LudumData

They Devour Signals by justking144

[raw]
made by justking144 for Ludum Dare 59 (JAM)

​ldjam2026.png

GAME LINK: https://justking14.itch.io/signal-found

You are lost in a vast world of endless darkness, and the only way you can navigate it is by sending out a signal to illuminate the path forward, but be warned. There are things in the darkness that will devour both your signal and you if you get too close. To make matters worse, you only have so much air before you suffocate, so be quick, but be careful.

Instructions:

The light green tiles are the places you can move. Click on them to move there, but be careful of what may already be waiting there.

Click anywhere else to send out a signal that will illuminate possible paths and disappear when it comes into contact with any of the things hiding in the shadows.

Reach the blue tile to advance to the next level and hopefully escape this nightmare.

Link https://itch.io/embed-upload/17242136?color=c4c4c4
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/they-devour-signals

Ratings

Overall 464th 3.525⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Fun 353th 3.475⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 68th 4.025⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 90th 4.3⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 733th 2.75⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Humor 422th 2.778⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Mood 715th 3.025⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 13🗳️ 14🗨️

Feedback

Whiteowl4399
Apr 20th · 22:56 UTC
It's like a dynamic Minesweeper game, which really tests spatial imagination and memory.
gamebuilder
Apr 21st · 19:16 UTC
A very tough game, but also very innovative. My memory skills aren't good enough to remember the paths of the signals. Still, it's a brilliant idea that matches the theme very well. I wish the signals traveled more slowly—this would make the game less frustrating for players like me. Then again, maybe for most players it is the right difficulty level. Let's see what others say. In terms of innovation and theme, this is a solid entry.
Ydindamin
Apr 22nd · 05:33 UTC
Very cool concept! I like the idea you had, I just wish I didn't have to repeated click every single tile to move. Also, it says "in the darkness" but every tile is white? Anyway, the game was quite fun, and I'd love to see you expand and refine it even more!
martinfernandezGD
Apr 22nd · 20:05 UTC
It's a very interesting concept. Sometimes I've moved when I really wanted to create a signal.
BeastPanda
Apr 22nd · 20:16 UTC
I liked this. It’s a clever spin on something like Minesweeper, and I think it’s a good idea that you’ve implemented cleanly with minimal graphics. It also fits the jam theme really well.

Like Minesweeper, I don’t love that you can lose on the first blind click if you hit a mine. It might feel better if the signal always came from the player, so there’s a consistent safe starting point. Adding the ability to mark tiles you think are mines could also help reduce the memory burden. I’d also like to see keyboard movement, since clicking through every tile gets a bit tedious, especially by the second level.

Possible bug: the signal charge doesn’t seem to reset after death.

Thanks for the game!
frozenfire92
Apr 22nd · 20:33 UTC
Such a great concept! It was a little difficult with the time pressure and keeping your memory up but that is part of the fun and challenge! Keep on making games :smile:
Sarah
Apr 22nd · 20:49 UTC
I like the mechanics, very fun! Nice work
dqso
Apr 29th · 19:13 UTC
Interesting concept! Arrow key controls would be a nice addition. I kept forgetting which direction is which
galareteg
May 04th · 17:44 UTC
Really fun game! Simple but engaging concept, with a nice difficulty to it. I was stuck on the last level for a bit, but finally finishing it felt great.
Alexandr Gerya
May 04th · 23:22 UTC
it’s pretty tough! wish the signals traveled a bit slower for us slow-brain players, but finishing that last level felt amazing
ditam
May 06th · 16:23 UTC
A very interesting take on the theme! The signal being "devoured" is an interesting idea, but I guess in practice it's not that different from any other wall or obstacle... Like other commenters, I found it quite challenging to catch with my eyes and then remember where the traps were, but that's what made it fun! Well done.

I think some UI refresh/polish to match the ominous description could make for a very nice post-jam version which I'd gladly come back to.

A minor nitpick: in full-screen mode you can't see the timer and the signal meter.
Tesseract
May 06th · 16:40 UTC
Very fun. The difficulty curve felt right, which is something I always struggle with when I'm too familiar with a game after testing it continuously over a weekend.
remusnomos
May 06th · 18:20 UTC
Finding out where it's possible to expand by sending out a signal is an interesting concept. But the timer was quite frustrating to me. Overall a cool concept.
zimny11
May 07th · 18:24 UTC
I love the idea, but dunno why but I found it really hard to understand what I needed to do. I was sending signals and moving in the direction where it went through, but still most of the time ended with me being devoured. The art even that it is simple works well imo and the signal effect is nice!