Rail Switcher
The October Ludum Dare curse strikes again! Once again, I'm sick, though I was able to get this out.
Your objective is to get steam trains (the "old tech") to the right stations. There are four colour-coded stations on the right-side of the screen. Colour-coded trains will appear on the left-side of the screen, and you need to open and close junctions to get the trains to the matching coloured station.
You toggle the junctions by clicking on them. A green light shows which exit track is "active".
You win by getting 20 trains to the correct stations before 5 trains end up at the wrong stations. The more trains get to stations, the more trains will spawn and the faster they'll move.
- "Short whistle" sound effect based on "Whistle - steam train" by SmartSound FX (https://uppbeat.io/sfx/whistle-steam-train/667/1206)
- "Kaching" from Till-Gong-Bike remixes of kiddpark's Freesound #201159.wav by Timbre (https://freesound.org/people/Timbre/sounds/404028/)
- "nes_cyrillic" font by xbost (https://www.pentacom.jp/pentacom/bitfontmaker2/gallery/?id=234)
- Trains speed up when going through the mergers from the bottom entry to the top exit, then slow back down after exiting the merger.
- Train collisions.
- "Rogue trains" that would come roaring through and the player would need to direct them to one of several non-station exits, while avoiding the other trains.
- A larger rail network and/or different rail networks (levels).
- More track pieces (e.g., T-junctions, cross-overs).
- Passenger carriages! (The "trains" are really only steam engines, I really wanted variable-length trains.)
- Getting a complete (if somewhat abbreviated) game loop in place, with time to spare (which I'm using to collapse into bed...).
- Settling on an idea relatively quickly.
- Not dying... yet....
Your objective is to get steam trains (the "old tech") to the right stations. There are four colour-coded stations on the right-side of the screen. Colour-coded trains will appear on the left-side of the screen, and you need to open and close junctions to get the trains to the matching coloured station.
You toggle the junctions by clicking on them. A green light shows which exit track is "active".
You win by getting 20 trains to the correct stations before 5 trains end up at the wrong stations. The more trains get to stations, the more trains will spawn and the faster they'll move.
Credits
- Music is "Steamboat stomp" by XOS (https://www.jamendo.com/track/1410553/steamboat-stomp)- "Short whistle" sound effect based on "Whistle - steam train" by SmartSound FX (https://uppbeat.io/sfx/whistle-steam-train/667/1206)
- "Kaching" from Till-Gong-Bike remixes of kiddpark's Freesound #201159.wav by Timbre (https://freesound.org/people/Timbre/sounds/404028/)
- "nes_cyrillic" font by xbost (https://www.pentacom.jp/pentacom/bitfontmaker2/gallery/?id=234)
Known Bugs
- There's a jump when train exits the first piece of track (the spawners) -- it jumps to the end of the very next piece of track, but then works perfectly for the rest of the rail network. Spent several hours trying to debug this already.- Trains speed up when going through the mergers from the bottom entry to the top exit, then slow back down after exiting the merger.
Features cut for time
- Variable train speed.- Train collisions.
- "Rogue trains" that would come roaring through and the player would need to direct them to one of several non-station exits, while avoiding the other trains.
- A larger rail network and/or different rail networks (levels).
- More track pieces (e.g., T-junctions, cross-overs).
- Passenger carriages! (The "trains" are really only steam engines, I really wanted variable-length trains.)
Things I'm happy with
- Figuring out how to do the tracks without using Path2Ds (especially the mergers -- they were a special type of trouble).- Getting a complete (if somewhat abbreviated) game loop in place, with time to spare (which I'm using to collapse into bed...).
- Settling on an idea relatively quickly.
- Not dying... yet....
Comments16
Here is a quick breakdown of my thoughts:
• Gameplay & Design: The core mechanics feel solid and intuitive right from the start. The gameplay loop is engaging, and the controls feel responsive and fair.
• Visuals & Art Style: The visual direction fits the overall mood really well. Everything looks cohesive, and the presentation makes it very clean to follow what's happening on screen.
• Audio: The sound effects and audio design add a lot of punch to the experience and help build the atmosphere.
• Theme Interpretation: You did a fantastic job incorporating the jam's theme into the core loop in a creative and clever way!
Constructive Polish Idea: If you decide to update or expand this after the jam, adding a few extra feedback cues (like juice/particles or subtle screen shake) or expanding on a few mechanics could make it feel even more polished!
Overall, awesome job for a jam project! Left you a high score/rating. Keep up the great work! 🚀
@givit-game-studios : the junctions went through several iterations, and I'm still not completely happy with them. Some of that's down to the limitations of working in a 16x16 grid, but I've got some more ideas about how to make them more visible.
@anastasia-pitomets : thank you so much for playing and for the detailed breakdown! I’m really glad you enjoyed the gameplay, visuals, and audio. Your feedback is much appreciated, and I’ll definitely keep your polish suggestions in mind for any future updates. Thanks again for the high rating and the kind words! 🎮✨
Left full ratings. Cheers from the Meow Bomb team, feel free to drop by our page if you're looking for more games to rate!
@jooooooise : yes, I pretty much set up a test network with the idea I'd come back to it later, but never did so the left-side of the map has more options for routing.
@no-grapes-games : the teleporting bug I mentioned in the description doesn't help when a train jumps on the junction before you can change it 🙄
@nursultan : always try to play and rate the games of people who leave me comments!
@wolforce : thanks!
@milq: originally, the signals at the top did have labels, but I was having font rendering issues. I eventually sorted those out, but never but the labels back 😢
We’d really appreciate it if you could test out Meow Bomb! too. For an updated experience with a working PC and fixes, check out the alternative build here: https://naiper.itch.io/meow-bomb-by-naiper
Have fun playing!
Some trains seemed to skip / speed up at random points, that threw me off guard to be honest.
Also, I didn't know what the icons on the top of the screen meant until way later. I think it's clever design, but users like me aren't always that clever to understand 😇
I had fun playing yours
Edit: I like your "features cut for time" section here on the LD page, some of those features sound fun! Maybe there is room for a post-LD version later on?
@nursultan : loved the new version!
@wouter52 : I've spent quite a while trying to fix that skipping bug! It's defying all logic and reason! As for the icons at the top, they originally had labels but I had issues getting the font to render properly; I fixed that problem, but forgot to put the labels back. 🙄 Glad you enjoyed it, and I'd like to do a post-jam version (with the bug fixed, the labels restored, and maybe a hardcore mode too).
@mrs-wheelsx : Two votes for hardcore mode. Guess this means I'm doing a post-jam version. 😁
@ao-85 : Glad you enjoyed it!
@eugenik : Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!