LudumData

Hello Darkness by Emsea

[raw]
made by Emsea for Ludum Dare 57 (JAM)

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THE HTML BUILD ON THIS PAGE IS THE ORIGINAL SUBMISSION VERSION. AN UPDATED BUILD IS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD ON OUR ITCH PAGE AND IS RECOMMENDED FOR THE BEST EXPERIENCE.

Masterfully juggle tasks as you maintain a vessel barreling towards the darkness.

[ HOW TO PLAY ]

As your vessel sinks deeper into the crushing darkness of the ocean, increasing pressure will gradually wear down life and navigation systems. Patch leaking windows, repair broken machinery, and bail water with the tools you have to maximize your chance of survival.

Survival Tips

  • It is important to steer the vessel to avoid collisions. Failure to do so will cause the vessel to stop. The warning system will indicate when an obstacle is approaching. You can mount and dismount the wheel by tapping E.
  • Use tape to patch cracked windows. As long as a window stays cracked water will continue to pour into the vessel. Hold E to apply the repair.
  • Use the wrench to fix machinery. Damaged components will spark and sound broken. The oxygen supply will deplete if the air pump is not maintained. This will result in suffocation. Tap E to apply the repair.
  • Use the bucket to scoop water and drain the water into the toilet. Failure to do so will result in drowning. Tap E to scoop, Tap E to use toilet with a full bucket.

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Screenshot<em>38.png Screenshot</em>39.png Screenshot_45.png

Hello Darkness was made in 72 hours for Ludum Dare 57.

Theme: Depths

[ DEV TEAM ]

Itch.io https://emsea.itch.io/hellodarkness
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/hello-darkness

Ratings

Overall 268th 3.75⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Fun 422th 3.408⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 221th 3.632⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Theme 260th 3.961⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 210th 4.115⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Humor 417th 2.853⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Mood 104th 4.118⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Given 56🗳️ 53🗨️

Feedback

dzr118
08. Apr 2025 · 03:12 UTC
Super beautiful graphics and ominous sound! I struggled to use the controls to turn my view, which got me killed a lot. But such a cool premise for a game: kinda Lucy and Ethel in a death submarine.
Pontax
08. Apr 2025 · 03:13 UTC
great use of the shader. reminded me of a game i forgot its name but also on a boat with similar shading (more green).
TROGDOR 20X6
08. Apr 2025 · 03:15 UTC
Definitely like the Obra Dinn aesthetic. Performance dips randomly though, I assume from something loading in.

Some more tutorialization would be good. I'm still confused how you use the bucket to drain water for instance.

Still, very good mood and theme.
bearcage
08. Apr 2025 · 03:18 UTC
Visually very cool — the desaturated colors and shading are great for the theme!

I had a little trouble with the controls — my mouse for some reason got stuck enabled in fullscreen, so it kept opening the dock on the left side of the screen when I went to turn left, but it's perfectly playable only going right!

Very satisfying to fix the cracking windows in the nick of time with the tape (or TP roll?)
Villeloso
08. Apr 2025 · 04:26 UTC
@trogdor-20x6 Thanks for the feedback. The game ended being quite heavy for web, the windows version runs better, you can download it at the itch.io link. For the bucket, you need to flush the water down the toilet after you scoop it.
xlu
08. Apr 2025 · 13:12 UTC
Really like the graphics and visual style of the game. It amplifies the claustrophobic feel of the submarine. Das Boot flashbacks. Had some lagging but overall cool game.
derllie
08. Apr 2025 · 13:45 UTC
graphics are absolutely stunning! The visuals truly bring this game to life!
Vladimir ins
08. Apr 2025 · 14:21 UTC
Very unique gameplay!
NoNumbersGames
08. Apr 2025 · 16:15 UTC
Very beautiful graphics, loved the atmosphere! Though the game stuttered when stuff got broken, I think. Then got stuck near the wheel, couldn't do anything after that :(
🎤 Emsea
08. Apr 2025 · 20:06 UTC
Hey Jammers!

We have provided survival tips for people who might be struggling.

-Best of luck <3
floppynub
09. Apr 2025 · 06:03 UTC
This game is awesome, fantastic visuals and audio, and a fun gameplay loop of having to balance steering with managing the whole water situation. Fairly challenging, but that's obviously not a bad thing! Great work, would love to see more work from you in this style, it's really quite good.
Bongard22
09. Apr 2025 · 06:49 UTC
Had a great time playing on our stream, here's a time stamped link: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2427848024?t=3h50m51s
Flinge
09. Apr 2025 · 10:52 UTC
Great work! The visuals are solid, and the core idea is clear.
I’d love to see interaction on left-click — I think it would make things feel more intuitive for this kind of game. Everything else is spot on!
LDJam user 406888
10. Apr 2025 · 02:16 UTC
Awesome concept! Feels like Lucas Pope's take on Sea of Thieves haha.

I did feel like I was kinda thrown into the `depths` (harhar) right off the bat - is there a way to pull the ship up? I was trying to find a control to go up/down, but couldn't find one.

