FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD59 → Black Forest

Black Forest

By zbrogdom

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall2732.7627
Fun2772.4326
Innovation1883.1827
Theme304.2926
Graphics2682.5825
Audio2371.3317
Humor2151.4017
Mood2372.8621

Comments

hotaloca 2026-04-20 16:34

I like the idea, it would be a neat thing to operate such a network of operations... maybe even put in some losses/delays etc. making the game even more challenging to complete. Even though you could not finish, it's good you have submitted. Congratulations!

tasakasama 2026-04-20 17:03

Great entry, the theme is well executed. However, I would have preferred a round-based system, where the player can only perform a few actions per turn, such as scanning, protecting themselves, placing relays to speed up scanning, etc... there are plenty of potential ideas, well done!

gdman 2026-04-21 21:58

Very cool idea, somewhat reminds of Master of Orion game. There is potential, which you can explore. Good luck!

nicardo 2026-04-23 20:38

Simple but building curiosity to find all

neon-kuroasa 2026-04-23 20:46

There's a lot about this i don't quite get. I get the part where we must find habitable planets, and i sort of get how the red signal lines represent the information traversing the galaxy.

But i don't quite understand how the ennemy probes are detecting anything, and i don't know what we can do to confront them, or at least act in a way to not attract them.

Also, there's a little bug where you can farm for score just by pinging repeatedly on a transponder just next to a habitable planet, you can get arbitrarily high scores from that.

There is definitely something interesting in there, a lot potential, congrats!

fifut 2026-04-23 21:22

I quite like the idea. I think there’s potential to explore it further.

It’s a shame there isn’t a bit of background music, but I suppose you didn’t have enough time.

zbrogdom 2026-04-23 21:50

@neon-kuroasa This is a very unfinished game. I didn’t have time to properly test these mechanics, but the idea was that you can’t avoid the probes forever — sooner or later they will find Earth.

They are invisible until triggered by a radio signal (the circle). After that, nearby planetary systems can detect them at a shorter range using their radar (shorter than the radio signal range). If a probe is close enough to a system, you can spot it before sending a radio signal and avoid activating it.

Once activated, they move randomly from system to system and are also attracted to radio signals. Redirecting signals back was supposed to be a way to deal with them, but it’s not working as intended.

All of this should have been explained in the game, but I ran out of time. I plan to release a post-compo version with the full idea implemented.

Thanks for reporting the bug — fixed!

kassanu 2026-04-26 03:08

I like the idea of sending signals out that can activate enemies. Using this as a base you can probably get a really cool game with some expansion stuff like colonizing worlds and protecting your civilization while trying to avoid attracting too many enemies.

ilari 2026-04-26 10:26

Cool idea! I had fun for multiple minutes. It's unfortunate you couldn't finish the game, it has a lot of potential,

atmospherium 2026-04-28 18:41

I like the premise. It would be cool to turn this into an actual galactic stealth game. The pulses and connections are satisfying representations of communication and it was unnerving the first time an enemy probe popped up.

wizard 2026-04-28 18:49

Has a cool premise and interesting central mechanic. What would have been cool would have been to add a way to defend against hostile aliens in one way shape or form, but the idea of being able to avoid them if strategic is pretty cool and unique too. I look forward to seeing the post compo version.

rolly 2026-04-29 10:25

It's so satisfying seeing all the signals coming back and forth. I'd love to see more of this game!

Very cool take on the theme, love it!

pimeko 2026-04-30 00:10

I've got 5 habitables planets! I didn't really understand how to avoid ennemies, but I enjoyed the concept. Cool entry :)

dqso 2026-04-30 10:07

Too bad you couldn't finish it in time. The idea is great but the deadline is always too short. I feel you! :hugging:

fnelix 2026-05-03 09:48

Nice concept, and kind of satisfying to explore new stations. I wasn't really clear on how the enemies detect you or how to avoid them. Will check out a potential post-jam version, I think the idea has some potential!

meta-link 2026-05-06 14:09

Cool concept ! A bit hard to understand at first, but it's quite satisfying to discover new planets.

Good job :slight_smile: