There’s also a hint system in place that’ll eventually spell out the modules you need for each step, but it never provides the solution outright. The simple visuals ensure clarity, there are wire organizing tools, you can type your own notes, and the visual waveform feedback at the bottom of your “MRS” is a simple way to assess the output. There are many tools and configurations to consider as the game progresses, but the user interface is up to the task – so long as you are thoughtful and methodical about module and wire placement. Thankfully, there are several tools to “debug” your configuration and work through each signal step. You have to break down each condition, and then integrate them to match the final waveform. Things get messy as soon as multiple sources must be used to generate a single output. Once you’re past the halfway, there are typically multiple solutions, but you’ll want to find the most optimal one if you want to post a score high up on the leaderboards. At this point, you’ll begin wracking your brain to find the right sequence of interdependent modules. However, it’s not long before you’ll receive 3-4 conditions, with 3-4 sources, yet require only one resultant output that needs to fluctuate based on multiple conditions. When dealing with multiple sources and outputs, it’s challenging to find the right sequence, but you can often break it down and solve each objective individually. As a result, you’ll need to get creative by pairing modules – in sequence or parallel – to provide more functionality. However, even with all these modules, you’ll soon discover they’re not enough to solve the myriad of challenges presented. Later still, you’ll have to incorporate timers and sequential switches. After that comes the logic modules – AND, OR, and NOT – which allow you to control the signal under specific conditions. Next up are components that modulate a signal based on another input, or function as a gate for a binary signal (0 or 100 volts). Things start easy enough – and typically with a dedicated tutorial level – though you’ll soon learn to pair modules to achieve what you’d think would be a simple function. Splitting and summing signals, adding a voltage offset, amplifying or inverting the signal – the opening dozen levels (of 40-ish) are the easy part, with several of them functioning as straightforward tutorials. However, you’ll soon have to account for multiple sources and outputs, each requiring a different degree or type of modulation. Things start easy enough, with a single source that needs to be modulated in some way before reaching a single output. As you might imagine, this requires the creative use of a simple toolset, compounded by a limited workspace as the requirements increase in complexity. This allows you to use simple wiring components, switches, and logic boards to replicate the signal-modulating function of more complex circuits. The primary tool you’ll use is the “Modular Rewiring System”, a tool board for mounting modules and wiring. The premise is simple but novel for a post-apocalyptic setting – restore an old farm to life to expand agricultural activity. Every few levels, you’ll also get the opportunity to push characters for details on the state of the world before, during, and after the collapse, providing a bit of simple world-building. Those interested in the background narrative layer, or those looking for some hints upfront, can choose the uncertain response to learn more details about the task at hand and the tools at their disposal. If you’re uninterested in the narrative, you can just choose the confident responses and get right into the action. When it comes to simple dialogue trees, you’re offered some control and can choose between a confident or uncertain response. Your unnamed and unvoiced protagonist – who was born after this event – has joined an expedition out of the cities to restore an old farm and claim more agricultural land. With so much of the world dependent on automated and mechanized systems, civilisation plunges into a technological dark age, leaving people scrambling to rewire and restore old systems. In The Signal State’s alternate future, equipment and machinery that utilised circuit boards simultaneously stopped working in some sort of tech apocalypse. The premise, like the presentation, is simple but also novel and intriguing.

The signal state tractor gear system