Ludum Dare #60compo
Merry & Bright & CRI ≥ 95
You've covered your house in more piercing blue LED Christmas lights than you can count, but you still don't feel the holiday cheer. What could be wrong?
A 20-minute video essay you found online answered your question. Now, armed with a pile of homemade recreation vintage bulbs, including just a few blue ones that turned out okay, you set out to fix your Christmas light displays.
Left button assigns color, mouse wheel scrolls through options, right click resets to LED blue. (Pro tip: use the mouse wheel.)
Infrequently asked questions
Doesn't the four-color theorem make this trivial?
Nope; first of all you need to *find* the solutions, not just prove their existence, and second, the four-color theorem doesn't take into account your strictly limited supply of blue bulbs. (Also I'm pretty sure a few of the puzzles are non-planar graphs.)
What tools did you use?
Sublime Text, Firefox dev tools, pencil and paper, the scanner function in the Google Drive app, GIMP, vanilla JavaScript, CSS for UI elements, and a bunch of Wikipedia articles on graph theory.
Is there multiplayer support?
Technically, yes! If you open the game in multiple tabs or windows at once, progress will sync between them in real time. If you have a computer that can be used by multiple people at once, maybe because you have a touch screen or something, simply invite a friend to use a second window while you use the first.
Does it matter how nice my solutions look?
If you post a screenshot in the comments and it looks bad, we will judge you. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
You're joking about the 20-minute video essay, though, right?
*I never joke about 20-minute video essays.* Go to youtube.com/watch?v=va1rzP2xIx4
Comments8
Jon Curtin19 Oct 2026, 01:21
Really cool, loved the hand drawn art and the clever puzzles, very cozy feel
khaotom19 Oct 2026, 01:24
Well now I know.
Jooooooise19 Oct 2026, 02:40
classic and cool
XeduR19 Oct 2026, 03:13
I spent a good while tapping this check mark, thinking it was a button the next puzzle, but apparently it isn't? 😄
It's a clever and fun little game.
It's a clever and fun little game.
Gevernus19 Oct 2026, 10:56
Loved this one! The hand-drawn notebook style is gorgeous and has so much personality, and the premise of replacing garish blue LEDs with warm vintage bulbs made me laugh. The puzzle is clever: it looks like a simple coloring task, but limited bulbs make you actually think. Easily one of the most memorable compo entries I've played. Great work!
Alex Mulkerrin19 Oct 2026, 19:11
Painting patterns with 4 colours gets more interesting when you limit the number of times you can use colours across puzzles, neat. The graphical aesthetic is charming and lends itself to a cozy home environment, it feels like something you could give to kids as a puzzle to do over Christmas.
I too was a bit confused that the checkmark wasn't a button at first, otherwise the actual buttons are charmingly handdrawn. I got 5 puzzles done before running out of blue lights but I'm sure with some thought I could get the other one done too. It's a shame there isn't some festive music to accompany this game. I did like the subtle animation to some of the lights.
All in all a very neat entry. It's a mystery how it can be multiplayer, how did you do that? :o
I too was a bit confused that the checkmark wasn't a button at first, otherwise the actual buttons are charmingly handdrawn. I got 5 puzzles done before running out of blue lights but I'm sure with some thought I could get the other one done too. It's a shame there isn't some festive music to accompany this game. I did like the subtle animation to some of the lights.
All in all a very neat entry. It's a mystery how it can be multiplayer, how did you do that? :o
henk20 Oct 2026, 21:17
Somehow before clicking on that link I knew it was going to be a Technology Connections video. There's just nobody else on youtube I can think of who'd make a 20 minute rant about Christmas lights and CRI.
I thought the game was too easy at first, and then I ran out of blue lights and had to go back and re-do all my puzzle solutions. Congrats on the challenging puzzle.
I thought the game was too easy at first, and then I ran out of blue lights and had to go back and re-do all my puzzle solutions. Congrats on the challenging puzzle.
Throws me back to Algo course in Uni :) Couldn't figure out the third puzzle, and didn't have the power to check if it's really possible lol
Anyways, great job!