FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD59 → Semaphoria

Semaphoria

By illiteratelexicon

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall7323.0426
Fun7442.7325
Innovation2363.6826
Theme1864.1226
Graphics6963.0026
Humor3.003
Mood7472.9325

Comments

pimeko 2026-04-20 13:45

Nice concept, I didn't know much about semophores and now I do ahah

illiteratelexicon 2026-04-20 21:57

@pimeko TYSM for playing ^^

slippers 2026-04-20 22:22

What a great implementation of the theme. I did wonder how many flag semaphore entries there might be, but I had never heard of this type of optical semaphore. I've just been down the Wikipedia rabbit hole.

I wasn't expecting to have an educational evening, but here we are. Thank you.

illiteratelexicon 2026-04-20 22:33

@slippers Thanks for playing !! I guess i didn't realize how niche of a concept it was lol But it was a lot of fun to make. I might expand on it later to make something more complete

pocketdog 2026-04-21 21:23

The game has simple, pleasant graphics, and an interesting idea, but I needed time to understand that I need to repeat the movements behind the semaphore, which is in the left window, and not in front

2026-04-21 21:30

It's interesting how you interpreted the signal theme, quite cool!

tetrergeru 2026-04-21 21:45

I've also had an idea about semaphors at first! We later moved with anothed one, but I'm delighted to see a similaraly minded person :smile_cat:

It took me some time to understand that I actually have to walk aroud. After that I got 90% accuracy on the second try! Pretty hard, but cool

illiteratelexicon 2026-04-22 00:01

@tetrergeru Hell yeah glad someone else thought of them ! The instructions, controls and game in general could definitly use some work but this is my first time participating in a game jam and im just glad i made something that resembles a game lol

illiteratelexicon 2026-04-22 00:04

@pocketdog Ah thats a good point, some more clear direction would definitely help. I think im going to try to continue working on this project until the jam in October and see what I can make. Thanks for playing!

jk5000 2026-04-22 20:04

The idea is fun and I had fun trying the game. The game could use a bit more polish and it's pretty difficult. But overall an interesting little jam game. Well done.

2026-04-22 20:58

You can learn some stuff while playing it so it's cool! I'd like a bit higher POV but just a preference :)

yoko-san 2026-04-22 21:07

Unfortunately, I totally messed up on my first try, but it went much better the second time :)

Maybe you could add some audio cues whenever a new signal is set. A timer would definitely be helpful, too.

illiteratelexicon 2026-04-22 21:35

Thank you all so much for playing! Im currently working on my game design skills and will be trying to make this into a fun (maybe even releasable) game by next LD in October

@yoko-san yeah the tutorial could definitely be better and my original intention was to add audio cues and more ui

@borjaparraga Ill definitely make sure to add a preferences menu in later versions,

@jk5000 Yeah the game definitely needs a thick coat of polish along with a reworking of some systems, most of all difficulty and scoring.

papaver 2026-04-22 21:38

Ha, another semaphore entry! Although being a different semaphore system it seems. Fun fact: just after publishing my LD entry, I considered renaming my game to Semaphoria, but I noticed my url wouldn't change, and that's actually how I found your game, haha!

Now, about your game: I am very bad at navigating in 3D games :laughing: but once I got to the handles, putting the semaphore machine in the correct configuration was not so hard. In endless mode I noticed I could resend my answer many times for the same incoming signal.

It would be nice to have some audio feedback on whether the signals I sent were good. Maybe also some visual feedback would be nice, to show which joints/levers where not in the right position?

Nice jam entry, well done!

illiteratelexicon 2026-04-22 21:53

@papaver OMG thats so funny, sorry I snatched your game name, but its quite cool to see another semaphore entry. Im glad you didnt find the controls to troubling! Yeah theres definitely some bugs in endless mode and with my system for pushing / popping poses to the semaphore towers, sometimes it just kinda gets stuck. I quite like your idea about a visual indicator on the joints that could definitely help

TYSM for playing

zoldanka 2026-04-22 23:20

The title is what drew me in, as I was familiar with the term 'semaphores' in programming, but I just now learned about semaphore towers. Very specific game, points for your imagination! However, if not for the comments I'd have given up, as I had no idea I could move around.

illiteratelexicon 2026-04-22 23:28

@zoldanka ah good to know, thank you. i can see how one could think you don't need to move, ill definitely be adding much more of a tutorial / control diagram

I cant remember when I learned about semaphore towers but I too originally heard the word in the context of programming

Thanks for playing and commenting !

nkvz 2026-04-23 13:44

reallly interest idea and realization of tower. maybe more dark and effects wwowow. nice work.)

illiteratelexicon 2026-04-24 00:17

If anyone successfully ran the Windows build I would love to get confirmation that works! ( it was built on alpine linux )

fassenberg 2026-04-24 20:17

Quite an unusual concept. I’ve never encountered semaphore mechanics like this before. I managed to get “Great” a few times in endless mode, but for some reason it switches to “Trash” after the first attempt. I didn’t fully understand the idea, but it does look interesting.

illiteratelexicon 2026-04-25 04:23

@fassenberg this version can be fairly buggy, the code is "interesting" due to being written so quickly. The expanded concept im working on will hopefully be more coherent and more fun to play!

If youd like some fun reading you can check out the wikipedia for "Optical telegraph" or "Semaphore Telegraph"

Thanks for playing my game !

chybby 2026-04-26 06:30

I didn't know about this signalling method! I would have loved to learn more about what the different signals meant while playing

darkshadow 2026-04-26 15:21

89% when I finally realized I needed to copy the other signal tower not the one I could see first!

illiteratelexicon 2026-04-29 01:50

@chybby Thanks for playing! Unfortantly RN the singals are just random vectors, in the new version I plan to have a narative told through the messages you transmit and what you choose to relay to the next tower.

artur-hawkwing 2026-04-29 23:01

Gotta respect a 3D game in LD -- that's always a feat! Nice take on the theme as well!

jordantanner 2026-05-04 04:26

Innovative and original idea! Great use of theme. Maybe more communication with the player in various ways, more feedback, could be helpful while the signals change -- audio 'signals' could help with this? Very cool!