Cavern Crawler
Posted July 5, 2025. Updated today. Played 635 times for a total of 735 hours.
description
short game where you crawl through caverns endlessly and get better each time
NOTE:
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as of writing this description, this is a prototype made in a few days (and also my first incremental game, how neat!) so the balancing and general gameplay is most likely shoddy at best, sorry :/
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there is technically no end to the game, but you'll see all the content in ~30-45 minutes.
newest comments
I like what I'm seeing so far, just from playing for a couple minutes now I think adjusting the layout somewhat so you don't have to swap back and forth between tabs all the time would be a good QOL improvement. (like have upgrades display as a sidebar instead of a tab you switch to).
Pretty cool game, especially for a first game by the dev!!
I would like some QoL features like:
- notification on the Prestige Button in the header when it's available
- more prestige upgrades like, auto prestige or increase the prestige multiplier
Also I think it would be helpful to have a mini display of the current run always visible in all tabs, maybe in the header. If we could see the floor number and a small version of both bars, then we could see where and what was blocking the progress at all times.
Overall very good but I'm trying to get 2 prestige points in one prestige. Is that even possible?
developer response: thanks! i dont remember if it's actually possible, but if it is, it's probably not worth trying to get to it until i get around to reworking the requirements and such (+2 prestige points requires getting past floor 10.)
Amazing!
Congrats on making your first game!
I like that the core game loop is more abstracted than just "buy upgrade, get more points." It rewards you for paying attention to why your run is ending early.
Probably the visuals of your character moving and the delve button could have been on screen at all times, so that you can browse upgrades without missing out on progress, or feeling the need to click back and forth so much.
Maybe the automation upgrade could have been enabled by default after prestiging? Eliminating a chore in a game always feels super rewarding, turning it back on, frustrating.
It seems you only get one prestige point even if you go farther than floor 6? That's a little bit of a feel-bad if you took the time to do a longer run.
Personally, if prestiging doesn't give new mechanics or fundamentally change the game loop somehow, I tend to lose interest.
This is certainly an enjoyable foundation, and I could see it going a couple of different satisfying ways. Bravo, keep making things!
developer response: thanks for the feedback!
i'm definitely in a place to admit a lot of the mechanics people (like you) have been taking note of were definitely less thought out than i would have liked, alongside being biased from the fact i had a very particular mindset in mind when playtesting this that wasn't shared by a lot of people. Prestiges especially weren't exactly well planned. I'll note that you do gain more prestige points if you go further down, but the floor requirement scales rather quickly. I have a lot in mind for potentially fixing combat and/or prestiges, but you'll have to see in the coming days how that turns out. Anyway, thanks again for your feedback, it's very much appreciated!
top comments
It's a very simple and fun concept! I think the combat is unnecessary and if required could be replaced with something else (traps? rockfalls??). Prestige may or may not be necessary. But still, enjoy it a lot!
developer response: thanks for the feedback! combat was added to add some kind of strategy to how you got upgrades, having to manage different sets of stats, and... yeah, prestige admittedly was added hap-hazardly. I'll definitely look into possible improvements/replacements to both of those systems (especially if other people bring those two up.)
Congrats on making your first game!
I like that the core game loop is more abstracted than just "buy upgrade, get more points." It rewards you for paying attention to why your run is ending early.
Probably the visuals of your character moving and the delve button could have been on screen at all times, so that you can browse upgrades without missing out on progress, or feeling the need to click back and forth so much.
Maybe the automation upgrade could have been enabled by default after prestiging? Eliminating a chore in a game always feels super rewarding, turning it back on, frustrating.
It seems you only get one prestige point even if you go farther than floor 6? That's a little bit of a feel-bad if you took the time to do a longer run.
Personally, if prestiging doesn't give new mechanics or fundamentally change the game loop somehow, I tend to lose interest.
This is certainly an enjoyable foundation, and I could see it going a couple of different satisfying ways. Bravo, keep making things!
developer response: thanks for the feedback!
i'm definitely in a place to admit a lot of the mechanics people (like you) have been taking note of were definitely less thought out than i would have liked, alongside being biased from the fact i had a very particular mindset in mind when playtesting this that wasn't shared by a lot of people. Prestiges especially weren't exactly well planned. I'll note that you do gain more prestige points if you go further down, but the floor requirement scales rather quickly. I have a lot in mind for potentially fixing combat and/or prestiges, but you'll have to see in the coming days how that turns out. Anyway, thanks again for your feedback, it's very much appreciated!
haven't played it much yet, but so far i'm enjoying it. will give a 3 or 4
a little barebones but I enjoy what's already here. Very excited to see what's to come
good