https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/echo-depths

You're a pixel-neon knight stuck deep underground.

You spawn. You jump. You die.

Miss a jump and the darkness wins. Every second matters.

• DANGEROUS CREATURES IN THE DARK

• PROCEDURALLY GENERATED LEVELS. EVERY RUN IS DIFFERENT

• PIXEL-NEON CAVE VIBES

Links:

Play here 👉🏻 https://flingeris.itch.io/cavescape

Rate us here 👉🏻 https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/cave-escape

Play & Rate: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/the-signal

Scares on Schedule has been updated to fix a few bugs and improve the quality of the HTML5 export. The initial version of the game had surprisingly few bugs for a jam build, but I wanted to make sure players had the best experience possible!

Many balance changes have been recommended in the game's comments, and a post-jam update is planned to take those into consideration (along with some new assets and more polish), but those more substantive changes will have to wait until after the rating period.

Play/rate the game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/scares-on-schedule

The game is also now available on itch.io, which has a nicer web version: https://berry-games.itch.io/scares

Play the game on the Ludum dare website: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/freelance-depth-man

Hey everyone!

First, we'd like to say that we loved participating in this game jam, and it's our first ever Ludum Dare! 😊

We received quite a few tests, and some people found a few blocking points, so we made a patch.
Don't worry—we'll keep the previous version downloadable, of course.

🎮 Try it out and let us know what you think!

🔗 Play on Ludum Dare

⚠️ If the embedded version doesn't work on the Ludum website, you can also find it here:

🔗 Play on Itch.io

After tight 72 hours, we bring you Dark Depths!

In Dark Depths, you play as Dr. Elias Voss, a renegade oceanographer on a desperate mission to uncover the fate of his missing sister and expose a secret buried beneath the waves. Piloting your custom-built deep-sea submarine, you’ll explore uncharted trenches, decipher alien symbols, and piece together a conspiracy hidden by the world’s most powerful governments.

What begins as a research dive turns into a desperate race against time as you enter the Mid-Atlantic Exclusion Zone—a region abandoned, classified, and silenced. Shadowed by hostile submarines and haunted by strange signals, you must navigate vast underwater landscapes, outmaneuver covert Blackwave patrols, and survive the pull of a force older than humanity itself.

As the mystery deepens, you’ll discover audio logs, encrypted messages, and forbidden ruins pointing to a terrible truth: something is waking up beneath the ocean floor… and it remembers us.

Play/rate our game

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/scrab-the-scrabbler

I guess players will define our game as a crossover of Balatro x Scrabble x Dave the diver. But is that really a problem?

Come play our letter game with some arcade and a lot of bonuses!

Feel free to ask for any langage!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/scrab-the-scrabbler

We spent this day suffering so that the web build would work, those who saw the game but did not want to download - we understand) But now you have the opportunity to play online! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/depth-exe

Had a bunch of fun this jam! After changing my game idea 1/2 way through Saturday, I ended up with something fun. I got to have the scare of clicking publish and having Unity tell me my project was corrupted. Glad I didn't wait to the very last hour to submit!

I will be playing games and streaming it. Stop by if you want me to try your web game! https://www.twitch.tv/gaverion

We made a mousey game from scratch last weekend! Come by my stream at https://www.twitch.tv/vorceshard in about 35 minutes (midnight UTC) if you want to see fresh games in action made for Ludum Dare 57.

We're breaking new ground with some rocking gameplay! :scream: :moyai:

https://youtu.be/cw-47z1r1OU?si=1rom0JY6nN1jjNrW

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/power-mining

Delve down, if you dare....

The Depths!

This was my first ever game jam, and I wanted to use my own game engine to make a 3D physics game, so I took the theme very literally, and made the first thing that came to mind. A deep sea exploration game. Despite, the straightforward take on the theme, I had a lot of fun building this game, and you'll hopefully have a great time exploring and playing with the ragdoll submarine and character physics!

What was planned vs completed:

The Initial Sketch

I actually got basically everything in the sketch completed! See top pic for reference! The only thing that changed is I pivoted away from the sub having claws, I was originally thinking there would be a crane-game aspect to it. Probably I'll still add that because it sounds fun, but I spent so long building the submarine that I didn't want to mess with it anymore and didn't figure out a good way to get the treasure from the crane to the trunk, so I decided to make the character grabbing the treasure the main way to get it.

