#AUSPEX day 21 is here. I've heard there's a pond up...

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#AUSPEX day 21 is here.

I've heard there's a pond up there. Or maybe it's just faint lights from below, flickering through the glass floor like many firefly ghosts, or candles on water lilies made of stone, floating on a river of memories that belong to no one.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing next to what could be a rectangular dark water plane with light reflections. Stairs and torches can be seen in the distance. It could as well be another place entirely.

Like 21 January at 18:59 | Open on merveilles.town

258 comments

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 22 has been released in the wild.

Don't mind the black flames, it's all about fancy glass elevator mechanisms, baby.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing on an extremely narrow small bridge that leads to a brazier burning with a black flame. It looks all very dark and dangerous, but the soundtrack is actually me playing some lofi jazzy tune on the handpan and the mood is in fact pretty chill and cozy, even if a bit melancolic.

22 January at 20:25 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 23 is out.

This place possibly needs some curtains. Red ones, preferably.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing on a narrow zigzag-shaped bridge. Other similar bridges can be seen on the sides, forming a black and white pattern vaguely reminiscent of a certain extra-dimensional room. Some lanterns are also hanging from an invisible (and probably non-existent) ceiling.

23 January at 19:03 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

Here's #AUSPEX day 24.

Maybe a tower, maybe a city, a gigantic monument to the glory of stairs, a temple to their sheer magnificence, a place to worship the divine geometry of an infinite stairway.

Or maybe just, well, more stairs.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch (yeah, still the same) is standing on some spiral staircase in a dark void flanked by massive stone or concrete pillars. A few torches in the distance hint at an enormous space, possibly more a city than a monument.

24 January at 18:57 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 25 is available.

Walking in circles, in a house with no doors, no walls, no rooms. Only narrow paths that may only exist when walked on, above a sea of possibilities.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing in the dark on a zigzagging bridge, surrounded by many columns of various shapes and sizes. There's possibly water below. Did I mention stairs? There are also stairs. Plenty of them. Surprising, I know.

25 January at 18:58 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 26 is out.

Vestiges of yesterday lie broken and twisted, and every attempt at rebuilding them will succeed.

Each in a different way, each reshaped with its own truth. And it won't matter, because no one really remembers.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure is holding a torch, standing at the top of a broken stairway, in the middle of barely lit ruins. There's no visible path, and and grey sun is setting in the distance.

26 January at 19:34 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

Here's #AUPSEX day 27.

The ruins are sinking, and the only way to go through is to walk in the dark, wet void that slowly swallows the last memories of this place. It happened before. It will happen again.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing in knee-deep dark water. Or maybe that's just video noise. They're examining one of the few walls still standing in these sinking ruins. There's a bas relief that looks like an ouroboros.

27 January at 19:32 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 28 has been released.

New structures have emerged from the sunken ruins with an uncanny regularity. As if all of a sudden, the cosmos offered a glimpse of its perfect but unknowable mechanisms.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing under an arched door in the darkness. Many torches are surrounding the scene below, barely illuminating the contour of a possible courtyard.

28 January at 20:01 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

Here comes #AUSPEX day 29.

Sometimes, the only way is taking a shortcut in the dark.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing in the middle of a stairway. In the distance, one can guess a row of narrow columns with torches burning at the top, but everything is dark except the grey sun and the grey horizon and of course it's pretty hard to see anything.

29 January at 19:05 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 30 is live.

Oh no! The spirals are at it again!

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing in a barely lit Escheresque space with stairs and arches. A few lanterns are hanging from the invisible ceiling. But it's honestly quite hard to tell it's lanterns. That's one more reason image descriptions are cool.

30 January at 18:30 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 31 is out.

The mostly invisible glass pyramid has taken over. Good riddance, we've got enough spirals for now.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing in the darkness near the top of a mostly invisible glass pyramid. A few lights hint at some floor transparency, but besides this, it's just a vaguely geometric landscape made of increasingly smaller floating platforms.

31 January at 18:33 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

Here comes #AUSPEX day 32.

