Shift for Playdate by Scenic Route Software
Table of Contents
Shift for Playdate #
Also available on Catalog if you prefer! Are you looking for the sequel, Shift II? That’s over here!
Shift is a deceptively simple match-four game for Playdate that requires a little strategy, a small amount of luck and occasionally a deep breath and a fingers-crossed gamble.
Your task, with the help of a little droid named SAM-Y, is to shift tiles around the 4×4 grid to get an entire row or column of tiles to be the same color. Tiles will move until they are no longer able, be that by hitting the edge of the grid, or another tile.
Tiles can be shifted left, right, up and down. When a match is made, the tiles in the match are removed from the grid and the entire grid shifts in the direction you moved to make the match. New tiles are then added to the grid.
The main game screen.
“It’s good man – it’s really, really good. So, highly recommended from Destination Playdate.”
“Really addictive. One of the best games on Playdate.”
“This game is a lot of fun. I mean a lot of fun. If you like puzzle games definitely get this because you’ll enjoy it. Plenty of strategy here, works great, looks good, sounds good, highly recommend it.”
“Incredibly polished, well priced, and elegant game. I was impressed from the first 30 seconds and am looking forward to setting new high scores.”
“Shift has been elevated to the S-tier of Playdate games released thus far. Simple to play and understand, but hard to master and with addictive score chasing, Shift is the perfect pocket game. Great sound design too!”
“Man, Shift is exactly what I want on my Playdate. Really enjoying this game.”
“This is a fun Playdate game and a must-have for anyone who enjoyed bit Generations on GBA.”
Rules #
You start the game with a maximum five segments of Energy. Each time you make a Move that results in a Match, you’ll gain half of a segment of Energy. You’ll lose half a segment of Energy if your Move does not result in a Match.
When you run out of Energy, the game will end!
The screen you’ll see when the game has ended.
Each successive Match increases your Streak count by one. Each tile is worth one point, multiplied by your Streak. The higher your Streak, the more points you’ll get! If you make a Move that doesn’t result in a Match, your Streak will be reset to one – but you’ll collect bonus points worth the Streak multiplied by ten when it does!
Making a match.
Auto-matches occur when the grid adds new tiles, or after they Auto-shift. Try to make matches in a direction that will result in an Auto-match to maximize your points!
Making a Match of more than four tiles – for example, two Rows or two Columns, or intersecting Rows and Columns – will refill your Energy bar.
A color shifted double match.
To maintain a Streak, you can long press the A and B buttons to shift colors along a row or column. Colors will wrap around. Color shifting requires an entire segment of energy, and you may not color shift with only one bar remaining. Press down on the D-Pad to cancel.
When you’re down to half a segment of Energy, you have the option of giving your Playdate a hearty Shake if no matches are within reach. The grid will clear, and when the new tiles appear and any of them Auto-match, your Energy will be refilled. If nothing matches, the game ends.
Shaking your Playdate to stay alive.
Controls #
Navigates SAM-Y around the edges of the grid. Up and Down select rows, and Left and Right selects columns. Press down on the D-Pad while holding the A or B button to cancel a color shift.
Shifts a Column down or a Row right. ****New in v1.1.0: As an alternative to the Crank, a long press will shift tile colors in a Row to the Right and Column tile colors Down.
Shifts a Column up or a Row left.A long press will shift tile colors in a Row to the Left and Column tile colors Up.
Miscellaneous #
There are four different player profiles, each with their own top five high scores and game saves. Switching to a different profile will not effect any game you currently have in progress.
The top ten best local scores across profiles are displayed in the pause menu.
The main menu screen.
How to Install the Game #
Questions? Comments? #
Our Other Playdate Titles #
Many of our games are also available on Catalog, including this one!