Townframe: a relaxed puzzle-builder about sharing and recreating memories
Townframe is an upcoming puzzle game in which players craft small towns to bring the memories shared by its characters to life.
As the titular townframer, the player journeys across the land and helps recreate the towns shared in the stories of the characters they meet. These stories convey information about how the scene should appear, and players complete stages by meeting the conditions of the story. For instance, the first stage involves creating a childhood town of a character who remembers living in a house atop a hill.
Framing towns is a simple exercise. Players can change the buildings and trees in each scene, and adjust the height and roof of buildings. A progress bar provides clues on how well the player has met the conditions of the story. The game uses riddles and logic puzzles that often require some thought on the location of the houses and relationship to one another, but are conveyed well through the stories. A hint system is available to guide players that need a point in the right direction.
The game introduces new mechanics as it progresses. Completing each level grants coins, which can be used to purchase new ways to investigate and change the scenes in a stage. Soon enough, the player can change the direction of the wind to alter the weather, and use a magnifying glass to find certain objects. These add a little bit of variety to the point-and-click approach taken in early stages, and hopefully the full game can balance new features with challenging puzzle elements.
Billed as a 'relaxing puzzle game', the concept of Townframe is unmistakably charming and comfortably sitting within the genre of the 'cozy game' archetype. The game works best when the stories of its characters add a human element to the often sterile and impersonal world of logic puzzles. The hand-drawn graphics and sedate mixture of electric piano and winds in the soundtrack convey an endearing sense of sincerity that makes it easy to be won over by the game's charm.
Townframe was created by Norrimo, the pseudonym of Patrick, a German independent developer who has been working alone on the game for several years. In their development diary on itch.io, they share their journey in implementing many of the key mechanics of the game. Norrimo has already received recognition for Townframe at the Games Innovation Award Saxony, and hopefully will continue to receive welcome attention from the game's recent Steam demo release.
A demo of Townframe was released on Steam in June 2024. The game has a planned release date later in the year. You can reach out to Norimo on Twitter.
