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A jam submission

Arcatology - cafe dot Jam 2023View game page

A simple yet addictive mining sim where you excavate all of an Arcatologist's favourite things!
Submitted by AnxietreeDev (@AnxietreeDev) — 3 hours, 37 minutes before the deadline
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Arcatology - cafe dot Jam 2023's itch.io page

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

This game was addicting and very fun to play! I love games like these and this was very nicely executed. My main feedback would be to be a bit clearer about how much each item is worth when I collect them, but that's really my only feedback! I would love to have this game on my phone to play during commutes! 

(+1)

I really enjoyed it, it was so realistic the way the rent kept unfairly rising infinitely!

Submitted(+1)

Reminds me a lot of the excavating minigame from pokemon diamond/perl (which was one of the favorite parts of those games for me). Currently it seems to be a bit simple, but I am sure if you invest a bit more time into it, it will be amazing

Submitted(+1)

Reminds me of Bejeweled 3's "Buried Treasure" mode, but this feels way more RNG dependent. You either go REALLY far, or get shut down on day 2, and there's not really any in-between. The rent increases way too quickly unless you get really lucky. Still fun, but needs some balancing.

Submitted(+1)

Holy moly; I think I played that for a little tooooo long. That was super addictive (I think I got up to day 71 or something). A cute little final stats screen would be a cool tid bit to add. Also- MATCHA! It's nice to see people incorporate Matcha into their games

I may come back to this game once in a while...

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Really addictive, well designed! (I would like to be able to hold down mouse to mine instead of repeatedly clicking)

Submitted(+2)

love that this reminds me of the Underground mine from the pokemon diamond and pearl games! pixel art was crisp and easy to read. I already saw that you plan to add a "hold to dig " option in a future build. 

Feels like something I would download and enjoy in the google play/ios store. can't wait to see future builds !

Developer

Thank you so much :D 

Taking a nice little christmas break for a week or so then jumping back in with some QOL updates, loadouts, more customised randomisation elements and more meaningful progression! 

P.S I love that damn mine but im sure you guessed that haha

(+1)

a great game! really got sucked into it all

Developer

Thank you so much for playing and giving it a shot! 
Big updates coming post jam :D

Submitted(+1)

Pretty addictive game! When I realized I had been playing for quite a while (with no upgrades because I'm a bit dumb)

Developer

lmao god bless your wrists i gotta get that hold-to-click update in before y'all start the noTools % speedruns

Submitted(+1)

This was so incredibly fun (and addictive)! I also really love the art. First try I got to around day 153, but unfortunately The Man finally beat me down with rent…  Definitely one I’ll come back to play again (I’m determined to get that last item damnit lol)

Developer

That's some blessed RNG - big content updates coming post-Jam!

(+1)

Great example of how a simple concept can be so fun! My only critique is that there aren't instructions in the description or within the game itself, so it took me a second to figure things out. Art is fabulous and cute though. If the game is ever updated I'll be first in line to try it again.

Developer(+1)

ahh good point- just updated the description with a very brief overview!

Thank you - very excited to expand it out post Jam and give it some depth :D

Submitted(+1)

Pretty relaxing game concept . I really wanted to unlock the top slot item, but was never able to build up enough cash. I was able to get to day 83, but finally I was crushed by my oppressive landlord and their insane rent! Even digging up gold bars isnt enough to satisfy their greed lol.

Good job!

Developer(+1)

My first friend who tried it sent me a message saying they physically couldn't get past day 12 and my next friend sent me a screenshot of Day 150+ and said the rent was too damn high lmao

The balance for this was SO hard! On a -1 tool swing the game was laughably easy and on the current -2 it's so RNG whether you actually last 2 weeks (but then thats the whole silly concept haha)

Gonna inflate all the numbers by x10 so i can fine-tune them a bit easier and add more gradual difficulty + power-ups and lots of get-out-of-jail free mechanics to decrease rent etc - 

Thank you so much for playing!

Submitted(+1)

This is pretty fun! The art looks great and I like that the music is kinda chill. Sound effects when mining also sound very good, makes the process feel more satisfactory.

Developer

@zeralith posted a link in discord to an online 8-16 bit retro editor and i sat for 30 minutes straight hitting 'Randomise' and 'Mutate' + randomly dragging sliders i only somewhat understood until i got some that i liked lmao

Thank you its my first song in fl studio! 2 instruments was really all i could handle in the time limit so it worked out LOL. 

Thank you for playing :D

Submitted(+1)

The art is so cuute, love your style!! Music is chill and and digging is fun and not rigged at all haha ^_^ Just wish there was more chance to find items. 

Developer(+1)

Omg right back at you! 

LOL it's 100% rigged, the game showing you everything else you -could- have grabbed is like the icing on the cake lmao

Will absolutely add a proper difficulty curve post-jam, right now my genius generation system is just placing prefabs and rocks based on a 1-or-0 check - needs a little gentle curve into the more difficult boards.

I literally generated a board made of 90% rocks on day 4, its like winning the cursed lottery wth lol

Submitted(+1)

im homeless TToTT


love the artstyle also the gameplay mechanics are nicely implemented. 

overall such a cute lil game..  gr8 job :)

Developer

LOL - I added that screen about 15 minutes before i submitted

Thank you so much and thank you for playing!!

Submitted(+1)

really charming, I like the pixel artwork a lot.

Developer

Thank you :D 

Submitted(+2)

Cool game! Would be nice if holding the mouse dug - was the only real issue though accessibility wise. Reminds me of battleship somewhat.

Developer

100%, first thing im adding post jam! Thank you for playing :)

Submitted(+1)

Addictive indeed ^^ I didn't manage to get the 9999 item, though. I found it fun as someone who likes to do repetitive tasks and likes Digging in Dirt. Cute little pixel cats and cute little pixel items! An enjoyable time. Though it can make your finger a bit tired after a bit. I would love to see more stuff get added!

Developer

Thank you :D Aye 100% gotta add in some accessibility controls, there was a really fun one I did aaages back that basically would perform an action if you just hovered your mouse long enough over a hotspot, will probably put that in here as well as a hold-to-dig and some other rebalancing bits - thank you so much for playing c:

(+1)

GREAT GAME GOTY CONTENDER?????? (in all seriousness was a lot of fun being forced to make fatcha happy shame not everything could be implemented but the core is fun overwise :) )

Developer

haha aye - can't wait to go back over it and add in all the power ups and re-balance it all