What if 2048 broke the fourth wall?

We all know and love the classic 2048 puzzle game, but 2048-GLITCHED takes that addictive, familiar gameplay loop and corrupts it. What starts as a safe, standard 2D board slowly deteriorates, dragging the player into a mind-bending 3D spatial puzzle consisting of 64 interactive cubes (a 4x4x4 grid).

Built entirely in the browser using Three.js, it’s a game of strategy, spatial awareness, and surviving a shifting reality.

Core Features:

• Transcending Dimensions:  The game unfolds in shifting phases. As you unlock certain numbers for the first time, reality glitches and the board morphs unpredictably between 2D, 3D, and Rubik’s Cube modes.

         2D Mode

        3D Mode

     Rubik's Cube Mode

• A 3D Spatial Challenge: Managing a 4x4x4 grid means keeping track of 64 separate cubes. You can rotate the camera to see through the wireframes and plan your next move.

• Special Power-Ups: The glitch is unpredictable, but it is not always against you. During gameplay, special power-up tiles can appear to clear space or double a tile’s value. However, some can also halve values or freeze tiles, adding both risk and reward. Using them at the right time can help you regain control of the board.

           Bomb Tile — Clears an entire row in the direction of the merge

        X2 Tile — Doubles the value of the tile it merges with

       ÷2 Tile — Halves the value of the tile it merges with

       Frozen Tile — Locked in place and unable to merge normally unless merged with the same number

• Pet Companions: Unique companions roam the corrupted board, adding unpredictable twists to the game. They can shoot X2 balls to boost your tiles, fire ÷2 balls that weaken them, and may even randomly eat a tile, making them both helpful allies and dangerous threats.

        Shoot X2 Ball — Doubles a tile’s value to help you grow stronger

     Shoot ÷2 Ball — Halves a tile’s value and disrupts your progress

     Randomly Eat a Tile — Randomly devours a tile on the board, which may ruin your strategy

• Atmospheric Audio & Visuals: As the corruption spreads, the screen grows darker. The game features many sound effects, including tile sliding, button clicks, unlocking new numbers, and changes in orientation or camera view. Each mode also has its own soundtrack to match the mood, with hidden surprise sounds for players to discover.

• Dynamic Disorientation: To make the game even harder to control, the board may suddenly undergo an orientation shift for 10 seconds, forcing players to quickly adapt to a disrupted perspective.

Theme Explanation: 

Our game interprets the theme Losing Control through the lens of digital corruption. The player starts in a familiar, comfortable state, but as they progress, the environment forcefully shifts dimensions. The progression reflects systems that lose control and went chaos to become 3D and Rubik's Cube, while increasing difficulty for players to fully control their game. 

At phase 1, the game is just a basic 2048 most people have played. When reaching a set number(in Setting), the game continue to phase 2, changing game mode to 3D 2048, which is harder to control. The player can continue the game until reaching phase 3 where the game mode will now be Rubik's Cube 2048. Phase 3 will continue until the player lose the game. At phase 3, the pets and special tiles are now activated. However, pets will only show up at 2D 2048 (because the pet is only a 2D creature OWO). In addition, the camera will also lose control randomly at this phase (as someone is sabotaging your gameplay).  

Controls:

2D 2048

• W/A/S/D , Arrow Keys or Swipe Gestures:  Swipe/Merge tiles

3D 2048

• W/A/S/D Keys:  Swipe/Merge blocks
• Left Click + Drag ,  Arrow Keys or Arrow Buttons at the Bottom Right: Rotate the 3D camera to view the grid from different angles.
• Scroll Wheel: Zoom in and out of the grid.

Rubik's Cube 2048

• Left Click on specific slices + Drag towards a direction: Rotate slices, move tiles in the direction and merge tiles
• Left Click + Drag on the side , Arrow Keys or Arrow Buttons at the Bottom Right: Rotate the 3D camera to view the grid from different angles. Please note that the camera may lose control as well!
  
• Scroll Wheel: Zoom in and out of the grid.

Setting Explanation:

• Setting Phase 2 and Phase 3: This is for the number you need to reach to transition to next phase. 
• Buttons to manually change game mode to 2D, 3D and Rubik's Cube.

Credits:

• Created for the UM Game Jam 2026.
• Team Name: sui bian fang
• Members: Wong Ing Khing, Teo Yik Kiat, Sim Pei Jun, Kenny Ken Wan Jin
• Assets & Engine: Built using HTML/CSS/JS and powered by Three.js (MIT License).
• Audio music and sound effects are original composition by Kenny Ken Wan Jin (except the memes). Pets sprite are self-drawn by Sim Pei Jun
• AI Disclosure: AI was used in generating the codes, which include animation, UI designs and Three.js designs for the game.