U.P.L.I.N.K by Gecko64

[raw]
made by Gecko64 for Ludum Dare 59 (JAM)

The Initiative NEEDS You!!

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Meet Many New Faces Whether That Be Human Or Creature...

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Solve Puzzles With Reflecting And Splitting Of Signals!

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8 Challenging Levels Sporting 8 Kinda Different Characters

MOVE A SIGNAL FROM POINT A TO POINT B USING REFLECTORS AND SPLITTERS FOR CONNECTING ANTENNAS TO THE MAIN ANTENNA

CONTROLS:

LEFT CLICK - PLACE

RIGHT CLICK - PICK UP

SHIFT - FLIP PLACEABLE

1 - CHOOSES REFLECTOR

2 - CHOOSES SPLITTER

And finally a thank you for taking time out of your day to play my game, it means a lot to me!

All music, art, and general programming made for the LD jam during the 3 day span

Ratings

Overall 596th 3.333⭐ 59🧑‍⚖️
Fun 405th 3.404⭐ 59🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 671th 2.939⭐ 59🧑‍⚖️
Theme 391th 3.813⭐ 58🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 668th 3.129⭐ 60🧑‍⚖️
Audio 476th 3.089⭐ 58🧑‍⚖️
Humor 123th 3.781⭐ 59🧑‍⚖️
Mood 630th 3.268⭐ 58🧑‍⚖️
Given 68🗳️ 114🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 384829
Apr 21st · 08:00 UTC
Nice game, good job!
Itero Proto
Apr 21st · 08:02 UTC
There is no web version. I can'T rate it because I don't download anything. Sorry 😢
🎤 Gecko64
Apr 21st · 08:23 UTC
@itero-proto Sorry about that, I didn't have the time to map it to HTML5 for the LD jam
thecoconutdream
Apr 21st · 09:14 UTC
Really like your puzzly game approach. Oh and the artstyle fits perfectly <3
Max Corke
Apr 21st · 09:16 UTC
Fun game, I liked the old school vibe it was giving off. Somehow you managed to hit some sort of nostalgia haha. The characters were funny and I can only sympathise as someone who has awful internet. I finally understand my shortcomings, obviously some poor engineer is putting mirrors up incorrectly every 2 seconds.

I did get a bug where the splitter would sometimes split into more than two projectiles, in fact one time it multiplied endlessly and crashed my game >.> made me laugh though, I think things like that happen in these jams.

Had a good time with it, good going! Not too dissimilar from our game.
LDJam user 424632
Apr 21st · 09:21 UTC
Nice arts between levels)
Fedor Perfilov
Apr 21st · 09:22 UTC
Very nice!
draki
Apr 21st · 09:28 UTC
A really satisfying game with hilarious characters! The controls might not be super intuitive, but the level design is really good!
🎤 Gecko64
Apr 22nd · 05:29 UTC
@thecoconutdream Thank you!

@max-corke I do remember the splitter bug but I wont lie i had to push that out of the way to finish the game in the end :) I did check your game out and yes certain element were really similar!

@catanus Thank you!

@fedor-perfilov Thank you!

@draki Sorry about the controls it was a balancing scheme trying to figure out how to do controls the correct way, but thank you none the less
Haoxuan
Apr 22nd · 08:25 UTC
i really like the puzzle part
FuryOhFury
Apr 22nd · 10:30 UTC
Funny character arts. Maybe should've place controls somewhere on the screen permanently
🎤 Gecko64
Apr 22nd · 10:40 UTC
@furyohfury Thats a good idea, Thats one thing i wish i did
HexStart
Apr 22nd · 10:54 UTC
Completed the whole thing. Finding the correct paths was pretty satisfying (especially with elements to spare), although it took me a moment to understand that not entire buildings block signals (even though it was explained I think). I appreciated the tutorials painted on the levels themselves. As already mentioned, there's this old school vibe, and the characters were fun. [F] and [R] are a bit to close to each other though :sweat_smile:
🎤 Gecko64
Apr 22nd · 11:06 UTC
@hexstart Haha im sorry about the f and r i can understand how you could miss click and completely reset the whole level! Hope you still hat a good time :)
ManTou
Apr 22nd · 11:06 UTC
The mechanics are simple, the levels feel complete, and there are even multiple stages. The game is fun and feels very polished overall. Really nice work.
LDJam user 423872
Apr 22nd · 15:06 UTC
This is a good mechanic. A web version is really needed; it would help get more positive ratings and reviews.
Sariiger
Apr 22nd · 16:36 UTC
Love the humor!
The puzzles were great too, it was fun trying to optimize the levels and use as few items as possible.
nullval
Apr 22nd · 21:22 UTC
Funny presentation and writing.

