Void Tide
Complete Reference

The original name "Tentacle Tide" has no thematic connection to the gameplay — there are no tentacles, no sea setting, and no ocean mechanic. The name needs to match what the game actually is: a retro-modern space formation shooter where endless waves of crystalline void entities pour through a dimensional rift.

The game's visual identity is built around the void of space as ground, with light sources being the player (cyan), the enemy (pink-purple), and the HUD (gold). Neutral dark blues replace pure black to give depth.

• Cyan — player, player bullets, UI actions, allied elements
• Pink / Purple — Void entities, enemy bullets, boss health bar, danger indicators
• Gold — HUD frame, score, brag multipliers, Legendary tier, achievement unlocks
• Green — status OK, heal, completion, wave clear
• Orange — warnings, HP damage indicators, low-health states

The mascot should be the face of the game across app stores, social media, and marketing. Two strong options:

Option A — "ACE" (Player Ship Persona)

The player's triangular ship anthropomorphized: a sleek cyan triangle with a glowing cockpit eye. Simple enough to work at 16px app icon size, distinctive enough to be recognizable. The mascot IS the player — builds connection.

Option B — "The Warden" (Pilot Vega)

Vega as the face of the game: a helmeted pilot silhouette in cyan, facing a wave of pink crystalline entities. Works as a narrative hook — you want to know who this person is. Harder to render in procedural graphics but works in marketing art.

Enemy Mascot — The Warden's Nemesis

The Mothership (Wave 12 boss) should have a distinctive silhouette used in promotional art — a massive crystalline hexagonal construct with glowing pink-purple energy tendrils (actual tentacles — connecting back to the original name as a wink). Working title: The Source.

The Year: 2087

Earth has maintained relative peace for 60 years following the Unification Accords. Orbital defense grids monitor the solar system's outer edge as a precaution — but no one expects anything. The universe has been quiet.

The Event: Void Rift Day

On March 14, 2087, Earth's orbital sensors detect a gravitational anomaly 400km above the Pacific. Within six hours, the anomaly has grown to 40 kilometers wide. Objects begin emerging: crystalline structures that absorb radio signals. Then they begin to move — in formation.

The Rift

Dr. Mira Rivera names it "The Void Rift" — a tear in spacetime connecting our dimension to a region of absolute emptiness. The entities emerging are not alive in any biological sense. They are patterns. Crystalline computations from a dead cosmos, executing a single instruction: fill the void. Earth is void to them.

Tone

Intense but not hopeless. The pilots believe they can win — and they're right. This is an arcade game: the ending is earned, not inevitable. The atmosphere is urgent, heroic, with flashes of humor (Frank) and wonder (Rivera). Not grimdark. Star Wars, not Aliens.

The enemies collectively are "The Tide" — a term coined by military command to describe the endless wave-like rhythm of their approach. Individually they are classified by behavior, not by anything like culture or will. They have no language, no mercy, and no fear.

Faction Philosophy

The Tide is not evil — it has no intent. It is a process. Like a tide filling a tidal pool, it fills whatever space it finds accessible. Destroying the Architects disrupts the local process, but the Rift remains open. The only true victory is destroying The Source — the command entity that maintains the rift itself.

Three pilots, three playstyles. Chosen at the Character Select screen — each has unique stats, a ship color, 1 Mythic-tier exclusive ability, and pilot-specific dialogue throughout the game.

SCOURGE-4 — Wave 4 Boss

Designation: First Architect. Field commander of the initial Tide wave. Named by military for its ID signature — the fourth pattern detected through the rift. HP: 38. Fire phases: 4. Movement: Left-right sweep, accelerating as HP drops. Single-shot aimed fire in phase 1, 3-shot spread in phases 3–4.

Pilot transmission on death: Vega: "One down. Command, the rift is still open." Frank: "That's for Chicago." Rivera: "Structural integrity zero. Recording pattern data."

DREADTIDE — Wave 8 Boss

Designation: Second Architect. Evolved response to Scourge-4's defeat. Larger, faster, with a flanker-summon phase that forces the player to split attention. HP: 48. Fire phases: 4. Unique mechanic: summons 4 Void Flankers at 50% HP. Cannot be killed until flankers are cleared.

Pilot transmission on death: Vega: "It adapted. The Source knows we're here." Frank: "Come on. COME ON." Rivera: "It flagged our kill pattern. The next one will be different."

THE SOURCE — Wave 12 Final Boss

Designation: Command Entity. The consciousness maintaining the Void Rift itself. Not from the Void — it created the Void. If it falls, the rift closes. HP: 72 (4 visible health bars of 18 each). Fire phases: 6. Each health bar triggers a new phase with new attack patterns. Phase 6 fires in all directions simultaneously.

Victory transmission: All three pilots transmit simultaneously, then silence, then the static of the rift closing. The final screen shows: The Void has retreated. For now.

1. Wave Intro Card — 2-second story text reveal (wave number, pattern name, narrative hook)
2. Formation Spawn — Enemies cascade in from above, column by column (Galaga-style entry)
3. Combat Phase — Player clears formation. Speed ramp: survivors accelerate as formation thins. Divers break out to attack.
4. Wave Clear — All enemies eliminated. Milestone celebrations queue.
5. Upgrade Spin — Slot machine reel spins. Rarity determined by weighted random draw. Near-miss effect shows higher rarity before landing. Bonus Spin possible.
6. Score Commit — Brag score calculated: raw × accuracy × purist × depth multipliers.
7. Next Wave — Repeat with harder pattern, tighter formations, faster enemies.
8. Boss Wave — Every 4 waves: formation skipped, Architect spawns with dramatic intro card.
9. Victory / Defeat — Wave 12 Boss death triggers victory cinematic. Player death triggers memorial screen + retry option.

