LudumData

Marshaller of Inalpla by Ranarh

[raw]
made by Ranarh for Ludum Dare 59 (JAM)

BUGFIX: fixed space no longer taking input after first mission

BUGFIX2: fixed the mission being labelled Failed accidentally

BUGFIX3: Slither In pose not works as shown in the cheatsheet

The marshallers of the interdimensionary aircraft landing platform, InALPla, take care of landing dragons, flying snails, and the occasional airbus. Follow a sequence of poses given in your mission brief, so business on the landing strip goes smoothly. Don't let anyone crash! They will fire you for sure. Or if you just prove incompetent by not following your briefs.

All work is more fun with gamification, so you get points for doing it well. Can you get the highest score?

Marshallers take care of signalling incoming aircraft. Famously they use coloured paddels or torches to make themselves seen. A set of signal poses tell pilots when to brake, when to turn, or when to stop.

controls.png

Didn't find the time to put asset credits in the game. All sound via freesound.org: Avion - Deltasona - Naiara Miriam.wav by AurelioSons -- https://freesound.org/s/207252/ -- License: Attribution 3.0 Jacket/Cloth Rustle 2 by brandondelehoy -- https://freesound.org/s/494790/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 Jacket/Cloth Rustle 6 by brandondelehoy -- https://freesound.org/s/494794/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 success_low.wav by grunz -- https://freesound.org/s/109663/ -- License: Attribution 3.0 Upbeat Indie Rock (loop ver.1) by AudioCoffee -- https://freesound.org/s/751130/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 outdoors ambient windy wind leaves rustle near airport plane hum.wav by bulbastre -- https://freesound.org/s/126970/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Large Group of Seagulls on Pier.WAV by jakobthiesen -- https://freesound.org/s/188419/ -- License: Attribution 3.0 Airport, Exterior, Orlando International (MCO) June 2024 by joeffl -- https://freesound.org/s/843280/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Link http:\\ranarh.itch.io/marshaller-of-inalpla
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/marshaller-of-inalpla

Ratings

Overall 452th 3.545⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Fun 432th 3.364⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 41th 4.159⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Theme 27th 4.5⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 195th 4.182⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Humor 293th 3.175⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Mood 279th 3.886⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Given 8🗳️ 13🗨️

Feedback

TheGoblinGuy
Apr 21st · 02:21 UTC
I'm getting a "Uh oh! If you're seeing this error, it means I can't find your index.html file." error on the embed on this page. Had to go to itch, where it worked fine.

