Descent by camlang

[raw]
made by camlang for LD29 (JAM)
Ancient evil lurks in the depths of temple catacombs. Fight your way to the chamber with the black obelisks and defeat the mage twins.

---DESCRIPTION---
You'll get 3 levels:
1. Intro
2. Catacombs
3. Chamber with the black obelisks

And two types of enemies:
1. Mage (range)
2. Spider (melee)

First level is just intro (go straight up). To enter level 3 you have to defeat the black mage on the second level and run through the ruined portal (see screenshots). When (and if) the mage twins are defeated it's the end of the game. Mages also spawn minions.
There is no health bar, but as you get more damage the screen will gradually get noisier. If you're hit the red vignetting will appear. At the start of each level you health is replenished. When you die you restart at level 2.

---CONTROLS---
Arrow keys / WASD: Move
Left click: Attack
Second left click: Second Attack

---ALL THE REST---
The game is super hard, it's basically 10 or so hits and you're dead. But with some practice and craft it is possible to win. It's hard to tell when you get hit for the most part because the attack animations are messy so rely on vignetting.

---ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS---
Thank you all for playing and for your feedback. We trully appreciate it. Special thanks to BuKaneerz and TomboFry for streaming our game on Twitch.

---UP1---
Wow, it's fantastic how many of you have interest in our entry. Thanks again for feedback and criticism. We are aware of all the bugs mentioned but unfortunately we had no time to fix them during the jam.
We will publish a fixed version when judging is done and we hope to make it a full feature or something else based on similar mechanics.

Ratings

Coolness 70% 3
Overall(Jam) 3.55 154
Audio(Jam) 3.49 178
Fun(Jam) 3.01 359
Graphics(Jam) 4.55 24
Humor(Jam) 2.05 569
Innovation(Jam) 2.59 568
Mood(Jam) 3.97 53
Theme(Jam) 3.00 444

Feedback

PriorBlue
29. Apr 2014 · 18:07 UTC
The art style is fantastic!
BuKaneerz
29. Apr 2014 · 18:19 UTC
Awesome work ! Graphics are fantastic !
A real hard roguelike game !
SecondDimension
29. Apr 2014 · 20:38 UTC
Very well polished and looks great.
Lyje
30. Apr 2014 · 07:49 UTC
I got to the boss thing - it's a pretty hard game! Loving the art style, very reminiscent of Hyper Light Drifter - which is a good thing! Am I right the noise filter is your health bar? Hope this does well as I think it could be a lovely game :)
niculistana
30. Apr 2014 · 09:40 UTC
I love the theme especially the sound and art!

I had to search this game because my game had the same name(looks like I wasn't the only one). If you have a chance, feel free to check my game out over here, and I would love it if you can critique it:

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-29/?action=preview&uid=35234
niculistana
30. Apr 2014 · 09:46 UTC
I'm actually wondering how you were able to apply the camera filter since you used Unity3D like I did.
🎤 camlang
30. Apr 2014 · 09:55 UTC
Unity offered 30 days trial during LD, so we had access to image effects.
gmaker
30. Apr 2014 · 11:07 UTC
graphics so cute! i liked it) but mobs have a little bit more health than i would =)
nonentheless
30. Apr 2014 · 12:09 UTC
Beautiful execution, love the art style
Yword
30. Apr 2014 · 14:13 UTC
Impressive graphics! Maybe you can enhance the feel of attack with some slash effects or camera shake.
demonshanker2
30. Apr 2014 · 14:16 UTC
Nice animations and art! The attacks and walk cycles were very nice.
seantheartist
30. Apr 2014 · 14:16 UTC
The art in this is awesome, love the simplicity of it all and game play feels nice.
dertom
30. Apr 2014 · 14:18 UTC
Super cool made. Did like to run through that level killing those bugs with a nice swing. "Die!" :D I especially like the mood you create with the visualy. Well done!
Simon@LD
30. Apr 2014 · 17:40 UTC
A very beautiful game! Great art and sound design, love it!
CDK
30. Apr 2014 · 17:43 UTC
meh - nice graphic - nice achievement, but the game was pretty boring. might just not be my kind of game. i think i reached the boss quite fast (the necromancer like guy), he was my second enemy so the controls were still pretty new.. but it was indeed pretty
dook
30. Apr 2014 · 17:45 UTC
Just a great looking game :) It was really diffucult, though. And I wasn't sure if timing had any impact on the fighting or if I should just mash the button as much as possible. Could be a neat little action game with some more work.
Solifuge
30. Apr 2014 · 18:00 UTC
Hi, this is Vector from the Victory Garden team! (posting under Solifuge's account)

Wow... these are legitimately the best graphics I've seen so far this jam. The mood is fantastic. Had to give up after a couple of times, though--the sudden mass spider spawning when you get to the first mage got me both times.

