Shoalforge

About

The shark is two tiles away and your shoal is scattered. Tighten up or lose someone. Shoalforge is a turn-based tactics game about keeping a school of fish alive. You command every fish on a grid, one move at a time, against predators that hunt on their own rules. Three fish touching each other form a shoal, and no jaw can break a shoal. Split up to squeeze through a gap and you are exposed. That is the whole tension, and it never lets go. Twelve hand-built levels take you from a quiet bay to a walled reef gate. Currents drag units across the board at the end of every turn. Kelp beds hide you from hunters who cannot follow you in. Sharks prowl two tiles a turn toward the nearest straggler and circle wide around a tight formation. Barracuda lunge three tiles down a straight lane and cannot turn. Rock walls turn open water into corridors. Each level hands you a new problem: get enough fish to the reef exit before the turn limit runs out, then lose no one and beat par if you want three stars. Every turn is yours to plan. Tap a fish, see exactly where it can swim, place it, undo if you misjudged, then end the turn and watch the hunters move. Nothing is hidden and nothing is random. The predators play the same way every time, so a lost fish is always a lesson you can act on. When the campaign is done, open the Forge and build your own boards. Paint rock, kelp, currents and exits, drop in fish and predators, set the turn limit and par, then play it straight from the editor. Three sample boards are waiting on day one so you can see how a good level is put together. Stars and best turn counts are saved for every level. Pick it up for one puzzle on the train or settle in for the whole reef. Tighten the shoal. Reach the reef. Do not look back.