black_box by Fraxle

[raw]
made by Fraxle for Ludum Dare 47 (COMPO)

Loop yourself to safety!

You are an astronaut, maintaining a cargo ship all by yourself, things go awry however, when your systems start to fail. Luckily, your ship is equipped with the temporal black box, a device that creates a time loop in order to protect the ship.

You need to break the loop and get yourself to safety!

Controls: Arrow keys, Z, Number Keys screen1.png

Software used: Gamemaker Studio 2, BFXR, Bosca Ceoil, Audacity, GIMP, MS Paint

Ratings

Overall 364th 3.327⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Fun 434th 3⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 515th 2.75⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 366th 3.46⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 405th 3.167⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Audio 297th 3.1⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Humor 386th 2.222⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Mood 282th 3.22⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 26🗳️ 32🗨️

Feedback

Elbapotsnugg
05. Oct 2020 · 00:39 UTC
Big Among Us vibes! Very fun, especially when things get a bit hectic. Took me a little while to figure out the controls. Tried hitting everything on controls to figure out the right button to press, eventually figured out it was Z. Great game!
Ividusk
05. Oct 2020 · 01:01 UTC
Really enjoyed it! The 'loop' is simple (I agree, big Among Us vibes!), but I found myself compelled to keep playing to see what would come next. Really nice pixel art - suits the game wonderfully. My only small nitpick is the walk cycle seems a little slow compared to the movement speed, but that's me being picky.
beeguy
05. Oct 2020 · 17:08 UTC
Really neat game. I enjoyed the simple tasks although I wish there was more than 2 different types (3 if you include the doors). I liked the messages, they compelled me to keep playing and figure out what they meant. The only thing is that I occasionally got a bit stuck on some walls but other than that, great game.
🎤 Fraxle
06. Oct 2020 · 12:57 UTC
@ividusk @elbapotsnugg @beeguy I'm glad to hear you guys enjoyed the game :D
ZePimpPotatoe
06. Oct 2020 · 13:23 UTC
Nice game, loved the artsyle, it suits perfectly the game. It s fun and the game makes you play more and more to see the mails you get. Would be nice a little bit more activities and a way for you to upgrade the way you move or something like that. I know it s a time loop but maybe you can remember between the loops and train yourself to move faster or something like that.
Nice game overall, really keeps you on your toes on where is the next problem and how fast can i get there.
Keep up the nice art style and gameplay and you might have a little gem on your hands. Cheers!
🎤 Fraxle
06. Oct 2020 · 13:38 UTC
@zepimppotatoe thank you for the encouragement :)
Shelvid
06. Oct 2020 · 14:43 UTC
This was a nice entry! I really liked the visuals, pretty consistent and the audio design was also really great (Doors closing made me laugh though, that was amazing, did you slam your hand on the table to record it?). I wish there was more stuff to do than unlocking doors, entering password and stabilizing ship though :)
But all in all a great entry, well done!
c1tr00z
06. Oct 2020 · 14:50 UTC
Love idea, visual and audio! Little bit sad because of password mechanics =(
But good job overall! Thank you
Wahooney
06. Oct 2020 · 14:56 UTC
Solo Among Us. I approve.
Archock34
06. Oct 2020 · 15:03 UTC
I loved how simple it is, I had a lot of fun, it would be nice that it will be interacted with another key, since I'm not used to using z, the game is great anyway!
Flying Basement Studios
06. Oct 2020 · 19:29 UTC
Simple but nice game! Played it longer then I would have expected :smiley:
Neragoth
08. Oct 2020 · 18:06 UTC
The ship atmoshpere is really nice, graphics and sounds are great!
Some puzzles on the screens you activate would add a bit something to the whole game imo :) (with a bit more time to solve them for sure)
Krg
09. Oct 2020 · 07:40 UTC
really great game
Wolfier
09. Oct 2020 · 08:20 UTC
Wait you made this in MS Paint? It doesn't even have a transparent color!

