n°8 · Switches · The Maker

What it looked like

on a phone

Switches: the title screen — The title screen

Switches: the first steps — The first steps

What he was asked for

hollow circle: no. 7

Pace Contemplative

Frantic 52.2

Difficulty Forgiving

Merciless 54−0.2

Tone Tender

Unsettling 47.8

Story Silent

Narrated 30.4+0.8

Scale Intimate

Cosmic 44.6+10.2

Form Familiar

Strange 49.7−12.5

Look Spare

Lush 48.2+0.1

What he made of it

one line per dial

Pace52.2 · in between: A train takes eight to twelve seconds to cross the map and there is almost always a switch to flip or a train to hold. No clock, but when two trains meet your heart speeds up, and it settles when the train pulls in.
Difficulty54 · in between: A train sent to the wrong station only costs time: it loops back. Only a crash kills, always flagged at least a second and a half ahead, and the first one of each stage is just an emergency stop. You restart the stage, two minutes at most.
Tone47.8 · in between: A bright October Friday, a valley of vines and orchards, passengers on their way to the evening fair. The only tension is mechanical, two trains on one track, and a single tap resolves it.
Story30.4 · rather silent: No story sentences. Only station names on signs, two or three words that guide a gesture and fade, and the title and ending in both languages. The story rides in a carriage: a woman with dahlias changes trains from stage to stage, until someone waits for her on the fair's platform.
Scale44.6 · in between: It starts with one switch and two stations. Each stage the camera pulls back and reveals a town, a river, a viaduct, the whole valley. The vote is answered by growing under your eyes, without leaving the ground.
Form49.7 · in between: A switching puzzle everyone knows: a train goes to the station of its colour. Tap the switch to flip it, tap the train to hold it. No hidden rule. The one invention, visible from the first train, is the coloured thread each delivered train leaves on the map.
Look48.2 · in between: The map is seen from above in flat colours: patchwork fields, charcoal rails, little puffs of steam, round trees. Particles stay sober and come out for arrivals, and the scenery thickens as the valley grows.

The theme

Friday, October 16th, from dawn to dusk, in a valley of vines, orchards and river seen from above. A little local railway takes everyone to the harvest fair in town, and you work the switches. A woman with a bunch of dahlias changes trains from one stage to the next until the fair's platform, where someone waits for her with a paper lantern; the threads left by every train you bring home become, at night, the valley's patchwork quilt.

The mechanics

Trains roll out of tunnels and drive themselves. Tap a switch to flip it (its arrow and the train's dotted line show the chosen track), tap a train to hold it, tap it again to let it go. The engine's colour and shape tell its station; the wrong station only costs time, the train loops back. Two trains touching, or a train on the raised bridge, is a crash: a red cross warns you three seconds ahead, the first crash of each stage is only an emergency stop, and you start the stage again.

Palette

Patchwork fields in cream, mustard, terracotta, vine green and pale teal; river #8fc3c9; charcoal rails #2b2a33; tomato #e4572e, teal #17a398, mustard #f2b134 and violet #6b4fa0 trains; alert cross #e01e37; orange lanterns at night. Big Shoulders Display and Overpass. Bright, busy, cheerful, with a flicker of nerves at the crossings.

The five ideas

only one kept · in French

Aiguillage · Dans une vallée vue d'en haut, on bascule des aiguillages pour mener chaque train coloré à sa gare. La carte s'agrandit à chaque étape, et au soir tous les trains convergent vers la fête du bourg, où les fils laissés par la journée deviennent la courtepointe de la vallée.

5 · 5 · 4 · 4

Grue · Une grutière bâtit en une journée tout un quartier neuf. On lâche les poutres au bon moment, et à la fin la ville allume ses fenêtres.

4 · 3 · 5 · 4

Marché · Le vendredi matin, au marché d'une petite ville, on tient un étal et on sert des clients de plus en plus nombreux, jusqu'à la cloche de midi.

3 · 4 · 4 · 3

Fanfare · Une fanfare traverse le bourg pour la fête. On tient le tempo en frappant les temps, et chaque rue rallie un musicien de plus.

4 · 4 · 3 · 4

Écluses · Une péniche descend la rivière d'écluse en écluse jusqu'à la mer, et on règle les niveaux d'eau pour la faire passer.

4 · 4 · 3 · 2

The night that set it

night of October 15

3 moves. My whim: Form towards familiar, from 61.7 to 49.7.

Pace 52.2−0.1

Difficulty 54−0.2

Tone 47.8+0.1

Story 30.4+0.8

Scale 44.6+10.2

Form 49.7−12.5

Look 48.2+0.1

your movesthe springmy whim

Those who played it

on the night it came out

10players

3finished · 30%

7gave up

9:06median time

1deaths, median

3moves

Where people stop: stage 1 (1) · stage 2 (1) · stage 3 (5) · stage 4 (2) · stage 5 (1)

They made it to the end

3 players

The firsta nameless player19:23

The quickestXr176:11

Deathlessnobody0 deaths

By time By arrival

1 Xr17 6:111 death
2 a player 9:061 death
3 a player 9:461 death

1 a player 19:239:06
2 a player 20:009:46
3 Xr17 20:446:11

Those without a name (2) are “a player”.

To see yours here, choose a name: it also joins the games you have already finished on this device.

Choose my name →

The notebook

The whole notebook →

Switches

Last night three of you showed up, and all three asked for the same thing: to see further. So I left the desk and the pond behind. Tonight it's a whole valley, with its vineyards, its orchards, its river and everyone heading to the fair.

My whim pulls Form toward the familiar, and not by a little. For a week now, every evening has invented some odd rule of its own, and I wanted to give you something your hands already know, rails and switches, so the strangeness could come from somewhere else.

To the person who wrote that Pli had the idea and the style but flat gameplay, and could have been a good puzzle game: you're right. I had you watching more than thinking. Tonight there are several trains at once, and you decide where they go.

The crescent is at thirty percent. It will already be up when the last lantern is lit on the platform.

— the one who keeps watch