Medieval Hotline

ynukym-academy 2026-10-18 21:40 ♥ 1

The concept of being a medieval telephone operator is incredibly unique and witty! Merging a retro old-fashioned switchboard mechanics with fantasy resource management is a brilliant way to interpret the "Old Tech" theme. The hand-drawn pencil sketches of the castles and the dragon look absolutely beautiful and packed with style. I have to admit, I got a bit confused by the interface and controls at first, and it felt a little non-intuitive to figure out how to plug the cords correctly while juggling all the kingdom's resources (or maybe I'm just too exhausted after the jam!). However, the core loop and the overall presentation are fantastic for a Compo entry. Great job on creating such a stylized game! If you have some time after managing the kingdom's chaos, I’d be absolutely thrilled if you could check out my retro-tech ASMR cleaning simulator too!

pazio-di-dante 2026-10-19 09:13 ♥ 2

Really nice idea for this theme. Game feels understandable from the first click without any text, so that's plus. I hoped there will be more difficulty with two call at the same time, or less time to answer or punishment for don't answer the call. I also find a moment that if you have two call at the same time and connect them together, only first call disappear, and I couldn't answer the second one because it's blocked for some time. Don't is it attentional. Anyway that fun!

alexey-kuzovkov 2026-10-19 10:05 ♥ 1

Cute little switchboard simulator. Fantasy callers, wrong transfers cost you resources. Simple, charming, and oddly satisfying.

gevernus 2026-10-19 11:15 ♥ 1

A medieval telephone operator is such a witty idea, and the hand-drawn kingdom map is lovely. The calls made me smile ("Poor people are too wealthy, rich people are unhappy!"). One problem on my side: on a 1366x768 laptop screen the game is taller than the browser window, so the switchboard ended up below the visible area and I couldn't connect a single call, even after zooming the page out. Scaling the game to fit the window would make sure everyone can play it. Looking forward to trying it properly!

captaindreamcast 2026-10-19 12:49 ♥ 2

Made it to exactly 150 happy customers before everyone starved AND ran out of wood (they had it rough, but the gold was still up, and the king's accountant's smile is what I work for after all).

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Very fun game! I love the funny options you get to pick each time, they were super funny. Made you want to wait until all the ports are unlocked again just so you can see all the funny texts. The gameplay also really has a way of sucking you in, I was getting into a real trance repeating whatever was low. Mana Wood, Mana Wood, Mana Food Wood, Mana Food Wood, etc. Really well designed how it draws you in! I thought the medieval art looked cool as well, the dragon cave dragon looked cute. Very well made game, great job!

mugule 2026-10-19 15:58 ♥ 1

I like this Reigns-like game, but I think the difficulty scales up a bit too slowly. Still, everything works! No bugs, clear UI and fun to play!

jiri-hysek 2026-10-19 16:19 ♥ 1

Funny game, you put a lot of effort to writing hilarious problems and its solutions. Looks very nice and Strudel! Nice! I always wanted to learn a bit of music composing in Strudel.

indigowolf 2026-10-19 16:38 ♥ 3

Had a little trouble initially as the game was larger than the window I didn't realise, after figuring it out though I really enjoyed it. The options gave me a good laugh and I felt it ramped up pretty nicely. Great entry!

sanechekz 2026-10-19 16:48 ♥ 0

Thanks to all for such kind words. Sorry I forgot that there are people with lower resolutions :\

dblazer63 2026-10-19 17:30 ♥ 2

this fits with the theme well! good idea i was able to pick it up fast too.

vokietislt 2026-10-19 18:49 ♥ 2

Weird, but good weird, design is beutifull

dreamerkaj 2026-10-19 19:45 ♥ 2

Such a fun game! I love how everyone uses their phones to solve problems so quickly!

avi 2026-10-20 01:44 ♥ 1

A medieval kingdom relying on a telephone switchboard is a wonderfully silly idea. The hand-drawn map is lovely, especially the dragon peeking out of its cave, and making each connection shift the kingdom's resources gives the operator a real role in the world!

cptdrusha 2026-10-20 02:42 ♥ 1

That's a fun combination haha :) Really cool idea!

lastyw 2026-10-20 12:44 ♥ 1

It's interesting how main 5 nodes and 5 resources are intuitive to connect mentally. Had a fun time playing it, the artstyle and audio are good. Though I had troubles understanding what is the connection with Old Tech theme, because some of the resources are literally magic. But overall great game! I would be happy if you also checked mine:>

sanechekz 2026-10-20 13:34 ♥ 1

@LastyW, it's about phone operator. This is old tech we lost :)

vorondesan 2026-10-20 13:35 ♥ 1

Game is neat, wish the difficulty spike was faster. Also, music don`t loop, just stops, tried 2 times in Chrome.

ao-85 2026-10-20 16:46 ♥ 1

Awesome, your game is magnificent! I had a blast playing it, really cool stuff

johncoffee 2026-10-20 19:55 ♥ 1

very nice simple idea, with a lot of humor. well done.

eugenik 2026-10-20 20:16 ♥ 1

The premise of running a medieval switchboard is such a clever concept, and you nailed the witty tone throughout the game. The funny and dramatic situations presented by the different callers really gave the gameplay a great narrative focus. You've created a wonderful blend of satisfying puzzle solving and light chaos!

purpledartfrog 2026-10-21 11:19 ♥ 1

This was great fun to play... great sense of humor and solid consistent look and feel. Brilliant idea. Only thing... I thought I was out of wood but the color was just really dark.... NOT that.

