ECHO signal by LDJam user 428640

[raw]
made by LDJam user 428640 for Ludum Dare 59 (COMPO)

A game that runs based on echo signals, i guess. Well, I'll try to describe it in short words. You can scan the cube to get a echo maps, the whiter the color the higher the score, but some lower your score and SAN value . So use echo and shop wisely. A bit like a combination of Gold Miner and B-scan ultrasound? Well, that's it. The word inspires a lot. The theme "Signal" evokes a cascade of associations. Starting from its most fundamental meaning, one can branch out to explore the fascinating steps of its generation, origin, development, and transmission. Ultimately, I chose to anchor my design by focusing on the processing of that signal.

Ratings

Overall 274th 2.75⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Fun 259th 2.619⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 126th 3.476⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 216th 3.143⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 269th 2.571⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Audio 215th 2.619⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Humor 178th 2.132⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 265th 2.5⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Given 23🗳️ 24🗨️

Feedback

khaotom
Apr 20th · 06:47 UTC
interesting mechanic that could be explored more. could see it as part of a larger game, maybe a survival crafter. i found it humorous that i lost sanity when initiating a scan with no scans or rock available, and when mining with no rock present. madness indeed!
🎤 LDJam user 428640
Apr 20th · 07:42 UTC
Haha, that was totally intentional—to show the insanity of chasing money and overworking. (Okay, fine, this guy just never got around to fixing the bug. After all, it finally worked.) Thank you for your comments!
CaptainDreamcast
Apr 20th · 13:00 UTC
I think in the 90k range is where I clock out, for some reason between 80k and 90k I keep going down, it's the greedy miner's fate.

![my sanity.png](///raw/a71/9/z/70960.png)

Super fun game! I kept jumping in trying to improve my score, trying to get a good balance between scanning and not-scanning to drive up the money. The upgrades and the shop made it a fun It's a great take on the theme, using echo signals to analyze minerals is a fun application of it. The gameplay loop is very fast-paced, so you want to immediately jump back in for another round. Very well done, great job on this game!
drtizzle
Apr 20th · 19:17 UTC
Very interesting and original! It took me a while to understand what I was doing, but after that it was fun to make as much money as possible.

This seriously has potential when it is polished and refined!
Very nice work!
draki
Apr 21st · 12:57 UTC
At first, I was confused by the reverse rotation on right-click for the rock, but after a while I got used to it. Not bad at all, good concept, maybe worth exploring further! gg
LDJam user 76491
Apr 22nd · 01:25 UTC
Very unique idea, this one really piqued my curiosity. I think I still don't understand 100% of what scanning means, but I think I had to mine where it resonated stronger based on the position I scanned? Got around 40-50k, the loop of going back to the shop and regaining sanity & upgrading the scanner was satisfying. Good job!
UkuleleFury
Apr 22nd · 22:55 UTC
I'm not sure I understand the goal. I click echo, and a blue rind appears around the circumference. But why? And where are the bright white blocks mentioned in the menu? But, I like the effects, and the concept sounds cool!
Nadan
Apr 24th · 17:00 UTC
Really good idea, I only never understood which rocks will turn into profit and which won´t. It seemed like the white/dark color ratio didn´t really matter - sometimes selling rocks with bright spots even cost me a lot of money. Also it´d be great to let the player get familiar with the mechanics gradually - many times the first rock sent me to a deficit that I couldnt afford new rock. But still, you could definitely build something on this game idea!
Sirplop
Apr 25th · 19:29 UTC
Extremely novel, if very confusing. Definitly has further potential as a mechanic in a larger game, though!
henk
Apr 27th · 17:36 UTC
You should add a cover image so more people will be interested and take a look at your game.

While the scanning is a neat idea, it didn't feel like an important part of the gameplay since I could just keep buying and mining rocks unconditionally without ever scanning them.
MizAless
Apr 27th · 17:45 UTC
It's an interesting idea, but it's hard to understand the rules of this game. Good job! =)
LDJam user 234567
May 08th · 20:25 UTC
I think I understood the idea. Well done
zhangzhimu
May 09th · 04:31 UTC
The excellent game mechanics and ideas, it's really not easy to achieve such a result within such a short period of time. It's very well thought out.