And this is where the slow drift into confusion and insanity truly begins, because January 32nd doesn't exist, and neither does February 32nd.

Having levels numbered as dates was effortless, and possibly my only grip left on reality. This could explain why ethereal spheres are now invading an otherwise perfectly empty space.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing on a floating sphere. Several spheres are aligned and form some kind of path in the darkness, with braziers burning on a few of them, and a dim grey sun setting on a curved horizon. Good luck with that.

1 February at 19:25 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 33 has been released.

We've entered a strange territory where mind and matter can hardly be told apart. Ghostly crystal spheres, meta-organism or fleeting dreams, the difference isn't obvious under the dim grey sun.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing on some organic-looking transparent structure drawing a path meandering into the dark, between ethereal spheres divided in visible equal parts. Giant fleshy crystal ghost oranges or something like that.

2 February at 22:47 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 34 is out!

Maybe this place is alive. It certainly looks like a living thing compared to the ruins we've previously visited.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is facing the horizon, standing in a mess of interlinked tentacle-like transparent bridges, floating in a dark space with a bunch of domes and some spheres containing more torches. The whole scene feels quite surreal and alien.

3 February at 22:55 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

Here's #AUSPEX day 35.

If what we're exploring is in fact a spaceship, then what is the spaceship exploring?

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing on some organic narrow set of stairs spiraling in the dark like a giant worm. Four large spheres are floating above. The scene feels quite alien, but the composition oddly reminds of the flying spaghetti monster.

4 February at 19:27 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 36 has been released.

Spheres are turning into cubes, or perhaps the opposite. No matter how unknowable these visions of other times are, there's still beauty to be found in their ethereal geometries.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing in a levitating, transparent rounded cube, turned towards a grey setting sun. Ghostly similar structures and twisted paths can be seen in the dark below, lit by a few torches on tall columns.

5 February at 19:11 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 37 is live.

Hail the king, or whoever that is.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure is standing in the middle of indistinct ruins with a bunch of floating half-spheres and a large statue sitting in a throne.

6 February at 17:50 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 38 is out.

The stairs are back. Resistance is futile.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing on a set of stairs floating in a dark void. More stairs can be seen in the background, and some dim lights are hanging from an invisible ceiling. In the distance, a grey sun is setting behind a curved horizon.

7 February at 19:00 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

Here comes #AUSPEX day 39.

Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Or maybe... Just another tunnel?

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A pixelated figure holding a torch is walking in a ghostly tunnel with transparent walls, towards a black square of pure darkness. A few hanging torches can be seen above and in the background. Another figure holding a torch is watching the first one from an inaccessible platform in the distance.

8 February at 19:38 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 40 has been released.

Today, we're surfing on sine waves.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing somewhere in the darkness on a structure made of transparent wavy stairs, with a dim grey sun setting on the curved horizon.

9 February at 21:45 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

Here's #AUSPEX days 41.

Sometimes it's hard to tell actual shortcuts from imaginary paths.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing in a strange urban landscape that mixes ancient architecture with more industrial elements and oddly curved transparent platforms. It's probably all just a feverish vision of impossibles times.

10 February at 21:03 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 42 is out!

No towels, only ghosts of disco balls. And stairs, of course.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure is holding a torch under some kind of giant spectral disco ball surrounded by hanging luminaires.

11 February at 19:09 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 43 is live.

Getting lost in a maze of glass is probably better than just stumbling in the dark.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing in a corridor of glass. Walls may or may not be here, it's all blending in a dark transparent space with little definition, despite a few lanterns hanging from above.

12 February at 20:26 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 44 has been released.

Maybe this old childhood habit of walking like a chess piece could finally be useful? Even if moving like the knight will likely lead nowhere...

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing on some kind of giant ethereal chessboard floating in the dark, where the black squares are likely void. Other chessboard layers are floating above.

13 February at 18:10 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

Hey, here's #AUSPEX day 45.

