Into The Depths

A Submarine exploration game

*A small submarine exploration game. Your goal is to find the Kraken.
To do so, you'll need to upgrade your submarine first by collecting and selling pearls at the dock bay.

Have fun ! :)*

CONTROLS:
Use Space key and arrow keys to move the submarine.
'E' to enter and exit the dock bay
'F' to shot missile once the upgrade is unlocked.*

Voting results

Overall
8th
30%
7.160
Graphics
7th
26%
7.280
Gameplay
5th
17%
7.000
Originality
15th
61%
6.440
Theme
3rd
9%
7.920

This game entered in the Solo competition (23 entries).

Comments (21)

Devousa
 • 4 years ago • 

I like the art style. Getting started can feel a bit frustrating as you might only find a couple pearls (or I was just unlucky) but thankfully the first upgrade boosts your oxygen levels enough to allow more freeform exploration. :)

Cuddl3s
 • 4 years ago • 

I really like the concept of having to upgrade you sub to be able to venture deeper.
Also, the look as if it plays in a little aquarium is really charming!
With a bit more time to flesh out the assets etc., this could be a really cool time-waster :)

I thoroughly enjoyed playing it, great job!

Dolores123
 • 4 years ago • 

Lot's of little details in this game. I like that you need to collect the bubbles and keep track of your air. It has a really nice setting and has a lot of game mechanics for the small amount of time.
Nice little game (although I didn't made it to success). :)

cloakedninjas
 • 4 years ago • 

Lovely little game! Wish I could point my sub directly up and down 😄 - think I got close but narrow vertical corridor got me!

mad-s
 • 4 years ago • 

After 20 minutes I managed to find the kraken! I liked working towards the upgrades and exploring the area. The graphics were also well-made. However the controls were a bit tedious, I would have preferred e.g. the submarine moving towards the mouse cursor. Bumping into walls was pretty punishing after a while, so you had to be quite careful with your movement.

pikachurian
 • 4 years ago • 

The gameplay is fun and reminiscent of a metroidvania. The art style is great. When I played the game in the browser there was no audio. Does the game not have audio or is it a problem with the browser? The submarine was a little trickey to control, especially when changing directions or moving vertically. There are some inconsistencies with the game. Your fuel is referred to as oxygen in the upgrade menu. Also, I thought some of the boulders were giant pearls and tried to collect them.

Ztuu
 • 4 years ago • 

Neat risk reward system, cool upgrades and nice visuals for a 48 hour jam.
I think its great! :)

TomBuston
  • 4 years ago • 

Hello! Thank you all for your comments and feedbacks :) I agree that the controls don't always feel good, that probably what I would first change if I had more time.

@pikachurian No indeed the game has no audio, I had a few sfx ready for integration but I decided not to put them in the end because it was not enough and was really cheap. And well done noticing the inconsistency, indeed at the beginning it was an oxygene gauge and at some time decided to refer it as fuel, I completely forgot to update the menu xD.

elZach
 • 4 years ago • 

Lots of details and features, the plant shield is hilarious. As mentioned the controls are a bit awkward, but I had an enjoyable time, good work!

remco
 • 4 years ago • 

Great graphics! It's not just the initial presentation, it's also the lighting effects when you get deeper & all that sort of attention to detail.

The lack of music is fine, but it's really easy to make simple sound effects (on average, I spent about 15 to 30 minutes per jam on the SFX, as opposed to the music). If you're willing to brave flash, you can use BFXR for that sort of stuff.

The controls felt a bit weirdt to me at first until I figured out why: If you switch directions, the entire vector is switched, not just left/right. So if you're pointint 'up' and 'left', pressing right will switch it to 'down' and 'right' instead of 'up' and 'right'.

Some other minor things:

  • 'press F to shot' -> shoot

  • consider adding shortcut keys to the buy options, then the entire game is playable with the keyboard

  • at first I couldn't figure out why ligthning cam out of my sub (the first few times I must've only grazed the plants, thus not making the connection) … the only mention plants could be harmful was that you could buy a 'plant shield' (ended up not buying because I was impatient and wanted to see the Kraken)

    All in all it was quite enjoyable!

remiv
 • 4 years ago • 

I'had a good time playing this. I like the way it look, and I realy felt the deep theme with the game.

