Cloudcroft

Cloudcroft is a fast-paced arcade-style farming sim in which you are the weather. As a cloud, use your water to hydrate crops and extinguish fires; wind to spread seeds; lightning to deter pests... but be cautious; consume too many of your peers and the storm that follows may undo all your hard work.

Stardew Valley meets Vampire Survivors in a setting inspired by the quaint mountain town of Cloudcroft, New Mexico, where the "Cloud-Climbing Railroad" was completed in 1900.

Controls:

Keyboard:

W/A/S/D or Arrow Keys to move

Spacebar to produce rain

Alt to produce wind

Shift to produce lightning if a valid target is nearby

Tab to switch to world view

Escape to open pause menu, where you can toggle the camera between following the cloud or "scene" mode (Zelda-like camera mode)

Gamepad (Xbox)

Left thumbstick to move
A to spray water
B to direct wind
X to shoot lightning
Y to switch to world view
Start to open menu

Gameplay Tips:

Cloudcroft is cozy in the sense that the stakes are low, but twitchy in that there are many factors that must be considered.

Your tractor WILL stop running and you will need to zap it with lightning to start it again. Keep an eye on it.

Growing too large will cause you to enter "storm mode" and igniting crops; you will want to steer away from them and vent air by pressing ALT until you have shrunk to a smaller size.

You will want to keep an eye out for fires, which can spread through trees and weeds to your crops and hunt down the black clouds that can ignite them. 

Each level is 4 seasons starting with Spring. By default each season is 300 seconds, but you can adjust the season length in the Season Settings from the Main Menu to make levels last shorter or longer. There are five levels total. Each level, you will be scored based on the value of crops delivered; the number of farms constructed; while also losing points for dying; the number of plants burned or eaten by critters; and the number of buildings destroyed by fires.

The first farm will continue to expand as more money is earned and eventually new farms may be established, adding the benefit of an additional harvester. 

Gameplay Overview:

Direct streams of water over the dirt patches to water crops, which vary in value, grow time and susceptibility to fire. Seeds will be planted by the helpful Mandrakes that populate the world, the carrot-like spirits that are brought to life with water.

When crops have grown, zap the tractor and it will begin the harvest, returning to drop loads off at the garage by the farm. As more money is earned, the farm will expand. The tractor is however temperamental and will require a jump start from time to time which can be provided with a bolt of lightning.

The cloud's water capacity may be increased by consuming other clouds, but eat too many and you will enter "storm mode" and begin spewing lightning that may ignite crops.

The common clouds that surround you blow wind that will shrink your cloud. If your cloud shrinks too much it will "dissipate" and you will respawn by the farm, losing points toward your final score.

When enough common clouds collide, they will form storm clouds that may water crops and also cause waterways to flood, destroying valuable land.

Storm clouds in turn may evolve into thunderclouds that will spit lightning and ignite the trees, crops and weeds that fill the world. 

Finally, storm clouds may evolve into tornados that can destroy the farm buildings, lowering your final score.

The world is also populated by critters that will try to eat the crops. They may be zapped, stunning them and sending them scurrying back to their burrows. There are also goblin-like beings that prey on Mandrakes that may be destroyed with a bolt of lightning.

Credits:

Colin Guy, Game Design
Ash Guy, Art Design
Steve Johnson, Music