Created by Finnish developer Timi Koponen, using the ever-popular Unity engine, RYO is a color-based puzzle game available for iOS and Android that uses simple one-finger swipe mechanics to match red dots with red dots, yellow dots with other yellow dots… and so on. This simple premise is evolved upon by adding different shades of colors; therefore, asking the player to cross colors in order to change them to the correct shade needed. Against a plain black background, it has a simple visual style that is effective and quite calming. There is no music other than simple sound effects, so a nice piece of ambient/shoegaze/post-rock seems to do the trick (full on thrash metal also seems to work – don’t ask why).

Pretty self explanatory

As far as puzzle games go, RYO never straddles too far away from its comfort zone. The slightly more complex layout of colors that exist later in the game are entirely achievable to solve through trial-and-error, and the comforting lull the game presents soon becomes a mad-dash swipe of fingers, as thought and a need for logical problem solving are thrown out the window. It’s a shame, as for about the first fifty of the game’s eighty levels there’s a nice groove of adding layers of difficulty that suit the limitations of the game’s mechanics. But without any sense of risk/reward, and with only a few times where it feels necessary to think about which colors to swipe across, the last third of the game does start to drag.

Also – and it is a minor thing in all honesty – if you swipe across but halfway decide that you’ve made an incorrect move, you can swipe back to the starting point, but the screen will still shake, thinking that you’ve swiped across to an incorrect color. It’s more of an irritation than anything else, but no one likes to be told they’re done something wrong when it isn’t valid!

Swiping through different colors will, unsurprisingly, change colors

The game is very short: around ninety minutes is more than enough time to see it through to the end. But for the asking price of $0.99/£0.69, it’s the smallest of gripes to have about an otherwise enjoyable slice of touch gaming. There is certainly room for improvement; obstacles, extra colors, variables – there is a multitude of things that could be done, but for a first attempt, RYO is a great concept that is worth checking out.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

What does this score mean?

This game was reviewed on an iOS device using a copy provided by the developer for that purpose. 

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Sight is something most of us take for granted, blissfully unaware of the consequences of losing such a vital sense. But have you ever stopped to think how the world is perceived through the mind of someone without the ability to see? Young indie upstart Sherida Halatoe is taking this to heart in her debut title Beyond Eyes.

The game is about Rae, a young girl who lost her eyesight during an accident with fireworks early in her life. The tragedy left more than just physical scars, as Rae has since become traumatized by the events, causing her to fear loud noises and public places. She’s become a recluse in her own home, preferring to spend time in the comfort of her special garden where she feels safe. Rae is content with the peace her garden brings her, along with the companionship of a stray cat named Nani. That is until Nani goes missing, forcing Rae to leave the sanctuary of her garden and explore the outside world, using only the sense of touch, sound and smell to navigate her surroundings.

The simple art style is stunning.

You don’t actively control Rae, but instead lead her through the obscured environment. The player will have to encourage her through the perils of what may lie ahead, and not everything will be to her liking. Becuase Rae has a mind of her own, the player must manage her trust with them. Guiding Rae into dangerous situations will cause her to distrust the player, and less likely to listen to your guidance until you rebuild her trust with you. Likewise, players who have proven to Rae that they are capable of protecting her will be trusted more, and as such Rae will be more willing to comply with their direction. The trust mechanic conveys that sense of vulnerability that you might expect from someone who is afraid, unable to fully protect themselves from their hostile surroundings.

Since Rae cannot see, the world view is nothing more than a white abyss with no sign of any distinguishable features on the horizon. That’s not to say there isn’t a world out there waiting to be explored, and the visual premise behind this concept is something to get excited about. When Rae senses something, a dash of colour highlights it in the world, literally painting a picture of her surroundings as she traverses the landscape. The painted objects are beautifully presented in a rich water colour style, as you might expect considering this is the world as Rae imagines it.

I’m a big fan of games that explore an alternative design, investigating how to convey a story or challenge through something other than pushing A to jump across the gap. The idea that the game’s main protagonist has her own motivations and personality is enough to entice me, and the stunning art style makes the experience all the more worthwhile. Forgive the pun, but Beyond Eyes is one to watch.

Beyond Eyes is currently running an IndieGoGo campaign in a bid to raise 10,000€ to help continue development and launch the game next year. If you want to know more about the developer or the project, you can follow progress over on the official site here.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Gameplay aside, the first thing that will strike players is the stylistic direction. There’s an Asian feel to the artwork, music, and sound effects, which shouldn’t be surprising since the game features a bug-eyed anteater species found in the Far East. The backgrounds have a textured appearance to them almost like canvas paintings, and only a  little of the fine quality is lost when blowing the game up from iPhone resolution to that of the iPad. I couldn’t help but get a bit of Pikmin nostalgia from the music with its nature-inspired sounds and upbeat feel. Everything about the presentation has a polish to it from the character design and animation down to the tutorials that periodically show up when new elements are introduced.

The platforming is fairly straightforward in that players must guide the pangolin from the start of each level to a target-like vortex at the end. Like any good tale, it’s all about the journey and this is where the addictive gameplay comes in. The pangolin must be bounced in the desired direction. This is accomplished by tapping the screen at two points below the creature which creates a trampoline spanning that range. The angle of the trampoline and strength of the bounce are both dictated by where the taps are made. The latter is based on how far apart the points are made. The longer the distance, the larger the bounce.  It takes a bit of practice learning how to estimate the angle and intensity needed, and there’s certainly some trial and error when dealing with deadly obstacles like moving spikes. The only frustration I felt with the controls were a few instances where the UI buttons were in the field of play where I wanted to tap. These situations were very few and far between, and otherwise it’s a fun mechanic that’s easy for anyone to  jump into on the early levels.

Just so the challenge doesn’t get too easy, each level has a predefined number of bounces allowed. Some levels will necessitate using every last bounce, but other stages provide the opportunity to rack up a higher score by managing to make it to the goal with bounces to spare. At the start of each level, a map is displayed in a sketch showing obstacles and other objects so that players can plan out their movements ahead of time. Of course, the plan can completely go out the door when factoring in the moneylust. Diamonds and coins are spread throughout the level that increase the player’s score. Pangolin includes GameCenter support for bragging rights.

Risk-takers are rewarded with higher scores for collecting gems and coins

The game provides three tutorial levels to get the player used to some of the initial gameplay elements. New obstacles and resources are introduced later, but consumers will need to pick up the in-app purchases to continue on past the 10 free levels. Feedtank has also made its future support plans known with “Coming Soon” notices for at least two more level collections.

I’m always a bit leery of trying platformers on a touch-based gaming platform, but Pangolin really took me by surprise. Feedtank has taken an easy-to-learn, hard-to-master control mechanic and wrapped it in an aesthetically pleasing  package. Difficulty ramps up nicely meaning casual players can jump in without much trouble, and the more serious gamers will find some worthy challenge in the latter levels. The long and short of it is, no matter who you are, go download this game for your iOS device!

Overall Rating: ★★★★★ 

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.