This was my first time participating in Ludum Dare gamejam (COMPO). This is not the first game I worked on, however before I was only acting as an artist/ideasguy and the jams i participated in were 2 week long. What an adventure LD is! I've learned a lot, accomplished a finished working games alone in just 48 hours, recorded sounds of my microwave to create ambience did many other fun things I havn't done before. My only regret is I didnt join LD earlier, but better late than never!

I took inspiration from game such as Iron Lung and Barotrauma, wanted recreate the dread of being locked in a tight space deep under the surface of an ocean, with nowhere to escape, just as things start to go wrong. While I didn't have time to implement everything I wanted to, I am still pretty happy with the result. If you havn't yet, you can give it a try and leave much appreciated feedback: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/grip-of-the-abyss chuckles I am in danger

While waiting for the jam to begin, to kill some time i decided to give my personal evaluation of the suggested themes. This rating is of course subjective and different for every person, however some themes are objectively worse than others. (Also its incomplete, I didn't care to actually rate every single theme but merely split them into categories)

S tier: "feet" - it goes without saying, we all can agree here

A tier: the difference between A and B tiers is purely subjective and is based on personal preference. Good themes go here that can be iterprered from different angles, mechanics and setting/narrative wise. I am putting themes like "modular", "flow" or "combine" into A tier.

B tier: themes like "split", "connection" or "isolation" go here, those themes work but i give them less personal preference than ones in A tier.

C tier: here go more restrictive themes that don't easily tie to game mechanics, and might provide lots of similar games, though there still lots of space for creativity. "Depths" from LD57 is a C tier theme. Current themes that go here are themes like "fog", "alchemy" or "space".

D tier: graphomania themes, pretentious themes that scream "look at me i am so art! I am so better than everyone else!" Themes like "nothing is permanent" or "night is coming" go here.

F tier: purely narrative themes, its really hard to express them from the perspective of game mechanics. Stuff like "expedition" or "ritual" go here.

In the end I want to mention that everyone has their own opinion, and can treat themes and vote however they like, as I said such ratings are 95% subjective and are based on personal preferences. Some people might even argue that "bad" theme is actually better because developer will try harder and make a better product in the end. P.S. gl hf everyone, can't wait to play all your games and experience different ways of thinking participants have.