{"author_link":"\/users\/balimaarthebassfish","author_name":"BalimaarTheBassFish","author_uid":1297676,"comments":[{"id":1194270,"author_name":"digital bacon","author_uid":"digital-bacon","epoch":1776740254,"text":"Interesting game. Like the concept, and the art's beautiful. Jump seems a bit overpowered, but I guess that's just because the platforms had to be so far apart. A minimap of some sort would've been nice (maybe with a FOW effect), so backtracking would be easier.\n\nAll in all, a solid and fun effort -- well done!","format":"md","likes":5,"spam":"N"},{"id":1194308,"author_name":"BalimaarTheBassFish","author_uid":"balimaarthebassfish","epoch":1776740763,"text":"@digital-bacon thanks for the kind words. I agree a minimap would have been a good addition and was on my to-do list personally but in the end had to make a call thanks to time running out. Glad you found the game fun!","format":"md","likes":0,"spam":"N"},{"id":1198839,"author_name":"Myezko","author_uid":"myezko","epoch":1776787072,"text":"very good game, graphics especially. MC looks like david from cyberpunk edgerunners. The game needs some improvement tho, like coyote time, background objects being more distinguishable from the frontground one's, and after completing the robot quests, please dont spawn me at the beginning of the level, instead spawn me next to the door i entered through. Make more games <3","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":1198926,"author_name":"BalimaarTheBassFish","author_uid":"balimaarthebassfish","epoch":1776787608,"text":"@myezko Everything you say was on the to-do list but when we crossed what proved to be the last task we could complete there was only a couple minutes left. We had a number of larger issues that had to be ironed out (oof!) and those items didnt quite make it. Thanks for playing our game and giving us your feedback. As to whether we make more games together? That's a question. Whether we do something or not outside of Ludum Dare is TBD.","format":"md","likes":0,"spam":"N"},{"id":1198930,"author_name":"Frank Gevaerts","author_uid":"frank-gevaerts","epoch":1776787662,"text":"Thanks for playing, @myezko! I did think about the \"go back\" spawn location, but that was during the later phases where thinking becomes hard and extra features risk introducing bugs... I haven't played a lot of platformers myself and I think I spent most time on the code, so I'll take responsibility for missing coyote time and similar. Next time!","format":"md","likes":0,"spam":"N"},{"id":1199040,"author_name":"parkuhrmd","author_uid":"parkuhrmd","epoch":1776788571,"text":"This was a lot of fun, and you can tell that a lot of effort went into this! Great entry! The artwork was beautiful and the atmosphere was on point. The camera could have been zoomed out a bit, so that you can better tell where you are landing after a jump.\n\nAs a heads up: I got killed while in dialogue when collecting scrap and it soft locked my game. And I only found out afterwards that you can shoot with the mouse...","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":1199162,"author_name":"BalimaarTheBassFish","author_uid":"balimaarthebassfish","epoch":1776789345,"text":"@parkuhrmd yes that issue we found very late in the jam and we just didnt have time to patch it out without breaking rules. The death issue is a result of an unfortunate integration between two plugins and this an edge case we didnt discover until too late.\n\nMouse shooting is mentioned on the help screen in game and on the jam page, but we may need to make these things clearer for future entries.\n\nThanks for playing our game! We put a lot of effort into the overall look and presentation. The programmers really tried to ensure that any efforts from the two people who actually know what they are doing ( :D ) didnt go to waste.","format":"md","likes":0,"spam":"N"},{"id":1199363,"author_name":"LDJam user 82995","author_uid":"82995","epoch":1776790764,"text":"Movement feels good, and the writing is on point. I sometimes struggled to differentiate between foreground, background and level elements. But that's a minor nit-pick. The game and atmosphere is beautiful. Fantastic entry!  ","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":1199450,"author_name":"Sylvic","author_uid":"sylvic","epoch":1776791375,"text":"I think I had that \"Aikon\" model when I was a teen lol. Very nice entry, it really seems that you guys put a lot of effort into it. And very nice take on the theme, I love the \"refusing to hang up when the world keeps dropping the call\" thing. \n\nGreat job!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":1199563,"author_name":"Stormdrill","author_uid":"stormdrill","epoch":1776792169,"text":"Best part for me is definitely the visuals. Reminds me of old-school Sega titles and that classic Blade Runner atmosphere","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":1199918,"author_name":"half-animal-half-beast","author_uid":"half-animal-half-beast","epoch":1776794745,"text":"to be honest, there\u2019s a bit too much dialogue and text. i get that it\u2019s important for this kind of game, but i really wanted an option to skip it all at once instead of clicking through line by line. show, not tell.\n\nthe gameplay feels nice though, and the visuals are charming!","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":1202585,"author_name":"BalimaarTheBassFish","author_uid":"balimaarthebassfish","epoch":1776821959,"text":"@orjan \nI'm very happy to see that the package as a whole was atmospheric AND fun. I was largely responsible for most of the dialogue with my team mates chipping in for the \"quest complete\" dialogues. I confess to being the one responsible for the NPC names though haha. Bizzybee is a hecking genius with the audio and gave us a way to do subtle things like change the music if an enemy was nearby. Phil is a magician I swear... his art is wonderful as it is and then he waves a magic wand with the positioning of lighting and suddenly im looking at a scene I worked on last night and wondering if I pulled from the wrong github lol\n\nYou're right about the graphical elements, we could have done a better job with the z levels of our textures.\n\n@sylvic \nThank you for the kind words! A lot of work and effort went into this game and I love that the ending resonated with you <3\n\n@stormdrill \nPhil certainly poured a lot of effort and love into how the game looked. It was great to go to bed and wake up in the morning to see what magic he had pulled with the graphics :)\n\n@half-animal-half-beast \nThanks for playing!","format":"md","likes":0,"spam":"N"},{"id":1210297,"author_name":"Jiri Hysek","author_uid":"jiri-hysek","epoch":1776969577,"text":"Finished! I love the cyberpunk vibe of the game. Graphics and lightning do a lot, but other parts like music or story fit well too. \n\nIf I had to give one piece of feedback, I\u2019d make the main character smaller (and zoom out a bit) so I can better see where I\u2019m jumping. Sometimes I have to cross my fingers and take a leap of faith. Lights at the ends of platforms helped a bit, though. Also, if the character were smaller, I wouldn\u2019t bump into ceilings as much :) I think this would also help with orientation in the level, so there might be no need for a minimap, as someone suggested.\n\nBut that\u2019s just nitpicking (or rather an attempt at constructive feedback). The controls felt good, so it was fun. And kudos for finally adding this *ancient technology* to an LD game ;) Even if it\u2019s a slightly different model.\n\n\n![Screenshot 2026-04-23 at 19.55.39.png](\/\/\/raw\/221\/c\/z\/727d8.png)","format":"md","likes":5,"spam":"N"},{"id":1210340,"author_name":"Frank Gevaerts","author_uid":"frank-gevaerts","epoch":1776970325,"text":"Thanks for playing, @jiri-hysek ! If you think bumping into ceilings all the time is bad, imagine doing that when there were still many more spikes there :)\n\nMaybe in hindsight we should have zoomed out a bit, you're right. I didn't like the blind jumps in early builds, but then when the levels got refined things did get more visible and by then I also got used to them, so I kind of stopped noticing, and I suspect the rest of the team may have had the same experience...","format":"md","likes":1,"spam":"N"},{"id":1211002,"author_name":"BalimaarTheBassFish","author_uid":"balimaarthebassfish","epoch":1776984760,"text":"@jiri-hysek thank you for playing :)\n\nessentially +1 to everything Frank said. I confess to falling into that sort of dev trap of becoming used to the hidden quirks of the game therefore concealing some things that detract from the experience. with my previous entry with Frank I had managed to get an early build out to a couple friends to ask for immediate feedback which helped with a couple level design flaws I was overlooking. This time around I just didnt have the time to do that.