Hungry Sky is a Western Australian growth crew of six. We first met Nick Lowe, Design Director at Hungry Sky, at PAX Aus 2023 and have been impressed with the crew’s stress-free puzzle-based title, Nekograms.
Nekograms is all about serving to cute kitties take naps. Yep, it’s actually that cute. There are 15 distinctive cats, every with its personal identify. The sliding-puzzle mechanic enables you to transfer the kitties in a single course and cushions in one other. The purpose is to maneuver every feline onto cozy pillows to assist it take that crucial nap.
The identify makes use of the Japanese phrase for cats (neko) in a Picross-style sport. The concept had been kicking round in Nick’s head for years, going by a number of iterations earlier than lastly launching on cellular gadgets in 2020. After we final spoke with Nick, the crew was already onerous at work on a Change model of the sport.
Quick ahead 12 months and Nekograms has been launched on the Nintendo Change eShop, simply in time for PAX Aus. We’re already engaged on our overview of the sport, however within the meantime, we caught up with the crew once more PAX Aus 2024. This yr, we met with Jack Casey, Technical Director, and Ben Hammersley, Audio Director, to speak additional about their present tasks.
It’s onerous work ending a sport. It’s even more durable porting it. The crew frolicked getting Nekograms good for the Nintendo Change, together with the tough kind issue. Because the authentic model of the title was performed in a portrait orientation on good gadgets, all the pieces needed to be redesigned for the panorama fashion of the Change’s display. It was lots of work, with some teething points alongside the best way, however the crew learnt alot and is now higher ready for porting their subsequent sport.
The massive query is: Now that Nekograms is out within the wild, what’s the crew engaged on now? The following large thought from Hungry Sky is one thing known as Snow Cone. This transformation of tempo swaps cats for penguins, although a powerful puzzle factor stays on the forefront.
Snow Cone follows Pedro the penguin in a Sokoban-inspired outing. In Sokoban, gamers transfer packing containers round a warehouse. Snow Cone makes use of the same mechanic to roll and stack snow into spheres. The present demo has 26 ranges, although the crew already has about 40 in thoughts. They’re aiming for a neat 100 within the ultimate model of the sport.
Though Snow Cone received’t be prepared for Steam till the second half of 2025, like Nekograms, the crew needs to get this onto the Change, too. We’ll be staying tuned for extra data because it develops. You will discover out extra about Snow Cone on Steam.
Earlier than my farewell with the crew, I needed to cheekily ask whether or not they’re already engaged on their subsequent subsequent large thought? Unsurprisingly, it’s too early to disclose what that title is perhaps, however relaxation assured, after cats and penguins, something’s on the desk. One tidbit of data we have been in a position to glean is the opportunity of a dog-based model of Nekograms. Would this be known as Inugrams? how a few mixture of canine and cats within the one puzzle? Now that will be one thing.
Within the meantime, keep tuned for our full overview of Nekograms!
View Nekograms on the Nintendo Change eShop and take a look at the launch trailer beneath.
