When the theme was announced, I froze for a second: "So… an underwater game? But who’s the protagonist? Who’s the enemy?"

📓 I started sketching ideas and drawing concepts by hand… Then it hit me: "What if coral reefs… but on LSD?" 🌈🐠

And just like that, the psychedelic fish was born — my very first in-game enemy. I hand-sketched the concept and used AI tools to shape the final result:

🎨 Enemy Creation Process

✏️ Hand-drawn sketch

🧠 Concept art generated with ChatGPT

🧱 3D model created via Meshy AI

🧼 Mesh cleaned + animated in Blender

🧩 Imported and implemented in Unity

🔫 Weapons I focused on making the torpedo feel satisfying, with blood and explosion effects. Also added an auto-rifle, switchable via mouse wheel. Bullet impacts still need work, but the core mechanics are solid.

🐠 Enemy Behavior All enemies are psychedelic fish 🐟

They spawn every 20 seconds

They chase the player using simple AI

Increasing numbers = increasing pressure

🌿 Procedural Decorations To avoid manually placing corals and plants, I built a procedural spawner that:

Randomizes size, rotation, and distance

Runs at runtime

Keeps each session visually unique and alive

🕹 Tech & Features Unity + C#

Character Controller

Weapon switching (mouse wheel)

Health system + player death

Simple UI (Canvas-based)

Custom enemy animation (first ever — made in Blender!)

🎞 Animation This was my first ever animation. Rigging the fish, animating it in Blender, exporting to Unity — then watching it swim toward the player... I literally thought:

"I actually made this. Holy crap!" 🙌

🔇 What About Sound? I’m a sound designer by profession, but... I ran out of time 😅 So, the jam version is silent. But don’t worry — The post-jam build will have:

Underwater ambiance

Enemy sounds

Weapon SFX

UI and hit feedback sounds

Already cooking up some juicy ideas 🧠🎧

💡 Fun Fact Back in Ludum Dare 41, I joined as a composer for a friend’s team. The track I wrote then was called… “Depth.” Now, years later, my first solo game drops — and the theme is “Depths.” Coincidence? I think not. 😄

🔚 Final Thoughts DepthsHouse is my first real step as a solo indie dev. Sure, it’s a bit rough, a little janky — but I loved making it.

If you play it, I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback, suggestions, or bug reports.

Thanks for checking it out ❤️ See you at the next jam!

Just wanted to share a few words about taking part in my first ever Ludum Dare.

The atmosphere here is honestly amazing. People are actually playing and rating each other's games, leaving thoughtful feedback, and just being genuinely supportive. It's such a cool community full of creators willing to help, share tips, and lift each other up.

Long story short — I have zero regrets about joining. I’ll definitely take part again if I get the chance.

You’re all awesome. Thanks so much for the feedback and kind words — it really means a lot!

Here’s a link to my game in case you haven’t seen it yet: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/cave-escape

A test teaser for our game, what do you think?

P.S. the itch version doesn't have sounds yet, we're working on it ♥

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/into-the-forest-depths

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

Hello Jammers!

Congrats on a successful jam. I've been playing all your games, and they're fantastic!

As the reviewing process for me begins winding down, I just wanted to give a few of my thoughts on my game and the things I learned about myself and the jam. Successes and problems. Maybe you can learn from them or have a laugh. Either is fine.

The concept of Dante's Mini-Golf was that you are hitting the ball up the various circles of Hell.

Getting the ball in to the hole makes it launch upwards to the next circle.

And falling in a pitfall makes you fall down a circle ....or worse.

I was really proud of this mechanic. By layering the different holes on top of each other in interesting ways, it allowed me to make for some really frustrating moments. Herein lies the problem...

I made a rage game for Ludum Dare.

I knew when I sketched out the idea that it would not be ideal for a Ludum Dare audience, but I continued anyway because I'm stubborn and I wanted to! On average, most Ludum Dare players will likely play the game for around five minutes. I do not recommend making a rage game for Ludum Dare unless you are aware that most of the players will not see the majority of the work you've put in. It makes getting feedback difficult because if I'm lucky players will make it to the third or fourth level before taking a big tumble and giving up forever.

I accepted these conditions going in.

This is my third time participating in Ludum Dare and this year was the first time I took a big risk by basing one my primary game mechanics around something I hate... PHYSICS!

