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HEXA Manual

07.30.2024   •   hexa

HEXA

Synopsis

Board the helm of Starship HEXA, and conquer the universe the only way you know how: shapes.

You’re the commander of Starship HEXA, the head of a space fleet dead-set on taking over the universe. You’re well on your way to assuming control of everything that is and shall be, but your attack methods are a bit…unorthodox. We can’t dwell on it for too long, though, so get out there and match those hexagons!

HEXA is a unique, quick to pick up, and super fun logic puzzle game based on everybody’s favorite polygon. Try for a high score in Arcade Mode, take on the dynamic Daily Run; or conquer dozens of unique challenges in Mission Mode! See if you can’t conquer the HEXAPLEX, wrangle those Power-ups, and maybe even become ruler of the universe along the way.

Give it a try… it’s HEXA-good!

Gameplay Basics

Controls

The d-pad and A and B buttons are required to play this game. These buttons are used to navigate menus, and are mandatory in main gameplay.

You can also optionally use the crank to perform the turning action usually done by the A and B buttons. This can be toggled in the Options menu. (The crank can also be used to navigate menus.)

Gameplay

When you start a new game, you’ll be faced with the HEXAPLEX — a grid of 19 tris (black, gray, or white), all interlaced with one another. Your goal is simple: create HEXAs!

Use the D-pad to navigate your Cursor along the HEXAPLEX, and the A and B buttons (or the crank) to rotate the currently-selected hexagon clockwise or counter-clockwise — this is called a Swap.

A full hexagon of similarly-colored tris is called a HEXA. These are the main way to earn points — create a HEXA match, and BOOM!! You gain points, and the tris involved are randomized and replaced.

As far as basic gameplay is concerned…that’s all you gotta know to get started! But, depending on the mode you’re playing, there are a few more things you need to learn…

Modes

Arcade Mode

Arcade Mode is the basic gameplay mode in HEXA.

In this mode, you start out with 45 seconds on the clock. As you match HEXAs, you’ll earn points, as well as more time on the timer! Your goal is to match as many HEXAs, and thus, earn as many points, as you can before time runs out. White tris earn you 100 points, gray tris earn you 150 points, and black tris earn you 200 points.

There’s another element to this mode to keep you on your toes: randomly-generated Power-ups! These do various different things when matched:

Power-ups will not stack up with themselves. For example, if you have multiple 2x Tiles in a match, you’ll still only receive one bonus. However, Power-ups will stack with eachother — if a match contains a 2x tri and a Bomb, for example, you’ll get double points and re-shuffle the entire board.

You can also score HEXA Combos — if you match a HEXA, and the resulting grid contains another HEXA, BOOM!! You’ll get double the points for that match! This stacks exponentially up until you reach a board state without an immediate HEXA. These are mostly luck-based, but it’s possible to create them intentionally if you really know what you’re doing.

As you earn more HEXAs, the timer boost will gradually become less and less effective. See how long you can keep it rolling!

The game will end when the timer reaches zero. If you wanna end it early, open the Slide menu and just select “end game”. The game will end from the current point, and any high scores will be saved.

Chill Mode

Chill Mode is a more relaxed experience, meant for casual play.

In this mode, there’s no score-keeping, Power-ups, or timers. The goal is just to chill out, and have a good time creating HEXA matches at your own pace!

To end the game, open the Slide menu and select “i’m done!” to wrap up.

Daily Run

Daily Run plays a lot like Arcade Mode, but with one big catch: you only get one shot per day!

In this mode, the board is seeded — every day, you play with the same starting layout as everyone else. From here, it plays just like Arcade Mode!

When you end the game, you won’t be able to play again until tomorrow. The Daily Run refreshes automatically at 00:00 midnight GMT, after which you’ll be able to play another game with a new layout.

💡 There’s also a handy timer on the Title screen to let you know when the next run will appear!

Hard Mode

From the Options menu, you can toggle an optional “Hard Mode” that affects Arcade Mode and Daily Run. This mode will cut the amount of time you earn from HEXA matches in half!

💡 Hard Mode has separate on-line leaderboards. Compete for a high score!

Mission Mode

In Mission Mode, 50 logic challenges await you! These are grouped into four distinct types:

A new Mission will unlock as soon as you clear the latest. If you’re ever feeling stuck, open the Slide menu to get another look at your objective.

💡 In Picture Missions, the Slide menu will also show the picture you’re trying to re-create!

Custom Missions

Keep the fun going with custom Missions! Accessible from the Mission Mode menu, additional user-created Missions can provide infinite world-conquering content.

Creating Custom Missions

Follow these steps to create your own custom Missions:

  1. Launch HEXA, and enter the Mission Mode menu.

  2. From here, open the Slide menu, and select “create”. This will take you into Mission Command, where you can create your own custom Missions.

  3. From here, you can select from one of the four Mission types: Logic, Picture, Speedrun, or Time Attack. Depending on the Mission type you choose, you may need to define a few more settings.

For Time Attack Missions, please define a time limit (from 5 to 60 seconds), and a random seed (numbers only, max. 10 characters) for HEXAPLEX generation. On the next screen, you’ll get a chance to review your generated HEXAPLEX before continuing.

For Logic or Speedrun Missions, please define a clear goal — a specific color of tri, a specific Power-up, or clearing the entire HEXAPLEX.

