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CXNTACT
CXNTACT
By nondev
View on ldjam.com
| Category | Rank | Score | Count |
|
|---|
| Overall | 43 | 4.18 | 37 | |
| Fun | 126 | 3.85 | 37 | |
| Innovation | 274 | 3.61 | 36 | |
| Theme | 278 | 3.98 | 37 | |
| Graphics | 95 | 4.42 | 37 | |
| Audio | 21 | 4.36 | 35 | |
| Mood | 3 | 4.69 | 36 | |
Comments
i enjoyed this a lot! the art style is nice and gritty, and the static effects and sounds really add to the atmosphere. the terminal is an awesome addition! typing in commands is really satisfying with the sounds and response text. the puzzle aspects were cool too. the writing was great, i like how the text would change when you looked at something a second time. i made it to the end but i wish it was longer! i like the final screen, very fitting. the only thing i think i would change is the movement speed of the character felt a tiny bit too slow. overall this was really well done!
The character feels very heavy and slow. You see an interactable object and it takes a long time to get to it. But interacting with the terminal feels really great—the typing sound is very satisfying. It actually made me want to set up a similar theme on my Mac terminal :)
lohii
2026-04-21 18:45
Oh my, the atmosphere was really intense and the game looked and sounded beautiful. The character speed was a bit of a drag. I think in the end it ended up fitting, but I know I wouldn't really say anything if the character did end up being faster. I liked the story, but the ending left me a bit wanting, there was never a proper release for the tension I felt. Excellent work nonetheless.
Great experience, very complete. I found it incredibly satisfying to type away at the terminal, the puzzles were very light but effective with the mood. Excellent art with awesome small touches to build some nerves like the static encroaching on the screen. Very reminiscent of Signalis. I appreciate the flavor text around the scenes building up to a meaningful payoff with the last shot. Awesome job!
ingi
2026-04-21 18:56
Wow, the quality of this game is off the charts. I don't usually enjoy narrative games (especially creepy ones), but I played through this one with pleasure. Is "contact lost" the only ending, by the way?
Really loved the computer mechanic - not too difficult, but it makes you think a little
nondev
2026-04-21 18:56
Extra thank you for such kind words! Yeah, in hindsight I should've bumped the character speed up a touch. One of those "I got used to it and didn't go back to change it" things.
@theparticularpixel: The keyboard sounds are actually from my keyboard. They're holy panda switches, in case you want your own set!
@maksim-terskov: I'm glad you enjoyed the terminal! Funny enough, it was the easiest thing to get in and expand on.
@lohii: The end was unfortunately rather rushed compared to everything else, sorry for it feeling so abrupt.
@blake-mullin: I really enjoyed Signalis, there was probably some influence rattling around in my head!
@ingi: Yeah, there's just the one ending. I'm really glad it grabbed you enough to play through despite it not being your usual thing.
Thank you all again!
2026-04-21 18:58
Really great atmosphere! I agree with the above comment that it was very satisfying to type on the terminal. I got a bit stuck before realizing I needed to go the the starting room for panel work, but it was smooth sailing after that. The weak signal effect is very well designed, it really amplifies this spooky feeling.
If there is something to add to this feeling, perhaps it would be some ambience music, but then again we're in the vacuum of space so no sound is the correct way to go about this. Very well done!
nondev
2026-04-21 19:05
@gabrijel: Thank you! There actually is some ambient music but it's mostly subtle and tonal I guess? I had to resort to Audacity to hack something together on the last day instead of using a DAW. Maybe could've done with a bit more to it.
A full-blown settings menu and a working terminal! Are you kidding me?! Best atmosphere from the games i played so far on this jam! I do very much agree with previous commenters. The game is very polished, but short. I loved all the little details.
I only really had one issue: the game was slowly getting laggy and unresponsive over time (I played on Firefox).
dazylude
2026-04-22 20:07
Very nice and polished submission. Sci-fi cosmic horror definitely fits very well with the theme, the mood is great and puzzles are not something to lose your head over! Thank you for the experience :)
nondev
2026-04-23 10:26
@pawel-waligora: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the atmosphere! I'm surprised to hear about your issue though, I'm not sure what could be causing that but I think I've heard Itch.io web embeds can be a bit twitchy with Firefox in general. Sorry if it hampered your experience!
@dazylude: Thank you!
@nondev Yeah... that probably is a Firefox issue. I started seeing the same thing in some of the other games. I'll have to switch browser for this jam.
This is a really cool game, but I missed it. I think it's because the cover isn't very attractive. The graphics and atmosphere in the game are cool. I would have liked more action and interactivity, and less text. Terminal One Love
blues
2026-04-23 19:32
short and fun little adventure game. great theming and loved the console text parser.
recursor
2026-04-23 20:01
I enjoyed the terminal interactions both to piece together some of the story and to unlock things. I experienced some pretty significant slowdown in the very last scene, but it could be due to Firefox. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed the story you create and am glad I happened upon your game.
mezaka
2026-04-23 20:16
Pretty cool! Love how the signal is layerd above everything in audio and visually. I was also super happy the terminal responded to a ping command ^^ (Btw: Interact is Y on my german keyboard)
janku
2026-04-23 20:27
I really dig the vibe of being alone in space, love the graphics and sound effects! Cute, but creepy as heck! Great job :D
nondev
2026-04-23 20:34
Thank you again for the kind comments!
