Eigenfrequency by graphene

[raw]
made by graphene for Ludum Dare 59 (JAM)

“Happy Birthday! Have fun! :D”

You thought this was just a birthday prank—a surprise orchestrated by your friends.

You wake up to find yourself locked inside your summer rental room, only for the culprits to gleefully claim responsibility for the gag: they’ve actually turned your room into a miniature escape room. As a horror movie buff, you asked for it—though your room is perhaps a bit too cozy for the genre; still, at least they tried.

But as you spend more time solving the puzzles, things begin to take an unsettling turn.

There is an anomalous signal dead zone within your room—something you are certain your friends had absolutely nothing to do with.

Silence creeps in, and you realize you are no longer alone. Something trapped within this attic has begun to communicate with you. The line between a birthday surprise and the supernatural starts to blur.

As you gradually unravel the mysteries of the escape room, what secrets lie hidden behind the ghost?

🎮 Features:

Narrative Twist: Experience the psychological shift from a lighthearted birthday game to a supernatural horror.

“Dead Zone”: Step into areas devoid of mobile signal to trigger supernatural events and communicate with an unwelcome guest.

Interactive Phone Interface: Your only tool for contacting friends becomes hijacked by strange text messages from another realm of existence.

🕹️ Controls:

WASD / Arrow Keys: Move character

E: Interact with objects / Advance dialogue

Mouse Left Click: Interact with the smartphone UI

Translation: Press the globe button on this interface to switch between Chinese and English translations. PhoneUI.jpg

Thanks for playing!!

A special thanks to our friend KRX for helping us name the game, and to HYDRA for polishing the page copy! Background music is sourced from Aigei.com.

Ratings

Overall 615th 3.304⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Fun 781th 2.607⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 795th 2.536⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Theme 606th 3.339⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 128th 4.345⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Humor 495th 2.583⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Mood 430th 3.62⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 15🗳️ 31🗨️

Feedback

🎤 graphene
Apr 21st · 01:08 UTC
This was our first time participating in a game jam; it was a challenging yet joyful experience. We hope you enjoy the game!
Itero Proto
Apr 21st · 06:07 UTC
Cool art, but it's a boring genre for me
Chusui77
Apr 21st · 06:09 UTC
好喜欢这个风格!!!场景人物做的氛围好棒,悬疑的感觉也很强烈 可惜不太擅长玩解密!但我很享受游戏美术!
vlaflya
Apr 21st · 06:41 UTC
Cool art and music! Gameplay needs polish - its kinda strange that dialog turns off if you walk away from trigger. Overall really nice work!
msipp27
Apr 21st · 06:44 UTC
couldn't really figure it out..
Sariiger
Apr 21st · 06:49 UTC
Got the key and finished the game!
It was a really neat concept, the art style was gorgeous! I started getting invested in the story. The puzzle elements felt a bit off at times though, but overall a neat experience!
Alvminum
Apr 21st · 07:53 UTC
很有氛围感和设计感!虽然一时间有点茫然不知道触发什么,但尝试下来发现是一个很精巧的小故事。能够用简洁的对话、场景和界面表达出一个完整的、结尾出人意料的故事,很喜欢!
Awwwz
Apr 21st · 07:57 UTC
so surprised to see a nearly 3d feeling scene after entering the game!! love the character motion and the top-down perspective!!maybe highlight some of the item that can be interacted with?
Rinnnzy
Apr 21st · 10:36 UTC
美术风格很童趣!游戏故事挺完整,很喜欢手机信号丢失区域这个设计。能加些交互提示更完美了!
yaya0325
Apr 21st · 15:58 UTC
The game features some really clever design choices and a lot of creativity. The signal blocking mechanic is particularly interesting. It would be great to add sound effects or some other form of feedback when clicking or interacting with elements, though
yaya0325
Apr 21st · 15:58 UTC
The game features some really clever design choices and a lot of creativity. The signal blocking mechanic is particularly interesting. It would be great to add sound effects or some other form of feedback when clicking or interacting with elements, though
yaya0325
Apr 21st · 15:58 UTC
The game features some really clever design choices and a lot of creativity. The signal blocking mechanic is particularly interesting. It would be great to add sound effects or some other form of feedback when clicking or interacting with elements, though
yaya0325
Apr 21st · 15:58 UTC
The game features some really clever design choices and a lot of creativity. The signal blocking mechanic is particularly interesting. It would be great to add sound effects or some other form of feedback when clicking or interacting with elements, though
yaya0325
Apr 21st · 15:58 UTC
The game features some really clever design choices and a lot of creativity. The signal blocking mechanic is particularly interesting. It would be great to add sound effects or some other form of feedback when clicking or interacting with elements, though
yaya0325
Apr 21st · 15:58 UTC
The game features some really clever design choices and a lot of creativity. The signal blocking mechanic is particularly interesting. It would be great to add sound effects or some other form of feedback when clicking or interacting with elements, though
yaya0325
Apr 21st · 15:58 UTC
The game features some really clever design choices and a lot of creativity. The signal blocking mechanic is particularly interesting. It would be great to add sound effects or some other form of feedback when clicking or interacting with elements, though
yaya0325
Apr 21st · 15:58 UTC
The game features some really clever design choices and a lot of creativity. The signal blocking mechanic is particularly interesting. It would be great to add sound effects or some other form of feedback when clicking or interacting with elements, though
🎤 graphene
Apr 21st · 17:08 UTC
Anyway, thanks for your @itero-proto playing and reviewing, the gameplay part really needs to be improved by us.
🎤 graphene
Apr 21st · 17:17 UTC
谢谢你@chusui77 的喜欢!游戏美术的部分是@mimigo 负责的,也有一些遗憾是没能打磨好结尾部分的美术细节!
🎤 graphene
Apr 21st · 17:19 UTC
Thanks for your feedback @vlaflya , I realized this problem, in fact I didn't realize until the last day that I needed to polish these details because of my lack of experience, and I tried my best to polish some of them, and there may be parts that may have been missed and will continue to work on improving the playability of the game!
🎤 graphene
Apr 21st · 17:21 UTC
@msipp27 I'm sorry to bring you this doubt, if you are still interested in continuing to play, the main operation of the game is WASD movement and E interaction, and the promotion of the plot may require you to pay attention to whether there are new dialogues in the no-signal area, or whether there are new text messages and call plots. We strive to improve interactions and guidance.
🎤 graphene
Apr 21st · 17:45 UTC
@sariiger We are very, very grateful for your play and reply. For the puzzle elements, part of the reason may be the mistranslation of some texts in the process of translation, and the other part is that the game is not very rich due to lack of time, we will try our best to improve it!
🎤 graphene
Apr 21st · 18:02 UTC
@alvminum 谢谢喜欢!我也很喜欢这个故事,很遗憾因为时间和经验、技术水平的限制,有很多我们很喜欢的故事细节没能在这版游戏里呈现给大家,能被喜欢实在是太荣幸了!
Ranarh
Apr 22nd · 02:43 UTC
Cool little game. Ambitious scope for a three-day jam, I would love to see what you can do with more time.
Deng
Apr 22nd · 03:03 UTC
![微信图片_20260422105953_114_152.png](///raw/13f/76/z/7234b.png)

