Ludum Dare #59compo

Lightkeeper

by iovorobiev

Overall★★★★★★★★★★4.10

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.77

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.67

Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.27

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.12

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.50

Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.06

Mood★★★★★★★★★★4.17

Meet a narrative dark roguelike, where you need to slain monsters and communicate with people using lighthouse signals.

The game is heavily inspired by Reigns, Meteorfall and all the grimdark fantasy that exists on the Earth.

Use Light and Darkness to slain Monsters

Send Signals to local Wizard to cast powerful spells

Talk with NPCs and reveal the backstory

Hints:

* USE SIGNALS! Especially for fuel Off -> On -> On.
* Look at the center of the lighthouse to understand what signal you are sending at the moment.
* There is a sliding window for the signal. Last two messages of the signal will be added to the new one until sequence of three is recognized.

The game was created in 48 hours.

Tools

* Code & Game engine: Phaser 3.87, Typescript, Claude Code
* Art: Pro Create
* Audio: jsfxr + Audacity
* Font: Beholden by Amorphus

Tags: #dark, #horror, #ld59, #ludum-dare-59, #mouse only, #roguelike, #story rich

Genres: card game

Tools: Audacity, Claude, Phaser, sfxr

Comments24

zakchaos20 Apr 2026, 06:01

Had good bit of fun with this, Really cool art style and feel, I see a lot of potential to grow on with different card types. the look and feel was really consistent with the music, this is something not always easy to get right, Great job!

IndigoWolf20 Apr 2026, 15:56

Really enjoyed this, it isn't easy to take a minimal mechanic and add depth to it like you have here. The restrictive binary choice creates some fantastic strategy to the gameplay. Great work.

Myheadmess20 Apr 2026, 20:30

WHAT THE ACTUAL BANANA ??
It's so good ?????
The art, the mood, the gameplay, really you killed it gg !

LDJam user 42453521 Apr 2026, 08:56

great job! the feel and polish are top-notch!

olddadou21 Apr 2026, 20:24

Nice idea, the combo reign + building up a signal !

pidifussel21 Apr 2026, 20:32

banger :]

bobanko21 Apr 2026, 20:35

Interesting concept(actually i have also used lighthouse in my game but in a different way) The music and art is really good and have high quality. I had a situation when i run out of fuel but noone give me new one. What should i do in this scenario? Anyway, the game itself is really great

iovorobievauthor21 Apr 2026, 20:50

@bobanko if you ran out during the battle it’s certain death unfortunately, you have to keep track of it and use fuel up signal (off/on/on) before it ends. Signals work in social encounters too, so you might want ignore what people ask and send a fuel up signal instead.

LDJam user 42387221 Apr 2026, 21:09

The mechanics are very simple but interesting. The game is very atmospheric.

marudziik21 Apr 2026, 22:01

I liked the mood in particular, and the entry feels pretty complete. The visuals are consistent, and overall it's a very good, playable entry. Is it possible to actually win? I tried twice and even when being quite conservative with the fuel management, I just lost sanity. Maybe I'll revisit later. Anyways, congrats!

iovorobievauthor21 Apr 2026, 22:17

@marudziik I am able to consistently win :) I guess the main secret is in using signals, but some enemies are especially hard, I acknowledge that (e.g. fog has ability to increase fuel usage and this couple of times was the end for me as well).

Which night was the end for you?

marudziik21 Apr 2026, 22:54

@iovorobiev Originally I didn't even pass the first night. But I played again just now and finally I was able to finish - the "Calm" spell did the job, I didn't get it earlier (is there some randomness to the events? might have been just bad luck). This plus the "Lightning". Also, initially I didn't think about synergizing spells with the choices, and this also helps quite a bit. Thanks!

iovorobievauthor22 Apr 2026, 05:54

@marudziik yes, there is randomness in spells you are offered. I wish I had more time to make all of them more balanced!

Thanks so much for playing the second time!

Purrseus23 Apr 2026, 12:37

I love it!
I wasn't able to make it through Night 2 though, I will probably tra again later :)

When the fisherman offers the parts of the slain abomination, is there ever a reason not to go for the fuel?

iovorobievauthor23 Apr 2026, 12:40

@purrseus thanks for playing!

Yeah, the only reason is if you are already super low on fuel (like 1 or 0) and high on sanity you might want to save this one fuel and spend sanity instead. 99% of cases you would want to use fuel.

I was thinking to do it for free, but didn't have time to make this adjustment

GARYglhf24 Apr 2026, 11:46

Играть просто и интересно. Идея с карточками очень зашла, эта механика мне очень нравиться. Теперь эта одна из моих любимых игр. (если еще появиться локализация с русским языком, то я буду в восторге)

qmdev24 Apr 2026, 18:40

A gorgeous, atmospheric and, most importantly, interesting game. Well done.

zevwax24 Apr 2026, 19:32

5/5 for Graphics! The core mechanic can be a bit frustrating, as it isn't always clear whether swiping left or right is the better choice. However, I suspect that’s just because the Reigns-like genre isn't really for me. That said, I love the atmosphere—the black silhouette of the monster looks genuinely creepy. Great job!

cupofmilk727 Apr 2026, 19:29

one of the coolest games I played in this gamejam! I really love the feel and the gameplay, keep it up! 🎮

mitur28 Apr 2026, 13:45

This is a very creative game, well done!

6Knowledge28 Apr 2026, 16:35

The atmosphere, graphics, and audio were very well done, only played the tutorial as these types of games really aren't for me. Regardless a well done jam game.