{"author_link":"\/users\/john-kisner","author_name":"John Kisner","author_uid":1333109,"comments":[{"id":940467,"author_name":"Franke","author_uid":"franke","epoch":1682990698,"text":"EEOOOWARREEEEEEAARRRRREEE\n*gets eaten by aliens*","format":"md","likes":5,"spam":"N"},{"id":940487,"author_name":"zakispie","author_uid":"zakispie","epoch":1682990819,"text":"What a cool game! It feels so intense trying to communicate without (spoiler alert) getting killed. The rhythm-game-like system of a moving area where you need to draw, except it's not a rhythm game. \n\nThis is a super unique concept and something unlike any game I've experienced. This game would be perfect for those who like a bit of a challenge. The art and sounds pull the whole vibe together and makes it stressful while keeping me saying \"just one more try.\" Great game!","format":"md","likes":4,"spam":"N"},{"id":940534,"author_name":"realwangziyang","author_uid":"realwangziyang","epoch":1682991108,"text":"wow, thats the best i`ve played today.","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":941314,"author_name":"blobo","author_uid":"blobo","epoch":1682995003,"text":"I *love* your take on the theme. It's all in the delivery of these lines that I just can't seem to get right.\n\nThe story was really nice, though I wish there were checkpoints. Restarting the game every time feels like a harsh punishment, I just wanted to see more of the story, you know?\n\nI recorded myself playing. It took me some time to figure out what to do. I hope this gives you as much feedback as possible!\n\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aua2ZBU14P0","format":"md","likes":5,"spam":"N"},{"id":942216,"author_name":"HiroProtag","author_uid":"hiroprotag","epoch":1683001702,"text":"I am so glad someone built out this unique idea! Love the art and sound pulling everything together. Great work :)!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":942217,"author_name":"HiroProtag","author_uid":"hiroprotag","epoch":1683001702,"text":"I am so glad someone built out this unique idea! Love the art and sound pulling everything together. Great work :)!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":942400,"author_name":"heros_code","author_uid":"heros-code","epoch":1683003271,"text":"Feels so put together! A true game jam game!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":949150,"author_name":"Space_Games","author_uid":"space-games","epoch":1683048796,"text":"The art style and mood is awesome!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":950680,"author_name":"EthernalStudio","author_uid":"ethernalstudio","epoch":1683057211,"text":"Interesting concept and idea, the gafics are really good, what i liked the most is the art syle it had.","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":950846,"author_name":"Phoenix Fireflower","author_uid":"phoenix-fireflower","epoch":1683058054,"text":"I liked the unique spin on the theme and the atmosphere (and the twist ending). The transitions between the gameplay and story sengments seem a bit abrupt, though: you instantly go to the text blurbs when you finish your last word. A smoother transition would've improved the mood and atmosphere in my opinion.","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":950878,"author_name":"Ausstein","author_uid":"ausstein","epoch":1683058255,"text":"Very Cool Idea!\n\nHow does it recognize if you drew correctly? i never managed the third word on the second interaction \"to be\" it always failed...","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":951217,"author_name":"Tyler Walton","author_uid":"tyler-walton","epoch":1683060187,"text":"I got a bit annoyed trying to look for the word I needed to translate and dying before I could give it an attempt.  I was having fun after a couple of attempts when I knew the words, but anytime a new word got introduced I was just thinking \"oh no, I'm gonna have to skip through the outro and intro again\".\n\nReally cool concept and game though, well done","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":951863,"author_name":"hmrpf","author_uid":"hmrpf","epoch":1683063464,"text":"Really new and unique concept. Maybe having the notepad always open could be sufficient (if you still have to turn the page ?). But anyway, really moody and great audio and else. Great game. Awesome job for so little time! it's stunning","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":953160,"author_name":"Ryabchik","author_uid":"ryabchik","epoch":1683073291,"text":"Very interesting idea and implementation, I really liked it. So far I have not found similar projects. The music is cool, gives that very atmosphere of mystery and a good job was done with the sound of speech. I'm happy)","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":954420,"author_name":"LDJam user 245740","author_uid":"245740","epoch":1683086678,"text":"This is such a cool game, but I got extremely frustrated restarting everything, every