\n","format":"md","likes":0,"spam":"N"},{"id":1213241,"author_name":"LDJam user 233347","author_uid":"233347","epoch":1777065177,"text":"This is a very moody (in a good way) game with nice, matching audio. Personally, not the greatest fan of jump&run, but very enjoyable nonetheless.\n\nAbsolutely solid entry!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":1213826,"author_name":"BalimaarTheBassFish","author_uid":"balimaarthebassfish","epoch":1777104806,"text":"@xparker Thank you for playing :) Our GFX and SFX wizards did amazing work indeed. My personal favourite thing with the audio was with how when you get close to an enemy, danger music blends in and fades out again when the enemy(ies) are killed and the normal music resumes. Then the GFX... it was a real treat to wake up in the morning to see what Phil had done with the lighting. I remember ofc what it looked like when I went to sleep. Then wake up, pull the updated build from the github, hit play in Godot and wow... to the point of \"is this the same game?\"\n\nit was ofc. its just incredible what the right lighting can do isnt it?","format":"md","likes":1,"spam":"N"},{"id":1214705,"author_name":"Wendel Scardua","author_uid":"wendel-scardua","epoch":1777140021,"text":"Checking the other comments, I guess I don't have any feedback that wasn't already given, so I'll just say I loved the groan-inducing puns \ud83d\ude05","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":1214834,"author_name":"commanderstitch","author_uid":"commanderstitch","epoch":1777145308,"text":"I think I made it to the top. At times I had a difficult time knowing where to jump, but then I found positive clues at times that really helped, like the lights showing where the edges are so I knew where to jump to make the gap, THANK YOU FOR THAT DESIGNERS. Sometimes I just didn't know what was a ledge and what a was a light causing me to fall many times down. \nI figuring out how to kill things helped immensely. Thanks for the tower climb.\n![2026-04-25 15_26_10-Searching For Signal.png](\/\/\/raw\/b24\/z\/72b76.png)","format":"md","likes":4,"spam":"N"},{"id":1214864,"author_name":"LDJam user 233347","author_uid":"233347","epoch":1777146274,"text":"@balimaarthebassfish Absolutley. Phil must have really polished the heck out of it :laughing: ","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":1215748,"author_name":"BalimaarTheBassFish","author_uid":"balimaarthebassfish","epoch":1777195188,"text":"@wendel-scardua Tim Burr would like to advise you that he had no say in his name, it was his builder Carp N Terr!\n\nFunnies aside, I'm glad you liked them. I blame @frank-gevaerts for exposing me to 5+ years of puns and wordplay. Its rubbed off on me :D \n\n@commanderstitch Yes some of the level design could have been a lot better. I had a tough time on my last coding shift which chewed up a lot of the time I would have spent on further testing levels before handing them off to the rest of the team. This game was hard work but I am proud of what we have managed to build.\n\n@xparker He really did. That man is blessed with skills!","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":1216987,"author_name":"gurkenlabs","author_uid":"gurkenlabs","epoch":1777265519,"text":"Congrats on your entry! I especially enjoyed it in terms of narrative, graphics and music. The platforming was a bit on the wonky side, the general level of challenge a bit low, and the two enemy types a bit underwhelming. But all in all, this is an enjoyable and well-polished experience.","format":"md","likes":4,"spam":"N"},{"id":1217256,"author_name":"BalimaarTheBassFish","author_uid":"balimaarthebassfish","epoch":1777290068,"text":"@gurkenlabs entirely fair. those areas did receive most of our attention. The platforming and level design is largely my domain. I'm afraid my final shift was terribly inefficient for all sorts of reasons and then the stress of feeling the inefficiency and time falling through my fingers was terribly frightening. The platforming really shows the missing couple hours that would have otherwise been invested purely in that as a focus.