Shibuya

Nevercenter's atmospheric arcade puzzle game Shibuya, a winner of this year's PAX 10 Indie Showcase, has been released for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, and is available now in the App Store.

The game was selected by the creators of the popular webcomic Penny Arcade, to be featured along with nine other independent games at their annual gaming expo in Seattle. The winning games were displayed alongside triple-A titles in the heavily-trafficked PAX 10 booth space.

Gameplay centers around a unique, challenging, and highly addictive puzzle design. Players sort colors by assigning them to a stream of constantly-falling empty blocks, and then tap matched groups of color to remove them. Strategy and forethought are required, along with quick reflexes, to plan extensive combos or match up large groups of color for maximum points.

"Shibuya is a deceptively simple design," said Tom Plewe, Nevercenter's president. "You can play it with one hand, and it's easy to pick up the mechanics. But there's a lot of depth, skill, and strategy, and most people find it challenging yet rewarding. After playing a few times, they find themselves making combos and surviving speeds which at first seemed impossible."

Shibuya offers two gameplay modes and five speed classes to customize difficulty, along with online rankings, achievements, and the ability to see friends' scores via OpenFeint. Achievements are arranged in levels, where the player is given four challenges at a time to complete before moving on to a more difficult set, guiding the player towards mastery of the game.

The game's unique visual style is inspired by Shibuya, one of 23 special wards in Tokyo known for its bright glowing signs and young, vibrant, arcade-centric culture. Five licensed songs from Millionyoung's "Be So True EP" further establish the atmosphere.

Shibuya is available now in the App Store for iOS devices for $1.99 USD, and an Android version is in development.

Website

http://www.nevercenter.com/shibuya

iTunes

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shibuya/id327297971?mt=8

Videos

How To: http://youtu.be/TkQTe4bQi7A

Advanced Gameplay: http://youtu.be/SZczC3YjtXs

Screenshots

http://nevercenter.com/shibuya/images/screen1.png

http://nevercenter.com/shibuya/images/screen2.png

http://nevercenter.com/shibuya/images/titlescreen.png