I was terrible at math and science as a child and I'm no smarter as an adult, who would have guessed? For the most part, the physics work. Sometimes they do baffling and strange things. I would have loved to do more custom code to make the game feel better, but you can only do so much in 72 hours when you're also learning new concepts. Balancing the speed of the ball is also challenging and one of the main pieces of feedback I've heard. The ball is too slow on the early levels and doesn't have enough control on the later ones. There is no happy medium and if I did the project again I think I would have added some sort of shot mechanic that lets you change the speed with a button press - almost like a low or high gear in a racing game. I'm still trying to figure out all of the drag and acceleration stuff. We're all capable of learning.

Another thing I really wanted to try to implement in this jam was dynamic music. I'm not a composer and the music to most people sounds like just a nonsense collection of beeps and boops. Taking inspiration from the old Grant Kirkhope N64 Rare soundtracks or something more recent like Balatro's music transitions (yes we're all guilty of loving Balatro), I aimed to make a system that seamlessly adds and removes instrumental tracks on each level. It's the same song, but with eight different versions. The game figures out the position, loads in the new track, applies it to the new level, and vice versa when you fall. It's really slick...

...in the Windows build.

HTML5 broke this feature entirely and I ended up having to recode it for a browser. While the effect is partially there, it no longer goes from one track to another seamlessly - it has to start over every time the stage transitions. A bit frustrating, but a better compromise than no music. Remember to test for your primary build. HTML5 does not always work the same way if you're making browser builds!

I got a bit overzealous picking a concept with nine different levels each with a unique tileset, especially because I haven't really worked with tilesets prior to this. I spent probably 60% of my dev time just on artwork and implementation. I am not an artist. It should be very obvious looking at the game. If you aren't an artist, that's okay. I leaned in to it. Made everything look a little jankier. I noticed the game had a 90s DOS/Windows 95 shovelware kind of feel and I embraced that. I added weird looking text that was reminiscent of the scrawled writing I saw on the walls of Lemmings when I played that as a kid. I added a bright and funky pattern in one of the later levels that looked back to the days of sitting on the floor playing ToeJam and Earl. Take inspiration from everything! EMBRACE PROGRAMMER ART!

Finally, a last minute call was adding a tutorial to the game. I've never done that and I recommend everyone to give it a try. It didn't take long to implement and I think it really added to the game experience. Make sure the player knows how to control the game. Unfortunately, many people are not going to read the controls on a page description.

In the end, I am really happy with the end product. I breathed and lived in this game for 43 of the allotted 72 hours. This is not a game for many people. It is a game for me though. I think it's one of the more cohesive things I've made thus far and I learned a lot while doing it. It's not anywhere near perfect, and that is ok!

If you think this game concept sounds interesting to you, consider giving it a try! Don't feel obliged. I'm already at my ratings quota and there's plenty of people out there still trying to hit that 20 threshold. This is a game for a very specific type of gamer and I think if you enjoy difficult games, you might find something to enjoy here. Just be prepared to get angry.

Play Dante's Mini-Golf here!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/kikas-eggsplosive-descent

In Kika's Eggsplosive Descent, you play as a tiny egg that looked down at the world and wondered… What could be inside that huge egg?

Kika's hectic and perilous descent is filled with surreal backgrounds made entirely in watercolor, depicting her journey from outer space all the way to the center of the Earth.

With only one control (hold spacebar to accelerate downwards), the game is simple to understand but quite challenging to master.

Tenth place on our leaderboard is currently at 8965 points. Think you can beat that score?

Come play Kika's Eggsplosive Descent and leave us your feedback.

We're a collective of students (and some non-students) from USP, a public university in Brazil. We make games, teach new students and always get together for Ludum Dare! Check out some of our other games on our itch page.

Finally after several dozens of hours the fixes and major issues have been resolved and we would really appreciate it if you could play our game and leave feedback (both positive and negative). This is our second Jam and we are just gaining experience. Thank you all for your attention)

Hi everyone! Congrats to all that submitted, been loving playing all your games:)

This was my first Ludum Dare jam and my third game jam overall and I'm addicted!:D The community is amazing and I love the challenge!

This time on I tried to make just a small little game so I could have time to polish it and have fun with it and I'm very satisfied with the final result. For this game I wanted to make everything myself, including art, sfx and music and so I did! Was a big challenge but I think it turned out great in the end!

If you want to try my game you can do so on the submission page linked below:)

-[Venture into the Unknown]-

Was so much fun working with my friend @gerswick who also made his own game Are you smarter than a Fisherman?, staying up long nights, recording audio on our phones and bouncing ideas off of each other was the most fun I've had in a long time. So I want to give him a huge thanks:)

See you in the void :rocket: :frog:

Hi guys. Let's upgrade your animation skills. In case you didn't know what animation Layers were. Then here's a video explanation for you. I hope it helps to make cooler animations in a shorter time. https://youtu.be/m0XfZyiOIQs Game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/the-cleaner-of-the-depth

This is means a lot for me, thank you everyone, and if you didnt play yet, so you are welcome

Hey everyone!

