LudumData

Interstellar Connection by celia14

[raw]
made by celia14 for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

intro.gif

A lonely spaceship pilot wants to reach out. To keep the connection alive, you have to find the path through a network of relays.

Play in your browser here.

  • Advance the story by completing the puzzle.
  • Draw a path from corner to corner by connecting relays that share at least 2 qualities.
  • The three qualities are shape (circle, square, diamond), icon (heart, star, diamond), and border (solid, dashed.)
  • There's always a solution.
  • If you get stuck, try working from the other endpoint and meeting in the middle.

Post-jam version

An improved post-jam version is now available! The following enhancements were added: - Brand new layout for playing on mobile - Endless puzzle mode available in the settings menu - Volume control

The difficulty of levels 3-5 was also increased slightly. Other than that, the gameplay and story are unchanged.

Credits - Story, code: Celia - Art, UI: Rose - Music: "Mellow Keyboard Groove" by Steve Lowther

Youtube https://celia14.itch.io/interstellar-connection-ldjam
Youtube https://celia14.itch.io/interstellar-connection
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/interstellar-connection

Ratings

Overall 33th 4.291⭐ 57🧑‍⚖️
Fun 117th 4.045⭐ 57🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 109th 4.036⭐ 57🧑‍⚖️
Theme 150th 4.227⭐ 57🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 456th 4.155⭐ 57🧑‍⚖️
Mood 13th 4.546⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Given 15🗳️ 21🗨️

Feedback

spidamoo
21. Apr 2020 · 09:39 UTC
Hey there, very nice piece!
I love the minimalistic art and how the simple gameplay is complimented by a touching story line.
Mikonow
21. Apr 2020 · 17:38 UTC
This game is really something. The mood is great. I really like this kind of game. Really simple but soooooo goood... <3 Great job :)
RIBOUT Horace
21. Apr 2020 · 21:36 UTC
I love it <3 really peacefull, well-tough and cleverly made, it really is a good project ! Love it!
Abu Sabiq Mahdi
22. Apr 2020 · 10:25 UTC
Oh my god!!! such a beautiful concept! Also an excellent narrative. I love the way of solving the puzzles for routing and eventually talking to someone on the other side. The UI is simple but asthetic. In my opinion, color selection was interesting to make the player think about both person's identity.
Empheon
22. Apr 2020 · 15:27 UTC
Absolutely loved it, really! The minimalistic art fits so well to the ambiance, the gameplay is simple to understand and the little story kept me playing until the end. Well-thought and well scoped for the short time of the LD, you just nailed it!
sndr
22. Apr 2020 · 17:24 UTC
I loved it! The experience is smooth and curated, and the puzzles are interesting.
Peaceful, soothing... really cool entry! :blush:
Aurel300
25. Apr 2020 · 00:00 UTC
That was very cute. I like the kind of puzzle, although had the story been any longer, more variations on the gameplay would have been nice. The dialogue was cute, in an almost-cringey-teens-falling-in-love kind of way. "Don't mean to bug you" was almost too much :D The graphics and audio are nicely polished, the UI is very pretty. Good job!
blubberquark
25. Apr 2020 · 10:39 UTC
I really like that the puzzle mechanic is immediately obvious from the screenshot/itch thumbnail. As far as puzzles go, it's a little on the short and easy side, and I don't think there's any more to do with the puzzle mechanic, but this was *just* enough content for a jam game, and the conversation broke up the puzzling nicely. If you wanted to make more content, you could add more mechanics of course. There was a slight progression in puzzle difficulty, so the later puzzles weren't super boring retreads of the first one, without breaking the flow and make me forget about the story.
Alexascher
26. Apr 2020 · 04:30 UTC
Very good entry. Interesting combination of good simple base mechanics and narrative. It's your unique style of games, I guess :)
mbrezu
26. Apr 2020 · 08:47 UTC
Interesting idea, loved the implementation and the dialogue.
Ekilibr
26. Apr 2020 · 15:21 UTC
Really reminded me of the mobile game Heart@Hack (in a really good way).
Writing is great, it's easy to enter into the story and fantasy behind it. AD is nice as well!

