Lightning's Sideline by YukimiItsuka
Introduction
- Hello, miss. You're Lightning, right?
- Uh... y-yes?
- Great. Have you heard about the position we're hiring for?
- Uh... n-no...
- No problem. Do you have any special skills?
- I... I can do somersaults and purr...
- Perfect! You're hired!
...So, for some bizarre reason, your girlfriend Lightning lands a part-time job: sending specific signals from within a firefly formation. Obviously, she seems totally unqualified for it. And you - the clever and witty black cat - will hide in the grass nearby, using your high-tech gadgets to help her get the job done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHor9ZaRMBY
(If you have problem accessing youtube, we provide you a bilibili link.)
How to Play
When the formation stops, press W to turn on the light, or press S to turn it off. If you make the wrong choice, Lightning will get angry and then... okay, I'll stop right there.
Note: You must understand the meaning of the signals the fireflies are trying to express. And no, the neighboring fireflies won't give you any hints!
Each game session randomly picks 5 levels from a huge pool for you to play. If you want to see more firefly signals, feel free to enjoy our game a few more times!
Tips
You start from the top-left corner of the formation. Every four moves, you need to send one signal.
Note: Before leaving the entire formation, you need to send one extra signal - don't forget!
About the AI
As everyone may not know, the Cat & Cat team has always been developing with two cats: one Software Engineering Cat and one Art Cat. This time is no exception - except we had a sudden whim to swap our roles.
Our Software Engineering Cat holds a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts, but has never successfully learned how to hold a paintbrush. As a result, he had to use Doubao AI to generate the game's art assets. Fortunately, the Software Engineering Cat has excellent image post-processing skills, and did his best to maintain visual consistency throughout development.
Our Art Cat holds a master's degree in Computer Science, but hasn't touched a line of code for years - and even forgot how to output "Hello Cat" in Unity. To ensure the code would actually run, she used Gemini AI to generate all the code for this project. Luckily, the Art Cat has solid QA skills, which kept everything running smoothly.
No cats were harmed during the development process.
Screenshots
Credits: Musics are from 音楽の卵.
| Link | https://catandcat.itch.io/lightnings-sideline |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/lightnings-sideline |
Ratings
| Overall | 413th | 3.583⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 499th | 3.278⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 343th | 3.5⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 593th | 3.368⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 444th | 3.719⭐ | 18🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 247th | 3.306⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 274th | 3.895⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 11🗳️ | 10🗨️ |
As said above it's feel very energetic :smile_cat:
Really like the concept
Huge thanks for the AI transparency usage!
The only slight issue I would raise is that the constant flashing / flickering were a little bit too heavy on the eye, for me it was just a slight annoyance, but if you are photosensitive or whatever it could be big issue, so it needs to be toned down a little.
A great LD entry all-around!
PS: I really appreciate the transparency on the AI usage. But while AI is not prohibited, according to the [soft-rules of LD](https://ludumdare.com/resources/questions/can-i-use-ai/) if most of the assets were generated by AI you need to opt-out of that category. There is no way for me to know exactly how much of it is AI, but just making sure you are aware.
A very cute 2D game with a consistent style and vibrant visuals! The gameplay is fun and the controls are simple and easy to learn. The correct/incorrect feedback is also adorable. The only downside is that the fireflies are a bit too bright...
unique gameplay for me
Interestingly, I think it got easier as the levels got bigger since there tended to be more "lights off" space in a row and the cat wasn't moving around the screen as far. Maybe increasing difficulty with speed as well as size could have been interesting to play with? Although I think the amount of time given to give an answer was already quite perfect.
Overall, really nice submission and a solid entry!
(Edit: Ahh, so one can follow its movement and check whether it is in the light or not. I do wish the game paused a little longer during the initial shape reveal though.)
Really enjoyed the overall mood and presentation. And sometimes, one simply has to mash some buttons and embrace the chaos 😄
Great game!
