LudumData

The Infinite Parable by BenSlaney

[raw]
made by BenSlaney for Ludum Dare 47 (JAM)

You wake up in a run down escape room where you have one minute before time resets. All while an overseer taunts you and Vera Lynn sings.

Please post your times down below, (no cheating) :)

https://youtu.be/ubzuKno0-cE?list=LL

screenshot1.png

screenshot4.png

There are numerous references to things to do with loops/being stuck in a loop, see if you can catch them all!

Walkthrough ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y4vGmYtqjI

[Patch 1 - 6/10/20] - Reworked safe puzzle to be easier. - Move combination hint. - Changed painting hint artwork. - Pressing space no longer resets time. - Added fail sound for painting puzzle. - Taunted Keith - Numbers to solve main solution altered

[Patch 2 - 7/10/20] - Fixed player reset position changing. - Fixed intro dialogue playing when mouse clicking in middle of screen (thanks Unity).

We will keep the old walkthrough up as evidence of the state of the game at submission but the game is now slightly easier to solve.

freekeith

Youtube https://benslaney.itch.io/the-infinite-parabel
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/the-infinite-parable

Ratings

Overall 222th 3.962⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Fun 198th 3.919⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 707th 3.423⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Theme 268th 4.079⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Humor 78th 4.09⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Mood 166th 4.026⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Given 52🗳️ 48🗨️

Feedback

Tristan10Cats
05. Oct 2020 · 21:51 UTC
Cool game, reminds me a bit of the stanley parable
🎤 BenSlaney
05. Oct 2020 · 21:54 UTC
@tristan10cats thank you! Yes, that may have been a large influence...
Akio
05. Oct 2020 · 22:31 UTC
Hey,
Thanks for you review about Tone !

I'm not smart enough to complete your game but it was very fun, I miss Keith.
🎤 BenSlaney
05. Oct 2020 · 22:48 UTC
@akio You're very welcome, it was good fun.

Haha our apologies, it is meant to be a challenge. I am planning on recording a playthrough tomorrow for anyone who gets stuck.
melvinng
06. Oct 2020 · 13:22 UTC
Cool game, with awesome visuals! Plot of the game was intriguing as well, even though there's a little bit of difficulty in order for one to complete the game.

Maybe a tutorial would help? Overall solid game with great audio too!
🎤 BenSlaney
06. Oct 2020 · 13:40 UTC
@melvinng Thanks for your feedback! We have a walkthrough up on YouTube and are also in the process of making the hints for the Grail and Groundhog puzzles a bit clearer. If you meant an in-game tutorial or hints that could be something we add in the future. Maybe a difficulty setting?
Steamdr4gon
06. Oct 2020 · 15:45 UTC
Fun escape room game with a twist. I love all these easter eggs!
🎤 BenSlaney
06. Oct 2020 · 16:03 UTC
@steamdr4gon Thank you! Really appreciate the feedback! Cannot lie half of Monday was spent having fun creating the easter eggs xD
Jag
06. Oct 2020 · 19:06 UTC
This was really good! I think for a gamejam this is extremely well polished. I really gave it my all and embarrassingly I've spent 20 mins I think and I cant figure it out haha. I solved the painting with the buttons, I did the inifinity puzzle on the wall, but I don't know what to do with the billiard balls. I found the colour coded numbers behind the objects but I don't know how to use them in relation to the billiard balls, like theres no blue 7 billiard ball but theres an orange 3 and purple 12. Oh well, either way I think this was amazing. Great job!
🎤 BenSlaney
06. Oct 2020 · 21:26 UTC
@jag thank you very much for your feedback, can't believe you spent that long playing our game!
*Spoilers*
So for the billiard balls you are meant to find the corresponding ball in that coloured row (e.g. the 7th blue billiard) and use the number on it in the padlocks (going from the top row of balls down)
Jag
06. Oct 2020 · 21:36 UTC
@benslaney finally i got it! man i love that ending. "theres dozens of us! dozens!"
gilazarini
07. Oct 2020 · 12:39 UTC
Great game, humour is perfect. I confess I didn't finished but I will definitely play again later!
#freekeith
🎤 BenSlaney
07. Oct 2020 · 12:52 UTC
@gilazarini Thank you so much! Let us know what time you get when you do complete it! #freekeith
Toulou
07. Oct 2020 · 13:32 UTC
I love escape games so I very much enjoyed this game! Sadly I didn't get very far. Long story short, I have an old computer, and it overheated while playing it :(

