Lang by erdnuss

[raw]
made by erdnuss for LD30 (COMPO)
This is my first Ludum Dare entry! I don't know whether it'll be fun to play, because I didn't really have time to thoroughly flesh out the concept. The game runs with Python and uses pyglet (which is included with the source). I also made a Windows .exe with pyInstaller (contrary to the name, you do not have to install anything. Just run the executable). Graphics were made with Inkscape, and sounds with sfxr.

Running the game:
Linux/Mac (the required python2 interpreter comes with many Linux distributions out of the box, Mac users will have to install it from http://python.org/): Download/clone the files from github and run main.py with the python interpreter.
Windows: Download the executable and run it.

Use the mouse to play (drag and drop!). Press escape to close the game whenever you want (No saves :D).

Theme:
When two worlds are connected, information needs to be exchanged in a common language. In most cases, such a common language does not exist and needs to be established first. Just now, a small computation module has arrived from another world. It allows you to combine several alien symbols and observe the result to help you find out what they mean.

Bugs:
There is a bug in the lambda calculus interpreter that the game uses to evaluate expressions. It makes the [second character from the right] behave weirdly. Maybe I could fix that and then put in an extra link to the fixed version (because the compo is now over)? Until then, well, er, you know, could you just ignore that character?

Ratings

Coolness 56% 3
Overall 2.47 1123
Audio 1.86 912
Fun 2.17 1116
Graphics 2.08 1126
Humor 2.38 519
Innovation 3.11 598
Mood 2.44 974
Theme 2.61 942

Feedback

mess110
25. Aug 2014 路 13:04 UTC
love the concept. a bit more help would be nice though (ux wise)
Norgg
25. Aug 2014 路 13:26 UTC
I like the idea and the feel of whatever is going on here, but without any way to interpret the meaning of the input or the output it just feels like I'm just randomly placing the items in the boxes. I was starting to see some connections between the two, but I didn't know what those connections meant either. I do enjoy the mystery of it though, just need a tiny bit more to go on or aim at.
datacr4sh
25. Aug 2014 路 14:26 UTC
i couldn't really understand the correlation between the boxes and the character i put in them, but i like the idea
elkiwydev
25. Aug 2014 路 14:50 UTC
I did not get what I have to do in this game.
馃帳 erdnuss
25. Aug 2014 路 18:43 UTC
Thanks everyone for the nice and helpful feedback. @mess110, @Norgg: I was afraid that that would happen, but did not have enough time or concentration to think more carefully about that. I suppose I was also deep in the project to realize that what seemed obvious to me was in no way obvious to anyone else. But it's good to see that you liked the idea, so I'll put some more work into it and make a post-compo version (that might take some time though). Thanks!
馃帳 erdnuss
25. Aug 2014 路 18:48 UTC
@datacr4sh, @elkiwydev: The boxes are actually just empty fields for the symbols. The game is about the combinations of symbols. I will make a (hopefully) better and more clear post-compo version of the game!
Techblogogy
27. Aug 2014 路 11:55 UTC
Nice job for the first LudumDare. I didn't even finish my first one.
ChuiGum
31. Aug 2014 路 21:18 UTC
Cool concept!
kyru
03. Sep 2014 路 18:22 UTC
Weird game, might need to be expanded to get more out of it.
kristof
09. Sep 2014 路 18:16 UTC
I like the idea of figuring out a language. At least that is what I think the game is about ;) Sadly there is no goal defined, so it is hard to tell if I am on the right track... But still, it is good first ludum dare entry!
For people on newer macs: Before running main.py you have to tell python to prefer 32 bit. There seems to be a bug in piglet. To do so run: "defaults write com.apple.versioner.python Prefer-32-Bit -bool yes" in a terminal window.
whalebot
09. Sep 2014 路 19:07 UTC
Wasn't quite sure what to do with combining the symbols, but it would be neat if you put together something a little more complete.
Aglavra
12. Sep 2014 路 19:18 UTC
I liked the idea of the game, but the goal is still unclear for me. You should give to player a purpose, for example, finding a certain amount of new words to win.