My First Game for the Playdate - FlatCube
2025-11-19 - [54] 9:4
After picking up the PlayDate about 2 months ago, I wanted to build something for it. Well, my first completed project for it is done! This is my annoying 3x3x3 twisty puzzle game "FlatCube"! Have you ever wanted to solve a Rubik's cube but only wanted to ever be able to look at 1 side? Have you ever wanted to solve a Rubik's cube, but you aren't allowed to turn the back side of the cube? Have you ever thought "I totally wish I couldn't rotate the whole cube"? Have you ever wanted your Rubik's cube to assign a random color scheme after every scramble? Well, FlatCube is here for you!
FlatCube is a 3x3x3 twisty puzzle cube with a few changes and restrictions:
- Only the [F]ront face is visible
- The cube cannot be rotated, meaning no X-, Y-, or Z-axis rotations of the cube
- The only turns allowed are [F]ront, [U]p, [D]own, and [R]ight, [L]eft face turns (so no [B]ack turns or slice moves)
- Every scramble randomizes the color scheme of the cube
Controls
- A - Turn [F]ront face clockwise
- Up - Turn [U]p face clockwise
- Down - Turn [D]own face clockwise
- Right - Turn [R]ight face clockwise
- Left - Turn [L]eft face clockwise
- Hold B - Turns will be counterclockwise instead of clockwise
The cube can be scrambled by selecting "scramble" in the menu after hitting the Menu button on the Playdate.
Achievements
This game has 4 achievements. The achievements are:
- 3x3 - Get all of the [F]ront side pieces to be the same color
- 3x3x1 - Solve the entire [F]ront layer
- 3x3x3? - "Solve the cube"
- 3x3x3 - Make sure the cube is guaranteed solved
When an achievement unlocks for the first time, the achievement title and a star will appear. A checkmark will also appear if the achievement was met during the current scramble.
When the cube is scrambled, all of the checkmarks for the achievements will disappear.
3x3
You probably know someone who could "solve 1 side" of a Rubik's cube. In this case, I mean matching all of the colors on a single side. This achievement unlocks when all 9 stickers of the [F]ront side are the same color.
3x3x1
For a "side" to actually be solved on a Rubik's cube, the corners and edges need to be solved for the entire layer. To unlock this achievement, the entire [F]ront layer needs to be solved.
3x3x3?
There is a parity error on this cube. Because you cannot see the Up, Down, Right, and Left centers, you cannot know for certain by only looking at the [F]ront face whether you solved the cube or not. Once the cube is "solved", there is a 50% chance that the Up, Down, Right, and Left centers will be off by 180 degrees. Getting either of these 2 "solves" unlocks this achievement.
3x3x3
As I mentioned, there is only a 50% chance a solve happened. To guarantee a solve, this achievement requires you to "solve" the cube both ways on a single scramble.
The Future
I hope to make an NES and Game Boy port at some point in the future. I also don't intend to have FlatCube check if a cube scramble is valid or not. If the cube is invalid, using "scramble" in the menu should make the cube valid again.
Source Code / Compiled Game
The source code and the compiled game are available over git.
You can pull the repository via `git` over git://, http://, or https:// at `git.vigrey.com/flatcube`.
From the root directory of the git repository, the compiled game can be found at `playdate/bin/FlatCube.pdx` and sideloaded onto a Playdate.
Contact/Reply
If you would like to reply to this post, feel free to send me an email.