Thoughts from the Depths by gustavo.christino

[raw]
made by gustavo.christino for Ludum Dare 57 (JAM)

Thoughts from the Depths is a small game about a person who descends with their submarine into the deepest regions of Earth's ocean. Their goal is to reach the Ruins of an Ancient Civilization — the Ancient Castle of the Sea-Men.

The Sea-Men, in the distant past, nearly annihilated their own species to seal away the great cosmic being, Cthulhu. He had come from the wastelands of the vast cosmos and corrupted nearly half their civilization. In a desperate final act, their Queen poisoned her own soldiers, fearing they would fall under his control. She then set a trap — one that fused Sea-Men technology with the very knowledge they had once exchanged with Cthulhu himself.

Now, in the present, the lone visitor walks the silent halls of the once-great fortress — now dark and empty — with a singular purpose: to release the powerful Cthulhu and unleash vengeance upon mankind.

cover.png

Controls: - Movement: ASDW/↑↓←→ - Interact: I/Space/Return - Accelerate: J

Team: - Gustavo Christino (Game Design, Code, Art Direction, Storycrafting); - Caroline Costa Prado (Game Design, Sound); - Sans Oliveira (Graphics).

Ratings

Given 7🗳️ 18🗨️

Feedback

clymm
08. Apr 2025 · 11:03 UTC
Interesting Experience, I liked how you took the theme and made it about ocean depths exploring the ruins. I was a little unsure which direction I should go. Pretty fun.
igorekkedziorek
08. Apr 2025 · 14:45 UTC
cool
🎤 gustavo.christino
08. Apr 2025 · 19:18 UTC
@clymm, as soon as possible I will try your game. Thanks for your analysis. :)
LDJam user 410492
26. Apr 2025 · 06:27 UTC
Would be nice if more of the story was actually in the game, I was a bit confused what I supposed to do at first.
🎤 gustavo.christino
26. Apr 2025 · 06:48 UTC
Thanks, @katastudios.

Yeah, I definitely fell short in that regard (I ended up in a crazy rush trying to make the game while also coordinating the jam site, hahahahahahah — my team always ends up a bit shaky because of me). Thank you for your feedback! I’ll try to have a plan to at least include an image that tells part of the story before the first playthrough, in case putting the narrative inside the game itself isn’t possible next time.

Thank you!
lloydlobo
26. Apr 2025 · 07:36 UTC
I got SpongeBob SquarePants vibes :) upon hearing the music's lead line.

Would love it if `Accelerate` had visual feedback. And a minimap would be a bonus.
I found it was easy to beat the game by spamming diagonal movements, such that the creatures have a hard time catching up.

Overall good vibes!
🎤 gustavo.christino
26. Apr 2025 · 07:54 UTC
Thank you, @lloydlobo. We really wanted to give more feedback for the acceleration — both subtle audio cues and visual effects (like bubbles). The creature AI could definitely have been much better. I wish I had been able to work on it with more focus. Thank you so much for your feedback.
YibiRabbit007
26. Apr 2025 · 10:15 UTC
Look nice!
Antoine Bodin
26. Apr 2025 · 17:33 UTC
Looks nice and cool music ! I had a hard time knowing how to accelerate, I thought that there was a bug but I found out while escaping the crab ! Maybe a stamina bar or something and visual feedback that you accelerate and it would be way easier to aprehend ;)
nice work !
🎤 gustavo.christino
26. Apr 2025 · 17:52 UTC
Thanks, @antoine-bodin. I completely agree. A stamina bar for swimming is essential for the game. Unfortunately, I had little time and focus, but I’m practicing this kind of thing so that it’ll be easier to implement in the next game jam. :D