LudumData

Data Routing by StormSword

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

You have to help a small battery-robot to reach its destination. However, it is in an underground laboratory and does not have good reception. You must then send all the necessary inputs at once.

Look at the level and when you’re ready, press Start/Enter. All your inputs will then be recorded up to 100 seconds. Once finished, press again Start/Enter to watch the robot move.

image<em>2026-04-19</em>195032702.png

Each color segment indicates how long it takes to cross it. Use this, as well as the metronome that will make a noise every second.

Sans titre.png

You can play with a controller or your keyboard! Controller can be used everywhere EXCEPT to select a level and in the settings.

Here is my Itch.io if you want to see my others projects :)

image<em>2026-04-19</em>195243975.png

image<em>2026-04-19</em>195357495.png

Change Log

All changes made on the project after the deadline

[1.1] - 2026-04-20

Bug fix : - Text no longer behind another text - No clipping on the background (level 11 only)

[1.2] - 2026-04-20

Bug fix : - Tutorial, Settings and Level Select backgrounds size fixed

GitHub https://github.com/LucaSCHIFANO/Ludum59
Link https://stormsword.itch.io/data-routing
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/data-routing

Ratings

Overall 135th 3.517⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Fun 148th 3.293⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 39th 3.879⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Theme 136th 3.759⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 160th 3.414⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Audio 127th 3.352⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Humor 140th 2.563⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Mood 241th 2.846⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Given 30🗳️ 40🗨️

Feedback

mdotedot
Apr 19th · 20:18 UTC
geesh that was hard .. could use some indicators on how far I move when pressing 6 times D and then the space .. Nice music and atmosphere. Good job.
🎤 StormSword
Apr 19th · 20:43 UTC
@mdotedot thank you for your comment, glad you like it :D
Sorry to hear that, did the colored tiles and the metronome not guide enough ? ><
mdotedot
Apr 19th · 20:48 UTC
AHHH ! Now I see. I just noticed you put on a little screen shot with the duration. That could have in the game as a guidance. This is better now. Well done :D
nullval
Apr 20th · 13:44 UTC
I found it quite challenging to remember what I've already pressed and for how long.
It's a good concept and the graphics are pretty fitting too.
MountainGoose
Apr 20th · 16:44 UTC
Good idea! Liked the battery main character. Tough but once you see the colours/understand the timing gets easier. Well done!
NikiProT
Apr 20th · 16:48 UTC
i enjoyed this as i had to use a lot of intuition to get to the goal, very fun
drtizzle
Apr 20th · 16:49 UTC
Very cool concept! The overall game feels very polished for a Compo entry. The art is nice, the music and SFX work, and the controls do what you expect them to do.

When the levels get harder it becomes a bit too much of trial and error, but nothing some polish and visual cues can fix in an eventual "real" release.

Well done :smile:
pres2300
Apr 20th · 16:49 UTC
This was a really cool concept for the theme! As others have said, it was pretty challenging. I think something that visualizes what input you've entered would be helpful. I was also a bit thrown off by the metronome not matching the music exactly. Overall, the visuals and music were great and I enjoyed playing your game. Nice work!
WormKingBoo
Apr 20th · 16:50 UTC
Really clever take on the theme! I love the main character :) The variety of mechanics you were able to include is really impressive and everything worked well together. Over all a great game!
FrowsyFrog
Apr 20th · 17:05 UTC
It was quite difficult, but interesting at the same time! I’d like there to be more hints so you don’t have to try so many times to win. Even so, everything was great!
TasakaSama
Apr 20th · 20:57 UTC
It's just way too hard, although I like the idea but we have no idea what we're doing ^^
🎤 StormSword
Apr 20th · 21:23 UTC
Hi @tasakasama! Yes the game is not easy :/
Did the colored tiles and the metronome not help you enough?
🎤 StormSword
Apr 20th · 21:24 UTC
Same question for you @frowsyfrog x) Did the colored tiles and the metronome not help you enough? Do you see any other hints to help the player ?
TasakaSama
Apr 20th · 21:29 UTC
@stormsword No, I only saw the image in the description, but in-game I didn't notice anything that could help me.
Alex Davies
Apr 20th · 22:44 UTC
Really cool idea! I think it might be useful to have a countdown before recording inputs - it's quite challenging inputting them when it begins immediately.
Paroxysmal
Apr 20th · 23:21 UTC
Really like the idea. The level with the electricity was pretty difficult to get the timing right. Great concept though...well done!
lectvs
Apr 20th · 23:28 UTC
Cool concept! I love the idea of having to guess what your moves will be in the future, but some things felt a little too hard - e.g. the lasers are random or offset in their timing? Makes it a long waiting game for the right pattern to show up. Anyways, great compo entry regardless :smile:
Floonace
Apr 20th · 23:46 UTC
I had a lot of fun, and I just realized that the different colored blocks represent different time periods. Great idea! To be honest, I just followed my instincts and it was quite fun.
🎤 StormSword
Apr 21st · 07:22 UTC
Hi @lectvs :)
For the lasers, you can show their timing by pressing X/Backspace. But perhaps I didn't highlight it enough.
I'm glad you love the idea, tho. Thanks :)
MossGames
Apr 21st · 12:16 UTC
Very cool idea! I am wondering if some temporary feedback around where the user is when they are jumping / moving but other nice artstyle and soundtrack!
Helagos
Apr 21st · 16:05 UTC
It's a hard game but the concept is very original and fun. Making a "rythm" like game in a game jam is impressive, and it's more when the visuals and audios are good. Well done !
PurpledArtFrog
Apr 21st · 20:42 UTC
This was such a fun idea... it seemed however on the double jump one .... I could not input enough walk right input... am I just dumb? Other that excelent entry :thumbsup_tone1: nice gfx, nice audio, good tutorial, easy to understand.

