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A jam submission

Switchyard SonataView game page

Route the trains, then play their arrivals. A railway puzzle that turns into a rhythm game.
Submitted by ToukoUrsin — 6 days, 4 hours before the deadline
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Switchyard Sonata's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Creativity & Theme Interpretation#741.8801.880
Polish & Presentation#1001.7601.760
Scope & Completion#1091.6801.680
Overall#1131.6881.688
Technical Execution#1311.5601.560
Gameplay & Core Idea#1341.5601.560

Ranked from 25 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Team members and roles
Touko Ursin (itch.io: ToukoUrsin), solo: design, code, sound and art.

How did you interpret the themes?
Genre Collision: a routing puzzle collides with a rhythm game. First you compose: write a repeating switch score (switches A, B, C over a 4 or 8 beat loop) so every passenger shape reaches its station. Then you perform: the trains run and each arrival becomes a note you tap on the beat; simultaneous arrivals form chords. The genres depend on each other: the longer lower branch takes an extra beat, so your routing decides when each note lands. The puzzle writes the song you then have to play.

What are you entering?

Game only

Engine and tools used?
No engine: vanilla JavaScript ES modules, HTML5 Canvas 2D for all visuals, and the Web Audio API with oscillators for all sound (synthesized live, no samples). Node.js test runner for the 14 core tests and Playwright for browser QA. No third-party assets, libraries or fonts beyond system fonts. AI: OpenAI Codex and Anthropic Claude assisted with design, code, procedural visuals, sound synthesis code, tests and docs; no AI-generated images or audio ship in the game. Bezi was not used.

Road to GDC

Yes

Consider my game for the Road to GDC prize

Bezi Challenge

N/A

We are not entering this prize track

Synty Challenge

N/A

I am not entering this prize track

Which Synty assets did you use?
N/A

CrazyGames Challenge

Yes

Enter my game in the CrazyGames Challenge

Fan Art Artist
N/A

Fan Art Process Video
N/A

Where can we find your Fan Art?
N/A

Submission Confirmation

I have read the Bezi Mega Jam rules
This submission was created during the jam period
All team members and contributors are listed
Third-party assets are credited where applicable

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Comments

Submitted

Great concept, layout, mechanics, all that, but the levels themselves don’t feel like they really utilize the pieces and give the player much to do. It feels like this game could become an interesting web of knock-off effects where flipping one station affects the other notes, but instead I never found myself needing to account for any note other than the one I was currently adjusting for. Every other note always seemed to just work out fine after I set it once. It might just be a matter of the game board being too small with only three stations, but more stations might end up making the game feel sprawling and confusing, so I think it’s more just how the actual notes are arranged that could be improved.

Submitted(+1)

I really liked the core concept of routing trains, but the execution needs some tightening

The Rhythm felt far too easy (easier than casual QTEs) and didn’t contribute meaningful challenge or flow to the game. Routing UI: Configuring routes was overcomplicated and confusing to navigate, most of the board remained unused. Maybe use colors to bolden the board instead of highlighting selected if a compact board is the goal

There is a solid foundation here

Submitted

This is exactly what a genre collision should feel like: the routing puzzle doesn't sit next to the rhythm game, it writes it. Realizing the lower branch lands a beat late — so solving the route is composing the song — was a real lightbulb moment.