I enjoyed it though (while it lasted). The graphics are very good and I like all the jokes here an there. Good job overall!
🎤 BenSlaney
07. Oct 2020 · 13:45 UTC
@toulou thank you for playing our game, apologies for causing it to overheat. Really glad to hear you enjoyed the jokes :)
GameDev and Architecture
07. Oct 2020 · 13:54 UTC
I can see what you mean when you said our games our games are very similar. Good job making the game, the execution is pretty much flawless! The puzzles are very creative!
🎤 BenSlaney
07. Oct 2020 · 14:01 UTC
@gamedev-and-architecture Yes almost scarily so, even up to the "Oh good you're awake" XD. Thank you for your kind words, really happy to hear it!
Sn4pi
07. Oct 2020 · 17:38 UTC
Really hard puzzle game in my opinion but it was awesome and I liked the environment and ideas of the puzzles. Keith is the best buddy on this world btw.
🎤 BenSlaney
07. Oct 2020 · 18:00 UTC
@sn4pi Thanks for the kind feedback :v:. We do feel sorry for what happened to Keith but it was sadly out of our control
GarfSnacks
07. Oct 2020 · 19:04 UTC
Loved it :) definitely has the stanley parable vibe to it! The audio was really well done, the radio sounded like a radio and the reverb from the alarm gave it so much depth and really made you anxious as it increased in pitch. Unfortunately I'm of the group unable to figure it out as well lol
Pietrek
07. Oct 2020 · 19:09 UTC
That's the best game I played during the jam. You should add some more content and release it on Steam or somewhere. Let me know if you do, so I can play it.
Ollie Hall
07. Oct 2020 · 19:38 UTC
@pietrek thank you so much! We are thinking about ways we could possibly improve and expand the idea... Really appreciate it! :D
Ollie Hall
07. Oct 2020 · 19:48 UTC
@garfsnacks glad you liked it! We're also very happy with the audio haha - we have a walkthrough posted that you can use if you're stuck (I'm assuming it was my puzzle with the safe...) thanks
hijomo
07. Oct 2020 · 20:07 UTC
Overall
- The sound design was good. I played patch 1, the beaver puzzles looks to be easier than the walk through. It took me about 9 min.

Fun
- Puzzles always peek my interest, I enjoyed this game.

Innovation
- Resetting after a quite short time is an interesting mechanic. It drives home the aspect of learning about your environment.

Humor
- Keith poor Keith. The collection of notes and posters added to the depth of the world.

Mood
- Enjoyment, fun, I like solving puzzles,
MikoziQ
07. Oct 2020 · 20:32 UTC
Ahh yes. I don't wanna talk about my time vs the average. Simple game resembling Stanley's parable a bit. Very good execution. And #FreeKeith.
🎤 BenSlaney
07. Oct 2020 · 21:42 UTC
@hijomo Wow thank you for the detailed & positive feedback! Yeah we updated the Groundhog puzzle after some feedback.

@mikoziq We really enjoyed your stream! You did really well considering it was your first! We will for sure try and tune in for a future one :)
Kazatan
08. Oct 2020 · 08:41 UTC
Very enjoyable! Everything seemed right for an escape room and the puzzle 'inputs' were well done. I didn't get part of one puzzle and so I guessed the last digit - you can continue guessing after you've failed three times but before you're kicked out the game :grimacing:

Nice work :clap:
🎤 BenSlaney
08. Oct 2020 · 08:45 UTC
@kazatan thank you for pointing that out, we will fix that in another patch. Really happy to hear you enjoyed the game!
nablaz
08. Oct 2020 · 10:03 UTC
This is really nice! It's pretty much exactly what I wanted to do for this LD, but my team and I settled for a music loop based tower defense in the end... Anyway, loved the visuals and audio, the storyline is good and the puzzles were the right difficulty in my opinion (except maybe the billiard balls one, which is a little unintuitive). Great job!
🎤 BenSlaney
08. Oct 2020 · 10:38 UTC
@nablaz Your game sounds cool though, I will check it out later! Appreciate the kind feedback!
nablaz
08. Oct 2020 · 11:01 UTC
@benslaney You're welcome! Yours is a really well made game and I hope you'll receive top ratings for it!
Let me know what you think if you check out ours. GL
Linaiz
08. Oct 2020 · 14:09 UTC
I really enjoyed playing it!! I don't have much to say, I'm very impressed =)
CsOmega
09. Oct 2020 · 15:24 UTC
Well i did it in 6:45 surprisingly. A well done game. I had a good time, felt like i was in an escape room(well that was the hole point), one thing would be nice when you lose, to have like a replay button.Anyways a great entry!
Game_Coder28
09. Oct 2020 · 17:02 UTC
Very fun game! I love the graphics and the overall feel of the experience. Overall great work!
Ollie Hall
09. Oct 2020 · 17:12 UTC
@linaiz thank you for playing! We're glad you liked it :)
Ollie Hall
09. Oct 2020 · 17:16 UTC
@csomega not a bad time at all! I agree, we didn't have enough time to add it! Oh well, thanks for playing and glad you liked it! :)
Ollie Hall
09. Oct 2020 · 17:16 UTC
@r3l0ad1 thank you! glad you liked it :D
Sam Minh
10. Oct 2020 · 12:39 UTC
What a great game! This really gives the Stanley Parable vibe with a nice twist.
Somogy
10. Oct 2020 · 19:20 UTC
Game very well done, I liked the fun provided, good job!
jk5000
10. Oct 2020 · 20:03 UTC
I overall like this game. The atmosphere and visuals is really good. I like the idea with the voice over, but the volume was a bit low. For me some of the puzzles was not clear enough. Overall a good jam game. Well done.
acaral
11. Oct 2020 · 15:09 UTC
In only three days you made an entry like that. Wow stuning.