Ludum Dare 57 is done and dusted, and wow – thanks SO MUCH to everyone who jumped into Dark Depths and shared your thoughts! Seriously, reading all your comments was awesome.

We're super stoked you folks dug the deep-sea vibes, the graphics, and especially the sonar ping effect! Hearing you liked the atmosphere made all the intense jamming feel worthwhile.

We also heard you loud and clear on the rough spots! Yeah, figuring out what to do at the start wasn't super obvious ("Needs a tutorial!" - noted!), and getting lost or running out of fuel definitely happened more than we'd like. The browser version was apparently a bit laggy or buggy for some (classic jam game issues, sorry about that!), and things like the upgrades and combat were pretty basic – gotta love that 72-hour crunch! Big thanks for spotting the weird mouse bugs and other little glitches, too!

Honestly, all your feedback – the good vibes and the constructive criticism – is incredibly helpful. It's amazing to see what resonated and what needs work.

Thanks again for playing, leaving comments, and making Ludum Dare such a blast! You rock!

Cheers, @kristijan & @buckmeister

:krutoblin:

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

'Deep Fry' is a simple and relaxing cooking game, where you make delicious tempura for customers! Be careful, the deeper you go, the wilder their requests get!

🍤 Ludum Page | itchio Page 🍤

Wow! We've hit 30 ratings already! This is been my first game jam, and it's been an amazingly positive experience! I'm so happy that I actually finished a game and that people seem to like it! Additionally, this game runs in a custom C++ engine, so I'm proud af that it's working for almost everyone!

Wow, we’ve already reached 60 ratings! This was my very first Ludum Dare Game Jam, and the whole experience has been incredibly rewarding. A lot of good feedbacks, thank everyone for playing our game... I’m seriously proud that it’s working well for nearly everyone! There are some adjustments that you mentioned and we will soon make an update!

Wow, we’ve already reached 60 ratings! This was my very first Ludum Dare game jam, and the whole experience has been incredibly rewarding. i'm very excited that people are enjoying it! Thanx everyone for the extremely positive feedbacks, There are some things we need to adjust that you mentioned in the feedback that we will update soon.

Thanx for playing out game

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/sinking-hope

I used to join a bunch of game jams with my husband(@gquibao) back in the day. We met in college while studying Digital Games and he became my favorite game partner even before we started dating! 💛

But, as you know, adult life happened… we got a little tired of doing jams and started prioritizing sleep and going out on weekends 😅

This year, we decided to participate in a game jam for the first time in like 4 years (Phew, looking this up made me feel old)!

Creating Diggin' Deeper reignited our creative spark, and now we’re super excited to get back into making fun and cute games together again, so thank you so much to everyone who's been playing our game! It’s been amazing to share this experience with y'all!

Feel free to play our game here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/diggin-deeper

Wow, we’ve already reached ratings! a lot of good comments...This was my very first Ludum Dare game jam, and the whole experience has been incredibly rewarding. i am excited that people are enjoying it! Thanx for player our game!

The Cleaner of the Depth

Fixes:
- The bird no longer falls off the jaw or flies out of the crocodile's mouth.
- Starting a new game refreshes all teeth and triggers a full restart.
- Fixed camera shaking issue.
- Fixed a bug where the bird would get stuck in the air between teeth.

Improvements:
- Added several new animations for the bird.
- Added visual effects simulating microbes on the teeth.
- Introduced three additional notes.
- Added a melody that plays when all teeth are cleaned.
- Included extra ambient sounds for immersion.

In Progress:
- Timer/Speed-based game mode.
- Inversion (???).

Try the game!

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

Try our game here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/dig-digger

A game where you drive down with a wheelchair.

First: thank you all who already played my game. It was an incredible time to make this game.

If you are still thinking if you should play this game: Here are some voices from our current users.

TBH - if you are not a player of hard platformers this might be a bit too challenging for you. Otherwise: try your best :)

Play it HERE

Digging with a rifle* is a pleasure.

Play: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/coin-grind

*(marketing materials may not correspond to reality, the rifle is not in the game yet, try other guns)

Was not too fond of the theme at first having down deeper and deeper back then, but found an idea to let me draw some cool animations for some demons

try our game Leap of faith here !

Finally have some time to vote so i'll be going on voting spree soon, feel free to post your game in the comments of this post !

You can play our game in browser, and it is still not so difficult to get into the online leaderboard. Can you beat the top players?