Features Completed

• basic underwater environment
  • underwater shader
  • neutral buoyancy physics (hacked the gravity system)
• seeded world generation
  • procedural rock and ground placement
  • spawn treasure on the sea floor and 'burried' deeeep in the depths
  • creature spawners
• creatures
  • octopus
  • fish
  • models + rigging
• creature behavior
  • peaceful wandering
  • aggressive targeting
• swimming
• grabbing treasure
• submarine
  • models and rigging
  • vehicle controller
  • doors
  • headlights with shadows
  • engine and turbine sounds
  • bubbles (freaking spent way too much time on this lol)
• interactables
  • sub repair station
  • treasure counter
  • unloader station
• saves
  • autosave
  • profile select

Features Unfinished

• variable world seed
  • no time to test every seed in a game jam, everyone is getting "my lol seed" as the seed XD
• ancient ruins with lore
• stealth
  • creatures care about noise
  • creatures have line of sight
• creature behavior
  • better flocking
  • better wall avoidance
  • take damage
  • fix fin animation
• sub customization
  • there's code to grab the sub parts and be able to swap parts out for upgrades (more powerful engine, etc) but I ran out of time to make the upgrades
• traders
  • originally you were going to spend treasure to buy upgrades from traders but that whole system was taking too long
• competing explorers
• multiplayer
  • most things in the game are actually wired into the engine's multiplayer system but I did not want to deal with testing that for a game jam lol
• items and inventory
  • harpoon to reel treasure
  • sub crane
• wetsuit / air supply

Overall I'm really proud of how the game turned out and I'm definitely going to put more time into it for a 'full' release! https://katastudios.itch.io/ludum-dare-57

This is the first time we finished a 2D pixel art game in 4 years, and we've seen the light. Since there's only two of us, the decision to focus on simple pixel art really allowed us to focus on the game mechanics. Thinking we'll have to stick with pixel art for future jams.

And if you're interested, try out our incremental game below :smile:

What Lurks Below

Gloomhollow

October 18th, 1881

What Lurks Below is a semi-active incremental game that takes you deep into the depths below Old Gloomhollow. Can you discover what lurks below?

Try it out here! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/what-lurks-below

We just wrapped up an intense (and honestly, super fun) 72-hour game jam, and we're excited to finally share: Subsume — a moody, atmospheric deep-sea exploration game with a story that’s as eerie as it is heartwrenching.

🧪 The Premise

You and your closest college friend—both brilliant scientists—once dreamed of building the EvoAdaptive SymbioSub, a groundbreaking deep-sea vessel designed to adapt to the environment around it. After years of working side by side, that dream finally became a reality.

But then... they took it. Without you. On a solo mission. That was a year ago.

Now, after months of isolation, anger, and determination, you've built another prototype—alone. And you’re going to find out what happened. To your friend. To the project. To everything you believed in.

📼 Narrative in the Depths

We managed to sneak in quite a few storytelling moments throughout the game, so if you’re curious about what really happened down there, keep an eye out for floating cassette tapes scattered across the seafloor. Each one holds a fragment of the truth—and maybe, a glimpse of your friend’s descent into obsession.

🔗 Link here - https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/subsume

We’d love for you to give Subsume a try and let us know what you think!

Thanks for playing. We hope you enjoy diving into the mystery as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Changes

• Features “Last Run Score” and it will save in cache. However you must beat the game once for it to be saved.

• Fix: No more clipping through blocks

• Fix: Final update to collision mask to make ricochets more reliable

Original jam version itself receives none of these updates.

Check it out

P.S. Now I can move on to play your games :)

~ XpMonster

Are you Earth's greatest subterranean warrior? Prove it by posting the secret passphrase shown when beating wave 11 in the comments section. It's harrowing, but can be done!

If you like liminal spaces you might like our jam entry: Somnium. Let us know if you can get to the end of the game and what was your favorite part:)

check a look :D

(also play the game https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/breachy-sub)

https://youtu.be/0Iw3lTaYim0

Another jam has come and ended. A vast ocean of new games wait to be played and rated. Well good thing Vaguely Damp Games is live on twitch to test and play all your wonderful submissions RIGHT NOW! Stop on by to get in the queue and we'll play and give some feedback!

https://www.twitch.tv/vaguelydampgames

We just started so the queue is nice and short. And if you're waiting while we play someone else's game feel free to take a look at out entry Mr. Money's Phenomenally Soggy Water Removal Romp! Continue to expand Mr. Money's money making schemes by draining a whole lake to sell the water. Team up with Uncle Upgrade to buy tools to help you on your journey. And before you ask, no we did not consider making a shorter title.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/mr-moneys-phenomenally-soggy-water-removal-romp

Here's my son completing it first try.

(I'm joking by the way, I just thought the gif would look cute :) In the post-LD release I plan on replacing the roof/floor spikes with a checkpoint to make that section more forgiving)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR9qm0q-olA

Lava rising from the depths of the planet not only awakens the Duggots, but threatens their very existence. No way but up!

