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A jam submission

Cold DepthsView game page

Down is the only way out
Submitted by jooliveira — 19 hours, 22 minutes before the deadline
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Cold Depths's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Audio#123.8643.864
Accessibility#283.0913.091
Controls#333.4093.409
Originality#443.5913.591
Overall#453.3313.331
Graphics#713.3183.318
Theme#753.4553.455
Fun#1062.5912.591

Ranked from 22 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Godot Version
4.5

Wildcards Used

Middle Wildcard

The second wildcard (description pending)

Right Wildcard

The third wildcard (description pending)

Game Description
Cold Depths is a fast-paced vertical descent game where you dive down a mountain, dodging procedurally generated walls while racing an avalanche. Stay in the air too long and the cold will freeze you — momentum is your lifeline.

How does your game tie into the theme?
The game revolves around momentum: players must carefully manage speed, jumps, and wall rebounds to survive the descent. Momentum determines whether you dodge obstacles or succumb to the cold.

Source(s)
N/A

Discord Username(s)
N/A

Participation Level (GWJ Only)
2

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

There doesn't seem to be much control over the staying alive longer. Reducing frost buildup even on easy mode takes a lot more time than it should. It still is a cohesive entry though with some nice graphics.

Submitted(+1)

this is a super unique game! it's really tough, but it was fun to figure out the strategy :) i like how tense the game is, you really can't afford to wait even a split second if you can help it. i also enjoy how well the mechanics are explained, the tutorials are very good. the game is a bit simple, and i think the gameplay would get repetitive after a few runs, but for a game jam that's hardly a complaint. nice job!

Submitted(+1)

Really cool concept and liked the 1bit pixel art style ! gj ^^

Submitted(+1)

Amazing entry - especially for solo dev. The mechanics are simple and clean and just work well. The visual style is crisp and consistent - loved the vst scanline shader. The menu is clear and easy to navigate. I think the music added great vibes. I would have loved to have a couple more sfx (audio person here srry) -  or visual clues - to indicate the tension of the avalanche proximity or progress across the level. It would be great post jam to put a handful of sounds in there just to give it that extra level of polish and player feedback. That being said, this is an amazing feat. Great job!

Submitted(+1)

I love the approach to the theme, but I must confess that the music and the theme give me completely different vibes. The game suggests high adrenaline and playful old-school winter shenanigans, while the music takes me to an abandoned hospital that might not be so abandoned after all.

It is a great idea, but I can’t help to feel like some pieces don’t match with each other very well. The walls come out of nowhere to the point that often feels unfair, even for the easy difficulty settings.

The freezing/death bar mechanic makes sense in some circumstances, like being hit by an icicle and maybe moving fast through cold air, but it doesn’t feel very fun. Maybe would work better if there won’t be any other health bar but the avalanche itself, chasing you until it catches you, while the other mechanics give you a different kind of trade-off, like gaining too much momentum and landing on a floor (as opposed to a wall) results in broken bones and a slowness debuff on lateral movement, while icicles make you falling slightly slower for a longer while.

Developer

I considered broken bones from falling too high or with speed. A "broken leg" would apply a movement speed debuff. Unfortunately couldn't apply that on time. 

The difficulty is only applying changes on the avalanche (e.g. number of spikes falling, the speed of the avalanche, how fast it recovers distance if you get too far...) and I didn't modify the walls in any way 🥺

Thank you so much for the feedback. Those were some beautiful suggestions 👌

Submitted(+1)

Awesome take on the theme + wildcards, and I really like the graphics of the avalanche!

I would love to see more levels to play in the future

Developer(+1)

Having more levels was the original idea but unfortunately i couldnt finish on time 🥺

Thanks for the review! 

Submitted(+1)

Dread and cold, there's something alluringly haunting about this game's aesthetic. Mechanically, it could do with some better in-game instruction. Also, might I suggest naming the hard mode "Frostbite"? Anyway, well done.

Developer

The name frostbite would actually be cool xD 

I should include a little tutorial to show tips/tricks and mechanics instead of just throwing the players in a parachute directly to the level!

Thank you for the feedback, really helpful! 💪

Submitted(+1)

As soon as I started the game, I got Downwell vibes and was instantly excited to play it. What greeted me was something that's similar in spirit, but very different in execution. Like Kanosis, I struggled to understand how the game works initially, my instinct was to run away from the avalanche and not dare to touch it, but doing that always made me die from cold, so I quit and went to the comments and found out that the avalanche is not as dangerous as it seems. After that revelation, the game was a blast. The sound design instills an actual sense of dread, which is something I did not expect at all and is something I also have to commend!

