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Hello and happy holidays! There has been a ton of progress since the last update. While making puzzles for about 4 months, I was becoming increasingly eager to work on other parts of the game. Once the last puzzle was completed in late October, I was more motivated than ever, and from that burst of momentum, I have nearly completed all the content in the game! Around 80-90% of systems are in place, but there are still many sloppy placeholder sprites and many missing backgrounds and themes. Please bear in mind that the gameplay shown is still unfinished!

Progress since the last update:

• The Computer: After repairing the Campanella's computer (more on this later), you are able to see your fastest times and replay puzzles you have completed.

• Saving / Loading: This is another task I thought would be much more challenging, but it was surprisingly simple! I was already storing everything that needed to be saved in structs, so Gamemaker's built-in functions worked really well.
• Resources / Incremental Mechanics: Completing a Nonogram will yield moon drops and moon ingots, and you'll be able to unlock research and silk in the lab by completing more puzzles. There are a few upgrades to unlock, and you will passively increase the amount of moon drops gained from puzzles as the gumma tree automatically produces more plants.
  • The game's incremental mechanics are pretty simple and don't take much time away from solving puzzles
• Workers: You will gain more workers passively as you solve puzzles. If you walk down the trail to their side of the camp, you can assign different amounts workers to different resources.
• Parvina's Shack: Despite taking place in the world of Pilot Quest, there is no wild zone in UFO 50 Nonograms. Instead of selling meat, Parvina's role is to sell backgrounds and puzzle themes. However, you will need to replace her broken camera before she can open up her shop. Backgrounds and themes cost moon drops. All other resources are spent in the lab.
  • From the pause menu, you can select any combination of backgrounds and themes. You can even opt for random backgrounds and/or themes!
• The Lab: In the lab, you can work with the scientist to repair the Campanella and build ship parts out of the resources you've collected. There are also many upgrades to unlock

What's left in the project?

• Around a dozen more backgrounds and puzzle themes
• Music and more sound effects
• Additional polish (my favorite part of making games!)
• Finalizing sprites
• Balancing the costs / effects of upgrades
• Adding more dialogue
• Credits

That's all there is, really. I can't imagine the game not being complete after March or April, so I am pretty confident in the game being finished in the first half / quarter of 2026. Anything can happen, though! The next update will probably feature a trailer, so stay tuned for that!

This is a really cool concept and it was executed very well! I beat it on my first attempt, and my only complaint is that the music is a pretty hard to hear with all the sounds.

Hello again! I've been keeping myself quite busy making puzzles since the last post, and after 4 months of making puzzles, I have finally finished every single one! It was a ton of fun figuring out creative ways shrink down UFO 50 into a bunch of tiny boxes.

What exactly has been done since the last post?

• I set up a Github repository for the first time. It was surprisingly painless, and it feels great not having to worry about permanently losing the project if my ancient laptop dies.
• Menu system: I have created a pretty flexible system for the game's buttons and menus, and the pause menu has been fully implemented.
• Puzzle themes: The system for puzzle themes is in place! I only have one additional theme so far, but I plan to add quite a few in the full game.
• As stated, all 250 puzzles have been finished! Puzzle-making occupied a large majority of my time spent working on the game, so I can now focus on scoping out the full game and bringing it to life.
• Began working on fleshing out the campsite

The Plan

• I've been bouncing around a bunch of ideas for how UFO 50 Nonograms will actually play, and my goal for the next few months is to prototype these ideas and find a direction I like. Obviously, the puzzle solving will be the main focus of the game and take up most of the playtime, but I also want the campsite have a purpose. Without spoiling too much, my current plan for the game involves some light, mostly automatic incremental aspects to compliment the puzzles.
• Most of the cast of Pilot Quest will be present in the campsite to purchase items and talk with.
  • Don't expect full conversations, though. Natural dialogue is not my strong suit, so conversations will lean more to the minimalist style just like some games in UFO 50
• There will be a simple story which unfolds as you solve more puzzles

Well, that's all I have to say! Thanks for reading; I really can't wait to finish this project, and I sincerely hope you all enjoy it once it's done!

Hello, I'm M3zik! I've been making games in Python and Java for a couple years now, but I've settled into using Gamemaker Studio, which I've now been using for about a year and a half. This is UFO 50 Nonograms, a fangame being made completely unaffiliated with Mossmouth.