\n\nBizzybee and Phil did an amazing job with the SFX and GFX respectively. This entry wouldnt be half of what it is without them, thats for hecking certain!","format":"md","likes":1,"spam":"N"},{"id":1217403,"author_name":"RedPhoenix2412","author_uid":"redphoenix2412","epoch":1777300478,"text":"A cool jump-and-run game. I liked that you get to choose how to respond during conversations. A nice touch alongside your core mechanics!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":1217482,"author_name":"GeraldFIngBurke","author_uid":"geraldfingburke","epoch":1777304109,"text":"Awesome work! Absolutely loved the hand-painted art style. The atmosphere reminded me a bit of Oddworld. The soundtrack was also phenomenal. Stellar entry!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":1217585,"author_name":"BalimaarTheBassFish","author_uid":"balimaarthebassfish","epoch":1777310262,"text":"@redphoenix2412 hehe thank you! The dialogue was largely myself along with Bizzybee who wrote a lot of the quest complete dialogues. It was my idea to give players some choice on how to respond. Early on I had some ideas for a mechanic that would change how NPCs responded to you depending on how you responded to others. Slight tweaks to the ending were also planned. Just did not have time to implement it fully.\n\n@geraldfingburke Ahhhh Oddworld! Thats the exact game I kept trying to think what our entry was reminding me of. Thank you for playing!","format":"md","likes":0,"spam":"N"},{"id":1220063,"author_name":"Le Don","author_uid":"le-don","epoch":1777629902,"text":"Good game! I really like the setting. I had a similiar problem as someone else and I was solftlocked after I got shot during the dialog.","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":1220328,"author_name":"Frank Gevaerts","author_uid":"frank-gevaerts","epoch":1777667994,"text":"Thanks for playing, @le-don . Yes, that's an unfortunate bug to have left in. We kind of were aware of it and decided the easy thing to do was to make sure there were no enemies near any dialogue, but then we forgot to check that...","format":"md","likes":0,"spam":"N"},{"id":1221183,"author_name":"plutonicrock","author_uid":"plutonicrock","epoch":1777809333,"text":"incredibly stunning stuff! encountered a few soft lock bugs but overall incredible work for such short time!","format":"md","likes":4,"spam":"N"},{"id":1221505,"author_name":"Frank Gevaerts","author_uid":"frank-gevaerts","epoch":1777841029,"text":"Thanks for playing, @plutonicrock ! Yes, some silly bugs left in...","format":"md","likes":0,"spam":"N"},{"id":1222254,"author_name":"BalimaarTheBassFish","author_uid":"balimaarthebassfish","epoch":1777939093,"text":"@le-don and @plutonicrock \n\nThank you so much for playing our efforts <3 That particular issue we uncovered quite late and unfortunately there were worse issues to iron out. Also Frank and I had decided early to prioritise tasks that highlight the hard work of our epic team mates who did the GFX and SFX!","format":"md","likes":0,"spam":"N"},{"id":1222385,"author_name":"Kahztein","author_uid":"kahztein","epoch":1777967409,"text":"Nicely done with this one!\n\nThe mood and music is really nice. Dynamic music is something *very* rare in jam games, but is done well here. Low intensity tracks shifting into higher intensity tracks always makes things feel much cooler. The SFX are also crisp and fit in well.\n\nThe environment is quite well done, the last area in particular has a great aesthetic with the lights. I think the hub area would've done well with some added lights, as it felt a little too dimly lit. There were also a few times in the game that I wasn't sure whether something was solid or a background\/foreground element, though understandably it's hard to get an art style perfect in jam time.