This is the funniest game I've played this Jam so far.
The mechanics are simple but well explained/introduced through gameplay. My ONE nitpick is that the signal needs to hit the very top of the antenna which was a bit weird to figure out at first.
alisher_fazilov
Apr 23rd · 04:23 UTC
A classic recipe for a good puzzle. I had to really think hard, but once I solved it, I got a huge dopamine rush. The only thing that confused me and I didn't understand at first was the colliders on the towers. You can visually show where you need to hit them.
🎤 Gecko64
Apr 23rd · 10:43 UTC
@mantou Thank you so much!

@indiepanda Yeah Ill try my best if i can find time but yes its a good idea

@sariiger Thanks it was fun to build the game aswell

@nullval Thank you for the funniest game award from you and yes I do understand the unexplained top of antenna problem

@alisher-fazilov Thanks for the kind words, and I do notice a pattern with nullvals comment on the top of antenna problem
zhangzhimu
Apr 23rd · 14:41 UTC
An interesting game with clear and instructive graphics
MicleFirst
Apr 23rd · 16:21 UTC
Great game! The graphics are very simple, but once I understood how the puzzles work, everything immediately clicked. I almost finished it and was about to complete it fully (which is quite rare for jam games), but unfortunately I ran into a bug where tens or hundreds of thousands of signals spawned, and the game froze. Still, it didn’t ruin my impression at all.
Very good work.![UPLINK_XWqtllOeEZ.png](///raw/5cc/76/z/727a9.png)
LDJam user 387005
Apr 24th · 12:12 UTC
The idea of having to redirect signals to points is very simple yet intriguing. Especially combined with the music, the soundeffects, the characterdesign and so on reminds of the early console era, so perhabs expanding in that direction would be worth while?

There's a lot left to be desired in the graphics-area (propper reflection of signals instead of rotation, background, sprite variations, clear bounding boxes, button highlight,...) but also a lot very nice things (character design, rainbow text, art of sprites, tutorial baked-in the background)

The levels are well designed, and it's fun to explore different ways of completing a level (unintentionally)

The background music is nice, soundeffects fit the asthetics.

I also experienced the mentioned bug of INFINITE SIGNAL STRENGTH (splitter continuously spawning signals)

LG Kartoffel Licht
🎤 Gecko64
Apr 24th · 15:27 UTC
@zhangzhimu Thanks!

@miclefirst Thank you for almost finishing my game, if u wanted to try the last level again dont worry it saves ur progress!

@kartoffel-licht Thanks for the detailed comment and I do agree, and yes I have found out the bug is quite common now and sorry about that.
krawa
Apr 24th · 19:13 UTC
You really have an interesting style. You did a great job!
zoeek
Apr 24th · 22:47 UTC
Great game - one of the very few that made me laugh :)
Completed it!
I did have to restart the game at some point because I placed a splitter in the same direction as the signal and it produced so many signals off the back of that it crashed the game
sledzik
Apr 25th · 10:50 UTC
Realy fun game, the puzzle design was pleasant, enjoyed the variety of clients, i had fun creating self feedback loops but you should probably add some failsafe so people dont crash the game with thousands of signal entities like i did lol, great job!
🎤 Gecko64
Apr 25th · 13:58 UTC
@krawa Thanks for that!

@zoeek Thanks that I could make you laugh! But yeah I have noticed a very common pattern of this one bug

@sledzik Thanks, I definitely could've added more failsafes for that stuff because its clearly a common enough problem.
JamesGames1000
Apr 25th · 15:31 UTC
![U.P.L.I.N.K 2026-04-25 9_25_07 AM.png](///raw/c7e/36/z/72b23.png)
Was very happy when this worked! Great game lots of fun I played till the end and it has a good amount of levels and variation which isn't too common for a game jam, good job :)
gKthegkpchannel
Apr 25th · 23:18 UTC
good game, amazing art, good music, chuds, and i caused a memory leak
apt_prose7
Apr 26th · 08:50 UTC
Easy to play and great for all levels of gamers.
poliado
Apr 27th · 02:07 UTC
I had a good sense of humor. The play was good, so it wasn't bad
🎤 Gecko64
Apr 27th · 02:56 UTC
@jamesgames1000 Thank you so much for playing to the end! Im happy you had fun finding ways to break the game, always my favourite part in games.

@gkthegkpchannel Thank you and yes the feature not a bug of a memory leak...

@apt-prose7 Thank you!

