Leaky Faucet by Astavie

[raw]
made by Astavie for Ludum Dare 48 (JAM)

Estimated playing time: 30 to 60 minutes.

This game is played inside a website made specifically for Ludum Dare. This page will explain the basic premise, but if you'd like to play it completely blind, you can skip the rest and play it at faucetnews.netlify.app.

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Premise

Jane Doe, a senator from the Party of Production, has been murdered, and it seems like the murder is related to a small online forum. Head deeper and deeper within the website using links and references to uncover the truth: who is responsible for the murder of Jane Doe?

Hints & Endings

If you're having trouble at the start of the game, feel free to look at the hints. For the rest, Leaky Faucet has three endings (or technically four, if you count the ending where you fill in the wrong details.) Can you find them all?

Tools Used

  • Inkscape
  • Pug
  • Tailwind CSS

Credits

  • Astavie: Programming, Writing
  • CappinKanga: Most of the writing

Ratings

Overall 231th 3.963⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Fun 253th 3.852⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 49th 4.278⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Theme 470th 3.962⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Humor 431th 3.327⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Mood 639th 3.692⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Given 61🗳️ 27🗨️

Feedback

MaximusMondelius
26. Apr 2021 · 21:05 UTC
It was very fun to playtest this! Also yes, I live next to a kangaroo.
Stuartc
26. Apr 2021 · 22:04 UTC
Really cool idea, cool little detective game. Has real potential to be a bigger game too, could do all sorts of investigations
SpookyTrain
26. Apr 2021 · 22:14 UTC
I love this game. The mystery was really cool, challenging enough to decipher, some red-herrings in there. And the dogs are such a nice touch!
Firebelley
26. Apr 2021 · 22:18 UTC
That was really cool! It was a really immersive experience. I had a blast digging into the site and figuring out what was going on. Nice work!
Saerki
26. Apr 2021 · 22:22 UTC
Wow, very rarely do I spend this much time on a Jam game. The mystery was very fun to solve and included some clever steps along the way. Kudos to you on constructing this.

I didn't quite like the amount of red herrings along the way, but all in all this is one of my favorite Jam games of 48, very innovative and fun. And suits the theme perfectly.
Milestone Games
26. Apr 2021 · 23:34 UTC
As an old web dev it was a fun to try to find ways to access content. Innovative interpretation of the theme!
chieftain
27. Apr 2021 · 00:41 UTC
Really into the plot as I dig into it deeper
feor
27. Apr 2021 · 08:17 UTC
Very intuitive to play once you understand the game's premise. Who's never manually changed an URL just to check if the devs did their job right? Lots of content too, I've been playing for a few minutes, reading people's DMs (wow that sounds...questionable) and I have found a few clues but I still don't know who did it!
Kieron Woodhouse
27. Apr 2021 · 08:51 UTC
This is very cool - a well put together mystery and the writing draws you in. I still have more to dig through to find the culprit! Fun take on the theme too, great job.
Xeke-Death
27. Apr 2021 · 13:06 UTC
Very well done. Not too hard to figure out what to do, but a tricky hole to dig into.
Found 1 (or 2) endings.
Rujum
27. Apr 2021 · 13:57 UTC
ty for the game!
jtn191
27. Apr 2021 · 17:24 UTC
very interesting! Seems down for me atm
Eugenik
27. Apr 2021 · 17:26 UTC
Amazing and adorable!!.
🎤 Astavie
27. Apr 2021 · 17:31 UTC
@jtn191 not sure what happened but for me the site is working again :)
SkelleRoznik
27. Apr 2021 · 18:42 UTC
This is just insanely good. I'm half an hour in, still haven't finished and I can't stop. This is one of my favourites. Wanna try that ColdDrinkPurple btw :D This is a really great way for a web dev to make a game.
SkelleRoznik
27. Apr 2021 · 18:51 UTC
Edit: I finished it. I don't want to try ColdDrinkPurple anymore. And this is such a brain-twisting scheme.
zimny11
27. Apr 2021 · 21:16 UTC
First of all. Hurray, I won a free video ;)

Nice take on the theme! Really like it.
jonathan-turner
28. Apr 2021 · 15:12 UTC
Nice work! I honestly thought I was on your site that was down for a second til I realized I was in the game, so that was fun.

