ONLY GO DOWN by jefvel

[raw]
made by jefvel for Ludum Dare 57 (COMPO)

gplay.gif

You can only go down and there's just one button you can press to play. Reach the bottom or not, it's up to you!

Dev highscore: hsicore.png Can you beat it?

Ratings

Overall 33th 4.011⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Fun 28th 3.911⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 46th 3.878⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Theme 17th 4.318⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 14th 4.356⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Audio 6th 4.17⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Humor 58th 3.427⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Mood 45th 3.922⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Given 29🗳️ 11🗨️

Feedback

P1x3lc0w
07. Apr 2025 · 13:17 UTC
Nice! Love the visual style and the music! the one button gameplay is a cool idea, though the character felt a bit out of control at first. Got the hang of it more and more tho. Great work; thanks for the game!
mediocrity
07. Apr 2025 · 13:31 UTC
Really nice game! Artistically really great! Really liked how the candles were placed on the previous location of death. I started to light up the entire cave before I understood the mechanics and how to exploit/use them. :fire:
Tugaryn
07. Apr 2025 · 13:49 UTC
Whoa.
cool
I didn't understand how to play initially, (didn't read the description) I played slowly and wasn't successful.
But then it was cool when I realized how to parry.
Really like with this gameplay and music (cool) there should be more fun visuals, this gameplay is perfect for fast paced and such.
Great potential, cool!
Ali Yagmur
07. Apr 2025 · 20:59 UTC
One of the games that I really enjoyed playing. Using only one button as input makes it easy to experiment. The limited visual field is also a good idea considering the theme. Took me a little bit to get used to the movement but otherwise a good idea implemented nicely.
Shirac
08. Apr 2025 · 12:30 UTC
Hey really nice game. I love this minimalist graphisms and the evolutive music. The character is a bit hard to control at first but I finally reach the bottom in 1:44 (but I stopped a bit to listen to the music aha) i will retry to do it faster now ! Congrats :)
Annie Owl
08. Apr 2025 · 16:38 UTC
Didn't break your record, but I'm still proud of myself :smile:
![Снимок экрана 2025-04-08 192807.png](///raw/a20/d/z/6b73e.png)

Flawless gameplay coupled with cute graphics and amazing sounds - that's the recipe for the perfect game :slight_smile: Great job!
leorean
09. Apr 2025 · 05:28 UTC
Amazing art style and pixel animations! I really enjoyed this short & sweet game. The music was also really nice, good job!
LDJam user 357656
10. Apr 2025 · 02:20 UTC
That's a fun game! Getting a hang of the controls is difficult, but the instructions definitely helped. This would go great on the [playdate](https://play.date/).
LDJam user 280036
10. Apr 2025 · 03:35 UTC
1:35 on 5 tries :)

Animation + music are stunning. Love the visual style with the limited field of view and black and white. Parrying the walls and zooming around in space felt good.

The only thing that didn't stick with me was falling to my death, I didn't feel like I had much control over that because I couldn't really see what was coming. I found spam clicking the entire time to be somewhat effective :sweat_smile:

Overall very impressive with minor gripes :clap:
Rinevard
10. Apr 2025 · 10:06 UTC
1:33 and 5 tries😊 Interesting game!
Verbante
10. Apr 2025 · 15:39 UTC
Very interesting game, I've managed to complete without making a candle factory out of it. Music is ~AMAZING~ I also really liked bird soup back then.
Tobius
10. Apr 2025 · 17:45 UTC
Excellent entry, I loved the animations and the vibe. The way the music got more tracks as you got further down was a really nice touch as well. Overall great sounds. The candles marking where you died is a great touch.

Nitpick: I sometimes got stuck in a “loop” where the character would bounce exactly back to where I started. I could break out eventually but it happened quite a bit.

One thing that would improve this game for me, is a slightly bigger field of view. This game already requires pretty quick and precise timing, and the field of view size doubles down on that. I was able to beat it in 8 tries, but man did I feel claustrophobic! Haha.

One thing you could add if you keep working on this game is more things to run into with different effects. Maybe there is sticky goo that you have to tap rapidly to break out of for example.
LDJam user 202408
10. Apr 2025 · 19:37 UTC
Not to brag but (I'm about to brag hehe) I managed to beat the game in only 2 tries.

![1.PNG](///raw/8a6/13/z/6beb1.png)

