Darkest Depths by rrsmtz

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

Since the Exchange, the surface is inhospitable. Underwater, you're safe from the fallout.

You know of an underwater base a thousand leagues away -- with your current engine, about 30 days, give or take.

You don't have much gas. Run out, and you're dead in the water. Collect the resources you need and add buildings to your sub, and you just might survive the journey.

Ratings

Overall 268th 3.75⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Fun 320th 3.55⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 212th 3.65⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 139th 4.15⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 561th 3.4⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Audio 359th 3.395⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 217th 3.925⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 14🗳️ 24🗨️

Feedback

Willby
08. Apr 2025 · 02:49 UTC
I always love a good strategy based game, the encounters were pretty cool, I got a bit too comfortable with them and ended up with the giant squid taking part of my submarine. The text based system added a lot of story potential.
SoaringMoon
08. Apr 2025 · 05:06 UTC
An FTL-like strategy game with random events. Control points weren't as obvious as I would have liked. Maybe changing the button to another color on mouse hover would help.
Jernskegg
08. Apr 2025 · 16:46 UTC
The game is cool, I can just imagine in a future update where there would be some sprites of fish, or material. floating infront of the window for some added details.. Maybe it's to much :D
D_omino
08. Apr 2025 · 16:53 UTC
a real cool strategy, and first time seen such an interesting theme realisation. actually reminded of arcade machine games, really like that genre.
mgear
08. Apr 2025 · 16:55 UTC
with some polishing this would definitely be interesting game!
Tymus
08. Apr 2025 · 19:41 UTC
cool vibe, really enjoyed the sonar mechanic,felt nice bouncing around in the dark for a while, kinda feel like the random event could be more rewarding when they're positive, I kinda felt like I was better off just ignoring them since I got so many giant squids
didn't reach the end but I'll try again later :>>
randomhuman
08. Apr 2025 · 20:22 UTC
Really good, music makes it feel really tense and sells the action without it having to be portrayed graphically.
Aynu
10. Apr 2025 · 05:38 UTC
Nice realy good!
buckmeister
10. Apr 2025 · 20:37 UTC
Very nicely done! With some little polish and variety, this could grow into a commercial game!
dxk2294
12. Apr 2025 · 02:20 UTC
A really nice take on the theme! I agree with the previous commenter that it reminds a lot of FTL. It was a bit challenging, especially the squid events I felt were too harsh, but I really got lost in the game. Great job, hope to see this idea get developed further!
ScrivenerOfLight
15. Apr 2025 · 02:04 UTC
I liked this one a lot--the turn-based movement, resource gathering, and building was different from a lot of what I've played - and it all worked very well. The art was really nice, and the overall atmosphere and feel of it was spot on. Great work!
jacobingalls
15. Apr 2025 · 03:59 UTC
![Screenshot 2025-04-14 205724.png](///raw/da9/b1/z/6c355.png)

Nice! Really liked the column to column story telling. I got a bit confused at the end because it didn't look like I should go right to win. I assumed there was a cell I needed to be in; e.g. a win cell. I liked the idea of encounters, but they seemed bad so I avoided them. Perhaps encounters should be mostly good-ish but maybe really bad. (perhaps I just got unlucky too).
Reed Molbak
16. Apr 2025 · 22:57 UTC
@jacobingalls nice work! We left the ending for the very end of development and never got to it, so it's just the placeholder text 🙈.

The encounters were a tough design call; I tried to make most of them a bit of a mix (you take damage, but get some food or something), but in practice...yeah I skip them too. I think maybe a choice system could help, where the encounters either let you pick something, or maybe impacts the game in a more neutral long-term way (like, raise the probability of both food and monsters).
YurisSmile
22. Apr 2025 · 01:17 UTC
Really like this simulation style strategy game!