''Codemancer''
is an indie educational strategy puzzle Programming Game.Aurora has just joined the School of Codemancing and met her animal companion. But before her first day of school is even over, her dad is abducted and taken to the North by a powerful Codemancer, in retaliation for a "heinous crime"! It is up to Aurora and her trusty familiar to travel up north and face a hundred trials to save her dad, picking up advanced Codemancing along the way!
Gameplay-wise, Codemancer is a real-time programming game meant for ages 6 and up, where the player must build a script by queuing commands such as "Move one hex forward" or "turn left/right" in order to reach the end of each level in one single continuous script. Things get more complicated as ennemies will often have their own script to follow, which must be deciphered and taken account of – or, if need be, changed by charming the creature, giving it a player-written script.
Meant as an educational game that makes programming accessible from a young age, Codemancers is available for free on Steam or as a pay-what you want on itch.io.
This game provides examples of:
- A Girl and her X: Aurora must choose an animal companion at the beginning of the game : A big cat, a small wolf or a huge bird. They are functionally identical in terms of gameplay.
- Action Pet: A Codemancer's companion is their catalyst for casting spells, and capable fighters. Aurora rides on her companion's back, and when her teacher remarks that most Codemancers stay back issuing commands while their familiar does most of the work, Aurora retorts that if her animal friend will be taking risks, she will too.
- Artificial Stupidity: Enforced for the purpose of the game. Ennemies (magically animated "puppets") will always follow a very basic script, or even none at all, in which case they'll idly stand there without even noticing the player character. This is so the player can re-write creatures' script on the fly… but since they'll only follow the player-made script, a simple misplaced command can make the creature bump repeatedly into a wall and render it utterly useless. Fortunately this just means you'll have to correct your script, as an introduction to coding.
- Canine Companion: One possibility, if the player elects Luna as Aurora's companion. Not only can Aurora ride the wolf like a horse, but Luna can also use a shout attack.
- Eccentric Mentor: Auror encounters a wizard in the forest, who teaches her new Codemancing mechanics… all the while insisting that he cannot and will not teach her magic, and that every piece of advice he gives will be the last. He also wears a fake beard for an unknown reason.
- Familiar: Codemancers cannot cast spells without theirs, and thus are seldom seen without.
- Green Hill Zone: The first section of the game covers the most basic instructions and how they interact with each other, in a pleasant, sunny environment with few low-level enemies or none at all. Perfectly justified since all the first levels happen on school grounds, which are logically meant to be as safe as possible for the students.
- Grim Up North: The game has the player travel north through increasingly menacing biomes, crossing pleasant hills first, then a sea, then a dark windy forest and eventually icy lands where the main villain resides.
- Marionette Master / Puppet Fighter: The player themselves can turn into one, since several levels explicitly require you to rewrite mobs' script in order to fight for you, or simply activate a switch that Aurora cannot reach herself.
- Mega Neko: Another possible companion is a cat big enough for Aurora to ride on her back.
- Real-Time with Pause: The player can stop time at will or let it run its course in order to better understand enemy behavioural cycles. Once a script is launched, however, it cannot be stopped until it reaches its end or the level is completed. This means the player must wait for the right time to launch their action queue.
- Shoulder-Sized Dragon: One of the non-player characters Aurora encounters is a young Codemancer boy with such a dragon as his companion.
