Apparently I Started Another Game... Introducing SWORDOKU!

Studio Dev: Apparently I Started Another Game... Introducing SWORDOKU!

I may have forgotten to mention something.

There's another game in development.

Yes.

Another one.

At this point, I'm beginning to think I should stop pretending that I have any control over how many projects I'm working on.

But this one actually has a bit of history behind it.

It Started With Tetridoku

One of my surprisingly best-selling games for the Infinity Game Table was Tetridoku.

It's a fairly simple puzzle game played on a 9x9 board, using Tetris-like pieces that you place to complete rows, columns, or quadrants.

Complete one, and it clears.

Keep placing pieces, keep clearing the board, and try not to run out of room.

Simple concept.

Easy to understand.

And apparently people really enjoyed it.

In fact, I think Tetridoku may have been the very first game I released for the IGT.

It's funny how that works sometimes.

You can spend months designing complicated systems and elaborate mechanics, and then one of your better-selling games ends up being something relatively straightforward.

Not that I'm complaining!

I've Always Liked Puzzle Games

I've always enjoyed puzzle games, particularly when I can mix them with other genres.

Over the years, I've experimented with several different puzzle concepts.

Drag-to-match games.

Ocean-themed puzzles.

Puzzles with RPG mechanics.

All sorts of things.

Most of those projects never made it to release.

They were experiments, prototypes, or ideas that I played around with before moving on to something else.

But I've always liked the idea of taking a familiar puzzle mechanic and giving the player something more to work toward than simply beating their previous score.

And if there's one genre I keep coming back to...

It's RPGs.

Character progression.

Equipment.

Combat.

Dungeons.

Getting stronger so you can go somewhere you probably shouldn't be going yet.

All the good stuff.

What If Tetridoku Had a Dungeon?

A long while ago, I started thinking about how I could expand on Tetridoku.

The original game worked well for the Infinity Game Table, but it was deliberately simple.

The audience and the hardware weren't really suited to piling on a bunch of extra systems, so I kept it focused on the core puzzle mechanic.

But I kept wondering...

What if placing puzzle pieces actually did something beyond clearing the board?

What if the puzzle was part of a combat system?

What if clearing rows, columns, and quadrants could help you fight monsters?

What if you could earn experience, improve your character, collect equipment, and progress through a dungeon?

Suddenly, that simple puzzle game starts becoming something considerably more interesting.

At least to me.

So I started working on it.

And then...

I shelved it.

Again.

Honestly, I don't even remember exactly why.

I suspect life got busy, the Infinity Game Table projects demanded more attention, and this one just quietly disappeared into the collection of unfinished ideas.

Which, as you may have noticed, is a fairly substantial collection.

Time to Clear Away the Cobwebs

Recently, I started digging through some of my older projects again.

Old hard drives.

USB flash drives.

Folders full of projects that haven't been opened in years.

Some of them I barely remember creating.

And there it was.

My old puzzle RPG concept.

Still sitting there, waiting for another chance.

So naturally, I opened it up.

Started looking through the old ideas.

Remembered why I wanted to make it in the first place.

And decided to start building it again.

Because apparently reviving one old project wasn't enough.

Gunpowder & Gold?

S.C.R.A.P.?

Threefold?

JOFD?

What's one more?

Introducing SWORDOKU: Grid & Glory

And that brings us to the newest addition to the SquigglyFrog Studios development lineup.

SWORDOKU: Grid & Glory.

The idea is to take the puzzle mechanics that made Tetridoku enjoyable and build a fantasy RPG experience around them.

Instead of simply clearing lines for points, your actions on the puzzle board become part of a battle.

You're fighting enemies, progressing through encounters, improving your character, and working your way through increasingly difficult challenges.

It's still a puzzle game at heart.

But now there's a reason to care about what happens beyond the board.

And that's exactly the kind of genre mashup I enjoy making.

A Familiar Idea, With a Lot More Possibility

One of the nice things about revisiting an older concept is that I don't have to start completely from scratch when figuring out what I want.

I already know the basic puzzle mechanic works.

Tetridoku proved that.

The interesting challenge now is figuring out how to combine it with RPG progression and combat without losing what made the original fun.

I don't want the RPG systems to feel like something randomly attached to a puzzle game.

And I don't want the puzzle to feel like an annoying minigame standing between the player and the actual adventure.

Both parts need to work together.

That's where the real design work comes in.

And honestly, that's also the fun part.

I know this idea has been done before, I just intend to do it better.

So... Another Project?

Yep.

Another project.

I know.

At this point, I probably have enough games in development to keep myself busy until retirement.

And possibly well beyond it.

But I enjoy bouncing between ideas.

Sometimes spending time on one project gives me ideas for another.

Sometimes I need a break from complicated economic simulations and just want to build something with a completely different style of gameplay.

And sometimes I stumble across an old project and remember why I was excited about it years ago.

That's what happened here.

Tetridoku was one of my early Infinity Game Table successes.

Now I want to see what happens when I take that foundation and give it swords, monsters, progression, and a little RPG personality.

Welcome to SWORDOKU: Grid & Glory.

Let's see where this one goes.

And yes, I really should finish something before starting another game.

I'll add that to the to-do list.

Somewhere near the bottom.

Back to work!