Nymble 2 Demo
Nymble 2 is a turn-based, puzzle-platformer where every step and every jump matters. Navigate pocket-sized levels as you out-smart cute monsters, traps, and hazards.
Find the seedling, plant it in the soil, and climb the beanstalk to the next level!
Features:
- Turn-based action requiring careful planning and deliberate movements
- 100+ hand-crafted pocket-sized levels across several vibrant worlds in a colorful pixel-art aesthetic
- Special boss levels featuring massive rogue-like dungeons, that lead to a challenging turn-based boss fight
- Unique monsters with distinct movement and abilities—some may even come in handy
- An original orchestral soundtrack by a classically trained composer
Move one step, or jump over obstacles to move two. Plan carefully—enemies that can reach you will act immediately after your turn. Earn up to three stars per level by blooming flowers and defeating enemies as you find your own path to the goal.
Coming to iOS 2027 (PC & Mac TBA)
Want more? Nymble 1 is already out for iOS.
Development log
- v0.2.1.5 — Fixed star count, graphics glitches6 days ago
- v0.2.1.4 — Firefox crash + lag fix (HTML5 runtime issue)10 days ago
- Nymble 2 gets its first editorial coverage11 days ago
- Nymble 2 Demo is now live on itch.io!17 days ago
Comments
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Really good puzzle! Nice work!
Thanks so much!
damn this is so cool! it reminds me of bloxorz (the flash game) insane work! im curious if this is an in house engine or something like unity/godot…
Hey, thanks for your comments! Yeah, I know the game Bloxorz—it's the one where you try to get a 2x1 block to tumble into the hole, right?
Nymble is built in GameMaker Studio.
a creature preventing jumps is a very interesting mechanic
Yup, planning ahead and predicting enemy movement become increasingly important as the levels get more complex. Thanks for playing!
really enjoyed this!
Glad to hear that!
At first sight it looks cool isnt there like a standalone
Thanks, I’m currently working towards several standalone builds in 2027, including mobile and desktop. Nymble 1 is already out for iOS.
The graphics are very good and the gameplay is strategic with a good challenge.
Thanks! Glad you liked the graphics and challenging gameplay.
Very fun and engaging!
Glad to hear that—thanks!
i loved everything!!!!!! It was challenging enoiugh to wear you can have fun and have your brain get tickled through out thr process!!! Love the syle of the game and the music its very cozy and nostalgic!!!!! Overall 11/10 would recommend!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thanks so much for your feedback! I’m glad to hear the game was challenging and fun at the same time. It’s awesome that you noticed the music—it’s what got me into game development. ☺️ which platform would you imagine playing this type of game on?
im gonna by the game on macbook when it comes out
Thanks, that’s awesome to hear!
Lovely game. Fun puzzles & mechanics. Nice graphics, sounds & music and controls. Also good and easy to understand tutorial without text. Only thing I personally would like, is an option to deactivate screen shake. And level 20: chefs kiss.
Thanks for playing and leaving your feedback! Appreciate the note on the screenshake customizability; I've seen as an option in other games. I'll keep that in mind for upcoming builds.
wow
The credits :D Special thanks should also be "Vincent Lo" xD
But otherwise, nice game! :>
Thanks!
Nice
Please put a price on it, it's really fun, congratulations, the soundtrack is wonderful and the pixel art is fantastic 🤩🤩🤩
Thanks so much for your kind words! I'm especially glad you noticed the music too 🤩
iOS release is planned for 2027. I am preparing for Steam release on Mac and PC too. Stay tuned! 😎
Uuuuh I can't wait for the desktop release!
Very nice game, congratulations! I finished with 60 out of 84 stars, then it started the bonus levels. I assume the extra 24 stars are for those 8 bonus levels? I got three stars on all levels but it never told me I got all 84 stars.
Hey thanks for playing! Congrats to you as well for getting all the stars! 🌟
Yeah you’re right, the max star count incorrectly includes the bonus ones. I’ll fix that in a patch. Thanks for reminding me!
A really fun game, it kept me hooked for a few minutes. It would be interesting if they added a difficulty level that limits the number of moves the character can make in a match, like in the Microsoft Tinker game.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed! If you get a chance, try level 20, it's a special one...
I just looked up Tinker and it looks like my kind of game! Seems like it was discontinued though unfortunately.
Thanks for your suggestion.
That was so much fun! I like the features in the test levels as well. Loved level 20!
Hey, glad you had fun! And thanks for playing all the levels, hope it gives you a flavor what to expect in the full game.
Cool art works and animations, I really enjoy it.
Thanks for your feedback! Glad you enjoyed it.
Overall, it is a fun puzzle game. I really like the tutorial levels that don't need any words to explain what you can/can't do. The green slime acted as an implicit difficulty in the game. The larger map diluted the sense of repetition, making it more than just a puzzle game. A few things I think could be better are: 1) Faster input makes the game smoother, especially on the large map. 2: immediate reset when pressing R. Sometimes, I knew I would be attacked, so I wanted to reset right away rather than watch the attack animation. 3. Death animation for the frog is weird. Why would it explode? It doesn't really fit the world.
