{"author_link":"\/users\/bloodbane","author_name":"Bloodbane","author_uid":1243193,"comments":[{"id":1132563,"author_name":"fusionnist","author_uid":"fusionnist","epoch":1744134151,"text":"Nice entry, pretty fun and challenging! I enjoy the graphics, they're cohesive and paint a nice underwater scene :)","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":1138493,"author_name":"hernandack","author_uid":"hernandack","epoch":1744208710,"text":"Man, the graphics are beautiful! I love the vibes, reminds me of modern feeding frenzy kind of things, the mechanic as well, real nice.","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":1138494,"author_name":"PenguinMunch","author_uid":"penguinmunch","epoch":1744208715,"text":"I loved the art of this game! Not being able to move while shooting made it kind of hard, but that could be intentional. Great job!","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":1139013,"author_name":"Keely-Brown","author_uid":"keely-brown","epoch":1744214937,"text":"The instructions are a bit hard to follow just with text. It might be easier to follow if they were somehow embedded into aspects of play. It was also a bit tricky to get a hang of the controls (it was unclear what the shoot button was - I had to experiment a bit to figure it out). The first level is simple enough that you do have some room to play around before you start digging into the more challenging stuff.\n\nI like the overall idea of the mechanics of the game. It feels like there's generally a solid difficulty ramp. \nSome aspects of the controls feel like they could maybe be adjusted? Having to move in the direction that you want to shoot the gem feels a little awkward sometimes. I could just be bad at games though - very possible :P\n\nIt didn't feel like there was enough of an incentive to shoot gems into the spawner. Because there's no time pressure and the homing enemies all collapse into each other - it's easier to just ride it out and collect the gems slowly. Adding some more kinds of pressure might help?\n\nAmazing visuals.\nGreat music.\nGood sound effects.\n\nOverall, really solid game!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":1144547,"author_name":"Hit3c","author_uid":"hit3c","epoch":1744331744,"text":"I really love the music.","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":1144817,"author_name":"Tobius","author_uid":"tobius","epoch":1744341058,"text":"Good entry, I like the game loop of collecting gems and using them to get more gems, while also avoiding foes. I also like that putting in more gems could get you different enemies out. The music and visuals were great and fit the underwater submarine atmosphere very well, nicely done!\n\nOne change I think would be good for the game, is using the mouse to control the direction the projectiles are shot instead of the keyboard. I found it really difficult to move and shoot (which if that's the goal please ignore this feedback) which didn't feel satisfying to play. If you want to keep the difficulty of moving and shooting, I would suggest splitting up the movement and shooting keys. e.g. WSAD would control movement, and IKJL would fire projectiles. You could then use SHIFT or something to swap between shooting gems and harpoons. I think this would eliminate the frustration I felt trying to control the shooting while still keeping it somewhat challenging to control.\n\n\nNitpick: Your diagonal movement doesn't appear to be normalized so it goes faster than left\/right\/up\/down.","format":"md","likes":4,"spam":"N"},{"id":1146837,"author_name":"TROGDOR 20X6","author_uid":"trogdor-20x6","epoch":1744421931,"text":"The music goes pretty well with the setting, and the gameplay concept is solid I think.\n\nAnd good job including a pause since a lot of games forget to include that.\n\nFor controls, the arrow keys don't seem to affect the direction of shooting. And when using the numpad it would be nice if the diagonals worked as well. Your ship also pauses movement when hit which I think should be avoided.\n\nI ended up mostly letting enemies group up since it was hard to kill them that fast. I still shot gems into the collectors though.