Backdrop is a match-3 style puzzle game which emphasizes thoughtful moves. There is no timer, and you can plan your moves at your own leisure.
The Goal
The goal is to clear the vexed blocks - the ones with the bothered border. You can't interact with vexed blocks directly, so they must be cleared by other means.
The Rules
There are four colors. Each block has an back and center color. Your cursor has a color as well.
Move your cursor with the directional buttons. Press the X/O action buttons to swap your cursor color with the selected block's back or center color, respectively.
When a block's back and center colors match, that block is cleared. Blocks above it drop down.
When a block drops down, if it lands next to a stationary block of the same back/center color and they form a group of 3+ blocks with that same back/center color, then all of them are cleared. This is called a chain clear, and this is also how you clear vexed blocks!
You begin a level with 8 swaps. You get an extra swap whenever you create a chain clear and whenever you clear a vexed block. You win if you clear all the vexed blocks within this swap limit.
Features
The interactive tutorial concisely teaches the game rules.
Levels are randomly generated. If you want to revisit a particular grid layout, write down its seed (shown on the pause/win/lose screens), and you can enter this seed later.
There are 12 difficulty levels. You may have to develop clever techniques to clear the higher ones.
If you clear the final level, a secret reward awaits you...
Background
Backdrop is my first PICO-8 game. I appreciated the focused workflow PICO-8 provides. In a little over a month, I was able to learn the platform, and design and implement Backdrop. I wasn't completely sure how Backdrop would play when starting the project, but PICO-8 made it fun and easy to iteratively design and test as the game was being created.
I put a couple more weeks into Backdrop after its initial release, and I feel it's fun and feature complete now.
I hope you enjoy Backdrop, and I would love to hear what you think!
Version History
this is insanely good, the idea is executed so well, but can you please add an undo function?
Thank you merwok!
Version 1.1 has been released. The key features are the limited undo function (kudos to 851523 for the undo suggestion), and the ability to retry the current level with the same level layout.
I may add the ability to allow users to freely enter the seed which generates the level layout. It could be fun to share particularly interesting or vexing layouts!
Had a blast with, will definitely return to it for more levels! Scratches the puzzle itch just right!
Played in stream if you are interested in "live" commentary!
Thank you @Achie72! It was enlightening to watch you learn Backdrop. It takes patience, but I think puzzle fans such as yourself will find it worthwhile. I appreciate you checking it out :)
My thanks for the amazing game! You got a pretty cool twist on the generic match-3 games!
A well balanced and polished little puzzle game. I enjoyed the little touches like the colours having a corresponding number indicated with dots or lines.
Thank you, @PAK9! I introduced the dots/lines as a colorblind aid, and I think they ultimately improved the game's appearance.
Really fun! I really enjoy falling block puzzle games, and it's pretty challenging to come up with a mechanic as fun as this one! It's really well implemented, I particularly enjoy the colorblind aid with dots and lines and how they move and react when you try to make a wrong move (i thought it was cute). The fact that you implemented seeds and different levels is very interesting, too! Very good job, I can definitely see myself playing Backdrop a lot!
Thanks @Moracan! I'm glad you noticed the little block animations when making invalid selections. Repeatedly pressing the vexed blocks is kind of like squeezing a stress ball.
The seed feature has been really handy when testing the game. Some layouts are more challenging than others, so it's valuable to revisit those levels and confirm they are winnable. I haven't encountered any unwinnable seeds yet, but if they exist, they can be identified!
I'm glad you're enjoying, and thank you for playing!
@skarrmann I thought there was some elaborate way to guarantee every level was winable. But reading your last comment I guess not?
This is the only match 3 game I found so far that I actually enjoyed. It also stands out well dispite the genre being a bit oversaturated.
It will probably stay in my favorites list for a long time.
@Doriencey It's high praise that you enjoy Backdrop despite your genre preference, thank you! On the other side, I've heard some matching game fans skip over it, since it's less approachable than other games in the genre. That's something I'm considering for my next game, ideally without sacrificing puzzle quality.
There is no elaborate system to confirm boards are winnable! There are a couple layout heuristics, which avoid obviously problematic boards:
- When randomizing blocks, two copies of each unique block are shuffled in a queue, and they are dealt out. When the queue is empty, it is refilled and reshuffled with two copies of each unique block. This ensures that there are no droughts of a particular block type, kind of like how modern Tetris uses a piece bag.
- Vexed blocks are balanced across rows and columns. This ensures there is no over-concentration of vexed blocks on any particular section of the board.
I experimented with the rules to balance the system too. With these measures, the game seems reliably winnable, often by a healthy margin with good play. Nonetheless, there might be levels+seeds out there that are unwinnable, but they must be quite rare if they exist.
If anyone encounters a possibly unwinnable level+seed, please share it!
@skarrmann it is less aproachable at first, but once it clicks it's fun.
More complicated puzzle games like this defenetly have a place too.
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