  1. When you’ve defined your settings, select “Start Editing”! On the next screen, you can define your HEXAPLEX layout. Use the d-pad to hover over a tri, select it with the A button, and use the prompt to define the color and Power-up of the given tri (if available). For Logic and Speedrun Missions, this step will be used to determine the starting layout of the HEXAPLEX. For Picture Missions, this step will be used to determine the ending layout, which will be randomly shuffled upon export to make the starting layout.

  2. When you’re ready, open the Slide menu and select “export”! This will take you to a new screen to make some final touches. For Picture Missions, you’ll need to give a name (max. 10 characters) to your object. You’ll also need to define an author name (max. 10 characters) for your Mission. When you’re ready, hit “Export”!

Importing Custom Missions

Follow these steps to import custom Missions:

  1. Access Data Disk Mode on your Playdate by following these steps.

  2. Navigate to Data/wtf.rae.hexa/missions.

  3. Drop your custom Mission JSON file(s) straight into this folder. Don’t put ‘em outside, or within any sub-folders!

  4. Exit Data Disk Mode, launch HEXA, and enter the Mission Mode menu.

  5. From here, open the Slide menu, and enable “custom”. If your Missions got imported correctly, you should see them listed here in date order!

💡 If you’ve sideloaded your copy of HEXA, you can still play with custom Missions, but your save data will be in a different place! Look for the same folder within Data, but prepended with “user.XXXX.”.

On-line Capability

About on-line play

This game connects to Playdate’s on-line leaderboard API, to enable sending and receiving of high scores among players across the globe. To use on-line functionality in this game, make sure your Playdate has an active Wireless connection.

Submitting your scores

The Arcade Mode and Daily Run both support global on-line leaderboards. You’re not the only one competing for the universe — go for the top spot!

To submit a new score to a global leaderboard, simply complete a game. When you reach the end results screen, your score will be submitted to the proper leaderboard automatically.

⚠️ Be careful — if you close out of the game without properly ending your run, your score won’t be saved or submitted!

My score didn’t send! What do?

If you obtained a new high score, but it didn’t get sent up to the appropriate leaderboard, there are a few things you can try:

  1. Give it a little time, and see if it sends up automatically.

  2. Try playing another round — it doesn’t need to be yet another new high score, but this might kick the OS’ caching into high gear.

  3. Try checking the scoreboards in-game (see below), which will attempt to send a “fake score” and bump the cache.

Viewing global scores

You can view global scores using two primary methods:

  1. Visit the HEXA game page in your Web browser, at play.date/games/hexa. From here, you can view all available scores in the Scoreboards section. You can see top 10 scores in every available board.

  2. Enter the ‘High Scores’ menu within the game, accessible from the Title screen. When in this screen, you can use the A button to toggle between the Arcade Mode and Daily Run leaderboards. From here, you can see the top scores for the currently-highlighted board, as well as your own score and ranking (if available).

The Daily Run leaderboard refreshes automatically at 00:00 midnight GMT, clearing all scores from the past day. When viewing scores in-game, there’s also a handy timer to tell you when the boards will be cleared.

To view Hard Mode leaderboards in-game, enable “Hard Mode” from the Options menu before checking. To return to regular leaderboards, disable this setting.

Strategies

Here are a couple tips to hopefully help you conquer the HEXAPLEX!

Enhanced Sound Pack

As of v2.1.0, HEXA comes packed with compressed mono music tracks to ensure a balance of fidelity and a more manageable download speed. For a crisper, stereo quality, please download the Enhanced Sound Pack. This replaces the in-game audio files with higher-fidelity tracks, at the cost of a larger file size.

⚠️ Installing the Enhanced Sound Pack is an advanced maneuver! If done improperly, it could lead to game crashes, or loss of precious data. Please navigate your Playdate’s Data Disk responsibly!

Download the HEXA Enhanced Sound Pack — 26.4 MB

To install the Enhanced Sound Pack:

  1. Access Data Disk Mode on your Playdate by following these steps.

  2. Navigate to Games/Purchased/HEXA.pdx, and open it. (If you’re in MacOS, you may need to right-click and select “Show Package Contents”.)

  3. Navigate to audio/music. Replace the files inside with the files contained inside the Enhanced Sound Pack.

That should be all you need to enjoy top-quality stereo sound! Plug in your headphones, and enjoy.

⚠️ If your HEXA game file enters an unrecoverable state, please un-install and re-install it from your Playdate directly, in Settings > Games.

Credits

Additional Notes

This game started life on the 4th of July, 2024. It came together pretty much over the weekend — initially being sent to the Catalog on July 7th, and approved on the 10th. The game was originally scheduled for release on August 13th, 2024, before suddenly having the opportunity to jump back and instead release on July 30th. This means that the game went from “start of development” to “literally out for people to buy” in just under a months’ time. New record!!

Special thanks to the folks in the Catalog dev chat for being there to witness my tomfoolery throughout development, and everybody who helped out and cheered me on as this game barreled through the finish line. And thanks to you, for reading, playing, and (hopefully) enjoying!

Changelog

Version 2.1.6

08.20.2025

Version 2.1.5

07.30.2025

Version 2.1.2

02.07.2025

Version 2.1.1

01.15.2025

Version 2.1.0

01.06.2025

Version 2.0.0

08.13.2024

Version 1.1.0

08.05.2024

Version 1.0.0

07.30.2024


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2020-2025, made by rae

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