\n\nEither way, good job!","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":1146847,"author_name":"yana666","author_uid":"yana666","epoch":1744422330,"text":"- thanks for the nice music, the game is also interesting to play, addictive!\n- upset that the harpoon only shoots in one direction :(","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":1147696,"author_name":"CrozzY","author_uid":"crozzy","epoch":1744463891,"text":"The game was a lot of fun! I found the gameplay really entertaining, and the style and audio were both super appealing. I\u2019d happily recommend it to anyone looking for a cool game to try.","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":1148204,"author_name":"LDJam user 376320","author_uid":"376320","epoch":1744482587,"text":"Fun game! Found a bit difficult to aim, mainly cause I'm not used to play with Numpad keys, but manage to play through some levels. Nice job!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":1149026,"author_name":"NBumgardner","author_uid":"nbumgardner","epoch":1744517374,"text":"Persisting upgrades through death and being able to stack them was unexpected and fun. The darker levels were my least favorite for making it hard to see, especially with a locked window size. The number keys were beyond my skill level, so I just used arrow keys and always shot to the right. Nice work bringing the crystals back in bounds after a second to avoid soft locks.","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":1149132,"author_name":"woona","author_uid":"woona","epoch":1744527441,"text":"Great job with recreating alien underwater atmosphere! I liked the fact that there are different enemies at the later stages of the game. Maybe you could have even introduced them a little bit earlier to spice up early game. Especially since you don't really save your progress (or at least I couldn't get to the stage where I could save).","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":1151596,"author_name":"Thagarion","author_uid":"thagarion","epoch":1744667044,"text":"A quite difficult but fun","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":1152767,"author_name":"I_POTS","author_uid":"i-pots","epoch":1744801189,"text":"A fun little game! I really like this style! Controlling may be a bit difficult","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":1152848,"author_name":"Amolker","author_uid":"amolker","epoch":1744810304,"text":"I apparently encountered a bug where I could only shoot to the right. At first I thought maybe that was the way it was supposed to be, but the game description says it's possible.\nOverall, a pretty interesting concept, and it was pretty fun to play.","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":1152921,"author_name":"inavtr","author_uid":"inavtr","epoch":1744815021,"text":"It wasn't exactly easy for me either, the enemies were too fast as I've never controlled with the number pad before. At least I managed the tutorial :D I had to press S to shoot the diamond. Thanks for your game :smile:","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":1154436,"author_name":"Anton Florey","author_uid":"anton-florey","epoch":1745012989,"text":"The controls are rough! As others mentioned, the arrow keys do not change the shoot direction.\nBesides that, this entry feels very polished and the music track fits the theme perfectly :)","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":1155491,"author_name":"Color and Form","author_uid":"color-and-form","epoch":1745205819,"text":"nice game!","format":"md","likes":1,"spam":"N"},{"id":1155634,"author_name":"cherrybcake","author_uid":"cherrybcake","epoch":1745241132,"text":"Very challenging, but in a good way, I like it :)","format":"md","likes":1,"spam":"N"},{"id":1155926,"author_name":"psychomonster","author_uid":"psychomonster","epoch":1745281142,"text":"Good music and a great great visual design. I had troubles playing it on my Laptop but I liked to play this one. ","format":"md","likes":1,"spam":"N"},{"id":1157938,"author_name":"island-jam-2-group-3","author_uid":"island-jam-2-group-3","epoch":1745612508,"text":"Bad moment to have a keyboard without numpad xD As someone already