Asperite, inkscape) audio: Audacity (for simple sound manipulations) (past: LMMS for music composition)

git repository https://github.com/whysguy52/FromTheDepths
Itch.io download https://whysguy52.itch.io/from-the-depths
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/from-the-depths-2

Ratings

Overall 834th 2.738⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 827th 2.5⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 860th 2.175⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 777th 2.786⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 773th 2.452⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Audio 546th 2.5⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Mood 820th 2.675⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 29🗳️ 23🗨️

Feedback

Patatje
08. Apr 2025 · 15:34 UTC
Cool little game, the sound effects are nice. wish the bats had a small delay or tell before they charged at you.
Rachenite
08. Apr 2025 · 21:09 UTC
Cool concept! The map generation was one of the strengths for sure. It was difficult to hit the small bats because the sword hitbox was the actual sword itself and it swung diagonal. Satisfying when you spam though
Team 9tailed
08. Apr 2025 · 21:39 UTC
Has potential, but left me wanting more. The bats were awkward to fight at times because they would float out of range briefly before swooping, which could be fine if intended, but without some kind of visual/audible indicator, felt more like a bug than the intended design. If you were able to implement even half of the things you mentioned that you intended to add, I think it would have felt much more full.
🎤 Whysguy52
08. Apr 2025 · 22:54 UTC
@rachenite I had considered using a different, more broad hit box so it wasn't so precise but i had already implemented the design choice. :( Thanks for playing!
🎤 Whysguy52
08. Apr 2025 · 23:29 UTC
@team-9tailed I know, sorry :( there wasn't much content. but, that's what happens when i jam alone. The bats floating up was actually a choice. I didn't want the player to simply go in and wipe everything out immediately before anything even attacked once. I thought it would be too easy so i had them fly out of range slowly and then attack (which brought them back in strike range). I know about the emptyness. I was, at the very very least, hoping to make just 1 more enemy. Thanks for the feedback and playing.
Mutilated Sauce
09. Apr 2025 · 01:28 UTC
This is a cool concept and well done for just one person, great work! I did notice that I could still progress to the next level after a gameover, so got to explore more even though green boss thing took me out pretty quickly lol
Jordanfb
09. Apr 2025 · 01:33 UTC
Nice work! I'm kinda glad you can keep playing after you die since I didn't figure out how to actually fight the bats until my 4th level. I'm proud to say I beat the 5th level without dying XD. The charge up was cool and nicely indicated with the flying upwards. Cool stuff! This could definitely become a lot of different things if you wanted to put more time into it. One funny bug I discovered was that I somehow stopped inbetween the doors or something? And my camera just looked out on the godot void. Keep it up.
Wolfier
09. Apr 2025 · 01:35 UTC
My problem is that the bats damage you even when they're not attacking and its really easy to accidently hurt yourself. I would think a small animation before their attack would be beneficial.
I also think your game in general would be better if the combat was faster overall. There's a lot of dead space in the fighting so i think you should have less delay for the bats.
🎤 Whysguy52
09. Apr 2025 · 04:53 UTC
@mutilated-sauce Oh right! I forgot about the game over. Yes, I obviously wanted to handle game overs but I was using this feature as a debugging tool and ran out of time to implement "game overs". Thanks for reminding me though. I added it to my list :)
🎤 Whysguy52
09. Apr 2025 · 04:56 UTC
Interesting. I think I know how to fix that. Yeah, when you leave one room, that room goes invisible and when you enter another room, that room goes visible so there's probably a gap in between where neither renders. I set them to invis because I have backface culling on, so surfaces are "one-way". I did this so your camera can see through the walls when if it ends up outside the room. If both rooms or all rooms rendered, the walls from one room would block the camera when it hovers outside the room.
🎤 Whysguy52
09. Apr 2025 · 05:00 UTC
@wolfier Thanks, I'll try that. someone else also suggested it so maybe I'll come up with something. I wanted to make it so bats spawned away from the door (I did notice that) but it would have made the spawn code 2 or 3 times more complex and time consuming :( Also, I was afraid of the slow pace but, I've seen people play my games in the past and... not do so well so I wanted the first couple levels to be easy. The level number is actually used as a multiplier to determine how many bats spawn per room and how fast they attack so the later levels are probably pretty hard.
Jag
12. Apr 2025 · 04:32 UTC
It's pretty ambitious to try for a Binding of Isaac-like for a gamejam so I really commend the effort! I think it was a fun adventure, but it had quite a few problems that made the experience rough. I agree with the person above that the bats still hurting you even when they're not attacking is quite weird, because I shield blocked one of their attacks, then counter-attacked and still got damaged. But I love the style! It reminds me of runescape a bit
🎤 Whysguy52
12. Apr 2025 · 04:55 UTC
@jag ohhh yeah I guess I forgot about making the bats stop after hitting the shield. So, for now, they don't stop trying to move forward until the timer is completely done. You probably lowered shield before they were done with their dash. i swear it WAS on my mind at one point but forgot to come back around to that.
someone
12. Apr 2025 · 23:03 UTC
The bats were cute.
I like that you could carry on after game over appears, and it even goes away for the next level.
I struggled with the combat, the mouse sensitivity was way too low and it seemed hard to actually hit anything without taking damage first. I didn't actually realise you could use the shield.
Jona Scheidig
13. Apr 2025 · 00:00 UTC
One can clearly tell, that there is alot of effort in the game. And I bet, you learned alot while making it, which is ultimately why I love gamejams so much.
I also so you worked solo on this so props to you for showing the dedication.
Personally I think you showed us that you're capable of making your own game with art, programming and sound.
Who know's, maybe you're even the next TobyFox, haha.

