Echo by FunnyPumpkin

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

In the depths of castle Fang there is a young Bat trying to solve its puzzles with everything she has.

Controls: Spacebar - emit soundwave

Music by Paul Thick

Game-design/Sound-Design by Funny Pumpkin

Game-design/Programming by Factorizer

Art by HotCoffee

Art by Akira Arlert

Programming by Owi

​SFX used: FilmCow Royalty Free Sound Effects Library

Elemental Magic: Fire Attacks [Audio Assets Collection]

Free Fantasy 200 SFX Pack by TomMusic

UI Sound Effects by lolurio​​​​

Ratings

Overall 26th 4.267⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Fun 18th 4.224⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 17th 4.345⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Theme 17th 4.603⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 299th 3.983⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Audio 169th 3.875⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Humor 329th 3.045⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Mood 294th 3.857⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Given 25🗳️ 18🗨️

Feedback

jajalecapouet
Apr 21st · 09:47 UTC
I didn't anderstand how to pass the first level. I guess the demo is not finished yet.
Anyway this puzzle game is very original
Zizhen96
Apr 21st · 09:52 UTC
great stuff! Finished through the entire game!
LDJam user 82995
Apr 21st · 13:30 UTC
Very clever game! Very unique puzzle mechanics. Really, really liked it. I think the rate at which new mechanics were introduced was maybe a bit quick. I would've preferred if you spent more time squeezing more juice out of a single mechanic/gimmick before introducing a new one.
Wraithind
Apr 21st · 13:33 UTC
Definitely one of the most original puzzle games I've played. I really liked how you handled all of this and the art and ui are quite pleasant. Took me a while to figure out what some of the objects do, but with some experimenting I figured them all out. Sadly I wasn't able to clear all of the harder levels (Got stuck on the 5x5 grid of torches) but we'll write that off as me just being bad at puzzle games. Overall, well done.
t00nbink
Apr 21st · 13:35 UTC
Very cool game, I was especially impressed by the hard levels. It was especially satisfying to figure out how to beat the final level with the 5x5 torches. Great job overall!
Tesseus
Apr 21st · 20:13 UTC
Really neat puzzle game. The puzzles aren't too complex and I rather do many of them back-to-back like here than try to solve bigger ones. The game feels polished. Well done!
la passion
Apr 21st · 20:32 UTC
very good type shit owi love <><>
Robert Rosenbrook
Apr 21st · 21:13 UTC
This was really cool! The puzzles were done very well. The only nitpick thing I have is with the mix of the music. It's compositionally done very well but some high frequencies stick out too much (circa 10Khz) on the synth and the bass has too much low mid. Increasing the 900Hz would help it pop a bit more.
steinhks
Apr 22nd · 00:30 UTC
Really fun and engaging puzzles, very intuitive, the character is a joy to control, and the lighting in the window is a brilliant touch—it makes it clear whether a wave is coming or not. Great job!
Placeholders
Apr 22nd · 06:15 UTC
so nice! enjoyed it alot and finished the game :)
the puzzle was great, and i really liked the amount of mechamics you added. congrats!
kanhao
Apr 22nd · 09:35 UTC
This is a very interesting mechanism-based puzzle game, and I have completed the entire playthrough!The harder levels challenge both my intelligence and memory, making them extremely challenging.Regarding the sound design, since sound waves serve as the core game mechanic, I think the sound effects could be made more distinctive and exaggerated. Enhancing the game's memorability with a wonderful sound effect for emitting the waves would be great.
INGVIILD
Apr 23rd · 21:09 UTC
Wow! I really loved this puzzle! And the style is so cool, just like in the old games - very atmospheric!

It's especially cool that you added super challenging levels in addition to the regular ones! I especially liked the dark maze level - it really showcased the bat's unique abilities!
IRKAR
Apr 24th · 07:28 UTC
Cool idea and i love echo effect also nice puzzles and great visual. Great job!![Screenshot_20260424_102503.png](///raw/25b/76/z/728c9.png)
zer0nim
Apr 24th · 12:59 UTC
Nice game, quite original gameplay mechanic and fun to play!
I'm curious how this signal wave is implemented to disable in some area of the circle that hit a wall?
Is it using multiple collision meshes? Lots of raycasts in all directions? Something else?
YakovDavis
Apr 24th · 17:05 UTC
@zer0nim hi, thanks for playing our game!

From the gameplay logic point of view we sort of cheat and just perform a raycast from the cached wave source position to the torch once the wave circle reaches the torch, which is not ideal but works for most situations.

From the visualization point of view we use a shadow mask texture that is generated by rendering quads on top of shadow casting objects with a special vertex shader that moves vertices with a non zero z coordinate far away from the light point, the idea I got from this great post https://forum.gamemaker.io/index.php?threads/ultra-fast-2d-dynamic-lighting-system.80742/

Additionally our shadow mask also includes a second channel to store "color" information to make the colored glass visualization work.

