FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD59 → Signal from the Stars

Signal from the Stars

By kassanu

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall453.9023
Fun693.6623
Innovation493.8323
Theme64.5023
Graphics1903.2323
Audio1423.2823
Humor1712.2019
Mood343.9723

Comments

termight 2026-04-20 08:57

Man this was a good game. I spent about 40 minutes to figure out those pesky words. 10/10 :smile:

jesus-gonzalez 2026-04-21 23:32

Nice concept. Just 2 minor things: - Tutorial is too annoying, game is easy to understand enough. - Not having codebook while decoding makes no sense, it just increases annoyance instead of being real difficulty in a game this long.

Still 9/10

flameseer 2026-04-22 00:42

I enjoyed this and was engaged and wanted to hear more, but I eventually had to give up because the difficulty actually seeing the tiny text was starting to hurt my eyes, it also sometimes didn't seem to accept symbols I already knew? Would be great if I could have the codebook up next to the translation

aannnnman 2026-04-22 07:07

The game fits the theme very well, but I’m not a fan of this kind of games, so I won’t stay for long. However, ignoring my personal preference, it’s 10/10.

cogcomp 2026-04-23 18:42

Neat game. I thought the tutorial was good. I also found adjusting the filters to be a lot more intuitive than I thought it was going to be. Well done on a pretty cool game! You got the highest ratings so far of all the games I've tried. :smile:

bentglasstube 2026-04-24 05:18

This was a really well done game! I enjoyed the intuitive signal matching with the filters and modulations a lot. The story was interesting and kept me playing. I do wish there was a way to know if a signal was "lore" or just credits, as you get far more credits than are needed to buy all the upgrades. I also wish there was some background music or something. I translated everything I could find but I don't know if I got them all. Really great work, 10/10.

2026-04-26 05:34

The signal filtering and decoding mechanics are intuitive and fun. The story is engaging, and the core gameplay fits the theme perfectly. The tutorial is a bit repetitive. It’s inconvenient to decode without a codebook, and the small text strains eyes. Adding background music would also enhance the mood. A wonderful signal-decoding game with solid design. Minor quality-of-life fixes will make it even better. Great work!

oller125 2026-04-26 10:38

Very cool game that fits the theme well. I enjoyed the filtering aspect. As others have mentioned, it would be good to have the codebook available when decoding. Overall, a great compo game.

ethernal-tech 2026-04-26 11:26

Really nice project! I had a lot of fun playing it and found it very enjoyable. You’re right, we ended up with somewhat similar ideas, but I think your execution, atmosphere, and overall result are really strong, great job! I really enjoyed it! :smile:

bushfire 2026-04-28 22:29

@bentglasstube I don't think you found everything. If you find all, you will get the ending dialogue.

@kassanu I don't know if it was a bug, but sometimes it wouldn't acknowledge the right word, before I filled in all the words. It was quite frustrating swapping between the codebook and the signal, wondering if there was an unknown symbol that would look almost like the silence symbol.

kassanu 2026-04-29 03:27

Thanks all for playing. Yeah I originally didn't need the codebook because everything auto filled in but I changed that late in the weekend. Also I wanted to not have the codebook at all and have people keep track with pen and paper based on stuff they see in game like Heaven's Vault or something but I can't design something like that in 48 hours, was in way over my head with that one.

@bushfire I made the fill in kinda weird right at the end. The first version I made it so it auto filled in words, but felt it was boring then an hour before submission I changed it so you always need to fill in, but it should lock in some of the words based on how many words are in the sentence up to 3. But I think I screwed it up and it just requires everything to be set.

skiddings 2026-05-03 15:14

Fantastic compo entry! different, on theme, very engaging and a complete game