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/forest-depths-1

I made a timelapse of me coding my game, again.

Enjoy it:

https://youtu.be/PhmCebPyERg

And maybe also try out my game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/gold-hunger

oh hi there, how’s it going

I just want to share a little game of mine

It’s just a simple game
no fun mechanics, no challenges
not a flashy graphics, and certainly not an impressive music

But,,

if you’re looking for something quiet
something you can just sink into for a few minutes
maybe a tiny escape from your own world
or maybe you just enjoy narrative-driven games

maybe this one’s for you

It won’t be for everyone
You might not like it
and that’s okay

But if it does speak to you
even just a little bit
then thank you
Truly...

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/luck-runs-out

Please!

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

As a JavaScript developer, I'd love to test your HTML5 game:

• Leave a comment with a link to the LD page of your game.
• Please wait a few days while I test.
• Feel free to test my HTML5 (Vanilla JavaScript/WebGL) game Souls Rider 1D (COMPO) in return.

Stop by The Stream to join the queue and have me play your game!

Play Lisiy

.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/tasty-holes 👅 🐜

Disclaimer: I’m not a PC game designer, but I have extensive experience designing social games for real-life.

In my opinion, there are two approaches to game development:

1. Mechanics-Focused Design This refers to everything that forces the player to make choices. This approach often works for strategy games, deck-builders, or logic-based games. Key principles here are:

   • The player must constantly choose between options, with no single "overpowered" solution.
   • The player shouldn’t be able to develop an optimal strategy or "solve" the game. Instead, they should face unique situations requiring tailored solutions.

2. Narrative-Focused Design This means making the player believe in the world you’re creating. For example, if your game is about a gangster, it must include guns, cash, cars, and rap. Any elements that clash with this theme break immersion, making the player distrust the game.

My Ludum Dare Jam Experience: I had only 2 days and roughly 10 hours to work on the game. The theme was "deeps", which I interpreted as "deep dark fantasies"—a nod to the niche gachimuchi subculture. I chose the narrative-focused approach.

1. How I Did It:

   • Listed everything I associate with gachimuchi: low-quality cross-fandom fanfics, music mashups, a neon-lit bar inspired by Blue Lagoon, gym rivalries, and Twitch emotes.
   • Added all these elements into the game. The genres (visual novel + rhythm game) emerged naturally, serving the narrative rather than dictating it.
   • Skipped core rhythm-game mechanics, like the pop-up messages for hitting notes in Guitar Hero. For my game, immersion through the fanfic storyline mattered more, and I spend my time for more important things.

2. Result:

There is my thinks about this theme. I would be happy, if you share your opinion in comments and play my game!

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

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

The Keyboard Cowboys are currently playing your games at https://www.twitch.tv/coleslawski

Come join in the festivities and chaos!

Please note that we will be prioritizing games from people who are active in chat, so if we reach your game on the submission list and you're not there, you will be skipped!

Let's have some fun! :pointright: :cowboy: :pointright:

(Quality content not guaranteed)

Hey, just going to push this once more: I recorded most of my process of making my entry for the compo and made a big ol' devlog about it. If you have the time you should give it a watch :) Thanks!

https://youtu.be/0Iw3lTaYim0

Hi everyone,

I hope you're all doing well after the Ludum Dare Jam! I'm looking for a bit of help. Does anyone happen to have a screenshot of the Ludum Dare main page from the recent Jam, showing the "Submission Time Ends" timer in the top-right corner?

I’m writing a blog to inspire my classmates to join future Ludum Dare events, and I’d love to include a screenshot to explain the extra hour for Submission clearly. Any screenshot of the main page with that timer would be perfect, even if it’s partial!

I’d really appreciate your kindness and support! I’ll be checking back here, so feel free to reach out anytime.

Thanks so much, and great job to everyone on their submissions! 🚀

Hey everymiku!

Last week, I didn’t even realize Ludum Dare was still happening this year. However, I am happy that it did! I hope everyone’s had a great time with this jam!

I'm a game developer with 7 years of industry experience, and I'm excited to play through some of your submissions live on stream @ https://www.twitch.tv/mikusquared

If you'd like me to play your game and share some thoughts live, just hop onto Twitch and say hi!

While you’re here, check out our team's Ludum Dare 57 Entry: Miku Miku Dungeon! Penguin Ice Rescue.

Save penguins in this silly RPG featuring Penguin Miku!

The Town of Klondike is home the noble penguins, where they work hard to delve into the depths of the ice caverns, looking for wealth and riches. A dangerous job, many penguins are lost within the icy caverns.

