IGF Finalist Show and Tell – “Lumino City”

by | Mar 3, 2015 | Class Activities, Show & Tell

Lumino City is a point and click puzzle adventure game. Released December 3rd, 2014, this game features some very intriguing little puzzles with fun gadgets, and the absolute BEST art style. While I’d found out about this game several months ago, I had not been aware it was out. It is the sequel to the puzzle game Lume, (available on iOS)

The story is very simple: your (Lumi’s) grandfather, the Handyman, has been abducted, and you must go to Lumino City to try and figure out what has happened and where he is. The city is having troubles with power and whatnot, though, and it’s up to you to fix things to progress.

About this city: Remember that art style I mentioned before? The BEST one? It really is. Think a cross between 50’s kitsch and Little Big Planet. As a fan of papercraft projects, this game made me gape the first time I saw a trailer for it. Lumino City is an actual miniature cardboard city. State of Play Games created a full environment out of cardboard, paper, and hand-wired electronics, then photographed and videoed everything to bring it into the game environment. The effect is astounding; I am going to link images here, here, and here, but you really have to see it in action to believe it. I was seriously impressed at how meticulous they were at building the set, and every detail just adds more and more depth to the experience.

The gameplay itself is a point-and-click adventure game with puzzles. Through drag-and-drop mechanics mostly, you can build circuits, place gears, and collect items to use in your journey through Lumino City. The puzzles are joyful in their solutions, the feedback is clear, and they’re just challenging enough to make your brain work at it while not being frustratingly impossible. Further, while I didn’t look through it, according to the Steam Community, the “Handyman’s Guidebook” your grandfather leaves you before he’s abducted contains tips for every puzzle in the game, though there’s also a lot of other stuff in there to decode.

All in all, for an indie point-and-click puzzler, this is top-notch. I definitely believe it deserves to be in the finalists for Excellence in Visual Art, and honestly, I could see it spawning a whole new generation of papercraft game assets.

If you’re interested in playing through this adorable game for yourself, it is 30% off until March 15th on Steam.