FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD57 → Listening Winds

Listening Winds

By hoichael

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall2073.8427
Fun4843.3227
Innovation1003.9427
Theme3843.7827
Graphics884.4027
Audio2553.6227
Mood1114.0927

Comments

coyotethursday 2025-04-08 05:54

I think the link to the itch page is broken, but I really want to try this one!

hoichael 2025-04-08 06:12

@coyotethursday My bad, been a while since I last published something on itch and I forgot that newly created projects require manual publishing after saving the initial draft. Thanks for the heads up, enjoy!

popdaddygames 2025-04-08 06:37

Where do you go after you get here?screenshot_20250407_233631.png

basekeet 2025-04-08 06:45

Really enjoyed the game! The graphics were beautiful, even though my brain sometimes struggled with everything being black and only white lines visible. Got a bit lost on level 2 — not sure where to go. Also stopped at the white room, not sure if there's more after that.

art-alchemist 2025-04-08 06:47

The link worked for me. True, I had to download it instead of playing in the browser, but that's probably how it was intended.

I really liked the game's visual style. The faces flying from all sides were even a little scary.

Actually, I would be grateful if you could tell me in general terms how the graphics in the game were made. Or maybe there is some tutorial in your bookmarks?

UPD I see source code. I think I can research your graphic)

hoichael 2025-04-08 06:50

@PopDaddyGames nowhere, congrats on reaching The Light. Sorry for the confusion, maybe I went a little too abstract with the "implicit" victory screen :P

coyotethursday 2025-04-08 06:55

The mood in this game was excellent, the sounds were super immersive and I think the minimalist art style worked really well. I got lost in the level with all the hills, but I just walked in a straight line and was eventually able to find my way out. The breath mechanic was really satisfying.

hoichael 2025-04-08 06:57

@basekeet That's kind of the idea but yea, some sections are a little problematic to navigate. When it comes to limiting fundamental player senses like vision it's always treading a fine line between interesting and annoying. And, on the white room, well, see my reply above. Thanks for playing!

popdaddygames 2025-04-08 07:10

@hoichael you should add just a little bit more clarification

overall this is a superb game!

I -love- your artistic style here. The change in level design is amazing.

This is something you should totally flesh out, if it spoke to you, because you really have something special here!

5/5 from me

I really loved this whole thing

hoichael 2025-04-08 08:46

@art-alchemist Yep, initially the whole thing was stuck in draft lol, that was the problem. And yea, no browser version yet. I may or may not upload a WebGL build of the same version in the upcoming days, depending on how well different browsers handle the game.

To answer your question: Outline shader (any technique except inverted hull should work) + unlit flat color materials + flat color camera clear flags + short camera frustum + terrain environment.

The combination of short view frustum and terrain environment is particularly important. With this setup environment elements look like they gradually "grow" out of the ground as you approach them. This happens because the bottom part of terrain hills/bumps is closer to the camera than any part above (because its wider than any part above) and, bottom to top, gradually narrows with a curved shape. In contrast, symmetrical meshes consisting of large flat surfaces like cubes would instantly pop in and out of vision.

I hope that answers your question, thanks for playing!

hoichael 2025-04-08 08:47

@popdaddygames thanks, happy you enjoyed it so much.

roxxorxx 2025-04-08 12:47

Interesting art choice it work very well. Mechanics are cool!

ezduzzit 2025-04-08 14:21

The visuals are really really cool, I definitely confused myself a few times moving around too fast and looking down into the hole when I hopped in lol.

xoudz 2025-04-08 15:54

i like this

isayneigh 2025-04-08 17:39

Ridiculously imaginative. I would buy this in a heartbeat. My only qualm (albeit one of my own doing) is I can't seem to get past the faces. When I press LMB it just restarts the game :cry:

hoichael 2025-04-09 02:22

@isayneigh hey, sorry about that. "LMB" as in Left Mouse Button, not keys on the keyboard. Maybe I should have written the full string rather than abbreviate it, to leave no room for ambiguity. It's a crazy coincidence that the L key just so happens to be the dedicated reload button for dev purposes. Oh well, glad you still enjoyed the experience, even with such a big part of the game missing. Thanks for playing!

floppynub 2025-04-09 03:04

Really cool game, the presentation is absolutely on point. It's wild what you were able to achieve visually, I absolutely loved it. Good work!

wolfier 2025-04-09 03:12

I think there's a bug with the faces where their "extra vision kill" only lasts about a half a second so there's no time to really take advantage of it.

Really nice game, you did a really good job with the audio

zungryware 2025-04-09 03:39

I love it when games use shaders as an integral part of their artstyle. The edge-detection combined with the growing and shrinking hills looked really nice! Great atmosphere and mood overall.

teist 2025-04-09 08:35

Pretty depth interpretation, and while its a proudly implemented 3D game, the main theme being audio, its's imo lacking on this depth (no pun intended, sort of); shortly this interpretation got a lot of potential but lack of audio polish (imo, of course)

isayneigh 2025-04-09 13:10

@hoichael OHHHH. So definitely my fault, clearly I don't PC game too much otherwise I would know that.

thrawn911 2025-04-09 14:59

I really like the minimalist art style, really unique.

ezard94 2025-04-09 16:11

The art style is incredible ! Overall an amazing experience. The atmosphere, the explorations, the sounds effects so much things are well done. Thank you for game, great job !

oddballdave 2025-04-09 20:50

I really love the aesthetic of this one. The gameplay is good too. Nice atmospheric audio. I did indeed make it to the light. Good stuff :8ball:

kamuniaft 2025-04-09 23:20

The visual part really stands out. Loved those contrasts and shapes. Stylish! Great entry.

gamurmakesgems 2025-04-10 00:35

Cool shaders, is the left click blast supposed to just knock the scream away? The terrain emerging when you get close is a nice touch

finlal 2025-04-10 17:11

Visual style is perfect! And the game overall, but Im walking into white nothingness for long time and dropped out of the level ahaha

idos 2025-04-11 20:44

I really liked how you played with the visuals, but I would like some hints, although I played the game with pleasure!

quinn 2025-04-12 08:50

Really liked this. I also did not know I had reached the end for sure, walked around in The Light for a bit, but I think that's an ok abstract way to do it. The graphics were really interesting for how simple they were. Felt very much in the vibe of Antichamber. Great work. My only criticism is just a bunch of text at the beginning for tutorial that I didn't quite remember and couldn't test the controls as they were described.

sinclairstrange 2025-04-17 18:08

Wow really lovely and atmospheric. The visuals are amazing and I highly enjoyed this, it felt like one of those dreams you sometimes have, great stuff! ^-^

hypersomnia 2025-04-17 22:38

I love the art style and the mood you built so much!! SO creative!!!