Pyre Lookout by outstar

Hello, Regional Coordination, I have spotted a fire.
You are Gerard Path, Senior Signaling Specialist at Pyre Lookout Unit (used to be Division, but, you know, budget cuts). After years of boredom, you've finally noticed a fire. Do you have the right form to report the fire?
This morbidly bureaucratic short story was made for Ludum Dare 59, theme "Signal". It was made entirely in 3 days by a team of 2. It's heavily inspired by Disco Elysium (the conversation went: "hey, what's the next thing we can attempt to make in three days?", "Disco sounds reasonable!"), although Disco Elysium took much more time and talent, so please don't compare us.

Credits:
outstar - story, art, music
titos2k - code, art
sfx from freesound.org (nettimato, onursamli, dynamicell)
character animation painted with the help of this awesome asset
made with godot, procreate, ps, fl studio
| Link | https://outstar.itch.io/pyre-lookout |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/pyre-lookout |
Ratings
| Overall | 7th | 4.462⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 121th | 3.872⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 455th | 3.333⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 115th | 4.244⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 93th | 4.438⭐ | 42🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 38th | 4.237⭐ | 40🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 33th | 4.244⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 1th | 4.756⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 28🗳️ | 14🗨️ |
also, the frog has rizz no cap
Excellent work -- well done!
This was super awesome! I really really loved the writing here, made me laugh so many times! I failed almost every check, which made most situations even more hilarious :) But when things got serious, I managed to get the two-people-per-helicopter regulation from Phylis, which felt awesome ~~(even if I don't think it altered the ending in the end)~~! The characters here were all great and had a ton of personality, I especially loved Cliff (Clyde?) the mystery toilet man, hilarious concept :) And the ending definitely had a ton of tension, I really dreaded having to pick one person to save (although it would've definitely been my fellow frog lover Jayda), but luckily Scott bailed me out against all odds. Just amazing writing all around, one of the best stories I've ever experienced in a jam game!!
The rest of it was really good too, the music and graphics matched the story perfectly and added a ton to the experience. The moment when the fire got serious and the entire background (both visually and audibly) got filled with it was so cool! It was also really polished all around (the UI felt great), which I definitely appreciated. Really can't think of any feedback, amazing entry!
Also I loved the bureaucracy satire that made this game so charming! Great characters too (I loved Scott the most he is delightfully pathetic <3
Well done and HARDCORE TO THE MEGA
i had fun, thank you :)
I enjoyed the game very much, and it's one of the best I've seen this LD so far. Awesome work, congrats!
I saw your screenshot on Discord showing the wip script and I wondered just how much story this would turn out to be (: The UI work is very nice and makes one appreciate just how much goes into making a good CRPG dialogue system. The "actual" world you walk around in is pretty, I guess also quite static, but it's a good use of the assets. The music is unobstructive but very appropriate for setting the mood.
I appreciated how all the characters you interact with have a distinct personality and feel, though they are caricatures/exaggerations. I would have loved to see more of these characters, or maybe more moments where they somehow interact or acknowledge each other (the moment Jayda talked about Phylis comes to mind). I wished that filling out *the new form* were more of an event/dialogue also rather than a single sentence that you get after Scott restarts the router.
The RNG mechanics don't play all that much of a role, I almost wondered if they should have not been in the game at all? The bonuses/penalties you get all affect the odds by 10% I suppose? But still it goes with the Disco Elysiumness of it all (:
i’ll admit at some point i just started clicking through everything without really reading or choosing carefully, and still managed to save everyone from the fire. now i’m curious, are there different endings if you make more deliberate choices?
it has a strong mood to it, for sure.
I also thought it was hysterical that I failed almost every single attempt at a challenge somehow 😅
I truly enjoyed this masterpiece. You are very talented team, and I'm sure you will be able to do big things together :)