I'd like to see a full version of this game... I'm interested in what you could do with more time. Thanks for the experience!
renegadeninjanl
30. Apr 2014 · 18:50 UTC
Great artwork. Game reminds me of Hyper Light Drifter which of course is not a bad thing. Good game overall, keep it up.
Jeffalisk
30. Apr 2014 · 18:55 UTC
Amazing graphics and sound, really liked the mood of this. Great work!
ioboi
30. Apr 2014 · 19:09 UTC
The art and the overall mood of the game is really great !
toranoko
30. Apr 2014 · 19:27 UTC
graphics were great, feedback from combat was really lacking, some hurt animations and maybe a life meter would help.
evilseanbot
30. Apr 2014 · 19:33 UTC
Fantastic presentation.

I think the mouse button attacks made the controls pretty awkward. I would recommend going with arrows + Z/X.
jellymann
30. Apr 2014 · 19:35 UTC
Brilliant work of art!
Hob623
30. Apr 2014 · 19:41 UTC
Beautiful graphics. Also, the music really sets the mood.
bebopbraunbaer
30. Apr 2014 · 19:55 UTC
wow! what an awesome looking game! great work at arts and animations! Sounds were awesome too and took the mood to the next level. Very well made!! Hope to see more!
berareu
30. Apr 2014 · 20:04 UTC
Fantastic visuals and mood, but combat and collisions are super buggy. Intro was great :)
7heSAMA
30. Apr 2014 · 20:08 UTC
Looks good as everyone has pointed out, but honestly it wasn't all that fun (which disappointed me because I thought it would be from the screenshots/description).
First of all it was really hard to navigate. Not only did the camera lag significantly behind the player, there also wasn't any clear distinction between what was a floor tile vs. wall tile, since there wasn't any perspective (except on the decorative items) or consistent color-coding.
As for combat, it was alright but the hitboxes just felt way off and the enemies weren't that interesting. The boss was better, though (but when he killed me, I didn't bother to try again).
Also, I liked the minimalist music, it fit well. The SFX for attacks didn't mesh well with it though.
Mase
30. Apr 2014 · 20:08 UTC
The 8-directional sprite animation looks great. Combat needs some work... I think the attack direction corresponds to the arrow key presses rather than where the mouse cursor is. I mean, it'd be better if the attack and movement directions were separate.