pointed out, instructions are not very clear at first but enjoyed the game anyways. Cool atmosphere :-)","format":"md","likes":0,"spam":"N"}],"format":"md","images":["ld57\/wayback-placeholder.png"],"links":[],"metadata":{"g_key":"97761","g_author":"1243193","g_event":"LD57","g_eventkey":"111","g_subevent":"JAM","g_urlkey":"450193","g_title":"Crystal Collector","g_status":"WAYBACK","g_place":"623","g_commentcount":"21","g_site2_node_id":"413115","g_hide":"Y","g_has_icon":"Y","g_rqueue":"0","g_random":"0"},"nds":{"n_key":"413115","n_urlkey":"450193","n_parent":"406845","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/57\/crystal-collector","n_slug":"crystal-collector","n_type":"item","n_subtype":"game","n_subsubtype":"jam","n_author":"243193","n_created":"1744035240","n_modified":"1779373898","n_version":"1294376","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"node":{"_collation":{"body_sanitizer":"TextUtils::SanitizeHTML via existing importer","event":"LD57","removed_author":false},"_superparent":9,"_trust":4,"author":243193,"body":"![ThumbLD.png](\/\/\/raw\/9f5\/b3\/z\/6a250.png)\n\nThis is my entry for Ludum Dare 57 whose theme is *Depths*.\n\n Collect crystals to win each level while surviving assault from depths creatures. However, you could earn more crystals by feeding them to sea flowers. Purchase upgrades if needed. Can you survive all levels?\n\n\n**Control scheme:**\n\n- Numpad keys = Move around and aim weapon\n\n- X = Shoots Harpoons.\n\n- Z = Shoots Crystals that you've collected.\n\n- Enter = Confirm\/Pause the game.\n\n- F8 = Take a screenshot.\n\n\n**Features:**\n\n- Can move and shoot in 8 directions.\n\n- Farm crystals by feeding them to sea flowers.\n\n\n**Screenshots:**\n![Shot 1.png](\/\/\/raw\/9f5\/b3\/z\/6a252.png)\n![Shot 2.png](\/\/\/raw\/9f5\/b3\/z\/6a253.png)\n![Shot 3.png](\/\/\/raw\/9f5\/b3\/z\/6a254.png)\n![Shot 4.png](\/\/\/raw\/9f5\/b3\/z\/6a255.png)\n![Shot 5.png](\/\/\/raw\/9f5\/b3\/z\/6a257.png)\n\n\n Enjoy this short yet fun collection game!\n\n","comments":21,"comments-timestamp":"2025-04-25T20:21:48Z","created":"2025-04-07T14:14:00Z","files":[{"author":243193,"id":38686,"name":"Crystal_Collector.zip","node":413115,"size":19438297,"status":9,"tag":0,"timestamp":"2025-04-07T14:17:26Z"}],"files-timestamp":"2025-04-07T14:17:26Z","grade":{"grade-01":33,"grade-02":33,"grade-03":33,"grade-04":35,"grade-05":36,"grade-07":30,"grade-08":33},"id":413115,"love":0,"magic":{"cool":132.49737942901,"feedback":50,"given":49.375,"grade":33.285714285714,"grade-01-average":3.29,"grade-01-result":623,"grade-02-average":3.161,"grade-02-result":582,"grade-03-average":2.871,"grade-03-result":673,"grade-04-average":3.803,"grade-04-result":372,"grade-05-average":4.015,"grade-05-result":259,"grade-07-average":2.589,"grade-07-result":531,"grade-08-average":3.452,"grade-08-result":509,"smart":-4.4207152478335},"meta":{"author":[243193],"cover":"\/\/\/content\/9f5\/b3\/z\/6a24f.png","grade-06-out":"1","link-01-tag":[50]},"meta-timestamp":"2026-05-21T14:31:38Z","modified":"2026-05-21T14:31:38Z","name":"Crystal Collector","node-timestamp":"2025-04-07T14:18:22Z","parent":406845,"parents":[1,5,9,406845],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/57\/crystal-collector","published":"2025-04-07T14:18:22Z","scope":"public","slug":"crystal-collector","subsubtype":"jam","subtype":"game","type":"item","version":1294376},"text":"![ThumbLD.png](\/\/\/raw\/9f5\/b3\/z\/6a250.png)\n\nThis is my entry for Ludum Dare 57 whose theme is *Depths*.\n\n Collect crystals to win each level while surviving assault from depths creatures. However, you could earn more crystals by feeding them to sea flowers. Purchase upgrades if needed. Can you survive all levels?\n\n\n**Control scheme:**\n\n- Numpad keys = Move around and aim weapon\n\n- X = Shoots Harpoons.\n\n- Z = Shoots Crystals that you've collected.\n\n- Enter = Confirm\/Pause the game.\n\n- F8 = Take a screenshot.\n\n\n**Features:**\n\n- Can move and shoot in 8 directions.\n\n- Farm crystals by feeding them to sea flowers.