Dr. Signal’s Strange Machine
Apr. 5th, 2026 07:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingDr. Signal’s Strange Machine
https://caramel.itch.io/strangemachine
Dr. Signal’s Strange Machine is a sci-fi narrative adventure game with a runtime of about 12 minutes. You play as Dr. Signal, who has just perfected a machine that allows her to talk with dinosaur fossils. She’s chosen a t-rex as a conversation partner, and she’s interested in how it managed to survive the end of the world.
Before each of her three conversations with the t-rex, Dr. Signal has the opportunity to walk around the research station and chat with its other residents, all of whom are cool and chill. This game was created in Bitsy, but the limitations of the medium work to create an interesting visual space that’s fun to explore.
I wouldn’t say this game is “horror,” exactly, but there’s a bit of creeping dread as you realize what’s actually happening. Despite the simplicity of the writing (or perhaps because of it), I felt that Dr. Signal’s conversations with the dinosaur raise some interesting issues about the nature of power and leadership. The necessity of taking on difficult responsibilities is something I’ve been thinking about in terms of my own life, and this tiny little game really resonated with me.
Dr. Signal’s Strange Machine is by the same creator who made Red Trees (on Itch.io here), which is one of the best retro narrative adventure games of all time – it’s kind of like Undertale, but without the bullet hell. Maybe I should play it again. Maybe Red Trees would fix me.
https://caramel.itch.io/strangemachine
Dr. Signal’s Strange Machine is a sci-fi narrative adventure game with a runtime of about 12 minutes. You play as Dr. Signal, who has just perfected a machine that allows her to talk with dinosaur fossils. She’s chosen a t-rex as a conversation partner, and she’s interested in how it managed to survive the end of the world.
Before each of her three conversations with the t-rex, Dr. Signal has the opportunity to walk around the research station and chat with its other residents, all of whom are cool and chill. This game was created in Bitsy, but the limitations of the medium work to create an interesting visual space that’s fun to explore.
I wouldn’t say this game is “horror,” exactly, but there’s a bit of creeping dread as you realize what’s actually happening. Despite the simplicity of the writing (or perhaps because of it), I felt that Dr. Signal’s conversations with the dinosaur raise some interesting issues about the nature of power and leadership. The necessity of taking on difficult responsibilities is something I’ve been thinking about in terms of my own life, and this tiny little game really resonated with me.
Dr. Signal’s Strange Machine is by the same creator who made Red Trees (on Itch.io here), which is one of the best retro narrative adventure games of all time – it’s kind of like Undertale, but without the bullet hell. Maybe I should play it again. Maybe Red Trees would fix me.
