Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD59 → LEFT ON RED
By human-writes-code, lenny-rudeberg and TeganTiu
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 340 | 3.68 | 61 | |
| Fun | 228 | 3.67 | 61 | |
| Innovation | 238 | 3.68 | 61 | |
| Theme | 165 | 4.16 | 61 | |
| Graphics | 453 | 3.70 | 61 | |
| Audio | 387 | 3.37 | 60 | |
| Humor | 76 | 3.96 | 59 | |
| Mood | 360 | 3.74 | 56 |
A great, cohesive game! The music is a bit repetitive, but overall it fits the atmosphere. Cool intro cutscene and pretty decent gameplay. A bit buggy though. At some point I kept getting stuck and couldn't walk. I had to move around by dodge-rolling. Also, after the timer ran out I expected to see a victory screen, but that's not really a big deal. Overall, a solid, short entry.
Great small game, fits the theme and the introduction is also great! It does feature a few bugs that can be ironed out, as well as a suggestion: Have ball throwers spawn randomly, as its easy to expect the balls from the same locations. Have the timer go down only when I'm in the zone, or count score when I'm in it, either works!
The fusion of the frantic dodging gameplay with the puzzle solving is really creative. That feeling of having to balance intense action while also worrying about the phone's reception keeps the tension high. Great concept!
An interesting take on the idea
There's a bug with the phone when I was typing a message in the zone, it fell out of my hands and the character got stuck in place. I couldn't reproduce it. I'd like the phone to be made more noticeable
As mentioned above, it would be cool to spawn people with the ball in different places
The visuals are very pleasant, both 2D and 3D, and the comic really helps immerse you in the atmosphere. A separate like for the tutorial
I had a great time
@zimennik Thanks for playing. Sorry to hear you ran into a bug, that's not one that we came across in development so we'll have to do some figuring out. And, yeah, we had grand plans for the victory conditions which got dropped as time ran out.
@spliddo Thanks for checking it out! Those are all great ideas. We were going to do more with the ball thrower behaviour but got bogged down in some other issues and ran out of time. That's the game jam way!
@eugenik Glad you liked the concept, that's exactly what we were going for. Clearly, there's plenty of places to improve things but we feel like the general idea is there. Thanks for playing!
@makintosh That phone bug is a weird one. I'm guessing you somehow got stuck in or on the phone model. Glad you liked the visuals! Thanks for checking out our game.
Fun mechanic, i really liked the graphics and the physics on ball hit aswell. Unfortunatly i got stuck after completing the first Quick Time Event and it could not register my keystrokes even when standing on the green dot.
The main idea is good, but my character sometimes gets stuck, which breaks immersion. Aside from that, the graphics are solid (especially for a jam game), and it definitely meets the theme goal!
very fun game idea! trying to dodge the balls while at the same time trying to respond to a text message is pretty difficult, as I would imagine it to be in real life as well hehe
@jo-bettaque @pavel-goncharov @universeflow Thank you all for playing the game. I'm sorry to hear that you are getting stuck. We appreciate the kind words, too!
I had some little issues (character stuck after being hit, buzzing sound on good inputs, inputs bugged after grabbing back my phone) but it's a jam game so it's part of the pleasure ! I really like the controls, the challenge is nice without being too hard.
Very nice take on 'signal'! Gives a classic flash game vibe. Basic mechanic is super fun. With a little more polish, I could see myself taking turns playing this with a friend and trying to beat each other's score.
It might make for a tighter game if the round was a bit shorter and more intense. And I think I ran into the same bug as zimennik. Cheers!
Great mood and quite fun. I like the kind of design where you have to multitask!
very fun idea and really creative. I got stuck at some point, but other than that i really enjoyed it!
Man, I'm terrible at bullet hell games XD The concept and atmosphere are great, but I felt like the difficulty curve was lacking-specifically, there wasn't enough progression. Because of that, the first few minutes of gameplay were a real struggle, with me constantly having to restart. It also wasn’t entirely clear when I could enter messages, since I constantly had to take my eyes off dodging just to see what the signal was.
yeah...I really hate when my mum texts me that step sitter is stuck and I need to dodge P.E. teachers balls to write her back.... :D fun idea. But there were too many balls. It was really hard just to survive without texting. At first I didnt event notice that my phone was missing and was confused why the arrows werent responding - maybe if the phone was bigger or something like that? But - funny and nice graphics.
