LudumData

Into The Dungeon depths by chs_flws

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

Umer is your usual ~~fat short drunk~~ dwarf who would do anything ~~for another bottle of boose~~ to experience spirit of adventure. This time he went into a dungeon for a promised unlimited supply of liqu.. gold at the very end of it. Of course no one has ever come back from the dungeon. But Umer will ... be no exception. At least let's prolongate his life on earth! Go as deep as you canGOING.gif

Let's see what we have at our disposal for making it happen 🤔 - Weapons! A good variety!WEAPONS.gif - Potions™ ! Very useful. (Now alcohol free!)POTIONS.gif - Armor! To withstand attacks from great evil in your wayARMOR.png

And what about that "great evil"? There are - Skeletons! SKELETON.png - Slimes! SLIME.png - Spiders! SPIDER.png - AND ... mold..?MOLD.png

Controls: - mouse (with mouse you point Umer where to go) - "r" key (start over) - "space" key (start over or continue journey depending on circumstances)

Some rules: - No turning back! Once you entered the room or went some distance in one you CANNOT return (that means you can't return to previous rooms AND you cannot go left) - Poison effect will be removed once you leave the room where you got poisoning or once you drink one of three healing potions! - Poison effects don't stack. The last one only will affect - Umer will pick up every item in his way even if it's worse than the one he's already got - To apply potion click on it in your inventory - Weapons and armor are applied automatically - To enter the room first make sure it's on your right. Then click on entry. Once Umer makes his way to entry click on the entry again! - As I said you CANNOT return back!

Link https://chs-flws.itch.io/into-the-dungeon-depths
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/into-the-dungeon-depths

Ratings

Overall 758th 3⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 778th 2.714⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 571th 3.05⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 591th 3.405⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 348th 3.857⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Humor 328th 3.079⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 732th 3⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Given 20🗳️ 3🗨️

Feedback

stepa
09. Apr 2025 · 02:59 UTC
very cool game, liked the atmosphere and mechanics
apt_prose7
09. Apr 2025 · 03:01 UTC
I liked the style of the game but the interface design is lacking
LDJam user 355692
11. Apr 2025 · 02:44 UTC
Nicely drawn and animated, I liked the theme. Controls, though, I think can be improved. Clicking on destination and just waiting for fights and conflicts to be resolved felt a bit too repetitive. I wonder if the game will be better if Umer will go automatically to the right and you will just choose either to enter or to continue to the next door, effectively making the game turn based in a sense.
DeadByDeath
12. Apr 2025 · 06:32 UTC
Very cool game and smart interpretation of the theme. I liked the fact that I had to use my brain and on some levels to construct a strategy. Very nice graphics as well! Good job!
paulhocker
12. Apr 2025 · 22:34 UTC
pretty interesting idea for a game -- i like the fact you can only pick one path and face the consequences -- thanks for making it
K48UTO
13. Apr 2025 · 21:54 UTC
Unfortunately, the gameplay is not intuitively clear to me. I had to spend some time to understand what to do here and why. Nice graphics. Interesting idea.
Haoro
15. Apr 2025 · 20:31 UTC
The idea is interesting, but I think the poison is too strong 😅
Would love to see a more complete version of it !
Defrag
16. Apr 2025 · 01:44 UTC
I didn't/don't understand where I have agency in this as a player. It seemed like once I committed to a door, there wasn't much I could do except go forward. Perhaps I was not clicking on the right thing, but it seemed like I always had to enter the closest door, and then was stuck moving along through the room. Was I playing as intended?
Tsaot
16. Apr 2025 · 01:52 UTC
The art and character design is great. I like the concept, but the implementation left me wondering what I was doing. The only choice I had was what door to go through, but then I'd get poisoned and die. I don't think I made it past the 5th floor thanks to the poison.
Slava_Che
20. Apr 2025 · 16:52 UTC
Wanted some more fun.
Mr_Field
21. Apr 2025 · 02:08 UTC
A great idea although, as it stands, you don't really have enough/almost no control over what happens & have to just hope the game lets you through another room.

There's definitely something here though; if you can give the player ways to work around different scenarios, such as an ability to force Umer to skip over a space in front of him, allowing him to dodge lame items, mold & enemies, it would do a lot for allowing the player to strategize. Something like that would probably have to be paired with some kind of limitation, like a per-floor mana bar or whatever. Maybe also the ability to peek through/get info about one of upcoming the doorways?

I can see how it can be difficult to give the player more agency while keeping the idea of indirectly/minimally influencing a character who does his own thing, but I think you'll have something real special if you can.

Art is lovely & Umer is full of character!
ImNotVegan
24. Apr 2025 · 15:13 UTC
Good art and style!

As the previous ones noted, the game lacks options to choose from other than which door to enter, a good solution would be to add a regeneration potion that restores health until the player leaves the room.

The game needs a smarter room generator, too often the player is not given any chance to leave the room alive.
Life_Lich
24. Apr 2025 · 15:16 UTC
I think there are some interesting ideas here.
It could definitely become a fun puzzle game if you lean more into that direction.

I hope you manage to get the 20 ratings in time. best of luck!
zimny11
24. Apr 2025 · 18:25 UTC
Great pixel art! Some music and sound effects are missing to add too the game mood, but that is understandable for a game jam. A game is a bit too random. I wish there was some choices, like when to use each weapon and potion. I think the armor/weapon sprites stay on the dwarf after leaving level, and I guess they shouldn't? Since there are not shown in the inventory. Anyway, it was fun. Well done!
nrankin13
24. Apr 2025 · 18:28 UTC
This is definitely the seed of a great idea. I enjoy dungeon delvers, and this is reminiscent of some of those older games where you had to memorize the path. That would be an excellent step, should you choose. In any case, the random generation of floors hurts the overall progression, as much like Junimo Cart in Stardew Valley, there are simply areas you won't be able to pass due to randomly-spawned terrain. This takes away from the overall "fun" factor, as its removing any true skill progression.

The visuals are snappy and clearly explain everything. I enjoyed the looks of the enemies, too! Good job.