\n\n\n**Screenshots:**\n![Shot 1.png](\/\/\/raw\/9f5\/b3\/z\/6a252.png)\n![Shot 2.png](\/\/\/raw\/9f5\/b3\/z\/6a253.png)\n![Shot 3.png](\/\/\/raw\/9f5\/b3\/z\/6a254.png)\n![Shot 4.png](\/\/\/raw\/9f5\/b3\/z\/6a255.png)\n![Shot 5.png](\/\/\/raw\/9f5\/b3\/z\/6a257.png)\n\n\n Enjoy this short yet fun collection game!\n\n","title":"Crystal Collector","wayback_recovered":true,"wayback_source":{"capture":{"original":"https:\/\/api-jam.ludumdare.com\/vx\/node2\/get\/413001+413002+413003+413004+413005+413006+413007+413008+413009+413010+413011+413012+413013+413014+413015+413016+413017+413018+413019+413020+413021+413022+413023+413024+413025+413026+413027+413028+413029+413030+413031+413032+413033+413034+413035+413036+413037+413038+413039+413040+413041+413042+413043+413044+413045+413046+413047+413048+413049+413050+413051+413052+413053+413054+413055+413056+413057+413058+413059+413060+413061+413062+413063+413064+413065+413066+413067+413068+413069+413070+413071+413072+413073+413074+413075+413076+413077+413078+413079+413080+413081+413082+413083+413084+413085+413086+413087+413088+413089+413090+413091+413092+413093+413094+413095+413096+413097+413098+413099+413100+413101+413102+413103+413104+413105+413106+413107+413108+413109+413110+413111+413112+413113+413114+413115+413116+413117+413118+413119+413120+413121+413122+413123+413124+413125+413126+413127+413128+413129+413130+413131+413132+413133+413134+413135+413136+413137+413138+413139+413140+413141+413142+413143+413144+413145+413146+413147+413148+413149+413150+413151+413152+413153+413154+413155+413156+413157+413158+413159+413160+413161+413162+413163+413164+413165+413166+413167+413168+413169+413170+413171+413172+413173+413174+413175+413176+413177+413178+413179+413180+413181+413182+413183+413184+413185+413186+413187+413188+413189+413190+413191+413192+413193+413194+413195+413196+413197+413198+413199+413200+413201+413202+413203+413204+413205+413206+413207+413208+413209+413210+413211+413212+413213+413214+413215+413216+413217+413218+413219+413220+413221+413222+413223+413224+413225+413226+413227+413228+413229+413230+413231+413232+413233+413234+413235+413236+413237+413238+413239+413240+413241+413242+413243+413244+413245+413246+413247+413248+413249+413250+413251+413252+413253+413254+413255+413256+413257+413258+413259+413260+413261+413262+413263+413264+413265+413266+413267+413268+413269+413270+413271+413272+413273+413274+413275+413276+413277+413278+413279+413280+413281+413282+413283+413284+413285+413286+413287+413288+413289+413290+413291+413292+413293+413294+413295+413296+413297+413298+413299+413300+413301+413302+413303+413304+413305+413306+413307+413308+413309+413310+413311+413312+413313+413314+413315+413316+413317+413318+413319+413320+413321+413322+413323+413324+413325+413326+413327+413328+413329+413330+413331+413332+413333+413334+413335+413336+413337+413338+413339+413340+413341+413342+413343+413344+413345+413346+413347+413348+413349+413350+413351+413352+413353+413354+413355+413356+413357+413358+413359+413360+413361+413362+413363+413364+413365+413366+413367+413368+413369+413370+413371+413372+413373+413374+413375+413376+413377+413378+413379+413380+413381+413382+413383+413384+413385+413386+413387+413388+413389+413390+413391+413392+413393+413394+413395+413396+413397+413398+413399+413400+413401+413402+413403+413404+413405+413406+413407+413408+413409+413410+413411+413412+413413+413414+413415+413416+413417+413418+413419+413420+413421+413422+413423+413424+413425+413426+413427+413428+413429+413430+413431+413432+413433+413434+413435+413436+413437+413438+413439+413440+413441+413442+413443+413444+413445+413446+413447+413448+413449+413450+413451+413452+413453+413454+413455+413456+413457+413458+413459+413460+413461+413462+413463+413464+413465+413466+413467+413468+413469+413470+413471+413472+413473+413474+413475+413476+413477+413478+413479+413480+413481+413482+413483+413484+413485+413486+413487+413488+413489+413490+413491+413492+413493+413494+413495+413496+413497+413498+413499+413500?authors&parents&superparent"},"object":"objects\/sha256\/4e\/4eac84fb40833cd32fc37d8a6ce8839723b412cdcf60e220d41d88b6070463a6","record":"shard-0\/json-live-urgent-v3\/records\/e804c108dd8b0410e0fbbf4004a627d5b0107c390c1a3060396254e7c725dabb.json","sha256":"4eac84fb40833cd32fc37d8a6ce8839723b412cdcf60e220d41d88b6070463a6","source":"https","stored_at":1784022526}}