@janinna21 🤣🤣 Thanks, yeah the phone could definitley be bigger and also have like an arrow or something indicating where it is when you drop it. Glad you enjoyed it.
What an interesting game!! I failed several times, but it was really fun
@francaaa @pavel-goncharov @makintosh @spliddo @zimennik @pastry-chef @mortith @jo-bettaque Thanks for playing our game guys, We updated the game so now you shouldn't get stuck anymore and the dodge ball guy spawn in different places now too. There's probably a few other bugs in there and we wanted to have a scoreboard on the Game Over screen that shows how many texts you sent to your mum but we ran out of time to impliment it properly.
@500 Glad you enjoyed it. It kinda reminds me of trying to do two things at once, like patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time 😂
I think thats the best game overall i played this jam! GJ!
seems pretty fun but arrow keys just dont work at all
@kintsugi lol, thank you. I’ve played some pretty good games that I feel are much better than ours, we really appreciate your feedback.
@strainer Thanks for playing our game. I wasn't able to replicate the same problem, you need to stand in the red circle to input the arrow keys. Also it's very small but if you drop your phone, you need to pick up before texting too. We didn't get a chance to finish making a tutorial/how-to-play scene, I think this would've helped alot.
It was fun, thank you for the game, it was really fun to play, although the phone was blocking part of the area, well, that's a small problem, and THE GAME IS GREAT
Very fun experience and polished game! I love how quickly I got into the game loop and even if I failed quite fast the first time it was easy to get going again, def gave it a few runs! Great mood and a different take!
Really cool idea, and just a tiny bit of stress ;)
I think there’s still a bug where you hear an error sound even when you enter the correct input.
By the way, I’d be all for being able to use the phone as a projectile! It’s probably indestructible anyway! ;)
@astroaceone Thanks! 🌞 Yeah, the phone does get in the way from time to time.
@barbapapa That's great! I'm glad you could pick it up quickly, especially since we didn't get a chance to create a tutorial scene for the game 😅. Thanks for your feedback.
@yoko-san Yeah there are still some subtle bugs here and there, the audio bug is one we're still trying to work out. Funnily enough we did originally have the phone collide with the dodge ball, it would knock the ball away but bounce the phone out of the map so we chose to get rid of it.
The game is overall very good. The only questionable moments: the phone popping up covers the enemy in the corner right and sometimes the phone may fall right in the spot where enemy is about to spawn. Quite irritating! But still, good game
@lenny-rudeberg haha, ok, phone glitching out of the arena sounds like a pretty serious game breaking bug :D
@dvan1337 Really appreciate your feedback. It's definitely a notable issue, if we removed the spawn point in that corner and maybe adjusted the phone graphics size it might make it less of a problem.
@lenny-rudenberg, removing the spawn point would make a good sitting cheesing point, so it's not a good idea. Adjusting the phone tho would make a good change.
That was a really clever use of the theme.
Wow, this game made me sweat Insteresting idea for the theme! The game itself is fun, really fun, however bugs are pretty annoying Especially the fail sound, you get it all the time after the first miss (even if you type the right arrows!) and the phone can fly away so far that you can't reach it But don't get me wrong, those are just bugs, I really enjoyed playing your game!
A novel take on the theme. :) I played without reading anything first, and took me a minute to realize, once you're hit by the dodge ball, you drop the phone and have to pick it back up. Nice job with the models, art, and audio.
Funny game, I loved it! Almost didn't notice whole 15 minutes were gone...
photo_2026-04-23_17-46-33.jpg
At some moment my phone got stuck in the wall so I had no chance of picking it up and died. Minor bug, but now you know :)
Fun idea and very well executed overall. I found it a bit difficult to control, maybe it would feel more comfortable and fun with a controller. I kept dropping the phone and struggled to pick it up again.
I really like how the visual style supports the atmosphere of a school gym, it adds a lot to the experience. Great work!
Cool start cutscene) and fun gameplay but too hard, if you after receive massage give a health would be nice)
I really like the presentation and idea. I found it way too hard, but really cool concept.
