The audio, visual atmosphere was awesome. I felt like I was playing a dive mission in Half-life 1 or Quake 1. The mechanic of diving and getting different kinds of ore, was interesting for exploration, and I enjoyed learning the map. The tediousness of some parts was frustrating for me. Specifically the first set of upgrades took 3-5 dives at least which felt a bit too repetitive, and also there was no hint of what might be in the future. For example, even if there were 2 kinds of ores there one that was $1 and the other $2, it would have made me more curious earlier on to discover more. If you fix the earnings curve issue, I would have totally been hooked enough to play through the whole thing. I quit after I got my first gold. Still - this is an amazing eat of engineering and art in such a short time - thank you for the game.

Wow, cool Ps1 stylization! Even Game CD cover)

Great voice acting and world-building with a solid little gameplay loop. The shark was neat, although it would've been cool if they interacted with the player in some way. Very impressed with what you managed to pull off here in the timeframe. I've played over a dozen entries so far and this is the only one I feel like I may go back and play again later.

I'm genuinely impressed with the amount of work put into this game in such a short time! The systems, the visuals and the audio are very well executed! Good job :)

P.S.: This style brings back memories!

Great game ! The visuals are awesome, and the gameplay is quite smooth. I also liked the huge amount of content with all the different upgrades and the map you have to explore progressively, although the levelling system with the money required might be a bit too high, which forces you to grind maybe too much.
Aside from that, really great production, I enjoyed my time playing through it !

because im not old enough to have had the ps1 as a part of my childhood this game purely reminds me of puppet combo horror games, so I was half expecting to get jumpscared any second (the shark got my blood pumping for sure). so far the best looking game ive seen here.
also appreciate the linux version :^)

Love the setting and PS1 aesthetic but I could not dedicate to the grind after the first pick upgrade(also it feels somewhat wrong to die inches from the surface because the ladder is the only way out).

Great job!

What do you call this wobbly 3d-effect?

@thane5 You probably mean what's called vertex snapping. Different to modern graphic renderers the PS1 used a lower precision (4.12 fixed point) to calculate the vertex positions. Additionally the textures would not always be rendered in the correct perspective, making them look distorted when viewed from angles. An effect called affine texture mapping. Other characteristics of the PS1 graphics are the use of a lower color depth, dithering, max texture sizes of 256x256 and of course a lower resolution. There are quite a few resources to be found online if you want to learn more about this :)

Love this PS1 aesthetic! The underwater theme is a bit overdone this jam, but you still pulled it off pretty well in my opinion. Fun game, has a lot of potential!

Ok that's definitely my favourite game ! Stunning game !
I got really scared when the whale came for the first time haha !
I think the game could have some balancing in the endgame, you get maybe too powerful !
Incredible job !

Looks and sounds fantastic! I had fun mining and exploring, but I think progression could be sped up a bit. I may have just not figured out another solution, but the only way I could find to deal with the sharks was to just go back to base and get out of the water, so they started feeling a little more like annoyances rather than scary after a bit of playing.

Really liked this one, an incredible amount of work obviously went into it, especially considering the time restriction!

Holy cow the game feel is off-the-charts during the opening! And the first time I saw the fish I almost fell out of my seat. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this game, great job : )

Some feedback:
- I would consider adding increasingly violent screen-shake as the fish gets closer
- A boost key that used oxygen could be cool
- Adding some sort of indicator/ message to go further would be nice. At first I didn't travel very far from the base so the initial grind took some time

EDIT: **WHY DID YOU OPT OUT OF MOOD????**

Okay I thinks it's the most incredible amount of content I've ever seen for a jam, and done just by one person.. but take care of yourself and maybe don't overdo it the next jams ! Besides very addictive games, the little context and lore are sufficient to be invested in, and the mechanic of finding more and more ores of different types by going deeper really is neat (what a relief when I found my first ores that gaves me more than 1). There's a very good vibe of horror and loneliness with theses PSX graphics, and the whales really are scary.
Hats off, this game is definitely incredible.

