BTW: Beneath the Waves by Aurel300

[raw]
made by Aurel300 for Ludum Dare 57 (JAM)

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Manage your crew and your submarine, survive the onslaught of rocks, enemies, and mines, and collect some treasure chests.

Controls

  • W/S: speed up/down
  • A/D: move left/right
  • F: toggle fullscreen
  • Mouse: shoot (movement and speed adjustment also possible via buttons on screen)

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Ratings

Overall 53th 4.167⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Fun 148th 3.833⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 50th 4.15⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Theme 311th 3.883⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 60th 4.5⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Audio 156th 3.817⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Humor 277th 3.241⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Mood 136th 4.052⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Given 29🗳️ 35🗨️

Feedback

Flinge
08. Apr 2025 · 16:08 UTC
Absolutely stunning visual style and art — the music theme is solid too.
Overall, I really enjoyed it. Pretty complex for a jam game, in my opinion. Fantastic work!
Braeden
08. Apr 2025 · 16:11 UTC
Super cool game! graphic look amazing and concept is really fun.
Unfortunately I was too bad at the game once adding more things to manage after the tutorial
alexusss
08. Apr 2025 · 17:08 UTC
Great 3D Bucket model, especially liked the look of the crew in it. A very clear and fast guide. The game uses complex mechanics, which makes it really challenging. Great job!
outstar
08. Apr 2025 · 20:01 UTC
I have no words except RESPECT! So much work done for a solo dev in three days, I attempted this once solo and I made a buggy 2D game, so I'm bowing down to greatness!

What I liked the most was the graphics, the jam in the background and most importantly - COLOR PALETTE! So nice to the eyes. Great job!
Stingdragon
09. Apr 2025 · 18:19 UTC
That was a lot of fun to play! I like the visuals and the music a lot. I feel like the switching of the crew is a bit slow to be truly effective during gameplay when the speed is higher. But that is just a balance thing!
Hurp
09. Apr 2025 · 21:16 UTC
Had a blast playing through it, really well done! Artstyle is on point, and the game mechanics were really stressful in a interesting and fun way :D
Verbante
09. Apr 2025 · 21:20 UTC
Nice! I'd reduce the amount of stations to make the game a bit easier by merging left right components. Good job finishing such a complex game. I really like the asthetics and had fun!
UkuleleFury
09. Apr 2025 · 21:22 UTC
Wow, there's a lot of interesting systems here! I love the pixel art style. Cute mouse. The core mechanic of performing simple actions, but needing to rearrange crewmembers each time, makes for some interesting gameplay! Also, the tutorial is solid (and essential!). :) Very cool game
elZach
10. Apr 2025 · 18:24 UTC
Hey Aurel! Thanks for checking out the stream!

Love, love, love the look. As I've said a couple of times now.

The 'build your controls' on the fly style of gameplay is also pretty great. I think it might even work better like this than as a turn based game. Of course some of the design decision seem to be remnants of another idea, eg the leveling of the crew seemed fairly inconsequential, but it wasn't a detractor either. Nice pixelart as well!

Here's a timestamp to when we player your game: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2428950737?t=2h58m34s
Juutis
12. Apr 2025 · 08:54 UTC
This was a treat! The visuals are absolutely gorgeous and the music is banging! The mechanics are impressively complex and the tutorial teaches them very nicely. What I would like to see, though, is a couple of more missions to really explore the mechanics. As it stands, you kinda get the hang of things and then the game is over already. For a solo jam game this is obviously totally understandable (maybe even expected).

Also, I love the little detail that you can actually see the crew in their positions inside the ship between the levels. :grin:
cherrybcake
12. Apr 2025 · 17:57 UTC
WOW, when I realized it's 3D I was shocked. Amazing idea and execution, catchy song, engaging gameplay, 10/10 :)
Jona Scheidig
12. Apr 2025 · 23:29 UTC
Honestly, this should have alot more reviews!
I think you got smth really special here.
Not only does it looks fantastic, it also plays very well.
And for the time we had in the jam, the game has some pretty good complexity which is very polished.
So much love in here, this could very well be a full release!
ShadyShade
13. Apr 2025 · 14:03 UTC
I'm truly in love with this game.
Graphics, music, gameplay and everything feels so polished.
Gotta be one of my favorite entries.
So excellent job! :gift_heart:
Eugenik
14. Apr 2025 · 10:26 UTC
Holy art. Nice job!.
Okuso
16. Apr 2025 · 18:49 UTC
The graphics and the sound are amazing! Admittedly I m bad at fast managment games, so I struggled to get really far. But that is because I m bad, I can clearly see that it`s a pretty complex game and this for just the duration we had is simply amazing. Really good work!
Ani
16. Apr 2025 · 22:08 UTC
This is such a complex game for a jam, you did a great job! The 3D and art style is all very well done. I did struggle with the management though and found it hard to associate the left and right 'slots' with the physical submarine, if that makes sense.
Missfire
16. Apr 2025 · 23:18 UTC
This is simply a great and awesome game! The visuals, the mechanics, the little mouse on board - everything just came together perfectly and brought such joyful experience.
Sorting the team by different functions, controlling the submarine - there was much to keep in mind, but it was an interesting and fun challenge. The levels themselves were also built interestingly, there were places for maneuvers when you had to think quickly where to put the team and how to complete the level in the best way and not to die :D In general, you made a very exciting and fun game!