The game itself is ofc lacking abit of depth (hehe, get it?), because its pretty much the same scenario each room.
Enter, kill bats, move on.
Thats not to say its that bad, but in order to make it fun, it could use more variety. Smth that is unexpected for the player. Be in new weapons, new mechanics, or enemies.
Design wise it was also rather simple, but that's alright too once there's more variety.

Overall this game adds to your portfolio and you can be proud about it!
Keep at it, and you'll be making the next Elden Ring in no time.
ryusui
13. Apr 2025 · 04:00 UTC
Combat is surprisingly complex given how bare-bones the game appears otherwise (to be sure, I don't think I've ever really done a melee-centric game myself). I do wish the bats were a bit less tanky and had better tells for when they're about to attack.
🎤 Whysguy52
13. Apr 2025 · 04:07 UTC
@jona-scheidig Yes, i did learn a bunch. This was my first time making procedurally generated maps (not rooms obviously QQ). I had to re-learn a lot too about animation. Boy animating was rough LOL.

yeah i know there's not a lot of depth (no pun intended) :\ Sorry. I did have plans for rocks and pits and spikes and different shaped and sized rooms as well as enemies, items and weapons (see my post for my list of things i didn't get to) but time, you know? Once again, my game idea was overly ambition but that's okay.
🎤 Whysguy52
13. Apr 2025 · 04:09 UTC
@ryusui thanks! I could probably make them a bit easier to fight. Their logic was very very basic: rise, dash, repeat. But I get it. There's not much there. I'll look into creating a tell of some sort (if i decide to continue developing it, that is). But thanks! I appreciate the feedback, sincerely.
🎤 Whysguy52
13. Apr 2025 · 04:12 UTC
@someone LOL sorry about that (about the shield). Yeah, I've seen games punish players pretty harshly when they lose but i wanted to kind of give the player the option to just keep going like "hey you lost, here's a sign that says that but feel free to just keep going" kind of thing. I know about the mouse sensitivity. I didn't get to make a menu with settings or anything but I know everyone's mouse and computer are different.

Thanks for the play and thanks for the feedback.
Ch48
13. Apr 2025 · 14:27 UTC
I can tell this game is a product of passion just from the description alone. That is not to say I didn't have a fair share of issues with the gameplay, but I see you included most of them in the description too! How's that for self-awareness? lol

One thing I didn't see mentioned is how a lack of player feedback and an abysmally small melee range make for combat that feels... floaty and unresponsive at best.

Another thing that was missing for me was a minimap or some other way to tell where you are in relation to other rooms - it's really easy to get lost in the maze of identical halls.

Either way, good job and thanks for the game, keep on making things <3
Eugenik
14. Apr 2025 · 11:00 UTC
The teamwork here really shows! Great job!.
LDJam user 383013
14. Apr 2025 · 19:53 UTC
It works yet it lags yet I like it
Conduit
21. Apr 2025 · 06:20 UTC
Initial impressions, the game ran well, no crashes or the like! I liked the design for the main character and the bats, idk if there were other monsters I couldn't make it that far lol

A crosshair/reticle would've been helpful because I often found I didn't know where I was aiming. Secondly, I thought it was slightly annoying that when I blocked an enemy attack and lowered my shield, if they were close enough, I would still take damage.

Still a really cool idea and solid 3D entry, I hope you continue to run with this idea and maybe implement the ideas you had in the description! :)
benjamm
23. Apr 2025 · 09:54 UTC
Main character looks fire. Map gen is cool and impressive for such a short time frame.