I enjoyed watching this in the stream, I'm glad I got a chance to play it myself. I enjoyed the narration/flavor text/story. The core mechanic is really fun, and it's very satisfying to make progress quickly. The shovel is a little finicky for me, I'm not sure if I was using it wrong, but it slowed the progress down a bit. That's fine though because I know the theme is get started, and every time I had a mini-fall, I was getting back up and getting started again. The whole thing fits the theme extremely well.
Play game
OutBound Shovel's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #81 | 4.111 | 4.111 |
| Overall | #99 | 3.917 | 3.917 |
| Fun | #155 | 3.694 | 3.694 |
| Presentation | #190 | 3.944 | 3.944 |
Ranked from 36 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Preferred Name
Snailracer
RoguePetz
CrypticBuckle
Emma Belo (username : TOX1C_DROID)
Newbie?
Experienced
Nope - I've completed at least one game jam before.
How does your game fit the theme?
Apart from this being the start of our group, we figured this came could take on the form of a semi-roguelike. Part of the core gameplay loop is that fact you will consistently be dying, and brought back to the bottom of the cavern to "get started" climbing once again, and practice over time to take you farther. Narratively as well, the beginning of the game literally marks the point at which the protagonist is "born" or created, surrounded by implications that she has started her existence at the end of many others', in a cavern implied to be a burial hole.
Comments
WOW this is such a great game! The core mechanic is really unique and fun, climbing feels incredibly satisfying, and the absence of enemies or hazards gives it a relaxing vibe. The shovel mechanic was also very intuitive. Everything just feels so polished. I’d love to see a full version of this. Full rating from me!
Submitted
Hungry lil' DudesAmazing game, I hope this wins! I would buy a full version of this game on steam.
Submitted
GASS - Become AssassinThis is an extremely well made game! The graphics are good, and climbing is a lot of fun!
Submitted
Just Get StartedThe climbing mechanics are really fun on this! and the sound design set up such a good atmosphere. Great work on this :D
Submitted
BrambletaleThis game is PEAK, The music made me feel immerse with the game and everything feels polished. Its an amazing game!
Submitted
BrambletaleI love the idea of the game and the mechanics! The controls are a bit difficult at first, but once you get used to them, it’s really fun!
Submitted
prokariot.Had fun climbing!
The controls felt a bit sluggish sometimes because the hitbox to grab the walls was a bit counter intuitive to me >_<
Seems to have potential for a full release after some polishing ^_^
Submitted
Project Chain HealingI think the hitboxes for the grabbing need to be bigger allowing less precise grabbing. Other than that, it looks like a fun game with some interesting physics. I can see how with some clever level design this could be a longer game.
Submitted
Flight of FancyIncredible game! I love the climbing mechanic and additionally with the shovel. It's quite hard at the start, but it gets really fun once you've got used to the controls.
I had to play it a second time because I realized the first time I couldnt pay attention to the game itself at all. I had to use all my brainpower on the moving xD But I love the dark, moody, mysterious look, and the dust particles flying through the cave. You've done a great job!
Submitted
Just Get Started On LifeThe game was great, I had a good time beating it! It took a while to figure out the mechanics initially but it was smooth sailing after. In one of my attempts, I forgot I needed to bring the shovel with me afterwards until the next area and died to the mist getting it back haha. The audio visuals were really nice. Though I wished there was an indicator for if I was able to grab something. At times, it looked like the hand could grab but was unable to and had to re-adjust the hand position. I really enjoyed it!
Submitted
Wake Up Nyow!This game was INCREDIBLE. Fantastic controls and really unique. Your game is really interesting, with fun mechanics and fits awesome with the concept of your game, you did a great job on creating this climp mechanic, that is definelly done by a professional. The music was a bit too loud, the sound of the catacumbs made me drop my headset because I almost got deaf haha. I didnt get to finish the game because I didnt have much time to play, but I will make sure to play later because I really liked it, awesome job !
Great game, I loved the concept and how it controlled! Although I had trouble in the beginning understanding how to climb, maybe some kind of indicator if letting go of the mouse button would grab the ledge would help? Although I'm not sure if that would make it to easy. Otherwise, really fun game and I had fun climbing!
Submitted
BrambletaleCool game! I had a bit of difficulty getting out of the spawn point, since when I first tried to grab the ledge, I was a bit too low, and thought I was doing something wrong. I also noticed that you can sometimes grab the shovel when its on your back, repeatedly jumping and grabbing it to "fly"
Submitted
ProcrastiKnightExtremely fun, took me three tries to beat and i want to play more! Such a nice time, really good job!
Submitted
Boot You UpNice work! Really dig the music and idea. Once I got the shovel I couldn’t figure out how to progress. I assume I need to place it higher to start climbing but I rarely could get it to stick, and when I didn’t it was only waist high. I’m still not sure if the problem is a bug or I needed more feedback back. Either way, I still had fun for as far as I got.
Submitted
MechannibalOh! I had seen your other reply with “F to plant shovel” but I didn’t get that you needed to “shove” it. I actually really like that, it felt really good and I made it much farther. I would HIGHLY recommend updating your itch page with this info, you can’t change the game files but you can edit the page as much as you want (mine always turns into a list of known bugs, and I rarely get screenshots or cover art at the start of the jam).
Obviously jam timelines are rough, but I highly recommend having a template, most jams allow boiler plate stuff like generic player controllers, menus, and relevant here, a rebinding menu. I was grooving for a few minutes then I mis-typed, letting go and falling much farther than I wanted to get up and try again. I think (but definitely not certain) adjusting the layout would make that error less likely but it’s also possible I’d … get the hang of it … with just a little more play time.
I wonder if this could work with a gamepad. This is one of the few times where I think gamepad would actually be a lot of work, but I can imagine putting each hand to a thumbstick working really well. I hope you keep working on this!
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