The visuals are amazing!! it was an interesting gameplay well done!
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The Deep Descent's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #9 | 4.357 | 4.357 |
| Graphics | #17 | 4.286 | 4.286 |
| Overall | #27 | 3.861 | 3.861 |
| Audio | #37 | 3.786 | 3.786 |
| Game Design | #53 | 3.762 | 3.762 |
| Innovation | #59 | 3.595 | 3.595 |
| Fun | #152 | 3.381 | 3.381 |
Ranked from 42 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
You go exploring doing tasks deep in the ocean, with depths increasing each level.
Did you write all the code and made all the assets from scratch?
Some of the code I made specifically for this project, some of the other assets I had used in previous games, and only a few I have taken from online.
Comments
You really nailed the visuals and the sound design on this! I think the gameplay could be faster but the slow pace helps the creepy atmosphere. Nice job!
EDIT: Just saw this was 2 minutes before the deadline. That's nuts
Submitted
Molegan's Quest - Jam EditionFirst time I've seen a dual mechanical application of the theme. Usually I'll see a mechanical and narrative application, so this is rather unique.
Very immersive atmosphere, which is impressive for something that was made in a week.
The only thing that's bugging me are the waypoints. I feel like they should tell you when you're in range, and the text/minigame should appear in it's own box so it's text doesn't mesh with the waypoint texture. Also, there should be some indication of the order you're expected to do them in, so the player doesn't end up going to the wrong one first (like I did).
Overall, very good entry!
Submitted
Diving Bell MayhemFor being in range of the interactiables, I probably should’ve just changed the crosshair, like I did in a previous game, but the idea never really crossed my mind during development :/
(At least for the games current state) the only time you need to do interactions in a specific order is for the final level, but even then the first 2 can be done in any order and it only exists so that the player can get a good look at the squid before the chase sequence for the horror of it.
Thanks for the comment though!
Nice classic fun game, and happy there was a tutorial :D Good job with it, the atmosphere is really amazing. I have to say I found the gameplay a tad underwhelming, there wasn't much for me to do. So if the stakes are upped a bit, that would be great. But in terms of environment and level design, awesome. Two notes as well: the Quit button didn't work for me, and the static noise upon pause is a little distracting :D Suggest replacing that.
Submitted
MemoriamThanks for the review!
I heard a few others saying the gameplay was quite boring, and the more I think about it, the more I can see it. The only thing really engaging was the objectives and not really the in-between.
My friend found out that the quit button didn’t work pretty quickly, and I couldn’t fix it since it was past the deadline, so I just had to hope that no one else found it lol.
I added the static background noise when opening the pause menu for the sake of the VHS style to it. While I don’t 100% want to get rid of it, I could lower the volume even more so it’s subtle enough to not be too distracting but still exist.
To be honest, creating compelling gameplay is one of the hardest things to do in this short period of time so I wouldn't be too hard on yourself. Not to underestimate all the work that goes into making things, but if you have worked on other projects before, you can borrow your own code or re-do assets, or take inspiration for a cover photo or UI benchmarks online. But creating a new idea that translates to good gameplay, that's what makes it "Innovative" so, that's a really hard thing to do in game jams. We also had a lot of repetition in ours with such a short amount of time. As for the quit button, no worries lol! I just like to press buttons.
Wow, just wow that was really well done, love the atmosphere of the game, and yeah, I thought it was really nice! Bravo!
Submitted
Worlds Longest StaircaseThis game has a great ambience. You really did a great job to let you feel this "lonelyness" under water.
Unfortunately these texts in the tutorial disappeared ways too fast. Played it twice, but still not exactly sure, if i really understood it tbh. (e.g. it asks me to ascend, but i guess it never was really described how..., )
So just dived around and tried to find the "i"s. But not exactly sure what the purpose of them is, because the tasks were a bit confusing ( e.g. clicking for turning a wheel took a while to understand^^)
But all in all, a very nice "feeling" and looking game, with a cool Intro sequence, that fits the theme perfectly, but maybe needs a bit polishing on the gameplay. And I like that you even extra made a whole settings menu :-)
Submitted
Beneath the Dreaming Seathanks for the comment!
I guess the lack of fish and sea life attribute towards the loneliness, despite the fact that I wanted to add sea life but didn’t have time to, but I’m kinda glad I didn’t.
Many people have complained about the tutorial text going to by, so that’s definitely going to be one of the first things fixed.
Don’t worry; you’re not the first person to be somewhat confused about what to do with the tasks. I definitely should’ve put the different types of tasks in the tutorial level too.
I am definitely going to heavily improve on this game more and polish it more too. Having a settings menu just felt natural for the game, and it helped as well since I couldn’t decide wether to have the green filter or not, so I left it up to the player!
This game is just… wow. I literally have no complaints except that interaction is a bit weird and I don’t quite understand how I should position myself and aim for it to work 100%, otherwise it’s just straight up great. I love the visuals and sounds, I love the feedback, I love the style and the atmosphere… One of my favourites now
Submitted
Long Jump CliffsReally great game I was a bit scared of playing because it's so dark (I was expecting a jump scare of some sort), really glad it didn't happen.