Any rate, great job!
Villeloso
10. Apr 2025 · 02:28 UTC
@mtnbonez You can only steer left right! The height is controlled by a spline. Glad you liked the vibe
daniel
10. Apr 2025 · 03:35 UTC
Solid engaging gameplay loop and the 1-bit really worked with the idea. Only minor issue I had was the water + bucket mechanic wasn't visually clear to me, but only a small thing.
milano23
10. Apr 2025 · 03:40 UTC
Cool game. Love the graphics. Like the premise. Not sure if it was the colours but you always feel on edge. Good job.
RyuSoHyeong
10. Apr 2025 · 06:09 UTC
Wow, the game looks really elaborate. I love the way it looks! I wish your game had more interaction with the environment!🌞
JavaSaurus
10. Apr 2025 · 07:35 UTC
Very cool entry. Top ratings for mood for sure, it actually brings just that little spiciness of claustrophobia you'd get in a submarine. I like the shade work, I'm just wondering what the game would look like in a more traditional way. Gameplay wise I had fun for sure, good job keeping the player occupied. My only remark, but this might be what you were going for, LOUD NOISES! I played this before my second morning coffee and the foghorn followed by atomic bomb level crashing sounds woke me up for sure :) Great game overall, thank you for making this.
NuiN
10. Apr 2025 · 07:43 UTC
Really fun and panic inducing please give me 100$
Tetracold
10. Apr 2025 · 08:53 UTC
The visual style and presentation is great, definitely nailed that sort of claustrophobic feeling! the 1 bit is a nice touch that adds lot

I understood the gameplay pretty easily and I found the gameplay look to be fun

this was my score
![hello darkness screenshot.PNG](///raw/b44/b5/z/6bdce.png)
outstar
10. Apr 2025 · 19:05 UTC
This immediately reminded me of Return of Obra Dinn because of the shader and I fell in love with the mood and the graphics! Great job on picking the limited palette and the general visual representation! My only feedback below:
- Tutorial would be great, I was lucky to have you in chat but I wouldn't come up with the quite obvious water-to-toilet idea :D
- I couldn't really see water levels rising clearly until it was too late - I randomly clicked on the floor with the bucket in my last playthrough hoping I would scoop something out
Overall, great entry!
DurkaGames
11. Apr 2025 · 10:04 UTC
Love the graphics!
Cure
12. Apr 2025 · 09:07 UTC
Hello panic! I am not built for these games, but damn it was gorgeous and felt very thoughtfully crafted.

`https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFk44q7aTqE&t=12166s`
Lucasito
12. Apr 2025 · 09:49 UTC
Love the black and white style, great game !
deadroach
12. Apr 2025 · 17:19 UTC
This game is really good, I always love the grainy 3d style! Although I really like the way the graphics look I will say that youtube playback glitches and distorts when static is on screen (See: any FNAF video just after they die), it's been a problem for years that they've never fixed and your game seemingly has the same effect. SO if you want videos to be made of your game adding color or maybe even increasing the pixel size would probably fix the issue, if that isn't a priority to you though just leave it as-is, like I said I do like how it looks now. The gameplay is very stress inducing and I wasn't able to get very far at all, but this is easily my favorite interpretation of a submarine game I've seen thus far - which is saying a lot, there are countless submarine games this time around lol. Overall it's very polished and considering your game last jam I'm consistently impressed with what you guys are able to pull off in 72 short hours. Good shit
ColeSlaughter
13. Apr 2025 · 01:10 UTC
[Thanks for submitting your game to stream!](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2430455310?t=04h43m25s)

This was an excellent entry. The polish on everything, from the visuals, to the audio to the mechanics, was just chef's kill :ok_hand:

I love how it slowly snowballs into chaos by the end. :laughing:
mdsalomon
13. Apr 2025 · 03:04 UTC
This is wild. Simple mechanically but unmatched in tension and atmosphere. Had me running around spinning plates and panicking the entire time. Awesome visuals and sound, and a haunting sense of scale, I just wish every thing you fixed had a progress bar like the windows being taped up. Really solid work!
kaba
13. Apr 2025 · 16:05 UTC
Lovely ObraDinny atmosphere and great fun managing the chaos until it overwhelms you!
Haoro
15. Apr 2025 · 21:08 UTC
A really interesting game ! I feel like some more audio effect and clearer visual feedback would make the game even more satisfying !
Jeffrey Hwang
16. Apr 2025 · 03:14 UTC
Loved the mood of the game, the shader looks awesome!
A0405u
16. Apr 2025 · 20:54 UTC
Solid!
Empyreans
22. Apr 2025 · 13:10 UTC
I played on Windows build, because browser one just kept on freezing (Brave browser)

Entertaining one-man crew game with easy to understand mechanics, pleasant & unique visuals and great atmosphere. It's fairly polished. I did found balance to be a bit rough though. Sometimes the same thing breaks twice in a row as you try to repair it, I think there should've been a cooldown timer.

How you made cruising feel so naturally took my breath away(figuratively, at first). It feels great despite being minimalistic. And the low-pitched sound of the horn - perfect!

The furthest I was able to get is 990m / Trench and died due to suffocation. Don't know how to go around that too as I don't think you can replenish oxygen and it breaks without any distinct sound (at least I didn't notice).

Funny thing, painful suffocating SFX plays endlessly after you die and still tortures me as I write this comment :laughing:

Great work guys!

~Xp
Alvaron
24. Apr 2025 · 18:37 UTC
Thanks for sharing your link on stream. Had fun playing it!.
Unique take on the theme.