Tidepool

The game

Tidepool is a rock-pool ecosystem balancer painted in watercolour aqua: wet paper blooms for water, ink-fine creatures, sun-dappled shallows that brighten and dim with each in-game day. Drag species — algae, snails, fish, herons — from the tray into the pool and their population arcs simulate every minute: algae grows with the sun, snails graze it, fish eat snails, herons take fish. Keep the balance for ten days without any population going extinct or crashing, and rare species unlock along the way — shrimp on day 3, starfish on day 6, turtle on day 9.

How to play

• Drag a species card from the bottom tray into the pool to release a small group of that animal; each card needs a cooldown before it can be used again.
• Watch the populations panel on the right: a sparkline per species. Top up anything that dips — release more creatures before the arc collapses.
• Every release adds detritus to the water; too much fouling (or an over-loaded pool) poisons populations, so keep the pool balanced rather than packed.
• Survive all 10 days (the day counter sits top-left) with algae, snails, fish and herons all still present at reasonable numbers to win the pool.
• You lose if a species goes extinct or a once-thriving population crashes. Space or Enter starts a run (and restarts after the end), P or Esc pauses, M mutes.