Ember & Tide

Ember & Tide is a two-player puzzle played on one 12x12 board. Ember is the flame on the left, Tide is the droplet beside it, and each has its own door. A level ends only when both characters are standing in their own door at the same time, so neither player can finish the board alone.

The two characters are not interchangeable. Lava is safe for Ember and fatal for Tide; water is safe for Tide and fatal for Ember. Spikes are fatal to both. Walking into the wrong pool does not block you — it kills that character and restarts the level, which resets both positions and every gem you had picked up on that attempt.

Gems are the lock on the doors. A locked door shows a padlock and refuses entry; collect every gem on the board and both doors open. Some gems sit inside lava or water, so only one of the two characters can ever reach them.

Plates are the co-op key. A gate is solid while every plate is released and opens while either character stands on a plate. That means one player has to hold a plate while the other crosses. Two plates — one on each side of a gate wall — let you leapfrog: the first player holds a plate, the second crosses and stands on the far plate, and then the first can cross while the second keeps it open.

Levels introduce mechanics in order: walking, lava and water routes, gems behind hazards, plates and gates, spikes, and finally boards that combine all of them. There are 10 levels, and the board, spawns and doors are fixed, so a level plays the same way every time. On desktop, Ember answers to WASD and Tide to the arrow keys. On a phone, drag on the left half of the board to steer Ember and on the right half to steer Tide, so two thumbs can move both characters at once.

Score rewards progress rather than speed: 1000 points per cleared level, 100 per gem, 50 for finishing the final door pair, minus 20 for every fall. A clock counts up but does not run out.