n 0 m i n a l by 0x0961h

short horror game made for ludum dare #59 within 48 hours (my first attempt at anything narrative)
``` Title: [!] New Task From: taskmanager@local.net
It's been a week since a signal from a scientific base
in deep space was lost. We sent our best available
android to investigate and send our messages and report.
However those messages for some reason were corrupted.
Probably because of the negligence of proper maintenance
of the communication hardware by the staff of the station.
Untangle the signal and report what happened.
Glory to progress!
```
game design, programming, audio design, main menu music: 0x0961h
additional sounds: Microsoft SAM TTS, ichitaraaa, nickrandomsounds, MLaudio, Fission9, DMDoom, illud, Andreas.Mustola, MATUSTRM, marlonnnnnn (freesounds.org)
how to play: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LightsOut(game)
extra knowledge:
- alt-enter to go fullscreen
- R during gameplay to restart


| Win x64 | https://0x0961h.itch.io/n-0-m-i-n-a-l |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/n-0-m-i-n-a-l |
Ratings
| Overall | 302th | 3.75⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 438th | 3.357⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 673th | 2.932⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 388th | 3.818⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 477th | 3.659⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 199th | 3.818⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 154th | 3.65⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 248th | 3.932⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 45🗳️ | 20🗨️ |
I don't know how I've never seen this puzzle before - it feels timeless like sliding squares or jigsaws. In fact, in some ways, it even surpasses those. Perhaps it is a known thing, and I've just missed it so far - but it was a joy to master.
Fantastic writing (which can be quite rare under a time pressure). And the theming was delectable - I'm a sucker for this cassette-future low-tech-sci-fi, and this game nailed it perfectly.
The 'paint' comment is chilling...
The vermis-style dark dithered title screen is wonderful.
If I could, I would put a box-set of this game's floppies on my bookshelf!
Anyways, I'm sure it's just 'Mr. Beans'. Glory to progress!
Fantastic work.
Good job as always, that’s why I follow you. For the past couple of years, your games are always the first ones I try out.
@keysole I know, right? They really should update its firmware. :joy:
@lukast Completely nothing wrong with that, apart from the team members who absolutely neglect any kind of rules. They should be punished for that somehow! :laughing:
@ugly-robot Oh yeah, that's quite an old game. I think I first played it when Flash was a dominant platform to make web games. THAT's how old it is. And thank you very much! I really wanted to make this kind of "don't tell, don't show" kind of horror when a lot of horror itself lays on the shoulders of a reader and their imagination.
You can give Mr. Beans headpads, you know. :rofl:
@online-play Thank you kindly for your words. It's heartwarming to know that someone follows my works. :blush:
And yeah, don't worry, I am also not very good at this game. :laughing:
@ulziton Thank you!
@mantaraii Thank you very much! Yeah, I kind of wanted to focus more on narrative this time instead of paying a lot of attention to gameplay, because usually I completely neglect everything BUT the gameplay and my jam games usually end up being very "shallow". This time I decided to flip it all other way around: gameplay is very simplistic, but I tried to pay a lot of attention to the story and to the way I present the story to the player.
@anku Thank you!