LudumData

Downtown Signal by Absolute Garbage

[raw]
made by Absolute Garbage for Ludum Dare 59 (COMPO)

Zombie Apocalypse in Downtown Manhattan.
Follow information on radio to survive.

screenshot.png

  • 3 endings (other than running out of food, water, and ammo).
  • 2 of the endings are before day 20, could be missed.
  • Check on itch development log section for more hints and spoilers.

Please let me know if you encounter any bugs. I’ll try to fix them ASAP.

Tools: Godot 4.6, Procreate, audacity, sfxr

AI Usage

  • Only the voice acting from the radio used AI (ElevenLabs).
  • You can turn it off in Settings.
  • Turning off voice acting does not affect gameplay, you can still read the texts from radio to get the messages. I added them hoping for a more immersive experience.
  • All other sound effects and art assets are entirely created by hand without AI.

Mainly inspired by 60 Seconds. If you’ve played other games with a similar idea, I’d love to hear about them.

Link https://f-i-nn.itch.io/downtown-signal
Link https://f-i-nn.itch.io/downtown-signal
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/downtown-signal

Ratings

Overall 71th 3.75⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Fun 67th 3.673⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 105th 3.558⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 89th 4⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 88th 3.769⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Audio 99th 3.5⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Humor 85th 3⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Mood 50th 3.885⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Given 35🗳️ 28🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 424955
Apr 20th · 02:42 UTC
The atmosphere is incredibly well done. It made me really tense. (It feels even more immersive if you live in New York)
gubo
Apr 20th · 02:42 UTC
very decent surviving experience, it's significantly easier when you know what supplies each location gives and follow the radio instructions.
havearollonthefloor
Apr 20th · 03:13 UTC
![game.png](///raw/c3c/86/z/7075d.png) It looks like "60 seconds", but this game has a cool radio. The voice from the radio resembles the voice of the announcer in the subway who announces the name of the next station :D
LDJam user 389806
Apr 20th · 03:18 UTC
@havearollonthefloor You got the JFK ending! yes, this game is inspired by 60 seconds, I love that game!
Yueyao Wang
Apr 20th · 04:23 UTC
Like the game! It feels like the same vibe as the game 60s. I got the Staten Island Ending :)
Alex Mulkerrin
Apr 20th · 09:23 UTC
This is really well polished. I especially like the way the radio worked with signals popping up depending on time and date. I was managing alright until I heard of a boat at Staten Island, went to get on it and got killed by zombies...

The background hum was a bit annoying but that might have been the point. The voiceovers were very nice, impressive for AI audio generation.

Very good entry for keeping to the theme and the scene is very well put together with info and interactives, neat!
LDJam user 389806
Apr 20th · 17:08 UTC
@yueyao-wang you are the first person to find that ending, congrats! and yes, this game is inspired by 60 seconds, I love that game!

@alex-mulkerrin thanks! I would like to make audio sliders but ran out of time. Maybe I can just tune it down a bit for now.
Stratcat66
Apr 20th · 18:53 UTC
I managed to get the Staten Island ending!
Very cool game. I know 60 seconds and although it has more content, I like the radio/information gathering mechanic.. It makes the game feel less "random" and like you can actually make meaningful decisions for your character.
Thank you for this nice experience!
nathmate
Apr 20th · 22:34 UTC
Neat concept. I haven't worked with gAI but I would say that the voices felt very calm for a zombie apocalypse, but they served to give variety and get the information across. I'm not sure I agree that

> This does not affect gameplay

The game would feel very random without them. Or maybe you'd just need to stock up on more bullets to deal with not knowing where the safe zones are.

![2026-04-21-082910_127x136_scrot.png](///raw/102/b5/z/7117b.png)
Deng
Apr 21st · 12:37 UTC
I like this game, every decision I made gave me great positive feedback, which really kept me motivated to keep playing! I also absolutely love the art style. The map selection mechanic and the overall setting strongly reminded me of This War of Mine. I feel like adding more item variety would make it even more fun! Maybe introducing some side quests (like delivery missions?) could be a cool direction to explore too.
LDJam user 389806
Apr 22nd · 03:51 UTC
@nathmate Thank you for playing! I'm glad you find the voice acting healful, they were added pretty quickly but I also liked the result! They were generated using ElevenLabs. I would have tuned them to sound better if had more time. By "This does not affect gameplay", I meant you can turn off the voice acting (in case some people don't like AI/robot voices). But you can still read the radio text to get the hints, just less immersive and more reading.
LDJam user 389806
Apr 22nd · 03:54 UTC
@deng Thanks for playing! Yes, I think with more time I would definitely add more variety of things to do, especially in the first 20 days. Maybe some missions to help others and get more items to be placed on the desk, and more endings.
Psycanic
Apr 22nd · 04:24 UTC
this is so good:3 yknow im at my ny aprtment and snapped for a second believing there's zombies out there....the voice acting really adds a lot.
LDJam user 389806
Apr 22nd · 04:26 UTC
@psycanic thank you! XD
Tykki19
Apr 22nd · 08:48 UTC
I didn't feel that there was really progress after awhile or clear goal. Day 26 and decided to quit with plenty of resources. I have to say it was really immersive experience and I really would like to play something that minimalistic with just more content. Lovely!
LDJam user 389806
Apr 22nd · 17:26 UTC
@tykki19 Thank you for playing! Yes there isn't new content after day 20. There are 2 hidden endings before day 20 and I normally like to allow player to go endless if they choose to.
Perhaps I should add a default ending on day 20 to hint to the player that there is no more new things to do afterward. Thanks for the feedback!
Nikiroz
Apr 23rd · 08:06 UTC
A funny little game.
Mr. Flower
Apr 23rd · 13:26 UTC
Very nice, honestly I loved the feeling of looking at the map, figuring out what places are worth going to for what supplies. It becomes significantly easier once you know where you can get supplies, but still plenty of fun. Also love the little message on the gun, lol. Making use of the radio was also really fun and nice to know where safe places to go are. I got the ending where we make it to the JFK airport. Good job on this one :D
VenomousMouse
Apr 23rd · 15:35 UTC
I love zombie apocalypse/survival games! And this one is very good for text based game. Also good radio implementation. Nice job!
LDJam user 389806
Apr 23rd · 18:00 UTC
@mr-flower Thank you so much for playing through! and noticing the message haha.
LDJam user 389806
Apr 23rd · 18:00 UTC
@nikiroz @venomousmouse Thank you so much for playing!
Byte Bark
Apr 25th · 00:12 UTC
I love the graphics, very clean UI. And I like how the game provides an immersive experience with such minimalism design. Made it to Staten Island :tada:
KeySole
Apr 26th · 17:38 UTC
Good game! Barely have anything to complain about at all.
Le Don
Apr 30th · 10:51 UTC
Great game! I really like the idea. I needed two small runs to get the idea, but then I managed to get to Staten Island.
LDJam user 389806
May 01st · 02:08 UTC
@byte-bark @keysole @le-don Thank you for playing!
ruthiepee
May 02nd · 11:15 UTC
Great interface design, easy to understand how to play and fun to listen to the radio for clues. As a New Yorker I had to play this one. :) I have to say I really liked having the voices, it made the zombie apocalypse feel more real.