Developer

Actually I can see the idea 😆

it started by being in infite runner, then I decided to go with levels.

I'm not very good with art and adding walls manually would be hard for me so I decided to go procedural and infinite (which I changed) 

The main enemy comes from above and your just trying to reach the end as soon as possible. 


Thanks for the feedback! It helps a lot!

Submitted(+1)

Dope idea! The sound design really helps building up the tension.

Developer

Thank you 👌

Submitted(+1)

I enjoyed how this game fit with the theme of momentum. I tried both difficulties several times, but I wasn't sure if there was an end/win state. If there was an end, having some sort of meter telling you how far off you were would have been a nice added touch. If not, then maybe including a scoring system for how far you got would have been cool. Overall though, it's a nice solid entry. Good job!

Developer

There's actually an end to it but I didn't had the time to add a win state. At the moment it's just a simple animation and then jumps back to the main screen 🥺

Thank youuu for the review 👌

Submitted(+1)

Cool game, I like the art and the sound design, it helps convey sense of dread.

It was slightly frustrating at first because my instincts were to get as far from the avalanche as possible as fast as I can then to spend some time resting to get the cold meter down but after a few runs I realised that's the worst possible strategy due to how the avalanche works. 

Once I realized how it works the game was actually fun, I like the idea of kinda riding the line of the avalanche dodging spikes.

Nice work.

Developer

Thank you for the review!

Submitted(+1)

Reminiscent of that one game where you fall, can't put my finger on it. Looks exactly like this. Good UI and art/atmosphere, well done.

Developer

It is unfortunate that I didn't have more time to improve the generation of the walls or the art. 
I'm not very good with art so i tried my best to hide that xD 

Thanks for the review

Submitted(+1)

I completed it, but barely. Running from an avalanche isn't something I have done in real life, so it is interesting to have a simulation of that experience, staying warm, do anything needed to survive. Warmth, so hard to find in this cold world, this cold slippery world where we are just falling, falling, falling...

Developer

I am here to provide life experiences. 
Running from an avalanche, even in a game, feels like life itself—slippery, cold, always falling. We scramble for warmth, for survival, clinging to fleeting comfort. Funny, tragic, and strangely human all at once.

Thank you for the review <3

Submitted(+1)

Pretty interesting and unique sound design for this! it made the avalanche so scary! Cute art too

Developer

Thank you for the feedback! 

Submitted(+1)

Very cool concept! I definitely felt the horror vibe and a feeling of wanting to survive thanks to the music and the pressure of the avalanche. 
The best way to keep warm seems to just wall slide. The platform don't seem to rebuild warmth fast enough... Or maybe I was too scared to stay on a platform long enough lol

Congrats!

Developer

Yes, the cold decreases slowly. The walls are a great choice because you keep getting down  
Thanks for the review! 

Submitted (2 edits) (+1)

Interesting concept where controlling your momentum but sliding on walls to not get too cold is actually the challenge. It was fun and creative, really like the audio and aesthitic of the game. The concept of staying warm or how to avoid cold damage was not super clear, I stumbled upon it. Would be interesting to see other levels or mechanics in the game to flesh add a little more to do. Great submissions, really liked this one

Developer(+1)

I considered adding a little tutorial to show the player animations and what happens when you slide/land or keep falling / take damage. 

I agree on the concept comment. I was trying to focus on the gameplay but this is important as well.
I will have to consider this issues in the future.

Thank you so much for the review! it really helps a lot! :) 

Submitted(+1)

Audio and graphic design are fantastic and give a strong analog horror feel, and I would have liked if you did more with that. The game needs some way of rebuilding warmth, landing on platforms doesn't do enough to make a long run possible it seems.

Developer

Your absolutely right!

When i was building the game i was testing with jumping on walls and landing on corners making it a "speed run".  

Adding sources of warmth would be a nice touch.
At the moment you can only decrease cold on platforms and walls tho the walls decrease half as much. 

Thanks for the review! :) 




Submitted(+1)

Interesting gameplay, the controls felt sensible.

Not sure how to progress or if the procedural levels are beatable. I was in freefall basically the whole time and the avalance still caught me. Plus, it takes too long to recover on the ledge.

Developer

The avalanche speed increases after a certain distance from the player and when it's close enough goes back to the initial speed! 

The "hard mode" is possible but considering the speed of the avalanche (and the amount of spikes) you would probably have to keep jumping and sliding on the walls to build cold as slower as possible

Thanks for the review! I really means a lot!