I like that there is a combination of several mechanics here. You should use both hands at the same time and it's funny! I had some problems without the tutorial, during the first 3-4 attempts I didn’t understand that the phone fell out of my hands when I get damage, and I thought that I needed to stand in a circle to get back the ability to use arrow keys (but maybe i'm just not very smart :D) and when I read the comments below this Ludum page I understood how it works and it became quite fun! Nice game!
Really cozy little project! As a fellow phone-signal-game-concept, I really like how you combined that idea with the kid at school setting (it gave me very fond Backyard Sports memories). Thanks so much for sharing! :)
I like the old phone )
Very fun Ideas and theme! I especially liked the mechanic of trying to pick up the dropped phone! Though a combination of some bugs, made it tough to enjoy the story and game, such as the gameplay and story screens being kind of tiny, dogdeball players spawning on top of you, and maybe its a skill issue on my part, but many of the dodgeballs seemed incredibly difficult to dodge due to their speed, let alone three to four being fired at you at the same time! Overall super fun game and concept though! Great work!
[Screenshot 2026-04-25 at 10.36.07 AM.png](///raw/ae0/c3/z/72b2b.png)
Trying to get a screenshot in here, but I'm unsure if it's working.
What a crazy premise :D Dodging balls while talking to mom The dropped phone mechanic is super funny and kinda stressful in a good way 😄 However, I would highlight dropped phone bit more
@jiamu-zhao Thanks, I hope you enjoyed playing it 😊
@owi @crimsontrouper @dvan1337 @agent-p Thanks guys! All your feedback is super helpful, we were able to fix the audio bug and adjusted the in game phone size so it's easier to see now. Also scaled down the UI so you can see the whole play area and slowed down the enemy spawn rate slightly (could probably be slower still 😅). The phone getting stuck isn't a simple fix with the way we put everything together for the jam. I'll probably rework it all if I choose to do a larger build of this game in the future.
@matt2728 Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it, I'll try remember to build a tutorial page next time I build a game like this 😅
@nadia-pixel Thanks! I did think of adding controller support, it wouldn't be too hard to impliment either.
@irkar Thanks. Having health recovery after replying to a text would definitely help with the difficulty of the game.
@dylan-shumway @3blackpixels @grimslinger Thanks for the feedback
@panduplan Yeah we did wasnt to add a visual cue for the dropped phone but we ran out of time
Fun gameplay and original mechanics, kept us hooked during the whole game.
Some bugs though or the phone spawns at frustrating positions, but despite all of this the game is really nice :)
@unreststudio Appreciate your feedback. There are few things that could be improved with the phone but we ran out of time during the Jam. We'll probably overhall it if we decided to work on the game further post jam.
Thanks for this game!!, it's so frenetic and very fun, I like the history, graphics, and the sound, it feels newtro This game is a lot of fun and has potential. Congratulations
I like the idea, but 1) I don't have time to read the text messages. 2) The red circle gets small before the arrow minigame even starts. 3) There's no indication whether I picked up the phone or not.
You should give 4-5-6-n-... text messages for a single storyline. Like, the player sends something but can't see what it is, and at the end of the level, they can read the entire message thread.
This was a lot of fun! The mixture of bullet hell with quick typing worked really well. I really felt the pressure to type quickly to avoid the balls XD
One small point of feedback is that it was not so clear to me that I had to pick the phone back up after getting hit. At first I thought there was a bug when I couldnt type anymore, but after rereading the description I figured it out. Also, it might be nice if there was a little delay between the opponents spawning and them throwing the ball. Now it felt a little unfair to get hit by a ball out of nowhere sometimes.
But those are both relatively small points. Really well done! :D
@afro-code Thanks! The newtro look was definitley intentional, we looked at late 90's phones and I used Megaman Legends as inspiration for the character design
Solid entry. Simultaneously needing to move and enter the arrows felt almost too much multi tasking but still manageable. The arrow keys did not always register when I was in the bubble not sure if its a bug.
Nice game! I really enjoy it although I'm a bad soccer player……;D
Cool game! Interesting combination of gameplay elements. I have to admit I was really bad at it.. With some polish regarding getting stuck and visual cues this could be a cool little arcade title.
What a fun and unique idea! I had such difficulty trying to figure out the arrow key puzzles while also dodging balls. I was really terrible at getting through it as I felt the difficulty ramped up fairly quickly! Great job on this!
