Drag any block horizontally on the field to drop it, create lines, and remove them. Each time you move a block, new ones will fall from above. Survive as long as you can!
Oh, I almost forgot. You can also move incoming blocks!
A long time ago, I used to play the original Slydris on my ancient iPhone 3G. It was a golden age, where developers were looking for ways to create new touchscreen-based games, drawing inspiration from the entire history of gaming. Clearly, all eyes were on the most famous block stacker in history, but despite several attempts, I found that game to be the most distant and yet successful of the experiments.
18 years later, I found myself still convinced of it... and in sudden abstinence.
Now, with an Android device, I went looking for it only to discover that not only it had a gorgeous sequel in 2018, which was released for Android the following year... but both titles are also no longer playable on Android.
The only thing left for me was a flashy video to see and nothing more. I've praised the Gods for a re-release and then... nothing.
A few days later, I decided to dedicate all my breaks to creating something that resembled it. I didn't need anything too fancy or faithful. I needed a link to click to release the dopamine and addiction in case I needed it.
I know there are plenty of casual-game-themed clones already out there. But my heart still lives in the '90s. I need .XM music, flashing lights, kaleidoscopic animations, and 8-bit sound effects while I stack my blocks.
That's why this game is here.
Squares, shadows, glows, particles, and no sprites should be enough to give the game the retro laser look I like. I just paired it with a cool font: the Y224 by GGBotNet is futuristic, edgy, and almost unreadable. Simply perfect.
Just you and the blocks
The original idea was to create a single game mode, without any menus. You go to a webpage, tap/click on the screen, and play.
I started implementing the core gameplay, some special blocks, and a Standard game mode inspired by both the original game sequel (videos...) and some modern block-stacker games aesthetics/progression.
Stacking blocks and clearing lines
The resulting game was a bit more complex than the first game, so I fiddled with the configurations to create something that reminded me of it. The strategy needed to play this alternative mode was slightly different than the Standard mode, so I sped it up and named it Gatling mode.
Gatling mode
This forced me to create a menu system, to which I then added some game settings.
Looking for videos of the first game, I remembered that I used to play Survival mode the most, in which blocks appeared in bursts after 10 seconds instead of at every move. I hammered it into the code and added a flower-themed Burst mode.
Burst mode
There is a lot of room for creating more game modes and new gameplay ideas, but 3 modes are were more than enough for me.
Feeling a little lonely? So am I! After release, I've added the Yinyang mode, which basically is a classic Vs. mode against yourself in the past.
The game records the garbage you generate for ~30 seconds, and then it sends that back to you in the following ~30 seconds with the same timing. You can cancel incoming garbage stacking higher combos in 10-second rounds à la tug-of-war, but then you'll have to fight that better version of you. The game will unleash your fury against yourself, level after level. Have fun!
Yinyang mode
Anyway, I've tried to make creating new modes fairly simple, just in case.
On mobile, there is almost no room for background animations as the field covers the entire screen. On desktop, instead, there is a lot of space around it - as for most of the block stacking games - so I started looking for some abstract psychedelic animations to show in the background.
It's an area I'm not very knowledgeable about, but there are several libraries that can help me, especially thanks to the (unbearable) trend of abstract and interactive backgrounds that websites have today.
But I wanted to try something different.
I wholeheartedly respect the code golfing community, but the Dwitter scene is the one I follow most passionately. With a CANVAS node and 140 characters of JavaScript code only, people can make gorgeous art. It's sick.
The Smokey 3D structure with joey's shadow dweet running on the title screen
I've created something to wrap these code chunks and use them as game background animations. I've added some hacks to render them at different qualities, as they are often not hardware-accelerated.
The original authors are in the credits, and I hope this little tribute will please them. However, I'm not entirely sure what license these snippets are under. If you'd like me to remove (or include) your animation, please contact me!
Oh, my beloved The Mod Archive. I've looked for some nice .XM tunes there and used the jsxm library to play them. I love club, acid, and funky atmospheres depending on the expected block stacking pace. Hope you'll like it too.
Authors are in the credits, and songs should be under the Mod Archive Distribution license. If you'd like me to remove (or include) your song, please contact me!
The game works natively on multiple resolutions with optional scaling, fullscreen, offline, and it can be installed on your device. I wanted to be able to always stack.
- Y224 by GGVBotNet
- strange life forms by luta, rodrigo.siqueira
- d/933 by p01
- d/701 by by sigveseb
- Smokey 3D structure with joey's shadow by yonatan, joeytwiddle, donbright
- Rotating raster rings by dee-gomma
- d/34124 by rodrigo.siqueira, UEZ
- d/1369 by tomkh
- Infinite #flower remix cycle by DaSpider, pavel
- Circle Factory by KilledByAPixel
- Acid Attack by resound/pepper
- Club Train by Heywood / Gollum & Nebula Vibes
- Club Desire by tawan, qp, dcm, evt
- Clubb Mix Star by bohema recordz crew
- Clubbing on Delirium by Origin/Nemesis
- Funk is a Religion remix by dj Fulanito, original by /diesel
- Ying Yang by KemperBoyd1974