L: An Interactive Mystery

by cercle
Overall★★★★★★★★★★4.41
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.88
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.76
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.29
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.30
Audio★★★★★★★★★★4.77
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.96
Mood★★★★★★★★★★4.52
Diane’s daughter has gone missing, and they’ve found her phone.
It’s a race against time, battery, and memory to search for clues about her disappearance, while discovering the intricacies and difficulties of a young life in personal crisis.
This experience is part mystery, part puzzle, and part slice-of-life, with rich, immersive elements of voice acting and original musical compositions.
Intuitive gameplay and the core “phone” mechanics mean players will naturally acclimate to the interface, and must rely on their own drive and intuition to solve the disappearance.

bg ld2LPG.jpg
screenshotsmall2.jpg!

screenshot

Comments63

Inferture
Inferture14 Aug 2018, 02:49
I'm really amazed at the content created in so little time ! I guess being professionnal helps :) I didn't think I'd saw some story driven games in the submissions, but looks like I was wrong ^^
Keep up the good work !
Alien
Alien14 Aug 2018, 08:15
JUST WOW, Never thought i would see something like this, The Voice Acting is just so good!
Alien
Alien14 Aug 2018, 08:15
JUST WOW, Never thought i would see something like this, The Voice Acting is just so good!
Alien
Alien14 Aug 2018, 08:15
JUST WOW, Never thought i would see something like this, The Voice Acting is just so good!
heidelbert14 Aug 2018, 19:59
This is truely outstanding. This is like a glimpse into what could be a really nice bigger game. Excellent voice acting and story telling. Soooo much content produced at such a high level. Wow.
Cercle
Cercleauthor14 Aug 2018, 20:34
@alien Thank you! We were really lucky to have some of our actor friends available and willing on such short notice!
Cercle
Cercleauthor14 Aug 2018, 20:35
@heidelbert Thank you so much! May or may not have pulled an all nighter that last night trying to get it done. We think it was worth it!
Sharks
Sharks14 Aug 2018, 20:46
At first, I thought I was watching stranger things, then I thought I had accidentally stumbled upon a game made outside of Ludum Dare, but then I realized that somehow, you managed to write, code, and polish this in one weekend only. Truly a great game, I love playing games where you have to search through phones, so it definitely had its appeal. Great job.
Cercle
Cercleauthor14 Aug 2018, 21:09
@sharks thank you so much! When we came up with the idea on Friday we had a moment of, "this is huge. Are we actually going to try and do this?" But the characters and story were calling to us so strongly, so we went for it!
CraigDuth14 Aug 2018, 21:15
I am stuck on getting the password for the notes app, damn. But this is fantastic story. Really nice gameplay and voice acting. One thing I could see was that first button used Unity's default UI text which gets so blurry, text mesh pro is nicer :smile:
grahhhhhhhhh
grahhhhhhhhh14 Aug 2018, 21:57
Bravo! Any chance of a walkthrough... I can't get into the notes! I've listened to every sound byte and read every blog, post, etc. but cannot figure it out! I'm dying to know the rest of the story, this far surpasses most ludum dare entries. Spectacular voice acting, thank you for this!
grahhhhhhhhh
grahhhhhhhhh14 Aug 2018, 21:58
Lol, I figured it out about 30 seconds after posting that :)
Cercle
Cercleauthor14 Aug 2018, 22:09
@grahhhhhhhhh I knew you could do it!! And thank you for the wonderful compliments!
grahhhhhhhhh
grahhhhhhhhh14 Aug 2018, 22:18
@craigduth I hate to give anything away, but this was tough.. I would say to keep in mind terms of endearment...
PSiv14 Aug 2018, 22:55
I would love to play a longer fleshed out version of this, maybe you get access to a computer or a tablet as well and you have to go through all these devices to find clues and stuff. Maybe like a murder mystery whodunnit type game? Anyway truly amazing work! I tried to phone the detective's number from the voicemails... i guess his phone was off :laughing: and the duck game is animal abuse and its disgusting :sweat_smile:
roberth33215 Aug 2018, 00:39
Ok I'm impressed. What a great game I would love to see this made into a full game.
KMCE15 Aug 2018, 00:51
WOW, that was amazing. The concept alone was great, but the voice acting, main soundtrack, and the music from the music app, just took it to a whole new level. A really well done game.

