LudumData

In Focus by miroreflect

[raw]
made by miroreflect for Ludum Dare 57 (JAM)

Introduction

In Focus is a small puzzle game where you are trying to solve levels by moving the player character(s) to a star and adjusting your depth of field to do so.

Designing puzzles is hard so they are very easy and this submission is more of an interesting twist compared to other top down puzzles (or at least I have not come across a similar one).

Controls

  • WASD - Move
  • Scroll Wheel - Adjust depth of field (have objects go in and out of focus and therefore interactable/controllable)
  • R - Restart level!

Screenshot2.png

Closing Words

Please let me know your thoughts on the idea as I may just be blinded by this being my own creation and thinking that the idea is better than it is in reality. I hope you'll enjoy my little game!

Itch.io https://emberthehotlump.itch.io/in-focus
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/in-focus

Ratings

Overall 211th 3.833⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 161th 3.81⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 27th 4.238⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 142th 4.143⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 604th 3.286⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Audio 455th 3.119⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Mood 654th 3.19⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Given 23🗳️ 21🗨️

Feedback

Brian Russell
08. Apr 2025 · 18:50 UTC
Nice, had fun solving the puzzles using the depth mechanic. Wanted more levels! Maybe a way to stop depth being used to cause the last moves to be done instead of placing 1st char then making way to 2nd objective could make more interesting puzzles.
spacecadet
10. Apr 2025 · 20:46 UTC
I really enjoyed this one. The idea is really cool and there is potential for many different puzzles.
🎤 miroreflect
16. Apr 2025 · 16:37 UTC
@brian-russell I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'm not quite sure if I understand what you mean by stopping the depth to be used part. Do you mean something similar to what was done in level 5 where you couldn't just place one of the characters on top of the bottom goal?
Prepe
16. Apr 2025 · 18:45 UTC
I do not know if commenting also provides you with more trafic but lets hope this helps. Great game idea i see a lot of work went into the mechanic and you ran out of time for more levels. Anyway great work and lets hope you get more ppl playing this one.
Tldr: short and sweet game, may have potential for a small indea on steam with a few more levels and a bit more polish,
🎤 miroreflect
16. Apr 2025 · 19:06 UTC
@prepe Thank you for the feedback! I was planning on adding a few more things to it post jam regardless of the feedback I'm getting to be more satisfied with the result. I, for example, had made a movable box but I had a lot of weird edge cases where it caused some crazy glitches so I didn't have time to add it to any levels.
robin_schmitz
16. Apr 2025 · 20:14 UTC
Very cool game idea!
I like puzzle games and your game just hit the sweet spot of me thinking: "Ha, I got this", then started the next level and thought: "oh my, how am I ever going to solve this." But sure enough, after some tries, I found the solution and the cycle started again. Much fun! :)
For me personally, the third level was the trickiest one, the fourth was then surprisingly easy.
Congrats on creating five levels!
🎤 miroreflect
16. Apr 2025 · 21:28 UTC
@robin-schmitz Glad to hear you enjoyed the few levels I was able to make :) I had originally aimed to make 10 levels so the first 5 were mostly for teaching the player game mechanics and interactions with level components without immediately overwhelming them with information. That is also why level 4 was so easy as it was just meant to teach you about the lens though I guess I could've added some difficulty while also teaching about the lens.
Thanks for the feedback!
TomatoLamp
17. Apr 2025 · 02:31 UTC
Kudos on making a working puzzle game and especially one with a fresh, on-theme, mechanic!

Side note: my brain really wants to see this as a 3D game with a forced perspective (from the main camera angle, everything would look normal but if you turned the camera you would see which objects are "out of place" and interactable)
oeueGHa
17. Apr 2025 · 03:47 UTC
really like it, unsual way to jam's theme. Remind me baba is you some. It has great potential for full game!
🎤 miroreflect
17. Apr 2025 · 05:21 UTC
@tomatolamp Oooo, that sounds like an interesting idea! I need to think how to make something like that if I end up making a full game out of this one
dhim
17. Apr 2025 · 08:33 UTC
Is there only two levels of focus on level 3 ? I can't see a way to solve level 3, the right most is blurred at the same time as the opening, so no way to having him reach the right star...

Maybe on my mac the scroll is too fast and I get only the extrema ?
Joseph Tan
17. Apr 2025 · 09:45 UTC
This game idea is actually really good, it's quite unfortunate that there are only 5 levels - I would've loved to play more!!!! I think the depth mechanics can be used in more layers, perhaps it could include the mirror/glasses mechanic to give your game more depth.
j_rara
17. Apr 2025 · 11:50 UTC
Really like this game and would love to have more levels. Level 3 is a real head scratcher and I'm determined to keep trying till I figure it out, but I agree with @dhim that it doesn't seem possible because right is out of focus at the same time as the opening. Not sure if I'm missing a mechanic or there is different levels of focus as @dhim suggested.

UPDATE: Level 3 does have 3 focus levels. I missed it multiple times :face_palm:.
Lunaria Rava
17. Apr 2025 · 18:33 UTC
Very interesting idea! The levels were quite straightforward, but with more development time this could become a really complex puzzle game. The graphics are fitting and the subtle sound effect perfect for a game like this!
JHax
17. Apr 2025 · 20:27 UTC
It's a cool idea and the levels you've got for it I think show the start of something really cool. I'd love to see a few more playing around with the ideas a bit further!
🎤 miroreflect
18. Apr 2025 · 16:21 UTC
@dhim Yeah, there should be 3 levels of focus in the level, otherwise the level would be impossible. When working on the controls I was thinking about adding another way to change the focus in case someone didn't have a way to use a scrollwheel (or their scroll was too fast it seems) but never got around to it :/...
🎤 miroreflect
18. Apr 2025 · 16:22 UTC
@joseph-tan I'm glad to hear you liked it, thank you! Could you elaborate more on the mirror/glasses mechanic, do you mean the existing one or something else?
🎤 miroreflect
18. Apr 2025 · 16:24 UTC
@j-rara I'm glad you enjoyed playing it and were able to figure out level 3. That level was mostly meant to show that the player is not the only thing that can go in and out of focus but I guess the way I did it backfired a little based on your and @dhim's comments.
MoonDweller
18. Apr 2025 · 18:37 UTC
As for a render programmer, the Depth of Field idea comes to mind one of the first :D
And I'm really glad that someone did implement this non-obvious on-paper idea into a real game!
A very good job!

This entry really reminds me of Baba is You.
At least the last level got me to a very close vibe.

I hope to see this game being grown into a bigger one!
mdsalomon
19. Apr 2025 · 01:23 UTC
Really brilliant take on the theme, one of my favorites so far. I'm usually too dumb for these sokoban-styled puzzle games but this one was really engaging, I would love to see more levels being added.
Joseph Tan
19. Apr 2025 · 04:31 UTC
@miroreflect the one I mentioned is the new introduced mechanic in level 4. If it combines with the multilayer depth mechanic, then perhaps it could create more interesting non-linear levels.
resty
22. Apr 2025 · 17:34 UTC
The mechanic is very cool and levels are fun to play. the lens seems not required for level 5. I'd like to see more mechanic and levels
silkworm_sweatshop
23. Apr 2025 · 18:23 UTC
Neat and awesome idea and theme use! While just 5 levels right now I think there is a lot of potential for more puzzles (even the title screen hints at more mechanics) and you I could see you play with even more layers of depth.