Kozma Works

KW-001 · Luminous swarm

Glowbug Swap

You can’t move the glowbugs. You can only swap what they crave, and watch them find their own way home.

Where to play

Coming soon to Google Play

A pink glowbug jumps into its glowing jar under the moon.
KW-001 · I A pink glowbug jumps into its glowing jar under the moon.
Designation
KW-001
Class
Luminous swarm
Genre
Logic puzzle
Platform
Android · Phones and tablets
Players
1
Status
Coming soon to Google Play
Package
com.kozmaworks.glowbugswap
Position
Inner orbit

Every glowbug wants something. One wants light, another the sound of a wind chime, a third the warmth of a candle. Each walks one tile per step towards the nearest thing in its thought bubble, and you are not allowed to touch any of them.

What you can do is swap. Pick two bugs, trade their cravings, and the garden takes a step. Then the little system you set going does the rest. A bug that eats the lantern starts to shine, and the others follow its light. A bug that passes its own jar hops in, the lid slams shut, and it curls up on the moss inside and falls asleep.

The jars are the heart of the game. Each has moss inside and a cloth lid in its owner’s colour, tied with string. Bring every bug home with as few swaps as possible and the game says so: Perfect.

Who it is for

It is for anyone who likes the moment a plan works. The rules fit on one card and the levels are small. The challenge comes from combining the same few ideas in new ways, never from new buttons. The first level waits for you at every step, and the fortieth will still make you stop and think.

Colour is never the only clue

Each glowbug has a colour and a pattern: dots, stripes, rings, chevrons, diamonds or crosses. Light, sound, warmth and scent each have their own shape as well as their own colour, and those colours come from a palette designed to be read by colour-blind players. Every button you press is at least 44 pixels across.

Languages

The game is in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and Turkish.

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What makes it

  1. One move, and it’s a swap

    Pick two glowbugs and trade their cravings. That is the only thing you can do, and every one of the forty levels is built around it.

  2. You become what you eat

    A bug that reaches the lantern glows like a lantern for six steps, and every bug that wants light follows it. One good swap can lead a whole line home.

  3. Five gardens, five lullabies

    An evening garden, an autumn fire pit, a moonlit pond, an orchard in blossom and a winter garden. Each has its own music, from a music-box waltz to a celesta in the snow.

  4. Nothing rushes you

    No timer and unlimited undo. Tap the lantern to take one step, or hold it and the garden plays on, stopping before anything you can’t take back.

  5. Hints that teach

    First ask where to look, then for the next move (“Not yet: step twice, then swap these two”), and only then for the answer.

  6. Ads with manners

    None in the first three levels, none right after you resume, never more than one every two minutes. One purchase turns them off for good.

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Trailer

REC ○ Trailer in production

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Plates

  • An evening garden level. Two glowbugs are selected, and dotted lines show where each one will walk after the swap.
    Fig. 1 Evening garden. Before you commit, the swap preview draws each bug’s new path.
  • The moonlit pond. Three glowbugs among lily pads, with a wind chime and a candle on the board.
    Fig. 2 Moonlit pond. Several bugs must reach home, and some of them have to lead the others.
  • The autumn fire pit. Glowbugs on a board of logs, one of them craving the warmth of a candle.
    Fig. 3 Autumn fire pit. Warmth arrives, and with it timing, because a candle only burns for so long.
  • The win card reading All home, with the Perfect badge.
    Fig. 4 All home. Solve a level in the fewest possible swaps and you get the Perfect badge.

Policies for this game