Ladybug's Underworld by Dekajoo

[raw]
made by Dekajoo for Ludum Dare 56 (JAM)

While searching for food, you wandered too deep and found yourself lost in the vast, mysterious underworld. The air is thick, and danger lurks in every shadow. You must now summon all your courage and wits to find a passage back to the surface. The journey ahead will not be easy, but your survival depends on it.

❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗​​​​​​​​​❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗​​❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗​​​​​​​​​❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗​​

There are no save points. If you exit the game, you’ll have to start from the beginning.

❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗​​​❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗​​​​​​​​​❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗​​


Play the game on itch.io!


Controls

  • WASD or Arrows to move
  • Space to Jump
  • E or Left click to interact
  • Shift to [censored]

Tools (The holy trinity)

  • Godot
  • Aseprite
  • Audacity

🐥 @dekajoo

Any feedback is welcome !


screenshot1.png screenshot2.png screenshot3.png screenshot4.png

Ratings

Overall 282th 3.818⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Fun 397th 3.568⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 730th 3.068⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Theme 670th 3.523⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 339th 3.976⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Audio 411th 3.381⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Mood 282th 3.841⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Given 27🗳️ 24🗨️

Feedback

Sharky3188
07. Oct 2024 · 11:16 UTC
So the atmosphere felt really nice, however on one of my monitors (higher quality) it was so dark i could barely see anything.
I think some of the jumps etc feel a little bit tediously annoying, i ended up having to re-do multiple jumps over and over because i missed it by an inch.
The mechanics feel nice, and overall the graphics (when i can see them) look great.
James Poole
07. Oct 2024 · 20:19 UTC
Nice looking game! I got stuck quite early, soon after getting the roll. The movement was maybe a little bit too fast which made it hard to control at times. Great job on getting it done!
SkyyStorm
07. Oct 2024 · 20:41 UTC
Game feels great, controls are not too bad, it looks great, the sound's okay, though there isn't music, but it does create atmosphere. I managed to finish most of the game, fun little puzzle elements. Great game!
RascarCapackDev
07. Oct 2024 · 20:59 UTC
Really nice atmosphere. In my opinion the game could offer a bigger field of view as constantly having to go back to a previous plateform to redo a jump was very tedious.
Other than that it's a cool game
DocGeraud
09. Oct 2024 · 16:01 UTC
Absolutely love the audio and mood of the game! At first I was thinking the platforming part was just a little bit clunky, but then I started to unlock abilities and it was really cool 😀
woona
10. Oct 2024 · 08:35 UTC
I found the puzzles and platforming very satisfying. It's a little bit on the difficult side for a game jam probably, but it was just right for me. I managed to collect all 6 coins and found my way to the exit.

There were some issues with controls in Firefox but I switched to Chrome and it worked fine. Also, it's a shame that there are no controller mappings, the game would play really well with a controller and it's very quick to set up in Godot project settings...

As for the game itself, I liked puzzle and level design. It looked too zoomed in with the character that moves so fast, it's difficult to react to what's happening on screen. But fixing that isn't easy I guess.

Great job!
LDJam user 174638
10. Oct 2024 · 14:40 UTC
@woona Thanks a lot for playing and for the feedback 🙏
Indeed I should do controller mapping I'll try to push a post jam version 😄

About the "too zoomed hard to react" thing, you played full screen right ? Can I ask your monitor resolution ?

*PS: What if I told you there are 9 coins* 👀

**EDIT**: I did unzoom it ^by 25% and added **controller support** 🎮🎉 in the post-jam version 🙏
woona
10. Oct 2024 · 17:16 UTC
Wait there are 9 coins? They must be very well hidden! 😁 I played full screen 1920*1080.
LDJam user 174638
10. Oct 2024 · 17:29 UTC
@docgeraud Thanks it means a lot from you, keep it up ! 🙏

@rascarcapackdev @skyystorm @james-poole @sharky3188 Thanks a lot for playing an for the feedback, I tried to take it into account in a post jam version 👍
firellon
10. Oct 2024 · 17:49 UTC
That's a very decent Metroidvania with platforming puzzles!

