mdotedot 2026-04-20 08:10
Keep finding the same button .. ha ha .. I liked that you had arrows but it still didn't help me enough. Solid entry. Hopefully someone else is finding all them signals.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD59 → Awaiting Response
By dzejpi
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 83 | 3.70 | 34 | |
| Fun | 140 | 3.34 | 34 | |
| Innovation | 220 | 2.98 | 34 | |
| Theme | 177 | 3.51 | 34 | |
| Graphics | 111 | 3.64 | 34 | |
| Audio | 89 | 3.56 | 34 | |
| Mood | 13 | 4.21 | 34 |
Keep finding the same button .. ha ha .. I liked that you had arrows but it still didn't help me enough. Solid entry. Hopefully someone else is finding all them signals.
That was fantastic! Took me a while to figure out the main idea, but once I did, it was a lot of fun. The "help me, please" sound effect really got me good. You're inevitably going to have people bounce off of this when they don't understand what they're supposed to do, but there's never substance without a little bit of friction. spooky.png
the game vibes are really cool
Thank you for the comment, @mdotedot! It's possible that something is just trying to confuse you with the signs. :eyes:
Thank you for the review, @tolviere! You're right with people maybe bouncing off too early, maybe I should have added some hint into the game over screen. Oh well, sleep deprivation, right?
I liked you vibes too, @cupofmilk7! Thank you for the comment!
Rated all of your games back if not already, and reviewed all of them. :heart:
nice and creepy. love the mystery and exploring the environments.
Wow, that was cool and very well designed/made game! Good job!
I love the vibe of this. The chromatic aberration around the walls and the fish eye lens give a very dream like view. And the back-rooms-esque map is cool. I wasn't quite sure how it tied into the theme beyond the waveform in the top right of the screen but I really liked it a lot!
I managed to escape! Not sure what the trick is exactly, but on my third attempt I just ignored every interactable except the doors
Cool game :D
Wonderfully creepy! I got jumpscared, but it wasn't a *terrible* jumpscare, so you get a pass. The room with all of the arrows pointing at the phone filled me with in inordinate amount of dread.
Thank you all for comments, love them!
Glad you liked it, @khaotom & @johku90!
@richjbaron it's true that it's kind of a stretch, but you are picking up signal every time you are near interactibles, so, let's pretend it counts.
@frib no, don't ignore *it*! !> Joking asides: That's exactly what you're supposed to do, ignore signals and not interact with anything (you are helping *it* find you by doing that) and keep going, that's actually a correct solution, well done!
@guardaro glad you liked that room, it's my favorite too! Glad to get a pass on the jumpscare, the deadline was incoming quickly and I was borderline delirious from the crunch, so, I stitched it together by glue and thoughts and prayers, so, it's not exactly the most terrifying one.
Rated all of your games back, if not already. :heart:
game is all about the vibe. Atmosphere is awesome, sound is good, game feels nice. But monster ai seems incomprehensible, wish it was more clear what to do
Oh boy, this game is fantastic! Took me a while to figure this out. I love how the game deceives the player! Fantastic graphics and sound effects make great mood in the game! One thing I'd enhance is the jump physics. I'm really amazed! Good job!
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Thank you for your comments! :heart:
@beareye yea, I can definitely understand that, I gave the game to play to my friend today and he was confused too. You can check the spoiler in my previous comment which explains how the game actually works. But I really regret not dropping a hint into the game over screen, I will do better next time!
@goodwayman glad you figured it out and the game didn't deceive you completely! How would you improve jumping? Does it feel floaty? Or any other ideas? I'm all ears, since I pretty much just make first person games, so, any improvement there helps. :slight_smile:
Rated your games back!
This was really cool. I did manage to escape, almost couldn't figure out the giant empty room
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Amazing game for sure! The back rooms feeling was intense and I had a lot of figuring out how to escape. The best thing about the design is that every room can take quiet some time to solve, but when you know it, you can speed run the whole thing in a minute or two. Love it!
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GG! Great vibes and sound. I struggled with some of the areas, but was interested enough to keep trying. I liked how you played with player instincts to keep me second guessing what to do. There's maybe a few too many giant chambers that you just have to run through. Great work overall
The game's got a tension to it that was nice.
When I got confused on what to do after following the arrows and didn't really feel like playing more, I was tempted to bounce off.
Spent a little more time exploring without knowing what I was doing, and then I found the room with the computers to reset. Got killed after resetting a bunch of them because I didn't know what I was supposed to do and then decided I was done.
I really like the atmosphere, and I wanted to let the signal guide me, but I had no idea what the signal was. I didn't understand why I died.
Thank you for amazing comments and feedback! And I'm glad more people figured it out, I was starting to get worried.
@bonedaddy maybe I should have put more clues in there, but I didn't have enough time, unfortunately. I had more plans with that room, but the clock was ticking way too quickly.
@fabelay yea, speedrunning is the way, I think you can get to the finish in like not even two minutes!
