Cursed Ghosts

Made for Ludum Dare 51. Theme: ‘Every 10 seconds’
[More information including how to play on the Ludum Dare game page; see hyperlink above.]

A twist on a famous arcade classic. Pills, here!!

How to play

The game alternates between ‘night’ and ‘day’ phases. During the night, you can observe the colours of the ghosts; during the day, you can grab and release ghosts. The goal is to release ghosts on the sideway receivers (the four static coloured Pac-Mans), matching the colours. The target number of ghosts is indicated in the upper-left corner, while the remaining number of full night-day cycles is indicated right to the Power Pellet icon (also in the upper-left corner).

There is no maximum level, the game goes on. [In version 1.1, the game goes back to level 1 after level 38.]

COLOURBLIND MODE: in colourblind mode, numbers get displayed to make up for colours (both on daytime ghosts and receivers).

Version information

(06/10/2022) IMPORTANT: during Ludum Dare 51’s voting period, I will let the navigator version as 1.0.1, since the site does not allow you to put two Web players simultaneously; nevertheless, be aware that later versions (such as 1.0.2 now) will be available for download (including the navigator instance) if you want to try them out. In particular, 1.0.2 does a better job at displaying a suitable difficulty and is so close to the original that it is worth a look to get a better idea of how the game plays out.
(23/10/2022) Navigator version is now 1.1.

(11/10/2022) Version 1.1 (which is post-Compo, but which I think I could have made in time for the Jam format) extends the game with layers, many ergonomic details, and more challenging difficulty. Levels also vary in size. See the devlog for more information, including an exhaustive list of changes.

Technical note

The game runs in fullscreen mode, which causes trouble for the navigator version (which I had hidden from displaying). Desktop versions should work.

In the navigator version (which has thus smaller resolution): the love.js fullscreen mode (using the lower-left button) seems not to have the keyboard respond (at least for me under Firefox), only the mouse; nevertheless, the itch.io fullscreen mode (using the lower-right button) works, although it only extends the Web player’s background. I recommend using a desktop version if you can for better comfort, even though the navigator version seems playable.

(DISCLAIMER: still at least one bug — ghosts do not disappear once sacrificed —, but I am trying to solve this as quickly as possible. Update: fixed! Silly variable misnaming!!)

DISCLAIMER: a technical navigator-related bug causes the game to crash when you press Return to reload a level (this is related to sound). Hiding the navigator version temporarily to fix this. EDIT: apparently solved!