hopstone✦
About
The idea
Hopstone started with a simple question: what happens if you take the jump from checkers and Halma – one stone hops over another into the free field behind it – and build an arcade puzzle around nothing but that move?
The inspiration came from games like 2048 and Block Blast: one rule you understand in seconds, and a board that keeps asking you to do a little better than last time. In Hopstone that rule is the hop. Everything else – chains, colors, special stones, the stages – exists to make a single well-planned hop feel bigger.
The first versions had the German working title Sprung-Kaskade, “jump cascade”. The cascade is still what the game is about.
How it grew
Hopstone was not designed on paper and then built. It was built small and then played, changed and played again. Most of the work went into things that are hard to see in a screenshot: how fast new stones should arrive, how much a long chain should be worth compared with a short one, when a special stone helps and when it just adds noise, and how sound, animation and vibration can tell you that a chain was good.
The guided Tutorial, the special stones, the stages and the local highscore list were added step by step along the way. Adventure mode is the newest part: 50 fixed puzzles without a clock, the same for every player.
What Hopstone is today
- Time Attack: the arcade mode on an 8 × 8 board, with stages, special stones, goals and Bonus Rush.
- Adventure: 50 puzzle levels in 10 chapters, without a timer.
- Tutorial: a guided introduction to every rule.
The game runs in the browser on phones, tablets and computers. There is no account and no sign-up. Scores, awards and Adventure progress are stored on your own device. An Android app is on its way to Google Play and an iOS version is in preparation.
Who makes it
Hopstone is a one-person project by Michael Bister from Cologne, Germany. There is no studio and no publisher behind it.
The game is free. It is financed by advertising, which is why you may see ads on this site. There are no in-app purchases and nothing to unlock with money.
Feedback
Found a bug, got stuck on a level, or have an idea for a new stone? Feedback is welcome – use the contact form on the legal notice page. Changes to the game are listed on the updates page.