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Isles of Sea and Sky Press Kit

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Akurra Water Goddess

The Water Goddess - By Cafzka

Quick Info

  • Contact: info{at}cicadasoft.com

  • Status: In development

  • Release: Unannounced (2024), $19.99 USD

  • Funding: Successful Kickstarter, Astra Fund

  • Platforms: PC

  • Team:

    • Game Design, Art, and Programming: Jason Newman

    • Producer: Dan Collver

    • Music: Craig Collver

  • Estimated Length: 10 - 15 Hours on average.

Social Media

Bluesky
Discord
Mailing List

Assets

📁 Screenshots, artwork, videos, gifs, etc.

Links

🔗Game Developer IGF Interview

About

A fantastic, oceanic, open world puzzle adventure. Solve innovative block puzzles while unearthing a mystifying story, gaining new friends that change the puzzle landscape, and unlocking powers that provide more options for how you choose to progress through the enigmatic Isles of Sea and Sky!

Features

  • Solve open world puzzles: Complete puzzles and explore in whatever order you choose. Get stuck? Feel free to leave a puzzle and return to it later with a new perspective.

  • Intuitive and accessible puzzling: Controls are simple and directional only; designed so that people of most physical abilities can enjoy.

  • For puzzle novices and experts: Isles of Sea and Sky is designed for all skill levels making sure there’s plenty to do, collect, and challenge yourself with if you’re a puzzle expert, but that the game is also approachable for puzzling beginners.

  • Immerse yourself in a serene, vibrant world: This vibrant, retro, and atmospheric environment is captivating and offers a chill and ambient soundtrack for deeper gameplay immersion

  • Uncover a rich, meaningful story: Isles of Sea and Sky tells a meaningful and memorable story utilizing only images and no text.

  • Discover hidden secrets: The game is chock full of hidden items and areas. Getting 100% complete rate, even in the demo, is no easy task!

Media

akurra-cave-puzzle.gif

Long Description

An Oceanic Open World Puzzle Adventure

You awaken as a castaway on an untouched, unfamiliar island with no memory of how you arrived and unsure what to do next. Explore ancient islands, forging your own path as you uncover hidden secrets, solve compelling block-pushing puzzles, and unearth a mystifying narrative in this puzzle adventure game. With no set path or order, you determine your fate and decide which puzzles you want to solve first.

Nonlinear Puzzles with Agency

Get stuck on a specific puzzle? Isles of Sea and Sky is open world and nonlinear, giving you the freedom to come and go as you please to specific puzzles, new areas, or return to old areas with a new perspective, allowing you to progress further in the game.

A Delightful Atmosphere with Unexpected Friendships and a Memorable Story

Immerse yourself in the vibrant, serene, and retro-inspired atmosphere while discovering and unleashing extraordinary powers, gathering collectables, and awakening delightful new friends along the way. Stay on your toes because unexpected elements spring to life or offer assistance when you least expect it. Discover a rich, memorable and universal narrative centered around the myth of creation, told only through imagery with no text.

Flexible, Rewarding, and Novel Puzzling

Think outside the box and challenge yourself with innovative and rewarding puzzles that will often surprise you and subvert your expectations while piquing your curiosity. With directional movement only, intuitive mechanics, and flexibility in puzzling, Isles of Sea and Sky is accessible and approachable for all skill levels.

With novel puzzle design, a meditative environment, and a meaningful story, Isles of Sea and Sky invites you to indulge in an oceanic world of fantastical puzzling while getting lost uncovering the unexpected.



 

History of Development

Isles of Sea and Sky started as a hobby project of Jason Newman in 2018 or so. At first it was a simple fantasy themed Chip’s Challenge clone, but it evolved quickly into something much more.

 

The evolution of Isles of Sea and Sky over time

 

At some point, Jason realized he was spending a lot of time on it, and he wasn’t even sure if the game was fun, so he shared a small demo with close friends to see what they thought. The positive response was overwhelming, and it was at this point that one of his childhood friends, Craig Collver, started making music for the game. Jason decided to create a more serious vertical slice demo to share with the public. He knew that there is a lot of noise in the indie games scene, so he sought to create a very large demo that would speak for itself. The demo that was released to the public was roughly 2 hours long, and the feedback was again overwhelmingly positive! So much so that it inspired Jason to attempt a Kickstarter in order to jumpstart funding for the game. In May 2020 he launched a Kickstarter which surpassed its funding goal and raised over $20,000 from 566 backers. This was the beginning of Jason’s full time career in indie game dev. Eventually the game was discovered by the Carina Fund who awarded Jason with a Fellowship Grant for two consecutive years, after which he applied and received seed funding to finish up Development of the game. With this funding he was able to hire on Dan Collver full time as Producer, another of his childhood friends and younger brother of the game’s composer. Since the Kickstarter, the game has been in development for over 3 years, and is due to launch in 2024.

Our Team

Please read about our team here: cicadasoft.com/team