Signal Space by ping78 2026-05-06T11:00:51Z
This is the fastest I managed to achieve. Screenshot 2026-05-06 184148.png
Short but fun game, though I wish that I can continuously deploy relays just like I can continuously shoot.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → CreeperXD
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 59 | Signal | Shiplogging | jam | 764 | 2.95 | 2.02 | 3.73 | 4.07 | 2.85 |
This is the fastest I managed to achieve. Screenshot 2026-05-06 184148.png
Short but fun game, though I wish that I can continuously deploy relays just like I can continuously shoot.
Inputting the code is surprisingly responsive, I never accidentally inputted a dash when I wanted a dot instead.
!> I really like the second last story level, which looks like it is impossible to complete at first, until you realise that one of the entities is (maybe?) a traitor and will destroy its comrades when destroyed itself. Pretty funny twist.
I reached the end! Hopefully the image actually loads...
Screenshot 2026-04-29 203421.png
I really like all the puzzles in the game, even though some of them took frustratingly long to understand, I felt so satisfied after I figured out how they work. !>Especially locating that "thing" that you need to circle around 3 times, which took me the longest.
My only complaint is that the ship is a little hard to control. Both throttling and turning feels like it takes forever to adjust to the level I intend to, which is especially prevalent when trying to dock.
Despite that, I spent hours on this game. Hopefully that is indicative of how much I enjoyed this game.
I really like that I can understand the gameplay and new mechanics quickly without the need for a tutorial.
In this level, I encountered a bug where the red ray will "slide" along the bottom left reflective rock without bouncing to the red bat, but removing the middle reflective rock so that the ray reflects the top one instead does not produce the same effect. Screenshot 2026-05-04 152801.png
Despite that, I overall enjoy the game.
All endings achieved!
Screenshot 2026-05-05 225409.png
I like how setting the antenna is surprisingly fun despite how simple it is.
In one of the runs I actually do not need to mess with it at all with the television already displaying nicely. Not sure if this is intended though.
Overall, quick but funny game.
This is my best result (lowest infection rate) in like less than 10 tries. !>Screenshot 2026-04-26 180324.png
I like that there are cybersecurity nodes that are only visible if you let certain nodes get infected, which really encourages players to sacrifice those nodes to have a better chance of winning, instead of just defending passively, especially that one that is a cybersecurity itself.
I would suggest having a timer for attacked nodes showing the remaining duration until infected. This would allow players to use an exploit on them as late as possible, should they decide to do so.
I like the idea, but I find that the difficulty ramps up really quickly, and since the gravitation fields of space junk is not shown, I struggle to find a good angle and keep resorting to spamming signals instead.
I would suggest adding that thing in Angry Birds games that forecasts the trajectory of signals for a set amount of its future time like this, which would further incentivise players to try look for a good angle instead of spamming signals. Screenshot 2026-05-07 212153.png
Figuring out combinations of junk to get to the desired values is very satisfying, especially if it involves those that subtracts some instead.
The hitbox of some of the junk seems a bit weird, like the one for mailbox, where the box is not registered at all. Would be nice if the hitboxes adhere to the sprites better.
Unfortunately, when I had 9 signals published, there is a bug where some items on the antenna just could not be removed, and I could not continue from there.
I really like the core gameplay idea of surviving until finding help. Shame that the enemy spawning has some issues, which would have made exploring uncharted areas a lot more risky.
I have 2 complaints on the build and upgrade menus: 1) Its location is based on the cursor, often leading to some options being inaccessible unless I trigger the menu with my cursor on the top half of the screen. This is especially acute for the harvest building, where I need to trigger the upgrade menu near the top of the screen to even access the network relay and crystal focus upgrades. 2) The buttons sometimes take multiple presses to register, which happens more often when deep in a run.
Although the jam version has a lot of flaws, I think with some fine-tuning and more content before finding the signal spire, this has potential to be a very replayable game.
I like that in the first level you are already given 2 trains, so it is basically forcing players to learn to change signals, then in later levels a time limit and even banning crashing altogether to increase the challenge. However, that is also why I think maps that increase in complexity would have been really nice, since from the first level you are already given a complex map, which may hinder players' learning of the game mechanics.
I suggest allowing players to check on a train's itinerary and change signals when paused. Even at the lowest game speed I keep failing to stop trains from crashing if they start near each other, especially in the lower right area of the map.
this is so funny Screenshot 2026-04-28 155224.png
Although right now the keyboard spamming gameplay is definitely fun, I feel like there could be a hard mode where you have to type out the coordinates and the specific supplies based on what is available on each signal point, as right now I could just use the same signal point for food and the power, which I doubt in an apocalyptic scenario will have infinite amounts of them all the time.
This is the score I managed to achieve without a single heart lost. Although I could keep going, I do not think there will be anything new since I have played this game for like 20 minutes now. Screenshot 2026-05-06 002951.png
I really like this twist on bullet hell where you have limited vision but can see more by going to a designated area instead that happens to be the only way to score, which is risky when you cannot see most of the bullets.
I feel like the waves could use some difficulty balance, like the locust and alien ones are very hard compared to the hunter one.
Speaking of the locust and alien waves, at some point in my above run, they seem to disappear until I reached almost 600 score.
Overall, I still like this game despite the flaws.
@yopox
1) The ship starts with only flags indicating its code hoisted (in this example, VT58).
Screenshot 2026-04-28 162855.png
2) In the notes, an entry for said ship is created with its code already noted. There are 3 input fields, each for data that you will need to note down. Their hints are the request codes for respective data that you will later send via flag rack.
Screenshot 2026-04-28 162901.png
3) On the flag rack, prepare your message by selecting flags. The message is just the ship code followed by the data request code (in this example, with the data request code of ORI, producing the message VT58ORI). Hoist the message flags.
Screenshot 2026-04-28 162938.png
4) If the request is valid, the ship with the code will now hoist flags signaling the data requested (in this example, BORDEAUX).
Screenshot 2026-04-28 162927.png
5) Go back to the notes, note down the data in its relevant field (in this example, the field for ORI). Repeat for remaining data and ships.
Screenshot 2026-04-28 163030.png
@coda-highland
Tried it out myself, and the flags are displayed as intended.
Screenshot 2026-05-08 181922.png
Not your fault for the confusion though, as the combination of colours of the flags for "O27" is indeed confusing, which could have been avoided if the flags are separated better.