Skyland

by acid
co-authored: @anka, @jellyfox, @mekagem
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.67
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.52
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.15
Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.02
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.15
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.21
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.54

Skyland


Welcome to Skyland -- a flying island with green-green grass, forests, lakes, mountains, and... houses!

Your job is to place houses, following the following simple rules:
* Houses cannot be placed in adjacent cells. Diagonal cells are OK.
* Each row/column should have a given number of houses (written next to it).
* Lake: exactly 3 houses around it (in the 8 cells surrounding the lake).
* Mountain: exactly 2 houses on the diagonals passing through the mountain (in total).

Controls:
- Left mouse button: place house
- Right mouse button: remove house/place mark/remove mark

Once the houses are placed, the neighbors can live peacefully and enjoy the surroundings!

Comments19

Branquelo
Branquelo3 Oct 2023, 03:14
The game looks great! It's a simple mechanic, but the complexity of the puzzles keeps getting harder. Good Job!
SvenErik
SvenErik4 Oct 2023, 14:17
Very lovely casual puzzle game that looks harmonious and jolly.I think some ambient sound or light happy toned music would have added a lot more to the atmosphere, but nevertheless it's really nice already! Excellent work. :thumbsup:
smiley405
smiley4054 Oct 2023, 22:46
interesting approach on the game concept. Reminded me of the minesweeper game but way better one with the graphics. played it and loved the game design.
Nomus
Nomus4 Oct 2023, 23:37
I love the concept ! Super well thought !
MajoMirez4 Oct 2023, 23:37
At first I thought it was a nonogram haha, but this is actually a fresh kind of puzzle game, I really like it. I think a reset button would be nice. The level design was good, but it could be better, in the sense the I should be able to logically devise a "path" to the solution instead of just trial and error (e.g. like sudoku or nonograms), but for a 3-days jam is very good. Also, the art is lovely!
hinesite
hinesite4 Oct 2023, 23:42
Amazing spin on minesweeper. Way harder though. Great job!
Fortho4 Oct 2023, 23:53
Great design with beautiful graphic.
Raptorspank
Raptorspank5 Oct 2023, 00:25
Neat! Interesting take on minesweeper/Sudoku. The music was a nice backdrop to it as well.
LudumDareDevil
LudumDareDevil5 Oct 2023, 22:20
Love the cute graphics. Wasn't too difficult.
Geronimo6 Oct 2023, 09:26
Damn! I got sucked into this game and played for longer than I intended, very nice game :D. I liked the artstyle, the music was calming, and the small detail of being able to cross out where you cant put your houses is nice. I got stuck on the level "lonely mountain" and that's where I ended my playthrough. For next time, I would add an in-game tutorial so that people know exactly what lakes and mountains do, so that they don't have to rely on the ludum dare description.
Jordan Neff
Jordan Neff6 Oct 2023, 13:06
Really loved this puzzle game. It took me a bit to get used to the concept but I ended up beating all of the levels (I think?). Really struggled with "Village" and it seems like that was the last one because when I go to hit next level the button doesn't work. Definitely had some sudoku vibes towards the end where I was focused mainly on the 3's and 2's rows more than worrying about lake/mountain requirements. Anyway, solidly enjoyable entry! With a bit more polish and more levels/mechanics I could see this being released :smile:
somewan6 Oct 2023, 14:23
Playing it feels a bit like Minesweeper, it's a really fun gameplay.
LDJam user 3004616 Oct 2023, 16:35
It wasnt clear to me at first how the mountains work. otherwise a pretty chill game. I got stuck late on the level with 2 mountains and 3 lakes. Well made puzzle game
Dawnables6 Oct 2023, 17:15
Amazing game. This is definitely the best one I've played so far.
The difficulty felt nice and gradual, building up to the last few levels where I spent most of my time.

Here's what I thought about it:
* Limited Space
* You definitely worked around the theme of limited space extremely well, creating a game where managing how you place things is not only a major mechanic, but actually fun to work with.
* Graphics
* All the graphics in this game are very well polished and fit together. Grid spaces are clearly defined and each obstacle you have to work with is easily read at a glance.
* Audio
* The background music is calming and fits with the relaxed puzzle nature of this game. It never became grating or annoying to hear on loop.
* Gameplay
* The puzzles themselves are well-made. Each one felt crafted to where the solution wasn't entirely obvious just by sight and took some working through. I don't play puzzle games of this nature, but I was able to quickly pick up what I needed to do to reach the solutions, and it felt rewarding. The option to place X's on the floor helped quite a bit on finding where I needed to place my next building.

Overall, the game is very well-made and polished. I could definitely see this being published as a mobile or web game as it is right now with the addition of more levels eventually. The only ideas for what I think could improve the experience, other than adding new ideas on top of what you already have, I'd say to have an in-game explanation/tutorial of what certain objects like the mountains and lakes do.
orangeoceans
orangeoceans8 Oct 2023, 06:33
It's very pleasantly fun.

I wonder if you (the devs) have a mental algorithm for solving the puzzles, because about halfway through the game I started brute-forcing them. I've always been bad at sudoku type games, though.
sansen10 Oct 2023, 14:38
I love the art and audio style, and the game is amazing! Very excellent!

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