Jeff Penguinn's Cartridge Stacking Professional

So after watching Giant Bomb's Unprofessional Fridays: 10/31/2014 I was left with the image of Jeff Gerstmann sitting there in a penguin costume, struggling to play Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo on a modular CPS-2 setup.

I was giggling, I was weeping. I knew I had to do something. This game is the result of the few weeks after that broadcast. I had 3 goals while making it:

1. Make a match-3 game using only red-green colorblind friendly colors. As it turns out, that means mainly yellow and blues.
2. Have a "drop a cart onto its matching console to score" mechanic. Something like Kirby's Star Stacker or Burger Time.
3. Make a game! This is the first game I've made by myself from scratch (well, in Game Maker: Studio). Until now I've had to rely on other people for coding. So just having something full and playable is an accomplishment for me.

Coded in Game Maker: Studio. All art created from scratch. Music created using MTV Music Generator for the PS1.

Giant Bomb
Oleetku Studios

UPDATE 3/30/2016:

a new version of Cart Stacker Pro is currently in the works! It's getting a large backend upgrade, huge gameplay changes to multiplayer, and a bunch of new art. The preview video at the top of the page is from a WIP build of this new version.

Although I'm happy with the progress made so far, it's still not close enough to know when it's going to be ready for release. But rest assured I want to see an improved version of the game out at least as much as you do!

How to play:

Instructions are laid out in the Single player / practice mode.

Drop carts on top of consoles to clear the consoles and earn a point.

Match 3 cards in a row (even diagonally) to clear them out, but for no points.

Make a match of more than 3 (4, 5, T-matches, 2 sets of 3, etc.) for bonus points.

Player 1:

• A /D keys to move
• W / S keys to pick up and drop
• Spacebar to switch pocketed cartridge

Player 2 / single-player:

• Left / Right Arrow keys to move
• Up / Down Arrow keys to pick up and drop
• Numpad 0 to switch pocketed cartridge

Gamepad:

• D-pad to move
• A to pick up
• X to drop
• Y to switch pocketed cartridge

Just like a collecting video games in real life, there is no way to win. Just keep things as organized as you can and go for the high score.

Single player and multiplayer. Some difficulty settings in the options menu.

Updates:

1.0: First release.

1.1: fixed gamepad support (worked incorrectly in SP, added support to menus).

1.1.2: More gamepad support update. Single Player mode now accepts both arrows and num0 as well as wasd and space.