A downloadable game

(Read as "note-nogram") Made with Butano for GBA Jam 2022, partially inspired by Battle Picross by Sean Reid.

Features:

  • 21 original 12x12 picross puzzles to solve
  • cringy Japanese anime girl voice clips provided by me
  • story mode with three different endings decided by your picross solving skills
  • creator mode that allows making puzzles and sharing them via GBA save files[1]
  • tutorial mode that explains picross basics and a couple of strategy tips
  • original character cameos of some sort?

Controls:

  • A button - color the square the pen cursor is pointing at/confirm option
  • B button - cross out the square/exit menu
  • D-pad - move the cursor (hint: pressing and holding a directional key while holding A or B on the picross grid will mark otherwise empty squares as either colored or crossed out in the selected direction)
  • Select - exit puzzle screen
  • Start (in creator mode) - save current puzzle[2]
  • L or R button (in creator mode) - toggle custom puzzle slots in save memory to write to (currently only three slots available, writing to occupied slots will overwrite them without notifying)

Source code and assets along with full credits can be found here.


[1] - ANY save files

[2] - may not work on some flashcarts, though this hasn't been tested yet

Download

Download
notenogram.gba 788 kB
Download
notenogram (jam version).gba 765 kB
Download
Sample save file 32 kB

Install instructions

Use either a preferred GBA flashcart to play on real hardware or a preferred GBA emulator to play on another platform of your choice. The game has been tested by me on Linux with VBA-M and mGBA so far.

Development log

Comments

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(+1)

Hi there, I just finished a game jam where I made a nonagram game for the GBA too. I came here to see how you did a 12x12 grid as I ran out of sprite space in my game and was limited to an 8x8 grid.

As a picross addict, this is a really great game. I love the themeing and the music. Well done!

(+2)

Þe font was really hard to read, but oþerwise it's a good game.

(+2)

thanks for the feedback and kudos to you for using thorn!

(+1)

This was a lot of fun. Ran it on an Analogue Pocket and did not run into any issues. The font was initially a little hard to read but you adjust pretty quickly. The graphics were nice and it felt very nostalgic for some reason. I am no good at these types of puzzles but doing them was enjoyable and straightforward. It'll be staying on my pocket for sure. I could use a hint feature but that's on me for not being good at these. Thanks for making this!

(+1)

This was the game I was least excited for in the Jam (just because picross is such a known factor) and it was probably the second most fun, and the aesthetic is great, I really liked this.