Between the Pulsing Stars

by carraka

co-authored: @charin, @dissonance-generator, @marppuli, @radonkalmor, @sheldonzs

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.83

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.61

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.87

Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.24

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.19

Audio★★★★★★★★★★4.07

Mood★★★★★★★★★★4.02

What's out there in the vast expanse?
Are we alone in the universe?

In the search for extraterrestrial life, isolate strange signals for analysis. Something strange is coming. Humanity may very well wish it were alone.

We ran out of time on this one, so it's not possible to reach all the endings. Therefore, we've unlocked the gallery so that you can admire what our artists were able to do (and our programmers really wanted to fully support).

Keep an eye out for the post-jam build that will show off the beautiful art and music in the context of the game's story.

All graphics, audio, and writing were created during 72 hours for the Ludum Dare 59: Signal game jam.

Comments20

mc shopot21 Apr 2026, 08:22

Everything is unified in style! Bravo! The theme comes across perfectly — this is exactly the kind of simple little game on this theme I was looking for! I really enjoyed it. Thanks!

Silky21 Apr 2026, 21:59

Very cool and earie atmosphere! I was not sure if what i was doing was correct but i did enjoy the creepy signals and isolating them was fun^^ The art was AMAZING, its sad all the endings were not implemented but i am happy we could at least see all of them :)

TopperVideoGames21 Apr 2026, 22:00

The presentation is top notch! The story is well done, and it was nice to see the planned endings still viewable in the game.
I really liked the set up, and the mechanic of finding and recording signals. I was only able to get the bad ending though. No matter what I recorded on several playthroughs and with different approaches, I only ever got static as my email responses. It may have helped if there was more of an indicator that what I was recording was part of something important.

Still, great job on the sound design especially. I'm pretty sure I could hear what was needed to.

zancked21 Apr 2026, 22:23

i love games like this where you analyze frequencies and such things. the art is pretty cool, the music is interesting, the general idea is cool...but i don't think i quite understood how you play this game. from what i understood, you have to record multiple parts of the radio audio that contain the most audible clicks. i tried as best i could to do this, but it seemed like no matter what i did, i kept sending what ended up as *garbage noise*. i can't tell if i misunderstood what i was supposed to do, or if the game broke. overall, cool idea, cool art, but unclear gameplay

Hi Im Greg22 Apr 2026, 19:25

Really nicely put together, the entire audio was really good. It felt like a lot of work went into all the various tracks that made up the frequencies. Visually it was great too, felt like a solid game.

Overall I enjoyed it, not exactly my type of game, but I appreciated the thought that went into it and following along with the story in the emails added a lot too!

banan_dev22 Apr 2026, 19:30

Cool concept of the small game. Graphics looks cool also

Andrian22 Apr 2026, 19:52

The art is amazing, and I really enjoyed the signal recording mechanic! However, I’m struggling to get a good ending—or at least one that isn't so terrifying, haha. Could you give me a little hint on how to reach a better outcome? I’d love to see more of what this game has to offer!

apt_prose726 Apr 2026, 08:36

Great for casual gaming, very relaxing.

Cazik2126 Apr 2026, 22:07

I can't play because there's no download for Mac.

Carrakaauthor4 May 2026, 01:29

@silky @toppervideogames @zancked @andrian Thanks for all the feedback! The post-jam version is now included on the same page. It's not for rating, but now all of the story text is accessible, and you can get different endings as well, depending on which signals you focus on recording.

@cazik21 We'll work next on making Mac versions for both the submission build and post-jam version. Thanks for reminding us to plan for Mac compatibility going forward!

Madbarron5 May 2026, 04:08

I tried, I really did.

The first time, I didn't understand the recorder or what I was supposed to be doing. Then I checked out the gallery which is so awesome and gave the game another try. Finally I think I figured it out, but my coworker keeps telling me it's trash. I get unintelligible static every time even though I think I'm doing a good job at getting all the clicks??

Still, very cool, nailed the theme. Love the art and the score.

Carrakaauthor5 May 2026, 04:27

@madbarron It sounds like you're doing a great job getting the clicks, but you're playing the incomplete submission build for which we didn't have time to implement the logic for the game to respond properly. If you feel like giving it yet another try, definitely check out the full post-jam version.

Madbarron5 May 2026, 04:44

@carraka gotcha. If you had been able to finish the grading in time it would have been an easy 5 stars across the board. As-is, you'll have to settle for innovation, theme, graphics, and audio. Really well done! Be sure to rate enough other games so you get 20 reviews here.

ieee3335 May 2026, 10:52

I like the concept, the gameplay is interesting, and the art has a lot of style. It's fun.

galareteg5 May 2026, 11:37

Amazing work, the graphics are great and the story is really interesting. I wish it was fully finished for the jam, but it's still a really good game.

Alexandr Gerya5 May 2026, 14:10

that eerie atmosphere is perfect spent way too long trying to get a good ending without realizing i was playing the unfinished build still hooked me hard

Neon Kuroasa5 May 2026, 19:40

Holy moly that's a great project

Mood is incredible, had a hard time figuring out what exactly we should isolate in the signal. The audio copying mechanism is SO COOL. Congrats !

zhangzhimu6 May 2026, 10:37

The theme of transmitting signals through a radio format, along with excellent atmosphere creation and artistry!

Wallted6 May 2026, 18:06

Outstanding ideas and implementation.

Fantastic soundtrack, well executed chilling cosmic horror atmosphere, gorgeous art and paintings, badass endings, polished UX and very unique gameplay mechanic suiting the theme.

You were reaching for the stars there with the game and its totally fair that you did not make it in time, because what WAS done was already an inspiring piece of work that you should be proud of. Loud applause

Alex O7 May 2026, 19:57

Really nice game!

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