First time playing and I think I'm supposed to say I'm in? I'm in. I'll stick to what I know for this go round -> Unity(C#), Aseprite, Ableton, Bfxr.

Unto the Eight is a bizarre little game where you wander around, heading deeper and deeper into the wilds while learning about the world you inhabit. Try not to freeze to death or get trampled and deliver packages to strange creatures in the farthest reaches!

Some Tips:

(1) There are 8 packages to deliver - the characters who entrust you with them are scattered around the world, but the first three can be found very close to the starting area. You can only hold one package at a time. If you press Esc to go into the pause menu you can see how many you have left to find and deliver.

(2) It may be a little unclear, but carrots, firepits, and wormplant all respawn after a number of steps. Their respawn time is similar to how long it takes for your lantern to dim or your temperature to drop.

(3) There are a ton of hidden wormplants and carrots. The game currently takes a little trial and error while you learn about where they are. This game has no RNG, and is completely deterministic - which includes enemy movement.

I'd love to hear ideas and feedback, as I plan on rewriting and expanding it into a full game after the comp.

Submission is here => https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/unto-the-eight

You should all rush out and play these three strange little wonders. You know, if you've got a second.

Aleph Qoph / Duat by @ancient-pixel

Good luck not getting lost in this wonderful little world. According to the submission page they don't need another project, but I selfishly want to mess aground in the completed vision. So go leave a comment!! (I should mention the mouse sensitivity is nuts, so this game may be unplayable for you...)

Mind Depths by @littlegamer

This one has some dense atmosphere and is just as experimental as the last. It doesn't take long to mess around with and there's a lot to unpack. Please give it a look, and tell them you'd like to see the polished version!

Town of Monsters by @lesinvisible

Who even knows where to start with this one. I'm mad for it. I have to warn you, it's a little obtuse initially, but the world is worth exploring. Another brilliant project I'd like to see expanded.

If you get through all these and you'd like to check my game Unto The Eight out, please do so! I plan on workshopping it into a full game in future and would genuinely love your feedback. Be warned: I've had a lot of complaints about the difficulty. It is a game to be played contemplatively, and one where you slowly map out the world. I understand if you don't have the time for all that!

If you have any suggestions for weird little games for me and others to check out, please leave them here!

So I've gotten a surprising amount of feedback, and eventually decided to work on producing a full version of the game. I've already addressed a few of the more frequent complaints.

Difficulty fixes:

• You are able to hold down a key for continuous movement. I'm going to make the time between ticks player adjustable.

• The light mechanic is now more forgiving and has more granular steps between full radius and off. The same goes for the temperature mechanic.

• Some furnished structures will provide heat so there's not the constant threat of freezing to death when inside them.

• I have worked on a "general location" mechanic for non visible enemies, which should help prevent the player from walking into enemies in any cheap way. I'll have more information on this soon. It was never my intent to trick the player!

• Finally, the screen now scrolls, centered on the player. I didn't think it would work well during the compo, but having messed around with it now I really like it.

General update news:

• The world is roughly 3 times as large as the compo version, but I'm writing it to be easily expandable.
• The graphics are all redone, and expanded greatly. I decided to stick with the 8x8 tile size.
• The player will now have a tiny little inventory to stock up on carrots and wormplants, if they don't need them at the time of collecting. This also means the player will be able to carry more than one package at a time, if there is room.
• I haven't quite settled on how I might handle it, but I'm hoping to make the dialog more dynamic to fit with the more fleshed out world.

I've got tons of ideas I may or may not implement depending on interest, but the game is going to happen. I want to thank everyone who provided me with such incredible feedback.

If you're interested in following development of the new version you can do so at my twitter.

Of course, if you haven't played the compo version and are interested in doing so, click here! I would love more feedback to help guide the development of the full version!

I'm still getting feedback, and what an awesome experience it's been all around! I'm very close to finishing the engine for the full version of the game.

Difficulty fixes:

• As I stated last time: you are able to hold down a key for continuous movement, and the time between ticks is player adjustable. Also you can remap the keys to whatever you want, and I do plan on adding support for gamepads.

• Also as stated previously the light and heat mechanics are a bit more forgiving, but I also added a difficulty setting to the game. This effects light, heat, as well as the number of enemies in the world.

• I did complete the warm structure update. Furnished structures (with a door) will provide heat so there's not the constant threat of freezing to death when inside them. There is a text notification to tell you as much under the health UI.

• Every so often (at different intervals) enemies will make a little sound, which is spatially accurate, and if they're on-screen but not visible, a little icon (!) will appear to let the player know where the sound came from. Astute players will be able to identify enemies by their sound alone!

General update news:

• The world is now roughly 5 times larger the compo version.
• I have removed the ability to carry around extra carrots and wormplants. It made the game feel much less balanced. The inventory UI now shows off all discovered and completed packages at once.
• I've written a dialog system that's much simpler to implement and yet more feature complete than the compo version.
• Characters that have a package to be delivered will occasionally glow when the game is started in easy difficulty.

If you're interested in following development of the new version you can do so at my twitter.

FOOTAGE FROM THE AS YET UNRELEASED FULL VERSION:

Of course, if you haven't played the compo version and are interested in doing so, click here! I would love more feedback to help guide the development of the full version!

I've met a lot of interesting people, and played some wild and interesting games. Also, I received a ton of brilliant feedback which I'm striving to incorporate into the Full/Release version of UTE. If you're interested in following its further development - I'll shill my twitter and itch accounts one final time.

Can't win them all, but I think that's the point! Gonna try real hard and make something out of this! I hope everyone has an excellent time! (Psst... remember to take breaks!)

Nearly crashed this morning but I'm trying to get as much work as I can out of 48 hours... Plugging away drawing... trinkets, bugs, and little weirdos. I swear I only have one style of project.

Cut after cut, and I realized my scope was far larger than it should've been. I'll turn in my homework, but I'm not loving how sliced and diced it's become! I do think I'll keep working on it after tho

I think I failed to post an "I did it, come play it," post yesterday. If you haven't already done so, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Be aware, there's no win state as it's more of a little weirdo experience, less of a game to be beaten. Won't take up but a few moments of your time!

Play it