➤ Play Now

:pick: Mine precious resources, but beware falling rocks!

:gem: Bring materials back to base to train more workers

:triangularflagon_post: Multi-tasking is key as you rapidly expand your tunnels

:arrow_up: Untold riches await above... if you make it

Check out

Dwarven Depth Runner

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/dwarven-depth-runner

Playable in WebGl and Windows

Hello everyone! A new banner I made for our game. It was a hard journey, but we made it to the final! Yay!:D

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/guts

Abimes, Discover a new world in just 5 minutes of gameplay!

Are you Earth's mightiest subterranean warrior? We've added a secret passphrase to the victory screen after beating the dreaded wave 11! Post this phrase in the comments section for bragging rights!

• Fix for underwater visibility
• Fix for certain sounds not playing in the html5 version
• Fix for game crash when interacting with buttons in the html5 version

We've added a secret phrase on our game's victory screen after wave 11. Be the first to post it in the comments section for arcade-leaderboard-style bragging rights!

So far nobody's managed it, so if you enjoy arcade-style games be sure to give it a shot!

If you're a fan of puzzles and decoding ciphers, come try 'A Call from the Void'!

We had a really fun time making & playing it, took us the entire weekend but our vision came to life!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/a-call-from-the-void

You play as a therapist navigating the mind of a hero that is going on an adventure. Explore their mind and press the right buttons to help them succeed on a journey through a cave full of enemies.

This is you:

And this is the hero:

Keep their stats full by pressing the button of matching color!

Play Pushing Forward

Check out our game inspired by the classic flash game Motherlode, can you beat our best time?

On the first day, I doubted if I could make a game with this idea. Thanks to the community’s positive feedbacks for an early concept post, I knew there were people interested in this idea and finally made it.

The game is a short and sweet experience. Play & rate it here.

Although depth of field is a strange take on the theme, I’m not alone. If you like this mechanics, don’t forget to check other titles like this and this.

Check out FrANTic Focus, a unique puzzle platformer!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/frantic-focus

Come explore a massive old submarine where things suddenly take a turn for the worse.

Play/rate here

After our last Ludum Dare entry we figured we could use some more practise at 3D level design. It's still nowhere near perfect but I feel like we're definitely improving :)

(There's also a speedrun timer at the end, the current record is 2:41 set by one of us :P)

In Bobo Games most ambitious project yet, help our little freak Gordo

navigate the strange and mysterious world of love in the deep!

Content Warning: Very educational about the sex lives of marine creatures!

Play Here!

anomalous source

Deep dive into the abyss in your tiny submarine, using your sonar to detect stuff. Kill things, collect money and buy upgrades. You know the drill.

Save the President. Save the world.

Thank you for all of you who played and rated my game. I had to cut out half the ideas I wanted to implement and didn't think the game would be any fun in it's current state. Your feedback is much appreciated!

Play Here

The "Go with the Flow" Casual Swimmer

The Wall-Riding Sweaty Speedrunner

Whichever way you decide to play, we hope you have fun making it to the surface in our game, Hadal!

My team and I made such a project, I consider it a small success considering that this is our first experience in LD, do you think it is worth finishing the project? Make squads for the combat system, add new features, add inventory, make a more interesting map with new events? Would you play something like this? https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/into-the-forest-depths

Judging by the short track leaderboard, I'm not sure anyone will beat these times 🤣 thanks for playing!

Would you buy it with 60 min gameplay? lol

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/sound-of-ignorance

We released a web version with a few fixes!

Rapid Eye Microgames is a fast paced WarioWare type game where you, play a variety of minigames with slightly different playstyles and artstyles inside your own dreams

Try it out here

Now the game link points to itch, where you can play directly

https://yb-rabbit.itch.io/depth-to-horzion

I'm sorry I'm not familiar with replying directly to the post! If you leave a comment below, I'll play your game

I’m so thrilled that so many of you have enjoyed the game! It means a lot to see players diving into the mechanics and having fun. 😊 Your feedback has been amazing, and I’m hopeful that even more players will get the chance to experience it!

I’ve added detailed card descriptions to help new players and hopefully give everyone a bit more clarity. 🎮✨

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/miner

* Grandpet is now functional! HTML version coming very very soon! *

For those interested we will be rating submitted games live on 4/9 around 6pm CST, last jam was a lot of fun we hope to see you there!

I can't download games on the computer I am currently reviewing from, so if you have a web build, could you post a link to it below?

We’ve got ideas on how to polish the gameplay and what could be done if this were a full-fledged production game. The Cleaner of the Depth.