Holy QWOP, I'm too sleep deprived to do well at this. But it's certainly fun and interesting, I'm checking this one out again later.
🎤 Ranarh
Apr 21st · 03:05 UTC
@TheGoblinGuy So sorry, my mistake, fixed now. Glad you had fun on almost no sleep, hopefully it's still fun when you can see straight again ;)
LDJam user 82995
Apr 21st · 17:34 UTC
So many aviation disasters, all thanks to me. This is such a niche game, and I love it.
William Capon
Apr 21st · 17:36 UTC
LOVE the art and the concept. Unfortunately, kept running into a bug on the web version where the spacebar stopped working after the first landing. Looking forward to playing this again though!
🎤 Ranarh
Apr 22nd · 01:45 UTC
@william-capon Thanks! Damnit, sorry. At least you got one... :( I hope I fixed it if you want another try - in any case thanks for letting me know.
@orjan Well, at least now you know you are a menace to air traffic before going out into the field! ;)
dod108
Apr 22nd · 07:16 UTC
Tried yesterday and had the same bug as @william-capon
If it's fixed now I'll give it another try today evening :)
noneegy
Apr 22nd · 12:14 UTC
I love the art style of this game and the whole idea is really creative. Good job!
dod108
Apr 22nd · 17:29 UTC
Now the space works but I get "landing failed" when I get all poses correctly. Anyway, cool idea. Very pretty artwork. My nitpicks:
- Difficulty curve is a little bit off: it starts with a small number of poses and slow aircrafts, which is good. Then, it immediately jumps to fast aircrafts and more poses. It would be better with a more gradual change.
- I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the idea to hide cheat sheet behind a button and additionally punish player with less points. Having to spend time clicking and looking is a punishment in itself. And since it gets difficult even if you remember poses, maybe cheat sheet constantly on the screen for newly introduced poses would be good? And then you could turn it off after a first mission or two with a new pose. Idk, just an idea.
Cool idea, I like when games experiment with weird controls.
MrEKZES
Apr 23rd · 12:12 UTC
the game is interesting, but it's not immediately clear what you need to do, but if you sit for a couple of minutes, it's quite easy to figure it out, and I encountered a bug. After failing a level, I went back to the menu and then opened the level again, but the level and the game as a whole froze.
Gotlib
Apr 23rd · 12:22 UTC
Great graphics and audio, but there are too many poses that are difficult to understand. It would be cool if cheat sheet was transparent so that you could watch it and play at the same time.
rainot
Apr 23rd · 12:27 UTC
Amazing, i enjoyed it very much.
I couldn't get Slither In to work ever, I don't know if it's a bug or I just missinterpreted the cheatheet. Also when I went back to menu and tried to play once more it didn't work. And a nice small improvement would be binding next mission to some key making the gameplay rely only on the keyboard.
But yeah, great jam game, good job!
🎤 Ranarh
Apr 23rd · 17:19 UTC
@dod108 I fixed the message - its was just a timer confusion, you actually managed the mission. It's my first time working with difficulty progression and there was too little time so most factors are just guesstimates; I will make a note though. And yes, the players are asked to remember a lot, I admit. I thought that, with experience, you can get higher scored runs because you no longer have to take the penalty. In that vein it would make sense to add points if you finish way before time runs out, or better yet, timing the poses to certain progress markers of the aircraft.
🎤 Ranarh
Apr 23rd · 17:24 UTC
@gotlib Thanks. What about the poses did you find difficult to understand? Transparency is an interesting idea. The sheet could also be pinnned to screen sides, or individually displayed (perhaps on lower difficulty levels).

@rainot Thank you! I cannot say with confidence that the pose is coded as shown, sorry (it was really hard to imagine how the movements have to be set to achieve the right look with so much sleep deprivation...). I think I only encountered it twice during testing, and I don't think I managed them then either. I'll check on the bugs you found. Yes, a key for next mission is kinda obvious!
fae.pdf
Apr 24th · 03:33 UTC
![Capture d'écran 2026-04-24 052843.png](///raw/2c8/24/z/72893.png)

I enjoyed your game very much! It's very simple, but the controls felt strangely natural and I really got into the flow. The difficulty felt nice, never felt too challenging but still enough to cut your teeth on a little bit. Progressed nicely, but maybe the timer could have started decreasing after a point. At the end I was satisfied because I was able to do the entire thing rather quickly with minimal movement very consistently, which felt really good. I love games that have you master something, it always feels quite immersive.

Simple game, but sweet concept and sweet execution. Cute art! Very well done!!
I had no trouble with Slither In, it seemed to work fine for me. No issue with any pose, really.
uroborei
Apr 24th · 04:01 UTC
i really loved the style of this !! love the paper and traditional look. gameplay wise, this was a really interesting and unique take on the theme, and i found it fun ! pretty difficult, but in a fun way ! controls did feel a little confusing but it did add to the difficulty trying to remember which pose means what lol.

i did get the same mission brief multiple times but not really a bad thing !

