Baba Is You

Mobile versions were released in June 2021. A free update titled "Baba Make Level" was released on November 17, 2021, featuring 250 new and previously unused levels and a level editor with online sharing. You received generally favorable reviews from critics.

• Title — Baba Is You • Developer — Hempuli • Publisher — Hempuli • Programmer — Arvi Teikari • Designer — Arvi Teikari • Composer — Arvi Teikari • Engine — Multimedia Fusion 2 • Released — Linux, macOS, Switch, Windows13 March, 2019Android, iOS22 June, 2021 • Genre — Puzzle • Modes — Single-player

• Illustration — Baba (the white sheep-like creature) is assigned as the player character by the phrase BABA IS YOU. The three blocks reading WALL IS STOP create a rule that prevents Baba from crossing wall tiles. Once the rule blocks are separated, the rule is no longer enforced, and Baba can pass through walls. In each level, the player is presented with a one-screen puzzle consisting of various objects, characters, and movable word tiles. The player is given control of one or more characters or objects on the screen (most often, the player controls a character named Baba, a white creature). The word tiles consist of nouns corresponding to specific types of objects and obstacles on the field (such as Baba itself, the goal flag, walls and hazards, and other creatures), verbs such as and, linking operators such as and, and descriptive tiles determining the properties of these objects (such as, which makes all instances of the object become controlled by the player; PUSH and PULL to make them movable; STOP to make them impassable; and to specify the goal object). When three or more word tiles (minimally consisting of one object, one verb, and one property or object) are aligned vertically or horizontally into a valid syntax, they create a rule that determines how the object behaves and that will be enforced until the string is broken up. For example, the goal can be changed by moving and blocks to apply to another object, and the player can pass through objects by removing the STOP trait from them. Specific rules for a level can be placed in a way that the tiles cannot be broken up (for instance, by having the rule placed in an inaccessible corner), committing that rule for the entire level. The player completes a level when an object that is the subject of an rule (i.e. an active player-character) occupies the same tile as an object that is the subject of an rule (i.e. an active goal), or by itself (i.e. the same object is the player and the goal); conversely, levels are never explicitly failed, but if there are no more objects left (or there is no rule) the player may be unable to proceed and have to undo or restart. It is, however, possible to use certain properties that function even without objects (such as MOVE or SHIFT) to create a setup where an rule is broken, then put back together later on or even at a separate location. Objects can also be transformed into each other through the syntax IS (i.e. BABA IS FLAG would replace any Babas on screen with flags.) This can be prevented through IS (i.e. BABA IS BABA overrides all BABA IS commands and would prevent the aforementioned transformation from occurring.) The game contains 481 levels, spread across 3 level packs, with 231 in "Baba is you" (The base game before the "Baba make level" update), 88 in "Museum" (A collection of unused/scrap levels which were reworked and polished), and 162 in "New adventures" (Purely original content added in the "Baba make level" update). At the late-game stages of both "Baba is you" and "Museum", the player gains access to the noun LEVEL, from which point map screens in which levels are selected become levels in and of themselves, with the player transforming levels into objects and manipulating rules around the map screen to progress.

• Illustration — Arvi Teikari accepting his Independent Games Festival Award in 2018 The theme of the 2017 Nordic Game Jam was "Not There", which prompted Teikari, a student at the University of Helsinki who had previously developed the Metroidvania-genre game Environmental Station Alpha, to envision a game concept based on manipulating logic operators. He pictured a block of ice standing next to lava but not melting, protected by the phrase "ICE IS NOT MELT". This sparked the idea of creating a puzzle game where the player would push words to form rules. Initially, each object was supposed to have intrinsic properties (e.g., ice would melt in the presence of lava) that could be disabled using the word "NOT". However, Teikari later concluded that the game would be more interesting if objects had no default properties. He explained that levels were often created by brainstorming a "cool" or "amusing" solution, and then coming up with how the player would accomplish it. Teikari noted that "the most satisfying moments in puzzle games are those which present the player with simple but hard-to-wrap-your-head-around situations, so that solving the puzzle is about figuring out that one neat trick/twist". As with his previous projects, the game was developed using Multimedia Fusion 2, and a Lua scripting plugin; Teikari credited his friend Lukas Meller for help with the Lua implementations. Teikari wrote on Reddit that the naming of the characters Baba and Keke was inspired by the bouba/kiki effect. Teikari stated in 2017 that he planned to release the full game in 2018, and placed a development version of the title for download at itch.io. After Baba Is You won at the Independent Games Festival in March 2018, a clone of the game was released by a French publisher on the App Store, using nearly the same graphics and calling itself the same name. Teikari worked with the French division of Apple to remove the offending app. The game, and a Nintendo Switch release, were focused upon in a Nintendo indie games showcase presentation on 31 August 2018. Baba Is You was released on 13 March 2019, via Steam for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS, and on Nintendo Switch. A cross-platform level editor, with online level sharing, was added to the game on November 17, 2021, as a free update for the personal computer and Switch versions. This update included 150 additional levels in two new level packs, and added various new rules, art, and soundtracks. Alongside programming the game, Teikari also composed the soundtrack using OpenMPT. Shortly before the release of the level editor update, he released the music project files via the official Baba Is You Twitter account. Mobile versions for iOS and Android devices were released on 22 June 2021.