I really loved the graphics as I'm a huge fan of the ps1 aesthetics. While I found the gameplay overall to be well polished, I think progression needs a little more balance, or at least some way to incentivize me to dive deeper early on in the game. My suggestion maybe would be some sort of quest system along side the normal mining aspect?

I love it. I could play this for hours just to be inside the world. Simple, meditative, clear goal and a bit of mood, perfectly captures ps1 era. <3

I don't know where you got the woman's voice from but I love that too. Sticks in my head for some reason!

@daniel-alhadeff those are some cool suggestions! Noted, thanks :)

@pierre-morreel I always tell myself to tone it down for the next jam. But than I have this cool idea and want to see it come to life. Oh well, I'll probably never learn :D Thanks for playing!

@rubentipparach Yeah the exploration part of the game did not make the cut. But it's definitely something I want to add down the line. Imagine old ruins or underwater caves that you can explore and maybe find some cool gear :) Thanks for playing!

@adam-jewell thanks for the kind words :) the voice is all synthetic. It's just text to speech that I beefed up with a lot of FLStudio Plugins :P Glad that you liked it

What an immersive experience! I love the way you need to almost grind for every piece of equipment at the very beginning, and just sweep through the upgrades near the end. Feels nice to finally get the ultimate mining power! :smile:

The sound design and music are top-notch. The quality of assets and attention to detail (like the fact that your costume changes, as you purchase new equipment) you've accomplished in such a short time amazes me.

Great job!

Mmmh, like a blast from the past :) The progress is very slow, but I am sitting in the glasshouse throwing with stones. The graphics and premise are great and that fish scared me XD

This is really something else. Great work on the textures; topside is appropriately grungy and rusty, and there's just enough under water to give a clear indication for everything. Wonderful touch that you see all the gear you collect on the player model itself; it really, truly sells the progression system and reinforces the gameplay loop.

The only annoyance I found were the large fish; especially early on there didn't seem to be any way to get away from them.

Also, I never found the adamantium, even as I went off the 'deep end' by the edge of the map. Was it ever implemented? Or was it hidden in a secret spot? (I love the extra touch of a crashed shuttle - smart reuse of an asset there).

This is one of my favorites on this jam.

Wow, this is really great. The mood is serene and the visuals are really cool. I was invested in the grind but then my game crashed after climbing the ladder with a pocket full of platinum :(

Really similar to our underwater exploration game (https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/f-r-i-e-n-d) but more polished and somehow you did this as just 1 person? o.o

EDIT: Went back in for another go since it was fun, and actually made it to the credits this time. Nice work.

Fantastic! I love the art style and the sound design. Pretty awesome job! Also the controlls feel very good. I really love it.
One issue is, that it is to hard (or repetitive). The mining takes (especially in the beginning) to long, befor you can buy upgrades.

and you're saying you did all this on your own?
you kidding le!?
incredible
such pure ps1 vibes!
bit grindy at 1st but then U manage to mind gold and you go AW YISSS
I accepted the gift
dinn fine anything major at 300 depth tho
but like
mad game
mad props to you
amazing
GG :O <3

So I really like your game and I'm streaming Ludum Dare 48 games on saturday with my friend Teauorent on his Twitch channel - https://www.twitch.tv/teauorent - Saturday May 1st 4PM CET
First of all - that cool with you? This may redirect some traffic to your page for more people to try your LD48 game :smile:
If you'd like, please e-mails us anecdotes and sneak peeks of your creative process (photos, screenshots, beta/WIP asset renders, mood boards, concept Art, etc.) so we can present them alongside and illustrate your LD48 adventure to our audience :slight_smile:
Here's our e-mail to send all that good stuff to --> TeamChooChoo.GameJams@gmail.com [we will confirm receiving your e-mail(s) upon reception]
The show will be in french but I'm bilingual so you can totally submit in english, we'll take care of the rest :slight_smile:

Have a great day, I hope to hear from you soon - thanks for that great moment I spent testing your little nugget of a game, and see you in the chat on saturday I hope :heart: :smile:

@strangeryann Thank you so much for playing. Yup just me. Except some sound effects and fonts. And yeah I'll happily send you some stuff and try to be there for the stream. Looking forward to it! :)

This was pretty fun, you got the pacing to feel really good. The gameplay is pretty bare-bones and grindy, but the rate at which you improve keeps it from dragging on for too long. The overall mood and atmosphere is great.

