This is my submission for Falling Block Jam 2025.

Play as a switchboard operator and connect calls by inserting the black and white cables in their respective jacks!

This is a Playdate game made with the C SDK. It can be played on:

• a Playdate
• MacOS or Windows version of the Playdate simulator (get it here: https://play.date/dev/)

Gameplay is "simple":

• Press left/right to move horizontally.
• Press down to drop the cable faster.
• Connect jacks with the cable of the right color.
• Cables can't cross straight lines, they can only cross in "x".

The game is not finished, it's missing basic things like a title screen and a scoreboard, but it's playable!

How to Play

Basics

The board is divided into two parts:

• falling cables at the top
• switchboard at the bottom

The switchboard gradually moves up. You lose if the switchboard reaches the top of the screen.

Each row of the switchboard is a call and has 2 jacks: a white and a black jack. You have to connect a white cable to the white jack and a black cable to the black jack. Double-colored cables can be connected to any jack.

Processing a call makes the entire row disappear as well as the cables connected to its jacks. The remaining cables will fall down to the next row.

If you connect a cable into a jack of the wrong color, every connected cable will be cleared and the board will move 1 row up.

Moving cables

Cables are moving down from row to row one step at a time. On each row a cable can either continue straight or shift 1 column left or right.

Cables can cross diagonally (in an X shape) but they cannot overlap or run straight over one another.

Chains

If you manage to prepare the cables for the next call in advance, it will automatically connect when the current one has totally disappeared. This results in a chain.

Chains are the most effective way to earn points. Score is multiplied by 3^chain length.

Mood

The operator's mood can vary from great to awful as you play (starting from "normal").

When the operator is feeling great, each point is multiplied by 1.5 and the game speed decreases (making the game easier). At the contrary, when the operator feels awful, the game speed increases and the points are multiplied by 0.9.

• Mood improves when you make a chain or when you clear 3 consecutive rows.
• Mood decreases when you plug a cable into a jack of the wrong color twice consecutively.

Controls

• D-pad Left/Right: Move the cable horizontally (holding the direction allows continuous movement).
• D-pad Down: Makes the cable drop faster.
• B button: Makes the switchboard goes up faster. Useful for revealing more rows to prepare chains (a high-risk/high-reward tactic).

Scoring

Points are awarded for plugging cables into the right color and for processing calls.

Base Point Values

Points are earned for the following actions:

• Jack Connection: 100 points for plugging a cable into a same-colored jack.
• Row Clear Bonus: 1,000 points for clearing a row.

Chain Multiplier

All points earned are multiplied by the chain multiplier: 3^current chain length.

For example, clearing 3 calls in a chain will net: 1,000 + (1,000 × 3) + (1,000 × 9) = 13,000 points.

Mood Multiplier

Points are then multiplied by the mood multiplier:

• Awful Mood: points × 0.9
• Bad Mood: points × 0.95
• Normal Mood: points × 1
• Good Mood: points × 1.25
• Great Mood: points × 1.5

Game Speed

Game Speed increase over time. The speed determines how quickly the switchboard moves up the screen and the rate at which cables fall down.

Game Speed is adjusted by the operator's mood:

• Awful Mood: game speed × 2
• Bad Mood: game speed × 1.5
• Normal Mood: game speed × 1
• Good Mood: game speed × 0.75
• Great Mood: game speed × 0.5

Game Speed is also decreased each time a chain of length 2 or more is done.

Change Log

Update 2025/09/22: version 1.0.1

• Added a game over screen and the possibility to restart a new game!
• Fixed a lot of bugs.

Update 2025/09/23: version 1.0.2

• Build is now compatible with Windows.
• Fixed crash when starting a new game.

Update 2025/09/24: version 1.0.3

• Pressing B now makes the board goes up faster.
• Cable colors are now less random to make the game more fair.
• Fixed cable drop delay when the board is high.
• Fixed double removal of lines.

Update 2025/09/30: version 1.0.4

• The two next cables are now displayed on the right side.
• When a mistake is made, cables are now disconnected from the board instead of being removed instantly.

Update 2025/10/09: version 1.0.5

• Reworked speed system: game speed now increases gradually over time instead of being tied to score.
• New feature: mood, ranging from great to awful.
  • A higher mood slows the game down and boosts the points you earn.
  • A lower mood makes the game faster and slightly reduces your score.
• Added a new animation that plays whenever you make a mistake.

Update 2025/11/02: version 1.0.6

• Renamed the game SwitchBoard Shuffle to avoid confusing it with https://crystalclod.itch.io/switchboard-panic.
• Added a title screen and a scores screen.
• Board now goes up when a cable is plugged in the wrong port.
• Added two-color cables.
• Added a clock to display the game time.
• Various bug fixes and improvements.