Note from BalimaarTheBassFish: this page has been rewritten for Pixel Prophecy's stream. I have tried to fill it with the usual jokes and puns. Its not my best work... maybe I lacked a signal? Or maybe its because I lost an eye and am now a fsh.

Welcome to Searching for Signal!

An atmospheric platforming adventure with more bars than your phone, more static than a cheap radio, and more bad connection jokes than any reasonable person would carrier.

You are a lone climber in a city that has truly gone off the grid. The robots still talk, the buildings still stand, and the streets are technically still in service, if by “in service” you mean “one bad gust away from becoming a structural voicemail.” Rust clings to the walls, dust hangs in the air, and the local infrastructure appears to have been maintained by one tired guy with a wrench and no training in current affairs.

But there is hope. A couple of bars of hope, maybe.

Because in your pocket sits the mightiest communication device ever to survive the apocalypse: the ancient, glorious, probably blunt-force-weapon-certified Aikon 3310. It is old. It is battered. It is built like a paving stone with menu options. It may not have apps, maps, or a good ringtone, but it has one thing modern tech lacks:

commitment to the call.

Your mission is simple: climb to the highest point of the highest tower and find a signal strong enough to send a message.

Easy, right?

Oh, absolutely.

A total misdial.

The route upward is locked tighter than a fresh battery cover on a phone designed by a sadist. The city is packed with hazards, dead zones, live wires, and the sort of planning that suggests “health and safety” was placed on hold permanently. To move forward, you’ll need to explore its forgotten corners and recover three keycards needed to unlock the final ascent.

So yes, success is all about making the right connections.

And avoiding the wrong ones.

Especially electrical ones.

Along the way you’ll jump, dodge, scramble, and platform your little signal-seeking socks off through a place that feels equal parts abandoned, alive, and one stern breeze from emotional collapse. You’ll meet helpful robots, chatty robots, odd robots, and robots who seem to have a few screws loose on purpose.

Some will help.

Some will give you errands.

Some will give you static.

Some talk like they swallowed a troubleshooting manual and made it everyone else’s problem.

And all the while, the city asks one question:

What message could possibly be worth all this trouble?

About the Game

Searching for Signal is an atmospheric platformer about movement, exploration, and refusing to hang up. It’s about climbing higher, searching farther, and pushing onward through a city that has clearly decided to put your ambitions on hold.

After a short tutorial level to help you get your bearings and maybe one extra bar of optimism, you enter the city’s central hub. From there, you must travel into three separate areas to recover the keycards needed to unlock the final route upward. Each area has its own hazards, small objectives, and weird little mechanical residents with ongoing issues in maintenance, communication, or basic chill.

You’ll take on odd jobs, dodge danger, leap across broken ground, and risk life and limb for better reception, which is honestly the most relatable part of the whole experience.

This game is about weak reception and strong resolve. About broken streets and unbroken willpower. About dropped calls and picked-yourself-back-up agains.

Because you are not here to lose signal.

You are here to boost your bars.

You are here to rise above the static.

You are here to prove that when the world says “No Service,” what it really means is “have you tried jumping higher?”

We wanted the game to feel atmospheric, a little funny, and strangely human beneath the rust, wires, and concrete. It’s a short adventure about persistence, curiosity, and carrying something old through a place older still. A game about bad coverage, good momentum, and proving that one stubborn little brick phone can still make a connection.

Because sometimes the hardest part isn’t writing the message.

It’s finding a world willing to pick up.

So charge your courage, trust the brick, climb like your bars depend on it, and remember:

When life gives you no signal, go higher.

Controls

• W/Up Arrow/Space - Jump
• S/Down Arrow - Crouch
• Left Mouse/Control - Shoot

Keep inventory between deaths is ON.

Words from the Dev Team

Pixel Prophecy (Phil Strahl) - Graphics, Animation, and Lighting

What a wild ride this was, but in the best sense: The team put forth amazing work and collaboration was extremely smooth and I could focus solely on making the art, playing with normal maps and 2D lighting and do my best in making the game look as nice as it possibly could. As always, in the end there wasn't enough time put everything in we wanted (has that ever worked out for you? Let me know!), nonetheless we achieved more than I thought we possible could. Everyone brought their forte to the game: Biz the moody, reactive soundtrack and the varied sound effects and pun-tastic jokes; Frank rocking the code side of things, patiently humoring us artists with implementing everything we asked him for and then some; Balimaar for banging out code, levels, and the equally pun-infused writing. Of course, our disciplines overlapped to some degree and everyone contributed to the whole with feedback, ideas, and improvements. I am super proud of what we managed to get done. So once again, for the record: Go team!! 🦄✨

Bizzybee - SFX, Music and Cat Herder

Whew... I'll write more here later, but I am DRAINED!

I'm super proud of the smoothly transitioning music loops and battle percussion loop that I got working through FMOD. Hearing my "pews" and "ow" in the game (made my with my own mouth and some editing) ridiculously delights me. The game looks amazing, and as always, has the done-in-72-hours charm. That being said, even with small issues here and there, I am super proud of what we made together.

Frank - Programmer and Overall Genius at Systems Implementation

This was intense! Of course some of the experience was similar to previous LDs, but with four people working, there was a lot of progress whenever I turned my back for a few minutes.

I think this is a game we can be proud of. Sure, there are a few less polished bits, but compared to how many fully polished bits there are, it's not bad at all.

Everyone got a chance to work fully in what they were good at, and I think it shows!

Balimaar - Programmer and Overall Genius at Bug Creation

This was simultaneously the most exciting and most daunting Ludum Dare I have ever experienced. The addition of Phil to our team had me motivated to work harder. The first drafts of his subtle skills with lighting made me appreciate just how cool an ordinary set of sprites can look under the right lighting. As has become tradition somewhat for me in Ludum Dare, mid-to-late second day was the most stressful experience I had during the 72 hours. I made a bit of a mess in code and then built things on the mess and the end result was a confusing mess that took a while to unwrap and tidy up and even then it caused confusion. I honestly began to feel guilty as it felt like I was making no progress and I could feel the time falling like sand between my fingers. Thankfully the mess was evidently not as bad as my brain made it out to be as the team worked out the kinks in what I had done fairly swiftly. In the end, we have a game at the end of the 72 hours that I am proud of and I am delighted to have worked with this team. Full praise to Phil for his graphics skills, Bizzybee for her genius in music and bringing the FMOD system to the game and fgeva for his genius at connecting things to make things "just work!"