Drilling Beneath the Surface by Chemical_Studios

made by Chemical_Studios for LD29 (COMPO)

I had a lot of fun in my first Ludum Dare. This is the game I made, Drilling Beneath the Surface. In this game you start at ground level and dig down, avoiding traps to find a gem! Once you find the gem, you can safely navigate back to the top and deposit it.

**Requires Java
java.com/download

**EDIT:**

Post-ludum dare fix:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/4lslgloa3b1a61f/post+ld29+res+fix.jar
This version fixes the buttons not working on lower resolution monitors, there are still quite a few bugs and changes I'd like to make after ludum dare is over. To keep up with whatever I'm doing, feel free to check out my temporary website!
I'd absolutely love more feedback in the comments :)

Download (double click to open)	http://www.mediafire.com/download/9ajnzmxw6q9yd28/ld29+-+Drilling+Beneath+the+Surface.jar
Source	http://www.mediafire.com/download/9pm8ugsd55opq5z/source.zip
Chemical Studios	http://www.chemicalstudios.net
Web (added late)	http://www.chemicalstudios.net/files/test/index.html
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-29/?action=preview&uid=35687

Ratings

Coolness	51%	3
Overall	2.93	798

Audio	2.84	515
Fun	2.96	607
Graphics	3.04	630
Humor	2.07	818
Innovation	2.55	941
Mood	2.91	632
Theme	3.62	249

Feedback

AngryPriest

28. Apr 2014 · 20:46 UTC

That was interesting, I was a bit confused initially as to why I was dying; I didn't realise the darker blocks were different.

AnnaGavaldaKedavra

28. Apr 2014 · 20:48 UTC

Nice done for your first entry! Did you make the music too?

🎤 Chemical_Studios

29. Apr 2014 · 19:48 UTC

Thanks! I used an online music generator for the music, and created the sound effects myself. http://abundant-music.com/

🎤 Chemical_Studios

29. Apr 2014 · 19:49 UTC

AngryPriest: Thank you very much for the feedback, in my future projects I'll try to make it more obvious what is hurting the player. :)

wilpel1234

29. Apr 2014 · 20:06 UTC

Good job!

Armanky

29. Apr 2014 · 20:07 UTC

Pretty fun! The screen was taller than my resolution so I couldn't actually see the bottom row. Also the sound was extremely quiet for some reason.

l3dx

29. Apr 2014 · 20:08 UTC

A bit easy, but a good production. Well made, and it feels complete.

jayitinc

29. Apr 2014 · 20:08 UTC

Nicely done but some instruction on the darker blocks would've been nice.

morganbengtsson

29. Apr 2014 · 20:11 UTC

I liked it, cosy and relaxed game play. Though a bit repetitive.

f7f5

29. Apr 2014 · 20:33 UTC

Congratulations for finishing your first ludum dare! It's a solid entry, if a bit simple: I played all the way till the end. Dying on the trap blocks also confused me at first, but I guess I should have just payed more attention to the instructions.

mcburrobit

29. Apr 2014 · 20:37 UTC

Really nice game. I also died a few times before figuring out the darker bricks kill you. It could really benefit from adding a time constraint. As it stands, the best way to get the highest score possible, is to play REALLY carefully and just drill every block that doesn't hurt, which boils the game down to color matching. Adding a timer would force the player to make quick decisions and plan paths to get the most amount of good blocks in the least amount of time.

Anyway, REALLY nice!

🎤 Chemical_Studios

30. Apr 2014 · 01:59 UTC

mcburrobit, I agree 100%, if I extend the game post-ludum dare, I'll definitely add that!

To everyone else:
Thank you very much for your feedback, I am sorry I didn't make it obvious enough of a hazard. Thank you all for your kind words! :)

x1212

30. Apr 2014 · 07:24 UTC

Interesting idea ... if this game would last longer and had more different obstracles (for example stones that fall down) it could become quite addictive.

xandy

30. Apr 2014 · 16:38 UTC

cool little game. the levels were a bit easy in parts and it took me some tome to learn to avoid the darker blocks. but is was short and fun!

GarethIW

30. Apr 2014 · 19:37 UTC

I won with a score of 3130! This was a feel-good game. Cute sprites, but overall really easy to finish, especially as you regenerate lives after each gem.

🎤 Chemical_Studios

30. Apr 2014 · 22:13 UTC

Thanks guys! I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)
I'll attempt to add more difficult challenges and stuff in the post-Ludum Dare version, I will start working on it after voting for this Ludum Dare is over! :)

miwuc

01. May 2014 · 06:09 UTC

Cute little game and quite fun. You should add some kind of time pressure to make it harder.
I liked the art a lot. Well done!
I scored 2500, but I have no idea what my score means. You should either display the score in-game, or give a hint like "try to beat the game faster" or "try to get hurt less".

I encountered a small bug where on the main screen, the area I had to click for the buttons was shifted down. What I mean is that clicking "play" and "how to play" did nothing, but clicking "quit" actually started the game. This is on OS 10.9.2, java version "1.6.0_65"

MithosKuu

02. May 2014 · 03:42 UTC

Decent start, I would suggest making the trap blocks more noticeably lethal, as they are now they don't really read as a hazard.

mrexcessive

03. May 2014 · 11:47 UTC

Hi. Good job completing first time! Got to Lv 4 before moving too fast into darker block. Instant restart seems a bit harsh, but, maybe...

Kate Kligman

03. May 2014 · 19:42 UTC

Interesting and fun. Took me a couple games to realize why I died. Would be cool if there were things to discover each level.

littleball

10. May 2014 · 09:06 UTC

Not a bad little game. Only improvement I would like to see is a digging sound. Well done, I played it a few times!