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How does your game meet GBJam's theme
The game is the tale of an old prospector seeking the gold cache of his father, another old prospector. By digging deeper and deeper into the old mine he gets the gold he needs to upgrade his equipment and find what lies in its deepest tunnels.
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Very great submission! I got ending 3, and I couldn't tell is the ending text for that ending supposed to be the same as the intro text? If it is I read it as that the game is a repeating cycle which is really neat! Our team would appreciate if you left us a rating as well!
You're the "fire emblem with pirates" guys right ? Your game is on my list.
Thanks a bunch for the kind word ! Ending 3 is indeed cyclical, "old sam" gets replaced by "young sam" and "elder sam" gets replaced by"old sam" in the ending's text.
I like how much juice this game has, The game is great! Progression is also rlly good, I also like how sam bounces around. Great game!
Thanks for the kind word !
Fun game! The mining feels really good after a couple upgrades, and each upgrade (except the speed ones...) could really be felt, which is nice. I couldn't tell if the deeper floors gave more money or not, it would have been nice to have a little floating "+2g" or something as I picked up gold so I could get a feel for how much I was gathering without having to look at the top and do math :). The procgen dungeons were nice, made it fun on a replay. The gold placement felt good / kind of bursty which made it exciting to find a bunch at once, but I'm not sure if that was intentional or just my mind making patterns out of noise =). I managed to get endings 1/2/3 in order, and on my last run I got ending 0 via my own "friend of the ghosts" goal...
Oh I knew that profile pic was familiar, I remember your game from Dungeon crawler jam 2023, nice to see you again.
Thanks a lot for the detailed review and for the thorough exploration. The deeper floor indeed gave more money but we neglected to display that. In an effort to make the UI as minimalist as possible we ended up confusing everyone. The same goes for the speed upgrade, it was nerfed quite a bit because it made the game look bad when the pickaxe swung too fast, now it mostly reduce the cooldown between swings and the knockback from hitting blocks.
The gold placement system is simple but pretty intentional, gold blocks will usually spawn on cave walls or in small cluster to make them more pleasant to find. I'm really glad that someone noticed.
Thanks again for playing, I'll be sure to come check your game when I get some time.
Even if people don't notice, the intentionality there probably still greatly helps the feel. I find that's the case with a lot of procgen stuff, in my game for this jam I generate (some pretty crappy) house interiors, and probably no one will notice that every dead end has a chest, but it goes a long way towards making it feel game-y. Someone might notice if dead-ends didn't have chests, as they'd get a "why'd I bother coming here?" feeling, but probably won't notice when it's working. I think I only noticed here because I've got procgen on the brain :D.
And, hi! Yeah, I remember your game from DCJam23 as well, nice to see ya!
I love effects, mining feels amazing. Nice idea with upgrade stations. Great game
Thanks for the kind word !
Lots of fun! I love how upgrading the pickaxe upgrade its area of effect. Digging was super satisfying, and the progression was spot on. Great work!
Thanks for the kind word ! We were afraid that the superior pickaxe would invalidate the dynamite but it does feel good to break 10 blocks with each swing.
That was great! I wish killing the ghosts would give you back even a fraction of what they stole, but that may be just me being a sore loser
Really, great entry!
Neat idea, wish we though about it when adding the ghosts.
Thanks for playing and for the deekback !
Really fun. Enjoyed a lot. Also the mine seemed presistent so that was really cool.
Absolutely, the mine gets randomized each run but it's then persistent until the end of your playthrough.
Thanks for stopping by !
A lot of fun - super juicy and smooth interactions with the mining mechanics. Solid visuals and audio as well.
Thanks for playing !
very cool and satisfying game play. the only thing is I never felt the need to use the gun or dynamite.
It took me a while to realize that the level stay the same between rounds :D which resulted in running around very much.
Very well done!
Thanks for playing !
The gun and dynamite sticks gets more useful the deeper you go, as the deepest part of the mine are filled with ghosts.
Although going there is not necessary to pay the loan, it's mandatory to find Old Sam's father.
Super crunchy gameplay! Definitely I didn't see the little controls screen shot and struggled to figure out the buttons for a while (rip). My one complaint is that there's no consistent way to find the holes, so getting the second ending feels very rng.
Definitely a favorite of mine among the mining games this jam! Good work!
The hole placement is mostly RNG but they'll always spawn close to the center of the mine. As long as don't wander too far from your spawn point they should be fairly easy to find (although we should have probably made that clearer).
Anyway, thanks for stopping by !
The old-timey Gold Rush aesthetic was really well done, from the sepia-tone look to the music and dialogue. Just like the founding fathers intended!
I really liked the bouncy walking animation.
The multiple endings were a nice too. Really well-balanced submission that hit every part of the jam. Gave it replay value and feels like a complete Gameboy game. Good one!
Thanks a lot for the kind word ! The four endings were a late additions but I'm glad we managed to squeeze them through.
Really cool game, it reminded me of Stardew Valley's mine. I especially loved the old-timey slang ! The overall graphics are great, I was impressed with the scrolling effect in the overworld and the digging animations. Congrats on making a full-featured game in a week !
Thanks for the kind word !
This is another one of those games that handled the scope of the project perfectly imo. The incremental power ups and brief 5 day window to pay back your debt is the perfect length for a short jam like this.
The game also makes great use of the color palette, with clear and very cute graphics. Personally, I love the general look and style of Old Sam's Gold.
With the secondary theme clearly visible, this is a VERY promising entry and one of the best and more complete ones I've played, with a unique hook/playstyle to boot. Well done!
Thanks for the kind word !
EEEE HEHEHE there be gold in them there mine!
Dem's mountain's full o' gold, I tell ya
This is so good
Man, that's one of the most satisfying game I played on this JAM. The game feel is SOOO good: breaking stone and gold with the upgraded pickage is perfect. Really really neat.
The visuals are super well made. I can't opine on the sounds because, for some reason, the web version didn't play sound for me :(
But man, really good game here. Everyone should give it a shot.
Congrats!!!
Hey thanks for the kind word, loved how ambitious your game was, very nice job !
Your issue with sound is strange, have you tried using the desktop version ? The game is a lot more pleasant with sound, both to make mining more satisfying and to indicate when the timer will end.
Just tried the downloadable version and the sound worked as it should!
Cool music and sfx man!
Very nice game. Extremely satisfying gameplay and the upgrades feel really nice.
Thanks for the kind word !
Really fun game! Even just swinging the pickaxe feels incredibly satisfying.
My only complaint is that I wish it lasted a bit longer. =)
Thanks for playing ! The pickaxe swing took longer to make than anything else in the game. Glad it turned out the way it did.
Have you tried getting every ending ? You get something different if you upgrade every tool before paying your loan or if you reach the bottom of the mine
Incredible how you did this in such a short time! The graphics are awesome, love the sound, and it’s really fun to play. I’d definitely call this game a hidden gem!
Thanks a lot for the kind word ! However, no hidden gems here, only old gold.
The timing was even shorter than expected as we could not work on it during the first week end.
Fun approach to the jam and theme! Core gameplay feels solid and I really liked the pressure and tension from the timer. Bonus points for the opening cutscene~
Thanks for stopping by ! Glad to hear that rushing that cutscene was worth it in the end