Signal Through the Blizzard by anku
A small rescue story in a snowed-in forest.
A tourist group is missing. You follow their trail, pick up the last signals, and slowly learn what happened out there.
But the forest doesn’t care. The cold builds up over time, the weather gets worse, and deep snow speeds up frostbite.
Stay alive: warm up at bonfires, and eat to restore health.
Signals
Your tracker gives you visual + audio pings that point toward the next signal source.
- Far away → pings are rare, and the search sector is wide
- Closer → pings become more frequent, and the sector narrows
- Each ping is both a directional visual pulse and a sound cue, so you can navigate even in low visibility.
Far away
Closer
Play
Play updated version on itch.io: https://ankuladin.itch.io/ld59
Or download the Jam build (original) PC version there for the jam experience.
Controls
- WASD — Move
- Mouse — Aim / Flashlight
- E — Interact (bonfire)
- Hold Q — Eat (only while standing at a lit bonfire)
Update (Polish Pass) — No Gameplay / Story Changes
This update is pure polish — no gameplay, story, progression, or content changes.
What’s changed: - UI responsiveness improvements. - Thought text polish: better readability, typewriter output, and adjusted on-screen timing (text content unchanged). - Smoother transitions for lighting and ambience (no more abrupt switches). - Various minor bug fixes. - Small tweaks to camera and environment visuals (no changes to level layout/topology or placed gameplay objects).
| updated itch.io version | https://ankuladin.itch.io/ld59 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/signal-through-the-blizzard |
Ratings
| Given | 76🗳️ | 119🗨️ |
Yeah, it’s survival at its core 😄 But midway we went “what if we prioritize mood?” - so we focused more on atmosphere and a simple narrative rather than deep mechanics
Thanks a lot for the feedback - really appreciate it!
We’ve updated the game page with a short explanation of how the signals work.
In-game we didn’t want to rely on a constant arrow/waypoint from point to point, but the system ended up being less intuitive than we hoped.
As usual… UX takes the blame for everything 😄
It is an atmospheric short story, but dialogs in the bottom are not really convenient as we run around trying to find our way to the next campfire.
But nontheless, nice project! I generally liked it!
Not sure what was behind the split paths, and maybe some signal justification would be nice. Great work!
The game was a bit confusing to me at the start though. I wasn't sure whether I wa supposed to survive for the given amount of time, or find someone.
The splitting path was a nice addition to the otherwise linear game.
The messages were not appearing on the 2nd play after I ran out of time.
The flashlight was cool.
For me, the experience felt more like an interactive story than a game, because I mostly followed a single path without making many decisions. I lit every campfire, did not have to think much about fuel, and only ate at the very end. When the path split, I followed the signal and reached the group.
Even so, it was very atmospheric. I think it could become even more engaging if the player could explore in any direction from the start while using the signal as a guide, especially if the signal occasionally disappeared. Great entry overall!
Thank you for the kind words. After the judging phase, I’m planning to polish the project a bit more and maybe add some extra gameplay elements that I simply didn’t have time to implement during the jam. I didn’t want to throw in half-working mechanics and hurt the overall impression. Thankfully, you gave me plenty of great ideas to build on in the future.
Так же в первом прохождении не понял, окуда я нахожу еду и дрова. Мне казалось я по пути их находил, когда фонариком шарил, а потом дошло что в палатках. Было бы неплохо визуально показать всплывающие числа возле перса (+1 еда, +5 топливо).
Сообщения я бы либо логировал, либо ставил бы на паузу, а то и холодно и почитать охота, что там написано) Кстати по этой причине я похоже не понял, что их убило.
Или это загадка, аля перевал Дятлова?
If you zoom in the camera a little more to make the character take up more of the screen and show less of the surrounding environment, the overall mood will feel even more immersive.
When stepping away from the campfire, dimming the screen brightness a bit and widening the flashlight’s illumination range would amp up the sense of exploration, while also making in-game hints more practical.
Besides, it’d be better to make the UI elements a bit larger as well.
These are exquisite little items! I really like the trees, campfire, and characters; it's a bit of a shame they're so small. The animations and controls are very smooth, and I really enjoyed walking in the snow! It would be even better if there was a walking animation instead of just panning. The lighting and map are beautiful; the bluish-gray lighting is lovely... But the UI is a bit conventional? A more stylized UI would suit it better. I really like the game's atmosphere!
The graphics and music are good.
At the beginning, I felt a lack of backstory or context—it wasn’t clear what was going on or that I was supposed to move somewhere. I spent quite a while trying to figure out how to gather wood and kept interacting with the axe near the starting point. Then I thought wood was collected by approaching the forest, which at first seemed to be the case. I only realized on my second playthrough that wood actually accumulates on its own. In the end, it feels like wood is somewhat redundant as a resource, since the cap is quite high and it gathers automatically.
On my first run, I naturally ran out of time. On the second, I followed the path at the fork marked by tracks. I didn’t hesitate, but still didn’t make it to the campfire on the other side, which was a bit frustrating. On my third attempt, I completed the game, although it felt a bit unexpected, since there were no clear visual cues indicating that I was on the right path or that the goal was located there—it just looked empty.
Overall, I’d say the game turned out quite well, especially considering it was made by just two people, though there’s still room for improvement.
Also, amazing work on the level design on how it plays with tension where it becomes slower and near-death, was on-edge near the end!
Wished the story didn't end so abruptly, the level did an amazing job building the tension and the experience is over at it's peak! I think something like a simple, short cutscene (even if it's just fade-out + some text) would help with the tension release.
Great job, good luck!
Good job :slight_smile: