Depths of Limbo - Roguelike Shooter

[evgiz]

Hi everyone!

For Ludum Dare 36 I made this small game:

which I also made a post about on the forums. It was my first Löve game and I learnt tons during the short 48h jam.

I found the process of making games with Lua and Löve to be so great I decided to use the game as inspiration for a much bigger project (also written with love<3). Most importantly with better graphics, more content and more interesting mechanics from both roguelike and action genres.

This is what I have so far, after a bit more than two weeks of almost full time development.



It has been tons of fun so far! I hope to have the game mostly finished in two months, and then work on polish until I'm happy to release it. Any feedback (particularly on the graphics, as I'm primarily a programmer and find drawing very difficult) would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks for reading!

EDIT:
The game now has an official name and website: http://DepthsOfLimbo.com

Steam store page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/568400/

[kikito]

Hi there,

I am envious. I have wanted to make a game like this since some time ago, but real life got in the way. You made very good progress in just 2 weeks!

Here's some feedback:

* Enemy bullets should be super visible against all backgrounds. The "snails" are shooting some kind of "brownish circles" which look like cheap pickups more than bullets. Consider making them "pulsate", so they are visible no matter the background.
* The main character doesn't look very reptilian to me. Those big ears and curled tail make me think "small mammal with a color swap" more than "green reptile".
* There is already a top-down shooter game whose main protagonist is a lizard: A Wizard's Lizard. Make sure you differentiate from it!
* Gameplay-wise, consider adding something else besides moving and shooting - some complimentary action to spice things up. Enter the Gungeon does a very synergistic secondary action - their main character "jumps and rolls" when the secondary mouse button is pressed. He's invulnerable during the "flying" part of the jump, and able to jumping over pits, lava, etc.

Good luck!

[evgiz]

Thanks so much for the feedback!

*I agree on the bullets, they were completely brown at first so I added a brighter outline to make them pop more, but they ended up looking cheap as a result. Gotta work on that!
*The name and character design was really just something I came up with in a hurry and is not an important aspect of the game. As for A Wizards Lizard I haven't played it but I'll do my best to innovate and stand out from the crowd.
*The player can actually jump already, except it doesn't do anything yet! A dodge ability would be pretty cool though, I'll see what I can come up with.

[D0NM]

Well. I like the gameplay vid very much.
IMO the screen shaking is too intensive.
R u going to add 2nd player?

BTW the music is nice as well ^__^

[evgiz]

Its a rogue-like at its core, so I'm not planning to add co-op or anything like that. Thanks for the compliments!

[CaptainMaelstrom]

This reminds me a lot of Nuclear Throne. Which is a huge compliment from me, as I live Binding of Isaac and other rogue-likes. So great job!

The art at least seems to do its job -- the character, enemies, and pick-up-ables seem to contrast well with the background. I like the higher-res style you've chosen to go with. Looking forward to release!

[rmcode]

Like I said on twitter already, I really like the pixelart and especially the main character.

[evgiz]

Thanks again rmcode, its much appreciated!

[rmcode]

Do you plan on "just" having the one guy or do you want to go the direction of Nuclear Throne or Binding Of Isaac with different characters to pick from?

[Murii]

I just can't believe people manage to find the motivation and power to make such greate looking games and fun in such a small amount of time. Nice work,man!