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Digologist's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Innovation | #46 | 3.435 | 3.435 |
| Theme | #104 | 3.391 | 3.391 |
| Overall | #142 | 3.070 | 3.070 |
| Gameplay | #189 | 2.957 | 2.957 |
| Audio | #196 | 2.696 | 2.696 |
| Graphics | #231 | 2.870 | 2.870 |
Ranked from 23 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
I love slowly chipping away at things and your interface is really cool. As for overall gameplay, I was champing at the bit for some upgrades.... even little ones. The upgrades come too slowly for me to feel progress. I've noticed other popular games introducing upgrades very early on to get the progress / reward system flowing.
Seriously, if you expand this concept, I could see myself playing your game for hours.
Thank you for trying the game out. I agree 100% the balance is completely wonky, takes a lot to get to the first 40 credits to buy the first upgrade and it doesn't feel impactful enough. Definitely will slash down the prices by at least half if I end up continuing the game.
One little complaint: Everything except the laser is accessible via keyboard, so it’s annoying that one has to use the mouse, just to turn on the laser.
It's not a bad idea, but at least in my case the controls didn't work. It would be good to have better instructions on how to get upgrades and a clearer explanation of how this drill works.
Sorry to hear that the controls didn't work. Are you referring to the WASD/Mouse Wheel or are you referring to the dials and levers? If the former? You need to activate them first (tick the checkbox on the right of each control) as mentioned in the page's description.
If that still not working, do you see any errors in the console perhaps?
As for upgrades you need to be at the base and click on the "Base" button to access the upgrades.
I gave it another try! (I saw the checkbox, but I couldn't find it; it was pretty well hidden, haha.) But the upgrades are still incredibly slow. The cheapest one costs 80 credits, and it's taking me forever to dig just to get one at a time. I feel like a better balance of some of the speeds or purchase factors would help. I do like the interface, though.
Thanks for trying it out. The cheapest upgrade costs 45 which is an energy upgrade, I am guessing you're referring to the laser damage upgrade? That is around 5-8 hauls (for the 80 one) so it does take you time indeed. That said, maybe a slight decrease of prices at the beginning to get a quick dopamine hit would be better than have it trickle slowly from the get go.
Quite fun, the issue here is took so much time to upgrade even at first upgrade :(
Really enjoyed the control scheme here, it's clunky and better for it. I wasn't too sure what the aim of the game was, or how I got more fuel. But cool game.
Thank you very much for trying the game out. It completely went over my head that I didn't finish the implementation for when you run out of fuel in the sectors. I implemented half and left the other half thinking I did -- got distracted by something else in the game. Sorry about that. At this point to replenish fuel you go back to base, but if you ran, it soft locks your game and you have to restart the game (O) or (Z) resets progress.
This is quite fun! Good job on the mechanics. and I find it very difficult to imagine how you developed it. You have my respect 5/5 stars xD
I loved the game! I like the idea of having to discover things on your own, and I really liked the graphics. Excellent game!
I loved the aspect of controlling the machine indirectly. It took me a little while to figure out that I needed to switch on the machine to get started. At first, I have to admit, I thought it was an online game and something was off. I was almost giving up when I found the button to turn it on. I really liked the indirect control feature you added here. It creates an atmosphere of horror, where you’re operating a machine without directly seeing what's happening, but instead, seeing what the machine captures from the outside environment.
It gives you the same feeling as being in that game, Iron Lung. I like the sounds and effects, and I appreciate the variety of controls here. I haven't figured out how to regain energy once it's depleted, and I admit that the mechanic of breaking pixel by pixel with the laser can be a bit too tedious. I’d prefer if the digging took more time, so I’d feel like something is happening. But it's valid, and I think it might have been a decision made to give that agonizing sensation of a slow excavation process.
Overall, I think the way chosen here to interact with the systems is fantastic, allowing you to become immersed in this atmosphere.
Thank you very much for playing the game. You're right about the ambiguity of starting the game and it looking like there is nothing to do. I didn't have time to put in a tutorial and I naiively thought the white button at the top left is enough.
> I’d prefer if the digging took more time, so I’d feel like something is happening.
Are you saying that you prefer larger blocks that take longer to break than smaller ones that takes less time to break? I am not questioning, I am just trying to confirm. Because at first that was the way I went but I felt it might get boring so I divided each tile into 4 and reduced their total "HP" with varying "HP" per tile color.
The energy replenishment is at the base but if you ended up depleting energy in the sectors you are soft locked, I am afraid. I did think of a way to resolve it, I just forgot I didn't fully implement it and it was too late after the jam ended that another person pointed it out.
Really appreciate the feedback and that you tried the game!
I meant that breaking more easily through blocks would be cool, I would love to keep digging for long time to find stuff, provided that I felt something was happening, that means, regardless of the blocks size, the speed that we move through the blocks is important .. currently it takes way to long to move small distances ... so what I would suggest change is, make the digging field like 10x larger and the digging speed like 5x faster ... but that only if you feel you want that kind of experience for players, like more intense that demands more exploration than patience
Ah, I see, I know what you mean, you want the laser to do more damage to the blocks thus clearing them faster. Hmm... perhaps after the jam I'll double the damage the laser can do and reduce the price for the upgrades. That way you can get upgrades faster and start at a better pace.
This one's pretty neat. The controls took some getting used to — they're confusing at first, but you do eventually find a rhythm. That said, an option to steer with the mouse (instead of WASD or the dial) would feel much more intuitive.
One issue I hit: I accidentally ran out of energy and then couldn't do anything at all. Some kind of recovery or reset option would help.
Overall though, it's a cool experience. I've always enjoyed excavation-style games, and this scratches that itch.
Ah, I thought of adding mouse targeting but didn't occur to me add mouse speed up/down too. That makes sense. Thanks for the suggestion.
The softlock state was supposed to be resolved with an extraction and ejection mechanics. The extraction was implemented, the ejection wasn't. I completely forgot to resolve it. Sorry, you'll need to restart (resetting the local storage for the game).
Apologies for such a terrible bug, it completely slipped my mind when releasing.
Hi, I got the system offline screen., I am not sure what to do now though.
Oh, sorry, yeah, it isn't very clear -- didn't have time to add a tutorial. Top left there is a button called "Crawler Pwr" you click on it.
I like the on-screen controls, however I switched to keyboard quickly, because you need to adjust constantly - maybe it would be more convenient if they were closer together at sreen's bottom, like a dashboard. The progress is a bit slow at the beginning, but the game is engaging and it does make you want to explore deeper!
This is a fun fun, nice work
Liked the UI and the tactile controls
I enjoyed this game a lot. these kinds of games are what my brain loves! I am coming back to this game later. I must dig deeper
Thank you very much for trying the game out. Glad you liked it :)