Dr. U and the bottomless PIT by farwyler
We humbly present our LD32 jam entry:
"Dr. U and the bottomless pit"
a game about a bottomless pit
and bats and a deadly umbrella
Try to fall as long as you can.
Use your umbrella to float and smack some bats.
Avoid the walls and traps.
Whistle along.
good night and we'll see you at the bottom....
------------- Controls -------------
W / Up = Pick up phone / Open umbrella
S / Down = Close umbrella
A / Left = Steer left
D / Right = Steer right
Space = Attack
------------- News -------------
2015.4.21 added web and osx builds.
2015.4.22 clarified instructions, so people get that they can use the space key. increased volume of tutorial voice. fixed spawning issues.
"Dr. U and the bottomless pit"
a game about a bottomless pit
and bats and a deadly umbrella
Try to fall as long as you can.
Use your umbrella to float and smack some bats.
Avoid the walls and traps.
Whistle along.
good night and we'll see you at the bottom....
------------- Controls -------------
W / Up = Pick up phone / Open umbrella
S / Down = Close umbrella
A / Left = Steer left
D / Right = Steer right
Space = Attack
------------- News -------------
2015.4.21 added web and osx builds.
2015.4.22 clarified instructions, so people get that they can use the space key. increased volume of tutorial voice. fixed spawning issues.
| Web (itch.io) | http://farwyler.itch.io/dr-u-pit |
| Win/OSX (itch.io) | http://farwyler.itch.io/dr-u-pit |
| Web (gamejolt) | http://gamejolt.com/games/dr-u-and-the-bottomless-pit/63952 |
| Win/OSX (gamejolt) | http://gamejolt.com/games/dr-u-and-the-bottomless-pit/63952 |
| Original URL | https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-32/?action=preview&uid=45643 |
Ratings
| Coolness | 100% | 1 |
| Overall(Jam) | 3.94 | 61 |
| Audio(Jam) | 4.05 | 38 |
| Graphics(Jam) | 4.43 | 54 |
| Mood(Jam) | 3.93 | 67 |
| Theme(Jam) | 3.70 | 272 |
Great graphics, great audio, and great concept. Good luck!
And an interesting gameplay, I like that you can controll the umbrella, you can have then your own strategy: Fast! sloooow, hit, slooow, fast!just falling
SCORE: 227M!
A little bit fast ... Couldn't really see what was happening. And the swinging felt ... It felt like I didn't have control, really. I would just swing and swing and a couple of times the bats would get hit but then I would just die. Couldn't really get into the gameplay.
Love the music. Great mood - I love how silly it feels - It matches the fact the phone call intro and art !
Not a fan of your voice-over : such a great bit, him answering the phone on the branch. But the voice itself needs to be ... It just didn't fit, somehow. Like maybe instead of giving instructions it should be his boss or wife yelling at him ? In like a silly, unrecognisable voice ?
Really good stuff though :) Thanks. Made me laugh.
Also the phone ring instructions were a nice touch.
The umbrella mechanic seemed pretty unique. I liked that you sometimes have to balance the choice between an aggressive attack at the cost of your safety. Quick little note though, it took me a second to realize I could press up to open the umbrella back up. I'm not sure if that instruction was on the phone, but for some reason I missed it the first time around. Thankfully, it was intuitive enough to figure out and it wasn't frustrating or anything.
The art was really very well done, it has a great style to it. The music and sound generally compliments it.
A couple of things could have improved it I think. Having a proper death animation would have been nice. When he dies you just lose control over him and it feels kind of disconnected. Being able to see that he's "dead" would be a good visual indicator for that loss of control, and connect the two together a bit easier.
Also I noticed that when you first fall off the tree, if you just move in the right direction instantly it sort of appears like he should be able to safely land of the side. That could have been a neat kind of easter egg to have been able to actually land over there safely haha.
I grew tired of it fairly quickly after playing for a bit, but what you have in is solid. The endless pit impression turned me off from it a bit, as I really don't care much about getting high scores. And I got a grasp of the mechanics quickly so the pure reward of learning the game was over fast.
Overall pretty good. It's a nice little game that has an interesting mechanic, but the overall gameplay ends up feeling a bit "by the book"... because the same structure has been seen before in many many other games. So while good, it doesn't feel like it's doing anything terribly new.
The music surprised me, as it contrasted with the art style.
The controls are nice, and the umbrella functioning as both attack and defense is brilliant.
Add in some progression (more enemies, obstacles, etc.) and a bit more polish, and you'd have a marketable mobile game.
Very, well done!! congraz!!
Ideas to improve the game:
- Power ups (lives, bigger umbrella?)
- Ascending / Descending winds
In all seriousness though, this is really fun. The graphics are brilliant, although the anti-aliasing on the umbrella looked a bit odd.
Where'd you find the awesome wind and thunder sounds, out of curiosity?
I'd only make the initial velocity when the player opens the umbrella a little faster, it's a bit tedious waiting to gain momentum to continue the game. Aside that, I have nothing to criticize! For me, you "won" this LD! :D
Honestly the most solid LD32 game I have played so far. Perfectly scoped, such a simple design, but wonderfully executed and polished.
Great job! I hope to see this being one of the top rated entries of this jam!
"Hello there" XD
Nice interpretation of a well known mechanic and fun to play!
Very well done!
Great work, love the art style
My only complaint is the dead/invulnerable duration. I wish it lasted a little longer. I kept on getting hit by spike, then regaining mortality, then dying on the same spike again.
This is exactly the kind of thing I love to see out of an LD game. Keep it up!