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Strange well in Arkham country—water gives out (or was never struck —hole kept
tightly covered by a stone ever since dug)—no bottom—shunned and feared—what lay
beneath (either unholy temple or other very ancient thing, or great cave-world).

DOWNLOAD:

Windows (1MB)
OSX 10.5 (2MB)
Source (4MB)

CONTROLS:

space - to progress through title menus
left/right - to move left/right
up/down - to turn off/on 'thrust'

PREMISE:

Procedurally-generated tessellated-thrustbusting of sorts.

[increpare]

little player craft stuck in, with basic controls and collisions. 



To do:
1: audio support
2: make graphics a little nicer/more ambient

[increpare]

obligatory well added



might try adding some unholy temples/ancient things as well, time allowing 

[Synnah]

When I saw the first screenshot, I thought this was a first-person maze game, in the vein of the screenshots you made with Terry's raytracing engine! It wasn't until the third one that I realised my mistake.

I like the colours, and the.. little lines in the third shot. Are those telegraph poles?

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I like the colours, and the.. little lines in the third shot. Are those telegraph poles?

Nope...they're abstract things that move up, and kill you if you touch them*...their design is subject to revision...

*this is going to be pretty much a universal in the game...

The colour-scheme was pretty much a default...I still have to try play about with some others...

When I saw the first screenshot, I thought this was a first-person maze game.

heh  (as it happens, I actually hopefully will have a cpb-themed entry based on one of those in by the weekend, if I get this done first...). 

It'd be fun to juxtapose the genres actually....

[agj]

I also thought at first that this was made with the raytracing engine, since everything is symmetric to a horizontal axis, much like those other pictures. It also kind of reminds me of that one-button game, usually called 'Cave'? You know, the one where you control a ribbon, or a helicopter, and have to traverse a cave that grows ever narrower. This doesn't look like it plays like that, though. In fact, I can't imagine how it plays, based on these screenshots. But I look forward to finding out, anyway. :P

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Strange well in Arkham country—water gives out (or was never struck —hole kept tightly covered by a stone ever since dug)—no bottom—shunned and feared—what lay beneath (either unholy temple or other very ancient thing, or great cave-world).

This is me trying a rough beta build:

Windows
OSX 10.5

controls are up/down/left/right, involves more tapping than pressing (tapping up or down multiple times makes no difference).  Q to quit on windows, apple+Q to quit on mac.  (I'll add a whole host of other quit buttons in the final version, I promise)

I hope they work.  I have slight suspicions that either/both of them might not though; this is my first attempt at trying to distribute a haskell program :/

There's no sound in the game atm, which is annoying.  Trying to fix it, but it's turning out to be awkward...

Windows people: please let me know if it feels sluggish.  For some reason it seems to play smoother on OSX than on XP for me :/

Also: Damn: forgot to add scores ... bugger ...

All comments welcome

[Room89]

seems to be runing fine in windows xp. very challenging(which is a very good thing ). is there an end or goal?
also, Me thinks the "press space" at the bottom is a little unclear, just some friendly criticism.

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seems to be runing fine in windows xp. very challenging(which is a very good thing ). is there an end or goal?

There are several different types of caverns.  I would be surprised if someone got through all of them.  I have have more time I'll be sure to add some particularly special areas, though.  As for ends or goals: the caverns do indeed go on forever, and the game will be primarily score-based (though I do intend there to be an aesthetic of exploration as well).

also, Me thinks the "press space" at the bottom is a little unclear, just some friendly criticism.

You're right I think.  I have a thing for playing about with low-res fonts.  Maybe 3x3 was a bit more than I could deal with...I'll make it clearer for the next version.

and: I'm happy to hear it ran smoothly

[Terry]

I didn't really know what speed to expect, but I think it ran smoothly! But I suck at this so much! Like, I can barely get past the very first obstacle! I just need some practice, I think...