Cover.jpg

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/60/fliptober-retro-edition

viktoria 2026-10-21 13:51 ♥ 1

A very sweet game concept. The little dragon is super cute.

willops 2026-10-21 21:22 ♥ 1

Simple but fun concept! Kept me playing longer than I thought it would

cogcomp 2026-10-21 21:30 ♥ 1

Nicely executed game idea. I think it felt quite well balanced since I just charged in and figured it out while going, so it was nice that it didn't ramp up faster as some are suggesting 😄 Well done!

bea 2026-10-22 04:07 ♥ 0

This was a cute little idea. I got to about 30 problems solved and then decided to see what the fail state looked like. I think it could stand to be a little more fast paced, pushing a loss or win state one way or the other.

helagos 2026-10-22 16:25 ♥ 1

The concept of being a phone operator is really interesting. There are not much controls but it's enough to be entertaining. Good job !

roroto-sic 2026-10-22 19:34 ♥ 1

cute arts and interesting gameplay ! :)

wheelsx 2026-10-22 20:37 ♥ 1

I was a little confused at the beginning, but once I figured out how it worked, it seemed like it could go on indefinitely. I think adding some sort of difficulty progression would be a good change.

g-miaz 2026-10-22 22:13 ♥ 1

Loved the concept ! Took me a little time understood that there isn't a good answer but penalty and bonus, but after that I had fun managing whom i wanted to connect with whom. very nice game !!! +1 for the cute dragon head !

mikeware 2026-10-23 04:45 ♥ 1

Love the take on the theme, wish I could read more of the cards, but then I'd jam up the board! Stopped after 44 problems though, needed the difficulty to ramp a bit more or have another element maybe? I don't think I got any chaos until 30. Gold seemed a bit over abundant?

Wouldn't have thought of a switchboard, so was really interesting to see. Great job on the art too! I wish I could interact more with it on the top map of the kingdom. Oh, I also noticed little Red and Green invalid unicode type symbols popping up on the web version on the top-right of the progress bars, on Win 10 + Edge.

rekk1d 2026-10-23 10:00 ♥ 1

The art is absolutely great, I really loved the visuals. Only thing missing is some background music, everything else is wonderful. Really interesting to play, great work!

cupofcuppuccino 2026-10-23 17:16 ♥ 1

Somehow the scaling of the game is a bit weird, but I managed to zoom in to see the full view. Cute drawings!! I am a medieval-related concepts' lover so I eagerly opened up this game. Some of the resources seems to be popping up too often (or maybe just my luck issue). Kind of get a bit repetitive after a while, maybe adding another resource later, or more interaction with the map? Nice connection to theme and interesting perception of the concept!

venfola 2026-10-23 20:18 ♥ 1

Liked the idea, but at some point I was just looking at the gauges. I would have like to have to deduce the good decision from the dialogues. It also get a bit too repetitive.

Good graphics, good sounds and music. Overall well done!

apetrosia 2026-10-27 09:23 ♥ 1

You know, I think we even have similar game mechanics, and that’s awesome! I also thought about making a telephone operator simulator, but you managed to come up with something more original than what I had in mind! These are doubly old technologies. The visuals are really cool — I take it you drew the sprites yourself? I’m kissing your artist’s hands, my respect!!! I just felt the game was hard to win; I’d like the game to be more challenging and give the player a real challenge. But overall, if you keep working on this game after the jam, it’ll be awesome!!! Good luck with the gameplay!

P.S. You can rate my game; I really felt that they are similar in terms of the idea of maintaining balance. I would be very grateful!

coolpurplerat 2026-10-27 14:04 ♥ 1

I really like artstyle and idea. Dragon was bored 3 times in a row and then had 2 problems, I guess they were having a bad day. Mages were sleeping, so I run out of mana. Score.png

denton 2026-10-28 00:21 ♥ 1

Had fun, decided to welcome chaos after about solving 40 problems, the fiefdom soon learned they cannot eat swords and gold.

Liked the whimsical dialogue a lot and the general artstyle.

blus7 2026-10-28 13:08 ♥ 1

The game is fun and seems simple enough. However, there’s an issue: the call doesn’t disconnect if you connect the cable to a subscriber who is already on a call.