Thanks for submitting.
Craplex
28. Apr 2021 · 21:35 UTC
Saw the game on @rujum stream. Most creative game i saw. Props to the team
Hare Software
30. Apr 2021 · 17:22 UTC
This is a very unique take on the theme and one that I think is very well implemented. As a teaching assistant in web development courses I very often have to poke for insecure paths while checking student assignments. This is often quite fun and makes you feel like somewhat of a hacker. Turning it into an actual game is a great idea and I really liked it. Very well done!
Vesper
01. May 2021 · 08:48 UTC
Wow, that was so involved! I just kept going deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole (and there were undoubtedly a lot of things that slipped past me). It's a really concept, and so well executed. Very nicely done!
Last Angle
01. May 2021 · 11:13 UTC
This was a lot of fun! After the initial confusion, I really got sucked into the story and enjoyed reading all the conversations, finding little nuggets of the story. I think this game has potential to be something bigger!
cheesepencil
02. May 2021 · 17:57 UTC
keen premise! haven't seen many entries like this
Tris250
02. May 2021 · 17:58 UTC
Your website is offline

![Capture.PNG](///raw/a9d/93/z/42066.png)
🎤 Astavie
02. May 2021 · 18:07 UTC
@tris250 or is it? :p
joe40001
08. May 2021 · 23:47 UTC
I loved this game! I haven't read a single comment or clue, you recommending I play it blind and I listened and boy I'm glad I did. I imagine without hints most people find it too hard, but I thought it was perfect! It really let me think outside the box and be rewarded for it. I never give things 5/5 but you are getting pure 5/5s from me. This idea was brilliant and it's execution was near perfect.

First of all some things to prove I did make it to the end:
Yes she was very orious, also I'm team #ColdDrinkBlue all the way.

Am I to infer from the "red herring" line there might be even more to the story? I found the peepee ending first, was this just ending 2 of 3... or more? (If so I have an idea of what the 3rd ending is, but I don't know if there is enough in the links I have to prove it.)

I loved how much faith you put in the player. My only other question is does order of the names in the url matter? it would be a bummer if putting in the right answer with the wrong url order wouldn't count.

So many LD games cater to the lowest common denominator and make things that are so "approachable" as to be somewhat unengaging. You are basically telling the player "if you can't handle this game, then this game is not for you." You aren't being tedious or frustrating, but you aren't hand holding at all and I loved/appreciated that soo much.

I'm going to spend like 10 more minutes chasing what I think the 3rd ending would be if it exits. But seriously bravo. You managed to really impress a really hard to impress reviewer. Well done.
joe40001
09. May 2021 · 00:01 UTC
BTW, normally humor in LD games is pretty light, so a "mild chuckle" needs to be like 3.5+/5 but this game legitimately made me laugh multiple times. I really appreciate the writing. Anyway I thought I'd add this comment here because I couldn't find a way to send it to your dms:
![supraman.jpeg](///raw/ae1/z/424e5.jpg)
ColdDrinkWhat?
CappinKanga
09. May 2021 · 19:32 UTC
@joe40001 thank you so much for your comment :smiley: we're glad you enjoyed it!

As for the ending, with hindsight the 'red herring' pun could've worked better somehow on a different page, as that was the good ending :]

As for the URL order, it shouldn't matter except for one scenario (due to a little oversight at the time).

But I'm really glad you enjoyed the humour :smile: which felt very fun and natural to write with @astavie
LDJam user 156819
16. May 2021 · 01:45 UTC
Hey! You played our game earlier on, so I went and checked out yours. [I played it on stream!](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1023963888?t=03h45m22s)

I have to say it's quite an original and unique idea at a game jam. I really enjoyed investigating the case, uncovering details, filtering out 'jesters', and trying to piece together compelling evidence. Really well crafted story! Probably the most brain-cell-rotating experience I've had this LD.

Also, I live next to a kangaroo.
JRevel
18. May 2021 · 22:24 UTC
I played that game too late to rate it, but all I can say is congrats ! That's a very unconventional yet fun game, well written. It is so fun to dig through the websites to find information about relationships between characters ! There are a lot of great jokes hidden everywhere, once you've understood what you have to do it's a joy to search everywhere.

Oh and thanks for the hint n°3, I think I would have given up without it.