Zengo

       

Zengo is a minimalist and relaxing puzzle game about arranging colored tiles into solid groups. Find the optimal arrangement to achieve the maximum score and fill the progress bar. Each game is procedurally generated, offering a new, unique challenge.

The game idea was inspired by the meditative stash sorting experience in the Escape from Tarkov game.

How to Play

• Goal: Bring all tiles of the same color together into a single, contiguous group.
• Controls: Click on a tile to select it. Then click on an target tile to swap them. Each swap costs one move.
• Strategy: Plan your moves ahead! The display below the game board shows you how many tiles of each color are on the board. At the beginning the arranging goes easy but later you may end up in a situation forcing you to rearrange whole groups, to reach the full score. Your strategies for allocating groups on the board will get better with each game you play.

Scoring

Your goal is to to reach the maximum possible points. You achieve this by forming the optimal shape for each color.

• A group is only scored if all tiles of that color on the board form a single, contiguous group.
• Lines: A group that forms a horizontal or vertical line receives points equal to its length (e.g., 5 tiles in a row = 5 points).
• Rectangles: A group that forms a solid rectangle (e.g., 2x3) receives a high score according to the formula Number of tiles * Width * Height (e.g., 6 tiles in a 2x3 rectangle = 6 * 2 * 3 = 36 points).
• Other shapes (e.g., L-shapes or rectangles with holes) score zero points.

The diagram at the top tracks your path to the solution.

Features

• Procedural Levels: Every game is unique.
• Strategic Depth: The tile distribution display allows for forward planning.
• Mobile-Friendly Layout: The aspect ratio is optimized for a future port to smartphones.
• Minimalist Design: A clean and distraction-free gaming experience.
• Challenge your friends: You can click on the sharing code at the bottom to copy it and Ctrl-V to paste it in your game. This way you can challenge your friends to try to achieve a better result (complete the puzzle in fewer moves). You can also use this feature to challenge yourself to get a better result for a particular configuration.

Development

Project Structure

The project uses a clear separation between runtime and build assets:

• /assets: Contains runtime assets (e.g., sound effects)
• /.build: Contains build-specific files (icons, desktop entries)

Building Locally

You need the Go programming language to compile the game.

Windows

In a PowerShell terminal in the project's root directory:

go build -ldflags="-H windowsgui" -o Zengo.exe

Creating Custom Icon

go install github.com/akavel/rsrc@latest
rsrc -ico .build/assets/icon.ico -o .build/rsrc.syso
go build -ldflags="-H windowsgui" -o Zengo.exe

Release Process

The project uses Semantic Versioning (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH):

• MAJOR (0.x.x): Breaking changes
• MINOR (x.2.x): New features
• PATCH (x.x.1): Bugfixes

To create a new release:

1. Decide on the version number based on your changes
2. Create and push a new tag:

   # For a bugfix
   git tag -a v0.1.1 -m "Bugfix: Fixed group size calculation"
   git push origin v0.1.1
   
   # For a new feature
   git tag -a v0.2.0 -m "Feature: Added new game mode"
   git push origin v0.2.0

3. GitHub Actions will automatically:
   • Build Windows (x86/x64) and Linux (x86/x64) versions
   • Create a GitHub Release with the version number
   • Upload all build artifacts

Technology

• Engine: Ebitengine https://ebitengine.org/ | https://github.com/hajimehoshi/ebiten
• Language: Go https://go.dev/ | https://github.com/golang
• AI: Gemini Code Assist | https://codeassist.google/