Hey Gamers!
As part of the Rapid Games Prototyping module, we are tasked with reviewing a peer's game every two weeks. The challenge is to analyse a game built in just one week, so here is my weekly review!
The theme for this week was "The Greatest Tournament" with the modifier "Monochromatic". My pick for the week? Discoku, a competitive Sudoku type game, in a 1v1 form, using colors instead of number.
First Impressions
My immediate thought upon playing was simply: "This is very clever." The name itself is genius, and as a Sudoku lover, I grasped the core loop incredibly fast. The experience felt a lot like playing competitive Tetris, intense, high-stakes, and a lot of fun!
Mechanics & Balancing
The mechanics are simple but rewarding. You navigate the Discoku grid, randomly, and a "blocker power" appears on the screen, which, when the first player presses the ability button, freezes the other player's grid for a short time.
However, this mechanic highlights a balancing issue. Currently, the blocker power rewards players' speed on the keyboard, allowing them to pull further ahead if they are already ahead, which can be frustrating for the losing player. To improve the user experience, the game would benefit from a "catch-up" mechanic. As seen in games like Mario Kart or Crash Team Racing (Shortcat, 2023), giving the most powerful items to the players who are behind helps balance the scales and keeps the match tense until the very end.
Additionally, the control scheme required a full-length keyboard (using the right-side numpad) for the second player. For better accessibility, utilising the arrow keys would have been a more universal choice.
Visuals & UX
The music and visual aesthetic added a lot of appeal; it genuinely felt like being in a disco, making it highly immersive! However, there was a minor User Experience (UX) flaw regarding visual hierarchy. Because of the monochromatic modifier, it was difficult to notice which cell in the grid was selected (it was only slightly darker than the rest). Highlighting the active cell with a bolder outline would have greatly improved player navigation.
Reflection: How this influences my work
Playing Discoku made me reflect on the concept of "Games with a twist" and how adding or removing a single element changes the entire feel of a game.
Once again, this week I found myself focusing too heavily on complex backend systems. I strayed so far from my initial vision that my core gameplay loop (inspired by "Musical Chairs") was completely lost. I ended up twisting the mechanics to fit a forced narrative, which ultimately resulted in a game that felt a bit creepy rather than fun. Seeing the effective simplicity of Discoku was a wake-up call.
My primary goal for next week's prototype is to implement a very simple mechanic and polish the "game feel" until it shines. I may still explore complex systems to learn new things, but they will be strictly treated as "nice-to-have" features, not the end goal.
Conclusion
Discoku is a fantastic, highly enjoyable prototype. It delivered perfectly on the theme and offers an exciting, fresh twist for puzzle lovers!
References
- Shortcat321 (2023) Are ITEMS based on DISTANCE in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe? Available at: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rmLS3YB9uYA (Accessed: 22 February 2026)



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