I think we’ll release an update with improvements soon, and then start working on a complete project.

Below is a slide with the crocodile search - the watercolor style was chosen because lately my hands have been missing "real" tools - brushes, paints, rustling paper, and all that.

This community has got me so thrilled and I'd love to try and find some hidden gems. I'll go first:

Cheese is the Reason https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/cheese-is-the-reason A really funny game about a rat trying to find out how to unclog his toilet. Great dialogue and terrific views.

The OPERATOR https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/the-operator A simple, but challenging game about getting a crew down into a mysterious cavern and only being able to tell them coordinates for where to go. And it has STICKERS

Still have a bunch more I'd like to review, so I'll probably make a new post after that too :3

I couldn't spend much time playing my games before, but this time I'm sitting and testing different builds. For example, I gathered an OP build closer to the boss. It will be interesting to find out what you have collected. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/depth-of-mind

(I couldn't find image source)

Dive deep into Arctic waters to find out what happened here. Can you solve the mystery?

Try it here!

Our underwater colony builder, Tidehold, is our little love letter to strategy games I spent hundreds of hours in - and few of its features were heavily inspired by other titles. Every time I participated in LD before, I ended up playing many strategy games other people made and telling myself: "damn, I wish I made something like this!". So, this time, we came prepared with a wish to somehow wiggle a strategy genre into the final theme - I wrote down my ideas for each of the 10 themes on Friday, figuring out how to make them fit.

Main inspiration for the grid-based map and simple resource management was an amazing game I played lately, which I can't recommend enough: Dawnfolk, made by one guy in Godot, same engine that we use. In our game, you have to expand your base using O2 tanks in order to reach the final point: a portal to the new, better lands. The mechanic of reaching further with linked buildings of the same type was inspired by another amazing game, They Are Billions, where smart placement of electric beacons expands your base to reach best narrow defense spots. Finally, we needed a simple endgame scenario, some goal that players could aim for. The idea for the portal you have to reach was inspired by the classic: the first map of Settlers 2 that I played hundreds of times as a kid. On that map, you need to simply expand your base north in order to reach the final destination. Our portal has a random location, but the idea stands.

Hope you enjoy playing Tidehold! We appreciate your feedback, ratings and even few minutes spent in our game :)

Fixed some bugs in the game, but wasn’t sure where to post about it—so I’m announcing it everywhere, even as a standalone post! :)

What were the issues? Basically, two things mentioned in my game’s comments:

The swimmer could start digging mid-air;

The TV sound was way too loud.

Both are now patched! I didn’t touch anything else—playing by the rules here!

By the way, here’s the game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/record-depth

I love hiding little secrets in my games! If you take an unexpected path, you might just discover something interesting. 🔴 Red arrows = Main route | 🟢 Green arrow = Secret route https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/depths-ascender

We're very proud of our game Thalassophobia. We had some issues at first and with the scope of our game, so we had to make some adjustments, namely sacrificing a bit in terms of game goals and level design, but we're still have with the result.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/superjammers-ld57

Warning: Jump scares might occur if you play this game haha.

One issue we're struggling with though is whether we should opt out of the humour rating. How does this work for the overall score? Does it just count as zero for the overall rating lowering it? Or is the overall rating unaffected by the opted out category?

Hey everyone! 👋
This time I made a small turn-based strategy game where you’re tasked with keeping an research device 🔷 powered using ethereal drops.
These drops are harvested by defeating nearby roaming creatures 👾.

⚡ The goal is simple, but staying alive isn’t.
The device must stay charged — you’ll see its current energy level both as a UI bar 📊 and as a glowing diamond 🔹 on the device itself.
If it runs out… well, let’s just say that’s game over 💀.

🗺️ To keep up the flow of ethereal drops, you’ll need to unlock new areas.
These open up more space to explore and enemies to fight — but there’s a twist:
🌫️ Zones that are too far from the device will fade away with time.
So don’t get too comfortable out there...

🧠 It’s all about managing your risks and deciding when to expand or retreat.
It was a fun challenge to balance, and I hope you enjoy figuring it out as much as I did making it 💜

🔗 Play & Rate Hollow Depths: here ✨

Would love to hear your feedback! 💬

I decided to share how I arrived at the final version of the game.

The Idea:

I struggled for a long time, thinking the theme was too weird and that I wouldn’t come up with anything. And it’s true—after three hours, the only idea I had was a swimmer digging through dirt with his bare hands. Honestly, I wasn’t unhappy with the idea, just frustrated that I didn’t have multiple options to choose from... Oh well. I immediately imagined a lot of blood and the vibe of those old Flash games from 2008-2010. And I thought, Hey, this could actually be fun.

