// Mobile arcade game · Team of 2 · Global Game Jam 2020 → polished release
Queue-Connect
A mobile arcade game where you race against the clock to repair as many robots as possible. It started as Q-Connect, our Global Game Jam 2020 entry; afterwards a fellow School of Games student and I polished it into a full release on the Google Play Store.
Core loop
Robots of three different types move across the screen on a conveyor belt. Each one spawns with random parts missing: head, arms, legs or torso. Two screens show the missing parts for every robot currently on the belt, mixed with random parts that aren't needed.
The player taps the right part to repair the currently selected robot. Every fully repaired robot increases the score, and the goal is to repair as many as possible.
- Mistakes cost health: the player has 3 lives. Tapping a wrong part costs one, and so does an unrepaired robot leaving the screen. When all lives are gone, the run ends.
- Rising pressure: the belt speeds up over time, which shortens how long each robot stays selected and repairable. Runs usually last 10–20 minutes, depending on the players skill.
- Decoy parts: the extra parts on the screens mean the player has to actually read each robot instead of tapping on reflex.
- Buffs: random power-ups appear on the belt and can be tapped to activate: extra health, a temporary slowdown, or auto-repair for a few seconds. Grabbing one costs time, which creates a small risk/reward decision.
Designing for mobile
The game jam prototype was a PC game with a single part screen, played with the mouse. For the mobile version we redesigned the layout around how people hold a phone:
- Two part screens, one on each side: the player can tap parts with both thumbs while holding the phone in landscape.
- Horizontal layout: landscape gives the conveyor belt enough width for robots to stay readable even at high speed.
- Short, replayable runs: a score-based run that ends after 3 mistakes fits mobile play sessions and encourages "one more try".
Team & development
We were a team of two: I handled the programming, while my teammate created the art (both of us were equally involved in the design).
The game began as Q-Connect, a prototype built by a team of four at the Global Game Jam 2020 at the School of Games in Cologne - Germany, where the theme was “Repair”. The four of us came up with the design together, and I was one of the programmers.
After the jam, one of my teammates and I decided to keep going and turn it into a polished, mobile-first release, which we published on the Google Play Store.