This is my first ever game jam entry. I'd like to thank TRASEVOL_DOG for putting the Tiny TV jam together. I've had a lot of fun making this!
TL;DR
Columns, except you're racing to score 1024 points in the quickest time possible by making combos. Try to beat five minutes.
Aim
Whenever three or more blocks of the same colour are lined up, they'll disappear and you'll earn points. The aim of the game is to get to 1024 points in the quickest time possible. (Why 1024 points? Because the score is displayed in binary across the top of the screen...) My fastest time at the moment is just over 5 minutes, but I'll bet that time can be smashed. Your finishing time is displayed when you get to the target score.
Scoring
To score big points, you need to position the blocks so that you can cause chain reactions when blocks vanish. Creating combos like this increases the scores you achieve massively.
When your combo is 0, matching 3, 4, and 5 blocks in a row gains you: 1, 2 and 3 points respectively.
When your combo is 1, matching 3, 4, and 5 blocks in a row gains you: 25, 50 and 75 points respectively.
When your combo is 2 or above, matching 3, 4, and 5 blocks in a row gains you: 50, 100 and 150 points respectively.
e.g. if you made a row of four blocks, you'd get 2 points. If those blocks disappearing caused another block to fall and form a row of three, you'd gain an additional 25 points, for a total of 27.
(Note: if you don't deliberately set up combos, it might take a very long time to complete the game...)
Controls
TAB to turn the computer on or off. (Or, on mobile, I think you can turn the TV on from the menu.)
The face buttons shuffle the colours in the dropping piece.
Left or right to move the dropping piece in that direction.
And down to drop the current piece more quickly.
From game over screens, turn the TV off and on again to get back to the game.
If I Was To Improve On It...
I'd add music, fancier game over/congratulations screens, and I'd save the fastest time to the cart data to get a sort of high score thing going.
Astonishing Facts
I haven't used Lua or made any other PICO-8 carts before, so the code is not exemplary. The code that checks for lines of three is especially ridiculous, but once I'd got it working the first way I thought of, I didn't feel like revisiting it.
It's possible spin the TV around 360 degrees when in game. Wheee!
The background is patterned on the carpet in my childhood bedroom, around the time when I first got a ZX Spectrum. So there you go.
Displaying the score in binary is pretty clever, and the ZX Spectrum loading screen is a cool touch. You did a great job recreating Columns. Nice work!
Thanks for the nice comment! :)
(My best time is now 3m 44s, should anyone wish to have a wee competition.)
Really fun, well made game! I included it in my compilation video series of the Tiny TV Jam games, if you’d like to take a look :)
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