1 question though, does the phone actually die? I was on 1% for a very long time (couldn't get in to the notes :D )
bigpan15 Aug 2018, 03:15
oh my god man, found your game while watching it on a stream. I'm really impressed by what you did in only 48 hours. The voice acting is on point! Cheers mate
Elfcirynn15 Aug 2018, 03:27
Slappy goose was compelling but I have to dock it for not embodying the theme better. I dunno what everything else was surrounding it, but...
Jokes aside, that's incredible, I would love to see more content from you guys because that was beautifully written, the art was the perfect vehicle, there was way more polish and emotion in that than many games I've spent money on. Cheers, I'm blown away!
udo
udo15 Aug 2018, 03:28
This was the best story telling, best mood, best music, best overall game for me this LD - by a long shot. There is very little to say except that you did a monumental thing here, in an incredibly short timeframe. The voice acting was stellar, the scripts were funny and compelling. And most importantly: you managed to tell a very touching story using nothing but everyday elements.
Cercle
Cercleauthor15 Aug 2018, 03:35
@bigpan Thank you so much! We did it in 72 hours not 48. That would have been truly impossible. :) Cheers!
Cercle
Cercleauthor15 Aug 2018, 03:40
@elfcirynn First of all, Fite me. Second of all, I want to validate what you are saying because I think it's really important. Third of all, thank you for looking past all the distractions and recognizing Slappy Duck as the beautifully flawed mess of a masterpiece that it is.
Okay no more jokes. @elfcirynn @udo Thank you so, so much! We really put our heart and soul into this and to get this kind positive feedback really makes all the work and lack of sleep worth it. Thank you.
dk5000p15 Aug 2018, 05:01
I feel you should have opted out of humor, if anyone thought this was funny, something is wrong. Besides that, though, this was spectacular, I didn't feel like I was running out of space, felt the space just wasn't present to begin with, but amazing music, amazing voice acting (I thought I was the only one who did voice acting, which not sure I can even call it that after seeing this), the mood was there, sadness oozed. The fact the ending was basically a cliffhanger was a little sad, wanted to have a happy ending. But amazing, all and all, amazing.
Wheffle
Wheffle15 Aug 2018, 05:14
Holy crap and a half. That was really powerful. I'm blown away that you guys were able to do this in 72 hours. The voice acting was really good, the gameplay was intuitive... the story was way amazing. Absolutely insane entry. Congrats!

Also... #teamcharmander
DraperDanMan
DraperDanMan15 Aug 2018, 07:31
This was really awesome! I'm really blown away! A very strong narrative and a very intense way to explore it. The only thing I really have to say is that you should have opt'd out of Humour. Though I doubt you were expecting to do well in that category :P Looking forward to seeing what else the team does in the future!
ManBeardGames
ManBeardGames15 Aug 2018, 08:06
This is my absolute favorite so far. From the opening scene, setting the mood, the voice acting, the audio, the narrative unfolding by looking through the phone. Just really great. The amount of detail that went into this with the different voiced dialogs, all the way to the inclusion of a silly game to play on the phone. Very well polished.

I think it would have been neat to have the battery draining while playing instead of just scripted when you do things, but I get that there's a lot to take in and that might be to preventative for the player.

The ending did feel a little abrupt, but i can't say much without adding spoilers for anyone that hasn't played yet.

Here is the video of the play through from the stream: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/297561404
zlou_kote
zlou_kote15 Aug 2018, 08:09
Man, this is awesome game, it reminds me many games like Replica or Sara is Missing, voicing is great. You did a gigantic job, respect)
NoahRo
NoahRo15 Aug 2018, 08:10
Wow, that was an amazing experience. Voice acting and story telling were top-notch. The game conveys its story very well. The story is absolutely riveting.
Amazing entry!
dasun15 Aug 2018, 08:15
Well didit get to the notes, but still amazing game :D
NoahRo
NoahRo15 Aug 2018, 08:19
@dk5000p
I'm not one of the developers, but I wanted to reply to some of your points:
I actually gave the entry a high humor rating, as there are multiple funny elements _(Nits podcast, Zee's/Elliot's voicemails)_.
I like the ending a lot; I wouldn't call it a cliffhanger, rather an open ending.
dk5000p15 Aug 2018, 11:29
@noahro after looking back I agree there were some funny elements but the overall mood was drama.
antonsem
antonsem15 Aug 2018, 20:40
Wow... Just wow!
MZA
MZA15 Aug 2018, 23:58
From tha ambient raindrops in the background to the impeccable voice acting. The audio is outstanding. A good story well told. I did feel a bit restless, trying to find L's location - battery dried out though. I'll have another go later.
Injured16 Aug 2018, 00:59
Add more, place it on the Google Play store, wait a year for Game Theorists to play it - profit.
Nam Nguyen
Nam Nguyen16 Aug 2018, 01:15
WHOAWWWWWWW!! Im incredibly amazed by this! An amazing experience that I cant pull myself away from it. You guys did such a good job really! I was checking the songs in the music library and really hoped it would play in the background when I go back to the main menu but it didnt haha. That would be a nice touch though :smile: . Great great GREAT WORK!
Jorge-Baptista16 Aug 2018, 02:06
This is a very nice jam entry. The voice active is great! Good job :)