   

What to expect:

• Play as Pilot in a pseudo point-and-click environment outside of puzzles
  • You can whack the crystal to release a puzzle
  • Once completed, the puzzle will be added to the Campanella's computer, so you can replay it anytime
  • 

• UFO 50 Nonograms will have 250 nonogram puzzles, possibly more, if I think of anything extra to add
  • Each game in UFO 50 will have...
    • Two 10x10 puzzles
    • One 20x10 puzzle
    • Two 15x15 puzzles
• Puzzle themes! There will be unlockable puzzle themes based on a select few games
  • I don't have anything to show for this yet, but imagine placing Devilition creatures instead of marking tiles
• A bunch of chill covers of UFO 50 songs which will be done by my friend TSK
  • If would also like to make a song for this game, do let me know! I'll make a separate post for this sometime down the line, but I will not ask for any music unless I'm 100% sure the project will be completed in a set timeframe
• An unusual virtual pet simulator to dabble with outside of puzzles. Don't get too attached to the pets, though.
  • This is subject to change, and it may be replaced with a different inter-puzzle activity

Current Progress

• At the moment, I can't give an exact date or small window regarding the release of this game, but I can describe exactly how much progress I have made
  • As of now, I've finished exactly 105 puzzles, and I have some flexible systems for menus, interactable objects, and puzzles
  • Largely I've been focused on pumping out puzzles, but more recently I've been working on menus

• I took a break to participate in the GMTK Game Jam 2025, but I'll continue the puzzle-making grind soon! I will be quite busy in august, however.

That's all for now!

Very polished and fun! It's really satisfying to bash through a bunch of enemies!

Wow, the visuals and effects are really satisfying, and all the hazards have really good tells! I can see myself coming back to this!

WOW, the style, design, and music in this game is fantastic! I really like the fact that the thing that keeps you alive is also the thing which boosts you into your demise!

Really fun! There is so much room for strategy, and it's really tough in a fair way

Amazing art, and there's a surprising amount of strategy involved in the gameplay

I was disappointed when it ended BECAUSE it ended, which is a good sign! I wish I could have continued to make my over-powered gun even stronger!

Super creative and polished game! It took a little while to figure out the blocks, but it was really fun once it clikced!

This was a really fun and chaotic game! I just wish there were more sound effects, but other than that, it's a really well polished game

I really enjoyed all the puzzles! It's really neat how you can sort of choose how difficult you want the levels to be by dying extra times!

Wow, this is such a high quality game! It's not only a really neat take on the jam's theme, but also an awesome APE-OUT spiritual successor

Thanks for checking out our game! The mouse actually has no use at the moment besides creating a cool effect when clicking. I will totally add mouse controls after the voting period though!

WOW, this is fun, such an interesting concept for an attack!

Really creative, I feel like this could easily be expanded into something bigger!

This has a lot of potential as a full game, and it's a really fun score-chaser!

Really satisfying movement, and wonderful art! I thoroughly enjoyed this!

Very creative game with a lot of style and charm, too!

Really fun take on a tower defense game, and the art and music is great!

Really fun, but extremely hard! I could only get through about 75% of the boss after about a dozen attempts, but it's really fun and polished.

I really enjoyed going for a high score! I'll totally be coming back to this

This has a lot of style! The way the discs curve when thrown is also really satisfying!

Super satisfying to play! I accidentally froze a lot of bombs, but that only added to my enjoyment with the wonky loops I had to compromise with

Really tricky, but the attacks each have really nice foreshadowing to them!

I really enjoyed the style and charm of this game!

I really liked the progression in this game! After I won, I kept restarting just to see how powerful I could become.

Well, whoever "me" is wasn't lying, that was extremely satisfying and fun!

This was such a fun and creative game! The levels explored the gimmicks very thoroughly, and I especially enjoyed the last level. It's a shame you couldn't submit this to the jam. This much work crammed into four days is a lot of work, and I respect all the effort you put into this game. Have a good one!

Really fun! I didn't expect to be clicking cereal today, but here I am.

Really unique concept! I haven't seen anything like this in the jam, and the gameplay is really fun! My highscore was 1385!

Very fun and clever! The gimmicks feel very Nintendo-y, if that makes sense!

Really fun and smooth game! I like the obstacle variety each level

Really well made and fun! This should have more ratings!

I shlonked it so much. The two oldest shlonks are very fun to control! I especially like the 2nd shlonk's attacks

The art looks really nice! The game is a bit confusing at first, but it's satisfying to figure out what different things do!

The controls are really smooth, and I could see this being fleshed out a lt in the future!

Ok, wow, to say my mind was blown would be an understatement. This is absurdly creative!

Thanks! The music was all made by TSK!