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Historically Accurate Game Jam 6

Hosted by Holmgang, Humane Tiger, Gogani · #hagj6

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A jam submission

Morse ManiaView game page

Send telegraph messages. Beat the clock. Make money.

Submitted by Thom "dot com" Craver (@thomcraver) — 1 day, 19 hours before the deadline

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Morse Mania's itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
Overall	#1	3.684	3.684
Gameplay	#1	3.526	3.526
Historical Accuracy	#1	4.053	4.053
Audio	#5	3.316	3.316
Graphics	#9	3.421	3.421
Thematic Relevancy	#11	3.789	3.789

Ranked from 19 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Description of your game:
Transmit a message over a telegraph wire in Morse Code as fast and accurately as you can before time runs out!

A simulation of tapping out letters to form messages on a morse code key inspired by Samuel Morse's telegraph which ushered in an era of fast communication over long distances during the Industrial Revolution.

Assets used (which you didn't make):
Music: Ragtime Piano - Satisfied by Theron C. Bennett (Pixabay)
Sound: Transmit Morse Code, Finger Symbol Hit (FreeSFX.co.uk)
Telegraph Key: 'Old Telegraph' by Francesco Coldesina (Sketchfab)
Telegram: 'Telegram Paper' , modifed (OpenClipArt.org)
Background: 'Brown Wood Texture', (FreePik.com)
Header Image: Morse apparatus and alphabet (Library of Congress)
(Links to all and CC4 License on project page)

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Comments

Sam ScribblerSubmitted1 year ago

Great sound design! Really interesting way to gamify Morse Code, but I had a lot of trouble getting the timing right. It seems like the difference between a dot and a dash is very fine, and it kept starting new letters when I was trying to make a dash. Maybe having a separate button to submit/clear a letter would be helpful?

Overall very fun, wish the input was less delicate.

Submitted

New Harmony, Indiana

Thom "dot com" CraverDeveloper1 year ago

Thanks for playing and the feedback!

I certainly considered an enter button. I also had, but later removed and auto-submit after 4 characters were entered...changed it to 5

I decided against it because it broke the historical accuracy. A future version, however, will likely have a sensitivity slider to allow people to choose to play faster or slower.

rsramos8672Submitted1 year ago(+1)

Great way to gamify morse code. Love that you need to develop a feel for the rhythm of the taps.

Submitted

Thom "dot com" CraverDeveloper1 year ago

Thanks, mate. Appreciate that.

rsramos8672Submitted1 year ago(+1)

Do you have any ideas about how you would extend the game if you had more time? It seems like it might be difficult to expand on the challenge and progression, I would be interested to hear if you had any design plans like that while you were making this.

Thom "dot com" CraverDeveloper1 year ago

Yes. See above comments.

But, looking to consider a path/level scenario with power-ups (free letters/vowels/slowdowns/etc) or implement that interface into a different style of game like Papers Please or similar.

rsramos8672Submitted1 year ago

I like the idea of having this as a mechanic within some other meta-loop (Like your Papers, Please suggestion). That allows you to expand the game design beyond the scope of this (already demonstrably good) mechanic without needing to change and balance it.

Thom "dot com" CraverDeveloper1 year ago

Thanks for playing. Glad you enjoyed it

gamecusSubmitted1 year ago

YEAH! It’s really cool game! For what can I use money in game?

Submitted

Thom "dot com" CraverDeveloper1 year ago

Nothing yet. Power-ups to come ... potentially.

I might take it in a different direction.

MyszunSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

I really enjoyed the game. Well done!

Submitted

Commune Manager

Thom "dot com" CraverDeveloper1 year ago

Thank you for playing and the kind words.

PieroTechnical1 year ago

Great work! Any chance of an Android build in the future?

Thom "dot com" CraverDeveloper1 year ago(+1)

Absolutely.

The plan is to:

tweak the UI//timing a bit
tweak the letter drop/speedup algo a bit

Then either:

Add a "path" for levels with lots more message puzzles, and power-ups
-or- Make a different style adventure with it - like Papers, Please or similar

Thoughts?

PieroTechnical1 year ago(+1)

It's funny, I was actually thinking a "Papers, Please" style story-mode would be great.

SteveOhByteSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

Wow! This is such a cool idea! I found the music really great, but the sound effects seemed to only be playing in one ear and were quite loud. Gameplay-wise it's a really enjoyable game loop when I'm able to hit something, but it seems like the key detection system could have used a little refining, or maybe there could be a practice stage where people would learn exactly how long to hit space for. All in all a great game!

Submitted

Talking Revolution

Thom "dot com" CraverDeveloper1 year ago(+2)

Thank you, @sneakysteve!

It's not perfect, I agree. My hope is to keep fine-tuning it after the jam voting is over.

It was a lot to tweak the interface. I change it and played it numerous times on various platforms. Seems a mouse button is easier than a space bar. Certain touch devices are better than others.

Thanks for playing and your feedback.

HeiwaSubmitted1 year ago(+2)

-. --- - -... .- -..

Submitted

Victorian Railway

PieroTechnical1 year ago

... ..

Magno-M-S-SilvaSubmitted1 year ago(+2)

Excellent game! Simple mechanics but fun!

Submitted

New Harmony, Indiana

Thom "dot com" CraverDeveloper1 year ago(+1)

Thanks, Magno-M-S-Silva.