In The Dark
Story
It was a simple mission: Investigate an unidentified distress signal from a cruiser-class ship orbiting a barren planet in the Rigel system. Ikalo Pann, the Captain of the Star Leviathan, navigated through the debris surrounding the derelict ship until it was within scanner range. A scan of the ship pinged with no purchase for organics, life support systems were still functional, but losing power.
With no signs of life coming from the vessel, they feared the worst but proceeded to dock with the airlock and climb aboard. Upon entering the main deck, they noticed the warped sound of a klaxon going off, echoing down the halls. Ikalo signaled to her crew to follow her further into the ship towards the living quarters. As they entered the next room, the warning alarm suddenly stopped and the doors behind them shut tight, followed by the grinding gears of a locking mechanism.
The display on a monitor in the middle of the room came to life, a cursor pulsed rhythmically, illuminating the Captain's surroundings with a soft neon green glow. Suddenly, a pattern of lights animated on the monitor, and as they came to rest, a puzzle appeared over the on-screen grid. It was clear that this was all tied to the ship. They had fallen into a trap! There was only one hope - solve the puzzles to bypass the locks... and as the power continued to drain from what little remained of the backup power and life support systems, it was only a matter of time before they succumbed to their fate.
Features:
- 100 Progressively Perplexing Curated Puzzles to solve in a 3x3 format
- Random Mode - With over 500 possible puzzle combinations, you never know what you're going to get!
- A "Par" is set for each level to push you to find the quickest solution
- A Multitude of Color Palette Variants to Unlock - unlock through progress and by clearing Pars!
- Super Game Boy support with custom SGB Border!
- Save Game (with Data Clear function)
| CONTROLS | GAME BOY | KEYBOARD |
| Move Cursor | D-Pad | Arrow Keys |
| Switch State of Light/Interact (In Menus) | A | Z |
| Go Back (In Menus) | B | X |
| Access Pause Menu | START | ENTER |
| Quick Puzzle Reset | SELECT | SHIFT |
Story, Code, Level / Game Design: Bryan Taylor (Pearacidic)
Art, Story, Dialog and Game Design by: Tom Lockwood (Mastodon | Instagram)
Music by: Tronimal
Play Testers: Brandon Hudson, Ben Jelter, MHZ, and Joel J
Special Thanks: Tronimal, Our Family and Friends, and Players like you!
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- In The Dark 1 is now FREE!May 28, 2024
- An optional Walkthrough/FAQ has been included with the IN THE DARK digital versi...Apr 27, 2022
- IN THE DARK digital version is OUT NOW!Apr 02, 2022
- Version 0.2cMar 07, 2022
- IN THE DARK demo is available now!Mar 06, 2022
Comments
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Nice Game!
Thanks!
In the Dark has amazing artwork and the music is really well paired. The puzzles can get tough but the palette changes keep the game fresh as you progress through. The animations and story are out of this world!
Really made me feel like a Spacethug. Great work.
Great overall package! Solid art/music/gameplay. Puzzle progression feels good so far, even though I've only made it to the second set. The palettes changed more that I was expecting, which was a pleasant surprise. Lots of attention to detail in the manual as well. Well done!
I sincerely appreciate you checking out the game - we spent the most time on getting the colors and palettes just right.
A nice addition to gameboy puzzlers: Lights Out! but with a plot. 100% what I needed.
Thanks for checking it out! 🤩
This is a very demanding game. Congratulations! The video is really good too and the whole game is perfect.
Thanks, László! I'm glad you liked it 😁
Great intro, but I feel like I’m randomly turning on and off lights, I got down to one light, but I have not got past the first level.
Thanks! Turning on or off a light will flip the state of all adjacent lights. That's all you will need to know to solve the puzzles. It can get quite tricky!
If you find yourself getting lost in trial and error, best thing to do is to press SELECT for a quick restart and reassess the puzzle from it's original configuration.
Stunning intro, great music and very polished gameplay, awesome work!
Thank you, Tronimal did a fantastic job with the soundtrack. Very pleased to have been able to work with him.
Amazing, I'd like to play the full game, you did an incredible job!
Thank you! Glad to hear you are eager to experience the full game.
The game look so well made!
Can't wait to play the full version, great work guys!!!!
Thanks for playing!
Is the game like that minigame in New Super Mario Bros DS?
I'm guessing that this is what you are referring to:
No, it's more like this (links to footage of it in action):
My memory is not very good, I remembered that the minigame was like Lights, and I've never heard of that game before.
Pretty cool concept!
Thanks!