Daravath Saathvik
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Game / 2026

Chhupa Rustam

A carnival cup game for Indian players that trains your focus: observe the shuffle and find the diamond. It gets harder with new twists, not just more speed.

Play on itch.io
Role
Solo project. Game designer and developer (I directed the code with AI coding tools)
When
Sep 2026
Built in
2 weeks
Tools
Unity 6, C#, URP, Unity Leaderboards, Python, Claude Code, Codex
Cover image of Chhupa Rustam
  • 2languages (English, Hindi)

01Brief

Turn the cup and ball game from Indian fairs into a phone game that trains focus. Players should feel sharp while the cups move, and proud when they find the diamond.

02Research and concept

I wrote a design doc first, with the rules, the levels, the rewards and the Indian themes.

The core loop is show, shuffle, tap, and faster taps score more. The key mechanic is the shuffle: cups swap and rotate, and later the lights go out or the table spins.

More cups, more colours

Two colour groups arrive at level 21, and by level 81 there are nine cups in three colours.

15 seconds of level 81, from the reveal to a "Light speed!" tap.

03Prototype

The first prototype tested the basic input: does tapping 3D cups on a phone feel clear and accurate?

04Development

  • Levels are built from rules: more cups, then bombs, colour groups and two rows, then one new twist per block.
  • English and Hindi, with the Hindi text prepared so Unity shows it correctly.

The shuffle speeds up until about level 40 and then stays capped. After that, levels get harder through new twists instead of more speed, and each twist arrives on its own: same-colour cups, bombs, two colours, two rows, lights out, merry-go-round, table spin, magic jump, quick tap and three colours.

Cups on the table0246810Level 1: 2 (Cups)Level 2: 2 (Cups)Level 3: 2 (Cups)Level 4: 3 (Cups)Level 5: 3 (Cups)Level 6: 3 (Cups)Level 7: 3 (Cups)Level 8: 3 (Cups)Level 9: 4 (Cups)Level 10: 4 (Cups)Level 11: 4 (Cups)Level 12: 4 (Cups)Level 13: 4 (Cups)Level 14: 4 (Cups)Level 15: 4 (Cups)Level 16: 4 (Cups)Level 17: 5 (Cups)Level 18: 5 (Cups)Level 19: 5 (Cups)Level 20: 5 (Cups)Level 21: 4 (Cups)Level 22: 4 (Cups)Level 23: 4 (Cups)Level 24: 4 (Cups)Level 25: 4 (Cups)Level 26: 4 (Cups)Level 27: 6 (Cups)Level 28: 6 (Cups)Level 29: 6 (Cups)Level 30: 6 (Cups)Level 31: 6 (Cups)Level 32: 6 (Cups)Level 33: 6 (Cups)Level 34: 6 (Cups)Level 35: 6 (Cups)Level 36: 6 (Cups)Level 37: 6 (Cups)Level 38: 6 (Cups)Level 39: 8 (Cups)Level 40: 8 (Cups)Level 41: 8 (Cups)Level 42: 8 (Cups)Level 43: 8 (Cups)Level 44: 8 (Cups)Level 45: 10 (Cups)Level 46: 10 (Cups)Level 47: 10 (Cups)Level 48: 10 (Cups)Level 49: 10 (Cups)Level 50: 10 (Cups)Level 51: 6 (Cups)Level 52: 6 (Cups)Level 53: 6 (Cups)Level 54: 6 (Cups)Level 55: 6 (Cups)Level 56: 6 (Cups)Level 57: 6 (Cups)Level 58: 6 (Cups)Level 59: 6 (Cups)Level 60: 6 (Cups)Level 61: 6 (Cups)Level 62: 6 (Cups)Level 63: 6 (Cups)Level 64: 6 (Cups)Level 65: 6 (Cups)Level 66: 6 (Cups)Level 67: 6 (Cups)Level 68: 6 (Cups)Level 69: 6 (Cups)Level 70: 6 (Cups)Level 71: 6 (Cups)Level 72: 6 (Cups)Level 73: 6 (Cups)Level 74: 6 (Cups)Level 75: 8 (Cups)Level 76: 8 (Cups)Level 77: 8 (Cups)Level 78: 8 (Cups)Level 79: 8 (Cups)Level 80: 8 (Cups)Level 81: 9 (Cups)Level 82: 9 (Cups)Level 83: 9 (Cups)Level 84: 9 (Cups)Level 85: 9 (Cups)Level 86: 9 (Cups)Level 87: 9 (Cups)Level 88: 9 (Cups)Level 89: 9 (Cups)Level 90: 9 (Cups)Level 91: 6 (Cups)Level 92: 6 (Cups)Level 93: 6 (Cups)Level 94: 6 (Cups)Level 95: 6 (Cups)Level 96: 6 (Cups)Level 97: 6 (Cups)Level 98: 6 (Cups)Level 99: 6 (Cups)Level 100: 6 (Cups)Cup moves per second012312345678910120406080100Level
  • One colour, one gem
  • Two colour groups, one gem each
  • Three colour groups
  • Shuffle speed (capped from about level 40)
  1. 1Level 13: Bombs
  2. 2Level 21: Two colours
  3. 3Level 39: Two rows
  4. 4Level 51: Lights out
  5. 5Level 57: Merry-go-round
  6. 6Level 63: Table spin
  7. 7Level 69: Magic jump
  8. 8Level 75: Quick tap
  9. 9Level 81: Three colours
  10. 10Level 91: Random mix
Cups per level, shuffle speed, and where each new twist starts.

Art direction

Visibly Indian places, an aangan courtyard, a palace, a Diwali mela and the Kerala backwaters, with glossy 3D cups.

The backgrounds, Rustam the magician, the logo and the UI art were made with an AI image tool.

05Free-to-play systems

What brings players back:

  • Daily login rewards, and hints.
  • A shop of Indian table themes.
  • A weekly India ranking that resets every Monday.

06Testing and iteration

The biggest problem was colour. Each cup started with its own colour, so you could follow the colour and ignore the shuffle. Now all the cups share one colour until level 21, and after that each colour group hides its own diamond.

Friends and classmates also found:

  • Tapping a back-row cup picked the front one, so I fixed the tap areas.
  • The Hindi words looked broken, so I fixed the Hindi text.
  • They wanted to compete, so the India ranking became weekly.

Hindi that reads right

Unity's UI broke the Hindi letters apart. I switched to text that is shaped first and set in its own font.

07Outcome and learnings

The finished game plays in English and Hindi, with Indian places and a magician.

What I learned

  • Local themes and proper Hindi made it feel like a game made for its players.
  • New twists keep a game fresh better than more speed does.
  • Supporting Hindi properly takes real work, and it matters to players.

Next

More Indian themes and festivals. And next time I'd plan the cup colours together with the rules from the start.

Gallery