FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD40 → Crosstalk

Crosstalk

By shinyogre

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall4523.1663
Fun6032.6363
Innovation573.8662
Theme6272.6260
Graphics5692.6262
Audio3003.0459
Humor1.005
Mood3383.0658

Comments

phillserrazina 2017-12-05 00:34

Well, there's not much to it, I see that it's just a white noise sim type of thing. However, if you did some more levels, this could be a good game, very relaxing too!

eric-lathrop 2017-12-05 05:15

Interesting abstract toy. I'd like to see more visual feedback to help figure out what's going on.

gris 2017-12-05 15:52

It's a different take on the theme but it definately fits it. I agree with @eric-lathrop some visual feedback would be nice. Some more levels and and clearer win state would make it a game that I'd play. Congrats!

oson 2017-12-05 17:36

Interesting app. If you added some more depth in any way that would be nice. The sound is well made.

dogydogsun 2017-12-05 18:06

Cool little thing to relax with, I like the noise reduction mechanic, it's oddly satisfying to reduce the noise as much as possible. It would be cool if you added more levels and a couple of variations with how the squares interact, maybe a couple of different shapes like a triangle and a circle which interact with the noise in different ways, but yeah, cool little thing.

pareidolia 2017-12-05 18:17

A cool, meditative puzzle game, would like to see further development!

zorg 2017-12-05 19:03

Hmmm, i don't get the game. I thought i had to reduce the aural noise as much as possible to make something happen. But nothing happened. Do i have to additionally untangle the connections? I could not stand the flickering background very long. Does it necessarily have to be static noise? Please explain. (I did not rate, yet, because of my unanswered questions.)

shinyogre 2017-12-05 19:08

@zorg Thank you for playing the game. I describe it as a 'toy' because I ran out of time to work out specific puzzle constraints and level progression. So all you need to do is move the shapes around to reduce the volume of the noise. You can then just press space to get another set of shapes to play with. That's all it is. As for the flickering background, I totally understand that it might be hard to look at. If I decide to continue working on the game, that is something that will change.

zorg 2017-12-05 19:25

Thanks for the fast response. I think there is definitely potential here. It would be cool if you would experiment with different sounds and/or beats. Instead of flickering, the background could be blurred and become more clear as the noise disappears (or maybe the goal is not silence but some kind of "sound harmony"?).

vottivott 2017-12-05 23:12

Interesting, certainly a unique submission! To me the noise seemed very similar however, no matter how I arranged the boxes.

jack-maxwell 2017-12-06 01:20

Very interesting, I don't really find that the theme is quite prevelant. It is defiaetly a 4 in innovation

muromets 2017-12-06 01:31

Interesting game, I can imagine having relaxing music in the background, and the white noice over it, then as you finally get rid of all the white noise, the relaxing music gets louder and the screen fades to white, then the next level loads :D

bocodillo 2017-12-06 01:38

Fun to mess around with, but not much more. Would like to see what could be done with this though as it's a very interesting concept!

cercle 2017-12-06 01:39

@muromets I totally second that. Some music after slowly erasing the white noise would be super cathartic.

king-kujito 2017-12-06 02:36

Your web link does not actually link to a version of the game that's playable in browser, just the itch download page.

shinyogre 2017-12-06 03:12

@king-kujito I did not provide a web link. Are you perhaps commenting on the wrong page?

king-kujito 2017-12-06 03:15

@shinyogre oops sorry

racso 2017-12-06 03:52

Kind of relaxing, which is weird given that it's based on noise!

What if this could be turned into an app to help people to sleep? I know that some apps play noise to enhance sleeping; not sure if providing a bit of relaxing activity could somehow be beneficial.

shinyogre 2017-12-06 03:58

@rasco Thank you for playing! And yes, I didn't set out to make a relaxing game, but that's what it became. I may continue work on the game, keeping it meditative.

jjjjason 2017-12-06 06:39

Yay, more games made with LÖVE :heart:

Cool concept, cool presentation. I think on mobile especially a knot-untangling puzzle game with this presentation would be lots of fun. It's almost like a game built tuning a radio to the right frequency.

taugeshtu 2017-12-07 00:10

This is one peculiar toy! It's a bit sad that there's no "win" state, but it's a pleasant relief to solve the noise equation for the sake of your ears :D

alex-bezuska 2017-12-07 22:35

Great concept and good execution.

It is really satisfying to hear the silence when you figure it out. Reminds me of how I feel about my anxiety. Sometimes I feel like my mind is cluttered with ideas and tasks I need to do and I want to reach a calm quiet state where I can focus on one task.

Here are the solutions the 3 times I played: Screen Shot 2017-12-07 at 5.27.12 PM.png Screen Shot 2017-12-07 at 5.28.19 PM.png Screen Shot 2017-12-07 at 5.29.38 PM.png

I love that it is procedural - it's basically generative art. With the addition of a win state and a way to return to the menu this would feel complete.

alottabit 2017-12-08 06:38

Very interesting idea. To me this is one of those games where I'm not quite sure what happened, and I'm totally ok with that. I enjoyed messing around with it for a few minutes, but it needs a few more mechanics or sounds or something to keep me interested for longer. Cool concept, very innovative!

ratbird 2017-12-08 14:29

Nice thing )

budgiem2 2017-12-08 17:42

Love the idea! For me it's a bit too difficult, which is probably because it's random. Maybe some handcrafted levels of increasing difficulty and a separate mode of random levels for the more expert players would be better?

tschery 2017-12-08 23:30

The idea is great! But I am not sure how the objects interact and what my goal is (if there is one). Anyhow great execution on the audio component!

roaring-cat-games 2017-12-09 01:03

Super interesting concept. I want to see where this goes from here. I can see all kinds of additions that affect how the crosstalk volumes.

