NightSky

NightSky is a physics puzzle platformer by Nifflas, creator of Within a Deep Forest, Knytt, Knytt Stories, and Saira. You play a black orb that can roll, but cannot jump. You must make use of Ramp Jumps to traverse the environment.

Each level is three screens long. Most of these levels use the first screen as an empty 'introduction' screen, feature the majority of obstacles in the second screen, and include a pretty background scene in the final 'reward' screen. This rhythm is used often enough that deviations from this norm are surprising.

In each level, the ball has access to at most two powers, controlled with the A and S keys. The magenta power makes the ball spin very fast, the orange power gives the ball a firm grip on the ground, the purple power lets you reverse gravity, and the rare white power is automatic and prevents you from moving for the entire level - you can only roll under the force of gravity or by being knocked by a moving object.

In addition to controlling the ball, you can also remotely activate machines on the same screen by pressing Enter. These machines typically drop physical objects that you must carefully interact with to progress.

And, some levels feature the ball inside a ground vehicle or flying machine. You can control the machine by rolling in either direction.

Tropes used in NightSky include:

• Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: "Slightly Nonsense"
• Brutal Bonus Level / Joke Level: "Slightly Nonsense". Meanwhile, in the 4th dimension...
• Eternal Engine: The Perpetuum Factory.
• Gainax Ending
• Gravity Screw: The purple ability allows you to reverse gravity.
• One Hundred Percent Completion: Collecting the secret stars in order to gain access to the Joke Level.
• Ramp Jump: Outside of altering gravity, this is how you can cross gaps or ascend to higher areas.
  • Ramprovisation: Using the loose physics objects to form ramps is important.
• Remixed Level: The Alternative worlds are rearranged versions of the normal worlds, and are considerably more difficult.
• Scenery Porn: As expected from Nifflas.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Aurora's North
• Star-Shaped Coupon: These are found in secret tunnels in the regular levels.
• The Lost Woods: Murky Depths.
• Wreaking Havok: Most of the puzzles involve manipulating physics.