I really want more people to notice you and try it. Thank you for the game and I wish you all the suberb best!
Adam Martin
16. Apr 2025 · 23:33 UTC
This is very similar to a game my team made many jams ago, but what you've made here for sure improves on our idea.
MrAntoineSt
17. Apr 2025 · 00:10 UTC
Very cute and simple game ! One of my favourite so far !
leorean
17. Apr 2025 · 16:54 UTC
Such a beautiful 3d pixel-art style, amazing job! It took me a while to figure out that I had to click the textbox at the bottom right in order to start playing :sweat_smile: I thought at first, the HUD was broken because of the resolution - but no biggie, I figured it out and finally could play :grin:
M2tias
17. Apr 2025 · 17:16 UTC
First level was so full of rocks that I couldn't really move away from one lane. Surprisingly short game but it's really complex so makes sense. Based on tutorial I expected to be stressed out of my mind but the levels turned out to be pretty chill. You could generate some really tough levels with these mechanics.
BTW, nice to see another 3D entry from you!
LDJam user 189270
18. Apr 2025 · 15:14 UTC
Fantastic stuff, was a little disappointed it ended so soon. Was hoping for more missions to explore the mechanics. You achieved a hell of a lot in a short time with this. Super well polished.
Spookyman999
19. Apr 2025 · 15:39 UTC
love the art the visuals, the polish!, really cool game!
Empyreans
20. Apr 2025 · 02:35 UTC
https://youtu.be/8cpgm822v0w

Thank you for bringing the game to the stream :)

Gorgeous visual art style, very unique feel and good game-design. The only issue I have with the game is that

## There's Not Enough of It!!!

Great work! :laughing:

~Xp
Geckoo1337
20. Apr 2025 · 06:40 UTC
One of the last entries which I am rating - but not the least. The main aesthetic is gorgeous - some pixel art, but really neat. It reminds me of games from the old eighties on Commodore 64. The little animations are smooth and well done so as to give a vibe - a perpetual movement. I am very surprised by the large number of features in-game, according to the crew occupying a particular place in the ship or another one. It's a really good idea because the gameplay is usual for a casual game. Addictive with a solid narrative background story. Maybe the music is a little bit too repetitive, but this is not a big problem... I had fun playing for a while. This project has serious potential. Thank you for this experience - and for your comment about my own entry. I really appreciated your huge review. I wish you the best ++
Corbak
22. Apr 2025 · 17:56 UTC
Well done on your entry! Very unique to say the least and also enjoyed how molished it was to understand with the tutorial and controls. It was something refreshing to play but a little bit tedious. I found myself panicking when alocating crew members in front of the danger, I guess I am not a good multitasker haha. Congrats!
sinclairstrange
22. Apr 2025 · 18:24 UTC
I got "Awesome" even though I hit all the rocks! It did take me a little while to figure out exactly what I was meant to be doing (how to swap the characters around, or how to attack, by click the crab to fire at it.) However once I got the gameplay down it was such a fun, enjoyable gameplay loop! It gave me some real Amiga vibes back in the day which I absolutely adore. The graphics were top notch as well and this game oozes personality and vibes.

Highly polished, extremely well made, great stuff!
Alvaron
22. Apr 2025 · 19:37 UTC
Thanks for sharing your link on my stream. For some reason, I couldn't click any buttons for the crew or the mission. Maybe I've looked over something? But looks pretty fun.
🎤 Aurel300
22. Apr 2025 · 21:09 UTC
Thanks all for playing and commenting! :heart:

@alvaron I just watched the VOD, I wish I had been there. The box in the bottom right of the screen says "Click here to continue", and you clicked everywhere but not there ^^ Should have made it more obvious, leorean's comment mentions the same issue.