Hey, thanks for playing! I really appreciate your detailed feedback.
Good to know about wanting faster input. I've been brainstorming ways on how to implement this; it's doable, but I just need to figure out how to incorporate it into my current code while keeping everything else running.
Ah, you mean for the reset, you'd like to be able to trigger it at any time, even between turns, or during an attack animation—is that right?
Yes, the death animation is something I'd like to refine. The explosion is mostly a temporary animation. Open to ideas and suggestions!
Yes, you got what I'm trying to say. I want to retry right away instead of watching the animation. Also, I think it is necessary to allow players to choose their own pace. Good luck on the project :)
This was fun. Really enjoyed the final larger one. The extra levels looked good too. It seems like it will be a really good game.
Glad you had fun! Haha yes, I really wanted to surprised the player with level 20. Thanks for checking out the bonus levels too!
Hello, I really enjoyed your game. It has a lot of potenial. I work as a mentor in the game industry . I was wondering if you like to set up a chat to discuss your game more 1:1 ? Let me know I can send you details to my site later. I will keep playing your game to see how it is going.
Hey, thanks for playing Nymble 2! Glad you enjoyed it. Was there something specific you wanted to chat about?
I mentor game developers, and wanted to see if you were interested in some guidance during the development process of the game.
Awesome game!
I've gotten to Lvl 9 sofar..
Keep up the great work!
Peace from NL
Renga
Thanks, glad you’re enjoying it so far! Be sure to check out level 20 if you get a chance. 😉 It’s a special one.
Cool game! though i feel like its missing something to make it a wow factor. Idk what though!
Thanks for the feedback! I’d love to explore what might give it that “wow” factor—whether it’s the gameplay loop, art, audio, or something else entirely. Feel free to drop a comment if anything comes to mind.
Cool and beautiful <3 _ <3
good game
first time i try a game on itch.io and its the best choice iv made
Haha, I'm glad to hear that! It's a great site to uncover new indie games.
The game was so amazing
Thanks so much. What did you like most about it?
it's so addictive
The game runs butter smooth on my 2gb ram pc in chrome and the game is AMAZING!!! The graphics and the unique mechanics, you really nailed it!! great work dude but when will it release for android? That will be good!!
Hey, glad you’re enjoying it!
Android release isn’t decided yet. If it happens, it would likely start as a demo first.
Android comes with some unique distribution regulations and overhead, so I need to think carefully about whether it makes sense for this project.
I’ll post updates if anything changes. 👍
My favorite gam
Thanks! What were some things that you enjoyed?
froze as i finished level 10
firefox, mac
Hey sorry to hear that. Appreciate for the detailed report—will investigate.
So I've been able to reproduce the game crashing/freezing. Seems to happen when you let the game run for a while. Will post an update when I find a fix.
For now, try playing in a different browser. It should be fine in Chrome or Brave.
The game has a bad habit of lagging, followed by freezing.
I'm using Firefox on Windows.
Hey thanks so much for reporting the lag and freezing issues. Do you remember around when the lag started to happen? Trying to investigate this the best I can, as I am developing on Mac.
Usually, it's when I play for around 10 minutes. And that's kind of a pain since level 20 is long enough that the game freezes partway through.
What's odd is that the version I played on Newgrounds did not freeze.
Yeah, I really do want level 20 to be a continuous long level, since it gives you a bit of variety in the pacing. That's very strange though, that the Newgrounds version didn't freeze. Especially if it's the same build version.
FYI, I've been able to reproduce the game crashing/freezing. Seems to happen when you let the game run for a while. Will post an update when I find a fix. Keep you posted.
Well, the version I played on Newgrounds was an older one, so maybe there's a new version that has the crash.
Guess we'll see.
Let's hope it you figure it out ;)
Hey, fyi I've uploaded a patch to address the lag/freezing issues. Feel free to try it again.
Level 20 is very laggy on my browser
Hey thanks for letting me know. Just wanted to know more info so I can look into it:
Thanks.
I'm using Brave 1.89.145 (Chromium: 147.0.7727.137) on Tuxedo OS.
It's lagging from the start but it gets worse the further you progress. It gets a bit better once you teleport to the boss.
Thanks for the information. Fyi I've uploaded a patch to address the lag issues.
Not sure if this fix affects issues in Brave, as it was mainly to stop the game from crashing in Firefox. But let me know if you get around to giving it another try.
Love the atmosphere, I skipped to 83rd level and finished it in the demo, a joy to play on a moody day.
Hey thanks, glad to hear it—hope you go back and try the other levels too!
Neat little game. Swiping down on mobile constantly minimizes the game. I would add in tapping to be able to move the character instead.
Thanks for your suggestion. The future iOS build shouldn't have this problem, since it will be a native app (instead of web). But I'll keep that in mind as an alternative input method.
This is a neat puzzle game! Chaining jumps as you figure out the solution feels satisfying.
The game crashed on Level 7 when I completed the puzzle. Not sure what could have caused it, maybe because I resetted a couple times to get all three stars?
