Void Well by Helzinko

Description
Void Well is an arcade vertical climbing platformer where you are stuck in a Well and always rising Void tries to absorb you. Survive by shooting enemies and building your way up with dropping blocks.

Controls:
- Running with WASD
- Jump with SPACE
- Shooting and aiming with MOUSE
Share your Scores!
Share your scores in comments to see how good you did comparing to other players!

| Link | https://helzinko.itch.io/void-well |
| Link | https://helzinko.itch.io/void-well |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/void-well |
Ratings
| Overall | 49th | 3.988⭐ | 86🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 56th | 3.905⭐ | 86🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 64th | 3.839⭐ | 86🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 245th | 3.565⭐ | 86🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 27th | 4.25⭐ | 86🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 143th | 3.476⭐ | 86🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 67th | 3.781⭐ | 82🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 53🗳️ | 96🗨️ |
After writing that first line I went back and tried again, and ended up figuring out a trick to climb relatively easily, and while it ended up being somewhat samey because of that trick, I still really do like it! I personally can't say I've played or seen gameplay quite like it.
Love the aesthetics, the look and overall atmosphere of it was great. The first few times I tried it I didn't get very far, and I actually think I liked the sort of intense, dark-ish, mysterious music looming in the background. Sadly when I climbed without a worry it all turned less intense and more repetetive, so I stopped at 100m. Though it wasn't very fast (I played that run for a little over 10 minutes), it seems I could keep going forever.
That said, if there was an update that prevented me from tricking my way up, and rather have me climb in a way I'd think it was intended to be climbed, I'd for sure play it again! Like I said, I really, truly enjoyed the first couple times I played, so with that "loophole" changed, I'd say this game offers an interesting new twist on the vertical climbing platformer, with a nice gloom-like atmosphere, smooth controls and a kinda addicting need to climb just a little higher. Very nice!
(Sidenote, I've not mentioned the "trick" I used to climb so as to not spoil it for others. If you don't know what I'm talking about, do msg me, I'd be happy to let you know!)

Anyway, still a great entry! congrats!
Sounds like a good trainer for multitasking!
And the graphics are great!
I made it to 26m / 2:51:73 by stacking two columns of blocks and alternating between the two, before accidentally falling off. I am sure there are better strategies than what I tried, though.
The art is very solid, I like the style and gloomy purple palette. The music adds tension without standing out. Great job!
THe character controls are fantastic. Responsive and snappy, and the shooting mechanic feels very nice. Every time I died it felt like my own fault, which is rare when I play score attack games :D
For the life of me, I cannot beat 30m.
A nice addition that probably wasn't feasible giving the timeframes involved would be an online scoreboard. I'd love to know how I am doing compared to other people.
Great entry.
When i died I want to play again and again becouse you know you can do better.
So props for this super adictive game.
Have you thought about adding bonus falling down ? The player could avoid the cubes falling and instead try to reach them.
Anyway, good job! It's impressive, and even more for a compo.
(and the art/anim/sfx are awesome)
Really awesome job, this is definitely one of my favorite entries I've seen so far!
Good gameplay, hard to master but feels really nice to play.
Of the minuses - it becomes repetitive after some time. Perhaps adding some mechanics, bonuses, monsters or indestructible blocks would add more variety.
But at the core - the game is quite interesting and well done.
Super fun and polished experience!
Two things I noticed that I think are worth considering:
* How does it play if you can't destroy your own platforms? I kept shooting mine by accident when I was close to it and aiming up and slightly tilted. I think it would be better to not punish players for that.
* I saw the dotted line and was thinking it could be nice to have an online scoreboard and a dotted line for current highscore holder.
Good stuff! I quite like your style.




I wish it was a little easier to get the blocks to fall where you want, but maybe I'm just bad at the game lol ;-;
A series of VOID? Haha I remember to play your last entry, it could be a collection of mini games in the future~
Love the neat design and solid artstyle, is amazing to make a game like this in 48 hours! Great game!
I can also appreciate the amount of thought it has gone into the game feel. It is kind of debatable whether shooting itself should have the screen shake effect. In this game the player is basically shooting all the time which makes the screen shake kind of lose its power. This case I probably would have attached it to either hitting or killing enemies or possibly blocks hitting the ground.
Bonus points for creating the song for the game. It gets a bit repetitive but it is still a hundred times better than without music!
I dig the gameplay quite a lot. It has some cool strategic elements where it is easy to shoot things above you but then you have to dodge the block in order to stack it. You also have to plan where to kill enemies if you want to survive for longer. Good balance there and a good execution of a simple idea!
Good work!
Super solid entry, all round great and its a compo too <3 great work! :)
Beautiful pixel art, color palette, particle effects. I was glad my character didn't actually take damage, as I started using myself as a meat shield, to protect the blocks below me from getting destroyed. Impressed by the person who got to 100m, cause I cannot seem to get past 25m as I start to get overwhelmed by enemy fire.
https://youtu.be/09V2r-DjN8E