@poliado Thank you!
Cazik21
Apr 29th · 18:05 UTC
Can you export the game for mac? i will come here to test your game!
Prismapunch
Apr 29th · 19:15 UTC
Very funny game, had a lot of fun with it, the puzzle elements are very interesting although the hitboxes could be a bit jank sometimes. Loved the characters and the art. Great work!
Wallted
Apr 29th · 22:59 UTC
I mean.. these jokes for each person were lowkey cracking me up xDD The contents and the pacing of delivery got me right. The puzzle aspect was fun, proper level curve and you need to plan something ahead, which is a fun mechanic for me. Wish there was third device for final levels, maybe signal enhancer which allows to go through some other kind of obstacle or something :D Anyway great work on the game.
One thing I must say, that's some devils work from you to put restart under R right next to F, I actually mistyped once deep in the level XD
VenomousMouse
Apr 30th · 08:16 UTC
Very cool puzzle. Overall nice game.
🎤 Gecko64
Apr 30th · 11:07 UTC
@cazik21
@indiepanda
@itero-proto

There is now a web version on the itch.io page linked above!

If you would still prefer mac it should be coming soon!
MajoMirez
May 01st · 01:00 UTC
Interesting puzzle game! The art is great too. There's a bit of graphic issues, like I could lose a reflector behind a building if I don't remember where I put it, also the white background make it hard to calculate the signal trajectory, a grid would've been nice for this. Overall it's a good game with a good amount of levels
🎤 Gecko64
May 01st · 12:19 UTC
@wallted My bad about the R haha during testing it was just me alone so it didn't cross my mind someone would be able to do that. Thanks for the kind words!

@venomousmouse Thanks!

@majomirez That is a great idea, a grid backround would add an extra edge to some of the harder parts. Thanks!
Ouisky
May 01st · 21:07 UTC
Nice entry ! I really enjoyed the mood (thanks to the music i guess) and the puzzle where fun. Maybe it would be better if we could control the cam with the mouse (i took almost 5 minutes to discover i could move my camera on the first level :') )
Risminator
May 02nd · 10:54 UTC
Very fun puzzles! I completed all of the levels. The only thing I wish I could do is the way to zoom out so I can see the whole map, I repeatedly lost myself in all of those buildings. But it was really fun to figure out optimal ways to direct the signal :) And the silly meme-like art-style is quite charming.

Thank you for the game!
🎤 Gecko64
May 02nd · 15:11 UTC
@ouisky I 100% could've added something to know about the movement that was my bad, glad you enjoyed the game!

@risminator Thank you for the kind words on the game and for completing the whole 8 levels!
anaastaska
May 02nd · 15:55 UTC
I like it! Easy but interesting mechanics, i enjoy it. Very nice visuals and funny descriptions for every person.
Great game which was done by only 1 person!
LDJam user 374028
May 02nd · 16:29 UTC
Fun puzzles and nice chud humor!
🎤 Gecko64
May 03rd · 11:30 UTC
@anaastaska Thanks for the kind words, but most of the character art was created by my good friend, none the less thanks so much!

@andriybyelikov Thanks!!
brolga
May 04th · 10:23 UTC
Simple but fun game, always a fan of games that lean into being funny.
🎤 Gecko64
May 04th · 14:11 UTC
@brolga Thanks, I think humour is the best thing in games!
eloc
May 05th · 02:54 UTC
Really cool. The great character designs and music stood out to me especially
Coda Highland
May 05th · 16:31 UTC
@gecko64 Re: graphics - If your teammates want to, they could also register ldjam accounts for next time. If you all follow each other (there's a follow button on your user profile page) then you can add them as teammates.
Coda Highland
May 05th · 22:49 UTC
Really solid! Reminds me of playing Laser Mayhem as a kid. Music is simple but effective. Would have appreciated a few more sound effects along the way, but it's not that big of a deal. Kind of _easy_, but that's fine for a jam game.

It would have been nice to be able to zoom out, or at least to pan faster. The whole thing was just a bit slow-paced. Not enough to hurt the overall experience, but it would be an opportunity for polish.
🎤 Gecko64
May 06th · 10:46 UTC
@coda-highland Thanks for the kind words, next time 100% I will get my partner to join up. Yes the game could have very much had a system to zoom out or pan for the larger levels along with a faster signal possibly. Thanks again!
🎤 Gecko64
May 06th · 10:46 UTC
@eloc Thanks, this is the first game I made my music for and so was my friend's art!
AO-85
May 07th · 03:23 UTC
Realy fun game, the puzzle design was pleasant, enjoyed the variety of clients, i had fun creating self feedback loops but you should probably add some failsafe so people dont crash the game with thousands of signal entities like i did lol, great job!
🎤 Gecko64
May 07th · 14:40 UTC
@ao-85 thanks for the kind words!