I like the dithering effect and the music. I wish there was more to controlling the player other than a clicking, and maybe some upgrades or enemies for variety. Overall the game is simple and fun.
Jim jagers
10. Apr 2025 · 19:43 UTC
Really cool game! the one button gimmick is incredibly well excecuted and satisfying and the 1-bit artstyle makes everything really clear and provides a nice visual flair. Incredibly well done!
Patatje
10. Apr 2025 · 19:49 UTC
Cool artstyle! love the one button controls. well done :)
Vary
11. Apr 2025 · 01:26 UTC
I really enjoyed the visuals and audio in this one, the lighting effect and music progression is really well done. It took me a couple of tries to understand the gameplay but once I did it was quite simple and fun. Really solid entry!
ljg
11. Apr 2025 · 19:44 UTC
Neat game! The art was great, and I really enjoyed the light effects. Well done!
eyedromeda
11. Apr 2025 · 20:17 UTC
Very cool concept and really well polished. The character controls took a few attempts to get down, but they were very satisfying once I did. It did feel like you had to do the parries a while before you actually hit something, which meant I mostly found myself spamming it. Maybe a little bit of leniency on being able to parry after hitting the floor/wall could've helped, though that might be complicated to implement. Overall though, really nice little game. Loved the art style, loved the sound effects and the dynamic music. Good work!
IDos
11. Apr 2025 · 20:55 UTC
It seems to me that the game is a little bit raw, but I really like the style and the overall visuals, the musical accompaniment, you will have to sweat a little at the very beginning, but in the end you get hooked!
LDJam user 352490
13. Apr 2025 · 02:37 UTC
It's cool seeing what people do with control limitations, and the range of movement you get out of one button here is pretty impressive. The character feels good to control, although the map itself feels a little random -- since you can't see very far around you, reflexes aren't always good enough to respond to what's happening, so mostly I timed button presses around how fast I was moving, and avoided holding for speedups (moving faster sideways made it easier to get around most obstacles). I wonder if reaching the skill ceiling requires memorizing a lot of the map?

Otherwise, I love the dithered shadows and the silly character sprite, and it's cool hearing the music change as you go deeper. It was fun to try to beat your high score (spoiler, I failed).

My best score:

![congratulations.png](///raw/ae0/65/z/6c19a.png)
APG
13. Apr 2025 · 23:05 UTC
Those squelching jump sounds are great.
Ammonit
15. Apr 2025 · 10:51 UTC
Black and white — everything is simple, stylish, and expertly put together! Wow!
Yoav Kagan
15. Apr 2025 · 14:00 UTC
love me a good dither, fun visuals! liked the candles marking the deaths as well
Jacky San
15. Apr 2025 · 14:29 UTC
Incredible art direction and music (progression is so satisfying !). LOVE IT :two_hearts:
However, I managed to get to the end after only 3-4 tries when I realize I could click mouse in continue to make controlled jumps everytime. Do not know if this is intended, but it breaks somehow the game :sweat_smile:
Faltysian
15. Apr 2025 · 16:08 UTC
![image.png](///raw/3d4/44/z/6c38e.png)
I loved it !!! it was really cool !! the music is perfect ! Good job !
grid96
15. Apr 2025 · 16:34 UTC
Amazing game! Fun and addicting gameplay, cool simple graphics and an awesome soundtrack! Loved everything about this game, good job!
gamebuilder
15. Apr 2025 · 23:33 UTC
I like one-button games like these; the B+W scheme is icing on the cake. It would be good to have some kind of depth indicator. Overall, however, a good game that goes a long way. Nice work.
HolyBlackCat
16. Apr 2025 · 08:42 UTC
Quite a fun game! The art is quite nice too.

![1.png](///raw/3d1/z/6c3df.png)

I didn't understand the instruction how to bounce. At first I thought "tap close to ground/walls" meant I had to specifically click them with the mouse while standing still, but figured it out myself randomly.

For better or worse, the timing of the bounce is lenient, and there seems to be no cooldown, so spamming it effectively makes you immune to the fall damage. Though this is probably the only thing that makes sense for the view area this tiny. :P Harder bounce timings would only make sense if you could see where you're going, I guess.
randomhuman
16. Apr 2025 · 13:49 UTC
Very stylish and quite addictive. I didn't beat it yet but I'm going back for more!
randomhuman
16. Apr 2025 · 13:52 UTC
Woo-hoo!

![Screenshot From 2025-04-16 15-52-09.png](///raw/5c1/z/6c3fb.png)
designernap
17. Apr 2025 · 11:36 UTC
Great audio and mood on this one. Feels lovely to play too.
VJ031206
17. Apr 2025 · 16:35 UTC
great game and loved the candles at the death spots, good attention to detail. Love the simplicity and art style, however would have liked more control like left and right movement with arrow keys. Also an indication of the height of fall would be a nice touch. But loved the concept of the game.
PieRo_PBeS_studio
18. Apr 2025 · 17:47 UTC
excellent and innovative as always... bravo
Euler Moises
19. Apr 2025 · 23:53 UTC
Pixelart, 1 bit, delicious, simple and challenging. Ingredients for a great game.

Congratulations on your courage in making a game by yourself and congratulations for making such a well-made game.
Clink
24. Apr 2025 · 10:11 UTC
Very enjoyable and streamlined to perfection. While the game doesn't offer much, it doesn't ask much of the player either. Bounce off of walls, try not to take fall damage, get to the bottom. Can't get any more sweet and simple than that.

The protagonist's design is adorable, and I really like the way you handled lighting upon the cavern walls. Builds up a nice atmosphere. Took me a bit to get to the finish, but I'd still like to share to prove my perseverance. Thanks for the fun!

![screen GODOWN.png](///raw/1ed/46/z/6c6eb.png)
Roroto Sic
24. Apr 2025 · 15:53 UTC
Very impressive game !! The visual is georgeous ! The audio is perfect (ballon sounds ^^ and the music going step by step to wow ending !!) Hard but great gameplay !

![Capture d’écran 2025-04-24 174905.png](///raw/d93/94/z/6c70b.png)