The control seem weird at first, and I didn't know exactly why, but it is not a big hurdle.

Very cool.

dorkulon
 • 4 years ago • 

Charming game with a solid core and interesting upgrades. Really great job!

Mr. Chocolate Salmon
(@mr_chocolatesalmon) • 4 years ago • 

Great job! It did get a little tedious by the end, especially with the difficult controls, but the upgrades definitely improve the experience and feel well earned. Plus the models and art-style are great!

Subatiq
 • 4 years ago • 

I really liked to manage my resourses and collecting upgrades to widen the territory covered. The graphics are really neat. Overall, well done!

benjamin
 • 4 years ago • 

I used 17 minutes to find the kraken ! The leveling system was addictive. I wish I could upgrade more stuff like armor, missiles stock limit, pearl stock limits etc.

TomBuston
  • 4 years ago • 

Thank you all again for playing! I'm very happy about the graphics as they are usually not my strong point x)

@remco Thank you for the sfx ressource, I'll definitly check this out. Adding shortcuts for the upgrades was on my todo list but I couldn't do it in time :p. The lightning effect when touching plants was added at the last minute to make it clearer that plants were dangerous but it could really be improved.

@benjamin Well done! I would have love to add more upgrades too, and your suggestions are all good ideas :)

Ilkalys
 • 4 years ago • 

A really good game, love the upgrade system and graphics are really impressive. Good job

smbe19
 • 4 years ago • 

Lovely game, quite relaxing to play. However, the controls were a bit annoying and I often struggled to move the submarine the way I wanted to. I am used that pressing the 'up' key turns the vehicle clockwise or anticlockwise, but crucially it stays this way. Here it switched every time I turned the submarine around and thus I often first turned the wrong way. I think it would also have been easier if flipping the submarine just mirrored it on the y axis (i.e. if it was pointing downwards it would still point downwards after flipping). But other than that it's a great game that I really enjoyed to play.

voxel
 • 4 years ago • 

Adorable submarine, cute game. I was a little sad that I couldn't breach the surface majestically like a dolphin. I also squeezed through the boulders without needing to destroy them - maybe some knockback from collisions would prevent this.

Very nice looking game and fun use of the theme

thomastc
 • 4 years ago • 

Interesting game! The balancing seems pretty good for something done in a weekend, and the upgrades each add something new and interesting. Some things could be simplified: the bar says "Fuel", but in the store, it's called "O²", and during the game it acts both like O₂ and like health. The distinction between "pearls" and "gold" can also be eliminated, since the only place you can spend pearls it at your base anyway, so you don't need to sell them for gold first (and who pays submarine upgrades with gold anyway?).

My biggest issue was with the controls. They make perfect sense when you think about them: up to go up, down to go down, left to go left, right to go right. It's when I stop thinking about the controls that I keep getting it wrong. Somehow I keep expecting airplaine-like controls: pull the stick towards you (down) to go up, and vice versa. And I keep expecting space bar to flip left/right, as in Elastomania. These things might just be me. But one thing that should probably be fixed is that when pointing down and pressing left/right to flip around, you suddenly point up again. This feels off and makes going straight(ish) down somewhat tedious.

Pity there's no sound, but I get the sense it's been sacrificed for more (deeper?) gameplay, which has been a good tradeoff in this case! I think quick bfxr sound effects would have done this game a disservice.

Wan
 • 4 years ago • 

Loved this game! It has some Subnautica vibes, and I would never have thought it would be possible to capture the gist of the Subnautica gameplay in a week-end! Great job with the balancing and the upgrade system, and the graphics are great especially near the surface. The deeper places lack some character but given the time it's still an impressive achievement overall.

The controls are quite frustrating, but I can understand the choice as overall it contributes to the impression of driving a submarine. I guess it's then more the level design's job then to avoid pushing the control scheme to limits, here it can be annoying in some places but it's acceptable overall.

I have a terrible time for my playthrough by for my defense I was AFK for a while ;P

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Into The Depths

Author

TomBuston

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High scores Submit score

#UserTime
1@Juutis4'23"000 
2@Aurel3009'37"000 
3@elZach11'18"000 
4@Ztuu12'47"000 
5@remco16'52"000 
6@smbe1925'10"000 
7@Wan25'56"000 
View all 7 scores