Here are a couple of 100% silent layouts we got:

Screen Shot 2017-12-08 at 7.58.36 PM.png

Screen Shot 2017-12-08 at 8.00.40 PM.png

Really like how the relationships are subtle, and seem to be based on several different factors.

Great Entry.

lexi 2017-12-09 01:13

Cool entry, well done! I really liked the concept, it inspired me to think about other applications of hidden dynamics in games.

jjjjason 2017-12-09 01:37

@lexi If this game wasn’t already called Crosstalk, “Hidden Dynamics” would be a *fantastic* name.

vasco-rodrigues 2017-12-09 04:24

Interesting game, really like that it is different everytime I play. I don't really understand it but I like it and managed to find some solutions. Good job!

simonhutchinson 2017-12-09 15:16

Cool idea, and nice execution. I abstract ideas that draw in interaction via our curiousity. I wonder if a little more development of the audio (like a kind of radio tuning), might be more effective, but perhaps that goes against the point of the game.

Keep up the good work!

the-triumvirate 2017-12-10 14:23

The game is super abstract ... I really like the idea. Such games are quite rare, so yours stands out but the current version is really simple, has no way to win and is too monotonous and therefore really boring after 30 seconds. :sob: But it could become a cool game. :thumbsup:

r3l0ad1 2017-12-10 15:49

Nice Game, I Am Not Sure How It Could Fit In With The Theme But Nice Game

le-slo 2017-12-10 16:01

I couldn't really understand the relation between the shapes, I could see them but didn't know what to make with that information. I almost reached silence in a couple of "plays" but always got stuck. The white noise is supersmooth and the game pretty relaxing. Original concept.

robinhoodpt 2017-12-10 16:20

Really nice! In the beginning I wasn't really thinking much, but it's an amazing idea and explanation to experience it and show it visually in a easy way. Some things to make it a better experience. Some kind of menu with access to a small explanation, or a small tutorial on it. Just so that people get into the feeling you want to transmit. Even if it's more an experience, I think if you try to gamify it a bit more, it could be easier to understand and even explain. With things like, objectives, levels, time, etc... Small idea: Make the background have more/less noise depending on the volume of the noise, this way you can easily play it even without headphones. Beside that was an interesting experience, especially for me as an audio guy.

I enjoyed the couple of minutes I played the game for, and I understand the hard work needed to create something like this!. :smiley: Our team also worked hard to create a game for the jam. You can check it out [here](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/jazzy-beats)! :whale:

jaimuepe 2017-12-10 16:26

Very original concept. The "game", although simple, was very enjoyable. I think this could be developed further with some improvements (like the background of the game matching with the audio white noise). I read the post you wrote a while ago and yeah, this theme was very disapointing, it lead to a lot of similar games. But you got an idea that wasn't like any other, so congratulations!

ango 2017-12-10 18:13

Yes, it's satisfying to silent the noise. Gameplay feels like go through an optimization algorithm or strategy. Would it be worth that background noises also visualize the sound noises.

sand-gardeners 2017-12-11 10:10

Very cool interactive piece of work, would have been really interesting to have the noise background react to squares too <3 Great job!

porcus-pie 2017-12-17 07:34

It's an interesting toy, although I can see why you call it a toy over a game, there isn't much gameplay in of itself, yet I did get some challenge from finding noise and silence. I never quite understood how the visuals related to the sound, yet I was able to maneuver everything into place. I noticed that when you stacked two squares/diamonds, you couldn't seperate them, and that seemed to be slightly frustrating. This game had an oddly medative feel to it, and I've noticed some people comment on how many music coming in when the noise clears would be good. I agree with this, and even having a variable background that clears as you play. Overall, however, this was a very interesting little noise toy that was fun to experiment with.

linus 2017-12-17 19:44

I can see how this game could be tweaked in so many ways. Instead of having only silence and noise, what if you had different types of noise and could play around with the relationship between them and exploring the latent space.

Very innovative game and fun to try come up with the relationships. It is cool that I managed to find the solution despite not having a clue how I did it. Was the solutions random or was there a pattern to it? Not really sure.

Fun game/toy and I hope to see some tool created with it to make music in some bizarre way. Good job!

sbarrio 2017-12-18 10:43

Interesting concept. Really stands out among more conventional games. Good work!

nekoballs 2017-12-20 10:30

Ahh the silence is so satisfying! Reminds me of the time I didn't have tinnitus. Great toy! It was a bit hard to see the yellow lines.

noble-robot 2017-12-25 13:58

Our team does a weekly indie gamedev podcast called Nice Games Club, and we just did a Let's Play episode where we played thirty-six (!!) Ludum Dare 40 games, including yours (which put us in a calming mood)!

[Check it out here!](http://nicegames.club/2017/12/nice-plays-ludum-dare-40-games-2017/)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BGt66ZnLME

querk 2017-12-27 10:26

Interesting game, I like it :D

furet 2017-12-28 19:42

Very cool concept, though I couldn't figure out what the trick is. I was trying to visualize different 3D shapes, trying to make perfect prisms, but the solutions always seemed to be 2D shapes. Like others, I wished the sound was something else more pleasant. This reminded me of adding pages to books in Myst, where you'd be rewarded with clearer messages each time. I felt like I was decoding or unlocking something secret. It'd be awesome if this was developed into a full puzzle game. :)

2017-12-29 15:00

Very interesting toy! I included it in my Ludum Dare 40 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx45BEcC9_s