A downloadable game for Windows, Linux, and Android

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CHARM STUDIES is a lo-fi picross game about young witches studying magic. you play as cassia, an airheaded girl who's currently failing charms class... luckily, senna has agreed to tutor her! the only problem is she's not very nice... can these two little witches learn from each other through the magic of puzzles?

the game includes a small tutorial for those who are new to picross, but you won't fail if you make mistakes either. you can still see all of the story regardless of your picross skills.

i hope that all players will be able to relax and enjoy the pleasant vibes!

FEATURES

  • 15 puzzles, 3 difficulty levels
  • 8k wordcount
  • a cute and chill lo-fi soundtrack

made for NaNoRenO 2023!

CREDITS

story + art + music - NomnomNami

TRANSLATIONS

  • Español (ES) - Gabriel Fiallegas Medina (Basajaun Games)
  • Español (LATAM) - rinphonny
  • Français - Yuri Akuto
  • Deutsch - Antonio Moss
  • Português - Fah Braccini
  • Italiano - Rypher
  • Magyar - Diemond
  • 简体中文 - Mimosa
  • Türkçe - Ebru Nilay Vural
  • Tiếng Việt - Bánh
  • Українська - storyteller613
  • Русский - Zweelee
  • Polski - Nika Klag
  • Čeština - Ella

Download

Download NowName your own price

Click download now to get access to the following files:

CharmStudies-1.3.5-pc.zip 65 MB
CharmStudies-1.3.5-mac.zip 60 MB
com.nomnomnami.charmstudies-release.apk 70 MB
Charm Studies Art Collection 11 MB
if you pay $3 USD or more

Also available on

Development log

Comments

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Viewing most recent comments 1 to 40 of 199 · Next page · Last page

Short and sweet nonogram game. Super Cute! Loved it!

loved this game a lot. gonna replay it from time to time. some puzzles were genuinely very challenging but i was able to do them all without a guide, and they even helped me get better at picross!! thanks for that!

So cute, so sweet, I loved it!

A short yet charming little nonogram type of game.  I would give it 5 stars if it also had a zooming option since most of the mistakes I did were due to how tiny the squares are in the 10×10 and 15×15 grid

This was so cute and relaxing. 

(+3)

Charm-ing!

I want to throw out all the praise first for the art style, story and - yes, charm of the game. Enjoyable plus I love nonograms!

I have some issues I want to address though: Is it possible to pass the first Bonus charm and the "Me!" without guessing? I didn't see a way to pass them otherwise.

I personally would have preferred more options (such as turning off auto-complete) but I'm not upset by the lack of them. I appreciate the Mark option though. One thing Picross doesn't have afaik.

I'm very impressed that you did all the art, music on top of programming the game. I hope you have a tumblr or Instagram...

(+3)

Huh, I found an abandoned Twitter account and a empty Instagram. Sadness.

For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure I managed to solve all charms without guessing. Some of them required thinking a step or two ahead though! For instance, in the situation I think you're talking about in "Me!", what happens to the upper line if the lower line is too far left or too far right? You'll get a contradiction of some kind -- you can't satisfy both the horizontal and the vertical clues at once!

I tried it again - just in case. Can't remember if it's the same spot as before but I don't see a way to finish without guessing.
Fortunately, it's a predicatable guess and easy to finish if you pick either side on the bottom line.

So there are two ways to finish this out, I think.


1) Typically, there is a "meta-rule" that every puzzle has one unique solution. This is rarely if ever broken, because a puzzle with multiple solutions doesn't technically contain enough information to be solved; it's usually very frustrating! So, if you ever find yourself in a perfectly symmetric puzzle state -- as here, where the remaining clues and relevant board is perfectly left-right symmetric -- then any choice you make must also reflect that symmetry.

In this case, if you pick the rightmost available cell on the bottom row, you must also pick the leftmost. But then it's impossible to make one single region of six cells when you've already spread them eight cells apart. Thus, you must exclude the rightmost cell (and therefore also the leftmost cell).

2) I distinguish "lookahead" from "guessing" if I can see a contradiction in at most one step. Usually, it takes me some time in "lookahead" before I learn and recognize a new rule of inference; the rule is just a shortcut for recognizing when that type of contradiction would appear again.

In this case, if you pick the rightmost available cell on the lower line, you can quickly see that the two remaining 1-cell groups on the upper line must both be on the left side of the puzzle. That is, they must be touching, and thus not two 1-cells at all, but a single 2-cell. This contradicts their row clue, and so is impossible.

The key here is really to play the 1-1 clue on the upper line against the 6-clue on the lower line. Only one arrangement of the 6 makes a 1-1 arrangement even possible. Once you have the strategy of playing one group against another like this, it stops looking like "guessing" and starts looking like "checking constraints".


