LIFE LOGISTICS

October 8 Update

Handling things feels physical now. Items fly from the rack into your hand and drop into the box with a little bounce. Sealing folds the flaps shut and runs tape in the destination color across the box. Parcels get sucked down the chute, and the faster you finish an order the better the call: NICE, GREAT or PERFECT. Ship several in a row for a COMBO.

Things happen while you work. A red rush order pays three times the lifespan if you ship it before the timer runs out. When a side shutter rolls up, a forklift crosses the aisle and shoves you aside if you stand in its way. A supervisor drone patrols now and then, and running near it or standing still for more than 5 seconds costs you a 30-minute fine.

At the start of every shift you pick one card out of three. There are 18 cards, 4 of them gold. Special cargo sometimes shows up on the yellow cart next to the packing table: 12 kinds, from a cryo-sleep capsule to a letter from grandma to a goldfish. Every card you see and every special cargo you find goes into the collection, and filling all 30 slots adds a line to the final screen.

If you walk up to a chute empty-handed, it now tells you what to do first. On phones held sideways, the top bar no longer breaks onto two lines and the move stick no longer covers other buttons.