Graphics:

Since time was limited and I didn’t want to use AI, I went for a simple art style that matched the absurdity of the concept. I think the visuals turned out pretty good... but that’s just my opinion, lol.

At first, I sketched the main character with different arms, then redrew everything piece by piece—so the style ended up inconsistent.

Humor:

At some point, I realized that coding and game design would take too much time, and I got into game dev mostly to draw. So I decided to focus all my effort on humor and visuals. Honestly, those random news channel cutscenes came to me by accident, but they ended up creating the game’s fun atmosphere. Although, the death screen in a hospital room with sad music also makes you smile in a weird way.

Game Design:

When I first came up with the idea, I considered making it a standard mining game. But that wouldn’t have been funny—just another clone. Yeah, the game lacks mechanics now, and that’s a downside. But within the time limit, I wouldn’t have been able to polish them well anyway. Instead, I focused on art and humor. I think it’s important to play to your strengths.

Code:

I made everything in Construct 3. While playing other Ludum Dare games, I mostly saw Godot and Unity... Where are my fellow Construct devs? Am I the only one? :)

Final Thoughts:

That’s about it. Unfortunately, because of the blood, I can’t really publish this anywhere else, so I won’t be polishing it further. But I really enjoyed making a game from scratch with my own characters instead of cloning popular mobile titles just to cash in on the web market (what can I say, a guy’s gotta eat). Maybe I’ll participate in Ludum Dare more often now.

Actually, my first game was made in a team four years ago—also for Ludum Dare—but I lost that account, and I was just the artist back then.

Anyway, thanks to the organizers—it was awesome!

By the way, here’s the game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/record-depth

There were some hiccups with Godot's compatibility renderer that prevented us from uploading a web build at first, but I finally had time to find a workaround (no other post-jam changes)

You can now play our silly little game about throwing car batteries into the ocean, Treats for Charybdis, from the comfort of your web browser! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/treats-for-charybdis

The game is available in the browser (WebGL) and on Windows: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/return-to-darkness

I would appreciate your feedback and ratings on LDJam.

https://protzz.itch.io/hark

Pleasantly surprised by the good start of my first game for the LD Jam.

Play this cozy idle game and let me know what you think!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/helldigger-idle

I participated in the compo, is it ok to add now the html5 version of the game?

A tiny ‘how to not get lost in our game’ guide ))

We want to share with you our concepts and explorations of the drill control panel. It was pretty challenging, but we love the result. Hope you enjoy it too!

Full image can be opened by RMB and “open image in new tab”

Play and vote here : https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/burrilka

"We have Binding of Issac at home", as they say.

But then, did Isaac have a cute octopus? I don't think so!

Go check it out if you have some spare time:

Now that the thrill of the jam has settled i felt like writing about my entry to this edition.

This has been the second time i participated in LudumDare, and game jam in general. I'm very proud i pulled off making the game in time. It did not start well as i got sick on saturday... which forced me to revise the scope of Pawndemonium.

First i want to thank everyone who left a comment on the game page. It's been really rewarding reading those, and seeing that the most common critics were about it being too short.

Originally the plan was to have all the different chess pieces (pawn, tower, knight, bishop, queen and king) be enemies in the game. While they are only two enemies in the finished version, i had the sprites done for all of them:

I also intended the game to have a roguelike aspect to it by having the player get rewarded with random items for clearing a board, like a shield (an extra life) or a pitchfork to push your opponents away from a distance (with the possibility to push them off the board).

As it is now the game is in deed very short: the boss is on the third level and that's it. The checkerboards/levels are generated on the fly, each time bigger than the previous one, making it so that on later levels you'd end up in a gigantic grid, quickly to big for the screen. Instead of rethinking how the floors were generated i decided to cut there. There's no audio in the game, not being a musician i decided (on monday) to focus instead on thinks i'm comfortable with like visual feedbacks and gamefeel.

I'm now thinking very seriously on how i will approach expanding (and reworking) Pawndemonium into a more complete experience. I want it to lean on the original idea of "Hades but turn based because you're a chess pawn".

Thank you for reading :)

be sure to check out the game if you have not: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/pawndemonium

We poured a lot of love into the panorama — hope you enjoy these small pieces we managed to draw and animate just in time!

Hi! This time i wanted to sharpen some C++ Skills in Unreal and hat the luck to work with extremely talented people to create our Game "Anglerfish": https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/anglerfisch We are really happy with it!

Hi! There😛.

This is my first time attending LD and I haven't quite figured out the rules yet, just seeing “do everything by myself within 48 hours”. So I sacrificed my interpretation of the theme and instead spent my time starting with Unity, create the frog with Blender, and sfx with Audacity. I picked up the guitar and use the voice as sound. Really having a great time!

