--- How to Play ---

Use the arrow keys to move the cursor and press Z to swap tiles.


Arrange the tiles to create matching groups of 3 or more.


After every 5th swap, the matching groups will break, awarding you 5 points per tile.


The remaining tiles will fall and new ones will enter from the top.

Chaining

If the falling tiles create a new matching group, a chain starts. A 2-chain is worth double points, and a 3-chain is triple points etc...


Egirls

Egirl tiles are worth 15 points each, so try to match them at the end of a chain for a huge score.

The first match in this chain scores +5 points per tile:

The second chain scores double, +10 per tile

The third chain scores triple, and egirls are 15 points each. 15 x 3 = 45 points per tile!


Here's an example of how to set up a long chain for a high score:

Game Modes

In Score Attack 100 Mode there is no time limit, instead there is a limited number of swaps per game, so take your time and plan your moves carefully.

In Caffeinated Mode you have only 3 minutes to play but can make as many swaps as you like... HOWEVER - the first match of a chain scores ZERO points in Caffeinated mode! You have to create a 2-chain or more to score any points!

--- Credits ---

Art - Pastel Stormveil & monoRAIL
Programming & music - monoRAIL
Beta testing - WooLuBu
Thanks to - Sour Walrus, Oyatsu, Lychee Sodapop
Made with Pico-8, Aseprite & Visual Studio Code

--- Competition Results ---

Here are the top 10 scores from the first Puzstel Storm competition, held in December 2022.

PlayerScore
1. Aipacalypse
6905
2. Oblivion Wings
6475
3. Bento
6265
4. Miss Squeaks
6040
5. Vermillion Forest
5920
6. Freedom
5810
7. Maya Merlarn
5760
8. Desty Nova
5335
9. Sir Brent
4930
10. Sour Walrus
4735
StatusReleased
PlatformsHTML5
Rating
Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars
(3 total ratings)
AuthormonoRAIL
GenrePuzzle
Made withAseprite, PICO-8
Tagschiptune, match-3, PICO-8, Pixel Art
Average sessionA few minutes
InputsKeyboard

Comments

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How long did it take you to make?

Hard to say exactly because it was spread out over a few months. It was about 6 months from the start date to the final upload on Itch, but I was probably only working on it for an hour or two each week. Also I came back to it and added Caffeinated Mode (the time limited mode) a couple of months after I first uploaded it. Full-time it probably would have taken a week. Pico-8 is a very fast development environment, particularly with Aseprite and the VSCode Lua & Pico-8 plugins.

Great work! Do you plan to release the png cart?

Here you go...

Thank you very much! 🤩

It's time to play some good puzzles then!

Got up to a 5 chain. Really fun game here, great work!

Awesome gameplay, super fun!