Zap Signal by christina-antoinette-neofotistou

Untitled-1.gif

An on-rails shooter that you control with only your voice.

You're in a high-tech suit, but all your manual controls are dead. Switching to voice control!

🕹 controls: "pon" to shoot, "waaaah" to reload your gun

During calibration, just say "pon" in a normal speaking voice. The game saves the loudness level, and uses that during gameplay. The targeting reticle disappears when you need to reload. Do not panic, reloading makes it reappear.

C&C very very welcome!

🖥tools used

  • photoshop cs5
  • construct 2
  • audacity

This was my 16th LD!

Re: the theme! I totally failed to keep up with the theme! My initial idea was "at the end of a level, your remaining life is currency used for upgrades". Then I thought what if the upgrades scrolled automatically and you had to say "now" into a mic at the right moment... Then I abandoned the theme in favor of a fun mechanic :id: Don't feel bad rating me 0/5 on theme

Ratings

Given 56🗳️ 26🗨️

Feedback

Yaen
04. May 2019 · 15:38 UTC
As cool as the premise to this game sounds, I couldn't get past the calibration stage because it didn't get any input from my mic (even though I enabled mic input in firefox and my mic itself works).
Really sad, I wish this worked for me!
🎤 christina-antoinette-neofotistou
04. May 2019 · 15:44 UTC
@yaen firefox is usually all sorts of weird with User Media. Chrome is recommended. Thanks for trying though. I also uploaded desktop versions for linux mac and windows
Sol Roo
04. May 2019 · 16:09 UTC
Hey, it was hell to control the game, but i havent laughed (at myself) so much in a while! 5/5 would recommend saying "wah wah wahhhh!!" in panic to reload to everyone!
(The art is also beautiful)
🎤 christina-antoinette-neofotistou
04. May 2019 · 16:15 UTC
@sol-roo Hahaha! Thank you! it shouldn't be hell to control... I'm going to have to rework the level design, so that everything doesn't overwhelm you. But I'm glad you had fun!!
Tozzo4316
04. May 2019 · 16:28 UTC
Dayum, that's very innovative, it's only that's a little awkward XD, had a lot of fun tho, the graphics are excellent and so are the animations. Don't know about the theme tho :sweat_smile:
Vinay Rao
04. May 2019 · 16:29 UTC
Beautiful looking game. I knew going into it that it'd be an uphill battle, as my voice never works with voice recognition properly.

So I improvised. I played this game using a harmonica! That made it much more fun! I won't say the audio detection was perfect, but it was good enough.

Quite a brave decision going for this form of control scheme. Very innovative.

Certainly one of the most memorable submissions I've encountered.

Good job!
pndaa
04. May 2019 · 16:33 UTC
Ahaha really original and fun. Had a good laugh shooting "pon pon pon !".
Hygon
04. May 2019 · 16:33 UTC
Nice game, I had a great time playing ! The graphics are really good. The controls make the game very funny and very hard at the same time, ahah. It was difficult to reload quickly in the heat of the battle.
I had some trouble with firefox, chrome worked fine.
Congrats for this entry !
Webox
04. May 2019 · 17:14 UTC
hahaha I was with some family members, when i raised my head they were looking at me like "what the hell is wrong with you". Loved it!
Le Slo
04. May 2019 · 17:24 UTC
Hey! The game looks very nice and it seems that with a responsive audio detection this could be super fun! I've tried it on Chrome and not sure if it was the game or the micro on my computer, but I had several problems with the game detecting the audio. Also, sometimes the game displayed a bull's eye (not sure how to say it in english, the spot where you are going to shoot) and sometimes it didn't, even for the same type of enemies, not sure what was that. Congratulations on making a super innovative game!
EdevJogos
04. May 2019 · 17:34 UTC
Really fun game, awesome art, the reload could be shorter i don't have enough breath to reload in one go.
🎤 christina-antoinette-neofotistou
04. May 2019 · 17:59 UTC
@tozzo4316 you're so right, I forgot about the theme during development. You were supposed to get money at the end of the level to buy extra shields and bullets, based on your remaining health. But eh, I only managed one level ^-^ Thank you for playing

@vinay-rao wow you innovated yourself!! Thank you for the kind words. By the way it isn't doing speech detection, it's only checking for loudness. When it asks for calibration, you can say "pon" very quietly, and it saves your loudness level.

@pndaa Thank you for playing <3

@hygon Thank you for playing! You're right I need to refine when enemies come in and give players some rest. It's not fair as it is. <3

@webox comments like that is why I even make games <333 Thank you!!!!

