Dirge of the Sleeping Bell by Jiffy

[raw]
made by Jiffy for Ludum Dare 58 (JAM)

Title Banner.png Dirge of the sleeping bell is a first person puzzle game where you explore a mysterious bell tower in the middle of the ocean and solve a number of supernatural puzzles.

While the game has a dark & moody atmosphere, the game does not contain any jumpscares.

Controls

Movement: WASD

Interact: E

Advance Text/UI: Left Mouse Button

Installation Instructions

  1. Download the .ZIP file below.
  2. Extract all of the contents of the .ZIP file.
  3. Run LD58.exe

Screenshots: Screenshot 2025-10-06 124437.png Screenshot 2025-10-06 124641.png Screenshot 2025-10-06 124732.png

Credits

Jake Butfiloski (Jiffy)

Molly Fawcett

Ratings

Overall 115th 3.935⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Fun 254th 3.568⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 158th 3.659⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Theme 586th 3.318⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 314th 3.841⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Audio 41th 4.205⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Mood 32th 4.341⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Given 11🗳️ 25🗨️

Feedback

b0guslaw
Oct 06th · 22:36 UTC
What an accomplishment. A properly well done puzzle game in such a short time is an amazing achievement. I love it!
Jalimco Beach
Oct 06th · 22:38 UTC
Love the use of audio!
MorePixels
Oct 07th · 02:17 UTC
Really good! The puzzles were a bit uncertain in places, but it's incredible for the time limit! Well done!
🎤 Jiffy
Oct 07th · 03:13 UTC
@morepixels Thank you! Very fair, balancing the difficulty of the puzzles was probably the hardest part. Glad you still enjoyed :)
YibiRabbit007
Oct 07th · 03:57 UTC
The lights kept flickering, making it uncomfortable for me to see.
👻The audio is pretty good, I like the piano in it.
🎤 Jiffy
Oct 07th · 04:05 UTC
@yibirabbit007 oh no! Must be hardware related, sorry to hear you had graphical issues
YibiRabbit007
Oct 07th · 04:10 UTC
@jiffy I am wondering if fixing the lighting on the player, instead of moving it back and forth, could reduce this sense of discomfort?
There is no problem with the hardware; it is caused by the in-game lighting.
Threeli
Oct 07th · 05:45 UTC
Not just being out here, dropping a doppler effect for the intro... Like @jalimco-beach said, great work in the audio department. Feels like something I'd keep playing for a while. Interesting, but never punishing. Great work!
tardis2snej
Oct 07th · 10:55 UTC
The sound quest is amazing, and the one with the map got me thinking (no pun intended...)
lizardinblizzard
Oct 08th · 06:15 UTC
Nice puzzles and great ideas
ACartlidge
Oct 09th · 00:09 UTC
So cool! Cool writing, awesome vibe, interesting puzzles, just really nicely done!
Eugenik
Oct 09th · 06:35 UTC
I love that art style and gameplay!.
WetBurritoSupreme
Oct 09th · 18:09 UTC
Really well done, taking on a puzzle and writing heavy game is something I always want to try but am too nervous to attempt! Great job!
6Knowledge
Oct 10th · 11:22 UTC
The light felt a bit too weak to navigate the map, even for a dark game. I moved against many of the walls to navigate around. Somehow I managed to brute force the bells at the beginning by playing random notes, that was weirdly funny to me. Puzzle games are not really my cup of tea so I had to cut it short before I got to the end, but the atmosphere was extremely well done.
EricNS
Oct 10th · 16:51 UTC
Absolute peak, if you could find a way to expand the story i would genuinely buy it, it's a really great experience
Bea
Oct 10th · 17:41 UTC
This was really lovely! I liked the simple look at sound, it all really came together into a nice mood:3
Profugo Barbatus
Oct 12th · 05:55 UTC
Found the puzzles a bit difficult at times, but I am also a bit sleep deprived so that's probably on me - Didn't finish as a result, but not out of frustration, just out of acknowledgement that I'm the problem. Regardless, I liked the use of sound in the first puzzle, and found the second room ones interesting, promised a lot of depth. Good stuff for a jam!
zdmajor7
Oct 12th · 18:02 UTC
This is a magnificent game, and I only had time to play the first two levels of it. But I will go back and finish it, because it made me want to play it fully, not just evaluate it <3. The audio design and implementation is top notch. For accessibility I would have the dark not so dark (ideally there'd be a gamma setting, but given that this is a jam game I totally get why not). Love the atmosphere, love the music puzzles, although that's frankly pandering to all my weak spots :). The writing leaves me wanting more. Overall, amazingly done.
🎤 Jiffy
Oct 12th · 21:26 UTC
@zdmajor7 thank you so much 😭😭ur comment made my day