First in… Line?
I used to worry that I had a bad memory. Once, we had a hypnotist come to our Midwest middle school(?) and sell CD’s after the show(???), and I bought one for $10 to help improve my memory. I used it… maybe twice? I remember it started with lines like, “You need to realize you already have an amazing memory,” then went on for another half-hour or so to hopefully reinforce that belief. Well, either it worked, or I remember things better than I thought naturally, because I’m no slouch at the first game from “Rae Days” here at Playdate Unofficial: First in… Line? Do you have a bad memory? This game is a good way to find out.
You may recognize Rae from the Playdate Squad Discord or Cabel’s GDC talk. She has three games on Playdate (so far!) and we’ll be talking about them all in a row here, just like we did with Pixel Ghost and Scenic Route Software (and, soon, Powerdive Games!). She provided me fancy copies of her games and let me know just how improved this one is from the original PlayJam 5 version, so here we are!
In First in… Line?, you get to be the lead in a play that’s fallen wildly behind schedule. But, you’re only here because the actual lead dropped out at the last second, so you get to learn every line right before you go out on stage. It’s got sort of Simon gameplay, where you’ll look at your lines then immediately perform them, with juuuust enough of a pause between seeing your lines and walking out on stage to completely forget the whole list of instructions.
There are a variety of control schemes available. You can just use the buttons. You can use the crank, with docking/undocking and forward/backward rotation maneuvers to perform. You can even shake the Playdate or yell/blow into the microphone as part of your play’s “dialogue.” This is where I first discovered that docking and undocking the crank multiple times in a row can be really mean to the fingers! However, selecting all available inputs in the menu gives you an edge in the global leaderboards if you’re tied with your frenemy, so pick your poison.
There are easy and hard modes, and this will give you a time limit and/or randomize the lines while making them slightly longer every time. In the easiest, most standard mode, you’ll be given a line to perform, like “up, down, B, A,” and then you must hit those buttons in that order. Next line, it’ll add another button to the end, and it’ll keep making you perform an ever-lengthening series of button presses until you fill the page at 24 inputs. Then you get a new page that will also fill, one memorized input at a time. Hard mode gives you ten seconds to memorize the pattern, and then also gives you a new, randomized series of inputs for each line. And when you fill the page in hard mode, you just get to keep memorizing full pages. No going back to the four inputs that build on each other here! Obviously, the hard mode leaderboards have a lot lower scores on them than the easy levels.
Three misses in one line and you’re pulled off the stage! There’s also a one-shot mode where if you flub a single input, you’re out. Harsh, but fair. And you can unlock timed mode, where there’s always a clock running, and the only way to get more time is to nail successful lines. Lots of variety!
It also features a two-player pass-and-play mode where each player will take turns doing the same line, back and forth, with increasing difficulty. There can be only one winner. There aren’t a ton of two-player Playdate games, and most people have played Simon, so it seems like a decent sell if you’re trying to get your friends or family to try it out with you. And wait’ll they see you pull out that crank!
First in… Line? is immediately understandable and perfect when you want to wake your brain up just a little bit before you have to get back to work. Play it for just a few minutes at a time, or impress yourself when you’re on the third act of a play you were never supposed to be a part of. “You already have an amazing memory.” This game can make you feel like you do.
(Released originally as part of PlayJam 5 on April 21, 2024, on Itch, and a more full-featured version hit Catalog on June 18, 2024.)