The Signal State

i like this game, i love modular synths. i wish the game background music synced up tempo wise with the puzzle playback. it's literally insane that it doesn't just do that. i just turned the music off. wow. i wish there was a like "0.75x recommend"

As a huge Zachtronics fan, and someone who wants to learn more about music synthesis, this game has a lot of appeal.
Playing through I alternated between getting *really* high scores and being completely stuck. It definitely felt to me that there were intermediary puzzles missing. There was no introduction of hard concepts, simply "use a hard concept to solve this puzzle". As a developer, I encounter this type of thing all the time. The difference is that normally your not programming with sound generation techniques of electrical engineers. That's somewhere between audio engineering and hardware engineering. I have no idea where to even start googling.
So for me the biggest element missing is the RTFM manual. I really hope the developers add a pdf or in-game manual, perhaps in the style of a weathered & soggy module "catalog". This was an extremely big part of ExaPunks & Shenzhen IO that allowed you to learn the rules, logic, assembly code, whatever without breaking immersion.
As the game currently is I consider it overall positive, but fails to educate as well as it has the potential too. There is no explanation on Clock tricks, Sequencers, how to actually hold a voltage without kicking off a loop. Elements critical to the puzzles, but you either know them, guess it, or you have to go to the discord for help. All this game really needs is a good thematic manual / Agri parts catalog in my humble opinion. Maybe some additional puzzles to reinforce concepts.
Overall, I think its still a buy, the parts themselves are detailed & fun, clearly made by a developer with passion, and with some additional work by the developer could really shine.
( I will update the review if my points are addressed in an update )

Fun but short game that somewhat scratches the Zachtronics itch. IMO its better than a lot of other Zach-likes, but is too short to justify buying at full price. Worth getting if it's on sale. Took about 3 hours to finish the main story, spent a little time solving some of the optional levels too, which I may go back to later. Other than being too short, I didn't like that wire length is counted in the final score. This just motivates you to go back and shuffle components arbitrarily after solving each level.

This game is reminiscent of the Zachtronics games, and does a good job with the style. The premise of analog modules can make for interesting puzzles, but the campaign is quite easy. There are a few interesting, optional puzzles, but it feels like not all the mechanics are done the justice they deserve. However this issue is balanced out by the great workshop support, that easily makes the game worth it. 8/10

I’m glad I ignored the lower Steam scores compared to the Zachtronics titles and played this game. The Signal State offers a cool modular building system for creative puzzle solving. There seem to be many solutions for each puzzle. My first designs usually used significantly more modules than the optimal solution. The campaign offers a nice difficulty progression if one does the optional puzzles in the given order. In my opinion, they were more difficult than the mandatory puzzles, which often served as tutorials for introducing new modules.
As for the story, I could not really immerse myself in the high-stakes anti-corpo narrative. I would have gone for less drama, focusing on being an inventor in a post-apocalyptic world who brings joy to people’s lives by producing or repairing cool gadgets. Also, the menus and UI are a bit less polished than games by Zachtronics, but credit to the developer for coming up with the analogue signal mechanics before 20th Century Food Court in Last Call BBS. The Signal State earns its place in the pantheon of Zach-likes.

Broadly, it's a programming game.
Except what you program is the function of a signal using modules.
You have a scaler, an offset, an adder and a few logical operators.
So far the game has been easy.
I have two minor complaints.
_ The levels are timed. Which means that anyone wanting an high score will do it once and then re-do it with the solution in mind. That's not logic anymore, that's a psychomotor test. I'm playing this laying on a sofa using a K400+ (tiny keyboard + trackpad) on my lap. Let's say it's a huge handicap on that front.
_ The cable length is used in the score. It feels kind of arbitrary. It took me up to the end of the tutorial to realize the source module could be moved.
That aside, it's kind of fun.

Game is fantastic. Has a really fun approach to understanding programming basics, logic gates, all while using an innovative wire and rack system.

The challenge gap between the story and optional tasks can be really wide, and the hints aren't perfect (they encourage you to go to the Discord), so be prepared to grind it out unless you want to chat with others.

Some of the nuances about how the game calculates numbers, especially in loops, is not explained well - so make sure to watch in-between steps to see how things are being processed if you keep having issues.