time. There would be a lot of clicking through just to get to the gameplay and back to clicking again if I messed up. But the actual drawing of the sounds and such was really interesting.","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":956415,"author_name":"JamieOK","author_uid":"jamieok","epoch":1683116921,"text":"One of the most unique games I've played in a jam I think? Took a while to get used to it but the gameplay is super interesting and engaging, as you're actually memorising the words with each try just like an alien linguist :smile: my only criticism would be it's quite difficult? I couldn't tell when or why it was failing me sometimes and it was frustrating to have to do every delivery and click through the tutorial messages each time, maybe if you fail it just causes you to retry that particular level? Other than that, I'm a huge fan of this, nice work!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":958168,"author_name":"WeirdBitGames","author_uid":"weirdbitgames","epoch":1683134961,"text":"This is awesome, such a clever idea! It took me a couple tries before I realised I had to hold shift to get out my note book and a few more before I passe dthe first stage! The only downside for me was that every time you failed, you had to restart from the beginning again. I'm guessing this is because the game is probably rather short. I made it through 3 levels though, yay! Overall: good job!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":958713,"author_name":"Groundwater Studio","author_uid":"groundwater-studio","epoch":1683139714,"text":"This is SUCH a fresh take on the theme. Pitching the voice lines as you draw was an inspired way to wrap up \"delivering words\" into a gameplay mechanic that felt like I was actually doing it. Very immersive. That said I wasn't able to beat it because it got pretty discouraging having to restart from scratch each time.\n\nTremendous art, easily my favorite that I've seen so far.","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":959511,"author_name":"ZeAntwan","author_uid":"zeantwan","epoch":1683146974,"text":"Super interesting concept, but extremely punishing! I would love to have more time to look into the book, or have it shown as I'm trying to say something but instead got a game over several times...\nI would love to see it pushed further though, with a even more unique take on language! Great work!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":960483,"author_name":"Dexort","author_uid":"dexort","epoch":1683157583,"text":"Great idea! Wanted to play more, but this is so punishing... Excellent visuals and great work with audio!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":961584,"author_name":"Paul Avallone","author_uid":"paul-avallone","epoch":1683175589,"text":"Really unique idea. The line drawing sounds and it recognizing your writing is really neat. Flipping through you notes to memorize the language is so well done. The art, music, and sound effects really set a cool sci-fi mood. Fantastic job!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":961590,"author_name":"Smoky01","author_uid":"smoky01","epoch":1683175707,"text":"Good and interesting idea game","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":961639,"author_name":"alisher_fazilov","author_uid":"alisher-fazilov","epoch":1683176664,"text":"Very difficult, but I got a new experience from the game","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":961882,"author_name":"Loveschach","author_uid":"loveschach","epoch":1683181952,"text":"Very hard, but  a cool idea!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":961992,"author_name":"jelliott","author_uid":"jelliott","epoch":1683184440,"text":"Original idea, good stuff. Found it pretty unforgiving however.","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":962451,"author_name":"Sashalipatov","author_uid":"sashalipatov","epoch":1683194494,"text":"Game have great mood and fun to play!","format":"md","likes":3,"spam":"N"},{"id":962492,"author_name":"LDJam user 280509","author_uid":"280509","epoch":1683195588,"text":"Cool idea to make a alien-language-typing game! \n\nThe drawing panel reminds me of tone notations in linguistcs. \n\nExpected more reply from the aliens, since obviously learning a foreign language from a wordbook is not as fun as learning from dialogs.","format":"md","likes":4,"spam":"N"},{"id":963892,"author_name":"armannobari","author_uid":"armannobari","epoch":1683219262,"text":"Really innovative concept and pretty solid execution!","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":964580,"author_name":"AlexSolonnikovP4","author_uid":"alexsolonnikovp4","epoch":1683226788,"text":"This is good game. Nice art and music. And cool mechanic, this first Ludum, were I see game with mechanic with a change in voice, like a lie detector. I have never seen such a thing. Great job!)","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":964649,"author_name":"Dissonance