@le-slo The game displays the target (bull's eye) only when you have bullets. Maybe you need to reload? Or maybe it's a bug! I'll check it out! Re: the audio detection can be calibrated every time you start the level. If you say "pon" with a normal voice (not super loud), then it saves that setting, and will detect a "pon" every time. At any rate, thank you for playing!

@edevjogos omg thanks for playing and for the feedback! I will definitely make the reload shorter :)
Vinay Rao
04. May 2019 · 18:34 UTC
@christina-antoinette-neofotistou

Oh, is that so! I figured during the short development cycle it couldn't have been THAT complicated. I thought it was listening for a pattern in the volume of whatever sound it was supplied. Like a hard "P" at the start of "Pon" or the consistent "ah" sound in "Wah". The shooting seemed to work alright with my voice, but I had trouble with the reload. I suppose going just by volume isn't a bad way to do things. It's a pretty compelling bit of player agency to have them calibrate the inputs themselves.

I'm headed to the library later today. I'll make sure to give this game a retest while I'm there.

(You'll be happy to know that it actually works pretty well with a harmonica!)
MrTroy
04. May 2019 · 18:35 UTC
My girlfriend never comes in to my office while I'm streaming... She came in and stared at me oddly as I played.

I really really enjoyed this game.
🎤 christina-antoinette-neofotistou
04. May 2019 · 20:54 UTC
@vinay-rao thank you <3 I'm super happy to know it works with a harmonica!! I tried to make it work by blowing on the mic, but the sound loudness is too close to just breathing, so it gives a lot of false positives. A harmonica solves this!

@mrtroy comments like yours are gold, I'm so happy you had a moment of silly fun <3 Games should be doing that too, sometimes. Thank you for playing!
gurkan96
04. May 2019 · 21:13 UTC
I liked this a lot needs a little tweaking but for that short amount of time its cool you have even gotten it to worked
🎤 christina-antoinette-neofotistou
04. May 2019 · 21:17 UTC
@gurkan96 thank you for the feedback. I agree, things get overwhelming, the enemies need tightening, and you need more time to reload between waves. Thank you so much for playing
No Grapes Games
04. May 2019 · 21:19 UTC
Wow, very impressive! Cool concept but this didn't fit the theme at all. I mean, 0%. Felt like this was a game that wanted to be made and was thought about way before the challenge. Cool game, but hopefully not the future in gaming.
TiagoRrech
04. May 2019 · 21:20 UTC
I really like this premise! It's a rare thing in a LD, to see a game that's voice controlled. The art style is very cute.

Very original entry. Congrats!
Copper_Aardvark_Games
04. May 2019 · 21:21 UTC
Amazing art and gameplay. Super fun and polished. This has a good chance to make it up there in the voting!
🎤 christina-antoinette-neofotistou
04. May 2019 · 21:27 UTC
@no-grapes-games You're right, I failed at the theme... I totally started with the theme. It was very cliche though: a shooter where you finish a level and your remaining life is used as money to buy extra ammo and a shield.
Then I thought what if the upgrades scroll automatically and you just shout "NOW" into the mic when you see one you like.
Then I thought my theme is weak anyway, let's go for the gusto :D I don't see how it could be the future in gaming... Thank you for playing though :)

to be clear: I don't even vote for themes. I've been doing LD for 10 years now, and what I love most about it is being surprised by the theme. I try to stay close to it, but if I'm not having fun it's the first to go.

@tiagorrech thank you <3

@copper-aardvark-games Thank you for the kind words!
fusionnist
04. May 2019 · 21:36 UTC
Really cool concept! Your graphics are as always amazing, and playing with my voice is a really fun experience! (My family may or may not disagree with that notion). Sounds are cool - I could wish for some music to play, though I can understand why there isn't any here. The calibration voices are really cute! As for growing intensity, I suppose a post-jam version would deal with that by adding a few challenges/new enemies or such. A solid entry overall, with a quite unique twist. Cheers!
karmicRetribution
04. May 2019 · 21:50 UTC
I was having trouble playing because I was laughing too much. Not such a bad problem!
04. May 2019 · 22:08 UTC
Wow, the game is awesome! I think my neighbors heard me screaming "pum" "pum" and "Waaaaaah" :smile: really fun!
Though I didn't rate for 1 reason (it says the game was published 10 hours ago)
majana2
04. May 2019 · 22:24 UTC
I was really surprised to see a game like thIs. I enjoyed playing it, although I had issues with voice recognition. Good job :smile:
someone
04. May 2019 · 22:26 UTC
That was certainly an interesting experience.
Took a while to realise the targeting reticle was what I was shooting at as it doesn't always appear for some reason.
Also the Linux build starts in a super tiny window. It resizes ok though.
🎤 christina-antoinette-neofotistou
04. May 2019 · 22:32 UTC
@anonymous thank you! and yes, I had Ludum Dare's Mike resubmit it for me, because I messed something up and it said "unpublished"

