Good job on submitting a game! I really like the visuals and the music! As for the difficulty, you have to be wide awake :)

It's so impressive that you made this in 48 hours. The exceptional art and interface really drew me in, and it's obvious that there's a lot of depth to your mechanics. Unfortunately, I was left pretty confused about what I was actually supposed to do - I got that I was trying to get a signal across with the mathematical commands, but I wasn't able to reposition them between rounds and it wasn't clear to me what they were actually doing and in which order. So, the robot picked me apart before I could get any damage through. I think with a little more explanation you probably wouldn't need to change too much, but for me right now it doesn't make as much sense as I would like. I'm still giving it high marks in most categories because it is so cool; it's just a bit impenetrable.

The idea of mixing functions and signals is very cool, but the interface is very confusing. It's not clear what causes damage, how much defense there is, and so on. Perhaps it would be better to simply keep the mechanics of mixing signals for avoiding obstacles. For example, the player could be able to set up obstacles. The enemy would also emit a signal, and the player would need to help themselves and prevent the enemy from doing so. In general, I think the battle component is unnecessary.
Sorry for my poor English, it's not my primary language.

Very nice design, but I don't figure why sometimes I can't attack.

Could you explain the core gameplay a bit more?

I managed to deal damage by drawing a straight line and got the enemy down to 38 HP, but after that it seemed like no more damage was applied. Not sure if I missed something.

I agree with the comments above.
Great graphics, good audio, but I don't understand "how to play".

The graphics are cool. The tutorial was lacking, or maybe I'm stupid.

It's clear that the game is interesting, but I'm so stupid that I still haven't figured it out :(

cool art and music, but the gameplay is super confusing. it’s hard to figure out how to deal damage or use the signals, so a better tutorial is definitely needed

nice soundtrack, VERY innovative gameplay, but lacks tips where to click next
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сложно было понять куда тыкать, столбик был подсвечен, но на фоне черной сетки уровня его плохо было видно.

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure how I’m supposed to play the game. I did find a kind of “loop” where I keep pressing, sending a signal, and attacking every time — but I’m doing it without really understanding what I’m doing or why.

It feels like I’m just triggering actions without a clear sense of strategy or purpose. For example, I see things like “action: defense” or “action: attack,” but it’s not really clear what determines those outcomes or how my choices affect them. Sometimes it feels almost random from the player’s perspective.

Because of that, it’s hard to feel in control of what’s happening. Maybe adding more clarity or stronger feedback would help make the system feel more understandable and intentional.

Right now it’s a bit confusing, but I feel like there’s something interesting underneath that could really shine with a bit more clarity.

The game is good, but I don't understand how to play, I'm stupid

Your idea impressed me in a positive way. I believe that with certain enhancements, the game could turn out to be genuinely captivating. Perhaps it would be a good idea to think about how to incorporate planning for multiple moves ahead, possibly with a game board that evolves during play. Based on my experience, I frequently found an empty line and filled it just to secure a win, and I wasn’t entirely clear on the role of defense once the signal reached the opponent. Nonetheless, you’ve done an excellent job!

@cornex thank you very much! Unfortunately, i didn t have much time to work on balance, which is why a similar pattern can be used.

A very cool idea, but it really could use a tutorial and maybe a simpler level to help the player understand how everything works.

So yeah guess like a lot of other people I spent forever trying to understand the main logic but no dice.

Does picking a star even do anything? After losing I switched to another star but nothing really changed.
Also I thought it was weird that after placing the 'stay' and 'up zigzag' blocks, I couldn't move them anymore, why?

I saw in one screenshot a few more blocks like that but in a different color plus a 'Shop' button, too bad I never got that far.

Like the idea, though. It'd be cool to see more features and different ways to launch the signal plus an easier first level with the smallest grid possible and some little tips on what each action does.
If you ever make an expanded version - hit me up somewhere alright? ; )

This certainly seems interesting, but there’s _a lot_ to unpack here and without a tutorial (or a better explanation on the game page) it's kinda confiusing. Here are some useful things I *did* manage to figure out:

* Grey squares are bad (end your “run”)
* Red squares are good (temporarily increase your attack?)
* Blue squares are good (temporarily increase your defense?)
* **To attack, you need to end up on one of the opponent's red or blue squares (bottom half)**
* Once you have a clear lane, you can keep spamming it (with diminishing returns though)
* Winning a battle gives you money which you can spend on new "cells" (some stars have stores)

Confusion aside, there's a lot to love here. The concept is very original, the hacker framing makes sense and fits the theme. I liked the pixel graphics too, although I would've loved to see my enemy variation.