Enter Miku and her ally, Pascal the Penguineer. Miku must descend into the icy depths and rescue the noble penguins… but wait... something nefarious is happening!!

Please try out our game here:

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/miku-miku-dungeon-penguin-ice-rescue

Looking forward to seeing your games!

We’ve been loving everyone’s games this week. Amazing work all around!

If you haven’t played Jellylight: Descent into the Deep yet, we’d love for you to check it out! You play as a glowing jellyfish drifting deeper and deeper into the ocean, collecting bioluminescent krill to keep your light alive while dodging dangerous deep-sea creatures. It’s short, atmospheric, and hand-drawn. Take a peaceful dive with just a touch of tension.

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

We’ll be rating more over the weekend, so drop your game in the comments and we’ll check it out!

New Patch Notes for Your Brain (Sorry, No Undo Button)

Welcome to MindDive, where we fix broken implants the old-fashioned way:

With bullets.

With emotional confusion.

And just a sprinkle of glitch-induced nightmares.

Your job? Dive into a stranger’s mind, kill the bugs, question your morals, and maybe — just maybe — find out why that office chair has legs and trust issues.

Plasma revolver? Check.

Cyber-sword? Definitely.

Will to live? Rapidly decreasing.

The subconscious is calling. It wants therapy.

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

You brought a gun.

He’s just trying to jump this gap. That’s all. Definitely not struggling.

While you’re here, maybe… you could lend a hand?

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

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/turbo-powered-cow-milker-3000

Play here

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/mole-cart

A compo roguelike comes with scaling issues, but that's what makes it fun, right?

You can completely break the game (if you play well):

Got any games you'd like me to play & rate? :smile:

Here's mine, if you're interested: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/dyamid

It's a really funny game with SpongeBob vibes https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/sinking

The jam theme feels a bit forced here, but the combat feels very tactile https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/faith-e-vator

A cozy digging-and-grabbing game https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/miner-td

Post-USSR tilt https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/depths-floor-404

We updated the Dragon level of our game "Stolen Heart", and it's now possible to beat him ! It's still a bit hard tho, did you win ??

It’s a dark action game where you play as a miner digging, shooting, and trying to survive the depths where things have gone horribly wrong. If you haven’t played yet — I’d love your rating and feedback! 🙌

👉 ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/return-to-darkness

Just a short video of how the scene is arranged in our game about searching and exploring objects in space.

A short atmospheric exploration game set in an abandoned space station.

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

Forgotten Sands is a sandy location with a depth of over three hundred meters. There are rumors that sandstorms are frequent visitors to this place. But the underground desert holds more than just minerals.

Once, a greedy pirate with a foul temper buried his treasure here. Some say he possessed a rare eight-swords fighting style.

Be careful during your descent!

Play now: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/lone-digger

For LD57, I tried something I usually avoid: story.

I made a narrative game. It’s pretty minimal (because... compo), cold, and intentionally a bit uncomfortable (because apparently that’s what came out easier😅).

In CLOCK IN, you judge emotions. You follow the routine. You do your job. Until things start feeling... thinner.

It’s about loops, losing control, and slowly becoming less relevant. Not depth like a cave or ocean, but the kind that goes inward.

I was really unsure about this one. So when I saw someone pick it up on YouTube, I watched with a ton of stress. Not the usual "will it crash?" kind of stress, I was just waiting for them to hate it.

But... they didn’t. They kind of liked it, even. Almost as if the story worked.

Try it out. It’s pretty short.

I actually enjoyed making this one more than I expected. I approached it the way I do when I DM: think about the world first, then shove a story into it.

It was pretty fun to spend a few days living in that world, not sure I left it though😅

Play CLOCK IN

Why do you guys rate one or two options, but others left opted-out? What’s the point of that? Every jam this happens again and again and we still don’t understand it. Someone, please explain.

Hi everyone, I will be sitting down to play and rate some game submissions later today, feel free to drop your game in the comments if you need ratings:)

I would also really appreciate it if you could give my jam submission MESSIER 104 CBH a shot and tell me your thoughts!:)

See you in The Void :rocket: :frog:

My First Ludum Dare

I want to share my first game for Ludum Dare - an atmospheric horror with pixel graphics. I interpreted the theme as immersion into a dark world of fear and mystery.

What Makes The Game Special

• Captivating atmosphere - a dark world with carefully selected sound effects
• Minimalist pixel style with a unique visual signature
• Creepy opponents - including a final boss you'll meet from the very beginning
• Non-linear progression - explore the world, collect scrolls and return to defeat the final enemy
• Growing anxiety - the further you progress, the stronger the feeling of danger

Technical Features

The game is fully developed in Python using pygame and moderngl, which allowed for creating unique visual effects and atmospheric lighting for a pixel game.