So I realized that starting is really important! So please control the frog and pick up this gun, or I had no idea I'd be missing out on such a fun experience.

There were a lot of difficulties, but it was really nice to finally get the game out there and have someone finish the humble stuff that I made.

Thanks a lot! So may I get more playing & rating here.

For this Ludum Dare, we had a unique approach—24 hours, lots of laughs, and a game that’s more about fun than challenge. Fifty Floors of Flavor is a quirky game about choosing dinner—pizza, ramen, tacos, you name it—while dealing with the endless question: “What do you want to eat?”

Inspired by the theme “Depths,” we took a lighthearted spin and dove into the depths of food choices. It was less of a hardcore challenge and more of a date night project, but we learned a lot and had a blast working together.

If you want a laugh, check it out and see if you can survive the endless dinner dilemmas. 🍕
Check out Fifty Floor of Flavor Here

• Fixed low visibility underwater.
• Fixed certain sounds are not playing in the html5 version.
• Fixed a bug whith ui interaction in the html5 version.

Scavenge for scrap and other relics of the world long gone in a desperate attempt to make ends meet, or face poverty and starvation.

Play and vote here : https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/scavenger-deep

Who doesn't love a good collider problem eh?

But the real ones appreciate a good collider SOLUTION:

Bug successfully SQUASHED :boom: If you think the depth altering thing looks cool please check out the game Oh No!! Astral Warp

Massive thanks to @a0405u for reporting the bug: please give their game Abyss a play, it's honestly really cool!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/relinked-0-26091975 https://sempiternalrain.itch.io/relinked

Heyyy everyone!

First of all, I want to thank you all for your comments! I still can't believe so many people played our game. Thank you so, so much!

On the downside — there are some unfortunate bugs. We truly love rhythm games with all our hearts and understand how important proper rhythm and feedback are. But since this is our very first rhythm game, we're still learning the ropes and didn’t quite manage to polish everything in time.

We’re not entirely sure if we’ll be able to make the notes fall perfectly on beat without causing issues, but we’ll try to at least add clearer visual feedback when you hit a note — so you know if it was correct or not.

We’ll also fix the object colliders in the cleaning mini-game (right now you sometimes have to grab things by their edges).

It’s all a bit nerve-wracking, but also super exciting! Thank you so much again 💙

My first game on LD. I think, deep dark fantasies gachimuchi is the best "deeps" theme disclosure :tongue: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/deepdarkfantasies

As a long time jammer (this is my 16th jam), I've always done my games with GameMaker. But this time, since I was working with a friend who is new to game dev, we decided to go with Pico-8, and use only the cheatsheet to have a limited set of stuff to learn. This is our final game by the way:

It's a digging Tetris-like in which you have to remove layers of soil while not disconnecting the entire chunk, you can test it out here: SIRTET.

Anyways, this is an unsorted list of impressions about working with PICO-8 in a jam:

• Using only the cheatsheet as a reference is surprisingly easy. Everything except understanding the music creation interface was pretty much self-contained in a single-page A4 PDF.
• It's much less batteries-included, so if your game has heavy reliance on collision detection and the like you're gonna have much more boilerplate code than in GameMaker.
• Things being 128x128 and the minimal function set makes iterating pretty fast. It's like having a guardrail against yourself going too crazy with the scope of the game.
• The 16 color palette also works in the same way, making your games scope much more manageable.
• Having no shaders, adding juice to the game is a bit more hacky. In our case, we used a custom particle system and screen shaking.
• The SFX making interface is wonderful. It's a pity you can't use external audios so easily (I'd love to use JSFXR or modulime.
• The music making was the most complicated part for us. The music tracks are made of SFX tracks, and looping bars is a bit convoluted. We ended up making 4 tracks of drums, 4 of bass and 4 of lead sounds, and using memory operations (bitwise ops and poke/peek at memory addresses) to randomly change the track.
• Exporting was joyful. A single command and you get a web version that works out of the box in any device, with controller support, landscape mode controls...

This time we had a very clear idea of what we wanted to do since day 1, so the creative process was very straightforward. After 4 hours of development we were already focusing on the fun cycle. In general, I think that's what made this game so addictive vs previous ones.

Our final conclusion is that PICO-8 is really fun and smooth experience, but if you need anything more custom or advanced (physics, external graphic design, more complex palette, external music...) using another software is the way to go.

Welcome to play our game!! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/cyber-digger-for-now

We decided to use Three.js this time, but when it came to placing the 3D models we didn't know what to do. So with some help of v0 we created a 3D level editor in Three.js to help designing the level.

