Crosstalk

About the Game

Crosstalk is a printed circuit board builder and simulator that lets players build cities out of electronic components, all of which follow realistic electrical rules, the results of which you will have to deal with to maintain your city's operations. It supports a networked mode, in which you either collaborate with other players (party submode) or compete against them (adversarial submode). Cities built in Crosstalk represent structurally valid PCBs, which, combined with physical simulation, means that there's an educational element to playing.

Theory

Buildings represent electronic components; roads represent traces; metro tunnels represent vias. Every PCB design element and principle has a parallel in Crosstalk. Learning to play the game teaches, in effect, PCB design. The game comes with a real professional component library that consists of 54 components and their metadata.

Keeping the city up and running will involve several measures. One of those measures will be keeping its crime rate down. In Crosstalk, this means decoupling power pins of active components. Voltage changes outside of tolerance caused by current spikes are a very common occurrence that must be managed. Letting these voltage changes slide past unchecked causes brownouts and, in more extreme cases, physical damage. By placing housing units around the city, you decrease the likelihood of petty crime and homelessness, which will, in turn, reduce your city's crime rate.

Sandbox mode

Sandbox mode is the default Crosstalk experience. You choose a PCB size, difficulty (which scales starting funds and the degree to which nature is unrelenting), and start building. As you build, you contain oncoming trouble while staying solvent. You can build anything from a town to a megacity. Under the "Easy" and "Medium" difficulty settings, pin attribution will not be enforced, so as long as buildings are powered and interconnected based on their roles, they will be able to operate. If you choose the "Hard" difficulty, you will have to use specific pins for specific things, such as wiring power in via VIN, outputting it via VCC, grounding via GND and COM, looping back voltage feedback via FB, and so on.

Networked mode

Party submode

In this submode, players can team up with other players over Steam Networking and manage a city together. It is structurally identical to Sandbox mode, but with networking enabled.

With larger designs, managing nature, the physics of electromagnetism and electricity, becomes complex, so players will need all the additional help that they can get. You can be joined by up to two other players.

Adversarial submode

Here, players compete against other players. One side maintains the city; the other, playing as nature, wreaks havoc. The city didn't manage its crime rate? That's an opportunity for the adversaries to strike.

Each side is able to play with teammates of its own, up to 2 at a time, resulting in a maximum total of 3 vs. 3 players.