\n\nCharacter design was good, I liked the choice of yellow shoes on the player character. They stand out well against the environment so it's easy to tell exactly when you're about to land. The animation is nice too.\n\nI think having the jump only trigger when space is first pressed would've felt a little bit more responsive to player intention. Even though there's no variable jump height in this game, I think it's just a natural reflex to hold space longer than you have to, which can lead to unintended jumps.\n\nGood job to the programmers as well for pulling everything together, it's harder to compliment all that hidden work, but I understand very well how much has to get done in the limited time.\n\nOverall fun game! Well done to the whole team. And rest in peace Boulder.","format":"md","likes":4,"spam":"N"},{"id":1222431,"author_name":"BalimaarTheBassFish","author_uid":"balimaarthebassfish","epoch":1777978508,"text":"@kahztein Thanks for playing and thank you for honouring Boulder in your review. He was the best of boys and my companion for 15 years of his life :'(\n\nI swear I had the jump coded to \"just pressed\". I guess it was changed later, I never really noticed because my brain always assumed it was still that way.\n\nI agree the hub area would have been nice to have the attention paid to it in lighting but time didnt allow it. We prioritised the 'actual' levels for the lighting treatment as the hub was only intended to be a brief pass over. We simply ran out of time for the hub im afraid!\n\nAnd thank you also for shouting us coders out :3 ","format":"md","likes":1,"spam":"N"}],"format":"md","images":["ld59\/wayback-placeholder.png"],"links":[],"metadata":{"g_key":"72506","g_author":"1297676","g_event":"LD59","g_eventkey":"113","g_subevent":"JAM","g_urlkey":"309417","g_title":"Searching for Signal","g_status":"WAYBACK","g_place":"580","g_commentcount":"33","g_site2_node_id":"425139","g_hide":"Y","g_has_icon":"Y","g_rqueue":"0","g_random":"0"},"nds":{"n_key":"425139","n_urlkey":"309417","n_parent":"424249","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/59\/searching-for-signal","n_slug":"searching-for-signal","n_type":"item","n_subtype":"game","n_subsubtype":"jam","n_author":"297676","n_created":"1775745044","n_modified":"1779469756","n_version":"1375369","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"node":{"_collation":{"body_sanitizer":"TextUtils::SanitizeHTML via existing importer","event":"LD59","removed_author":false},"_superparent":9,"_trust":1,"author":297676,"body":"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.\n\n# Welcome to Searching for Signal!\n\nAn 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.\n\nYou 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 \u201cin service\u201d you mean \u201cone bad gust away from becoming a structural voicemail.\u201d 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.\n\nBut there is hope. A couple of bars of hope, maybe.\n\nBecause 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:\n\ncommitment to the call.\n\nYour mission is simple: climb to the highest point of the highest tower and find a signal strong enough to send a message.\n\nEasy, right?\n\nOh, absolutely.\n\nA total misdial.\n\nThe 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 \u201chealth and safety\u201d was placed on hold permanently. To move forward, you\u2019ll need to explore its forgotten corners and recover three keycards needed to unlock the final ascent.\n\nSo yes, success is all about making the right connections.\n\nAnd avoiding the wrong ones.\n\nEspecially electrical ones.\n\nAlong the way you\u2019ll 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\u2019ll meet helpful robots, chatty robots, odd robots, and robots who seem to have a few screws loose on purpose.\n\nSome will help.\n\nSome will give you errands.\n\nSome will give you static.\n\nSome talk like they swallowed a troubleshooting manual and made it everyone else\u2019s problem.