AcidDrop v1.3 for Windows X64

Updated: Icons,
Different intro/other additions

Liquid Acid Drop is a color-matching puzzle game where players guide falling tri-colored blocks into an 8×18 grid. Match 3 or more blocks of the same color horizontally, vertically, or diagonally to clear them and score points. The game features GPU-accelerated fragment shader visual effects, persistent high scores, and progressively increasing difficulty across three starting levels.

The game draws its inspiration from two classic titles: Acid Drop, an obscure but memorable Atari 2600 puzzle game released in 1992, and Sega's Columns (1990). Liquid Acid Drop reimagines the core mechanics of these retro gems with modern Vulkan-powered rendering, psychedelic real-time shader effects, and a vibrant color palette of 9 distinct block types.

Built entirely as a showcase for the libmx2 / MX2 Engine—a custom Vulkan-based 2D game framework—Liquid Acid Drop demonstrates the engine's sprite batching, text rendering, fragment shader pipeline, and swap chain management capabilities in a fully playable, complete game.

How to Play
A piece made of 3 colored segments falls from the top of the grid. Move it left and right, rotate between vertical and horizontal orientation, and shift the color order within the piece to line up matches. When 3 or more same-colored blocks align in any direction—horizontal, vertical, or diagonal—they flash and are cleared. Remaining blocks then fall due to gravity, potentially triggering chain reactions for bonus points. Every 10 line clears, the drop speed increases. The game ends when blocks stack to the top.

Controls
Key Action
← → Move block left / right
↓ Soft drop (move block down faster)
↑ Shift colors within the block (forward)
Z Shift colors within the block (reverse)
Space Rotate block (vertical ↔ horizontal)
P Pause / Resume
Esc Return to main menu / Quit
Enter Confirm menu selection
Scoring
Event Points
Each block cleared +6
4-block horizontal/vertical match +25 bonus
5+ block horizontal/vertical match +50 bonus
4-block diagonal match +35 bonus
5+ block diagonal match +75 bonus
Features
⚙️
Vulkan Rendering Pipeline
All graphics rendered via Vulkan, including sprite batching, text rendering, and custom SPIR-V fragment shaders.

✨
Shader-Driven Visuals
Backgrounds use kaleidoscope, bubble, and time-warp fragment shaders for psychedelic animated effects.

🔁
Block Rotation & Color Shifting
Rotate pieces between vertical and horizontal orientation and cycle the color order within a block.

⚡
Cascading Chain Reactions
Gravity pulls blocks down after clears, triggering chain reactions for bonus points.

🏆
Persistent High Scores
Top 10 scores saved to disk and restored between sessions with name entry for qualifying scores.

💻
Cross-Platform
Builds on Linux, macOS (via MoltenVK), and Windows. Resizable window with dynamic font scaling.

Language & Technology
Liquid Acid Drop is written in C++20 and targets the Vulkan graphics API for all rendering. The game is built on top of the libmx2 / MX2 Engine, a custom framework that provides Vulkan swap chain management, a 2D sprite system with batched draw calls, and text rendering via SDL_ttf rasterized to Vulkan textures.

Visual effects are driven by GLSL fragment shaders compiled to SPIR-V bytecode. Each background screen (intro, menu, gameplay) uses a different real-time shader—kaleidoscope, bubble, and time-warp—with per-frame uniform updates for animation. The Vulkan backend is loaded dynamically at runtime using Volk (a Vulkan meta-loader).

AcidDrop v1.2 Windows x64

Updated the game, adding new shader effects. As you progress through the game, the visuals get more intense and morph.

Acid Drop v1.1

Added better Credits screen and made it so you can toggle on/off the shader effects so more people can enjoy the game.

Acid Drop v1.0

Liquid Acid Drop is a color-matching puzzle game where players guide falling tri-colored blocks into an 8×18 grid. Match 3 or more blocks of the same color horizontally, vertically, or diagonally to clear them and score points. The game features GPU-accelerated fragment shader visual effects, persistent high scores, and progressively increasing difficulty across three starting levels.

The game draws its inspiration from two classic titles: Acid Drop, an obscure but memorable Atari 2600 puzzle game released in 1992, and Sega's Columns (1990). Liquid Acid Drop reimagines the core mechanics of these retro gems with modern Vulkan-powered rendering, psychedelic real-time shader effects, and a vibrant color palette of 9 distinct block types.

Built entirely as a showcase for the libmx2 / MX2 Engine—a custom Vulkan-based 2D game framework—Liquid Acid Drop demonstrates the engine's sprite batching, text rendering, fragment shader pipeline, and swap chain management capabilities in a fully playable, complete game.