@wuppos Thanks! Yeah the phone definitely needs an indicator for when it's not in your hand anymore and if I had more time I would've liked to balance the enemy spawning and attacking better.
@kkkyia @fnelix @akapythius Thanks for playing guys 😊
@beats Thanks for checking out our game, if you get hit by a ball the player drops the phone and you have to pickup the phone before you can use the arrow keys in the bubble.
@allax We did actually write code for the text messages to be displayed on the game over screen but we ran out of time to impliment it properly. There are a few things I'd like to adjust if I worked on a post jam build. Thanks for your feedback.
Hilarious concept and a fun mood. Unfortunately the arrow keys stop working about 30 seconds in. It would be so cool if you had a discord bot or something so players had to actually respond to text messages on their physical phone while playing the game :laughing:
@madbarron Glad you enjoyed it. A couple people have commented on the arrow keys but I haven't been able to replicate the issue. I think it's because it's unclear that you lose your phone when you get hit by a ball and need to pick it up before you can text again (we ran out of time to make a tutorial).
very fun idea and really creative. I got stuck at some point, but other than that i really enjoyed it!
@ao-85 Thanks for checking out our game
hahaha love the premise and hectic gameplay
@guyunger Thank you for the feedback 😊
Fun idea, well executed, I enjoyed it. Loved the art at the beginning. Would be nice if there was a bit of warning time before a new ball is thrown when the guys appear. Needing to go towards the edge to pick up the phone often meant getting hit by someone that appears too close for me to have time to react.
@lenny-rudeberg yes! I played again and you're right. The phone must have gone flying and I didn't notice before. Once I pick the phone back up I can text again.
A really great idea and an excellent use of the theme. I love the 3D model of the boy, it fits the setting perfectly. I hope you keep working on the game after the jam, because with some more polish this could easily become a fantastic full game!
Ah, great game idea, you did a good job. I'm encountering a bug where, after being hit by a ball, I can't enter any more codes using the keyboard arrows.
@madbarron Awesome, thanks for checking it out again
@anszwa Thanks! Definitely gonna continue working on it post jam and try expand the game, even if it's just for a learning experience to improve my dev skills
@valb-soares Appreciate the feedback, a few people have mentioned this. It's actually an unclear game mechanic that we never properly indicate in the game because we ran out of time. If you get hit by a ball, you drop your phone and need to pick it up before you can use the arrow keys to text.
@ethan-allwood Thank you! @tegantiu did a huge favor for us putting the comic art together for us last minute. It could definitely use some balancing and spacing for the enemy spawning and throwing so it doesn't feel super challenging and random. I'm hoping to revisit the enemy mechanics and game loop post jam.
Woo easilly the most entertaining LD entry I've played so far. Wasn't SUPER BUGGY for me, a little something maybe but still very playable. The shift dodge was a really good mechanic and overall the idea of this just worked very nicely imo! After I figured I needed to pick up the phone it was a really good time. Also I have to say I really loved the design of the itch page and the main banner in general. Super stylish! Great job on the entry folks!
It's a fun game, but I didn't like that when the circle appears at the edge, a man with a ball may appear next to you and immediately hits you.
Ok so let's start with the good, I think the presentation and especially the humor here are strong, really funny premise. I think the concept of the gameplay is good but it needs some refining.
I found it a little frustrating that there doesn't seen to be any obvious visual que for when the dodgeballs are thrown like a more exaggerated throw animation, nor a few seconds of leeway for the player to realize another thrower just spawned.
I found the balls bouncing off the walls to actually be kind of annoying especially because they still hurt you if they touch you forcing you to sit somewhere in the middle. it would help a lot if they had a drop shadow underneath because there have been a few instances where I thought I wasn't in the way of a ball just to be hit by it. one more thing that would be nice is to have some kind of smear lines behind the ball to help better judge what direction they are traveling
the signal circles spawning close to the throwers would be fine if their appearance was telegraphed better but as is, if one spawns when you are in the circle it just guarantees you will get hit if you aren't quick enough. I think the phone gets thrown really far away, which I wouldn't mind so much but sometimes even out of bounds if you get hit somewhere close to the edge
Overall I think the base concept is solid but it definitely needs a lot of small tweaks ion order to make it feel nicer to play