The graphical effect of things getting more detailed as you get close works really well here

[agj]

Waaaaaay too hard. Can't get anywhere. :( Possibly due to the fact that I have the same problem that I had with Defez 3 before, that the keys are too sticky (you know, like the 'repeat delay' is slower than I'd like it to be). This means that I have to taptaptaptap to go forward, but also somehow steer with up and down, and, well, it's bloody difficult. If the obstacles were spaced more, or if there was more room to move, this might not be a problem.

I like the cavernous aesthetic, though. Indeed, the 'gets more detailed as you get closer' system is quite interesting to look at; what inspired it?

[Rory]

That is really far too hard (for me). Maybe have the same sideways movement mechanic as up-down? The sideways movement seems too jerky. Although it's cool how you slot into the... well, slots.

And yeah, the getting more detailed thing works beautifully.

Also needs instructions. The first time I played it, I thought it was tap up to go up a bit, then fall back down, so when the ground disappeared and never came back (because I went up for too long) I was like "wtf?".

[Gainsworthy]

Way too hard, man. I mean, it looks nice. Minimal, serene. But, the tapping is so fiddly, and the constant inertia up and down, when combined with the fact there are moving hazards is a real killer.

Ease up one way or the other, I say. Otherwise, fine. I'll appraise properly later.

[increpare]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Waaaaaay too hard. Can't get anywhere. Possibly due to the fact that I have the same problem that I had with Defez 3 before, that the keys are too sticky (you know, like the 'repeat delay' is slower than I'd like it to be).

FWIW the implementation of the control system is a million miles away from the one in defez.

This means that I have to taptaptaptap to go forward, but also somehow steer with up and down, and, well, it's bloody difficult. If the obstacles were spaced more, or if there was more room to move, this might not be a problem.

I tried out having a version where the caverns were empty for the first while.  But, I thought it was pretty boring

I like the cavernous aesthetic, though. Indeed, the 'gets more detailed as you get closer' system is quite interesting to look at; what inspired it?

A chat with haowan about quadtrees.

That is really far too hard (for me).

I understand.

Maybe have the same sideways movement mechanic as up-down?

that would make it harder still!

The sideways movement seems too jerky. Although it's cool how you slot into the... well, slots.

It's sort of a fixed thing about the engine.  The next technologically-similar game I'm going to be working on will have smoother motion, fwiw.

Also needs instructions. The first time I played it, I thought it was tap up to go up a bit, then fall back down, so when the ground disappeared and never came back (because I went up for too long) I was like "wtf?".

I'll try redesigning the initial cavern to make this less likely, and I'll include more-detailed in-game instructions in the next release.

I have the scoring system, as well as sound, added, but I only want to do one more release so I'll wait in case I forget anything else.

But, the tapping is so fiddly,

It takes a little getting used to, and would be awkward to change.  I will *try* decreasing the inertia, but I'm pretty happy with it as it is atm.

and the constant inertia up and down, when combined with the fact there are moving hazards is a real killer.

Yep: 'tis hard.

Ease up one way or the other, I say. Otherwise, fine. I'll appraise properly later.

I'd wait until the final version is out then.  It's unlikely to be any 'easier', but will be more-directed anyway.

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Finished.

DOWNLOAD:

Windows (1MB)
OSX 10.5 (2MB)
Source (4MB)

[captainbinky]

My good God - that's hard!  :D

I like the lighting and what-not though, congrats!

[agj]

My grand highscore is: 12!

I loved the audio! Game's still freaking hard, but it's an interesting experience. I'm left wondering if there are any surprises if one manages to go beyond a certain point.

[increpare]

My grand highscore is: 12!

That's...pretty good!

I loved the audio!

Oh, thanks.  It took me...many many many many hours to get audio stuff working with it ...

I'm left wondering if there are any surprises if one manages to go beyond a certain point.

Stylistically, things don't change radically.

[Corpus]

My high score is... 3

[Renton]

Hard shit is hard.