Bigmode Game Jam 2025

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A jam submission

TrencherView game page

2D Roguelike with mining and building

Submitted by Aaron Moseley — 14 hours, 36 minutes before the deadline

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Trencher's itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
Theme	#272	3.324	3.324
Originality	#324	3.324	3.324
Presentation	#366	3.054	3.054
Fun	#395	2.730	2.730

Ranked from 38 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does your game represent "Power"?
Trencher is, in essence, about taking electrical power from a source at one house and diving deep underground to extend it and bring it to another house. A large emphasis is also placed on building and maintaining powered infrastructure, like lighting and automated turrets. This is done by making the majority of the play area very dark, encouraging lighting. Two enemy types also spawn underground and can destroy what you've built. They are prevented from spawning in areas where you've placed lighting and turrets can shoot at them to defend your progress.

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Comments

Viewing comments 32 to 21 of 32 · Next page · Last page

OofishySubmitted281 days ago

This game is really cool! i would definitely play this as a full game! i did notice i could easily outrun the camera

Submitted

Wizard Without Legs

BarryBackhandSubmitted287 days ago

I had a great time mining. the presentation is great, the sense of progression feels fun and the entire idea of editing and carving up the world makes for such a fun and dynamic gameplay loop. Great work!

Submitted

TunaheadSubmitted287 days ago

Didn't expect a crafting and mining game this jam haha :D
very nicely done. The movement sometimes feels a bit slippery. The rest is pretty competent. Although I found the Resource Gathering a bit tedious.

Submitted

Aaron MoseleyDeveloper287 days ago(+1)

Thanks for the feedback! The movement being slippery is a bug I plan to fix tomorrow. I do agree about the resource gathering and I plan to increase the spawn rate as well

Kiran K.Submitted287 days ago

Awesome little game!

Submitted

DrDre3kSubmitted288 days ago

The player felt really slippery, which is not necessarily a problem if that’s what you were going for. I kept trying to hit esc to cancel out of building, but that would take me out of the level which was a bit annoying. Gameplay wise I thought the energy line mechanic and managing towers was great! It really reminded me of Creeper World.

Submitted

Magical Gearbox

Aaron MoseleyDeveloper288 days ago(+1)

Thank you for playing! There’s a bug with the movement on some computers that causes that issue. I’ve known how to fix it since the day after the deadline but can’t update it until tomorrow. I bound cancelling building mode to right click but I agree that escape should do the same thing and I’ll definitely add that in soon. Thanks for the feedback

DrDre3kSubmitted288 days ago

Sometimes that’s just how it goes with Game Jams and thinking of something a day later, has certainly happened to me 😅

davo_vSubmitted289 days ago(+1)

I loved the art style! Was a tad pixelated but it had its charm to it.

Submitted

StasysSubmitted290 days ago

This was a lot of fun! I feel like using a higher resolution would've worked better with your pixel art as most pixels are stretched at all times and they flicker a lot. Besides that really good job!

Submitted

Aaron MoseleyDeveloper288 days ago

Thanks! I was experimenting with a shader that lowered the resolution to make the lighting more pixelated. I definitely have some more work to do with it to use it in the future

StasysSubmitted288 days ago

instead of doing that you should try applying a posterization effect that limits the colors on screen to a fixed color palette. that helps tremendously with pixel lighting thats too smooth! :)

Aaron MoseleyDeveloper288 days ago (1 edit)

Thank you, the shader does that as well. I just found that while it improved the visuals, it didn’t achieve the full effect I wanted for the lighting. I linked the color palette I used in the description of the game

AlakazooSubmitted292 days ago (1 edit) (+1)

Trencher was a bit difficult to get into at the start, but it is a gratifying experience once you get it. You don't see many games like this one with developed systems on jams. Hope it will get a high ranking.

Submitted

DeathiplyxSubmitted292 days ago(+1)

One of those games that runs off pure vibe.

Submitted

GomchikSubmitted292 days ago

Cool vibe. I'm not a fan of this kind of game, but it's really interesting.

Submitted

Aaron MoseleyDeveloper292 days ago

Thanks for trying anyway! I’m happy you were still able to enjoy the visuals and feel of the game

Preeminent_BunnySubmitted292 days ago

I exploded myself more than I'd like to admit, but I had fun.

Submitted

Aaron MoseleyDeveloper292 days ago

Haha thanks for playing. I probably need to increase how far you throw the bombs to help with that but I’m glad you still had fun

sarahsaladSubmitted292 days ago(+1)

Love the vibe of this game with the art style and music. Great job!

Submitted

Viewing comments 32 to 21 of 32 · Next page · Last page