\n\nAnd all the while, the city asks one question:\n\nWhat message could possibly be worth all this trouble?\n\n![sfs-with-logo.png](\/\/\/raw\/648\/1\/z\/721f9.png)\n\n## About the Game\n\nSearching for Signal is an atmospheric platformer about movement, exploration, and refusing to hang up. It\u2019s about climbing higher, searching farther, and pushing onward through a city that has clearly decided to put your ambitions on hold.\n\nAfter a short tutorial level to help you get your bearings and maybe one extra bar of optimism, you enter the city\u2019s 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.\n\nYou\u2019ll 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.\n\nThis game is about weak reception and strong resolve. About broken streets and unbroken willpower. About dropped calls and picked-yourself-back-up agains.\n\nBecause you are not here to lose signal.\n\nYou are here to boost your bars.\n\nYou are here to rise above the static.\n\nYou are here to prove that when the world says \u201cNo Service,\u201d what it really means is \u201chave you tried jumping higher?\u201d\n\nWe wanted the game to feel atmospheric, a little funny, and strangely human beneath the rust, wires, and concrete. It\u2019s 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.\n\nBecause sometimes the hardest part isn\u2019t writing the message.\n\nIt\u2019s finding a world willing to pick up.\n\nSo charge your courage, trust the brick, climb like your bars depend on it, and remember:\n\nWhen life gives you no signal, go higher.\n\n### Controls\n\n* W\/Up Arrow\/Space - Jump\n* S\/Down Arrow - Crouch\n* Left Mouse\/Control - Shoot\n\nKeep inventory between deaths is ON.\n\n## Words from the Dev Team\n\n### Pixel Prophecy (Phil Strahl) - Graphics, Animation, and Lighting\nWhat 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!! \ud83e\udd84\u2728\n\n### Bizzybee - SFX, Music and Cat Herder\nWhew... I'll write more here later, but I am DRAINED!\n\nI'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.\n\n### Frank - Programmer and Overall Genius at Systems Implementation\n\nThis 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.\n\nI 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.\n\nEveryone got a chance to work fully in what they were good at, and I think it shows!\n\n### Balimaar - Programmer and Overall Genius at Bug Creation\nThis 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.\nAs 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.\nThankfully 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.\nIn 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!\"","comments":33,"comments-timestamp":"2026-05-05T10:55:08Z","created":"2026-04-09T14:30:44Z","files":[{"author":103884,"id":50245,"name":"SearchingForSignal_Windows.zip","node":425139,"size":98644964,"status":9,"tag":0,"timestamp":"2026-04-21T01:40:42Z"},{"author":103884,"id":50251,"name":"SearchingForSignal_Mac.zip","node":425139,"size":126851408,"status":9,"tag":0,"timestamp":"2026-04-21T01:41:17Z"},{"author":103884,"id":50256,"name":"SearchingForSignal_Linux.zip","node":425139,"size":92360502,"status":9,"tag":0,"timestamp":"2026-04-21T01:41:58Z"}],"files-timestamp":"2026-04-21T01:41:58Z","grade":{"grade-01":33,"grade-02":33,"grade-03":33,"grade-04":33,"grade-05":33,"grade-06":32,"grade-07":31,"grade-08":32},"id":425139,"love":0,"magic":{"cool":92.582009977255,"feedback":40,"given":27,"grade":32.5,"grade-01-average":3.355,"grade-01-result":580,"grade-02-average":3.032,"grade-02-result":631,"grade-03-average":2.387,"grade-03-result":816,"grade-04-average":3.855,"grade-04-result":367,"grade-05-average":3.919,"grade-05-result":333,"grade-06-average":3.6,"grade-06-result":291,"grade-07-average":3.19,"grade-07-result":285,"grade-08-average":3.817,"grade-08-result":313,"smart":1.4599312391785},"meta":{"allow-anonymous-comments":"1","author":[297676,372844,103884,6214],"cover":"\/\/\/content\/cca\/84\/z\/718b0.png","link-01":"","link-01-tag":[42332],"link-02":"","link-02-tag":null,"link-03":"","link-03-tag":null},"meta-timestamp":"2026-05-22T17:09:16Z","modified":"2026-05-22T17:09:16Z","name":"Searching for Signal","node-timestamp":"2026-05-10T18:37:57Z","parent":424249,"parents":[1,5,9,424249],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/59\/searching-for-signal","published":"2026-04-21T01:16:23Z","scope":"public","slug":"searching-for-signal","subsubtype":"jam","subtype":"game","type":"item","version":1375369},"text":"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.