Crowbar and Sonar by Anthony Katona

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

Work your way through darkness and relentless enemies with nothing but sonar and a crowbar...and some kind of oscilloscope thing. Find the switches, open the doors, and make it to the sacred MacGuffin in the final room!

  • wasd/space - movement
  • e - interact
  • left click - sonar ping
  • scroll - sonar freeze/scrub
  • right click - swing crowbar
  • g - exit sonar mode

Tools: - Godot 4.6.1 - Blender - FL Studio - VS Code/Codex*

*Codex made the lion's share of the sonar shader and was a go-to for debugging.

  • art by Anthony
  • code by ciph3rzer0

see source here: https://github.com/frkatona/LD59-Signal

Ratings

Overall 607th 3.325⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Fun 520th 3.25⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 157th 3.825⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 325th 3.925⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 543th 3.5⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 278th 3.639⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Humor 432th 2.75⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Mood 412th 3.65⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 11🗳️ 15🗨️

Feedback

Vadoha5
Apr 21st · 14:21 UTC
Great addictive game
JohnCoffee
Apr 21st · 14:37 UTC
Nice game idea, i like the set of features. I don't think it is a good idea to both use a coding AI, crowbar first person from half-life and a Dalek from Doctor Who in your game. It might give the impression you are primarily based on other peoples work, which is kind of the antithesis to ldjam.
door_casts
Apr 21st · 14:44 UTC
Sick system and it looks/feels great good job :) I think some level tweaks and progression could make for some pretty spooky situations
turotomo
Apr 21st · 17:06 UTC
I really like the idea of the sound wave- it’s great that you were able to implement it. I even expected a more complex gameplay without using “freezing” the signal in space.
David_best
Apr 21st · 17:36 UTC
It's a great game, but the game freezes when you switch between modes.
SheldonZS
May 05th · 23:38 UTC
The sonar was a neat idea, though really hard to pick out the light switches with the echolocation.
jazzydingo
May 06th · 01:22 UTC
i fell out the world!! lol. love it, feels great, feels smooth, sonar really cool, nice atmosphere! i didnt really use the scroll for the sonar at first, and then i started using it and it felt like a cheat code. cool game! (i couldnt find the light switch after i jumped down to the lower level and kept walking into enemies lol)
ieee333
May 06th · 03:49 UTC
Great setting and a really cool concept. I love the vibe of the music, and the gameplay is interesting.
LDJam user 301711
May 06th · 04:06 UTC
Great vibe!
justking144
May 06th · 16:13 UTC
Absolutely loved the aesthetic of the sonar wave pulsing through the room
RubixNoob13
May 06th · 19:14 UTC
Cute little game! I like the concept of the sonar to see in dark rooms. I attempted something similar but in 2D way back in LD48 for echolocation for a bat.

I did notice a few stutters/lag spikes, it seemed like when you hit the trigger to display the on screen texts for the first time, like when you walk towards the wall switch, etc. It seemed to only do it the first time you hit each switch though, so maybe it's an object creation lag spike? Thought I would mention it.

The sound also seemed to do ... odd things ... when I was using the scroll to control where the sonar was.

Level design was pretty good for a jam, and I liked the overall mood of how some rooms were super dark and you needed the sonar, and some weren't as dark. Great job!
freamdev
May 07th · 15:39 UTC
I did NOT expect the dalek angle but gave me a good jump scare. Nice entry, the dark areas was a bit hard to navigate for me but that's just me and my depth perception issues :smile:
lloydlobo
May 08th · 18:28 UTC
What a surprise to come across in the final hours of jam feedback browsing 😄 This felt like Batman sonar tech mixed with Daleks and Weeping Angels from Doctor Who. Super cool mechanic.

I got pretty stuck in some of the lower levels though, just running around searching for the switch in panic mode 😄 The wave/sonar feature was a really good addition.

I kept wishing there was a tiny bit of lingering footprint/memory from where the sonar last revealed things; even a short cooldown fade could help reduce cursor spamming while still keeping the tension intact. Maybe later levels already do that, not sure.

Focused light fixtures or environmental interactions could also be interesting later on. Stuff like damaging machinery with a crowbar and having sparks/current briefly light up the surroundings. Great job!
quietchili
May 08th · 21:25 UTC
very neat idea! i like this one