Is this where it ends? I clicked the door, saw a red dot, then the ghost said "don't look at the moon," and right after that, it was the "Thanks for playing" screen. I'm still craving more! I really want to know what's down there under the stairs!

I absolutely loved this game. The signal jamming setting is super interesting, and messing around with the in-game phone was a lot of fun. I actually played this during class and it literally sent chills down my spine! The art style is fantastic, and the phone UI is incredibly creative.

One small piece of feedback: it might be helpful to add an "Press E to interact" prompt. I wandered around in circles a few times before I remembered I needed to press 'E' instead of just clicking on items with my mouse.

Also, I found it pretty humorous that the character jitters/flickers when you hold Up-Left to move into the dead corners, like between the sofa and the bookshelf 😂.

Really looking forward to more stories from you guys!
Eugenik
Apr 22nd · 06:24 UTC
The core concept of turning a cozy summer room into a suspenseful, locked-in mystery works really well. You managed to capture a great sense of confined atmosphere, which really heightened the stakes of solving the puzzles. Congrats on the jam!
Ruaan
Apr 22nd · 08:48 UTC
喜欢这个房间的整体造型!主角也很萌
babyfoodstudios
Apr 22nd · 09:07 UTC
Great job, love the art and the way the narrative develops with play. Want to see more stories, more rooms to escape.
LDJam user 426288
Apr 22nd · 10:11 UTC
好喜欢这种儿童插画感的美术风格!!就是玩法稍微有一点单一了,如果人物能和场景中的物体有交互感觉会更好!双语设置好评!!但是不知道是不是bug,小地球点开之后就关不上了,语言的标志有点挡其他图标。还有就是之后手机再来新消息在手机主页面上没有红点提醒,得要时不时记得翻一下才能看到有新的。
Zwi Zausch
Apr 22nd · 11:02 UTC
Hey cool art! I couldn't play it fully as the mobile phone screen went dark in some spots and buttons didn't do anthing.
Z1116730
Apr 22nd · 16:19 UTC
Excellent art style, story, and control over the flow experience! It would be absolutely perfect if some of the player guidance/tutorials could be handled a bit smoother.
INGVIILD
Apr 24th · 17:07 UTC
The game's concept is really cool! And the graphics create the right atmosphere. But... it's really difficult to play... I don't understand which objects are interactive... and the phone doesn't seem to work as it should.

If a fixed version comes out, I'll be very interested in playing again!
IRKAR
Apr 26th · 11:23 UTC
Cool visual! Good job!![Screenshot_20260426_142303.png](///raw/25b/76/z/72bfb.png)
zhangzhimu
Apr 28th · 07:35 UTC
I think this scene and the art are very well-matched, giving people a somewhat warm and cozy feeling. It feels very heartwarming. The overall content is quite complete. It's already very difficult to achieve this in such a short time! I'm looking forward to the subsequent works!
R4ndomThunder
May 04th · 21:44 UTC
That's not my genre but i like the graphics and the vibes that this game have.

Overall that's a good entry as first-timers.
Akadream
May 08th · 12:29 UTC
I really liked the graphics and audio!