I loved the art style but my only gripe is the seafloor. I didn't like how it was just a flat white color. I think it was a missed opportunity to change the color/texture of the floor based on the depth as this could provide the player with a visual aid to prevent them from going too deep, and to help them navigate back to the starting point. I found myself getting lost at times and it was hard to tell if an ore was too deep for me unless I got close enough to tell from the depth sensor. Without a visual aid, it was hard to estimate distances.

Overall though, this was a really fun experience and one of the better jam games I've played so far

@skleembof Great suggestion, I'll look into it :) Thanks for playing!

Not my kind of game, but I was drawn to the early PC/PS1 style of it. And I laughed at the low resolution loading screen. Very cool, look and feel. I have to give credit to anyone who can work "deeper and deeper" into more than just setting and narrative, and you've done that, and we'll executed. I just can't make myself grind, but that's a personally problem that isn't reflected in how I voted :)

@roolow Yeah, oh well. Thanks for checking it out regardless :)

Very nice game! Nice and polished and had a nice smooth feel to it. Nice theme and i enjoyed the slow pace of gameplay! :smiley:

Love the gameplay loop - it's so addicting! I appreciate how you had the ores jump such insane value, it really incentivized going deeper and not sticking to what you're used to. Going on a huge run of new ores and then cashing it all in at the shop is so satisfying. My only gripe was the fish, I wish there was a way to lose them or scare them off at the shop. It was basically game over to my run once one spotted me, which felt kinda bad if one showed up right when I swam all the way to my destination 100+ meters down. Love the art style too - really well done.

@brainloaf-studio Thanks for playing! Yeah being able to buy a tool to scare the fish away or a better way to escape is definitely on the todo list :)

You did a lot of solid work here! The graphics look pretty good, the controls are smooth, and it is fun diving arounds the water! I do think the pace of it could have been faster, as I felt I had to make too many trips to upgrade. I also had trouble with getting out of the sharks way, and it's be great if the cost was less when you died. Other than that, nice job!

Finished with extra 3milions for a nice house in Hawai! Nice PS gfx and sfx. God damn sharks steal my oxygene! Sometimes had hard time navigating but overall nice little game.

Nice old school 3d graphics, and the sounds do their job. It gets a bit repetitive after a while, but otherwise good job! Also, scary fishies in sight!

Wow, I must say I'm blown by how much you managed to achieve all by yourself. The game looks wondurfull, with an exceptional atmosphere. I felt that the sharks where too unforgiving, as there where not always a sound to notify them. Nonetheless, I really am admirative of your work, one of the most insane entry I've seen so far! (for the notice, I played the Jam version, not the post jam)

A very solid entry with great mood and art :) I honestly wanted to play it more, but it really got a bit repetitive and the beginning especially was really too slow and took away most of my motivation. But I'll definitely give it another try :)

@deepnight Try to get some Iron as soon as possible. That's totally doable as soon as you get the mask and can go down to 50 depth. It's really not intended to stay that long in the starting area. But thanks for trying it out :)

@warrrkus Thanks for the tip, I'll try that right away :)

Ultra fun, Ultra Mood, Great game made in 72 hours, I would consider adding the notepad to remember the coordinates.

i love this! in a way, I wish the oxygen was half the amount and you automatically resurfaced.

I played this longer than I anticipated. I like a good MMORPG-style grind, so I saw myself hooked gathering resources... until I saw the huge whaleshark for the first time.

