Diner Miner

Gain Jam "Lo-Cal" Gain Jam 8/2023
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41

I haven’t even gotten past the white layer, this time. I’m maybe gaining $20 every time I come back up from trying to find gems, and the rocks are really getting in the way. I know I said that we needed some sense of danger, but… It feels really, really bad to have to reload a save because you’re a pixel too close to a rock. Plus, I’ve come to realize that dynamite is way too expensive. When it was just a fun toy, it was whatever, but now that it’s become absolutely necessary to blast away the enormous rock clusters (literally none of which will ever have enough gems to “pay for itself”), it’s honestly just a bit exhausting. I’ve played two hours on this version, and I’m going to tap out for the night.

The rock clusters wouldn’t even be so bad if there weren’t so many of them.

Also, I’m not sure I understand the mechanics of the earthquake. I’m ASSUMING that it’s essentially an “oh, shit, too much RAM” reset, considering the earthquakes only ever seemed to happen once the game started to lag, but I’m not sure if it was the number of excavated tiles that triggered the lag, thus triggering the earthquake, or if the upcoming earthquake was making the lag happen before it reset the map.

Regardless, still a really good idea for a game, very charming, I’m just in a little bit of pain right now.

1 Like
42

I believe there’s a threshold with the starting mine tiles that is checked and counted each time you cross over it. After so many traversals, the cave-in is triggered. You can force through a quake just by loitering near the top and going back and forth.

It’s a weird war of economics this game has turned out to be, now having to gauge the viabiilty of runs based on how resource-rich your mine shaft is to dare risk using a precious dynamite. Some runs just don’t pay for themselves, which make the preparations for the Croissant Run that much harder.

43

Adding rocks and earthquakes to the game basically killed all my enthusiasm for the game, sorry to say. The methodical methods I was using to dig through the level before are impossible now, and it’s just no longer satisfying to play when my progress is randomly reset.

Maybe add an upgrade to break rocks without dynamite, and a mode with no earthquakes.

1 Like
44

I did the Croissant Run, I was hoping that lizard shopkeeper get fat after bringing it to him

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45

Agreeing with above, there’s definitely too many rocks- either a cheaper, one-rock option might be necessary, or a price drop for dynamite, or just reducing/spacing them out further. In the third layer, it’s incredibly obnoxious to have to use so much dynamite- without getting any reward back half the time, to boot.
It would be nice to have some alternative- maybe eating/swallowing rocks after a certain size, etc.
I managed the croissant run with 10 dynamite and a few pills- I’m not sure if there’s meant to be anything more than the dialogue (which took 2 E presses to trigger)- it doesn’t seem like a very solid win-state, especially since the croissant disappears after a save/load.

2 Likes
46

Maybe maximum Chomp Power could grant this? With this being Confrectionary Cave and all, it makes sense that the rocks could be edible as well (obvious rock candy joke). Eating them would wreck her waistline, after all each one adds a stone in weight! Nyuk nyuk.

(My headcanon now includes the miner keeping herself amused with rock and mining puns :nerd_face:)

2 Likes
47

Well, I tried to get the Croissant. Without dedicated grinding, I went down with a stockpile of 4 weight loss pills and 5 dynamite sticks… and then I found out that the rock wall around the Croissant had respawned. Was that even intentional? Ugh. Anyway, I think I may have gotten about halfway through the chocolate dirt layer (the top layer) on my best run. I don’t really feel motivated to keep trying because I’d probably need to grind for more supplies, and in the process, I’d probably trigger the next earthquake and have to dig my way all the way down again. So I think I’m just going to wait and see what changes the next update brings.

Anyway, I do like the idea of the game. I figured out pretty quickly that it’s a good idea to dig tunnels 3 spaces wide in advance, plotting paths around rocks accordingly. The tendency to get hung up on rocks more and more as you get bigger reminds me of another game from a while back, Doughball Descent.

Some criticisms:

