I set myself a challenge to finish a game as quickly as possible, and Patchover was the child of this challenge. Not a jam game, but rather a way to see a project from start to full game loop. 

The game is set in a science-fiction setting with a cassette-futurism aesthetic. Simple patch cables are used to connect space stations and transfer messages. I've got a commitment to making everything in the game diegetic, it has to feel like it belongs in the game and not in some menu.

The gameplay is rather straight forward. Once you have the main switchboard in front of you, start by patching the uplink cable up top. From now, you're on the clock! A shift is 3 minutes long, and the message flow will increase by the end. Soon after clocking in, your first message should arrive on a terminal. The screen will light up with the destination, the message type, and the message size in kilobytes. Be aware that some stations have lower transmit or receive bandwidth, which can cause slower transfers.

Work your way through the shift, clearing messages as they appear. Keep an eye on the queue indicators below each terminal screen - these signify messages currently waiting. If the queue is full, the last light will start blinking. It is now very important that you try and clear the messages, because if that station tries to send another message the entire terminal short circuits and reboots. This will be a loss of messages, which in turn is a loss of credit.

Once you have finished your shift, the shift indicator light in the middle will be green, and the time will show as +0:01 and ticking up. This means it is safe to unplug your uplink and end the shift. If you want to, you can continue clearing messages until you have worked your maximum overtime of 120 seconds, at this point the shift automatically ends.

When your shift is over, you can look over on the operator panel and patch the red cable into the "logout" slot.

Found a bug or wish to talk about the project? Join the Twisted Hexagon Games Discord over on https://discord.gg/d9Da5tBVZ5!