Alignium

2048-style game where merging products catches real discounts

Play on itch.io Case Study Game Design Document▶ Play in mobile view — on desktop, use browser DevTools to toggle mobile mode

Overview

An addictive merge game where you swipe products together to unlock real discounts. Like 2048, but every tile you unlock is a real item you can buy — and when it goes on sale, you get notified in-game.

Built as a Shopify Shop Mini with Zustand for game state management. 11 product tiers map to real Shopify catalog items. Discount alerts fire via a contextual in-game popup when a saved product goes on sale.

Roadmap

Phase 1 — Demo (Completed)

Completed

Proof-of-concept built in Unity (2022), published on itch.io
Core game mechanics: swipe-to-merge tile logic
Product placement concept — real items mapped to game tiers

Phase 2 — MVP (Completed)

Completed

4×4 game grid with 2048 swipe mechanics
11 product tiers with merge logic
Score system and persistent high score
Product unlock reveal animation
60 FPS swipe animations
Game over detection and restart

Phase 3 — Engagement (Completed)

Completed

Onboarding flow
Recommended products surfaced in-game
Saved products: persist unlocked items to wishlist
Product redirect — navigate to Shopify product page on unlock
Visual effects and animations updated

Phase 4 — Conversion (Completed)

Completed

Discount display on products
Recommended and discounted products sorted by discount rate
Discount popup: trigger when a saved product goes on sale

Phase 5 — Retention (Planned)

Planned

Missions and in-game tasks
Global leaderboard for competitive motivation
Daily streak system with bonus mechanics
Score sharing for social virality
Customer analytics data collection for repetitive user analysis

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