I wish we could keep the music and leave it playing on the background tho, it's nice :p
Angela K.
Angela K.16 Aug 2018, 02:54
The voice acting and the story were great. The ending was anti climactic for me but it ended on a note where it would be easy to continue adding on which is maybe your intent. Really shows that a story can make point and clicks very immersive. Great job!
Nookington
Nookington16 Aug 2018, 06:21
Really incredible how much real estate you pulled from so few "mechanics," so to speak. Compelling story, and a pretty interesting little story box. Could be put on steam as is for like a dollar or two.
ZuhairGhias
ZuhairGhias16 Aug 2018, 09:38
How was I supposed to win without the hint?
KostblLb16 Aug 2018, 17:41
this is why i don't like voice messaging.
Nomys_Tempar16 Aug 2018, 18:35
Very neat game, well done, the audio of course, but visuals and story either ! The take on the theme is very good, but I would like more "gameplay choice" than riddles with codes.
Bravo !
Memel06
Memel0616 Aug 2018, 21:39
This was incredible. Theme was on point, voice acting was incredible and the ending gave me strong emotions and shakes. Thanks a lot for making this jam pearl. I'll rate 5 stars for everything.
Marin010417 Aug 2018, 13:05
Hello there,
this game has the best mood and voice acting i've ever witnessed in a LD. Storytelling is excellent. The end gave me goosebumps. Very well engineered.
Thank you very much for making this, i am looking forward to your next one!
PNghasemi17 Aug 2018, 15:34
The idea did not have something new to offer but the voice acting was done very well and the story was engaging! Nice job there.
namnam
namnam18 Aug 2018, 00:41
Wow, the voice casting and the music was insane for a ludum dare game ! I liked to follow the story, it's always nice to see lgbt characters cause they are not so much present in video games, can't say much about the graphics cause it's a phone interface (very well reproduce and realistic so) but camera moves at the begining are really cool. The length of the game is very good for a jam game. If you didn't hear about the game a Normal Lost Phone you should check it, it's a pretty similar concept so you should liked it. I also like the way you use the theme even if sometime it could be annoying to have to delete then redownload an app to make sure you didn't miss something. I feel like you still had a lot of ideas with this concept but not enough time to did them and so we just delete the song then check the app one by one. The last password seem to me that it was maybe to hard to find, I expected to find it in the phone infos. In conclusion very impressive game for a ludum dare, really enjoyed it and probably will look for your next games :)
Vulture_42
Vulture_4218 Aug 2018, 10:49
This was amazing! I eventually managed to get the Notes password with a little help from the comments section. This is so well executed for 72 hours' work. The voices were great to the point that I genuinely want to fight the podcast guy (not whoever did the voice, obviously — well done to them :grin:). The only thing I will say is that I found it a bit odd that I couldn't uninstall the duck game to free up more space.
the_ShaderMaster18 Aug 2018, 14:23
Good job! :D Those dang teens and their puberty!
mike_inPrinciple
mike_inPrinciple19 Aug 2018, 03:18
Fantastic execution, especially given the limited time. The UI for the numerical pass code and the verbal password looks the same. This led me to believe that I had to input a 4 digit number in the notes app password. I eventually solved the problem, thanks to somebody else, not myself.

As a substantially more mature man (read old) than the story discussed, I found both the main character and the child (L) insufferable. This made it very difficult for me to actually care for the girl's safety.
agar3s
agar3s20 Aug 2018, 22:28
What a great voice acting, it enforces the good narrative you put there, the gameplay is pretty intuitive it's easy to navigate the phone and starts gathering information. I like the fact to put the clues into the notepad. Good job!

(ノ・∀・)ノ -( BTW )

We also have an HTML5 entry if you want to play it and rate it.
KiiroHanabi
KiiroHanabi22 Aug 2018, 15:17
A great game, really polished! I looks a lot like "A Normal Lost Phone", a game that was made during a gamejam first and then managed to become a commercialized game. If it didn't inspired you, you should definitely play it! The principle is the same, but the difference lies in this LD42 theme. I like how you used our "always running out of memory space" phones as a main idea.

Although, I think adding the power issue broke the immersion for me. The way the battery behave is not realistic and I think it's problematic in a case where you want to confront the player to a realistic situation: use a virtual phone like a real one. I redownloaded an app when I was at 1% battery and the phone was still on. I know putting a Game Over at this moment would have been useless, since this type of game is a "single experience" one. So maybe not adressing the battery power issue could have been better? Funny thing is that last year the LD39 theme was "Running out of Power" ^^'

The Notes password was also hard to find, since I had to use the hint, then realize that I could use letters (I was trying some T9 magic and stuff haha).

But I really like your podcasts, like a lot!!! It was kinda sad to delete all the songs too ;-;, they were good! And your voice actors did a really great job! (maybe some of them are the devs though, so great job to you!)
Lex
Lex25 Aug 2018, 02:24
Damn you, you made me cry.
axoona
axoona25 Aug 2018, 19:59
Excellent game, congratulations! The story is intriguing, the narrative is great and convincing. And all the sound design and voice acting is truly excellent. :smiley:

On side note I wanted to uninstall the duck game especially because Diane said it was horrible, then I tryied playing it thinking about a hidden clue (completely out of character) but I guess I didn't go to far :wink:
djlink
djlink1 Sep 2018, 09:03
wow this is amazing, congrats on such a great entry
panurge1 Sep 2018, 11:52
Excellent work, so much depth and polish for such a short time. I really enjoyed the experience and the puzzles were simple but satisfying. I can't really fault this one - well done!
ursagames
ursagames4 Sep 2018, 07:38
This was really impressive and immersive! Very impressive for a game made in a weekend! Thanks for sharing your game with my stream awhile back. Your game was played around 3:42 into this vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/298692367

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