@majana2 thank you ^-^ Would you mind telling me your issues? It helps a lot! Just a heads up, there isn't any voice reognition, it's just waiting for a loudness threshold. During calibration you can say "pon" in a not-too loud voice, and it will use that loudness level throughout

@someone thank you for playing and for the feedback on the Linux version! The tiny window, is probably the native resolution (160x96). I'll add a command to resize automatically. The reticle doesn't appear while you're reloading. If it doesn't appear on other occasions, it's a bug. I'll check it out. Thanks again!
Purrfexionator
04. May 2019 · 23:20 UTC
This is definitely one of the more unique games I've played. It's not the most fun in terms of gameplay, but it is definitely super innovative. The utilization of voice controls is something you don't usually see in Ludum Dare games, but it definitely works. I will mention that when I started the game, the targeting reticle was not present even though I had ammo, and when I said "pon", it made the shooting sound effect but I didn't hit an enemy, so I just had to shout "pon" a whole bunch to run out of ammo just so I could reload and be able to shoot things. Aside from that, it was an enjoyable and mostly bug-free experience. I loved the game's art style; the attention to detail on all of the assets was stunning, and it made them all enjoyable to look at. The audio works, and gives the player feedback whenever it is necessary, like when you hit something or when you've been hit. I also enjoyed the kind of in-a-mech-suit aesthetic you were going for here. Overall, well done! A solid 4-star game in my opinion!

p.s. If you knew your game didn't fit the theme, you could have opted out of the theme category. Following the theme isn't actually an official Ludum Dare rule, it's just a suggestion, a way to give people a starting point and not have them sitting around the whole competition and not knowing what to make. It's completely fine that your game didn't fit the theme, and it's still a really unique experience!
Blondhie
04. May 2019 · 23:30 UTC
I like the concept and originality of the game. I only wish I could have made it passed the calibration. I'd liek to see more of these types of games.
CarlsonAndPeeters
05. May 2019 · 00:52 UTC
Really creative and unique game, I'm impressed that the audio recognition worked as well as it did. I had fun talking to myself in my apartment. Its definitely less responsive than playing with normal controls, but it also feels like thats the goal. Good stuff!
hutchings90
05. May 2019 · 01:06 UTC
lol lots of fun! Although, I'm a little embarrassed to play it in fear that others will hear me...
Michael Wingfield
05. May 2019 · 03:57 UTC
I am super impressed by this game. Great integration with the microphone. Can't say I've ever played a game jam game that used the microphone.
MoldyMagnet
05. May 2019 · 06:40 UTC
Voice control did not work for me, but I gave scores based on the assumption that the voice control was working (a friend said it worked for them)
Yaen
05. May 2019 · 10:09 UTC
Hey, worked in chrome! Thanks!
Was pretty fun yelling at my computer screen :D
goerp
05. May 2019 · 11:50 UTC
What great graphics! And nice idea to use a voice controlled game.
After I read about using a harmonica I tried to use my Commodore64 as synthesizer. That made shooting reliable, but I was never able te reload completely. It always got to a certain point and then got stuck.
So I didn't come very far, but had fun trying.
a FUN entry.
MateusBoga
05. May 2019 · 20:01 UTC
Such a weird but awesome concept for a game, I love it xD Absolutely love the artstyle, great work!
sylvie
05. May 2019 · 21:37 UTC
I saw this on a stream and it was hilarious! The art is super cute and the concept is really unique. I had trouble getting the "waaaa" for reload to register without being really loud, so I couldn't beat it.
ursagames
06. May 2019 · 10:11 UTC
Hey there! Just letting you know that the last day of my LDJAM streams (https://www.twitch.tv/ursagames) will be this Monday night around 7PM PST. Since you selected to wait for you to be in chat, your games will be played near the end of the stream if you can't make it! Thanks for sharing your game with the stream, hope you can make it!
tapehead
06. May 2019 · 10:51 UTC
Hahahaha this was definitely fun! Cool idea and it looks good! I wish that the reload could be a bit shorter.. but nevertheless is this an very cool entry!
gamefive
06. May 2019 · 11:28 UTC
WOW Great!!!!! 우와 엄청난 게임이에요 ㅎ 너무 재미있어요 내 한국어 목소리도 잘 알아듣네요 ㅋㅋ