@indiepanda: I always seem to neglect the cover and it be a rush right at the end.
@blues: It's funny how popular the terminal is, compared to how quick it was to put that together!
@recursor: Have you had other troubles with web embeds in Firefox? @pawel-waligora mentioned something similar. Sorry if it spoiled the ending!
@mezaka: ~~Oh shoot. I actually do try to draw the correct keycode tied to the scancode to avoid that issue but there must be a problem with it. I'll look into that, thanks.~~ Edit: I think I misunderstood, you mean the interact is correctly displayed as "Y" in game right? It should be the key besides left shift. That's "Z" for regular QWERTY, so I just assumed that when I wrote the controls notes. Sorry if that added any confusion. I think I'll just remove the controls info, since they're all prompted in game.
@janku: Thanks!
I really liked it! I especially liked the attention to detail on the console. It remembers the last user, commands consist of several parts (command + ID + additional command), there are different sounds (success / failure / button press). This is sooooo cool and atmospheric!
mezaka
2026-04-23 20:55
@nondev yeah it worked in game! Just got stuck for a short time when the fullscreen text appeared bc that didnt have the button prompts - so I tried to look it up in the notes. But I figured it out eventually.
This is an admirable entry! Nothing less but beautiful and so polished! I played it for just a bit. These days it seems my patience for those types of games has "perished" (hectic life you know making you tick faster) but I cannot not appreciate the art, the vibe, the static, the console... ohh. And the complexity of getting such an entry off the ground! You've done a incredibly cohesive (and difficult) job on this one! Bravo!
nondev
2026-04-23 21:13
@mezaka: Gotcha!
@aweskybear: Thank you! There was a lot more I wanted to do, but that's how it always goes I guess!
rend
2026-04-23 21:13
Impressive entry with an engaging narrative, the level of immersion is incredible for such a small amount of time. The pixelart is nice and I really like the static effect, it gives a strong sense of tension. The terminal is a cool mechanic and it's perfectly tied to the exploration part. There's one thing I didn't get though, it says storagectl requires a lvl2 access but logged in as kbrenner (lvl1), you're able to launch the command. Maybe I did the things in the wrong order?
nondev
2026-04-24 11:22
@rend: Thank you! Whoops, I had a typo in the access check. Fixed now.
What a game! Absolutely loved it, had me hooked from the start. The story is brilliant and the ending is amazing!
tygrak
2026-04-26 14:42
Extremely nicely polished! Super well done with the art and SFX, feels like it's a fully finished game. The typing sounds on the terminal especially sound incredible. It took me quite a bit to figure out which id the first door I want to go through has, but I figured it out and after that the rest was smooth sailing. Really enjoyed this!
asieke
2026-04-26 14:53
This game was so good! You did a great job crafting an experience here! Really impressive game jam entry!
At first I was a bit confused on what to do, but this is the kind of game where walking around and clicking on everything to discover what to do is part of the charm and was well executed.
Art, sound, game design, writing, all very well done. Thanks for the game!
nondev
2026-04-26 16:51
@nabil-shelim: Thank you!
@tygrak: I'm glad you enjoyed it and the keyboard sounds. They're holy panda switches if you're interested in getting your own!
@asieke: Thank you for the kind words! I do get mildly worried that having to wander around and figure things out will turn people off in a jam, since there's pressure to rate something and move on.
To the end I carefully avoided the /!\. Good job.
marks
2026-04-27 19:47
Very solid entry, great job! Well played on the mood, I was on edge the whole experience anticipating for something to be behind closed doors. Felt cool that small details were interactable and appreciate the logs being written short but informative on what's happening.
aniretti
2026-04-27 21:00
WOW!! I loveeeee games like this!! please don't listen to those who say there needs to be less text and more gameplay.
great narrative-based, polished game! the story, visuals, and sounds are simply superb! i love the sound of using the terminal. i got stuck at the part where you have to enter the command to open the door... i think i'm entering it correctly, but nothing happens... or i just dumb :D i really wanted to get to the end and find out what happened at the station!
i can't believe you made it all by yourself in 72 hours! great job!
nondev
2026-04-28 10:19
@alpacalypse @marks: Thank you!
@aniretti: Thank you for the kind words! !>Did you check the pamphlets near the terminal for the door control command, along with using the correct door ID?
aniretti
2026-04-28 10:44
@nondev i tried to upload screenshot, but seems it didn't work.
!> so, i typed "doorctl F open" and after that, it says nothing. although if i typed "doorctl 2 open" terminal says something like "no power". am i using worng id for door?
nondev
2026-04-28 11:32
@aniretti: !>It's the recreation room that's sealed, that's ID #4.
aniretti
2026-04-28 11:38
@nondev ohh thank you haha x)
mekuire
2026-04-29 09:04
An interesting, well-crafted, and very atmospheric game. Great job!
Very nice and polished game. I really love that atmosphere! The art and sound are incredible. And so many dialogs for a jam game.