Pretty decent jam entry, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do at first but once I figured it out it was really fun. Nice graphics and audio too, good work!

Very interesting idea.
The only thing i want to ask, add in descryption more info about this nods, and it will be easier for player to grasp the game.

Оля меня очень необычно. Но мне понравилось, долго разбирался но вроде понял, и пару раз победил))

The complexity of the interface draws me in, the sounds are all appropriate, and I felt at first like I would be planning a complicated attack surface. But... I can't plan when I'm not sure what I'm doing and despite about half an hour of playing, I'm still not sure. Eventually it just stalemates when the play area is deplete of cells. I'm not sure when it's beneficial to block, or why sometimes my signal reaches the other end but doesn't prompt the "attack or defense" choice.

Понял со второй попытки, что надо прочистить одну дорожку и бить по ней, повторяя одно и тоже. Было бы прикольней, если апгрейды давали раздвоение твоей дорожки или типо того. По ощущениям круто, но тут нужен баланс, как минималистичная игра вообще супер может получится.

Really really hard to understand, yeah. I love games that drop you right in and expect you to pay attention and figure out the mechanics for yourself, so I was really trying to decipher it, but I can't figure out how it works. Probably with more time to do animations and visuals, you could communicate better what the rules are.

It might be useful if I describe my best attempt at understanding the rules:

- I understand that I choose a starting node on the left, and that shoots a signal towards the right.
- I understand that I "program" the behavior of the signal by slotting in the "commands", Zigzag Up and Stay.
- I don't understand why my signal follows the Zigzag Up command for about half the distance, then switches to Stay. What causes it to switch?
- I was very confused as to why you let me program in some commands for the signal once at the beginning, but didn't let me change them. Just now while typing this, I went back and tried right clicking, so now I realize that's how you change them. Considering you add them by left clicking, and left clicking on them again doesn't seem to do anything, I would just make a left click be what removes them.
- I understand that when I hit a grey Signal Loss node, my signal stops.
- I understand that when the robot's "action" says "attack", I'll lose HP after I send my signal.
- Occasionally, after I send a signal, buttons show up at the bottom left that let me choose to either Attack or Defend. I have no idea what causes them to appear or why they only show up sometimes.
- The formula up top says that my base damage is 25 + attack nodes. The robot's defense says 9. For my money that means I should be dealing minimum 25 - 9 = 16 damage every time I attack, but many turns I seem to deal like 4 damage.
- I don't know why there's a big band of colored squares on the right that go yellow, then blue, then red. Is that relevant to gameplay, or just cosmetic?

Given what I can glean from the game, this is how I currently *assume* it's supposed to work:

1. You shoot your signal across. If it hits a Signal Loss, you skip your turn. If it reaches the other side, you get a chance to attack or defend.
2. You choose to attack or defend. If you attack, your damage is equal to 25 + number of attack nodes you hit, minus enemy defense if they're defending.
3. If enemy is attacking, you then take damage. If you chose to defend, your defense is the number of defense nodes your signal hit. This is subtracted from enemy attack.
4. Repeat until one of you dies.

However, (2) does not seem to be the case because I only very occasionally get the Attack and Defend buttons, and when I do attack I can't figure out what the damage formula is, it seems to have nothing to do with the formula printed at the top of the screen.

EDIT: Okay, I experimented a little more. So it seems like the long vertical strip of colored nodes the the right of the grid is actually relevant to gameplay afterall - this was not obvious! It looks purely decorative. It seems you only get "attack" and "defense" buttons if your signal reaches the blue or red sections of the strip. But then why even put the yellow part there?? And how come the red and blue parts are called "defense" and "attack" nodes? I seem to get both the Attack and Defense options no matter which color I reach.

I couldn’t figure out how to play. I read the description, but it still doesn’t make sense to me. It seems like a lot of effort went into the mechanics, but the game lacks proper onboarding.

I tried to plan my route, but my eyes just got lost in all those squares 😅

giving me major hacker vibes but i think im too small brain for these mechanics smh