The Dolphin of Sooth by elHombreBanana
HOW TO PLAY: - Arrow keys to move - Z to interact - X to run (only in Post JAM version)
The game might close itself at some point. It's normal behaviour, just reopen the game.
Every story has a starting line.
"Once upon a time", "In the beginning", "Long time ago"...
This story has no start.
It has nothing to begin with.
The story, like everyone of us, is just here, waiting for someone to follow the line.

This is my submission to the Ludum Dare 45, first time doing a story-driven game. I hope you like it!
| Youtube | https://gamejolt.com/games/dolphin-of-sooth/443438 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/the-dolphin-of-sooth |
Ratings
| Overall | 16th | 4.327⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 255th | 3.654⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 489th | 3.26⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 239th | 3.759⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 125th | 4.231⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 18th | 4.231⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 78th | 3.917⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 32th | 4.25⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 18🗳️ | 26🗨️ |
It may be a bit hard to find it, I just made internal testing with anyone but myself :( But the item is there! You just have to look closely, and the look closely again :eyes:
Anyway, thank you for playing!
@siarhei-pilat Wow, thank you! I'm so glad you liked it! I don't really know how this artstyle is called, maybe 2-bit art? I just got my references from Minit & Downwell, and tried to recreate their essence with the little time I had.
I enjoyed the game, quite easy though but an interesting narrative and well written. Loved the music, especially the overworld theme. The graphics are really good too.
Gameplay wise i get there's not much you can do in a short time with just walking and interacting, still I didn't really enjoy much of the backtracking, especially the maze. That run button sure will come in handy :)
I asume the game closing is on purpose? As it really works well as a narrative device
Effectively, the game closing is on purpose. And it's not the end of the game at first!
@hajden I understand the issue. I hope I made the boss fight easy enough to avoid that, as I'd rather keep the narrative impact of the game closing!
Cool concept nice art, music and dialoge.
The thing about the backtracking being annoying i can agree. A run button or a gap in the maze after the first walktrough might be an easy solution^^
Oh and there are sometimes problems with the player being drawn on top of trees even tough they should be in front (which isn't a big deal).
In every other aspect a very top entry.
As for the run button and the depth issue with the trees, both are fixed in version 1.0.3 (the post jam version).
Making a gap in the maze is a pretty neat idea! I'll see if I can implement it and give it a bit of a reason to be in a future update, thanks!
My dumb ass: "OKAY"
I really liked this game! There's so much world building you put together in such a small amount of time. Not only is the world that is there big, but there so much MORE world implied as well. The music was great, and the art was great too. And the ending was clever (although I would've missed it if it wasn't for the comments).
Agree on the too much backtracking, and agree on maybe adding shortcuts after the first time. I did even more backtracking because after getting the first two items I went back to the cave. But with that in mind, this is still one of my favourite games of the jam. Fantastic job!
Music and art is great, really top work!
Anyway, tight concept, very aligned with the theme. Neat art style, and the simplest mechanics with perfect execution. OST also very addicting. Thank you for this!