  1. The final weight stage feels like it barely adds to your “depth limit” at all due to being the only stage that’s 4 tiles wide. Digging a 4-wide tunnel all the way down just isn’t cost-effective, especially since you’ll probably get stuck behind rocks in the process, and if you become 4 tiles wide while you’re deep down, with only a 3-wide tunnel behind you, you’re probably doomed. Considering that max weight is kind of a goal in and of itself for most of us here, it feels bad that I’m heavily incentivized to return to the shop before reaching that size. I want to be able to do something while I’m that big. Like, at least let me crush rocks or something at that size, so the extra width isn’t guaranteed to trap me.
  2. Speaking of rocks, as others have mentioned, their ubiquity in the 3rd area (toffee gravel?) really highlights the lack of options for dealing with them. Staying 2 tiles wide isn’t really practical, and dynamite is super expensive. And, of course, they severely exacerbate the issue of clipping into walls when you go up a size. (Technically not always a soft lock, but having to bomb yourself to get out is almost as bad.)
  3. I don’t like the fact that earthquakes fill in EVERYTHING that you’ve dug. I also played an earlier version of the game, before earthquakes were added, and part of what I liked was the aspect of planning and gradually digging a network of tunnels–usually a wide main shaft with smaller tunnels branching off toward the gems. With the current implementation of earthquakes, I don’t get much satisfaction out of a well-planned tunnel because I know it’s just going to get filled in before long.
  4. A minor bug that I haven’t seen mentioned yet: Sometimes lighting/visibility doesn’t update properly after a dynamite blast. Quite often, the blocks on the other side of where the dynamite exploded will remain pitch black, even though I can walk right up to them, and I won’t be able to see what they are until I eat another block somewhere.
3 Likes
48

Every little issue I’ve got with this game has already been covered by everybody else, so all I can really say is “I agree with them” when it comes to the issues.
But besides the issues, love it, the danger factor makes the progression really fun and the eventual thundering footsteps and screenshake as you pack on pounds is the stuff.
The difficulty needs some tuning, like everybody else said already, but the foundation is, no pun intended, rock solid.

And I appreciate that it only takes one hand to play.

2 Likes
49

A lot of rng involved but I enjoyed the concept :slight_smile:

3 Likes
50

Final (barring bugs) version is up!

Changelog
  • reduced the price of dynamite significantly
  • reduced blast radius of dynamite
  • reduced fuse time of dynamite
  • dynamite now placed towards front of player instead of middle
  • blocks clipped into while growing are now eaten (and rocks destroyed)
  • pausing now closes the shop
  • croissant now more fulfilling to obtain
  • added autosave
  • reduced rock spawn frequency
  • significantly reduced rock frequency for earthquakes
  • reduced infill frequencey for earthquakes
  • increased chance for loot to spawn in infill blocks for earthquakes
7 Likes
51

I think this is one of the best entries as far as fitting with the jam requirements. It feels like that tolkienesque theme of digging too greedily and too deep fits perfect with the pushing the limits theme. Getting trapped pushing for those few extra gems is a real neato idea, also I just like building tunnel networks.

1 Like
52

It’s all just come together! You’ve brought gem and rock spawning in line, making them much more tolerable. It always felt like I was making progress, even if I wasn’t playing as “optimally” as I could. Plus, I actually felt like I could use the dynamite this time, even if it took a little bit to figure out exactly where under the character it would detonate; there were a few small frustrations, there, but nothing that ruined the game.

May I say, making going up in weight break the rocks around you was a stroke of genius. Not only does it fix the super-frustrating softlock of getting stuck on them, it also adds an element of strategy, tasking the player with surpassing the threshold where it can do the most damage. Not once have I felt a game over wasn’t my fault…

Until the Croissant Run. I’ve yet to actually do it successfully. I think I might be stupid or something. Full upgrades, full inventory, but I always seem to reach capacity about halfway through the chocolate cake layer. I’ll try again tomorrow, I guess.

Anyway, if this doesn’t place, I’ll be genuinely surprised. You’ve got the theme nailed, the gameplay loop nailed… The dialogue, though sparse, is up to your usual standard. The art assets are decent, and the sound design is good, too. You’ve done a good job.

3 Likes
53

Echoing the user above, the breaking rocks with each size up was a master stroke! Made it a much more interesting and tactical affair of when to deploy your five “rock bursts” which effectively work out as five free dynamites of increasing strength. It was incredibly satisfying growing to the largest size and taking a bunch of stubborn rocks in the process! Also satisfying was using the pills aggressively to also trigger additional rock bursts, acting like “mini dynamites”. That was a real brain pleasing discovery for me :smile:

With the rocks and gems rebalanced it felt great being able to carve a four tile wide thoroughfare and fully utilising the capacity bar, whereas in the previous build reaching the largest size was essentially a deathblow to a run. It felt good to be massive and stomping around the place with impugnity as a big fat mole!

There are a couple of sticky bugs where reloading a save locks your controls (I think I reloaded duing a dialog box from revealing the Croissant). I also had the ending lock up during the part where the miner finishes off the croissant after maxing her capacity. Nothing that a bit of restarting the game couldn’t fix.

A couple of fun, juicy notes from me:

  1. An idea could be when the game detects any tiles/rocks breaking from a size up that instead of the immediate pop, the animation is altered to have a slight delay to emphasise the strain being placed on her surroundings before giving way - I imagine a little “hng… ah!” sound effect playing as the miner bursts the rocks around her.

