259.6 seconds.

101.6

This is one of those games that is super simple, but incredibly moody It tells a story with very little words, and puts you in an emotional state that you weren't necessarily in before. I loved it.

I like the sunset and the mood.
It's like OPEN WATER - THE GAME!

Does something simple, but does it very well. I could stand a lot more LD entries to be like this! :)

Awesome game, very well done! :)

52.8 :<
I like how you rely on real-life advice about drowning for the player to understand how to play in order to survive longer. You didn't write "be careful not to drain your stamina for nothing, use the waves to avoid tiring yourself efficiently", you just explain how to _try_ to swim back up. It was great.

Great work. Simple approach, nice visuals but top marks for audio. Makes the game for me :)

Loved it! Simple to play, difficult to master.

Fun game, I really enjoyed it!

Fantastic work! I love the feeling of desperation and overall production value.

138.7 seconds! surprisingly fun

56.5 secs. Holy Cow George I think you've out done yourself. It simple, elegant and powerful. Kudos to you my friend.

Wow! 63 seconds of sheer terror. My god, this could be the next Flappy Bird on mobile devices. So simple, but SO fun.

Thanks Jason (and all above). I may well take it to phone as I was intending that with the 1 button press etc. Using LD for feedback and input :)

I enjoyed this game but I don't think I'm really any good at it, I keep drowning. Will you offer life vests as IAP?

Great concept and good proof that a simple mechanic can be emotionally engaging. Confirmation that I DON'T WANT TO DIE THIS WAY.

Nice work as usual George. I won't even post my score because I suck!

Really depressing game (in a good way), interesting mechanics. One of my favourites this LD

130s on first run, took me a while to realize 'work with the waves'. The text is a great addition, quite panic-inducing, well done.

Nice game, fits the theme haha. Score was: 82 seconds xD

elegantly simple and effective, A+++

Yeesh, that was grim. Looks and sounds good, but more than that, it 'feels' nice. Well, until you inevitably drown, I suppose.

ouch, 147seconds.. nice game! very original, should turn it into a mobile game ;)

Very polished and (positively) grim, I love the character sprite animation together with the water sound effects. After 5 minutes I could still keep afloat easily using the same rhythm, though. More difficulty would be cool!

209.something Really cool. I'd love to see it get harder later on but. Love the sound effects and visuals.

Simple and amazing.

Haha your were right, our entries are very similar :) Did you draw your inspiration from that ad as well?
270.1

736.8s

I gave up waiting for the inevitable, I started to get bored around ~300s, not my type of game I guess.

I felt the graphics and sounds were pretty good, the splash sounds and gurgling when reaching above the wave was a nice touch. There seemed to be a constant underwater sound, maybe you should have activated that and toned down the other sounds when going under.

One thing I thought about when watching this on streams, was that it was hard (for me at least) to tell if the wave or the screen was moving, the gradient background gives some clue to that but maybe some horizon would have made it more clear.

I like the gameplay and the pixilated man.
I wish that there was a highscores board :)

152.7 seconds.

Very minimalist game, really nice aesthetic. I think possibly a bit *too* minimalist - in gameplay terms - for my tastes though.

Agree with the previous comments that this would make a good mobile game. I liked the phrases that the man said about missing his family, is that a fin, etc.

After playing about 5 times I got to ~400 and figured I could have kept it going a long long time. But the first handful of plays I was ridiculously stressed (in a great way). LOVE the theme use, and the situation I've never really seen handled like that in a game beyond a simple "breath bar" that some games use as a side feature. Really cool. Thanks for all the tech help/advice through the weekend too!

A mere 59.5 seconds the first go, and a respectable 184.6 the second try!

Very good audio. It took me a second to realize that the wave timing was the level of the water relative to the screen/frame. Once I got that, I was able to ride them a bit and took slightly longer to die. The second go round was way better.

Consider putting this up in mobile app stores, if only for fun. High score bragging rights could be fun. It's a perfect touch screen game :)

Great execution on a simple, strong idea! it feels like a complete thought, with all facets of the experience considered and given equal attention. There's a lot to learn from an LD entry like this.

Oh wow you really nailed the feeling of desperation and panic. I still feel a bit anxious and the game has been over for a while. I got about 80 something seconds. I was trying to be fancy thinking I could trade breath for stamina and just drop under the water and then pop up on a wave. NOPE! HAHA. Gonna try again. Good job with the the theme and mood.

Really like the camera effects in this, really adds to the disorientating atmosphere

Really great idea, I love the concept though I didn't go really far. I will go back on this definitely!

And now I'm sad

48 seconds

I haven't had time to concentrate on the game. I'll definitely post a larger highscore later today.

This is a very great game concept (and the second one about drowning I've seen on LD)

really nice - a lot smaller scope than last LD! the first thing i connected with was the audio which really sets the atmosphere. how did you make the water sounds? the little dude reminds me of King Graham who always ended up flailing in the water! i actually like that there wasn't a lot of noise going on with fish and boats and stuff, just his imagination.

Great game! Love the mood and reaction of the guy in the water.

Nice an simple, great atmosphere and lovely graphics. I love how all the text moves with the waves.

Cool game. It's balanced really well, and has a good mood.

Nice game, the sound effects are really moody!

116.1

Wow, you did so many great things to add to the tension of this game, from the jarring motions of everything, to the sound effects. Great use of the theme.

Wow, this is a great example of getting as much as possible out of a simple concept. It's impressive how much depth (haha) is here for just using one button.

Nice concept! Simple and clean! Really awesome and tragic.. Very nice art.. I don't know what more I can say.. Really really good. GOD. Damn! Genius! ;) Five stars.

