Nose Deep In A Book by Yorsh
Uh oh, there is a lot of magical work to do, but you kind of forgot how to summon...anything. Fortunately, you work in a library, there is probably some sort of guide in a book somewhere...
This is a puzzle game, if you are stuck you can check the solution at the bottom of the page :)
How To Play
It's best to just jump right in and figure stuff out in game. Come back here if you are confused.
There are 3 summons to perform. You must figure out the runes needed to : * Fix the broken vase * Water to the plant * Revive the dead cat
Start by reading the books, answers are in there. Then enter the summoning circle, press the interact key and hold a direction to start drawing runes. If the circle goes red, the rune isn't valid, you did something forbidden. However, if the circle stays blue, the rune is valid but does not necessarily solve your issue. If you enter the correct runes, something will happen automatically.
Controls (Explained in game)
- Move/Summon : Arrows - WASD - Left stick
- Interact : Space - E - South Button
- Remember Book : R - North Button
Hints (Slight spoilers)
- Answers are always in the books, more or less clearly.
- A rune always starts either with up, or down then up.
- Here are the relevant books per task
- The dot at the top of the vertical line is important, it makes it opposite.
- Cats are opposed to dogs, day to night, work to sleep...what new meanings can you create by taking the opposite of something ?
- The order of runes is important.
Solution (SPOILERS)
| Link | https://github.com/AntoineCollot/LD55Summoning |
| Link | https://yorsh.itch.io/ld55 |
| Link | https://yorsh.itch.io/ld55 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/nose-deep-in-a-book |
Ratings
| Overall | 110th | 3.707⭐ | 43🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 175th | 3.402⭐ | 43🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 52th | 3.963⭐ | 43🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 45th | 4.146⭐ | 43🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 38th | 4.171⭐ | 43🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 93th | 3.549⭐ | 43🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 57th | 3.854⭐ | 43🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 32🗳️ | 72🗨️ |
It took me a while to learn how to incantate. I didn't get that I had to HOLD the keys. I was pressing them. I discovered it by chance. I could have stayed stuck there for a long time (I imagine some people will). I really love the system of how to "draw" the runes, bravo.
I wish I hadn't read the second hint (I stopped reading at that one). But I do get that some people may need them. I'm unsure if I would have figured it out without help, but wish I had attempted to solve it without having that hint.
I think mystery / escape room enthusiasts will love this game, and I can see myself recommending it to them already in this state.
Great everything. Thank you for sharing <3
@dasilvacontin The hold thing is not explained at all indeed, I forgot about it. Tbf, I kinda rushed the game design as I changed my mind a few times, so if most of the game is understandable it's already a miracle :)
I'll add a little additional spoiler warning for hints too. Thanks for the feedback !
@mdotedot Yeah I had planned to have a little bit of progression. Like some part of the library would be locked at first to be less overwhelming, but I ran out of time. I'm glad you liked the rest, ty for playing !
@pimeko @dams333 Thanks for playing! I'm apparently good at moaning like an old man, that's going on my resume for sure.
great work!
@two1san I checked what the character does quickly, it does have something in common yeah. Thanks for playing!
@jonathan-vinesar Sorry to hear that, this concept was way too hard to balance correctly alone so it's unfortunately going to be frustrating for some players yeah.
@jean-francois @atomicptr @hendrik-schnutgen Yeah the start can be confusing. I lacked time to polish the game design enough. Thanks for the feedback!
For the broken pot no problem, but for the cat and the plant I couldn't finalize the invocation by doing it in the order requested.
"SPOILER"
I had to do it like this: action + location + subject.
Since the action is an opposite for these two subjects, I can only start with that, not finish. But it still works!
I like the idea of this game mechanic and the design!
The character's style and those stretching efforts when he incites... really original!
Well done!
Adding little bit of glow on those instructions books would guide player more quickly to check those out.
@k-toll You should be to make a rune opposite even in the middle of a "sentence". If you input a "down", it'll indeed draw it as a dot in the current rune, but it should move at the top of the next rune if you follow it up by a "up". I don't know if it makes sense. Tho I did allow to reverse the action and subject for these two as you noticed, so it's fine either way. I had a few other things planned, I even made a full dog model, but ran out of time to add them in the end sadly. Thanks for playing!
The big exaggerated animations worked well for the theme, and it's one of the better character animations I've seen in the jam so far.
Good job!
It would have been nice to have some sort of indication on the order of operations, or feedback mechanisms to let me know if I was on the right track. Like drawing the right rune correctly makes it glow a different colour or something.
@xeltide Ah yes with only the first book it's tough ahah. I'm glad you liked it!
@vivid-hallucination You are right, the order was something I was worried about. It was hard to explain it in the books with just drawings, and at the same time it could be very frustrating and confusion for those that don't get it. In the end I decided to let it in, but that's something I would have focused on improving with more time indeed. Thanks for the feedback!
Still, I love the approach and overall presentation. Great job!
I tried to figure out the solution myself, but had to look up a few hints because I just couldn't get that you can invert runes... Still, it was very enjoyable to figure the game out and thank you for including the solution, too! Good luck with your future projects!
I like the graphics, and the character design is nice. It's funny how we walk around like that, and the poor man either needs to retire or do some more exercising. I think with a bit more handholding in the books, there is definitely potential here. Either way a job well done on this game!
https://youtu.be/Foe4js2jhJ0
And I'm the host for the ludum dare score chasers tournament this Ludum Dare. Wanted to ask if youre fine if I put some gameplay of the game in an intermission video. Last year for reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM_eIvjBmIQ
@sheepolution Yes it's lacking a few things, like an introduction task that would be very easy, so the player could figure things one at a time. So it ends up being rough at the start. Hope it was fine nonetheless, thanks for the feedback!
@ismael-rodriguez Yes I agree, I ran low on time at the end and got a bit confused with the level design. Next jam I have to focus on reducing the scope slightly so I can playtest at least a bit. Thanks for the feedback!
@ategon Thanks for playing! Yes no problem. I joined the server during your stream, it looks fun. I have actually been doing something similar with friends a few times.
@digitaliliad It's really tough, so good job again! Thanks for playing!
I would love to improve it and make it a full-short indie! I'm already working on a fairly ambitious game tho, so that's not happening before a few years ahah. Thanks for the feedback!