Left you a rating :smile:
cogcomp
Apr 21st · 20:48 UTC
Clever idea but I would like some feedback when pressing the keys in recording mode to make it a bit easier. Like maybe showing how long I've held a key down for or something easier like a progressbar.
adam-gould
Apr 21st · 21:10 UTC
You did a great job of making a game that makes you feel very skilled when you get it right. I kept jumping too early after landing... very well done.
PerfectSquare
Apr 21st · 23:30 UTC
This is such a cool concept! I found it very hard and ended up just kind of guessing the timings even after reading the instructions about the metronome ticks and ground colouring. It was fun to watch the robot follow my commands though (although very frustrating when I gave bad directions and it just ran straight into a laser beam!) The character animations are so cute when he is recording :D
Avhatar
Apr 22nd · 08:06 UTC
Brilliant idea. So simple and so functional. You're basically playing against your own brain — your ability to interpolate and distort your own assumptions. Really cool. The art is on point, the sound does its job, but the gameplay concept and execution are top-tier. Definitely going into my top 5 at the very least.
🎤 StormSword
Apr 22nd · 08:48 UTC
Hi @cogcomp ! This is a excellent idea I didn't think of !! If I update the game later I would definitely add that!!

Well @purpledartfrog I couldn't find anything on what you're talking about :/ So I dont know how to fix that but I'm glad you like the game anyway:)

Hi @perfectsquare, yep this game is hard and was hard to imagine too >< I hope you still enjoy your time playing the game :)

Thanks for all your comments :D
PurpledArtFrog
Apr 22nd · 08:52 UTC
@stormsword Very likely just me messing up ... I tried three times and it stopped me exactly the same way... so just wondered. It did not impact the scoring at all ... so no worries
Nidoprince
Apr 22nd · 10:42 UTC
Really novel and fun little game. I think I got by the lightning section by luck more than anything, but the final lv 11 was a really good test of your execution. Being able to run through the levels as a normal platformer at the end was cute. Is the ??? level in the select after 11 just the normal platforming stage or was that something hidden in some way?
🎤 StormSword
Apr 22nd · 12:36 UTC
Hi @nidoprince :D
I'm glad you liked the game !
Yes, the ??? was just for the normal platforming section. I thought it could be really fun to see how easy the levels are if you play them normally x)
Big Nose
Apr 22nd · 18:37 UTC
very fun and on theme, cropping issue in the LD web player however.
Trav
Apr 22nd · 18:54 UTC
This is cool, I like it. It was hard and I couldn't get off like level 3, but it still cool and looks good :)
voxar
Apr 22nd · 21:17 UTC
I like the idea but I had a hard time with the complete lack of feedback when recording. Not sure if that's by design or bug with web player.
UkuleleFury
Apr 22nd · 23:02 UTC
:) Wow, I love this concept! The music with a timed beat is critical. And the color-coded block widths is genius. It's still so hard though! 😭 I like your sprites and animations too.
nathmate
Apr 23rd · 07:03 UTC
I'm afraid I found the core concept more frustrating than fun, though I see the appeal. A little bit more feedback while recording the inputs (just the sounds of failure\success, perhaps?) might move it closer into the 'fun zone'.
LDJam user 236055
Apr 23rd · 08:26 UTC
very cool idea, I just found it a bit hard to predict where it will go while recording, so it always required some trial and error to get it right
🎤 StormSword
Apr 23rd · 08:59 UTC
Hi @voxar @nathmate @universeflow :) I thought the metronome and the colored floor was enough (and I didn't have any other ideas during the jam ahah x)). I'm glad you guys still the love the idea :)
LDJam user 236055
Apr 23rd · 09:13 UTC
@stormsword I think the issue is that you don't really know how fast the robot will move. might work better if it was tile based and the robot, for example, moved one tile every beat of the music/metronome :)
Sirplop
Apr 26th · 17:28 UTC
Very cool entry, though I agree with the other commenters that judging time to distance moved is very hard, especially with jumps. A more distinct and obvious connection between tile size, walk/jump distance, and the metronome would help.
OadT
Apr 26th · 19:36 UTC
Very interesting concept! Though I think there are two things that could be improved:
* The player does not get immediate feedback when they do most of their input
* Linking time with speed is not very intuitive (at least to me. I saw the color indicators and used the timer at the top, but my input was still pretty unprecise)

My suggestion would be to maybe include some kind of progress bar at the bottom, that indicates how much you walked in total (both, leftwards and rightwards movement could move the bar to the left, so the user does not know its current position). This would give the player a bit more feedback and makes the mapping a bit more intuitive. (One additional note: I was confused at the beginning that you jump with `SPACE` and not `W`. Maybe just map both buttons to jumping)

But I still managed to get to the last level (had to skip that though). Music and graphics are nice and I liked how you introduced the button mechanic in the game!
Jajo
May 07th · 13:50 UTC
I think this is a really good idea. If you gave the player some indication of the distance between obstacles and how far the player will travel, that'd improve usability. But otherwise, the pixel art was super charming and added a lot to the game.