Codemancer (2019)

[tozka]

Codemancer (2019) is an educational puzzle game aimed at teaching children (ages 6-12) how to code! It's set in a fantasy world where you play as Aurora, a wizard student learning magic. Her spells are built through compiling different runes, and as the game progresses the spells get more complex.

The runes are, of course, the backbone of the code you're building to navigate through the different levels. It's very similar to Google's Grasshopper coding game, but with a more interesting and developed world setting. ( More words and 1 image )

I played about an hour before moving on to something else. Codemancer is still in development, but this first chapter is a good-sized chunk if you wanted to try it out or gift it to a child.

Price: $10.00, but currently free through July 6, 2020.

Available for Windows, Mac, Android. I played the Mac OS version.

Cats Are Liquid: A Light in the Shadows (2015)

[tozka]

Cats Are Liquid: A Light in the Shadows (2015) is a 2D platformer about a cat abandoned by her owner and put into a world she must try to escape. Basically, you just move the cat around different levels, jumping/rolling/squishing it through each obstacle.

It's cute! The cat is white and glowing, with an emoji face and a blobby body. The game mechanics make for fun visuals-- any time the cat squishes down into a tiny area is fantastic-- and the levels are all bright primary colors. Good background music, too.

There are 90 levels; I played about 5 or 6 before quitting. Apparently in later levels you get new powers, like flying and exploding. It has a story element which keeps it more interesting than just a typical "jump over things" platformer, but I'm really more into narrative games at the moment, so I set this one aside for now.

Price: $1.00

Available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. I played the Mac version.

Mon-Cuties for All (2017)

[tozka]

Mon-Cuties for All (2017) is a virtual pet/simulation game in early alpha release. It's got super cute pastel colors and adorable monster pets, which is what drew me to it.

You play as a farmer/monster pet...caretaker? You can personalize your player character: body type ("male/female/androgynous"), complexion, hair and eye color. Apparently the monster color palettes are randomized, which is kinda cool.

The goal is to get the most monsters, I guess? To tend to the monsters you play a clicker mini-game, which then strengthens the bonds between you and your monster. Then you can enter a "monster show," which is just a mini quiz game where you can get points to spend at the store. The stronger your monster friendship bonds, the more points from the quiz game which means more money to spend at the store. And that's it, basically.

The clicker game is a little buggy. I kept getting booted back to the menu from clicking too fast; once I slowed down then it worked fine. There's also no tracking on how bonded you are with your monster, how close they are to evolving, etc. Also no back buttons on some screens.

The quiz questions are...ridiculous. They're monster/pet/video game themed, but you wouldn't find the answers from just playing the game so most of it is guessing. And since each question is timed to about 30 seconds, you don't have time to Google the answer, either. At least they repeat, so eventually you'll find the right answer.

I played about 20 minutes before completely giving up. It's an adorably designed game, and I love the graphics! But, as it turns out, I HATE clicker games. I just don't enjoy the main game mechanics, so I ditched it.

It's a cute idea, though!

Price: $1.00

Available for Mac, Windows and Linux. I played the Mac OS version.

Still in development (technically "on hold"), but purchases will only receive current version v0.5 build and not any updated versions (?). Updates and changes to the game are planned, including going to 3D graphics rather than 2D and using an entirely different game engine. I look forward to seeing what the new version looks like!