Amaru Surf

A pixel-art dog surfing game for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Android

One wave, seen from the front, with a barrel you can ride inside. Amaru, a yorkie in a necktie, rides on the nose of your board.

I'm Ignacio Moreno. I make Amaru Surf on my own, on weekends, and the two dogs in it, Amaru and Duna, are mine.

Buy it once No ads, nothing to buy inside

The Amaru Surf title screen: the words AMARU SURF and RIDE THE HEATS in the sky over a curling teal wave, Amaru's big shaggy head in his striped necktie beneath them, and START, MULTIPLAYER and SETTINGS drawn as wooden signboard planks.

Watch it move

Into the barrel, out on the speed boost, over the wave with three quarter-turns, and a string of airs off the shoulder. The sound is the game's own, off until you turn it on.

How it plays

The barrel

While nobody is in the barrel, the whitewater creeps across the screen and takes the room you need for aerials. Time inside pushes it back, and a clean exit gives you a burst of speed.

Aerials

Ride up over the lip to launch and spin with the stick. A chip at the top of the screen tells you which way to push before you land.

Six heats, three lives

Each heat is faster than the last, with a clock and a target score. A wipeout or a missed target costs a life, and after every heat five judges on the beach hold up their cards.

Amaru on the nose

Amaru rides with you on most heats. Finish one with him still aboard, which means without a wipeout, and it pays +50%. If you fall, he dives clear and swims off. He never gets hurt.

Playing with others

Besides the solo run, you can surf heats against the computer at three skill levels, share one screen with a friend using two controllers, or open a room for up to six on the same WiFi, two riding at a time. Any standard Xbox, PlayStation or MFi controller works.

How to play → Playing together →

Screenshots

Gameplay: the surfer and Amaru inside the barrel near the top of a teal wave, heading right down the line under a torn white veil of dithered spray pouring out of the whitewater, a TUBE chip over their heads and gold stars above the lip. — In the barrel

Gameplay at sunset: the wave under an orange and pink sky, the surfer just out of the barrel near the top of the face, heading right down the line with Amaru on the nose and spray bursting out of the curl behind them. — A sunset sky

Gameplay: the surfer just off the lip with Amaru on the nose, and a yellow double chevron pointing right in a chip at the top of the screen. — Off the lip, with the landing hint

A two-rider heat at sunset: a score plate for each player at the top of the screen, player one inside the barrel under a veil of spray with a TUBE chip overhead, and player two on a red board just below. — Two riders on one screen

The judging panel: five pixel-art faces on a palm-lined beach under the word JUDGES: a young man in round dark sunglasses, a smiling bald old man, a grinning young man in an orange cap, a man with a thick moustache and a young woman with long auburn hair. The first two hold up scorecards. — The judges

The end of a heat on the game's textured indigo: Amaru the yorkie and Duna the border collie on the left, and on the right HEAT 2 PASSED, SCORE 3420, TARGET 3000, AMARU BONUS +50%, BANKED 5130, LIVES 2, with NEXT HEAT and MENU on wooden planks. — Heat passed with the dog dry: +50%

The multiplayer room while the host waits: THE ROOM, WAITING FOR PLAYERS over the wave under a dark veil, the roster with NACHO (HOST), eight quick-chat phrases on wooden planks, START SESSION greyed out beside CLOSE SESSION, and the join address on a plank under the words TYPE THIS TO JOIN. — A WiFi room

The heat card drawn straight over the wave: HEAT 3, TARGET 4200, MISS IT MINUS ONE LIFE, TIME 1:30, WAVE HEAVY, AMARU RIDES WITH YOU, KEEP HIM DRY PLUS 50 PERCENT, and a wooden START plank. — The heat card

Price

Amaru Surf costs US$1.99 on the App Store and US$2.19 on Google Play, or your store's local equivalent, and you pay it once. On the App Store that one purchase covers iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. There are no ads and nothing to buy inside the game.

I don't collect anything about you. The leaderboard is Apple's Game Center on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV and Google Play Games on Android, and on Android, Google's library for it collects your Play Games identity, your scores, and analytics and diagnostics for Google. The privacy policy has the details.

The game works offline and is in English and Spanish. It uses the network only for WiFi multiplayer and the leaderboard.