I'd like more health or regenerating health. Also the dark vignette makes it hard to see incoming enemies.
cageinabird
30. Apr 2014 · 21:47 UTC
The graphics are superb. The best part I felt was the intro, which did a great job establishing the atmosphere for the game. The combat itself was a bit of a let down - the hit detection seemed inconsistent, and there was no indication when you were close to death.
mimic
30. Apr 2014 · 21:52 UTC
The visuals are really neat and you've set up a great atmosphere but unfortunately the gameplay's a bit bland. The attacks felt like they had no weight to them.
burgerdare
30. Apr 2014 · 22:25 UTC
This is pretty cool. I'd like to note that the left-click to attack control feels a bit un-intuitive, especially since the direction of your character's attack doesn't shift to face the mouse.
zatyka
30. Apr 2014 · 22:32 UTC
Due to the wandering, and controls, I found it a bit to onerous to play. I'm wondering why you didn't use a button input for the attack. Using the mouse for an attack kept making me that that I would swing in the direction of the mouse. Excellent visuals, sound, and atmosphere though.
benmcnelly
30. Apr 2014 · 23:29 UTC
Love this, especially the way it handles injuries the over all style and mood. Kudos, good work!
MrShoestore
01. May 2014 · 00:45 UTC
Very nice, and very hyper light drifter influenced I'm assuming.
Erkberg
01. May 2014 · 01:01 UTC
Wow, I really love that artstyle, great job! The gameplay would be smoother if the enemies had a little less hp though.
kirbytails7
01. May 2014 · 03:13 UTC
Enjoyable, though I hit a mage off of the floor and couldn't kill it. Also, the intro sequence seems a bit unnecessary for the scope of game. Nice style, though.
ehtd
01. May 2014 · 07:59 UTC
Really good game, too bad I died fighting the sith
jujule
01. May 2014 · 08:06 UTC
Very atmospheric. I liked that a lot. It seems I couldn't get the second attack to work. However I tried, only the first attack would get out.
I'd like to see a post comp version of this game.
D2FXRayG
01. May 2014 · 11:49 UTC
The graphics and atmosphere is great! Can't get past the first level yet!
iambored2006
01. May 2014 · 17:44 UTC
Very Hyper Light Drifter. I liked the fact that the player sprite is 8-directional. A lot of games in this general genre neglect this. However, there are some problems-
* There was a problem with textures appearing above/below other textures. I know it's a bug, but you could say it's a feature (beneath the surface, huh?)
* I'm pretty sure the player moves faster diagonally. This can be fixed easily with normalized vectors.
* I was fighting the boss, and I pushed him off the map, so that I couldn't harm him any more.
Christina Antoinette Neofotistou
02. May 2014 · 11:57 UTC
Graphics are amazing! Mood is amazing!!! Pretty hard, as you know, but would be a little better if I knew where I was going. There could be more unique ground features. Top marks!!!Music is fantastic as well, very 80ies
xdegtyarev
02. May 2014 · 12:59 UTC
Молодцы! Классная игра.
Главный персонаж сильно похож на персонажа из Hyper Light Drifter ;)
Босс очень сложный, сильно не хватает механизма уклонения от ударов, как перекаты или прыжки.
Очень атмосферно!
TomboFry
04. May 2014 · 17:19 UTC
I really like the graphics style, and the animations aren't as bad as you think they are. I like how you haven't included the health bar, it makes the game feel more immersive. I'm terrible at the game, I really want to try and finish it, but I'm not sure how.
matthias_zarzecki
04. May 2014 · 17:41 UTC
Nice work with the atmossphere and title-cards!
Romko Pidstryhach
05. May 2014 · 00:09 UTC
Great graphics.
conormn
06. May 2014 · 02:13 UTC
Very nice atmosphere, nicely done. Agree with the combat needing some polish.
Garris
06. May 2014 · 03:35 UTC
This art is gorgeous. The combat was a little bit janky, but it worked, and I had a fun time exploring/getting lost. Obviously time constrains don't allow for the level of polish a game like this deserves, but for the time limit, it's very well done, and I'm excited to see where it goes, post ludum dare.
GarethIW
08. May 2014 · 14:49 UTC
Looks *really* nice, and could be awesome if made into a full game, but the feel wasn't quite there for it to be fun.
tchem
09. May 2014 · 16:10 UTC
Fantastic game man!!!!!,, i loved it in all... the graphics are awesome,, great colour pallete and effects. The atmosphere is very well done, the ambiance and sounds collaborate to the perfect immersion. The best to me.
stvr
09. May 2014 · 18:51 UTC
A bit inspired by Hyper Light Drifter perhaps? Super atmosphere with great graphics, I could *not* get past the mage, which was a shame.
XenosNS
10. May 2014 · 02:01 UTC
Looks great, tough game!
Anoarith
11. May 2014 · 17:58 UTC
You should make a post-compo version with easier controls to attack :)

The game was really beautiful and moody :)
BallpointPress
14. May 2014 · 06:38 UTC
Nice work all around. Pretty masterful. Gave me an old school Psygnosis vibe... and then the music kicked in!
joe40001
14. May 2014 · 18:19 UTC
Interesting, I think I beat it but it just abruptly goes back to the title screen. Good graphics though.
ninjascript
17. May 2014 · 15:14 UTC
Great graphics! The enemies kept getting pushed off the map where I couldn't reach them. Other than that, it looks really good.
Teesquared
17. May 2014 · 15:27 UTC
Creepy tunes. Nice visuals. I played through it twice and didn't even know it :)
Oye Beto
17. May 2014 · 19:14 UTC
I liked the art but the level felt very empty. You could try spawning more and weaker enemies.
Franklins Ghost
18. May 2014 · 06:03 UTC
Great looking game. Enjoyed the atmosphere and the opening was done really well to set the mood.