really enjoyed this !! great work ^_^ !
thomaspixelart
Apr 24th · 04:09 UTC
Holy this is hard hahaha Even replaying for a bit it still messes with my brain. Lovely art style, even tho the plane gave me anxiety, the rest is super chill! Congrats!
Strega
Apr 24th · 04:39 UTC
Lovely art and concept. The controls were interesting and surprisingly after a while I got the hang of it/the mental model clicked and I was starting to memorize the different signals. The seagull sounds started becoming a bit much for me, I'm not sure if it was just playing a bunch of times on top of each other or what. I would have liked it if space bar could be used to advance to the next mission so that I didn't have to take my hands off the keyboard to click the button, I think that would have help things keep flowing. Great job!
VenomousMouse
Apr 24th · 11:59 UTC
The idea is super cool! Also i like the art and sound. But i didn`t manage to finish the game. Would be great to have an option to change key bindings.
kr4ft3r
Apr 24th · 15:27 UTC
I appreciate the uniqueness of the idea, the hand drawn style, and the gameplay itself is pretty good. I was ready to give up trying to memorize signal shapes from the very start, but the gradual expansion of shapes helped it stick somewhat. Until I reached 7 signals per landing, though I did manage to get some mostly I'd fail those, and mostly due to the keyboard challenge. Pretty fine entry, you should be proud.
🎤 Ranarh
Apr 24th · 19:51 UTC
@uroborei Thank so much! There are actually other games (well, I saw one) that happen on an airport, which is cool. I think with the limited poses at first at least, getting the same brief is unavoidable. I am glad you had fun!
🎤 Ranarh
Apr 24th · 19:53 UTC
@strega Sorry to hear about teh sounds getting on your nerves. Perhaps it was just the birds themselves, I am guilty of rarely listend through an entire track I find online, instead I skip through it. In a full release I would love to add airport shenanigans like avoiding birdstrike and such. Happy to hear you liked the controls idea!
🎤 Ranarh
Apr 24th · 19:55 UTC
@fae-pdf What a great score! I am very happy to see you had fun for that long. I agree that rewarding skill is a good feature for games to have!
🎤 Ranarh
Apr 24th · 19:56 UTC
@thomaspixelart Haha, I know what ou mean, seeing the aircraft come towards me for the first time almost drove me out of my chair :rofl: Imagine how I felt describing the poses properly for code: "this arm up and the lower one... hm, straight...?"
🎤 Ranarh
Apr 24th · 19:58 UTC
@venomousmouse Theoretically, there is no end to the game, just be in it as long as can, so, no worries. I agree key bindings need to be switchable for proper games, it was simply too much for a jam.
🎤 Ranarh
Apr 24th · 19:59 UTC
@kr4ft3r Glad to hear the progression did somewhat work for you. I did my best to start simple and get to the yoga expert poses later. Thanks so much!
Euler Moises
Apr 27th · 19:23 UTC
I found this game very interesting! But not easy at all. I can't say if the poses are complicated enough on their own or if the choice of buttons for the controls wasn't ideal (I found them too close together and I kept pressing the wrong buttons, pressing the one next to it).

The art is very beautiful, with light strokes and watercolor. The aircraft are also very creative (I loved landing a flying teacup).

Another question I kept having was whether the pose on the paper was the correct one to do or if it was mirrored, thinking of the character facing forward. I wasted a lot of time doing some poses and the correct one was the opposite.

Do you know if these symbols have this meaning in real life?

Congratulations on the excellent work.
🎤 Ranarh
Apr 28th · 01:42 UTC
@euler-moises Thanks! Yes, there are some tutorial lackings. The poses, as you found out, are seen from player perspective, which I could have noted. The signals are not real but *very* loosely inspired by real signals:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_marshalling#FAA_hand_signals
I knew the buttons would be a challenge. Truth be told I didn't find them easy but then my typing is infamously terrible :laughing: for a jam I dared to use them anyway. Thank you for playing!
CataclysmicKnight
Apr 28th · 15:41 UTC
This is really clever! I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a video game where you signal for airplanes (let alone dragons!), and you executed it well here. I love the bonus for remembering poses (even though I never remembered any lol, so I never got the bonuses), and the art and control layouts are really awesome.