@dan-whiffing yeah, my classic problem with making maps way too big. I already wrote it down for the next jam, it's a chronic issue of mine. :sweat_smile:
@haln ah, understandable. Really makes me realise I should have put more hints into the game over screen. If you want to know the solution:
!> Do not interact with anything, you're helping *it* to find you, *it* designed the environment to deceive you into helping *it* to find out where you are. This is why arrows do not lead anywhere or point towards things that harm you, and why the exit from the first room has "do not enter" signs. Your ultimate goal is to get to the end without being found out, which means without interacting with anything. But yeah, the way how it's communicated is ultimately not very good, sorry for that.
Rated all of your games back, if not already. :heart:
I'm starting to think these arrow signs don't have my best interests at heart!
I'd ignore the people bouncing off the game; a lot of them are just trying to rate games as fast as possible. The trick isn't really that hard to figure out, and there's value in letting the player come to that realization on their own. That said, my first death was right at the phone, so I initially assumed that was supposed to be the end of the game, since it felt pretty conclusive. The note on the game over screen about trying again was what made me give it another shot.
The *real* nightmare is all the doors opening from the wrong side...
What an uncomfortable experience... in a good way, great job at building the atmosphere!
There's a lot of various paths to take, it reminds me of the Stanley Parable in that way.
Thank you for the comments! :heart:
@henk it's true that maybe it's better to keep it that way, and let players figure it out instead of making everything super obvious. Phone IRL is usually a death of me, so, I would say your gameplay tracks. Didn't notice the doors, that's funny, let's pretend it was made on purpose. Rated your game back!
@zedgame glad it made you uncomfortable, I take it as job relatively well done, I wanted some Stanley Parable fourth wall breaking, but I would say they surely did a better job. Already rated your game, it was my favorite one!
Thick and oppressive atmosphere. I don't know what just happened to me, but something definitely happened. That's the feeling after playing through it.
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Thank you for the comment, @avhatar! Then I take that as job well done, glad you got to the end! Rated your game back! :heart:
woo I made it the end. Got caught the first time, but I imagine most people do. It was fun moving as fast as possible through these liminal places. I don't have much else to say that hasn't been said. Great job!
I like how the game builds its atmosphere as you play. It has great potential to be a horror game. Sometimes I got a bit lost not knowing where to go, especially in the computers section. But even so, it was entertaining! Good job!
Thank you for playing and for your comments!
@phlip45 glad you liked it, and yea, moving as fast is the way to go!
@frowsyfrog interesting; when I was creating that room, doors were super obvious, so, I added some pillars and significantly more tables, maybe a little bit too many.
Rated your games back! :heart:
Neat. I love the ambience - something creepy but not too much. The controls work well as expected. The main aesthetic is minimalist, but good enought with relevant FX. I great work on the acting voice. Good ++
@geckoo1337 glad you liked the voice acting, I bought a microphone like two years ago for more lines, so, I am glad that I finally used it for something. Rated your game, or more like an app, back! :heart:
This is a really cool entry. I was slightly confused after pressing the first button on where to go, but I figured it out haha.
The audio is well done, the backrooms-esk vibes are an easy win for mood, and the graphics are simplistic but i think they work really well.
I will say, every time I died, I really had no idea why I died or even where the monster was or anything like that. Plus, that one room does kind of turn into computer-restart-simulator. The button was a unique interaction, and i think having like, max 5 computers to turn off would have been plenty, but I want to say there was probably...14? haha...gameplay is a tad shallow in that regard, but these kinds of games rarely have intricate gameplay, so for what its worth it fits the genre just fine.
Super impressive to get all this done in 48 hours...nice work!
Thank you for a very detailed feedback, @william-corrin and sorry for replying later, I wasn't very available last two days. Really makes me think that maybe I should have introduced some gradual hints in the game over screen. I will keep that in mind for the next time, creating good and reactive UI that communicates well with player is definitely something I should work on more.
Definitely true that not much of an intricate gameplay here, so, I am not planning to continue on this one after the jam.
Rated your game back, I would say yours was much more impressive for 48 hours. :heart:
I like the setting of this game, and its exploration level and freedom are quite high, which keeps me curious during the exploration. However, I think the guidance of the game could be clearer. But it's still a very good game.
Really atmospheric game! And pretty tough to figure out, but I've managed after several attempts. ;)
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I'd agree with previous comments that it is quite unclear what you are actually supposed to do, but I don't think simply giving hints would work here - I feel like that would only make it too easy and ruin the experience. I think that it could maybe be solved by getting better feedback on player actions, so they could figure it out by observing what happens. Right now, if you interact with objects, almost nothing changes, so you don't know if you have influenced anything and if so then in what way. When you finally cross the interaction threshold, your camera turns around and the monster is there.
Maybe making it more gradual could help. Like after 1-2 interactions there's additional background noise which sounds like the monster is in the area, then with a few more you can occasionally catch a glimpse of a dark shape moving somewhere far away from you, few more and sometimes you can hear something running just behind you, and eventually when you interact too much monster comes to get you. If you wanted to add additional hints to that, then instead of a straight hint at the end screen, you could add a short text describing how "agitated" the monster was, which should hopefully direct players to the right idea.
