A82-Recon 3038 by Geti

[raw]
made by Geti for LD35 (JAM)
A space-horror mystery game about finding a sneaky shapeshifter amongst your crew - get them before they assimilate everyone - including you!

Default Pico-8 controls apply:

Arrows + ZX or CV

Figuring out how to identify the shapeshifters is half the fun, so I wont spoil it!

Hard mode makes more shapeshifters at the start.

I'll look at getting this onto the Pico-8 BBS after the Jam has ended - it still needs a proper aftermath, so I might revisit it if I get some time this week.

Have Fun!

Ratings

Coolness 57% 3
Overall(Jam) 3.86 95
Audio(Jam) 3.78 108
Fun(Jam) 3.82 80
Graphics(Jam) 3.72 329
Humor(Jam) 2.61 455
Innovation(Jam) 3.76 110
Mood(Jam) 3.93 79
Theme(Jam) 4.19 40

Feedback

davidcmcdonald
19. Apr 2016 · 03:17 UTC
This had a really cool feel and the web port was off the chain. well done!!!
pogo
19. Apr 2016 · 03:23 UTC
Really nice concept - Art and sound all complement each other well.

One of us.
PeachTreeOath
19. Apr 2016 · 03:26 UTC
Ok this is one of the more interesting ones I've seen this jam. I thiiink I know how to ID them by now but I won't spoil it either.
wg_phancock
19. Apr 2016 · 03:39 UTC
I managed to get a runtime error. The trace given (if it helps):

Line 1692: attempt to index local 'v' (a number value)
in ? line 1371
in draw_state line 1258
in _draw line 1579

This was after finishing a round.

As for the actual game play, I really liked it. I had to play multiple times to figure out how to find the shapeshifters, and it was compelling enough to make me want to figure out the mystery. Graphics/sound were also excellent.
jdmazz
19. Apr 2016 · 03:41 UTC
I enjoyed it. On some level it reminded me of a game from my childhood called Alien Syndrome. Very nice!
jdmazz
19. Apr 2016 · 03:45 UTC
BTW, I also managed to get the runtime error that wg_phancock got. I often try to beat the games that are posted, but the crash possibly kept me from doing so.
olkeencole
19. Apr 2016 · 03:45 UTC
Very clever of you! There's no actual shape shifting in the game, but the plot nonetheless revolves around it. Splendid! I like how you take one of my favorite Futurama episodes as well.
Seriously tho. I played this like 8 times. I got other games I need to vote on, but you sucked me in! And the art is simple, but super effective. Great job!!!
Jungle
19. Apr 2016 · 03:49 UTC
I really liked the retro graphs and the sound FX. Im pretty not sure how to discover the shapeshifter. Good game concept. Congrats
Khaoz_Fang
19. Apr 2016 · 03:53 UTC
Nice work. Its difficult to identify them
EdoCreate
19. Apr 2016 · 04:14 UTC
I did not understand, how to identify them. I'll try later
Casey Jordan
19. Apr 2016 · 04:59 UTC
Absolutely loved this. Not revealing how to identify the shape shifters is such a tease. :D
CMLSC
19. Apr 2016 · 05:02 UTC
Cool everything. ^_^ I won on my first try after randomly shooting the shapeshifter.
joemid
19. Apr 2016 · 05:14 UTC
Same runtime error. Macbook Pro Yosemite, if that matters. Happened right away- thought it was part of the game! Great game overall- love the chip tune screams! So cool.
🎤 Geti
19. Apr 2016 · 05:34 UTC
Will look into the runtime error in a while - sorry to everyone affected by it, it'll probably be something simple that slept past the ludum-dare grade code radar ;)

Glad to hear people are enjoying it!
OrangePop
19. Apr 2016 · 05:50 UTC
This was very interesting. The sound and music made the whole scenario really frantic and tense, impressive for little boops and bops.
the31
19. Apr 2016 · 05:57 UTC
Very neat. I had an idea similar to this from the perspective of the shapeshifter near the beginning of the LD, but I ended up not going with that. It may have helped me figure it out somewhat quickly, though, since I'd thought some about what sort of mechanics the shapeshifter would work with to avoid detection.