Play our game Dungeon Cartographer, where you need to map out the dungeon we created!

https://caffeinetrip.itch.io/echo-of-fallens

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/absolve

It has cool graphics, competent gameplay, the atmosphere. Give it a try!

Hi! I want to share some of my experience developing my game - "Pogo Dwarf"

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/pogo-dwarf

A day before the jam started, I was already trying to come up with ideas for all the possible themes. I came up with some great ones, but for a few themes, I drew a complete blank. Still, I went to bed early, excited and ready for the challenge.

I woke up in the middle of the night, getting my setup ready, waiting for the theme reveal. An hour passed... and then it dropped: "Depths." I panicked. I had absolutely nothing for this theme, and worse—I just didn’t connect with it.

I started brainstorming anything I could: maybe something about field of view, maybe deep learning? But everything either sounded boring or way too ambitious to pull off in 48 hours. I was tempted to give up and just join the jam instead of the compo, but I was really set on doing the compo. Eventually, I gave up on clever twists and went literal: a dwarf digging into the depths.

The problem? Digging, mining, walking—all of that usually needs animations. And I hate doing game art. So I asked myself: how do I avoid animation entirely? Then it hit me: what if the dwarf was on a pogo stick, and he digs by replacing the spring with a shovel mid-air? No walking, no complex animation—just bouncing and digging. Weird, fun, and best of all, super doable.

So I started with the art (which I hate doing), just to get it out of the way. I made the dwarf, the pogo stick, some shovel heads. Once that was done, I dove into the pogo mechanic—and surprisingly, it was actually fun. Unpolished, buggy, kind of ridiculous—but fun. By the end of Day 1 (about 20 hours in), I had the basic mechanic, most of the art, and a barebones digging system.

Day 2 started after a few hours of sleep. I added inventory, world generation, and more tools. The game was really starting to take shape. Here’s how it looked mid-dev:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GoHy1ksfWQ

But then — 6 hours before the compo ended—I realized: the game just wasn’t fun.

Sure, the pogo mechanic was cool. But it clashed with the digging, which required precise vertical control—something the pogo stick definitely didn’t offer. Climbing up was frustrating, and the core gameplay just felt slow and dull.

At that point, I had two options: polish what I had and submit something meh... or take a huge risk.

I scrapped most of the work and pivoted hard—cut the digging, focused only on the pogo mechanic, and turned the game into a tight little platformer built around bouncing.

From that moment on, something clicked. I started designing level sections one after another. The creativity just flowed. I reused most of the art, polished up the controls, added a simple UI, and playtested the whole thing. All in about 5 hours.

With an hour left, I built, submitted, and created the game page. I made it into the compo. And this time, I actually liked the game.

I barely slept during those 48 hours, but I was running on pure adrenaline. After submitting, I just had to play other entries. So many amazing games out there—it was inspiring.

And the cherry on top? People actually liked Pogo Dwarf. I got some really kind, helpful feedback, and it honestly means the world to me. I’m even seriously thinking about continuing development and maybe doing a Steam release.

This was my first Ludum Dare and it was absolutely life-changing.

Thank you to everyone who played, left a comment, or shared their own amazing entries. You all made this such a great experience ❤️

Once again, Thank you!

We created and animated a lot more than what made it into the 3-day jam build — including music, sounds, and a full UI that just didn’t fit in time. Still, we’re excited to keep working on the game, add everything we made, and even expand it further. The idea is pretty ambitious, and we’re proud of how much we pulled off with such attention to detail.

If you see potential in it, your support means the world. Thanks so much for all the kind words!

And some mini-games that we didn't have time to make

Updated my game so poor cat no longer getting stack and you don’t t have to mash a spacebar to unstack it. Also fixed a graphical glitch at the end screen.

LINK

Changelog v.1.01:

-Fixed a bug, where cat would get stack after unlocking the door with key and then trying to pick up an item or pressing action button.

-Fixed a bug where level by level times would duplicate at a final screen after beating game more than one time.

Don't want to spoil the interesting models we made for you to discover. So here's a collection of the assets we made during the jam to make the staircase room.

Check out, play and rate our game here! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/fire-exit

One of the most memorable things about Ludum Dare for me is watching people who stream on Twitch play my game and mess around with it while I panic everytime they discover a bug or get stuck :smile:. It's so much fun and I made some awesome friends this way. I remember there was an issue at some point that stopped Ludum Dare from displaying a list of streamers like it used to do. But how can I find them now? is there a certain tag or something to look for? I'm not very familiar with Twitch.