Try It Yourself!

• Play on itch.io
• Ludum Dare page

The game is quite short, so you can quickly complete it in one session. Perfect for fans of atmospheric horrors with pixel graphics. The source code is also available for those interested in Python development.

I'd appreciate your feedback and impressions!

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

In our game we've focused heavily on providing the most immersive and atmospheric experience of depths exploration. We added many obvious things: cute little fishes (as well as sharks swimming close to the surface), glowing particles and sunken ships.

But we also wanted to add something more mystic. Something hidden at the corner of player's perception. So we've modeled and animated a giant fish with a huge eye, which opens when player gets closer to it.

We call this cutie an "Eye-Fish".

Can you find her? Check it out in our game ⬇️

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/crab-with-a-hook

When designing our game, we pulled ideas from other titles:

• Civilization: Hex-based game where you need to place your building to get your economy going.
• Dwarf Fortress: Digging deeper into the earth to uncover valuable resources.
• Minecraft: We used the classic progression wood → stone → iron → diamond
• Dorfromantik: Very cool hex-based game with nice graphics

We tried to blend these ideas into something unique, and we're really happy with how it turned out!

Links

• itch.io: Shelter from the Blight
• LD57: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/shelter-from-the-blight

Neon link

Bowling balls do not normally allow enough user expression, so I took a page from Kerbal Space Program and added a building system to the game of bowling:

Bowlding

I made sure to include a flail, which I've always wanted while at the alley!

Climb out of the depths to your beloved frogwife. Play here!

How's it going?

So I've started post-jam development on Slappy's Reef, I've started by implementing a feature I wanted to do for the jam but wouldn't add enough in quality wise and would probably take too much time (rightly worried as it took me a couple days alone to work through), A Unified Water shader!

I'm working on reactivity of this water now, but what it means for the moment is a seamless transition between the camera being above water and below water, a floor collision model which accounts for wave heights, and a more physically accurate water rendering model (though I have still fudged it to look nicer and more in theme)

I've also fixed background rendering issues with the water by applying dither everywhere, which may also improve performance.

So What's Next?

I'm going to spend the weekend working on my ongoing project Iron Rain, a 2D twin-stick tank game with racing elements, you can find updates on that project here: https://x.com/nosgamesltd

Slappy's reef will receive a UI overhaul, reactive water, and better splash effects when I'm able to work on it more, I also want to address its performance by changing how the underwater clutter is generated and rendered, and change how the fish are rendered (which reminds me, I need to give the fish their own models and replace the placeholders already)

You can find Slappy's Reef as it was submitted here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/ld57-slappys-reef The Git link includes both the Web release and a Windows release if you happen to want to play in larger resolution!

Cheers, Scott H

Hello community! How do you promote your game?

I only got 21 votes, but when I see other members with 60+ votes, I'm like WOW

Can you tell me how you do it? What am I doing wrong?

We've taken another stab at making an FMV game, this time we made a logic puzzle that's also a sequel! This was a ton of fun to make and the the end result is pretty sweet if you ask me. One of the few times we got nearly everything we intended in.

Deep in the vastness of space, far, far from any chance at rescue, The Long Division is beset by pirates, aliens, and criminals! Systems are down, tensions are high, and every decision is life or death - you're going to have to solve this on your own, captain! Do you know your crew and officers well enough to figure out what orders to give and get out of this mess alive?

Come give it a shot - Now with a Mac version!.

Throw in feedback and suggestions for the postjam update, what would change/add/delete? I'd be grateful

Back at it again at Krispy Kreme https://www.twitch.tv/coleslawski

As usual, we'll be prioritizing games from people who are active in chat.

Come on by and indulge in tomfoolery! :pointright: :cowboy: :pointright:

Check out this awesome WIP video of the Duggot Queen that our artist Elli made for our LD57 submission Unearth!

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

Hello everyone,

I’d appreciate your insights on the game balance and the feel of how the turrets kill enemies. If you get a chance, give it a try and share your thoughts.

Play here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/the-fate-of-carl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsbxyfIYWuc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-YTJVj3rns

WE ALREADY HAVE 30 REQUESTS FROM LAST TIME SO IF YOU SUBMIT YOUR GAME IT WILL BE A WHILE BUT WE'LL GET TO IT

I worked really hard on making my game Sticky's Aquarium for the jam, unfortunately it's really hard to get reviews! I would love it if people could play and rate my game! Thank you!

