RIOMAKER

A puzzle game about guiding water across an isometric board. Rotate the tiles, use every one, find the path that flows.

I took it from idea to App Store alone: design, build, store and beta, in eleven languages.

ONE RULE, ENDLESS BOARDS.

Tap a tile and it rotates. That's the entire input. The design work was never about adding, it was about resisting. Water only moves where the channels line up, so a wrong turn isn't punished. It's just visibly, obviously wrong.

Two hands holding an unfolded iPhone Duo outdoors, playing River 5 in Riomaker

FOUR SECONDS TO GET IT. FORTY MINUTES TO PUT IT DOWN.

TWO AXES, NOT ONE LADDER.

Most puzzle games get harder by getting bigger. Riomaker grows in two directions: grid size outward from 3×3, and waterfall depth downward, where water leaves one plane and lands on another.

River 7, Hard: water falling between planes

Speedflood: a lava board against the clock

Memory whirlpool: three seconds to remember the board

Time's up: out of seconds, not out of tries

Your island: every river leaves something behind

WHAT I KEPT WAS THE CRAFT.

AI made it possible to ship alone. The real skill was knowing what to hand over and what to keep. I kept the weight of a tile, how water moves and when it hesitates, which rule to defend and which feature to cut.