Baywatcher

by gurkenlabs

co-authored: @ekopeko, @fabian-g, @hoptimus-prime

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.61

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.61

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.50

Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.02

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.57

Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.67

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.58

You are *Hauke*, the lighthouse keeper who has watched over *Bopser Bay* for his entire life.
Today, catastrophe struck when the lighthouse ceased to function and ships now roam through the canal without guidance!
Indicate danger to passing ships with your signal flares and let them dodge oncoming ships - or they will perish!

How to Play

* Ships will enter the canal from the left and right side on predefined lanes.
* While ships are inside the area marked with buoys, every collision will cost you one life. Ships outside the buoys can not collide and will not cost you one life.
* Once a ship has exited the area marked with buoys to the opposite side it came from, you will be awarded one point.
* Point the cursor at ships to give them signals in order to prevent collisions. Once the cursor changes its color from white to orange, you have selected a ship. Then, use your mouse buttons to indicate :
* RMB - signal ship to move one lane further away
* LMB - signal ship to move one lane closer
* Use your binoculars with SHIFT to zoom in for a better overview.

Screenshots

phew - close call!

...and there wasn't even an iceberg in sight!

Better luck next time!

Comments34

thomas-olsson21 Apr 2026, 10:04

Nice job with this one, I laughed. Thematics were well executed!

Soul Grinder21 Apr 2026, 10:07

Cool idea for the theme, and fun to play too. The music and atmosphere are spot on too. Really nice work!

jajalecapouet21 Apr 2026, 10:09

Very funny !

Max Corke21 Apr 2026, 10:19

Well it had me laughing everytime I accidentally crashed 2 boats into eachother, or more likely when I didn't notice a new ship coming from the other way and assumed it would be fine. A simple but fun concept and I assume very accurate representation of what it's like to work in a broken lighthouse. Nice job!

Ungew0llt21 Apr 2026, 10:20

Cool concept and very funny

LDJam user 42546421 Apr 2026, 10:45

Very engaging and hectic mechanic. I love the extra amount of chaos 3d perspective brings to this where you constantly need to look left to right. It was a little, or really, hard to click the small boats when they were close to the finish line but who cares, i should just plan better so the situation would not even happen. Very polished and nice game, everything in it played together well!

Tillb21 Apr 2026, 14:04

Very fun game :) The soundtrack is dope and adds to the hectic feeling

agasyanc21 Apr 2026, 14:43

It's fun to play, the game has a nice, consistent style

Pierre-Marie21 Apr 2026, 16:25

So hard for me, but very well done! The sound effects are spot-on.

Matth-ew21 Apr 2026, 16:35

Super unique concept! Bonus points for sea shanty :) It's really nice how much character you gave to the area you stand in. I felt like I was actually on a shift guiding ships. Well done everyone!

OLEGATOR027021 Apr 2026, 18:34

Cool concept and implementation

Rocotos21 Apr 2026, 18:37

The idea is great, the graphics is hilarious (in a good way).

Eugenik21 Apr 2026, 23:34

The stress of having to guide all these vessels without a functional light source really comes through in the gameplay. It feels like a genuinely intense shift watching the chaos unfold in the canal. Great job creating such a unique and engaging experience!

ChknTikka21 Apr 2026, 23:50

Great idea! Love the visuals and everything fits together super nicely. Good work guys

LDJam user 42432622 Apr 2026, 09:47

An interesting interpretation of the theme!
I liked the idea and the music, but because of the large distances, it’s hard to keep track of all the ships—even at the very beginning

Maybe if the presentation were more abstract or had a wider field of view, it would feel more responsive to play

snk22 Apr 2026, 17:17

Easy to play, hard to master! Very nice concept! Sometimes I was getting a bit condused while zooming but overall is very nice. Also the 3d graphics is nice to see in a jam.

p.s. Whale can sink 10/10

Jimox23 Apr 2026, 09:58

The gameplay loop is satisfying and keeps me engaged throughout.Hard to stop once start.

metalim23 Apr 2026, 20:18

haha! liked the concept. Can't see far, though. Ships on far edge can collide easily

Gecko6424 Apr 2026, 15:31

Really enjoyed the concept of the game as a whole! Had fun playing good job :)

JustinMullin24 Apr 2026, 15:35

Very neat. I had a ton of fun seeing all of the different kinds of vessels for the first time. The trireme rolling up was especially funny to me, and the whale is great too. Tons of character. The game is a little tough at times, and a little easy at others, but it made for a fine pacing because things move relatively quickly in general. It took me longer than I'd care to admit to realize I had to click right on the ships to move them, and I lost a couple out further than I thought I had to be watching them, but in general I had a lot of fun with this.

jelliott26 Apr 2026, 07:03

I enjoy this alternate reality where all boat drivers are blind and incapable

Phoenix Fireflower26 Apr 2026, 20:04

This game is hectil in all the right ways, the first person perspective really makes you feel like you're the only one who can manage the chaos. Music and sound effects were both excellent. My only critique is that boats near the buoys are hard to see / click on. Sure, you can use the binoculors, but that takes away time from ships you need to signal on the other side of the screen.

Daliamha27 Apr 2026, 14:17

I like this game. It's very simple and understandable

Meta-link27 Apr 2026, 19:45

Incredible game ! Great concept, really fun (and easy) to play, the graphics and audio are really funny, I loved it.

Good job 😄

Lisieshy27 Apr 2026, 19:49

Such a cool take on the theme! Love it :)

NBumgardner29 Apr 2026, 15:25

Great concept and execution. Listening to the sea chanty music and zooming in on the background through the light fog was fun.

Given more time, adding more feedback on ship crashes would be helpful, such as arrows on the edge of the screen, or making a bigger spectacle of a game over so the user can tell where the mistake happened. Being able to pause with the main menu would be nice too, clicks were still registering through the pause menu buttons. Still though, having menus and reset choices is great and doing more for options and audio controls is just polish on top.

Glad to hear the team had fun using source control and working together! Looking forward to seeing what you all make in the future.

Disvent1 May 2026, 23:38

Fun! It was very nice to play. Good job!

VenomousMouse2 May 2026, 10:15

Very fun game and cool music. I like the simplicity and readability.

PhilStrahl3 May 2026, 01:49

Very cool idea with both the setting and the execution! Reading the description got me a bit worried but playing it made me understand it instantly yet it clearly demonstrated that I am not cut out for that sort of job I guess 😅 But I loved the variety in ships, so cool! Here’s the VOD of me playing it on stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMR3_KTESOU

LDJam user 4236937 May 2026, 13:56

Nice game and graphics ! The only problem is that the incoming boats near the buoys are hard to click on and so collisions happen, but it's fine and the gameplay loop is fun !

kayrum7 May 2026, 18:47

Very fun management game with simple controls and great whimsical humor.

Jvdwijk7 May 2026, 19:26

Cute game! The graphics fit well together and everything seemed really polished. The whales were definately my favorite!

I think it would be nice if there was a bit of a glow on the boat you were guiding.

zhangzhimu8 May 2026, 09:40

The gameplay design of this game is particularly ingenious, and the first-person perspective also provides a strong sense of immersion. I like the design of the cover and the dove. I think it conveys deeper content and it's an excellent game.

LDJam user 4077038 May 2026, 20:15

Really great idea and an excellent use of the theme. Things get stressful very quickly, but in a fun and positive way! The only criticism I have is that some situations can feel a little unfair at times.

Congratulations on this awesome game!

Other games by @gurkenlabs

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