Nice entry overall, well done!
Bastienre4
26. Apr 2020 · 15:28 UTC
Well done! Art style is perfect.
kromeboy
26. Apr 2020 · 15:39 UTC
Love the storytelling aspect mixed with a puzzle. Well done simple game.
monetai
26. Apr 2020 · 15:50 UTC
Really liked this game!!
ruthiepee
26. Apr 2020 · 18:02 UTC
Wow, this game is really incredible! The puzzle aspect is totally original and clever. I thought the pacing was great, with the puzzles getting trickier near the end. The narrative really surprised me, it's so understated and sweet. The Maglevs in Love reference made me laugh. My favorite part is the UI, it's just gorgeous. This is my favorite game I've seen so far. And to be honest, seeing other women developers on LD makes me so, so happy. I'm glad you released a post-jam mobile-friendly version with endless puzzle mode, I'm gonna check it out.
jeremyfa
26. Apr 2020 · 22:29 UTC
Very good entry! I love the mix of puzzle with story, and the whole thing makes sense: story talks about the connection which is the puzzle part etc... Graphics are minimalist yet very clean. Excellent job!
edwardclombe
27. Apr 2020 · 18:04 UTC
Lovely game, I love sci-fi, and making a puzzle with a story, such a brilliant idea! Loved it from start to end. Simple interface, old-school style, awesome!
dimesto52
28. Apr 2020 · 11:33 UTC
interesting pupazzo System. i like music too.
Mika la Grand
28. Apr 2020 · 17:47 UTC
Well done girls, great work. The music creates a lovely mood and the combination of the puzzles with the story works well. It also seems like the puzzles are randomly generated, which is a nice touch as well.
Littlemiky
28. Apr 2020 · 17:50 UTC
Very cute and catchy, i like the graphic style and the concept. Well done !
terry
01. May 2020 · 08:04 UTC
This is cool! I liked the low stress of the puzzles, and it's very well written. Really neat little thing.
Khud0
03. May 2020 · 11:44 UTC
Wow, what a cool way to implement a story into the game!
crispybacon
05. May 2020 · 03:01 UTC
Very fun and relaxing game.Story was heartwarming and the concept was quite unique!
moorcore118
05. May 2020 · 19:21 UTC
This is great to be honest, didn't even expect this and it surprised me so much :3 I really enjoyed the sound and the process itself. Visuals are awesome, the color scheme perfectly suits the game's mood.
puppetmaster
05. May 2020 · 22:02 UTC
My winner!! :heart_eyes: minimalistic, new and unique gameplay, not stressful. theme super implemented, top game, congratulations, definitely keep going!
Maniulo
05. May 2020 · 22:30 UTC
Oh wow, this is so sleek and fun!
randomhuman
07. May 2020 · 19:21 UTC
A really well told story tied together perfectly by compelling puzzles. One of the highlights of the jam for me!
01010111
07. May 2020 · 20:46 UTC
Very fun puzzle game that sort of hides its complexity in an extremely accessible format! I love it!
waynetron
08. May 2020 · 04:01 UTC
I love everything about this. The UI is beautiful. The story and the gameplay complement each other really well. Just lovely.

My only irk is that the subtle animation on the signal strength tricked me into thinking the puzzle was timed. And it took me a few puzzles to realise.
DDRKirbyISQ
09. May 2020 · 08:44 UTC
Came here by surasshu's recommendation thread on twitter! I played the jam version. It's rare that I so readily am willing to give something 5 stars, but I really love experiences like this. The perfect combination of everything, just....fantastic. Best of luck on the rest of your ratings :)
neontropics
10. May 2020 · 13:42 UTC
One of my favourite games so far - great general design on the UI, the gameplay is fun and accessible and the story is interesting! Very nice general level of polish - only very minor point is a scrollbar on the message panel would be cool.
Laaph
10. May 2020 · 20:02 UTC
Beautifully done! The design is lovely, the story keeps you going, it all works together well! Everything is balanced and smooth! Lovely!
dreamcastgh0st
12. May 2020 · 04:35 UTC
Nice job! The mechanics are simple, unique, and allow for complexity, and the story is a very nice little feel-good plotline. That being said, I can't see the gameplay holding its own if I was playing without the story. It looks great, and is extremely polished mechanically, but I do wish there were one or two more mechanics I would have to consider just to spice up the gameplay experience. It could be something simple, like worrying about the number of connections I use, or scrambling the board if I make _too_ many mistakes. Either way, I can't expect a ton of content from a jam game, and what content is here is incredibly well made and polished, so nice job!
acronaut
12. May 2020 · 19:54 UTC
Very chill and slick. Kudos how its being all put together :wink:
(somehow on my firefox [not recent build], it would render-weird with its connections between the nodes; on Chrome it works perfectly! Edge, Perfect!); Surprisingly on mobile browser (chrome) it would lock into portrait-mode instead of landscape (but the plus that it's web-flexible, even the rendering of the messaging conversation [PC: side-by-side (Landscape); Mobile: stacked (portrait)] really takes the cake on execution of the design constraints! well-done! Good use of the CGA-palette that works for this game! :dizzy:
🎤 celia14
13. May 2020 · 00:29 UTC
@acronaut Wow, thanks for giving it a thorough test on the different browsers! :) I'll have to take a look at it in Firefox. Locking into portrait mode for mobile was actually a setting I enabled on itch.io, since the side-by-side view wouldn't necessarily fit on a mobile screen. Anyway, thanks so much for playing, I'm glad you enjoyed it!