Solo Developer Builds and Launches Block Puzzle Game Using React Native and Expo

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A solo developer from Pakistan recently launched Blockbeam, a free block puzzle mobile game built entirely with React Native and Expo, now available on Google Play. The 8x8 grid game lets players drag colorful blocks to fill rows and columns, featuring six color themes, daily rewards, and power-ups with no paywalls. The developer used a stack including Expo SDK 54, react-native-reanimated for smooth animations, and react-native-gesture-handler for drag-and-drop mechanics. A flat 64-element array powers the board state, while a custom greedy solver algorithm drives an auto-play bot that evaluates every possible move to maximize line clears. The project highlights React Native's viability for casual 2D game development, with the developer recommending early TypeScript adoption and real-device testing as key lessons learned.

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