Studio Betonika

Press Kit

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Fact sheet

One-line pitch

A falling-block puzzle game where every piece is a fragment of Soviet nostalgia, set to brutalist aesthetics and an original soundtrack.

Short description

Dvor is a falling-block game about building, not clearing. In Panelka, rows don't clear on their own – you build. Leave a gap and it's classic rules until you clear back down to it; build clean and the facade comes to life, piece by piece. The Daily Challenge deals every player the same pieces once a day, with a worldwide leaderboard.

Features

  • Panelka mode — build without clearing lines; leave a gap and it switches to classic rules until you clear back down to it; build clean with no gaps and reach the twelfth row to trigger the Panelka reward
  • Daily Challenge — the same seeded pieces for every player, one attempt a day, worldwide leaderboard
  • Evolving atmospheres — four seasons across twelve speed levels, plus the Gold Transformation
  • Facade building — as pieces lock, the facade comes to life
  • Season selector — choose your starting atmosphere
  • Tunable DAS/ARR — Modern and Competitive presets, plus a Custom mode with fine-control sliders
  • Original soundtrack by Alex Severino — moves with every season, through to the Gold Transformation
  • Global leaderboard — Panelka high scores and Daily Challenge results tracked across all platforms

Links

About Dvor

Dvor means courtyard in Russian – the shared space between apartment blocks where countless childhoods happened. It was an extension of the living room; the bench outside, of the couch. People could leave the most valuable items out there and they'd never be touched. Any child could be left in the dvor to play with their friends – and their parents would only periodically step out to check on them. Bench conversations, hanging up laundry, football against a wall, whole blocks turned into a safe communal space. The space between the blocks. The place where Soviet children played, where life happened.

Dvor returns the falling-block game to its cultural home: a minimalist marriage of brutalist aesthetics, an original evolving soundtrack, and precise puzzle mechanics. The board is no longer just a playing field. It is a construction site.

Construct the Panelka. The falling pieces are concretes – slabs of a modular building dropping into place. The moment a piece locks down, it transforms from raw material into part of a living facade: a window, a balcony, a concrete panel. Floor by floor, a massive prefabricated block emerges from your play.

In Panelka, rows don't clear on their own – you build. Leave a gap, though, and it switches to classic rules: full rows clear normally until you've cleared your way back down to it. Build clean, with no gaps at all, and the whole board rewards you instead – the board clears itself, and the speed climbs.

Authentic precision. A modern, fair thirteen-bag randomiser alongside customisable DAS and ARR, with full controller support throughout, tested on Xbox Series X|S and PS5 controllers.

Evolving atmospheres. Four seasons breathe and shift across twelve speed levels as you play – from the quiet warmth of spring, through the dreaminess of summer and the rains of autumn, into the cold drive of winter. Survive long enough to earn the Gold Transformation: the coldness dissolves, the storm breaks, and the atmosphere permanently shifts into gold.

A striking audio-visual synergy. Art directed by Posteress, a visual artist who treats typography and brutalism as fine art forms – architectural sidebars frame the matrix, turning negative space into design. The original soundtrack by Alex Severino draws on Soviet music across the decades, from tender waltz to urgent post-punk to euphoric release, moving with every season to mirror the world closing in around you.

The Daily Challenge resets globally every 24 hours – the same pieces for every player, one attempt a day, one worldwide leaderboard.

Dvor has no advertisements, no in-app purchases, no daily obligations – one price, and both modes feed a global leaderboard tracked across all platforms.

The version the falling blocks game always deserved.

About the Studio

Studio Betonika is a small independent game studio based in London.

Development for Dvor is by Alex Severino.

The original soundtrack is by Betonika.

The art and game design for Dvor are by Posteress, an award-winning Visual Artist and Designer. posteress.com

Development and music by Alex Severino.

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