  2. A little potential easter egg, but if you managed to bring any pills back with you from the Crossaint Run, that taking a pill after eating the croissant could alleviate your immobility and to be able to waddle around in triumph as the biggest and fattest mole! :smiley: I actually reattempted the run, saving a pill just in case you had sneaked in a secret feature but alas!

All in all, I enjoyed this game thoroughly. Here’s hoping the mole makes a cameo in future games!

4 Likes
54

I wanna point out that I REALLY dig how you interacted with this year’s theme. a lot of projects incorporate the theme into the setting of their games, but yours does an excellent job of actually pushing the player to push their limits rather than just the character. It’s a super engaging integration of the jam to the point where i find myself questioning whether or not I can go “a little further” (and even sometimes making the mistake of going too far and getting a game over).

Excellent Work! Love your work as always c:

4 Likes
55

Hello. Yes, it’s me again.

I SUPER DUPER love this entry. It’s actually inspired me to try something similar based on this old mobile game I used to play from my mom’s phone all the time, and your take of getting bigger and wider and needing larger tunnels and the stones in the path suddenly becoming an obstruction is… hoogh. spine-chillingly delicious delivery of content, mister.

My only note is that, yes, this game does emphasize wanting you to push your limits, based on just “oh there’s a few more gemstones over there! let me go get those-” and sometimes that bumps you up a size class, and that causes you issues, however… I sadly realized after halfway into my first playthrough, the best solution to the rocks being everywhere is to just… not be four tiles wide. Not only do you earn more money- (Read, being larger means you need wider tunnels- making those tunnels wider means eating tiles. Eating tiles means spending money to lose weight- Thusly, being larger costs you more in the long run.) since you can take a direct path to gemstones without being four blocks wide, you also spend less on dynamite by just being smaller, being able to maneuver around stones much easier. Now, I did find, that being three tiles wide isn’t quite as bad- while still costing you more, because there’s so much space in your bar- (roughly 2/3rds of your maximum bar is locked behind being three tiles wide)- you generally don’t lose out on much because you’re still able to maneuver around stones, and those that you can’t you can still effectively bomb out of existence while three tiles wide.

Another side note- if you’re considering doing any touch ups, Dynamite becomes incredibly ineffective when you’re super wide- if you placed it directly in front of the player instead of directly under them in the middle of their sprite, that would make four-block wide tunnels a bit more manageable imho, even if it wouldn’t fix their inherent issue of just losing you money.

Also a “Rescue service” that costs like, 200 coins or something and saves your run would be much appreciated. That way you’re not utterly boned if you forgot to save on a good run. I felt forcing the player to load their save after overeating is particularly punishing- even if you take ALL of their money and collapse the entire cave, I’d MUCH appreciate that over suddenly realizing that save scumming is an intentional gameplay feature.

All that said, I think it’d be a charming feature if you could continue a save after beating the game and get a completely unnecessary huge size you can eat yourself to-(which could possibly solve my first issue, if you consider that it would effectively extend the duration you can spend in four block wide tunnels comfortably) heck, maybe some kind of way you could eat the rocks (that would add a large amount of weight every time you use it, or perhaps you can’t digest them and have to spend a special fee to have them removed at camp, and is only unlocked after buying all the capacity and mining power upgrades) would be really nice to have over buying and using dynamite-
as fun as the foodsplosion is- it’s too easy to get away from with even the first upgrade to speed as long as you’re not four tiles wide and have a way to back up. Or make dynamite’s explosion much bigger, and much more fattening as a result. >:3

1 Like
56

While this was one of my complaints in the earlier, more rock-heavy version, I actually feel like 4-wide tunnels are a viable strategy now. One reason is the nerfs to rocks; not only do they spawn less often, making it easier to squeeze past, but they’re also easier to break, since you can intentionally trigger a size increase next to a rock to destroy it. In fact, that’s one of the benefits of maintaining a 4-wide escape tunnel–you get one last size increase to blast through rocks, and it’s the biggest one, too.

The other reason I don’t mind digging 4-wide tunnels in the current version is the changes to earthquakes. Now, instead of just resetting your progress, earthquakes only partially fill in the tunnels you dig, and the ore that does spawn is less likely to contain rocks and much more likely to contain gems. Thus, if you do dig your main shaft 4 tiles wide, you’ll have an easier time digging your way back down after a cave-in (because there are more holes), and you’ll find more gems along the way, too (thus recouping your losses from digging a wider tunnel earlier).

