My first game for the Playdate: KerBlamO!: Devlog

[FebreezeInhaler]

You’re gonna want to read the rules to the game because currently there is no tutorial.

Introducing an upcoming game I’m making, KerBlamO! The game involves matching tiles in rows and columns to earn points! Thank you everyone on the forum who helped me make it.

How to play:

D-Pad to move cursor

A to select tile (press on a different tile to swap)

And B to cancel selection

How to solve Rows and Columns

There are 25 different tiles in the game, with 2 qualities (shape and pattern) each pattern has 5 variations. The five shapes are Square, Triangle, Circle, Cross, and Nabla (because upside down triangle is too wordy). The five patterns are Horizontal Stripes, Vertical Stripes, Checkerboard, Solid, and Hollow. Here are all the possible tiles.

To solve a row or column, make all the shapes match or all be unique, and at the same time make all the patterns match or all be unique. For example you could have a Horizontally Striped Square, Triangle, Circle, Cross, and Nabla. Since the patterns are all the same, and the shapes are all different. Another Example is a Solid Square, Hollow Triangle, Vertical Circle, Horizontal Cross, and Checkered Nabla. Because the shapes are all different and the patterns are all different, this row would be solved.

Game

There is a timer called the DEATH TIMER that you can see to the right of the tiles. The DEATH TIMER is a timer that when it finishes, you lose. But don’t worry when you solve a row or column, it resets the timer. The difficult thing is the timer never resets to it’s original value. It slowly gets faster and faster.

Everytime you solve a row or column, you get one point. If you solve a row or column with a double points tile in it

then you get 2 points. The double points tiles also stack. If you solve a row or column with two double tiles, you get four points, etc. There are also timer tiles.

Solve a row or column with a timer tile, and you increase the DEATH TIMER duration by 5 seconds.

THINGS I WANT TO ADD:

• Tutorial
• Background Music
• Multiple Game Modes
• Leaderboard
• Something to take up the right side of the screen.

THINGS I MIGHT ADD:

• A Mascot Such As The Ones Artille Royalty or Pick Pack Pup That Celebrates When You Make A Solve
• Wild Tiles (any ideas on the designs for this tile would be appreciated)
• Puzzle Mode

Any comments, concerns, questions, or insults would be greatly appreciated.

KerBlamO.pdx.zip (18.4 MB)

[NaydraLikesSoup (Skyler)]

Very cool concept for a game! I like your sound effects a lot and the simple visuals make it easy to understand the whole board very quickly.

I played a few rounds and found that a lot of the time, there weren’t any possible matches that I could see, so I just had to let the timer run out. Was this intentional? Am I missing something?

One nitpick is that personally I’d prefer if the horizontal and vertical stripes were more visually distinct, such as one having thicker stripes or something, just so it’s easier to tell them apart at a moments notice.

I love the idea of a little mascot! And if it’s not too difficult, maybe your wild tile could be a star or other distinct shape that cycles through different colors?

It was awesome to try your game! Good luck with it!

[FebreezeInhaler]

Great Ideas! thank you so much!

For your first problem i would like to give you some help with the rules which are almost always difficult to explain. You can match row/column if each quality either has all the or all different variations in each. In the first screenshot you shared, you could have matched the Hollow, Horizontal, Vertical, Checkered, and Solid Cross. Since in the Shape quality they’re all the same, and in the Pattern quality they’re all different. As for your second screenshot you could have solved it with the Checkered Nabla, Hollow Square, Solid Circle, Horizontal Cross, and the Vertical Triangle. Since they are all different in both qualities they would make a match.

But even if these configurations of the board have solutions, I’m not sure if all configurations of the board have solutions. I have no idea how I would figure it out. If anyone who is reading this is wants a good logic puzzle, try to figure out if there are any unsolvable configurations of the board. If so, then give an example.

As for the Vertical and Horizontal Stripes, I see where you’re coming from and I’ll put that on the to-do list. It’s especially hard to show my mom the game. She already needs the flashlight on her phone to even see the PlayDate screen so I’ll work on it.

As for the wild tiles idea, i had been playing with the idea of having partial wilds (e.g. having a tile that was a Square but could count as any pattern) but I couldn’t think of a way to indicate that the pattern was wild. Having it change patterns would make it obvious to the player that this can count as any pattern.

i’ve also been trying to make a scrolling background to add something interesting to replace the dark void that you play in. But that’s a separate issue.

thank you so much for leaving your feedback

edit: I just got the scrolling background to work! and btw if you can’t find a solve you don’t have to let the timer run out. just hit the menu button and reset the game

[FebreezeInhaler]

New Update! I added a scrolling background that occupies the black void that you used to play in. I also added a placeholder mascot that has three emotions: idle, happy, and worried. I might replace him but honestly I think he’s kinda cute.

THINGS I WANT TO ADD:

• Tutorial

• Background Music

• Multiple Game Modes

• Leaderboard

• Something to take up the right side of the screen

THINGS I MIGHT ADD:

• A Mascot Such As The Ones Artille Royalty or Pick Pack Pup That Celebrates When You Make A Solve

• Wild Tiles (any ideas on the designs for this tile would be appreciated)

• Puzzle Mode

KerBlamO.pdx.zip (18.4 MB)