Hey thanks for playing! I'm glad to hear that the jumping mechanic and clearing the level were so satisfying.
Thanks for catching the crash. That's never happened to me before so I'll definitely be looking into that. What happened when it crashed? Did you get a black screen? Game stopped responding to your input? Any additional details would be helpful, thanks.
EDIT: For now, try playing in a different browser. It should be fine in Chrome or Brave.
Sorry I'm responding so late! When the game crashed the screen froze and the music disappeared. The game didn't register any of my inputs.
No worries, appreciate the details! I think it should be fixed now, I posted a devlog update.
cool game
Really elegant level design and polish! Level 20 got very laggy for me in certain sections, but overall a fun experience. Keep it up!
Glad you had fun playing this! Thanks for your feedback. Yeah, unfortunately web builds are tricky to optimize for. Lag issues should be resolved in the production build. Planned for iOS in 2027, but also considering PC and Mac on steam.
Hey, fyi I've uploaded a patch to address the lag/freezing issues, mainly targeting Firefox but it may improve performance in other browsers as well.
Feel free to try it again if you have time. Thanks
Hello here,
I just finished the demo and oh my, this game is awesome! It's really interesting how you managed to create so many puzzles using a small walking area.
It plays very easily and it's great at teaching the rules to the player. Also the animations are really fun to watch :)
Level 20... Wow, man! I loved the open area and the frog encounter: the level plays exactly as you'd expect and it's so satisfiying to to complete!
Also the enemy pathfinding is really top notch! How did you make it? :)
I can't wait to play the full release! I just donated :)
Will be waiting for more updates :)
Hey, thanks for playing the game! Yeah, it's meant to be a sort of "pocket-sized" puzzle that you can play on the go since it's ultimately intended for mobile. But I figured a web demo would have the most reach, to gather feedback and UX data.
I'm glad that it was easy to learn. Also glad to hear the animations are fun! I spent a little too much time on some of them haha...
Congrats on beating the demo! Were you able to get all the stars?
Ah... the pathfinding algorithm. It was a lot of fun coming up with it. Essentially, I give each enemy a priority based on a number of parameters. Then the enemies will, in order, take turns trying to place a reservation for what spot to move to; this loops until all enemies have successfully placed a reservation, or the max iteration count has been reached. Then the enemies all move at once. Happy to go into more detail if you're curious.
Thanks so much for the donation! 🙏
I'm hoping to release this for iOS some time next year. Stay tuned for updates. 😎
There's just one level on where I couldn't get all stars :( But otherwise I always kept trying until I got them all and ooh boy, some levels were challenging :) This sort of "small" puzzles really gets to your head, having you say "it's tiny, I can beat that" until you actually get stuck in a corner of lock the exit xD It was really fun!
The web version is surely a great idea, or at least if you publish the build on itch it really makes sense.
The reservation makes sense for the enemies with this movement pattern. I'm curious: how about the actual path finding? I mean, to they look for the nearest free cell to move to? Is there a specific rule that makes them move horizontally rather than vertically in certain scenario?
Do they try to repeat the player's last input? Because I tried many times to get them to change spot by bouncing up and down or left and right on the same 2 cells and yet they all moved the same way every time, so it seemed like there was no "random factor" there, making them feel actually smart.
I also loved how you played with the double jump: that was game changer. Also liked how jumping to a leaf keeps all enemies stuck where they are.
These are the sort of things that give depth to a gameplay :)
Haha, I'm glad you felt motivated to keep trying. Really helpful to hear this feedback.
> how about the actual path finding?
Yes, all the motions are basically deterministic. The pathfinding uses the mp_grid_* functions in GML (I read it uses the A* algorithm). Basically, you construct a grid that matches the movement resolution of your game, then set which squares are not walkable. I use mp_grid_path to generate a shortest rectilinear path, where only right angles are allowed, from the enemy to the player. And from the path, you can extract some interesting variables to use in other calculations: the starting direction, the length, whether a path exists, etc.
> I mean, to they look for the nearest free cell to move to?
Yeah, so to determine where to place an enemy's reservation—for example, the space suggested by the mp_grid_path, or where the player was previously standing—I check a bunch of different conditions, like where the enemy is in relation to the player's previous spaces, whether there's an unobstructed straight orthogonal path to the player. If you get an enemy to trail you, you might notice some predictable movement patterns start to emerge. 😎
The algorithm itself took several iterations to perfect, and some manual regression testing to make sure the puzzles are all still solvable. I'd often change one thing, and see another thing break haha. But I think I've accounted for most of the edge cases now (hopefully!).
> I also loved how you played with the double jump: that was game changer.
Could you elaborate on that one? Curious to know what was meant by "double jump".
> Also liked how jumping to a leaf keeps all enemies stuck where they are.
Haha yup! A core mechanic of the game is that every move has potential to change the board, so that not all solutions are clear just by looking at the starting state.
Glad you found the gameplay so captivating!
I see! The mp functions are great and your implementation really helps bringing enemies to life :)
By double jump I meant the double movement you make, for instance when jumping over an enemy or a specific obstacle :)