\n\n# Welcome to Searching for Signal!\n\nAn 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.\n\nYou 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 \u201cin service\u201d you mean \u201cone bad gust away from becoming a structural voicemail.\u201d 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.\n\nBut there is hope. A couple of bars of hope, maybe.\n\nBecause 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:\n\ncommitment to the call.\n\nYour mission is simple: climb to the highest point of the highest tower and find a signal strong enough to send a message.\n\nEasy, right?\n\nOh, absolutely.\n\nA total misdial.\n\nThe 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 \u201chealth and safety\u201d was placed on hold permanently. To move forward, you\u2019ll need to explore its forgotten corners and recover three keycards needed to unlock the final ascent.\n\nSo yes, success is all about making the right connections.\n\nAnd avoiding the wrong ones.\n\nEspecially electrical ones.\n\nAlong the way you\u2019ll 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\u2019ll meet helpful robots, chatty robots, odd robots, and robots who seem to have a few screws loose on purpose.\n\nSome will help.\n\nSome will give you errands.\n\nSome will give you static.\n\nSome talk like they swallowed a troubleshooting manual and made it everyone else\u2019s problem.\n\nAnd all the while, the city asks one question:\n\nWhat message could possibly be worth all this trouble?\n\n![sfs-with-logo.png](\/\/\/raw\/648\/1\/z\/721f9.png)\n\n## About the Game\n\nSearching for Signal is an atmospheric platformer about movement, exploration, and refusing to hang up. It\u2019s about climbing higher, searching farther, and pushing onward through a city that has clearly decided to put your ambitions on hold.\n\nAfter a short tutorial level to help you get your bearings and maybe one extra bar of optimism, you enter the city\u2019s 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.\n\nYou\u2019ll 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.\n\nThis game is about weak reception and strong resolve. About broken streets and unbroken willpower. About dropped calls and picked-yourself-back-up agains.\n\nBecause you are not here to lose signal.\n\nYou are here to boost your bars.\n\nYou are here to rise above the static.\n\nYou are here to prove that when the world says \u201cNo Service,\u201d what it really means is \u201chave you tried jumping higher?\u201d\n\nWe wanted the game to feel atmospheric, a little funny, and strangely human beneath the rust, wires, and concrete. It\u2019s 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.\n\nBecause sometimes the hardest part isn\u2019t writing the message.\n\nIt\u2019s finding a world willing to pick up.\n\nSo charge your courage, trust the brick, climb like your bars depend on it, and remember:\n\nWhen life gives you no signal, go higher.\n\n### Controls\n\n* W\/Up Arrow\/Space - Jump\n* S\/Down Arrow - Crouch\n* Left Mouse\/Control - Shoot\n\nKeep inventory between deaths is ON.\n\n## Words from the Dev Team\n\n### Pixel Prophecy (Phil Strahl) - Graphics, Animation, and Lighting\nWhat 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!! \ud83e\udd84\u2728\n\n### Bizzybee - SFX, Music and Cat Herder\nWhew... I'll write more here later, but I am DRAINED!\n\nI'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.\n\n### Frank - Programmer and Overall Genius at Systems Implementation\n\nThis 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.\n\nI 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.\n\nEveryone got a chance to work fully in what they were good at, and I think it shows!\n\n### Balimaar - Programmer and Overall Genius at Bug Creation\nThis 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.