FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD59 → Signal Operator

Signal Operator

By tasakasama

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall1623.3829
Fun1853.1429
Innovation1983.0929
Theme734.0929
Graphics2013.1829
Humor1432.5225
Mood2482.7926

Comments

pincushion 2026-04-20 16:37

This is full of possibilities. Just changing where the trucks load made for an interesting change in the last level. The calming music goes well with the frustration of destroying the fleet.

frowsyfrog 2026-04-20 16:50

Interesting how it gradually becomes more complex with new elements! Although it can get a bit slow at times, it keeps you thinking! Great job!

tasakasama 2026-04-20 16:53

@pincushion I still had quite a few ideas for the levels, but due to lack of time I had to scale the project back a bit. Anyway, I'm glad you liked it.

glem-fumeno 2026-04-20 16:54

Cool game! In the first level I didn't know what to click, there were green boxes and I tried clicking them and only after like 30 seconds of mashing random keys I realized that I'm dumb and that the counter goes up...

tasakasama 2026-04-20 16:55

@frowsyfrog This is something I wanted from the start, to have a gradual increase in difficulty, so it's poorly balanced but at least you can complete the first levels without too much trouble :) Thanks for playing!

tasakasama 2026-04-20 16:56

@glem-fumeno Yes, this was due to a lack of polish in the text display, which didn't exactly encourage reading. I would have preferred to present it as a dialogue, but given the constraints of JAM, I had to work within the allotted time.

Thank you for your time.

qmdev 2026-04-20 16:59

It’s amusing how trains fall apart. Like it.

tasakasama 2026-04-20 17:05

@qmdev It started as an Unity(Destroy), and I thought, no way, it's not possible, it has to be fun, after all. And I managed to make this happen. It's a bit bloated with code, but it's fine for a jam.

On the other hand, I regret not adding a crash counter.

paroxysmal 2026-04-20 23:00

Good entry...I like trains explode, I saw that a lot. Well done.

makintosh 2026-04-20 23:05

The jam theme is implemented in a cool way. Among the downsides: The lack of sound settings. There's a small quirk with the arrow it points in the wrong direction, or maybe I just didn't understand something. bag.png

I didn't quite understand what the green squares are for.

It's nicely done that new mechanics gradually unlock . I really liked that. The visuals are pleasant.

tasakasama 2026-04-20 23:14

@paroxysmal Thank you for taking the time to try.

tasakasama 2026-04-20 23:15

@makintosh Yes, it's clearly pointing in the wrong direction, good catch and sorry :)

kanhao 2026-04-21 08:36

The level design is very interesting, and the scenes of trucks colliding are extremely smooth, which is quite satisfying to watch. However, the complex levels in the later stages often cause me to fail repeatedly at the beginning of each level, leaving me feeling annoyed and frustrated.

alex-mulkerrin 2026-04-21 13:17

The trains are nice and blocky which makes it fun to crash them >:D The second level has so many trains crossing that the best way to get through them seemed to be to send multiple trains at once and hope the first one cleared the way which is interesting to say the least!

The web version is set to use a smaller viewport size so that the edges of the screen with the destination totals are cut off. It's fine in the Windows build.

allexeee 2026-04-21 16:05

A fun puzzle game for 15 minutes

lcstark 2026-04-21 16:41

Pretty cool game! And pretty damn difficult. I feel like it is a little bit too unforgiving with the hit boxes. And it got me in a couple of additional ways, like trains stopping mid-intersection even though I'd expected them to not react to the signal once they've already passed it. And then there was the reversed arrow in the final level. ;)

But overall it's pretty satisfying. I'm glad I don't need to worry about the amount of derailed trains, though, I'm sure that would be a problem. Especially since in some levels I used one line of trains as battering rams to make sure lower ones could pass through safely. 😁

screen_scaled.png

fifut 2026-04-21 18:40

A fun little puzzle game to play.

