Let’s talk a bit about the development process behind our game Cave Escape — what worked, what didn’t, and what we wanted to do but didn’t have time for. Ludum Dare is always a race against the clock, and this one was no exception.

What was supposed to happen (but didn’t)

The original idea for Cave Escape was a journey from darkness to light. The player starts deep underground, climbing higher and higher, with the hope of eventually reaching the surface.

We planned for a moment where your score would flip from negative to positive — and with that, the whole world would shift: sky-blue background, clouds, bright new palette. A visual breath of fresh air.

That never made it in. But the idea stuck — and who knows, maybe in a post-jam version?

The last remains of a sky that never came.

Skins and palettes

We experimented with a bunch of color palettes and character skins. The idea was simple: let the player choose the one that feels right for them — nothing too fancy, just a splash of personalization. Or maybe auto-change it during gameplay.

We ended up shipping with just one look, but the other designs? They’re still in the project folder, glowing softly, waiting.

Neon knights that never saw the light — but maybe one day.

Platform generation: 10 hours of debugging

One of the biggest time sinks during the jam was fixing a bug that made some platforms literally unreachable. We didn’t spot it right away, and it cost us dearly — over 10 hours of troubleshooting and tweaking generation logic just to make sure you could actually keep climbing. The fix wasn’t glamorous, but it was necessary.

Trusty notebook saved the day.

Calm spots that stayed on paper

One of the ideas we were really excited about was to add occasional rest zones during the climb — small caves that would break the tension and give the player a moment of calm. No chasing darkness, maybe a couple of boost items. Just a quick breather before the next intense section.

It’s meant to be randomly inserted rooms that changed the pace of the game. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to implement them during the jam. It’s an idea we’d like to implement if we keep working on the game.

Сoncept mockup of what such a zone could’ve looked like.

Thanks for reading!

Cave Escape is our first project — made with a lot of love, late nights, last-minute fixes, and more color palettes than we care to admit.

It would mean a lot if you checked out the game and gave it a try. We’re really curious to hear what you think.

Play here 👉🏻 https://flingeris.itch.io/cavescape

Rate us here 👉🏻 https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/cave-escape