I'll say i'm not a huge fan of the constant beep noise the emergencies create, it would kind of be nice if there was something else to do besides run between the same 4 points. I'd say its the main reason I stopped playing, because i knew i could manage to keep going with what the game was throwing at me. However, the beeping was beginning to drive me nuts.

Really great sound design overall, it just needs to be used with moderation plus I'm really impressed you managed to make a game with MS Pain(t).


(Edit) Oh I just the description saying I could of broken the loop... oh well.
Roikku
09. Oct 2020 · 15:34 UTC
Nice. Fun art and panic in gameplay. With a bit of polish this could become cool. And like the inspiration-game Among Us, you could also make this a nice couch coop multiplayer game. :) Also if you're going to use Z as the action key for everything, atleast say it in the main menu. :D
squimmy
10. Oct 2020 · 09:20 UTC
This is a neat and interesting idea, and generally well made, too!

In practice, it felt just a bit too repetitive for my taste, and it also felt unfair when the doors would lock just as you were approaching them, usually leading to an automatic loss if you had already had to travel most of the way across the ship…

That being said, the art style was cohesive, the game had good audio feedback and it was (in my experience) largely bug-free, which is an achievement in itself given the time constraints.

Well done.
Arad HamidSamiee
10. Oct 2020 · 19:05 UTC
Nice looking game, it was hard for me a little, but the sprites are looking fine. Enjoyed playing.
Raphiell
10. Oct 2020 · 21:47 UTC
Congrats on finishing a game for the jam!
Theogen
11. Oct 2020 · 20:17 UTC
Very cool and addictive game. It was fun running around the ship and fixing it. I think I got to the end, though I'm not completely sure. It says "leave the loop" but I can't think of anything other than quitting the game. :sweat_smile:

![2020-10-11T16-06-31.png](///raw/b34/43/z/3a039.png)
🎤 Fraxle
12. Oct 2020 · 14:00 UTC
@theogen nice work getting to the end, I don't think I did a great job indicating when the door was open haha. If you walk into the door to the right of the terminal you'll get the end screen. Thanks for playing!
Theogen
12. Oct 2020 · 14:53 UTC
@fraxle Wow, I can't believe I didn't notice it! Awesome!
Blue Pin Studio
14. Oct 2020 · 20:39 UTC
Cool concept, basically single player among us. I found it very hard to proceed in the game and it seemed at times that it was impossible based on how quickly the tasks were happening right after each other.
Matootsy
16. Oct 2020 · 13:52 UTC
The inside LD of the ship is well made, and I like the simplicity and clarity of the pixel art. I didn't clearly understood the loops, and even if the gameplay is not bad, I find it too repetitive and at the end, it's just assigned task to do (And at one time, too much task is obviously difficult). I think you have a nice base, with improvement on the gameplay it could be a nice small game.
ludipe
20. Oct 2020 · 21:31 UTC
Overall it's super polished. Like the others said, huge Among Us vibes haha. Anyway, this was quite fun and I didn't run into any big issues. Good job!
Skyvastern
24. Oct 2020 · 14:27 UTC
I liked the puzzles and tasks, though after sometime the game became kinda repetitive. But at the same time, as time went by and tasks started increasing, my heart rate too. For some reason I wanted to complete them as I knew I was closer to my objective every time I opened the mail. Though after having read tons of mails, I started to think that maybe I was doing something wrong. So then I proceeded to the comment section of this page in order to see if there is any clue or hint ( I really didn't wanted to do that lol ). Though I did found a screenshot but I still didn't quite get it. And to my surprise, as I headed back to the game, in the very next try... the computers started showing the cryptic message, and that was it. Went past that email computer and won the game. That feeling was epic, but I was kinda dissatisfied with myself that why the heck did I went to the comment section midgame. But nevertheless I enjoyed the game a lot !