Generator","author_uid":"dissonance-generator","epoch":1683227650,"text":"One of the most unique games I've seen on here! But geez, I was never any good at memory games...","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":965488,"author_name":"DeboTheaux","author_uid":"debotheaux","epoch":1683239283,"text":"Awesome Game \u2665 very unique","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":966873,"author_name":"Enra","author_uid":"enra","epoch":1683274086,"text":"Really liked this game ! The Music and Sound FX made me feel anxious. Thanks to the game design, art and sound design the immersion is a success. Couldn't manage to finish yet, but I hope I'll get better with time XD.","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":967909,"author_name":"NikaZ","author_uid":"nikaz","epoch":1683300963,"text":"It's interesting idea to draw a words with lines. But it's difficult for me even on an easy difficulty. I like the visual style and sounds, especially EEEEEAAAAAEEEE.","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":969857,"author_name":"ardorugus","author_uid":"ardorugus","epoch":1683352148,"text":"Hard to handle, but loved the concept. Really tried to get a nice chat for several times, however, started that \"They Live!\" narrative anyways.","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":971127,"author_name":"asfdfdfd","author_uid":"asfdfdfd","epoch":1683390968,"text":"Really cool idea, but difficulty is SO unforgiving!","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":971412,"author_name":"Cubellia","author_uid":"cubellia","epoch":1683399462,"text":"Incredible concept!\nA bit harsh though... Definitely could benefit from more lives, user controlled write times, or less startup when replaying.\nAside from that, I think it would be nice to mix some of the text with the game as it proceeds. It would be cool to see the alien reacting emotionally or to get whats happening from dialogue of a fellow scientist\/general\/whoever, since the game is remarkably text heavy.\n","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":973354,"author_name":"japes","author_uid":"japes","epoch":1683482240,"text":"Thanks for this, art is great and the writing\/music makes this suprisingly immersive! I really felt a sense of excitement\/nervousness at meeting the extraterrestrials :) \n\nimpressive technical achievement to detect the patterns and generate audio based on the position of the cursor.  \n\nWas pretty hard to figure out at first, mostly because of the difficulty.  If there was a gentler introduction, say for example a level where you had as many attempts as you like to just generate a single word, I think that would've helped.\n\nAgree with previous comments regarding difficulty.  It's too brutal even on \"easy\" setting, and harsh punishment to restart from the beginning each time (and click through the text).  I'm bummed I couldn't see the ending, but after multiple tries (using handwritten crib notes next to my screen), I gave up.  I think i was on the final level, and just couldn't get a certain word, I think it was \"knowledge\"","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":974529,"author_name":"Tvorojok","author_uid":"tvorojok","epoch":1683544715,"text":"very difficult but incredibly interesting!","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":974660,"author_name":"Refry","author_uid":"refry","epoch":1683554481,"text":"Nice mood, nice style and super-creative idea. A little bit too hard for me, I couldn't do much, honestly. This game has charisma tho. So cool!","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":975725,"author_name":"peterfiftyfour","author_uid":"peterfiftyfour","epoch":1683621585,"text":"Such a cool entry! Love the idea just needs some difficulty balance as others have said :D ","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":978568,"author_name":"weeping-rupee","author_uid":"weeping-rupee","epoch":1683936635,"text":"One of the more interesting ideas I've seen, a bit punishing with how it kicks you back to the first alien encounter after any three fails though. Overall, very cool game, very cool art, a little tough. Played it on my stream if you're interested: https:\/\/www.twitch.tv\/videos\/1818416980","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"},{"id":983036,"author_name":"ruthiepee","author_uid":"ruthiepee","epoch":1684519164,"text":"I love this concept so much. Even if it is a little too unforgiving at times, the excitement of getting a word right and the wonderful art and sound design (seriously the sound design is amazing) is enough to keep you wanting to get to the next part of the story. The main mechanic of drawing the words using the moving line is really well executed. Great teamwork  :clap:","format":"md","likes":2,"spam":"N"}],"format":"md","images":["ld53\/wayback-placeholder.png"],"links":[{"url":"https:\/\/liamhealey.itch.io\/lexicon","text":"Link"}],"metadata":{"g_key":"87597","g_author":"1333109","g_event":"LD53","g_eventkey":"118","g_subevent":"JAM","g_urlkey":"406301","g_title":"Lexicon","g_status":"WAYBACK","g_place":"264","g_commentcount":"42","g_site2_node_id":"333120","g_hide":"N","g_has_icon":"Y","g_rqueue":"0","g_random":"0"},"nds":{"n_key":"333120","n_urlkey":"406301","n_parent":"332127","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/53\/lexicon","n_slug":"lexicon","n_type":"item","n_subtype":"game","n_subsubtype":"jam","n_author":"333109","n_created":"1680839023","n_modified":"1774922356","n_version":"1141769","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"node":{"_collation":{"body_sanitizer":"TextUtils::SanitizeHTML via existing importer","event":"LD53","removed_author":false},"_superparent":9,"_trust":1,"author":333109,"body":"![lexicon_start_screen.png](\/\/\/raw\/c25\/15\/z\/5ac45.png)![lexicon_level.png](\/\/\/raw\/c25\/15\/z\/5ac46.png)\n\n\nAfter years of searching for extraterrestrial life, SETI finally gets a response from beyond the stars. But what happens next will change humanity forever.\n\nAlien spacecrafts land on Earth and the world is left wondering: are they here to bring peace or war? You play as the sole linguist tasked with deciphering the alien's language, and you find yourself in the middle of a high-stakes game of diplomacy and delivering the perfect speech.\n\nCommunication with the aliens is difficult, and you'll have to establish trust and build a relationship with them if you want to uncover their true intentions. Every decision you make could have consequences for the fate of humanity. Will you choose to work towards peace, or will you lead the nation's military in a strike against the unknown?\n\nFind out now, and play Lexicon (a Ludum Dare 53 submission).\n\nHow To Play:\n- You can change difficulty in the \"Options\" menu. The default difficulty is Medium\n- The words you need to draw appear at the top of the screen\n- Hold SHIFT to display your Lexicon, which will show you the shapes you need to draw for each word\n- Hold LEFT mouse button to draw the shapes in the light area of the fretboard, using grid lines for timing\n- If you get the word correct, emojis will spawn and you will see the word turn green in the top bar\n- Your current word will always appear white\n\nGameplay Controls:\n- Hold your LEFT mouse button down to draw.\n- MOVE your mouse up and down to change the direction of your drawing.\n- Press the SHIFT button to access the word bank in your notebook.\n- Use the W key to page-up through your notes, and the S key to page down.\n- Press ESCAPE to pause the game and\/or return to the main menu.\n\n\n\n![lexicon_credits_screen.png](\/\/\/raw\/c25\/15\/z\/5ac47.png)","comments":42,"comments-timestamp":"2023-05-19T17:59:24Z","created":"2023-04-07T03:43:43Z","files":[],"files-timestamp":0,"grade":{"grade-01":59,"grade-02":59,"grade-03":59,"grade-04":59,"grade-05":59,"grade-06":58,"grade-07":56,"grade-08":59},"id":333120,"love":0,"magic":{"cool":104.15289764071,"feedback":110,"given":62.375,"grade":58.5,"grade-01-average":3.877,"grade-01-result":264,"grade-02-average":3.474,"grade-02-result":556,"grade-03-average":4.491,"grade-03-result":7,"grade-04-average":4.088,"grade-04-result":411,"grade-05-average":3.904,"grade-05-result":455,"grade-06-average":4.036,"grade-06-result":128,"grade-07-average":3.435,"grade-07-result":383,"grade-08-average":3.807,"grade-08-result":340,"smart":4.5197098536882},"meta":{"author":[333109,245606,333100,333105,333134,239208,333135,334816,337109],"cover":"\/\/\/content\/e45\/15\/z\/5993e.png","link-01":"https:\/\/liamhealey.itch.io\/lexicon","link-01-tag":[42337]},"meta-timestamp":"2026-03-31T01:59:16Z","modified":"2026-03-31T01:59:16Z","name":"Lexicon","node-timestamp":"2023-05-04T21:40:14Z","parent":332127,"parents":[1,5,9,332127],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/53\/lexicon","published":"2023-05-02T00:53:24Z","scope":"public","slug":"lexicon","subsubtype":"jam","subtype":"game","type":"item","version":1141769},"text":"![lexicon_start_screen.png](\/\/\/raw\/c25\/15\/z\/5ac45.png)![lexicon_level.png](\/\/\/raw\/c25\/15\/z\/5ac46.png)\n\n\nAfter years of searching for extraterrestrial life, SETI finally gets a response from beyond the stars. But what happens next will change humanity forever.\n\nAlien spacecrafts land on Earth and the world is left wondering: are they here to bring peace or war? You play as the sole linguist tasked with deciphering the alien's language, and you find yourself in the middle of a high-stakes game of diplomacy and delivering the perfect speech.\n\nCommunication with the aliens is difficult, and you'll have to establish trust and build a relationship with them if you want to uncover their true intentions. Every decision you make could have consequences for the fate of humanity. Will you choose to work towards peace, or will you lead the nation's military in a strike against the unknown?