Deep Salvage: An Underwater Scavenging Dive

Sun Jan 26 2025

A Unity project made for Global Game Jam 2025, Deep Salvage sends players diving for ship wreckage, dodging fish, and managing a depleting air tank to push deeper before they have to resurface.

Written by: DarthPackman

Deep Salvage was built for Global Game Jam 2025 in Unity. Players dive into open water to collect scattered ship parts, weaving around fish while keeping an eye on a depleting air supply — refilling at intervals to buy enough time to push further down and reach the more valuable wreckage below.

Core Gameplay Loop

The risk/reward tension comes from balancing depth against air: going deeper means better salvage, but it also means further from a refill and more obstacles to dodge along the way. Managing the air tank turns every dive into a small resource-management decision — push for one more piece of wreckage, or head back up before running out.

Core Technical & Design Elements

1. Underwater Movement & Hazard Avoidance: Built swimming movement and fish-dodging mechanics suited to an open underwater space rather than a traditional platformer or on-rails setup.
2. Air Management System: Implemented a depleting air resource that gates how long a player can stay at depth, with refill points that shape the pacing of each dive.
3. Jam-Scoped Solo Development: Designed, built, and polished entirely solo within Global Game Jam’s tight time constraints.

Final Result

Deep Salvage delivers a compact, tension-driven diving loop where depth, hazards, and a ticking resource clock combine into a simple but effective risk/reward gameplay hook.

You can download and play the game here.