Act I — First Contact (Waves 1–3)

Earth's orbital defense detects the Void Rift above the Pacific. Three pilots scramble from different sectors — Vega from a recon mission already in orbit, Frank recalled from retirement, Rivera pulled from her lab in Kyoto. Nobody knows what these formations are. Nobody has a plan beyond: clear them.

The tone is urgent but controlled. The formations are manageable. There is still command contact. There is still hope this is containable.

Act II — Escalation (Waves 4–8)

Scourge-4's defeat confirms these are intelligent, coordinated entities — they adapted their fire pattern after watching the pilots fight. The Tide's waves grow denser and faster. Frank loses a wingman on wave 6. Rivera's models show the rift is expanding, not shrinking. The Second Architect, Dreadtide, is proof the Tide is learning.

Command grows quiet. Ground forces are falling back. The pilots are the only thing between the Tide and populated areas.

Act III — Final Stand (Waves 9–12)

The pilots are out of return fuel. Command has gone offline. They're flying through debris fields of Earth's orbital infrastructure. Frank receives a voicemail from his daughter — she's safe, but evacuating. Rivera calculates: if The Source is destroyed within 40 minutes, the rift collapses before the next wave arrives. Vega doesn't say anything. She just flies.

Ending — Victory

The Source falls. The rift begins to collapse — a slow inward implosion of crystalline light. Each pilot transmits one final line (character-specific). The screen holds on a starfield as the rift closes. Then: the stats screen. Then: the leaderboard. The game is over — until the next run.

Ending — Defeat

A memorial screen: the pilot's callsign, the wave they reached, and one line. Vega: "She made it further than anyone expected." Frank: "He was somebody's dad. He came back anyway." Rivera: "She calculated the odds. She flew anyway."

Earned once per wave via the Bonus Spin mechanic. Rarity is weighted random — near-miss behavior shows one tier higher before landing. Bonus Spin triggers at 10% base (guaranteed on flawless clear, +5% per HOT tier).

Brag Score formula: (rawScore + skillPoints) × accuracyMult × puristMult × depthMult

Lighter loadouts earn higher multipliers. Buying every upgrade reduces your Brag Score — skill is rewarded over brute force. This creates natural replay motivation: go further with less.

Tier Ranks

• GRUNT — 0 to 9,999 brag pts. Completed a run. Every pilot earns this.
• SCOUT — 10,000 to 49,999. Cleared most waves. Knows the patterns.
• ACE — 50,000 to 149,999. High accuracy, light loadout. Getting dangerous.
• VANGUARD — 150,000 to 499,999. Purist runs, flawless clears, boss mastery.
• VOID LORD — 500,000+. Theoretical ceiling. Flawless 12-wave run, zero upgrades, max accuracy.

The current game is a fixed X-Y plane. The planned depth system adds a Z-axis using Phaser Camera zoom + Container transforms — no engine change required. Three new movement abilities:

• Z-Dive (Q / two-finger swipe) — Camera zooms in 2.5×, formation spreads apart. Player flies through enemy gaps to target rear units. 3-second window before auto-pull-back.
• Lateral Orbit (E / double-tap side) — Camera arcs 90° around the formation flank. Enemies have reduced accuracy against side attacks. 4 seconds, 8-second cooldown.
• Warp-Behind (Limited ability) — 0.3-second black flash, player appears behind formation. Bosses are vulnerable from behind. 5-second window.

Scene Map

• Boot — Generates all textures, parses rival URL, routes to Menu or autotest
• Menu — Title screen, best brag display, leaderboard link
• CharacterSelect — 3 pilots, jump-start waves, 5-wave demo toggle
• Game — Core loop: 12 waves, formation, bosses, breach detection
• UI — HUD overlay running parallel to Game scene
• SpinScene — Slot machine upgrade reel (replaces UpgradeScene)
• Celebration — Milestone and level-up popup scene
• Pause — Pause overlay: resume, controls, auto-fire toggle
• RunSummary — End-of-run brag score, share, milestones
• Leaderboard — Local + Supabase remote scores
• Cutscene (planned) — Narrative overlay for wave intros and boss encounters

Core principle: The free spin mechanic and the Brag score system are untouchable. No pay-to-win. The premium feel IS the product. Monetization comes from cosmetics and convenience — never from breaking the skill system.

• Launch: Free to play — web version at tentacle-tide.pages.dev with banner ads below canvas (Cloudflare no restrictions). App versions ad-free at launch to earn ratings.
• v1.1: Rewarded ads — AdMob via Capacitor. Continue-after-death: watch a 15-second ad to revive once per run. Player chooses — never forced.
• v1.2: Cosmetic IAP — Ship skin packs ($0.99): different triangle shapes and bullet trail colors per pilot. Does not affect gameplay or Brag score.
• v1.3: Battle Pass (optional) — Seasonal 30-day track. Free tier: cosmetics. Paid tier ($2.99): extra daily spins, bonus pilot dialogue lines. No gameplay advantage.