LudumData

Into The Depths by SmelJey

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

Venture deep into the underworld! Build your mining settlement, gather resources and descend lower and lower. Riches of the depths await!

It's recommended to play in full screen mode

UPD 26.04: There is an updated post-jam version available on itch.io

How to play?

You have 3 random tiles at the bottom of the screen. Hover your mouse on them to see what they do. Place tiles in the world around your castle. Pay attention to resources at the top of the screen. Each turn settlers eat food. When the food runs out, the game ends. Gather enough gold to progress to the next level.

Controls

  • WASD - move camera
  • Q / E or Middle Mouse - rotate camera
  • LMB - interact with the world
  • RMB - cancel current action
  • Esc / P - Pause

Theme

It all comes down to "exploring the depths". The game is taking place in the underworld, where the player is expanding their settlement. Once the player reaches the floor goal, they proceed to the lower levels of the underworld (there are 3 of them with different layouts and mood).

Credits

The game was made during LudumDare 57.

Assets used in this game:

  • KayKit Medieval Hexagon Pack
  • KayKit Resource Bits
  • Kenney's Survival Kit
  • Kenney's Fantasy UI Borders
  • Shikashi's Fantasy Icons Pack v2
  • SFX from ZapSplat
  • Ambient sounds by Joel Fazhari
  • Music by DeusLower

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8mxjvfQLgQ

Link https://smeljey.itch.io/into-the-depths
Link https://smeljey.itch.io/into-the-depths
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/into-the-depths-4

Ratings

Overall 351th 3.66⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Fun 285th 3.604⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 407th 3.28⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Theme 627th 3.32⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Mood 157th 4.02⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 26🗳️ 29🗨️

Feedback

Yuri Antonov
08. Apr 2025 · 05:38 UTC
In the beginning, I didnt really understand how to play, so I had to read the descriptions. And everything fell into place. Good job!
ThorPalsson
08. Apr 2025 · 07:13 UTC
Very cool game, atmosphere is great and the game play is tight! Great job in creating this in such a short time!
breadstick
08. Apr 2025 · 07:18 UTC
A fun little building puzzle! It does take time to figure out what you're supposed to be doing, but once it finally clicked, it's an interesting logistics puzzle. A nice amount of content!
Agraffs
08. Apr 2025 · 07:59 UTC
Nice game, the concept is nice and the game is really entertaining. The game is a bit tough which makes it even more satisfying when you start to understand it's mechanics. The graphics are cool and the whole thing is well built. Honestly a perfect Jam project. GG !
ssiannas
08. Apr 2025 · 08:40 UTC
Fun game. I like the atmosphere with the low lighting and the chill medieval music. It's got simple mechanics but a lot of gameplay depth. It looks very polished and has a good learning curve too.

I couldn't find a lot of relation to the theme besides the description, though.

Awesome submission!
🎤 SmelJey
08. Apr 2025 · 08:56 UTC
@ssiannas I'm glad that you liked it!

I agree that relation to the theme is quite vague. My interpretation is that the game is taking place in the underworld, so when you expand the settlement and dig walls, you explore the "depths" in a way. Also, once you finish the floor, you proceed to the deeper level of the cave (there are 3 of them with different layouts)

Thanks for the feedback!
ljg
08. Apr 2025 · 18:50 UTC
Fun game! I felt like if you got no houses you were kinda doomed, which meant that I made large well fields in hopes of getting houses. The art style was fun, and when you got things going it was really rewarding.
APG
08. Apr 2025 · 21:18 UTC
Very cool. I wish I could see how much food it costs to place a tile, but otherwise I like how tight it is and how you can destroy your own buildings.
Ruslana
08. Apr 2025 · 22:09 UTC
This game has a nice concept. I love UI art and 3d assets.
robobarbie
09. Apr 2025 · 01:32 UTC
addicting and easy to get lost in strategy LOL -- goodbye time where did you go!!! really enjoyed the 3d assets here and the satisfying feeling/sfx of placing down those tiles. nice stuff
🎤 SmelJey
09. Apr 2025 · 05:44 UTC
@apg Thanks!

About the food, it's not clearly indicated in UI unfortunately. There is a resource with helm icon that represents population of your settlement. This is basically how much food would be consumed each time you place a new tile
Placeholders
09. Apr 2025 · 09:31 UTC
Great game got me hooked! i love the movments and the overall controlls and indications. the game-design of what works with what, and the balancing were very imprassive for a jam game! loved it congrats
HelloImBenjamin
10. Apr 2025 · 07:29 UTC
It felt super rewarding once your strategy started to pay off. Loved the relaxing yet strategic vibe—great job!
Locke8
10. Apr 2025 · 13:26 UTC
Very interesting strategy game, i wish there was some way to tell how much food placing a tile cost.
Wuppos
12. Apr 2025 · 18:54 UTC
Really impressive how you made a strategy game like this in a weekend! I really enjoyed playing. It took me a couple plays to really understand how the game worked, but once I did it was a lot of fun to try and plan for what tiles might come next. One thing which I never really understood, however, is when a turn is over? Is it after every couple of tiles you place? Now I was a bit surprised everytime the people had to eat (which sometimes made me lose unexpectedly).

This was a fun submission! Well done :D
🎤 SmelJey
12. Apr 2025 · 19:09 UTC
@wuppos Thanks a lot for playing!

The turn ends every time you **place** a tile. You can destroy tiles as many times as you want per turn, but it always ends when you place a tile.

I didn't thought during the jam about how confusing it could be :) I should've indicated it somehow more properly, but that's what we have right now :D
Nanamaki
15. Apr 2025 · 07:16 UTC
ahhhh I love this!! Really addictive engaging gameplay for me. The numeric was designed so well and the resourses are so balancedly important that I have to have to adjust strategy depending on the resource around and new tiles's function. I will definitely willing to play some further updates or some endless mode stuff.
![nothing-is-perfect-57ce506ecec8b-design.png](///raw/f76/b5/z/6c362.png)
PaDo
19. Apr 2025 · 22:23 UTC
City-building game for jam. It's very powerful!