The Arrangement by Rudra Nil Basu

Jam Submission for LDJAM 55
Controls:
- WASD for movement
- E to Interact
(Puzzle Hints and solutions are available below, but it's recommended to have an attempt before going ahead with the hints)


Spoilers & Hints for the puzzles
Some hints for the puzzles: - The overall goal of the puzzles for each floors is to point the puzzle elements in it's correct order - The correct direction of each puzzle in the floor is dependent on the various hints that are present on the same floor, but might be in different rooms. - Hints can be in the form of notes, photos, or any object in the floor that might be different from other floors
Solutions to all puzzles
- Floor 1 -> There is only one puzzle piece, point it to the lever
- Floor 2 -> The hint is on the note, the solution is to point the puzzle piece to the darkest side of the room
- Floor 3 -> The hint is on the pot without any plant on the chair. There are total 3 puzzle pieces, and they need to be pointed at the plant. There is a puzzle piece in a room with no plants, but there are a couple of plants in the hallway
- Floor 4 -> There are 2 puzzle pieces here and the hint is in the picture on the room with a single chair, and the picture is about two chairs pointing at each other. The solution is to make the puzzle pieces point at each other
- Floor 5 -> There are 3 puzzle pieces and the hint is in the pot with a plant in the chair. The solution is to point the pieces towards the pots with a plant. In one of the rooms where there are no plants in the room, there is one on the next room (the one on the hallway doesn't have any plant)
- Floor 6 -> The hint is in the room with the chair which is pointing away from the plant, and the solution is to have the two puzzle pieces point on the opposite direction from the plants.
| Link | https://rudra.itch.io/the-arrangement |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/trapped |
Ratings
| Overall | 634th | 3.519⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 836th | 3.185⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 830th | 3.096⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1079th | 2.88⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 954th | 2.357⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 156th | 4.056⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 38🗳️ | 28🗨️ |
The puzzles did turn out to be a bit vague, so a bit of spoiler: The goal was to have the triangles point to the "correct" direction at every floor, based on some hints. The hints are mostly in the form of items in one of the rooms. (For the fourth floor, the directions are based on the picture on the room with a single chair).
! Writing this while on 4th (?) floor ! : If you develop it further, I would love to see more details appearing each floor: starting with some moving shadows or sounds, something with the doors of the elevator itself (getting stuck for a second, something blocking them in the last moment before disappearing, sound of elevator shaking etc).
As for the puzzle itself, I was confused at first because I thought initially we need to open the white door, not the elevator, and concentrated on that door too much. But then figured it out.

With this, at first I moved both triangles towards this plant, based on the clue, and sat confused for a while. Only then I tried moving one of them towards a smaller plant on the table and it worked. (Also: sorry, but at first I thought: oh, a bowl of soup on the chair! xD)
I like how the lighting changed on the 4th floor, and the white door became slightly open, and photo of chairs appeared. Small changes like this can really enhance the experience, hopefully there is bit more coming in the future, for previous floors as well <3
! Got to 5th level !
The sounds are good, 4th floor really gave me back the feeling of anxiety. The sound effects along with lightning really help with creepy atmosphere.
Got stuck on 5th(?) level.

I feel like it has something to do with high thin plants in pots but tried a few combinations keeping in mind across the hallway hint, nothing seems to work for me. Went back to look through the comments and noticed feedback about scary moments.
So, my thoughts on this: you don't necessarily need jumpscares to make the game scary. As I stated, sounds and light create the atmosphere. For me personally, the feeling that something MIGHT happen any second is the whole point of feeling scared. You do need to keep up that feeling with some small elements, yes, but it doesn't 100% need to be an actual jumpscare.
I think, considering people having trouble solving the puzzles (as I scroll through, there seem to be players who got stuck much earlier than me), it would be nice to publish a walkthrough for those who wish to use it (and link it here in description, or just write it out with spoiler warning) or even make a video of your own walkthrough of the game :)
Edit: was giving out ratings and just realized we are "summoning" the lift xD Good job!
I will be adding hints/solutions here and on the descriptions for the puzzles:
- Floor 1 -> There is only one puzzle piece, point it to the lever
- Floor 2 -> The hint is on the note, the solution is to point the puzzle piece to the darkest side of the room
- Floor 3 -> The hint is on the pot _without_ any plant on the chair. There are total 3 puzzle pieces, and they need to be pointed at the plant. There is a puzzle piece in a room with no plants, but there are a couple of plants in the hallway
- Floor 4 -> There are 2 puzzle pieces here and the hint is in the picture on the room with a single chair, and the picture is about two chairs pointing at each other. The solution is to make the puzzle pieces point at each other
- Floor 5 -> There are 3 puzzle pieces and the hint is in the pot _with_ a plant in the chair. The solution is to point the pieces towards the pots with a plant. In one of the rooms where there are no plants in the room, there is one on the next room (the one on the hallway doesn't have any plant)
- Floor 6 -> The hint is in the room with the chair which is pointing _away_ from the plant, and the solution is to have the two puzzle pieces point on the opposite direction from the plants.
Thanks again for playing and such a detailed feedback!