Besides that it's basically just a matter of maintaining different vertex buffers for static and dynamic parts of the level as well as colored glass and updating them as necessary and when waves get emitted a shadow mask is rendered from their point of view and stored for rendering (also updated as needed, for example in response to doors opening and closing).

This system is used to render both waves and the player's light glow.
Starlight Glimmer is best poney
Apr 24th · 20:24 UTC
https://youtu.be/Cp6HfRdYyWc

Pros: bat Cons: bat doesn't turn into a vampire girl
Rezervold
Apr 24th · 21:40 UTC
Wonderful, chill music. Nice controls. Very well polished game :)
Pastry chef
Apr 24th · 21:49 UTC
Excellent entry! I like your interpretation of signal and you've come up with a pretty good set of map elements to build levels with. Thanks @yakovdavis for you post on the visualization tech. It's quite insightful!
svalski
Apr 24th · 22:09 UTC
its perfect puzzle!![Снимок.PNG](///raw/917/86/z/72a0f.png)
What a clever, clever use of the theme! I made a bat game with a sonar mechanic too and it's NOTHING like this, which is honestly the best part of playing it. Same starting idea, completely different game.

The sonar effect is stellar. That moment where a ping reveals just enough of the geometry to commit to a plan, but not enough to be sure, that's the whole puzzle genre in one mechanic. And you're letting the *player's memory* do the heavy lifting instead of cluttering the screen with UI, which takes real restraint.

Puzzle design is great too. The ramp feels earned — each level taught me something without a tutorial pop-up. Rare.

Really glad I played this. Would love to see where you take it.
JustinMullin
Apr 24th · 22:21 UTC
Wow! Super cool. I've not seen this mechanic before, and you implemented it pitch perfect (pun slightly intended). These were some nice level designs too, and I'm impressed by how many variations you managed to implement in a short time. The graphics and sound are fantastic, especially the echolocation effect. Everything about it just works.

Top notch entry, well done!
Croped
Apr 24th · 23:13 UTC
Really nice mechanic, cute artstyle and chill soundtrack. For some reason i have serious consistent lag spikes that break the game (can move through walls while laging) but since i didnt see any comments regarding this i guess it must be on my end somehow. What i can see so far is very promising, Great Job!
Fadex
Apr 24th · 23:54 UTC
Really fun puzzle game, i enjoyed the mechanic. I loved the outline and wave effects. Good job!
Matt Giuca
Apr 25th · 01:32 UTC
Really cool idea and very polished. I like the slow introducing of new mechanics like echo towers. (I didn't ever really figure out what the stain-glass windows actually do, but managed to get past them anyway.)

I'm stuck on what some commenters say is the final level (the 5x5 grid) and it's a bit frustrating, I'm not sure if there's a trick to it or if you just fly around and keep hitting them until they're all orange, but I've tried for 5 minutes and ran out of patience! But a very well deserved high score overall.
Naviski
Apr 25th · 01:40 UTC
![Screenshot 2026-04-24 183758.png](///raw/c05/86/z/72a52.png)

Stopped here for now, but added to a collection and favorites!

Very calming but thoughtful puzzler that was thoroughly enjoyable. Great job!
Keeper4
Apr 25th · 07:32 UTC
very nice game !
j3m
Apr 25th · 10:49 UTC
So damn good, the use of lighting as both a visual effect and an indicator of line of sight is so smart. For levels like one of the harder ones that has a grid of torches, I could do with a more explicit indication that a torch was toggled, like making it flare or flash, sometimes when they're in a tight formation it's hard to tell which ones you're hitting.
LDJam user 372231
Apr 25th · 15:34 UTC
I liked that the game is split into easy and hard levels. For a jam, this is a great approach, it lets players learn the mechanics first and then dive into more challenging content if they enjoy it.

Some elements were a bit unclear visually, like the paths to the doors, the blue shields, and how everything connects. A bit more spacing between elements could help reduce confusion, especially since there is quite a lot of empty space in each room.

That being said, I really enjoyed the echolocation concept, the mystical vibe, and the audio. Great work!
Hiretsu
Apr 26th · 22:22 UTC
Loved it! Very cool mechanic, really well thought of and executed and it worked perfectly with the theme. I also really enjoyed the harder levels, maybe even more than the initial ones! Great job!
Zathnic
Apr 30th · 02:40 UTC
Very clever take on the theme! The soundwave effects look amazing, especially in dark levels. I like how the lights have the same trajectory, showing you where the soundwaves will go. It was satisfying to find out the trick of the final level which made it very easy, even though it looked difficult at first
kanity
Apr 30th · 16:34 UTC
Not an easy puzzle game, but the conditions I feel like are pretty understandable. Lovely sound for the bat's signal. The graphics look neat and tidy. Cute bat with cute animation, too ^^
Surfa
May 01st · 21:37 UTC
There is always a few really cool little puzzle games that come out of Lundum Dare and this is definitely one of them this jam. Really cool designs of gameplay and puzzles. Great job :smile:
Annie Owl
May 06th · 21:05 UTC
What a great game! We actually had similar idea during our brainstorm session at the start of the jam! :smile: I'm glad someone implemented it!