I do agree that the range on the new dynamite could use a bit of a buff–though for me, it’s not about the difficulty of escaping the blast, but rather the fact that you can usually just use weight loss pills and size increases to break rocks instead. Don’t get me wrong–I definitely like that you can do that now, but it makes the new, smaller dynamite explosions feel underwhelming, since you can essentially buy an extra “size explosion” for only $60 (the cost of a weight loss pill). For dynamite to truly be worth it, it needs to have a good chance of clearing out more rocks than a size increase.

Other than that, though, I think the mechanics of the game are really solid now. The fact that earthquakes now leave more holes along where you dug your tunnel makes the Croissant run much more manageable too, which is much appreciated. Even so, I still needed a big stockpile of items to manage it–but thanks to the high gem spawn rate in collapsed tunnels, it didn’t feel like it took overly long to stockpile enough items for the Croissant run. Very good changes overall, I would say.

(Also, I swear the shopkeeper kind of reminds me of the Pilot from Spacethumper. Maybe I’m just crazy…)

3 Likes
57

I never actually played the previous versions! But to me it seems rocks are more common the lower you go, and about midway into the vanilla layer dynamite basically becomes essential for going any deeper. That being said I don’t mind- it would be great and all if dynamite was reserved to being a luxury tool that you don’t need- but I can understand the cost of it’s invention and use. I just wish it’s radius was about two tiles wider, and maybe, instead of random patterns, rocks would spawn in small veins that get bigger in size the deeper you go-

that way, you still have the option of moving around them, just, dynamite gives you the ease of access to a direct path straight through them. Again, this gets even better if dynamite is buffed.

58

Oh yeah, the rocks were insane in the prior build before the Jam. Try a new run in that version if you’re feeling masochistic.

For me the dynamite is more of an emergency measure, or useful in the Croissant Run to save you from munching on the more filling cave walls at the start. Blow your dynamite early, saving one or two for emergency, and then start eating in earnest when you’re in the white zone, trying to maintain a two tile wide figure for as long as you can.

If you’ve reached the dark brown strata and have a few more size ups, just go hell for leather. The game is quite generous in that the dark brown tiles aren’t very filling at max capacity so that offsets the fact that you’ll be eating more of them on the way out as you get wider.

(I love talking about this game, haha)

Edit: I’ll update this post to prevent repeat posting but what started out as an amusing thought while playing turned into a full on song. Enjoy! I make no apologies for the ensuing cringe, haha.

She Ate This Tunnel (As A Big Fat Mole)

(Sung to the tune of Starship’s “We Built This City”)
She ate this tunnel
She ate this tunnel as a big fat mole
Ate this tunnel
She ate this tunnel and she still wants mooore

Scratching through the surface, of Confectionary Cave
Goodies await in store, all ones that she craves
Knee deep in the sugar, stirs up an appetite
No reservations she’s, eating with all her might!

As our miner fills her stomach, shovelling it in her maw, just you remember
She ate this tunnel, she ate this tunnel and she still wants more…

She ate this tunnel, she ate this tunnel as a big fat mole
Ate this tunnel, she ate this tunnel as a big fat mole

Walls are closing in now, she’s running out of space
Who cares, there’s plenty more to stuff in her face
Rocks are all around now, they’re trapping her in place
She needs to find a way out soon, to avoid disgrace!

As our miner breaks her limits, bursting through the rocks and stones, just you remember
She ate this tunnel, she ate this tunnel and she still wants more…

She ate this tunnel, she ate this tunnel as a big fat mole
Ate this tunnel, she ate this tunnel as a big fat mole
Ate this tunnel, she ate this tunnel as a big fat mole…

For any other spleuker, they’d be tired and beat
But for our greedy miner (ohhhh)… The gal just loves to eat!

Who’s got all the treasure, from travelling so far?
Who’s like a wrecking ball, shaking things apart?
Don’t tell me she won’t finish, 'cause here she goes again
Searching for the final goal, searching for the end

As our miner fills her stomach, shovelling it in her maw, just you remember
She ate this tunnel, she ate this tunnel and she still wants more…

She ate this tunnel, she ate this tunnel as a big fat mole
Ate this tunnel, she ate this tunnel as a big fat mole
Ate this tunnel, she ate this tunnel as a big fat mole
Ate this tunnel, she ate this tunnel as a big fat mole…

4 Likes
59

That’s the thing, sometimes it is just… more effective to use dynamite to get your fat four block wide self down further, the mid-vanilla zone becomes basically impossible to navigate when four tiles wide if you didn’t blow up all the rocks in your way before hand.

60

if u get fat on the map’s side u get stuck