Phantom FM by Someday Not Today

[raw]
made by Someday Not Today for Ludum Dare 59 (JAM)

Снимок экрана 2026-04-21 в 04.24.14.png A roguelike deckbuilder where you're a pirate radio DJ fighting a corporate broadcast monopoly.

Alternate 1980s. The Monotone Corporation controls every frequency with a flat carrier wave. You run an illegal station from a basement, cutting through their signal to broadcast forbidden music.

How It Plays Each card is a pattern tile — a peak, a dip, a wave. You place them across your oscilloscope to compose a waveform. When you end your turn, a playhead sweeps through your signal and ticks 80 times, paying out listeners based on amplitude × venue multipliers.

Ratings

Overall 407th 3.593⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Fun 412th 3.389⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 125th 3.87⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Theme 182th 4.13⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 646th 3.204⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Audio 489th 3.02⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Humor 568th 2.375⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Mood 636th 3.26⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 23🗳️ 33🗨️

Feedback

Pixel_Error
Apr 21st · 11:26 UTC
i liek the oscilloscope gameplay very much but music is too cheesy
cRoxx
Apr 21st · 17:45 UTC
the oscilloscope deckbuilder concept is genuinely creative, composing waveforms to score listeners is a cool twist on the genre. ui feels a bit rough around the edges but the core idea carries it. nice work!
azsteak
Apr 21st · 17:49 UTC
Really interesting mix, similar to Balatro but with waves. With deeper signal combination mechanics it could be a really fleshed out game !
Julia Nistel
Apr 21st · 17:51 UTC
Great game! It's nice to see a deckbuilder and the waveforms are a cool twist
ComicSans
Apr 21st · 18:04 UTC
Technically very solid. :thumbsup: I'm not a musician, and I couldn't figure out what a good or bad move was. I just used up all my energy and made patterns, and was winning levels. I couldn't tell if the waveforms I was making were impacting the audio, so it felt like my choices didn't matter. If the patterns *did* affect the music, I wish the pattern was highlighted in time to the music. Again, I'm not musically sophisticated, so I'm not sure if I'm in the target audience.
Pegasus
Apr 21st · 18:05 UTC
Really cool concept for a rogue lite. I love the balatro vibe and it seems to fit nicely with the theming. The music was chill and fitting, wish there was more sound effects to give feedback. I love the art style also, the animations for the playhead with the flying numbers are really satisfying. My one compliant is that I never really knew what was giving me higher numbers and couldn't really tell what made one strategy good and another bad. Ended up making it to the 5k amount though which seems to be the cap for the challenge so I wasn't really struggling, just not sure how you could fail it if that makes sense. Really good job overall though!
cupofmilk7
Apr 21st · 19:19 UTC
cool idea!! it would be awesome to see more variations of signals
LDJam user 425464
Apr 21st · 19:22 UTC
Cool concept! I feel like there would be alot more to explore here. These kind of games feel like they require quite a bit of content to really start kicking, now it felt like i was just buying all the relics from the store and didnt really care about cards. But very much enjoyed it!
BluntSam
Apr 21st · 19:27 UTC
Reminds me of Balatro as it is a roguelike card game, but it's a really neat spin on it! The first time I played there wasn't any sound, but I'm very glad I reloaded the page because the music is pretty great. Fits the vibe of the game very well. The waveforms are really interesting to me, though I've little musical knowledge.
Padla
Apr 21st · 20:05 UTC
im not sure whats happening but it feels realy good
LDJam user 424632
Apr 21st · 20:40 UTC
The game is intuitive and very addictive! However, descriptions of effects between levels sometimes appear out of sight, making it difficult to read and understand. Unfortunately, I couldn't reach 2500 listeners, but overall I enjoyed the game!
WhoIsEthan
Apr 22nd · 02:18 UTC
I have no musical skill or really any skills at all but somehow I won a level! 10/10 ethan score.
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cat value
Apr 22nd · 02:20 UTC
The interpretation and application of the theme are spot on. The game concept design is great, the art style is unique, and it’s a very innovative game. Five-star praise! We look forward to your coming to play our games, thank you
zpdlf003
Apr 22nd · 09:11 UTC
That game was really original because it utilized the pitch range. I enjoyed playing that game.
PrRobo
Apr 22nd · 17:26 UTC
amazing take on a balala joker poker type gameplay; has potential beyond the jam %DD
zoeek
Apr 22nd · 23:55 UTC
This one is such a cool idea! Played it multiple times
GARYglhf
Apr 23rd · 12:01 UTC
Хорошая идея и точно в тему. С осциллографом здорово придумано мне понравилось.
LDJam user 423838
Apr 23rd · 12:46 UTC
Balatro but with waveforms - genuinely creative concept and the vibe is clean. Hard to tell what actually makes a good move but somehow still fun to mess around with
FadingDreamStories
Apr 24th · 05:43 UTC
Played this a few times, but couldn't get past the censor - never seemed to have enough cards to do much, nor much energy. Music was good, and would have been cool to hear what our signal was doing - maybe that would make it easier to read. Can't wait to see what you do with it!