Edit: This is the link that LD used to direct to https://www.twitch.tv/directory/all/tags/LudumDare Thanks @wendel-scardua

My downloads don't add up to how many ratings I'm getting, especially since both me and some friends who didn't rate it downloaded it from itch. Are people just rating the game without playing it?

MindDive: The FPS where you shoot depression... literally.

You’re a Net-Runner inside someone’s broken brain. There’s lava. There’s lasers. There’s flying bugs made of sadness. Also, therapy? Kinda. With bullets.

ESC doesn’t work. R reloads your trauma. SHIFT runs from your responsibilities.

Fight glitches. Jump through memory voids. Fall into emotional damage (and bottomless pits). The brain is melting. And guess what? You're the janitor.

Play MindDive. Because fixing someone else's life is way easier than dealing with your own.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/minddive

MindDive #NeuralNightmare #CyberpunkTherapist #ShootTheSadness #SteamWhen

Play it - Itch.io.

Our game is all about mining gold in deep caves and transporting it to the surface, but things are never that simple.

At its core, the game is driven by greed. You dive deep into the mines, filled with gold, digging and collecting it, then carrying it up to the platform. The only limit to how much gold you can haul is the battery life of your lantern. The more you try to carry, the higher the risk that your lantern will die before you make it back to the platform, leaving you lost in the darkness forever.

But that's not all. The more gold you load onto the lift, the heavier and slower it becomes, making it harder to reach the surface. And the caves are full of creatures who don’t want you to take their precious, shiny gold. The longer it takes to rise, the more enemies you'll have to face. As you successfully bring gold to the surface, you can use it to buy upgrades that will help with your future descents. We've made a lot of progress, but not everything works exactly as we want it yet. But we’re going to keep pushing forward to finish the game. This was our first LD, and we’ve had an unforgettable experience! Thanks to everyone who plays, rates, and shares feedback! And remember, above all, we do this because we love making games, and we’ll keep doing it!

It's fun and quite challenging: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/descent-protocol-1

https://youtu.be/ZzjeVWvainQ

https://protzz.itch.io/hark

Since ldjam.com still doesn't have a filter for Web Games, I created a little website that just shows you a random web game entry at a time.

Try it out

Also the cool skybox :sunglasses:

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/deepsteep

You are a submarine operator. Going on a treasure hunt

There are no portholes here. just the old sonar screen.

Trust the radar.

Be quiet.

Someone is listening.

check here - https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/explorer-of-the-depths

Better late than never, Crystal Collector is my entry to Ludum Dare 57.

When I read the theme for the jam which is Depths, I was disappointed. Aside of the fact that it's not what I prefer, I have made two game jam entries whose theme is related to Depths before, one for Ludum Dare 48 and the other is for Brackeys jam. Because of that, I decided to make something different than those games. Instead of going deeper and deeper, I've made crystal collection game at depths of the ocean for this jam. It works well enough for me and the game is fun. Last but not least, this game was made with collab with my sister as the artist drawing most of the assets of the game.

Enjoy the game and don't forget to leave ratings and comments!

Really proud of myself for all the things I learned making this game. - Animation isn't just for player or npc movement - Pause menu - Controller support (way easier than I thought it would be) - Making my own tilemap - Limited field of view

Check out my spooky maze explorer game, Deeper In https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/deeper-in

Go and try it.

🎣 Hooky Fish – Our Ludum Dare 57 Entry!

Into the Depths We Go! 🐟

👉 Play Here!

🧠 The Theme: "Depths"

We dove straight into the idea—literally! You play as a fisherman dropping your line deeper and deeper into the ocean, hunting for the elusive angler fish lurking in the darkest corners of the sea.

🎮 About the Game

You’re not just fishing — you’re on a mission. Start small, sell your catches, and upgrade your gear to reach even deeper. Avoid dangerous obstacles, reel in what you can, and keep your eyes on the prize: the mysterious angler fish that’s said to live in the abyss.

⚙️ Features

🎯 Goal-driven progression: Catch and sell fish to upgrade your rod

🐟 Fish variety: Each catch brings you closer to the final goal

🛠️ Upgrades: Boost your strength, hook speed, and price for selling

🌌 A journey into the deep: The further you go, the darker (and stranger) it gets...

💡 What Went Well

The gameplay loop turned out really addictive (we couldn’t stop playtesting!)

Visual feedback and upgrades felt satisfying and motivating

We managed to get in a proper start-to-finish loop with a clear objective

🙌 Thanks for checking it out!

We had an awesome time making this one and seeing what everyone else came up with. If you give it a go, we’d love to hear your thoughts and try your game too!

Happy jamming! 🐠

— Durka Games

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/helldigger-idle