\nAs 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.\nThankfully 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.\nIn 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!\"","title":"Searching for Signal","wayback_recovered":true,"wayback_source":{"capture":{"original":"https:\/\/api-jam.ludumdare.com\/vx\/node2\/get\/425001+425002+425003+425004+425005+425006+425007+425008+425009+425010+425011+425012+425013+425014+425015+425016+425017+425018+425019+425020+425021+425022+425023+425024+425025+425026+425027+425028+425029+425030+425031+425032+425033+425034+425035+425036+425037+425038+425039+425040+425041+425042+425043+425044+425045+425046+425047+425048+425049+425050+425051+425052+425053+425054+425055+425056+425057+425058+425059+425060+425061+425062+425063+425064+425065+425066+425067+425068+425069+425070+425071+425072+425073+425074+425075+425076+425077+425078+425079+425080+425081+425082+425083+425084+425085+425086+425087+425088+425089+425090+425091+425092+425093+425094+425095+425096+425097+425098+425099+425100+425101+425102+425103+425104+425105+425106+425107+425108+425109+425110+425111+425112+425113+425114+425115+425116+425117+425118+425119+425120+425121+425122+425123+425124+425125+425126+425127+425128+425129+425130+425131+425132+425133+425134+425135+425136+425137+425138+425139+425140+425141+425142+425143+425144+425145+425146+425147+425148+425149+425150+425151+425152+425153+425154+425155+425156+425157+425158+425159+425160+425161+425162+425163+425164+425165+425166+425167+425168+425169+425170+425171+425172+425173+425174+425175+425176+425177+425178+425179+425180+425181+425182+425183+425184+425185+425186+425187+425188+425189+425190+425191+425192+425193+425194+425195+425196+425197+425198+425199+425200+425201+425202+425203+425204+425205+425206+425207+425208+425209+425210+425211+425212+425213+425214+425215+425216+425217+425218+425219+425220+425221+425222+425223+425224+425225+425226+425227+425228+425229+425230+425231+425232+425233+425234+425235+425236+425237+425238+425239+425240+425241+425242+425243+425244+425245+425246+425247+425248+425249+425250+425251+425252+425253+425254+425255+425256+425257+425258+425259+425260+425261+425262+425263+425264+425265+425266+425267+425268+425269+425270+425271+425272+425273+425274+425275+425276+425277+425278+425279+425280+425281+425282+425283+425284+425285+425286+425287+425288+425289+425290+425291+425292+425293+425294+425295+425296+425297+425298+425299+425300+425301+425302+425303+425304+425305+425306+425307+425308+425309+425310+425311+425312+425313+425314+425315+425316+425317+425318+425319+425320+425321+425322+425323+425324+425325+425326+425327+425328+425329+425330+425331+425332+425333+425334+425335+425336+425337+425338+425339+425340+425341+425342+425343+425344+425345+425346+425347+425348+425349+425350+425351+425352+425353+425354+425355+425356+425357+425358+425359+425360+425361+425362+425363+425364+425365+425366+425367+425368+425369+425370+425371+425372+425373+425374+425375+425376+425377+425378+425379+425380+425381+425382+425383+425384+425385+425386+425387+425388+425389+425390+425391+425392+425393+425394+425395+425396+425397+425398+425399+425400+425401+425402+425403+425404+425405+425406+425407+425408+425409+425410+425411+425412+425413+425414+425415+425416+425417+425418+425419+425420+425421+425422+425423+425424+425425+425426+425427+425428+425429+425430+425431+425432+425433+425434+425435+425436+425437+425438+425439+425440+425441+425442+425443+425444+425445+425446+425447+425448+425449+425450+425451+425452+425453+425454+425455+425456+425457+425458+425459+425460+425461+425462+425463+425464+425465+425466+425467+425468+425469+425470+425471+425472+425473+425474+425475+425476+425477+425478+425479+425480+425481+425482+425483+425484+425485+425486+425487+425488+425489+425490+425491+425492+425493+425494+425495+425496+425497+425498+425499+425500?authors&parents&superparent"},"object":"objects\/sha256\/f5\/f56b766207d3ef870d1776baeb59fb9bea8ad0ddda5c67cbb549316be9da8ac3","record":"shard-3\/json-live-urgent-v3\/records\/03da261bc2bdcde37a07fa9017c897aa38a26b26ab44403e22526a5bd6c9214b.json","sha256":"f56b766207d3ef870d1776baeb59fb9bea8ad0ddda5c67cbb549316be9da8ac3","source":"https","stored_at":1784022511}}