Submitted
UndergroundThis submarine exploration game offers a nice underwater experience with basic but immersive sound effects. The main menu stands out as a highlight, and the tutorial, while informative, could benefit from longer text display. The gameplay, while enjoyable, lacks depth, as it mainly involves swimming to information points without challenging obstacles. The flashlight feels unnecessary, and introducing the need to resurface could enhance gameplay. Considering it's a one-person, one-week project, it's a promising prototype with similarities to 'Iron Lung' that I'd like to see developed further. Really cool game! Glad I found it :)
Submitted
Neuro DiveThanks for the in depth comment.
I'm not much of a sound designer; I'm still learning, but as long as the sounds creep out the player, its a win for me!
Some other people had trouble with the tutorial text disappearing too quickly, which is entirely on me, I could've very well fixed it in the time I had remaining, but thought it was fine for whatever reason. (Don't worry, I have a better fix planned for it).
That's actually a good idea to add obstacles, like maybe exploring caves or navigating around underwater mines.
I would argue the zoom feature is actually more useless than the flashlight, but I mainly added those features for more of a "realism" reason than a gameplay reason. I suppose I could incorporate those features better with the gameplay by having tasks require you to use them in the future.
The only real reason why I didn't add full resurfacing is that (and this was my number 1 reason) I didn't have any fish or any other sea life, and ascending upwards would make it feel unrealistic as there wouldn't be any sea life visible (kinda a weird reason looking back on it, but I also feel like the lack of sea life adds to the creepiness). The other reason is that it would take too long, especially in the later levels (which is a better reason than that previous one, but I do think the exploration gamemode will require you resurfacing all the way and descending all the way down).
I was waiting for someone to relate my game to Iron Lung. I tried not to make it too similar to that game, as I of course want this to be it's own creation, but there are some similarities (who knows, maybe I could add the Iron Lung monster into this game in the future ;)
Sorry if I waffled on for too long, I sometimes write these long comments as notes for myself on what to add for the full release, but any other suggestions are welcome.
This was really well done. I kept waiting for something to jump out at me so that was a fun surprise at the end there. The atmosphere and camera effects were awesome, but sometimes it was hard to tell if I was even moving because of how dark it could get, a light or some indicator maybe could help with that. Great job though.
Submitted
Belly of the BeastGlad I was able to keep the tension throughout the game and scare you!
I indented to maybe add some volumetric lighting to the game if I had time to make the scene seem brighter, but I didn't have time to add that.
I'm not quite sure of many other ways to show if the player is moving or not, there's already a sound that changes pitch based on movement. Maybe a coordinate system showing your location in X and Z values? If you have any ideas, let me know!
honestly a light would be enough. And I read a comment about there being a flashlight, so maybe thats my bad for just not reading the instructions... Haha, You have all those particles floating around so that gives enough indication of movement, sometimes it was just a little too dark so I couldn't see them.
Thanks for playing!
As I said in previous comments, changing the objectives up from just simply holding down E to making it more involved was a last minute change, and therefore I couldn't really put all the different types of objectives into the tutorial level. I hope it wasn't too confusing on what to do tho.
Prolly one of the most atmospheric games of the jam, both audio and visuals really put you in there, the controls we on point and having the UI waypoints help with streamlining the experience while still keeping the feeling that you are on the endless open deep ocean. Congratulations on getting this all done in a week. would love to see this made on to a full release. Good job!
Submitted
Crystal DepthsThanks! I do plan on developing this more after the jam (Hopefully I haven't said that too much...)
I used real life ROV footage as reference for making the game, from the atmosphere to the squid you see at the end of the game, trying to encapsulate the truly horrifying and alien world that is our own oceans.
Super amazing game entry you made! Really loved the design of controlling the ROV and going around doing the little mini-games. The atmosphere and visual aesthetic was perfect! Had some really good sound design too with the little creepy noises that would occasionally happen. Looking forward to seeing you develop this one further. The only criticism I can think of is more of just a wish that the minigames were a bit more involved or intuitive, but it's a pretty minor thing. Really liked the ending :) Great work!
Here's my gameplay video playtest of it, hope you enjoy watching it and get some valuable feedback!
Submitted
Souper CosmobotWow. The atmosphere you built in a week is incredible, it's bright and in the afternoon and I was still scared LOL. That's crazy. The only thing that took me out of it a bit is when I realized that the sounds I heard around me didn't mean anything, so there's no point in looking for the source or getting spooked by them. But I'm sure you'll be solve that issue pretty easily in your full release. Amazing game, definitely one of the best I've seen this game jam and it will be hard for a horror game to top this one.
Submitted
Goodbye, CharlieShh, don’t tell anyone the sounds don’t mean anything!
But thanks for this comment, I’m glad I was able to creep someone out that much with this game.
Don’t worry, I do plan to make it even creepier and have the sounds actually mean something in the full release.
Just to leave you more creeped out about the game, the deep ocean really is like how it’s portrayed in the game, and the monster you see at the end is based on the real life big fin/magnapinna squid.
Let me be that 20th rating :p
I really like the environment/ambience of the game, could have more different things to do but nonetheless for a game jam, great work! :)
Submitted
Tropical Odyssey: The Fruity Dive
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