From Nowhere to Somewhere

"To Nowhere" was a little demo project with 5 levels which I made back in 2013 while feeling a bit down, perhaps because many of my projects from the time were left unfinished and I just wanted to make something extraordinary simple. This is how I came up with this simple concept and assembled a few levels. I was working with Robert Menus (that's a nickname) composer at the time. He made / sourced the sounds and composed the original track.

You can check out "To Nowhere" on itch.io, you'll find it at the bottom of the project files. Preserving it there for history's sake.

Ludum Dare

Itch.io

There you should find some resemblance to Flatline as I did base most of it's style off that original project.

Ludum Dare 57

I started working on the game from a completely empty project only on the second day of the jam. My first day idea was actually something even more abstract about zooming in rhombuses (hence the name in the LDJam's link) where you had to tap at the right time and keep up with momentum, but I lost that train of thought due to IRL distractions and early on the second day scrapped that idea entirely feeling I didn't had it in me to make a game for this jam, especially in time. But then I started thinking and figured I could revive an old project which brought me To Nowhere (?).

The idea to make the game about a person in a near-death experience came later when all base mechanics were already finished. Probably because I decided to use a background from my other project that I was making earlier this year which represents neurons and cells in the human brain. So now you know what that actually is meant to represent. Rainesphere's original composition for the game also contributed to that decision as it helped invoke these feelings in me.

Before that I thought the game would have no story of any kind, but as I had this idea everything came in naturally. I instantly realized what I wanted to do with it and all pieces in the puzzle started coming together.

Voice Overs

On the impulse, I had an idea of adding VO to the beginning and the end of each level, I immediately reached out to Jerem Watts asking whether he knows anyone who could do male & female voices for me, and while I knew he could do it I thought he would understandably be too busy with his own Ludum Dare project Dreamcyst, but then to my surprise he agreed to do it together with OGma and I am very thankful to them for that, because the game just wouldn't feel the same without their beautiful voices.

You probably already know them, but just in case you don't - I'm sure you'll love them as much as I do so check out their Twitch channels!

• Jerem_Watts

• OGma_badparenting101

Base Camp

Alexander named his soundtrack for the game "Base Camp". I only just now asked why he called it like that and he explained

"For every big mountain climb, you start at the base camp. Since the characters soul is just starting his climb back to life, I thought it was fitting"

and I couldn't agree more!

Rainesphere - Base Camp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blTQs_vhpX0

Flatlined

The game's title itself came from the SFX I asked Alexander Raines to make for the game over. He sent over a zip file with one of the sounds being named "Flatline", and I as proceeded editing it - I figured it was actually a fitting name for the game.

The last day of the jam and second day of game's development was starting out very strong. I thought I had plenty of time which is why I was spending too much time polishing mechanics which in the end made it cost for the level design, and while the end result in some levels turned out to be more chaotic that I originally planned, I think it fits with the character's declining condition.

And that's it! Now you know Flatline's development lore :)

And there is more to come! As after I finish integrating Online Highscores into the game, I am planning on making a successor project for the Mobile & Browser platforms. It probably will be our first commercial project!

~Xp

If you havent played The Final Descent yet, now is the best time. Critical bugs have been fixed and audio & art have been polished for smoother experience. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/the-final-descent

.

So anyway, I started debugging...

Welcome to MindDive, where therapy takes a backseat to plasma revolvers and moral ambiguity.

You’re not just fixing a brain implant — you’re redecorating it. With bullets.

Explore the deep subconscious of a guy who never answered his parents' calls and thought spreadsheets were a personality.

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

Bugs? Everywhere.

Emotional trauma? Unskippable cutscene.

Core meltdown? Absolutely.

You? Probably underqualified.

Grab your cyber-katana and jump into the glitchiest therapy session this side of the firewall.

And remember: If you start relating to the patient... log off immediately.

Take the plunge to bring back the light, and leave your phantoms behind.

Speed Up to increase your score multiplier, move out of the way of obstacles at the last moment to gain extra points.

Can you beat all the levels? Show us your highest score!

Play now!

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

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Hey there, fellow game jammers!