Such a sad game, but well made too! I survived for about 50 seconds before sleeping with the fishes. Good job.

Wow, you managed to capture the agonizing feeling of fighting to rise to the surface wonderfully. A brilliant interpretation of the theme, congratulations!

PS: 114s.

I had a pretty strong emotional reaction to this; it felt a little wrong to be playing it and slowly watching my little guy die (collection of pixels that he may be). The experience is well crafted though offputting.

Good job dude. You should definitely put this on Android.

Like the graphics, very original too

I love it, simple gameplay and good animations.

Pretty simple, the game's very efficient at what it does. It was a lot of fun once I figured out that the camera movements corresponded to the wave motions. The audio was epic.

I started to play through a second time, but realized that no matter how well my dude did, he was still going to have the same fate. I let him down gently.

a little creepy to be honest, but brilliantly executed as well ;)

Great game! I especially liked that there's really a lot of hidden depth with multiple vectors of interaction even with just one button, which makes it simple but very skill-oriented. Very well done on that design.

Lots of little touches make it play very well - the "internal dialogue" and the juice. But ultimately a little more variety in gameplay or progression would have been awesome - and still can be :)

So many entries inspired by that le mer... Something ad. We know who reads Kotaku now, then :P

Definitely something perfect for mobile, really liked the overall mood.
Couldnt get past the 60s mark, i felt like i didnt quite figure out how to ride the waves properly.

I read your name as gorgeous bastard. It fits the game, I suppose. Those sounds, though. Haunting me even after I closed the game. Would you mind making a standalone build?

Crikey, I still feel a bit like I'm choking. This game gets you right in the feels!

Quite a grim game. I managed to survive for 59.1 secs.
This game brought up some unpleasant memories from my childhood but the game is interesting. Nice work!

My highest was 99.6sec. Simplest controls possible but still challenging and fun. Great game!

Its amazing and hit me somehow. Cool Game.

Super strong entry! Can I say it feels really good? I can really feel the desperateness of drowning. Sound effects are spot on. I did not understand the mechanic of the waves, however.

127.7

great work! looking forward to your next game. Thx for the postmortem

Well that was morbid. Cool game, mechanics about as simple as you can get, but its still quite a gripping game. Good use of sound effects too.

91s. Best in show. Great job my friend.

Didn't take me long to realize how to play, and the message is effective. Great execution!

simple but effective. thank you

Wow. My heart sunk every time I died.

Great game ! 59.4

Man that was tough. I managed a bit over 30 seconds. Nice job.

128.6s
Took me some time to understand the the "waves" happen when the water goes up and down, since it's all a straight line.
Pretty fun for a game about drowning!

Made it for over a minute... Nice game.

Hauntingly well executed on a tight concept

Sensational! The little things like the messages just add to a incredibly grim experience. It would be cooler if the waves were clearer. GG

Solid game play. Good entry. :)

The game is well thought out. I think the controls could be explained a little better. I though I would have to KEEP pressing up, but instead it was more about pressing it at the right time - I guess I should've read the tips first.

The splashing, the timing gameplay, and really everything. Once I got the hang of it, it made sense. Nicely done. :)

Very moody game. Great job!

Simple but great, liked it!

Grim.

Great use of ambient sound.

60.8 seconds. Very simple game but extremely well executed. I love the balance you created between breath and stamina. Congrats!

Great balance, fun mechanic, great job:)

This actually made me feel extreme tension as my stamina approached zero. Love the overall mood and all the elements that contribute to the experience. The character monologues, the audio, the swaying camera, all great touches.

A well-polished game with a simple yet challenging mechanic driving it.

Very nice! Simple but tricky

Awesome work as always. One of LD's highlights for me.

124 seconds. Difficult. :/ It's a really simple game, but still effective, and an interesting take on the theme. And really polished too! Good job!

Great! Love the mood and details. The camera, the sounds. Very polish. +Overall

No feedback for you, i love it as it is. Is the kind of game you want to play again to see if you can do better :D

simple but effective. Quite the opposite of my entry Vaults Inc, which is complex but I could not refine it.

Great mood and very polished presentation (easing stamina and air when dying and for the controls information).
I sucked a lot at it - seems the waves were too tiny for me to understand when and how to ride them ;-)
Graphics and audio support the mood very well.

Very complete and polished. Simple mechanic but effective. Really felt like I was gasping for air. Good job.

Very cool game and nice game mechanics.

simplistic and elegant! A simple concept executed really well, I like it :)

Cool concept and I like him speaking when he's above the water. Nice job.

This game is awesome! hahahaha very hard to survive

Simple but great game! I included it in part 21 of my Ludum Dare compilation video series, if you'd like to take a look :) http://youtu.be/ARsCeJtTlas

Seems a bit odd how quickly you begin to sink without any thing to hamper you, like waves or a weight on your foot. Definitely feels like a struggle though, which I believe is what you were going for. Good sounds and atmosphere.

Awesome. Simple controls, but hard to master.

81.5s Can't believe some of you got so much higher, also can't believe GeorgeBroussard made the game unwinnable. :(

Poor cold guy.

60.2 seconds! This was simple but incredibly well executed, especially on the GUI and the sound. Fantastic job!

Damn this is dark. I like simple mechanics like this but it seemed hard to get the hang of the timing. Great simple & effective graphics & audio too. Nice job!

Hey! I mentioned your game in this post- http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2014/05/18/10-games-that-resonated-with-me/ , along with some feedback. I'd love to hear what you have to say!

Hah this is so cruel. Great job George

50.2 seconds. Really good.

traumatizing. gold star!

Amazing game, loved it. Keep it up. I am new to unity, how should i run the source. its says its not a unity project, i.e it is not a project build. So how should i run it.