A bit rough on the edges, perhaps but considering that's been done in just 3 days, quite impressive :thumbsup:

Being able to reset the objects after pushing them to a wrong place before you get the hand would be nice.
Kutase
10. Oct 2024 · 17:51 UTC
Nice game, but I couldn't pass it 2 times because the jumping platform got stuck
ltostes
10. Oct 2024 · 17:54 UTC
Great game!!
I got nicely surprised with how deep into the atmosphere I got. Pretty nice to play!
LDJam user 174638
10. Oct 2024 · 17:59 UTC
@firellon @kutase @ltostes Thanks you all for giving it a shot :)

@kutase May I ask where it got stuck while it's still fresh in your memory ?
Kutase
10. Oct 2024 · 18:13 UTC
@dekajoo I accidentally moved the platform in the wrong direction and placed it against a wall. After that it's impossible to move it back.
Dianavi
14. Oct 2024 · 10:44 UTC
Nice job! I like the ambiance. Your controls and gameplay are good, and your art and sound are as well. It's a cool game; you should continue to develop it after the jam
Nazariglez
16. Oct 2024 · 20:58 UTC
Awesome atmosphere! The platforming and puzzles felt satisfying, but the fast movement with the zoomed-in view made it tough to react sometimes. Also, interacting with elements was a bit confusing at times. The sound really added to the mood. Gj!
john-wuller
16. Oct 2024 · 23:22 UTC
Interesting fun game with a cool atmosphere! I'm not much of a metroidvania fan, but this was fun! Great job!
FireSlash
17. Oct 2024 · 08:14 UTC
Got stuck after getting roll, not sure how to get the ball into the blue spot with the tools I have, but I'm probably missing something? Feels like interact should do something maybe but it doesn't. Not sure where else to go.

Movement is very fast but tight, so it felt fair. Atmosphere is great.
Andriana Mantidfly
17. Oct 2024 · 08:33 UTC
It's a very interesting game, but it seems to me that in a couple of places they went a little overboard with the complexity, but otherwise it's a very cool platformer
kumber
17. Oct 2024 · 16:54 UTC
Great vibes... I also liked the light effects on the Ladybug sprite.

How do you collect the coins? Neither E nor Left Click work, I tried with a controller and it didn't work too.

![Immagine 2024-10-17 185014.png](///raw/62f/1/z/68ec1.png)

Nice work overall!
LDJam user 174638
17. Oct 2024 · 18:09 UTC
Thanks @kumber :)
You have to unlock the ability to hold coins in your hand.
Mal
17. Oct 2024 · 18:40 UTC
![ladybugsunderworld.jpg](///raw/408/16/z/68ec7.jpg)

I absolutely love this game, brilliant execution.
LDJam user 174638
17. Oct 2024 · 18:44 UTC
@mal Wow that's fast for a first run well played and thanks a lot! :D
kumber
17. Oct 2024 · 19:23 UTC
![Immagine 2024-10-17 211954.png](///raw/62f/1/z/68ecc.png)

On the second run I noticed there is coyote time too... wow.
pickens-inc
17. Oct 2024 · 20:10 UTC
When I started this, you were still in the danger zone! This might sound harsh but it's a compliment: I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did!

It starts off feeling a bit clunky, like a bog standard slightly-awkward-to-control platformer. But when I unlocked the roll, with that gorgeous little effect, I knew I was dealing with a wonderful little metroidvania. Very Hollow Knight! I found the rolling controls a bit clunky at times and some parts got me very stuck, but I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. The atmopshere is top, the visuals are lovely. So pleased my video game instincts kicked in when Ig to the "end" thinking "I swear I left some coins behind down there, this wall looks jumpable..." and lo and behold, there was another gate!

So I am pleased to say I got the true ending, even if I got stuck for a stupid amount of time until I figured out that first coin where you need to speed and then jump pad. Placing the jump pad there was the most difficult part of the whole game, ahaha.

The design of the ladybug interesting. Cute, but the red eyes and hunched posture give it a slightly sinister vibe to me, like those gates were placed to keep us inside. If you've never read Lovecraft's "The Outsider" I recommend it, it gives me similar vibes and it's the kind of narrative that would fit a game like this well if ever you extended it. Well done! Especially for a solo entry!
LDJam user 174638
18. Oct 2024 · 11:00 UTC
@pickens-inc Thanks for your detail feedback, it means a lot!

Triggering this "why is there more coins behind ?" though is what I wanted, so I'm glad you saw it (even if the game has some rough edges especially linked to the physics of the game)

I tried lovecraft (in english) and it didn't click but you motivated me to try again in my native language with "The Outsider"!

@kumber Yes good catch ! And congrats for the new world record hihi.
silkworm_sweatshop
19. Oct 2024 · 13:43 UTC
Neat metroidvania! I liked that when you thought you were done there is another door because I didn't remember seeing any other coins at that point. I was curious though so I went back. Sadly I softlocked myself before finding the last coin. Nice moody atmosphere although I feel it's a bit too dark.