Is it a boat? Nobody knows where it's sailing though, or even if there's a sea below. Who cares about the destination anyway?

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing in front of a burning brazier, on what could be some kind of elongated boat or starship with an upper part made of glass, sailing a sea of darkness.

14 February at 17:47 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 46 is out.

Floating cubes, glass panes, ghostly stairs, distant ruins... Nothing unusual in this part of the big dark void.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch next to a lit brazier is standing on a glass platform between descending stairs on each side. Glass panes, building silhouettes and floating cubes are parts of the scenery.

15 February at 17:25 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

Hey, it's #AUSPEX day 47.

Watching each other from afar, as strangers, friends, lovers or enemies. Or simply as mindless reflections.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

Two pixelated figures holding torches are facing each other in a dark landscape made of stairs and hanging luminaires.

16 February at 22:45 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 48 is live.

And so we chase each other like ghosts in sunken cities, forgotten and oblivious, unaware of our own presence.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is facing a lit brazier between concrete pillars, knee deep into dark water or maybe video noise.

17 February at 22:41 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

Hey, it's #AUSPEX o'clock, day 49! (yes I know, I'm being extremely creative with these messages)

Is it the place where emotions and feelings are fabricated? Perhaps one can ask for a refund?

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing on a spectral wave-shaped floor in the dark, and is facing a torch encapsulated in some kind of floating bubble. It's all probably all very symbolic, but good luck with finding what it's supposed to mean.

18 February at 19:59 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

Here comes #AUSPEX day 50.

Maybe everything isn't as ghostly as it seems if platforms need to be suspended with chains to stay in the air. Or maybe it makes everything even more ghostly. Go figure.

Play the new level and the 49 previous ones here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing on a wavy platform suspended by chains in a black void. A brazier is burning on the right, more platforms and chains can be seen in the background. And...It's snowing. Kind of.

19 February at 18:38 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

Hello, this is #AUSPEX day 51.

May we interest you in some spectral glass tubes? We have a whole labyrinth of them for your wandering pleasure.

Play the new level here: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing in a labyrinth of glass tubes. Their transparency makes the whole structure hardly understandable, not to mention it's pretty dark except for a few burning braziers.

20 February at 20:08 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 52 is out!

Is that labyrinthine ghost stairs in your pocket dimension or are you just happy to see a stumbling flicker of light in an endless sea of nothingness?

Play the new level here, it features stairs I'm extremely proud of: https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is walking inside a ghostly corridor. Similar transparent corridors can be seen above and below, featuring bizarre skeletal stairs vaguely reminiscent of Hans Rudi Giger's art.

Now I think about it, my obsession with stairs probably started many years ago when I first saw Giger's drawings of stairs, which were inspired by the stairs leading to the basement of his childhood home, or something like that.

His drawings didn't look at all like this screenshot by the way, but here, the slight biomechanical vibe still reminds of his later works, and these drawings were in black and white, so I there's still a link.

Also, thanks for reading this silly alt text <3

21 February at 19:55 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 53 has been released.

Megastructures and ectoplasmic stairways blending into abstract dimensions.

Play the new level here:
https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is barely visible in a strange stairscape of spectral glass and concrete architecture. The scene looks quite abstract and hard to read.

It somehow reminds me of Duchamp's "Nu descendant un escalier nᵒ 2", or possibly even more "Marcel Duchamp descend un escalier dans une multitude de prises" by Eliot Elisofon. I bet you didn't expect such references from an obscure experimental game :P

22 February at 18:41 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

Hello, it's #AUSPEX day 54.

Everything's a ghost but you. Probably.

Play the new level here:
https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing somewhere in a blend of overlapping transparent corridors that may or may not exist.

23 February at 19:33 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 55 has been released.

Now you can fully experience the endless Sisyphean pleasure of pushing buttons until the end of times to make things move in a looped fashion.

Moving platforms go brrrrr

Play the new level here:
https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is leaving a trail of smoke while flying on a moving platform over a dark abyss.

