Ludum Dare #59compo

Sierra 1-1

by zevwax

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.37

Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.74

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.50

Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.45

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.87

Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.89

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.47

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.55

SignalOS is bare-bones software developed by the DNC Foundation in 1994 for signal interception.

The experience tells a short story about Operator-04. Both Happy and Bad endings are available.

Known bugs (sorry for that, I'm already working on them):
#1 Shutdown button: Leads to a black screen.
Workaround: Use the ESC menu.
#2 There is no "The End" screen: the 2nd guy indicates the ACTUAL end of the game.
#3 Green input terminal: Pressing the space key inside the EDIT window causes UI elements to overlap.
Workaround: Exit and restart the game. Your progress will be saved, and the bug will disappear.
#4 No signals: Occasionally (e.g., if a red signal log has been sent), the game may stop providing new content before you reach the quota due to an internal error.
Workaround: Sorry, for now you must delete your local save file to fix this (Path: C:\Users\JohnDoe\AppData\Roaming\Picotron\exp\shared\drive\appdata\germer).

Comments18

nit20 Apr 2026, 18:17

I understand there is a plot, but my game crashes after a few quotas

SteveOfStevesGames20 Apr 2026, 18:23

Quite fun.
Im not sure what to do now, there is another robot guy running around and i cant seem to interact with it.
I assume its not the end bacause when i closed the game and opened it again it was saved at the extra robot guy.
shut down just goes to a black screen instead of closing the game.

Edit: the menu has a way to exit the game, now im thinking shutdown was for something else.

Sirplop20 Apr 2026, 22:52

Quite interesting, though I also don't know what to do with the extra dude running around.

Dingbat20 Apr 2026, 22:54

Fun little game. I like the presentation and art and it has some story/lore which is nice. Not quite sure what to do after the second guy is walking around though lol if there was a conclusion beyond getting stuck with that buddy I couldn't figure it out. A few extra sound effects definitely could have helped keep my attention span a bit better 😂 nice job!

Tapot23 Apr 2026, 10:33

The running dude is funny, good game, thanks!

Xaklor24 Apr 2026, 21:30

I love the art style but it feels like a very simple sort of game. it might have helped if there was something that made the act of locating signals more engaging, like some kind of obstacles or hazards. as it is, it mostly boils down to "here is a message, do you send it?". you have at least made that decision interesting by having it influence the plot, but out of curiosity and I replayed the game and wiped ALL messages and not only was I not punished for being a terrible operator, the story of the good ending still played out normally. could be interesting, but the game feels like it needs more. still, you did finish on time which is commendable, so you should feel good about it

Ty Victorson1 May 2026, 08:28

I made it to 6 quotas before the game ended? I wasn't sure what to do to reboot I clicked shutdown but that froze my game. I did really like the UI though where to click took me a sec to figure out. Overall, it's a neat idea and if you developed it further it could turn out to be pretty interesting!

yopox1 May 2026, 08:59

I love the visuals and the concept! Having to reload the game on red signals to clear corruption is a great idea :) Happy to see a picotron entry 👾

Zettelkasten1 May 2026, 09:31

I really like the overall style and feeling. It was almost creepy when suddenly a second droid appeared (I questioned whether or not this was a multiplayer game and that was another player!)
But then the game suddenly ended (I reached the "bad ending")? Not sure if there are other endings? Or whether I was doing something wrong, I didn't feel like I had many choices (did I accidentally send a red signal, I wasn't sure?). I would've loved to see how the story progresses.

attentionadmin1 May 2026, 10:33

I loved the graphics

OadT1 May 2026, 13:53

Its a cool idea to incorparate the tutorial into the system logs and I also liked the signal from you explaining that I reached the good ending :smile: I manipulated the cooridinates but I am not sure if it was a good or if it even matters at all. So some more explanation would be nice there. Good entry!

zevwaxauthor1 May 2026, 14:01

Thank you all, guys, for your ratings and comments! @oadt, wonderful profile picture! :D

Richard Baltrusch2 May 2026, 11:11

I'm not completely sure what to do (not sure this confusion is intended, but might as well be) - but a very artistic game. It has a nice coherent vibe and the graphics, while fairly minimalistic, are satisfying. I reached the bad ending, but that's probably because I didn't understand what to do. Nice touch with the OS reboot in the middle (and loved the corrupted signal effect before it). Well done!

pres23003 May 2026, 04:24

This game was great, and had a very interesting way to tell a story. I ended up getting the bad ending but am not exactly sure why. The artwork and SFX were very fitting. Nice work!

zevwaxauthor3 May 2026, 04:57

@richard-baltrusch n @pres2300, thanks!

kkkyia3 May 2026, 13:57

Cute graphic! Love the running little guy;D

Coda Highland3 May 2026, 21:37

Very smooth animations and gameplay. Might have been nice to have keyboard shortcuts for switching tabs, but that's really the only suggestion I can make.

zevwaxauthor4 May 2026, 04:21

@kkkyia, appreciate this