Lost In the Shadows by JoeCool

made by JoeCool for LD21 (-)

The game is a rogue like adventure game where a dwarf is lost in the mines and tries to escape without dying. You have to find the exit, dig for water to survive and collect as much gold nuggets as possible on the way.

gameplay tips:
- if water is near you will hear it.
- the harder rocks inherit more water and nuggets
- the exit can be anywhere not just in a room

Its my first LD and I am satisfied with the result in terms of what I have got done in the time. Even though the gameplay could be more fun.. ;)

Use WASD or cursor keys. Sound is necessary for the full game experience.

Flash/Web	http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14102488/ludumdare/LostInTheShadows.swf
Source	http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14102488/ludumdare/LudumDare_48%2321_LostInTheShadows.zip
Postmortem	http://blog.rough-sea.com/2011/08/ludumdare-48-21-escape/
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-21/?action=preview&uid=4216

Ratings

Coolness	10%	47
Overall	2.94	219

Audio	2.87	122
Community	3.00	122
Fun	2.42	313
Graphics	3.39	109
Humor	1.50	335
Innovation	2.77	250
Theme	3.48	105

Feedback

Draknek

22. Aug 2011 · 21:57 UTC

The first time I played In got into a second cave fairly quickly (with water and gold) but then found nothing else. The second time I played I never even found that much.

So map generation needs some balancing.

🎤 JoeCool

22. Aug 2011 · 22:13 UTC

You are right, the item distribution needs more balancing. To find more items look for granite, the darkest of the rock types. It will often reveal water or gold. And if you hear water than its not far away just dig around till you get it.

PaulWagener

23. Aug 2011 · 18:16 UTC

Couldn't really get into it. Died a lot mostly due to pure luck and never figured out an effective way to find the exit.

🎤 JoeCool

23. Aug 2011 · 21:19 UTC

Thanks for the feedback. My next version will be more fun to play. :)

arielsan

25. Aug 2011 · 01:10 UTC

I found the exit!!! good game, I like the dwarf dialogs while you are playing. Not sure how balanced it is but don't like so much each movement thought an empty block consumes so much of my health and hours.

Good luck with the game.

Geroro

25. Aug 2011 · 05:54 UTC

it needs some balancing, but I'm looking forward to the next version :-)

🎤 JoeCool

25. Aug 2011 · 17:14 UTC

Hey guys, thanks for the positive feedback :). I will work on the game in a few days. Have to finish my current project first.

Deraj

27. Aug 2011 · 01:20 UTC

The graphics and sound are great--especially considering this was done in 48 hours! The gameplay is moderately fun, but I feel like I couldn't realy come up with a compelling strategy. My only other criticism is that the controls felt very sluggish on my machine (it felt like there was a half-second delay between a key press and something actually happening).

On the whole though, very impressive. You should be proud!

🎤 JoeCool

27. Aug 2011 · 06:53 UTC

Thanks for your kind words Deraj. To be honest, its hard to be really proud of it, when seeing all those other great LD entries.

I will work on a new version soon, with improved balancing, gameplay mechanics and better controls.

Shigor

27. Aug 2011 · 13:39 UTC

Randomness is killing it - unless you're lucky you just won't find the water (sound cue is a good idea). You'd have to change the generation of the level for it to be fun (now it really depends more on how lucky you are). I'd suggest generating water on the fly - if player is already thirsty, generate water nearby on not yet visited (inlcuding the detection radius) tile.
Otherwise quite good job.

🎤 JoeCool

27. Aug 2011 · 14:16 UTC

Shigor, thanks for the cool feedback. Greatly appreciated! :)

Darkzombies

31. Aug 2011 · 07:08 UTC

6 gold nuggets
1021 hours

Beat that.

🎤 JoeCool

31. Aug 2011 · 14:23 UTC

Nice one! :)

hamburger

05. Sep 2011 · 17:19 UTC

I like your art. Pretty fun. I didn't find the exit though; is there any way to find it other than trial and error? Using audio to look for water I found more rewarding.

AndyBrown

06. Sep 2011 · 16:46 UTC

Well, I just ran into your game on FGL, noticed it was made for the LD so came here, Nice to see you are still working on it! Great job for getting that much done on your first attempt at the dare.

🎤 JoeCool

06. Sep 2011 · 22:20 UTC

@hamburger: thanks, its trial and error, but I will enhance the version soon, hopefully.

@Andy, thanks for you kind words :).

Savv

07. Sep 2011 · 06:41 UTC

http://bayimg.com/dAJCPAadp ‘Ahh! So close! Just one more step! Nooooo!’ X_X

alexlarioza

12. Sep 2011 · 18:41 UTC

We made similar games. =] Yours would benefit from more variation in the caves. I also felt it was a bit sluggish.