I think the graphics and audio did their job well, and the theme inspiration is obviously there. Great entry! I think it really shows how trial and error puzzle solving can be really fun and work well for LD.

I think a way of expansion, if you're interested, might be more sizes of map, too, potentially with more people milling about. Not sure how that would balance with walking speed though!
retr0verse
19. Apr 2016 · 07:19 UTC
Great game, really loved it! great environment
Sean
19. Apr 2016 · 22:48 UTC
Great entry! The shooting was really satisfying, so it was kind of hard to be patient and play it properly!
🎤 Geti
20. Apr 2016 · 04:34 UTC
Anyone getting the runtime error - can you clarify when it happens? I haven't been able to reproduce it on the latest version.
Pestel Crew
20. Apr 2016 · 09:03 UTC
Nice game, but I'm not sure I understood how to detect shapeshifter? Only if you see he is killing someone?
Casey Jordan
20. Apr 2016 · 18:21 UTC
Fearing bias, I wanted to put some distance between playing this and reviewing it. I had been talking to Geti in IRC.

Looking back, this is still one of my favorite entries so far. Excellent scope and a lot of nuance. This game just "feel" right.

More importantly, the minimal exposition creates a context then allows the player to create their own narrative as they attempt to "figure out" what's going on.

For some reason I came back to this even after I knew the trick. There's some special, intangible quality here. Really feelin' it.

Really feelin' it.
GuillaumeGwi
23. Apr 2016 · 11:09 UTC
Great game, I'm still not sure if I know how to identity the shapeshifters. Was realy fun to search for at least. Keep up the good work
MegaBrutal
23. Apr 2016 · 16:55 UTC
I couldn't figure out how to identify the shapeshifter(s).

Impressive that you made such a great game within 72 hours on a restrictive platform. I didn't know about PICO-8, but now I've seen more LD35 games made with it, so I will check it out.

Thanks for having C and V as an alternative to Z and X, as Z and X are not next to each other on Hungarian keyboards.

Nice pixel art, catches the theme, thanks for letting us play it! :)

Am I supposed to hear audio? I don't hear any sound, but I didn't hear sound for other PICO-8 games either. I don't know what might be the problem, I'm on Ubuntu 15.10 and Mozilla Firefox.
Franklin's Ghost
24. Apr 2016 · 00:43 UTC
Really nice polished entry, liked the way the simple pico-8 graphics worked with the audio. Also was interesting to play a few times and figure out how to detect the shapeshifters, nice take on the theme.
Freank
24. Apr 2016 · 17:56 UTC
Hi, nice game ! We're realizing a video with several games of the Ludum Dare #35.
Can you add your game on indiexpo.net ? (it's free)
So we can include also your game in the video ;)
p.s. write #LDJAM in the game's description
🎤 Geti
26. Apr 2016 · 02:26 UTC
Hey Freank - I'd be happy for you to feature it but I dont want to upload the game elsewhere. There's already an itch.io link if you want something to link it to. I'm not interested in having it on other services at this time.
Aaranos
27. Apr 2016 · 00:43 UTC
Nice music and gameplay. The first round I just killed them all. Second round saved 9.
Bemmu
27. Apr 2016 · 03:20 UTC
I went to the computer terminal all the way to the right of the ship, pressed X next to it and then got http://imgur.com/IFi9IB5
Bemmu
27. Apr 2016 · 03:23 UTC
Never mind, now I got the error while just walking around.
adam
28. Apr 2016 · 20:41 UTC
I love the premise and the production is off the charts. Sadly I couldn't really figure out the mechanics - nothing much seemed to happen unless I got trigger-happy and started executing random crewmembers. And that airlock is begging to be used for something ...
silkworm_sweatshop
06. May 2016 · 21:01 UTC
Loved it!