Hold Still

Find the signal. Then hold still.

You keep the night watch at a lonely lighthouse station. Somewhere in the static, someone is trying to reach you.

Turn the crank to sweep the dial. Watch the noise thin out. Listen for the tone to steady. When you find it — hold still.

Thirty nights. One message, received a line at a time.

Features

• Tune by feel. Static clears and a carrier tone steadies as you close in. No markers, no timer.
• 30 nights in four tiers: gentle auto-lock nights, then manual submits against decoys that look clean but waver, a lamp you charge by cranking fast, and chained signals where each find points to the next.
• Three signal displays: oscilloscope, spectrum, and a transmitted picture.
• A lamp-lit logbook that stamps every night you receive.
• Sea, wind, static and Morse, all played live on the Playdate's synth.

Controls

• Crank: turn the tuning dial
• Hold the crank still: lock a signal (nights 1–8)
• A: submit the frequency (night 9 onward) / log the night
• B: back to the logbook
• Menu button: logbook and title shortcuts

How to install

1. Download HoldStill.pdx.zip.
2. Sign in at play.date, open Account → Sideload, and upload the zip.
3. On your Playdate, go to Settings → Games to download it.

Or connect your Playdate with USB and use the Playdate Simulator: Device → Upload Game to Device.

Credits

A game by tpham. Made with the Playdate C SDK.