This is the most fun I've ever had looking for my keys. I liked the style.

really trippy. awesome! it was a little jarring that if you clicked the birds to go up another perception level when you were already at max, it would reset concentration and make you lose perception faster.

Great job on your first LD entry! Before now, finding my lost keys was a stressful and birdless experience. But all that changed when I played Perception. Keep up the good work!

thanx all for your nice comments

@zillix you're right, the perception should be lost faster when we are at the last stage...

In fact there is so many things to do before it could a nice game :/ If there was not the sick effect when we are looking around, I could persuade myself to finish the developement to have something nicer.

These birds are stalking me. Their cold look on my shoulders actually make me uneasy...
Cool mechanics, but I don't understand why with high concentration I abstract stuff.

Nice little game! I like this cartoon graphics, and the concept is original.

I didn't get it until I started frantically clicking on everything, and then realizing that clicking on the birds >improved< my perception. Neat game, could've used some audio. q:

good game! i love the concept and graphics, i missed music, sounds, but i like it

Interesting. I like how with a perception shift, the graphics change. Thanks!

I really like the idea and the graphics. It would have been nice to use the altered perception to actually look for the keys.

I found my keys! Quite trippy indeed, but effect of looking around is cool, perhaps you could try exploring better the idea and expanding on it. Nice visuals.

Very strange and interesting idea for a game. So many birds... wait they're circles. HUH?

The only flaw is that it ended too abruptly. I liked every minute of it. I found the game idea and design were innovative even if the mechanic was fairly common. I had a few laughs too while I was spinning around and clicking on the pigeons. Overall, very nice game. The finishing touches where everything morphs into a minimal version of reality was very interesting.

Thanx, I am happy to see all this nice comments. As I already said, I am not satisfied of the result, I think it could be better game. I will probably try to make a better version (and without bugs). All advices are welcome.

During development I was wondering if abstract view should be low or high perception. It's more logical to be the low perception in fact but my original idea was that the abstract complicate the finding of disturbers... but that's not the case. Perhaps I should invert this, no ?

Interesting! Maybe adding audio (soundFX) would have created a better immersion/experience.

I found the keys! Nice idea, cool entry :D.

Very interesting high concept and great potential for a post-LD follow up. The graphics are ok, but what's really nice is the transformation process that takes place.

It also sports one of the most "by the book" approaches to the theme, and I mean that as a compliment. I understand minimalism is about distilling a concept to its purest form, and that's what the game is doing, precisely: stripping "reality" from the distractions of shape and form, taking perception down to a deepest understanding.

As for the discussion about high or low perception, I think it would be both a high perception and a high concentration level what would allow you to abstract reality to the max.
In fact, you could plan two different, antagonistic, game mechanics, and have the player balance them out to keep the two attributes high. Something like push/pull, press/release, move/stand...
Then you could go all-out Plato on the setting, or have a guy transcend the limitations of the mortal flesh to find the keys to his Ferrari :)

Potential aside, there's not much game in there yet. But if you keep on working on it, I'd for one be very interested in trying whatever you come up with.

Congratulations! :)

Good work on your 1st LD!

@TenTonToon it's a good idea to separate perception and concentration, and let the player balance them, I can now think of something much nicer, thanks a lot !
I will write in my journal something about what I am planning to do and this will include a better ending and music/sfx too.

I found my keys! They were in the grass.

Innovative idea. I somehow missed messages about keys in the grass and kept looking for keys sprite :)

I fully agree with fullmontis, elbowroom and TenTonToon. You're onto something here, abstracting and minimalizing stuff, but it still requires some polish, either by changing the way you balance perception and concentration, or just going the other way, from simple to complex (e.g. in the beginning keys are indistinguishable in shape from a bush and everything is the same color).

Thanks for your comments, I made a more polished version http://www.ghostinthesoft.com/ld/postld26/