Here to give a huge THANK YOU to the amazing Ludum Dare community for all the feedback, laughs, and creative games. All of the submissions I've played so far are super inspiring — seriously, you all made my first Ludum Dare EVER such a fun experience. :)

During the jam, I dove deep and emerged with Are you smarter than a fisherman? — a game where you play as a fish trying to feast on smaller fish… but beware! Some of them are fake fish — cunning bait placed by crafty fishermen looking to reel you in (🍣, if you know what I mean). It was a real challenge to make since it's the first game I've made completely myself, and I’d love for you to check it out, give it a spin, and let me know what you honestly think about it! :)

Play it here! -> Outsmart the fishermen! <-

Also, huge thanks to my friend Kuboi, who also joined the jam with his game MESSIER 104 CBH and who kept me going for like 12 hours straight since I've got to experience the whole process IRL with him. It was so much fun and I'll never forget the “why isn’t this little chevron working?!” breakdown. XD

Thanks again, and remember to let me know: Are YOU smarter than a fisherman? 🎣

Lately we've created a little post-jam update for our game Lust 4 Life! Turns out the time we stupidly lost on out second day is exactly the time we needed to fully finish the game before the deadline... yep.. You can play it on itch, and leave us a review probably 👉👈

ㅤAnd don't forget about mine ^^‏‎ㅤㅤ

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

Check it - Dwarf Descen LD 57.

Stop by The Stream to join the queue and have me play your game!

GET READY FOR

FEATURING 4 NEW LEVELS AND LEADERBOARDS

And if you haven't tried Dwingles already, what are you waiting for?

DWINGLES

You should not cross paths with him in this game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/were-at-the-bottom

Do you fear the dark? Do you want a new experience through the Darkness? Play Raindrops - rate it, leave a comment, and be sure that I will rate your entry too. I wish you the best. Bye ++

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

I'll play them and write you feedback

Attention all Purse Pioneers! Descend into the abyss (your partner's purse) and overcome devious traps, avoid everyday items and fit through hand-shaped holes. Do you have the sleight of hand to reach the ~~holy grail~~ phone? How deep can you go? Find out now in this exciting dexterity game called Deep Pursuit!

| | | | --- | --- | | Play Now (Playable in Web) | |

Our team uses Macs mostly when playing+rating so it can be tough to find games to play - if you have an HTML5 game, please comment!

If you have a incremental/idle/Motherload game, we'd be especially interested :wink:

And if you'd like, 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

Stop by The Stream to have me play your game!

post your game and i'll set a new world record :)

subnet_

This is the final update now. For real!

Changes

• Live online Highscore Table! Time to begin the score chase! Don't try to cheat with autocomplete feature as it would not be registered as a highscore.

• Change your name in the game. Note, if you want your highscore to use your current name you must change it before starting the run. Changing the name post-run would only change it locally for you.

• Few minor fixes here and there

This update is available on all, but Jam version of the game.

Now we're going to move on to the successor project! Have fun everyone ;)

Begin the Score Chase

Enjoy!

~Xp

Instead of using the post feature to shill my own awful game like everyone else is doing, I'd like to bring attention to some games that might be short a couple ratings to place, or that are exceptionally good in my humble opinion. Markdown was being an ass to me so none of my links are clickable. Sorry.

In no particular order:

Drilly's Journey

ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/drilly My personal favorite from the compo. If I'm having fun exploring something made in a weekend, I know it's the good stuff.

Fathom Pond

ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/fathom-pond I'm a big fan of Interactive Fiction, and this one is rather good for 48 hours. Some of you may have never played IF, this is a great starting point.

Neuronic Netronics

ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/neuronic-netronics Games where figuring out the game is part of the game are always a treat, and this one is a great example. Some of these puzzles are devilishly hard.

Foreman

ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/foreman A card game that feels like a card game yet embraces the theme. Lovely spatial puzzle.

Abyss Vaulter

ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/abyss-vaulter How the fuck does he do it bros?

Net. Sweeper

ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/net-sweeper I'm a sucker for minesweeper variants, but what elevated this for me was the presentation. The UI alone makes me smile.

Topography

ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/topography Short, sweet, made me very happy.

And there you go. I'm still going through the massive list of games (I barely played any jam ones) so this might not be the last post I make. Check some of these out! They deserve your love.

A game “Detstvo” by “хорошие родители — это родители, которые не выдуманы” team.

You’re 6 again. Hit everything you see with a stick. Just like when you were a kid.

Made by Senya Pugach & Sava Pugach.

PLAY: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/detstvo

Couple screenshot:

happy birthday, my love

🧠💥 You ever dive into someone’s brain and immediately regret it?

Welcome to MindDive, where therapy is replaced with plasma rounds, and emotional healing involves parkour over lava and shooting flying glitches in the face.

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

Explore a subconscious so broken it has:

✔️ Screaming office chairs

✔️ Floating regrets (literally)

✔️ A lava core that’s definitely not OSHA compliant

✔️ And a voice assistant who’s helpful... in the same way a toaster is helpful in a house fire. (ADD IN NEW VERSIONS)

Bring your reflexes, your questionable morals, and remember: It’s not a bug, it’s a cry for help.