After that, every new dive was a constant fight between trying to find the best ore and looking around, making resource management harder and very very nerve-wracking.

The atmosphere is so good and the controls are smooth, imo. (edited: just noticed you opt out Mood. To be honest, you could be number 1 in this category).

## Technical questions
As a Godot fanboy, I'm curious:

1. Did you write the code from scratch for the JAM or did you already have a framework for this kind of 3rd person controller?
1. Same question for the UI mechnanics: is it a previously written framework?
1. Which text to speech did you use for the female voice?

@splitpainter Hey SplitPainter. Yeah I'm not really sure why I opted out of Mood. I submitted the game when it was past 3 AM here after a very stressful 72 hour crunch. That does weird things to you brain :D Anyways. Yup, I wrote all the code from scratch. The character controller was pretty easy to do because there are no edge cases needed (there are no stairs, steeper slopes and so forth). Moving underwater is even easier. The UI is also very simplistic. It's just a bunch of RichTextLabels connected to signals. For the shop UI I made one scene which represents one item and then just iterated over all buyable stuff and added them to the shop scene. It's really much more simple than it probably looks. The TTS I've used is AWS Polly. If you have further questions feel free to message me on discord (details can be found on my itch profile page). Thanks for playing! :)

HOOOOOOOOLYYYYYYYYY COOOOOOOWWWWWW!!! I can’t believe this is a Jam Game. It was done in PS1 style, and is more polished and well thought out game than some actual PS1 games. The art it awesome. the SFX are awesome the mechanic is easy to get into and nicely scaled for difficulty (not easy, but not too grindy). The controls are tight once you get used to them. This game is MIND BLOWING!!!
Thank you so much for bringing the game by my stream. Here's a link to the VOD:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1007852839?t=4h20m32s

This game reminded me of subnautica, a similar voice, a similar rocket, a similar swimming and resource extraction. I really like the graphics style. Great job!

This is mental! Very simple gameplay-loop, but absolutely wonderfully executed! Art-style, music, gameplay,everything is top notch. I also really liked the idea of the fish-monster that makes you loose air because you're scared, rather than straight up attacking you. Absolutely amazing work!

This is a very impressive game, and done in godot no less. i'm just starting to do my 2nd game in godot, so hope to be able to get to this level sooner than later. Did not like the grinding needed at the start. It might be too long to play for a jam game. Thanks

Very impressive ! Well done 🤯

Great and simple gameplay, with this touch of mystery just when it could become boring :ok_hand:

PS1 graphics are perfect <3

This is so impressive! I quite enjoyed playing it. I would love to study the source code for this, if that's possible 🙂

Well, as a fan of PS1 stylized games, HauntedPs1, Puppet Combo, Dread X I simply couldn't pass by this game.
The graphics, audio and mood are over the top! The first shark encounter scared me a lot.

The idea for the main game loop is great, but for me, it turned out to be a bit tedious and repetitive.
Perhaps a bit of action, or reducing the diving iterations with faster progression would help to engage more.

Nevertheless, I think this is an awesome and pretty unique entry. Good luck with the voting phase!

Felt like Tomb-Raider/Subnautica and I love it! Controls were great, mechanics were fun and I love the sound of the rock breaking oddly enough! The visuals absolutley knocked it out of the park and this felt extremley high quality for a jam game!

Best indie game i played in 2021-2020.

It feels like the initial oxygen level is too low and if there was a way to fight the shark I couldn't figure it out.

Other than that I feel like you nailed the theme and the aesthetic.

Is it legal to make game of such quality?

I loved this - you really nailed the PSX vibe with it and it just felt super good to move around and explore the world.

The gameplay wasn't super interesting in comparison, and the shop was a bit overwhelming with stuff, but the great polish and overall vibe more than made up for this.

A+ dithering would play again!

This is insane!!! The cover image truly delivers.
The graphics are top-notch, as well as the sound design is. It all truly adds to the PS1-ness of the game.
The dangerous.. things scared the hell out of me when I first encountered them :D