Check out Dropd on Itch.IO!

Games
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Dropd is crafted with :heart: by TheDevJOman
 
Currently exclusive to the Panic Playdate
 
Currently in the polishing phase and may contain bugs. The game is free to play until finalized but donations are always welcome and I thank you in advance for what you can spare :blush:

 
            DOWNLOAD ON ITCH

 
In a nutshell:
Taking cues from Wordle, Scrabble, Tic-Tac-Toe, and Tetris, this new word game will exercise your brain and strengthen your 5-letter word knowledge.

 
What you see:
You are presented with a letter rack in the left, a 5x5 board in the middle, current and high scores in the top right, and a scrollable list of found words in the mid-bottom right.

 
Gameplay:

This game uses the official Scrabble letter bag and loads the rack from the top to the bottom. You're then given the bottom-most letter and must use the D-pad (UP - hard drop, DOWN - soft drop, LEFT, and RIGHT) to position the piece on the board while being mindful of the Tetris-like gravity.

Once your letter is placed, you may wait for the Drop Timer to reach 0 or press A to skip to the next letter. You're given the bottom-most letter again and the cycle repeats. You may press and hold B at any time to temporarily pause the game and have a think.

Get one (or more) valid word (as per the official Wordle word list) to fill a whole row, column, or diagonal to increment your score, add the word to the list, and clear the line.

If you get a wildcard ("?"), the game will pause and let you choose a letter using the Playdate keyboard. The game will resume when you select "OK".

The game is over when either the board fills up or you run out of letters. Out of Letters gives you an option to continue in Endless Mode - letters aren't removed from the bag but will still appear with approximately the same chance as a typical Scrabble bag.

During the game over prompt or while holding B, you can press UP or DOWN OR use the CRANK to scroll your found word list and revel in its glory. (This only applies if you have more than 8 found words in a game)

 
Features:

  • Reset your highscore, adjust drop time (1 to 10 seconds), and toggle Autoplay* from the Playdate Menu
    *Autoplay acts kind of like a screensaver. Scores are not recorded.

  • Over 14,000 English Wordle words to verify against

  • 100-piece Scrabble letter bag

  • Tetris-style gravity, soft drop, and hard drop mechanics

  • Tic-Tac-Toe-style row, column, or diagonal connections

  • Customizable RNG Seeds

    Always defaults to random seed on launch or if you leave the entry box blank.
    Set seeds to compete for highscores
    Accessed by using a 3-button chord on the title or end-of-game screen. (Chord is formatted as a black-box spoiler on the Itch page, check there if you're curious; otherwise try different combos and see if you can find it out solo!)

  • Achievements (currently 14)

    Drop, Drop, Drop it like it's hot
    Oops I Dropd the salt
    The 'Z' stands for 'Zesty'
    Competitive
    Don't Touch That
    Keyboard Masher
    Keyboard Master
    Crank That
    The Last Drop
    Palindroppa
    Only Read Backwards
    Dropception
    Drop it Again
    Alphabet Soup

    I will post hints in the Itch devlog for these over the next few weeks for those struggling to unlock some of them

 
Parental Guidance:
This game is not explicitly vulgar, however, the letters chosen at random may provide opportunities for vulgar words to appear or be played. The Wordle list I'm using does validate some vulgar words. Play at your discretion and supervise youngsters as you feel necessary.

 
Generative AI disclaimer:
I used ChatGPT to bounce ideas off of, help me with some of the achievement names, and to discuss optimal code strategy and placement.

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