\n\nFind out now, and play Lexicon (a Ludum Dare 53 submission).\n\nHow To Play:\n- You can change difficulty in the \"Options\" menu. The default difficulty is Medium\n- The words you need to draw appear at the top of the screen\n- Hold SHIFT to display your Lexicon, which will show you the shapes you need to draw for each word\n- Hold LEFT mouse button to draw the shapes in the light area of the fretboard, using grid lines for timing\n- If you get the word correct, emojis will spawn and you will see the word turn green in the top bar\n- Your current word will always appear white\n\nGameplay Controls:\n- Hold your LEFT mouse button down to draw.\n- MOVE your mouse up and down to change the direction of your drawing.\n- Press the SHIFT button to access the word bank in your notebook.\n- Use the W key to page-up through your notes, and the S key to page down.\n- Press ESCAPE to pause the game and\/or return to the main menu.\n\n\n\n![lexicon_credits_screen.png](\/\/\/raw\/c25\/15\/z\/5ac47.png)","title":"Lexicon","wayback_recovered":true,"wayback_source":{"capture":{"original":"https:\/\/api-jam.ludumdare.com\/vx\/node2\/get\/333001+333002+333003+333004+333005+333006+333007+333008+333009+333010+333011+333012+333013+333014+333015+333016+333017+333018+333019+333020+333021+333022+333023+333024+333025+333026+333027+333028+333029+333030+333031+333032+333033+333034+333035+333036+333037+333038+333039+333040+333041+333042+333043+333044+333045+333046+333047+333048+333049+333050+333051+333052+333053+333054+333055+333056+333057+333058+333059+333060+333061+333062+333063+333064+333065+333066+333067+333068+333069+333070+333071+333072+333073+333074+333075+333076+333077+333078+333079+333080+333081+333082+333083+333084+333085+333086+333087+333088+333089+333090+333091+333092+333093+333094+333095+333096+333097+333098+333099+333100+333101+333102+333103+333104+333105+333106+333107+333108+333109+333110+333111+333112+333113+333114+333115+333116+333117+333118+333119+333120+333121+333122+333123+333124+333125+333126+333127+333128+333129+333130+333131+333132+333133+333134+333135+333136+333137+333138+333139+333140+333141+333142+333143+333144+333145+333146+333147+333148+333149+333150+333151+333152+333153+333154+333155+333156+333157+333158+333159+333160+333161+333162+333163+333164+333165+333166+333167+333168+333169+333170+333171+333172+333173+333174+333175+333176+333177+333178+333179+333180+333181+333182+333183+333184+333185+333186+333187+333188+333189+333190+333191+333192+333193+333194+333195+333196+333197+333198+333199+333200+333201+333202+333203+333204+333205+333206+333207+333208+333209+333210+333211+333212+333213+333214+333215+333216+333217+333218+333219+333220+333221+333222+333223+333224+333225+333226+333227+333228+333229+333230+333231+333232+333233+333234+333235+333236+333237+333238+333239+333240+333241+333242+333243+333244+333245+333246+333247+333248+333249+333250+333251+333252+333253+333254+333255+333256+333257+333258+333259+333260+333261+333262+333263+333264+333265+333266+333267+333268+333269+333270+333271+333272+333273+333274+333275+333276+333277+333278+333279+333280+333281+333282+333283+333284+333285+333286+333287+333288+333289+333290+333291+333292+333293+333294+333295+333296+333297+333298+333299+333300+333301+333302+333303+333304+333305+333306+333307+333308+333309+333310+333311+333312+333313+333314+333315+333316+333317+333318+333319+333320+333321+333322+333323+333324+333325+333326+333327+333328+333329+333330+333331+333332+333333+333334+333335+333336+333337+333338+333339+333340+333341+333342+333343+333344+333345+333346+333347+333348+333349+333350+333351+333352+333353+333354+333355+333356+333357+333358+333359+333360+333361+333362+333363+333364+333365+333366+333367+333368+333369+333370+333371+333372+333373+333374+333375+333376+333377+333378+333379+333380+333381+333382+333383+333384+333385+333386+333387+333388+333389+333390+333391+333392+333393+333394+333395+333396+333397+333398+333399+333400+333401+333402+333403+333404+333405+333406+333407+333408+333409+333410+333411+333412+333413+333414+333415+333416+333417+333418+333419+333420+333421+333422+333423+333424+333425+333426+333427+333428+333429+333430+333431+333432+333433+333434+333435+333436+333437+333438+333439+333440+333441+333442+333443+333444+333445+333446+333447+333448+333449+333450+333451+333452+333453+333454+333455+333456+333457+333458+333459+333460+333461+333462+333463+333464+333465+333466+333467+333468+333469+333470+333471+333472+333473+333474+333475+333476+333477+333478+333479+333480+333481+333482+333483+333484+333485+333486+333487+333488+333489+333490+333491+333492+333493+333494+333495+333496+333497+333498+333499+333500?authors&parents&superparent"},"object":"objects\/sha256\/04\/0486da3f85be24209748118a2ba2944e1ef71b21b8341963ec80952349704098","record":"shard-1\/json-live-urgent-v3\/records\/b2421ffe0dce846d3d52141e3b170f332a1c89ebc981b91e769aee60046a3f37.json","sha256":"0486da3f85be24209748118a2ba2944e1ef71b21b8341963ec80952349704098","source":"https","stored_at":1784022466}}