You may have seen sandpipers feeding on the beach. As the waves recede, the small, chubby birds rush out to sea, digging in the wet sand for food, and when the next wave comes in, they return to the beach furiously on their tiny little feet. [While it is cute and fun to watch the little birds scampering on the sand, and very reminiscent of the endless indie battle royal game "The Beach," "The Beach" features seagulls instead of snipe, and the seagulls dig for gold coins instead of food. They also compete to be king of The Beach and try to drown each other. These seagulls are not kidding around.

Players spawn as seagulls, digging in the sand and collecting gold coins as the ocean recedes. The wave will soon return, and the seagull must flee back to a safe zone on the other side of the screen (this seagull cannot fly). If the wave overtakes you, "poof". It disappears in a burst of wings. You lose all your coins (and your status if you had the highest score at that point), but you can immediately respawn and start collecting coins again.

The waves sometimes wash away obstacles like driftwood, so you have to dig for coins quickly while dodging them, but the seagulls can also drop obstacles themselves. When waves dominate the beach, the furious rush to safety is usually filled with jostling seagulls that try to block the path of their opponents or try to immobilize them as they are swept away by the waves. [The sprint meter empties, the wave turns on its heel, and the scheming seagulls sprint and drop chunks of bread into your path.

As a result of the game jam, The Beach is currently in alpha. It probably needs an influx of players, as there were only a handful of other seagulls while I was trying it out. The game can be found on Itch.io.