24 February at 21:44 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 56 is out.

Jumping on moving platforms in the dark isn't exactly a good idea, but is there any other option, besides not letting that torch go out?

Play the new level here:
https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone dark pixelated figure without a torch (oh no!) is standing at the lowest junction point of two skeletal stairs. There's only darkness below.

25 February at 19:55 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 57 is live.

The ghostly one-eyed disco balls are watching you.

Play the new level here:
https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is facing a pack of strange floating spheres that may be ghostly disco balls or giant ectoplasmic eyeballs. In any case, it looks rather creepy and YES YOU'RE BEING WATCHED.

26 February at 20:35 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

Hey, it's #AUSPEX day 58.

Let's ride glass platforms with oblique trajectories at full speed above massive dark chasms. What could possibly go wrong?

Play the new level here:
https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing on a floating glass platform above a dark chasm near some concrete structure. One can tell the platform is moving simultaneously down and forward, because the trail of smoke from the torch hints at this kind of trajectory. Isn't that neat?

27 February at 19:31 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 59 is out.

Sometimes all you can do is build upon yesterdays' ruins. And that's okay.

Play the new level here:
https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is watching a setting grey sun from the top of disparate ruins, where brutalist blocks, arches, statues and transparent structures merge in a barely understandable way.

28 February at 22:58 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 60 is here, against all odds.

Let's just push buttons for a a slow and relaxing ride.

Play the new level here:
https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex
(it's extremely lazy and chill because, uh, that's the best I could do today, see: https://merveilles.town/@ice/112017044243369766)

A lone pixelated figure is standing on a floating platform that move slowly towards an exit on the left side. There's a weird giant glowing eyeball hanging from a chain in front of them, but fear not, it's just a fancy button to activate platforms.

29 February at 22:54 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

Here comes #AUSPEX day 61.

Something isn't right here. A mostly failed experiment. Better not push that button to avoid a nasty surprise, depending on which door was previously used.

Play the new level here:
https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is examining a big shiny button that may or may not trigger a fully functional mechanism. Safety not guaranteed.

1 March at 23:07 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 62 has been released.

The Cult of Stairs has just reached new heights.

Play the new level here:
https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex
(also, yesterday's level has been updated for a much more enjoyable ride.)

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is climbing a set of ladders. Yes, the game now includes ladders. Yes...Hahaha... YES!

2 March at 21:55 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

Oh hi, it's #AUSPEX day 63.

Ladders all the way down. And up. Barely visible, but waiting in the dark...

Play the new level here:
https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is standing on a small glass bridge, with arches and torches in the background. Some barely visible ladders can be seen in the distance.

3 March at 22:38 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

Introducing an incredible new feature coming tonight in #AUSPEX, a very special addition that everyone has been asking for...

A hole in the ground!

Okay, nobody asked for it, except my 6 yo kid. But that should tell you enough about what to expect, right?

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is examining a circular hole in the ground with a slightly 8-pointed star shape.

4 March at 17:15 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 64 is out.

Don't look down. It's not worth it, there's nothing to see anyway.

Play the new level here:
https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch and standing on a narrow stone bridge is looking at a setting grey sun behind a broken arch. Torches and a couple of braziers are emitting a dim light in an otherwise very dark scenery.

4 March at 21:40 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 65 is live!

Why take stairs when you can take the elevator? Because this is the kind of vicious architecture where stairs are only here to connect different elevators, not to replace them. Hopefully, whoever built this abomination belongs to a long dead civilization.

Play the new level here:
https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex

A lone pixelated figure holding a torch is climbing a set of stairs in a dark landscape with vertical structures towering above a curved horizon with a grey sun. Not pictured: a pretty cool elevator system.

5 March at 23:28 | Open on merveilles.town

lectronaughty replied to lectronaughty

#AUSPEX day 66 go brrrrr

Literally. And... Mind the the gap. Really, we mean it. Also, don't get too close. You'd better take a few steps back after pressing that button. And don't do anything silly while sailing at high speed on the sea of black noise, okay?

Play the new level here:
https://lectronice.itch.io/auspex