Burrow Down by danbo
Go deeper for gains in BURROW DOWN!
WASD to move, L-Click to fire, R-click (Hold) to charge mana quickly
I was curious about adaptive difficulty systems, so I thought I'd try something that's a weeee bit like Border Down. The notion is that you go down deeper to get more XP, but expose yourself to greater challenges. There was to be multiple endings depending on how deep you are when you finish the game, but I didn't have the time.
Also, the maps were supposed to be different depending on your difficulty level, but... common theme emerging here
Tips for success :
* Hold right click to charge mana! Once again, I have failed at telling players things.
* The blades deflect fireballs. Extremely useful, overpowered.
* They are not cacodemons, their canonical name is "CHOMPY2"
* Try playing while violently nodding to simulate the screenshake I didn't have the time to implement
Uses music from ko0x "bitpop worlds" under creative commons license. If you like it, go buy : http://ko0x.bandcamp.com/
Uses stuff from OGA :
http://opengameart.org/content/dungeon-tileset
http://opengameart.org/content/creepy-thing
Everything else is me.
Developed in LOVE 0.9.1
WASD to move, L-Click to fire, R-click (Hold) to charge mana quickly
I was curious about adaptive difficulty systems, so I thought I'd try something that's a weeee bit like Border Down. The notion is that you go down deeper to get more XP, but expose yourself to greater challenges. There was to be multiple endings depending on how deep you are when you finish the game, but I didn't have the time.
Also, the maps were supposed to be different depending on your difficulty level, but... common theme emerging here
Tips for success :
* Hold right click to charge mana! Once again, I have failed at telling players things.
* The blades deflect fireballs. Extremely useful, overpowered.
* They are not cacodemons, their canonical name is "CHOMPY2"
* Try playing while violently nodding to simulate the screenshake I didn't have the time to implement
Uses music from ko0x "bitpop worlds" under creative commons license. If you like it, go buy : http://ko0x.bandcamp.com/
Uses stuff from OGA :
http://opengameart.org/content/dungeon-tileset
http://opengameart.org/content/creepy-thing
Everything else is me.
Developed in LOVE 0.9.1
| Windows | http://stuff.danbo.vg/burrowdown-win32.zip |
| OS X | http://stuff.danbo.vg/burrowdown-osx.zip |
| Love | http://stuff.danbo.vg/burrowdown.love |
| Source | https://github.com/tinydanbo/Burrow-Down |
| Dev Playthrough (Youtube) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKCXoGcWJkU |
| Original URL | https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-29/?action=preview&uid=26427 |
Ratings
| Coolness | 79% | 2 |
| Overall(Jam) | 4.00 | 32 |
| Audio(Jam) | 3.80 | 86 |
| Fun(Jam) | 4.37 | 5 |
| Graphics(Jam) | 3.55 | 305 |
| Humor(Jam) | 3.03 | 203 |
| Innovation(Jam) | 3.00 | 375 |
| Mood(Jam) | 3.47 | 192 |
| Theme(Jam) | 3.22 | 340 |
Awesome game, would love to see more of it :D
The different spells and the recharge mechanic work so well and the bullet hell-ish feel is so much fun.
While I like that the game lets you choose whether to play the harder level next or an easier one, I absolutely love that the game then taunts you when you die. Sure, you don't get a gameover, but the game is basically calling you out saying that you couldn't handle how hard it was. Some things are worse than death indeed. Also, it serves the dual purpose of making me not want to die (since I want to keep my dignity) but I don't have to go through the tedious process of playing content I already did just to try and see the ending (something all too annoying about some Ludum Dare entries). I ended up playing through it multiple times just to see all the levels anyway.
I'm not sure if I just wasn't paying attention or what, but it wasn't until my second playthrough that I realized you could hold down right click to charge up. I'm not sure if there's a way to make that more obvious? Also, the sword spell goes through walls, which was basically the only way I made it through certain parts of the harder levels, so maybe that's intentional.
The level design was also really good. Some of the levels were somewhat non-linear, or allowed you to attack enemies that you won't encounter until later on, making them more interesting than just "beat this group, then this group, then kill these guys, then you're done."
Honestly, if this were given more time and polish I could see this turning into a commercially viable game. Throw in a ton more levels, more weapons, more enemies, co-op play, some unlockable stuff, (and maybe a few secret areas) and I would totally pay a few bucks for this on steam or something. Seriously, go get this green-lighted :)
I did have the game crash on me once. In case you want details:
I'm running love on ubuntu 64-bit.
screenshot of error output: http://imgur.com/lwahKaZ
Also to everything Fritzendugan said: Yes.
(Although if you want to go commercial with it you'll have to replace the soundtrack)
Started again, hard mode all the way :D
It would be nice to show each key input until it has been pressed by the user, instead of for a constant duration.
Good job!
I like how it has RPG elements like XP and upgrades but is implemented in a way that it doesn't feel like (i hate when i have to stop the game to upgrade). I hope one day this become a model/style to future games. I would love to see more of that.
Some screenshake (like you said) & feedback sounds are my recommendations. Also using the mouse scroll to change between powers.
Even with this exploit, though, I found the game fairly challenging and enjoyable. Really great work!
This was so frigging fun!!! The difficulty system kind of reminded me of AutoRun. In that game, between each stage you also chooses between a easier and a harder path.
Something I really like a lot is that by the end of the game you are at the maximum level. It didn't feel like grinding, even though I could have skipped a few enemies, and I had fun in destroying each one of them.
I can only imagine how great this would be with greater graphics (at least, animated), screen shake and more particles.