Despite those, game is pretty cool! The visuals build a very creepy atmosphere, whether it's cramped corridors or a spacious office. All the assets work nicely to give you a sense of unease. The blinking lights in the office got me a bit, though, as I've spent some time trying to figure out if they might be blinking in any pattern or if they're related to the computer triangulation thingy. One of those several misdirections in the game that managed to make me smile. :)
Sounds are pretty good too. I'm still not sure about the buzzing in the background, though. I've played the first couple of times with it on, and after a while I thought it might be a bit much. But after playing it again with buzzing off I wasn't sold on it being better. It feels both like it needs something in the background, whether it is the buzzing or some music, but it is also quite "busy" with the constant beeping, ringing and the "help me please". And I'm not sure how to change it for the better. Maybe making the phone ringing quieter and more rare, and using the buzzing as feedback for interaction limit could work? Dunno. Still, what is there felt appropriate for a horror game, helping to build a tense atmosphere.
Really well done compo entry!
Thank you for your comment, @zhangzhimu! Yea, I agree, will keep an eye on this the next time. Rated your game back!
Thank you for your really in-depth review, @lcstark, love it! I think you're right, the feedback is kinda too subtle, it feels, so, that there's not that much of a difference between (invisible) 20 % or 80 % of "signal" and there could have been more hints.
I think your idea with the monster making some sound after few interactions would actually be really good and super easy to implement, so, that's a shame I didn't have such ideas. I wanted to go with the ideas like catching a glimpse of a dark shape for a bit or some monster movements when it's barely visible and far away from you, but I simply haven't had enough time.
Blinking lights are pretty funny; there's no pattern, because it's actually just a bug, haha. I think it's an issue with incorrect occlusion culling. However, I thought it looked pretty good, so, I kept it in. :laughing:
Constant buzzing is a good feedback. Figured out that most of the people will spend few minutes in the game, so, it wouldn't be a big deal, but I surely can't imagine listening to it for an hour or something. I tried to set 3D audio so that it would kinda work, but when you listen closely, you can surely hear everything at once. Gotta focus on that in the future, because audio is definitely one of my weaker skills.
Thank you very much for the comment and great ideas, rated your game back! :heart:
Holy shit that was creepy, I even got goosebumps! Great job! On the first two runs I never felt in control, and the audiovisuals complemented the confusion about the rules amazingly. The description I had read before the game had set me up very well, and I enjoyed the heck out of it. (I very much took the "don't overthink it" seriously :sweat_smile:). I have to admit though, that I believe it is easy to bounce off of the game if you don't embrace the confusion.
On the first run I only went out of the first stage after exploring every nook and cranny, then promptly got very confused as to "what is the puzzle with these screens", but got out not much after I've seen the door, and then I lost on the long corridor. On the second run I skipped the button and the screens, and although I picked up the phone, in the "geometry room" I finally kinda understood the premise and completely ignored the square things on the floor and won. Didn't turn around ^^ (nice voicelines btw). I spent the next few runs on exploring the game and blasting it open, finally allowing myself to overthink it. Fun stuff. Although, I couldn't crack what's up with the balloon room, I am still creeped out in confusion by this one.
Small stuff I'd change: - the mouselook feels uneven between the X and Y axes, is it scaled with the viewport ratio maybe? - the chromatic aberration is to strong on the text imo, on the edge of being too hard to read (on fullscreen) - literally that's it
I'm so glad you did this one, I was afraid you may be done after you skipped the last LD. I too feel old lately ^^ Remember you can switch to Jam category if you feel like you're stretching yourself too much, and touch up on Monday. You're actually crazy fitting those entries of yours in 48h, chapeau bas.
Thank you so much for the detailed comment, @thelastslowpoke! Glad you enjoyed it and you were able to figure it out in the end. It's true that it's easy to bounce off in this one.
I will have a look at the mouse feeling, but not quite sure what could be issue, because if I remember correctly, the mouse delta should be the same for all axes, but maybe that could be an issue, maybe it should be faster on one of them to feel better.
Chromatic aberration is a little bit overdone for sure. When it's on max, the text is barely readable, I gotta tone it down next time, though I think I won't be doing horror one next time, so, maybe it's not going to be needed.
It's incredibly surprising for me that anyone would even notice that I missed the last LD, this really warmed my heart! :heart: The last autumn was quite challenging, because were were in the process of preparing to move, we were renovating the new apartment, working on new floors, painting, and thousands of other things... so, I was playing around with the idea of joining LD regardless, but I just couldn't do it. For some reason, strangely, it felt kinda freeing to break the streak!
I was thinking about going until Monday on some LD, but I don't want to use my vacation days for that. Though it's true that no matter what, Monday is a borderline sick day territory either way, so, I don't rule it out in the future. It's super challening to do these things in 48 hours, but it feels good... at least for my mind, body is starting to fall apart, it feels, haha.
Rated your game back, loved it! :heart: