Lots of old files

gamescodedogs 2026-10-20 20:32 ♥ 0

Projects like this are why I love Ludum Dare. You can find something completely unlike a typical game.

I spent ages extracting the archives, then digging through the folders. Whenever I found clues, I felt like a character in Ready Player One, searching a digital hiding place and connecting the pieces. It’s a great feeling, especially because you’re doing it on your own familiar computer, not in a dedicated game interface.

I was very tempted to let Claude search through everything and tell me what it found, but I didn’t.

Thank you so much for the experience. It was incredibly cool, and I’m genuinely impressed.

kedikat 2026-10-20 20:38 ♥ 0

Extremely innovative and nonstandard, just as @gamescodedogs echoes in their review! Definitely a sleeper!

drgcandle 2026-10-20 21:09 ♥ 0

@gamescodedogs @kedikat Guys, I’m truly thrilled to see comments like these from you. I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s hard for me to contain my excitement. I have to mention that, in creating this game, I used a "language" that is perhaps extremely niche—which is precisely why I ended up with so many different folders. While some of the files are certainly important, there’s something even more significant: the structure itself.

justinmullin 2026-10-21 19:41 ♥ 0

Checking in here because I've put several hours into this one, and I need to move on to rate some other games too.

This entry is wonderful. I love a good intriguing mystery, and this is truly unique. I was hooked from the initial download, at least once I got past the point of convincing myself this wasn't a ZIP bomb or nefarious virus that I was extracting. ;)

The writing is really nice, and the story is extremely touching. I shed more than a few tears as I read through it.

I'm going to put the rest in spoiler text so I can talk about where I got:

!> - I've found all the parts of the Python script, and successfully used it to decode ciphertext.txt with the key 'ELENOR' and read testament.txt. Quite an elaborate way to write a computer program! !> - I believe I have all the diaries, project logs, and other plaintext story bits out of the tree, including letter_final.txt !> - I found the cat(?) image and followed the pointer there to a folder, but I haven't been able to get any other information out of the image. !> - I found corruption_log.txt, but have not been able to find a use for the arrows puzzle there. !> - I've found another folder reference to testament.txt in project_log_112.txt by overlaying the & locations from the tool script fragments, which was a bit disappointing. Overlaying the # locations produces "ERSNAME", which is neither meaningful to me (yet?), nor does it decrypt to anything useful that I can see.

I've banged my head against the dead ends enough times that I'm going to take a break, but I'd really like to get to the end of this one, assuming I'm not already there. There are enough clues I don't understand that I suspect I have more to go, so hopefully I find the time to return and figure it all out.

Thank you for sharing this beautiful entry. =)

drgcandle 2026-10-22 07:22 ♥ 0

@justinmullinOh man, I'm really glad you managed to find all that. I have to say, your approach is basically right—no problems at all. About those arrows—do you think they look like a maze?

!>Once you've found all the components of that script, you're actually very close to the final goal. I was in a rush when I made these puzzles, so I didn't make them especially hard. And those seven letters you found—they actually correspond to a key you've already got. You saw that the puzzle has eight lines, right? If I told you those eight letters are actually two words of equal length placed side by side, would that make sense? Haha.

!>Both the & symbol and the # symbol are useful. The # corresponds to a hint for the key, and the & corresponds to a riddle. And the tools to solve them are already in your hands. When you see the answer, you'll have reached the ending.

It's a sad story, but I don't want you shedding too many tears over it.

justinmullin 2026-10-23 16:02 ♥ 0

@drgcandle Okay, from those hints I think I have probably already reached the end, and just hadn't realized it. I'm still a bit confused about the arrows and the maze, but I think I must have worked my way past it another way.

At any rate, this was a wonderful experience, and I appreciate the hint!