The clean, minimalist design fits well with the game's spirit :thumbsup:

stormsword 2026-04-21 19:13

Cool little game, i love the idea :D A little frustrating in certain level because you dont really know when a train will come from the top of the screen. Otherwise; good job :d

tasakasama 2026-04-21 19:48

@kanhao I admit the balancing wasn't perfect. Thanks for taking the time to try.

tasakasama 2026-04-21 19:49

@alex-mulkerrin Yes, my web export settings must not have been correct. I really should have added an accident counter for the trains. ^^ Thanks for playing!

tasakasama 2026-04-21 19:50

@allexeee Thanks for playing

tasakasama 2026-04-21 19:52

@lcstark Collisions were the biggest challenge I faced during development, especially ensuring each wagon was independent. The problem was that at the rear of the last wagon, there's a collision box dedicated to detecting the train type for stopping, and this box extends beyond the 3D mesh. Thanks to you

gideongriebenow 2026-04-21 20:57

Is it bad that I specifically used crashes as a way to get at least some trains through!? Some nice puzzles. Mechanics and options are introduced well, allowing the player to understand them. A very neat little Jam game. I was a bit frustrated that a train already on the crossing rail would stop when the light turns reas. I feel they should rather go when they're in the collision path in any way.

haln 2026-04-22 04:29

Neat mechanics, but the second level was pretty frustrating. I figured out what to do a long time before I managed to complete the level. Had to crash through a train to get a second train through to the goal, which was slow and didn't feel like a good solution. Maybe the gaps between trains were randomized, or they're pixel perfect, which feels like not ideal for a puzzle game.

I like how the trains crash and fall apart though, it made it feel better. Good introduction to the mechanics too, just showing us one at a time and then how they work together.

tasakasama 2026-04-22 06:59

@haln While the automated trains are unpredictable, I've finished the game several times without a single train crash, so it's entirely possible.

Thanks for playing.

axodo 2026-04-22 12:00

I liked this game. Goofy train accidents with fun messages, just enough levels without being too much. For the second to last level, I was curious how much time it would take to resolve the level without doing anything, and I got it in about 3 minutes, it was a cool experiment ^^

Good job there!

harmadillo 2026-04-22 18:18

Nice game. Nice range of levels and exploding train animation is fun. I would have liked more precision/feedback on where the signal effected the train. I crashed a lot of trains.

avhatar 2026-04-24 06:14

Nice relaxing gameplay. For some reason I really loved that a wrong signal or a broken train doesn't punish you β€” you just keep trying until it works. The background music also fits what's happening perfectly, everything's so meditative and unhurried.

auxiliarymoose 2026-04-25 23:18

I think I caused enough damage in the rail yard to cause a substantial expansion of the company's budget! XD

The mix of goofiness and challenge was nice, and it was satisfying to complete each stage. However, sometimes the challenge was because the UI was off of the screen or the timing was very precise. One problem I ran into was: how to let a train go through the intersection while stopping the one after it, without also stopping the train in the intersection? It was a bit tricky, and much damage was caused. Thanks for sharing your game!

ganonsspirit 2026-04-30 05:19

It has a bit too much waiting, but is ok.

richard-baltrusch 2026-05-02 08:46

@lcstark I used the same bodyblocking train approach :) Savage, but we're only transporting some materials, so it's ok :D

richard-baltrusch 2026-05-02 08:50

Nice game! Seems like you got quite a lot done for a compo game. It got pretty frantic but luckily allowed for the bodyblocking strategy :D Funny how we both promote our player to Senior Rail Engineer - it's either the low hanging joke fruit or we just vibe on a personal level :')

I too found the hitboxes could probably be a bit more lenient and signals should be a bit more granular to allow one train to pass but the next to stop. Not a big problem for a compo game though and it was possible to navigate around that anyway.

Would have liked some more juice in the audio - the current soundscape sounds a bit sterile to me (which is fine for puzzle games, but unusual for train games).

Check out Train Valley 2 if you have the time - it's a polished and released version of your game idea. It's pretty neat too.

Well done!