The Swirl by cybuuorg

[raw]
made by cybuuorg for Ludum Dare 49 (JAM)

Take one hardboiled detective, an abandoned theatre, a ghostly otherworld, and what do you get? A caper worth seeing to believe.

This adventure takes you on a journey into the outskirts of a colourless town and the mystery of the now permanently closed Cavalier Theatre, a place full of dark tales. Learn about its history, those who were struck by its curse, and venture deep into the colourful world of the Tear.

Will you make it out? Or will you become one with... the Swirl?!! ss000.PNGswirl<em>screenshot2.pngswirl</em>screenshot1.png

Ratings

Overall 223th 3.935⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1072th 3.121⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 955th 3.117⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Theme 850th 3.433⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 97th 4.455⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Audio 103th 4.081⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Humor 645th 3.1⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Mood 49th 4.29⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Given 26🗳️ 44🗨️

Feedback

IcedJaM
05. Oct 2021 · 03:52 UTC
This is very nicely made. The aesthetic and sound are beautiful and cohesive. You actually included a lot of content as well which most impressed me. Very nice work, good job.
CZ46
05. Oct 2021 · 06:35 UTC
Fantastic play on the classic detective stereotype mixed with the theme. I'm usually not one for dialogue games but this one kept me captivated with it's great writing, artwork and sound design. A really solid entry, good job :D
KingOfNova
05. Oct 2021 · 14:09 UTC
Very cool art style reminds me of an ai trying to make art neat.
cubebuc
05. Oct 2021 · 14:20 UTC
Even though I usually don't play this kind of games I liked it. The artstyle is amazing and the music is relaxing :D
BjornStahl
05. Oct 2021 · 14:21 UTC
This is very well made for such a short time, well done. The art style is beautiful and the music sets the mood perfectly, but the best part is the writing, very well written.
Seskon
05. Oct 2021 · 14:52 UTC
Nice writing, interesting story and I like the unique Artstyle. Only thing that i missed was an explanation for the buttons at the bottom, but overall great entry.
Natalia Dushkina
05. Oct 2021 · 22:02 UTC
Played a couple of times, first a quick ending, next time I was very careful until I met that boss :) Very stylish art & music, great composition in images.
TheGamerASD
05. Oct 2021 · 23:46 UTC
Great game, I loved the story.
yojammerjammer
06. Oct 2021 · 01:22 UTC
Another bunch of Aussie LD visual novel devs. I love that. The mood was fantastic.
Caladrius
06. Oct 2021 · 08:51 UTC
This is awesome, I was hooked in by the art style and stayed for the story. Really impressive job for a Ludum Dare project, would love to see a full-length game by you guys!
Bauke Regnerus
06. Oct 2021 · 08:59 UTC
Nice film noir graphics, you did a good job. I had some glitches with what looks like images being loaded.
LouieJams
06. Oct 2021 · 23:33 UTC
Nice atmosphere and beautiful graphics, great entry!
jessefreeman
06. Oct 2021 · 23:39 UTC
This reminded me of the old HyperCard games I used to make/play back in the day. Liked the graphics, good job!
Adrieldf
07. Oct 2021 · 01:18 UTC
I loved the art style, you girls nailed it! Interesting story and great music. Keep on the good work!
Sirplop
07. Oct 2021 · 07:35 UTC
Nice story, good amount of content and character building for only 2-3 days. Good job!
TailsGameDev
07. Oct 2021 · 11:38 UTC
Woow I'm watching it on https://www.twitch.tv/justcamh stream and I'm loving it. Rated already ^^ nice characters, scenario, game feel, congratulations!
Fear Games
07. Oct 2021 · 11:39 UTC
Beautiful game. Loads of content. congrats
JUSTCAMH
07. Oct 2021 · 15:08 UTC
Hey team, thanks for submitting the game to stream! Such an incredible story, the art and audio were on fleek too. It's perfect as far as I'm concerned, here's the vod if you'd like to rewatch: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1169813985
BangKerpow
08. Oct 2021 · 02:19 UTC
Stunning visuals. I'd make half the game my desktop.
LDJam user 242971
08. Oct 2021 · 02:27 UTC
Cool. I had to go back and check out the different ending. Nice touch. Thanks for the submission.
yodoG
08. Oct 2021 · 05:21 UTC
Really beautiful work! Loved the music throughout. And it was just so beautiful to look at! I reached the end, but I'll probably play a few times to check out the various endings. Nice job team!
mhorth
09. Oct 2021 · 01:55 UTC
There's so much story in here! And you even have them go to different endings instead of just being superficial choices. Really really cool.

Do I need to even mention the music? Absolutely amazing! How can you make that during a weekend?!
Rubiia
09. Oct 2021 · 16:30 UTC
Oh wow. I absolutely loved this entry. The game oozed style and spoke with the vibrant and beautiful story you composed. The music was top notch, and the various different routes to the story made this one an absolute blast to play. Honestly keep this kind of thing up: I'd love to see a full VN or detective style game from you guys one day.
Molpe
11. Oct 2021 · 20:01 UTC
This is absolutely amazing :heart: Love the art style and the music, very interesting story! :heart: Got two different endings!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QteaamL3uAk
Angela He
11. Oct 2021 · 22:42 UTC
Oooh, I just love the art, so avant garde. Ugh, it's so inspiring. I might just have to include more textures in my art too now.

The writing is so noir, I can literally hear the swoon of detectives in old b&w movies in the writing <3

And the music is soooo good, especially when Swirl comes on?!

One thing I wished for was an inventory so I could see all the items I'd found. I also wished that certain options like Examine drawer were not shown if they didn't have anything new to say (i.e. id clicked them before, then when I click them again, they show the same dialogue)

Anyways, you really nailed this one, esp on art/audio/story! Good job :)
Quite Good
13. Oct 2021 · 02:51 UTC
As has been said, the visuals are absolutely killer. The music and sound design are also top notch and created a really authentic atmosphere on top of the writing and very clear character voices. While I wasn't able to explore all of the possible endings, I was very pleasantly surprised at the amount of writing and story that was fit into this project. Keep on swirling!
Cookie_CHR
13. Oct 2021 · 16:50 UTC
This is awesome! Great job with the atmosphere, got every ending except one (Think it was B, but I'm not entirely sure)
JUSTCAMH
22. Oct 2021 · 02:44 UTC
This game deserved gold, regardless of final ranking, you guys did great this jam!