Shark Turtle for Playdate

Tile-matching puzzle video game. Fully playable and feature-complete.

SameGame (さめがめ) was originally released under the name CHAIN SHOT in 1985 by Kuniaki "Morisuke" Moribe for Fujitsu FM-7/8 home computer. The concept is as old as Tetris, perhaps even older, and at one time SameGame in its many guises was more popular than Tetris in Japan. One version had an active modding scene and some had strategy guide books.

Shark Turtle is a version of the SameGame concept. It was submitted and rejected in the first wave of submissions to Playdate Catalog. If I remember correctly the reason was, and I'm paraphrasing here: "needs more polish". At one point the plan was to wrap this in a theme/concept and give it the same sort of treatment that resulted in the great experiences of my other games like YOYOZO, Fore! Track, Bender 2: Bend Harder, but for one reason or another it never happened.

What is here is a fully-playable, feature-rich, somewhat polished, no-frills version of SameGame with fast updates, animated block removal, solid controls, incremental scoring, multi-level undo, and great music. It's a lot of fun and great to play little-by-little when you have a spare moment, as you dictate the pace and progress of the game turn-by-turn.

Controls

• DPAD/CRANK = move cursor
• B/SHAKE = undo (hold button for repeat undo)
  
• A = remove selected group of blocks

Features

• Variable grid size
• Variable number of block shades
• Random Seed (to play the same game again)
• Pause menu game stats
• Multiple music tracks
• Dynamic sound effects

Hints

• Random removals will only get you so far
• It is a game of strategy not luck
• Plan ahead and don't forget to use undo
• Consult the pause screen block totals
• The game lets you know when you're scoring well
• Fewer block shades make things easier
• Larger grids are also slightly easier

Music

1. Cosmic Mini — MATSU
2. はてなパズル — MATSU
3. Starry Mind — Flehmann
4. City Lights — Yuhei Komatsu
5. Another Face — Yuhei Komatsu
6. モラトリアム — Yuhei Komatsu

• Playlist: YouTube

Sound

• Some sounds by Sound Effect Lab
• Others made by me using my mouth

Fun Facts

• The hand cursor also appears in Sparrow Solitaire
• Some sound effects were reused in Fore! Track
  
• The font slowly got wider and ended up in YOYOZO
  • as featured in Ars Technica's "Best Games of 2023"
• Nothing is ever wasted

Notes

• This is almost final software, so there may be the odd bug lurking
• The game will not receive any future updates
• There is no moai in this game

Build date

• 29 June 2023