Personally, I think (2) is the "morally correct" reasoning; but having (1) in your back pocket can help focus your attention, even if you don't use it to make progress!

(+1)

I tried it for the third time. It does work using the lookahead method. Which is why the Mark feature should be a standard in every nonogram game! If you put the 6 to one side, you can't put the single dot above it on that side, so it doesn't work. That actually solves the 6 but all you need is one dot more. Thanks again!

Cute little game! I wouldn't call myself a picross fanatic, but I always enjoy picross games nonetheless. Maybe I'm insulting my own intelligence, but the last couple of puzzles in the gallery had me stumped for a minute! I love the idea of the picross squares being magic charms in the world ingame too :)

i love doing picross games! this game is so cute <3

i don't know how to play it ;skull; ,charm is hard! man!

Being able to independently piece together that multiplying two dimensions each by two means 1 squares becomes 4 squares is lowkey brilliant

I love the design of your game <3

Very cool, considering I like nanograms i)

I love the game so much! I'm sad that it got over really fast... :'(

I wanna see more of them again!!!

(+1)

I can't open the game, i dont know, what is problem. Who asking me please:'))

I love this game and replay it from time to time. It's super cute and I LOVE Picross!!<3

Very cute! Thanks for teaching me how to play Picross!

Simply adorable!!! I was a little rusty with Picross, so I was glad it wasn't a deal-breaker to advance the game.

Short and sweet, lovely desing and music. I may play it again sometime!

It's been a long time since I played Picross. I liked how they combined the hidden images with a small plot in the form of a graphic novel that gave consistency to the type of drawings when choosing the theme of magic and even defined their role in a world of magic which makes one have curiosity about the world where those little witches live.

I'm not very experienced in those types of games but the relaxing music and general tone of the game make it quite relaxing as well as entertaining.

(1 edit)

Extremely cute and relaxing!!  Klin loves nonograms!!!

Literally obssession... ignore the first one and the fact that we were super sleep deprived... :x

Two grad students losing their minds: 

(5 edits) (+1)

che bel giochino <3 grazie al cielo per l'opzione per saltare i puzzle, ahaaha, non sono proprio fatti per me! XD ho apprezzato un sacco la storia, adesso voglio sapere di più su Senna!! ha tutti questi lavori!! ed è così giovane!! Cassia era un po' irritante all'inizio ma poi l'ho rivalutata (quando anche io ho iniziato a fallire miseramente a picross XD XD)... un po' come Senna ahaha! aspetta... Senna si chiama così perché è più assennata? haha!!! non so se ha senso in inglese ma è divertente

* SPOILER!!! *

adoro l'epilogo <3!! di solito i protagonisti fanno amicizia e restano sempre assieme ma in questo gioco si separano, è originale! e Senna era così dolce, alla sua maniera <3333

AHSDFGHJK UNO DEI PUZZLE BONUS È SENNA. aahh, scelgo di immaginare che Cassia la sta disegnando nel suo quaderno come nei telefilm, per non dimenticarla come Senna non dimenticherà lei..

(+1)

I absolutely loved this! I love picross almost as much as I love visual novels and I've never come accross a game combining the two but this was executed wonderfully and with such a sweet story at the heart of it.

Pretty solid game! I had never given Picross a try before and I think this is a pretty good introduction! The instructions were a bit confusing at first but that's probably just me being bad at these games. Failing not being important really helps with the chill vibe.

(+2)

A very cute and calming game! Everything was chill and tbh I cried a bit when Senna talked about splitting up. Topic hits home lol. Keep up the good work! I hope to see many great things from you.

This was my first time playing picross! I was scared to fail at first, but then I realized the tutorial said I couldn't. I'm glad for that lol! Definitely made me interesting in more picross!

Pretty cute game! The artists have clearly done a very good job. I really like how Charms looks. In addition to all this there is a quiet methodical music, which fits well with the game as a whole.

This game was adorable and i loved it. I play a ton of picross games but never found one with a story. Was super excited to play through this. I loved both the girls and their interactions. Plus the picross puzzles were simple but fun! Really well done

(+2)(-10)

As a picross game, this sucks. Extreme lag makes it difficult to play. The puzzles were very simple so even novices can enjoy.

As a cute little story game, this was quite good. Not my style at all (I played for the picross) but pretty good nonetheless.

Deleted 281 days ago
(+2)(-1)

To be fair, I'd bet there are several things you make look easy that I couldn't handle at all!

Very cute and cozy game! A little laggy on the bigger sizes, but definitely still playable.

Good game but it's very laggy on android when i played it (i also struggling on 15x15. Good thing there's no 30x30) other than that, Great job. (by the way before i delete the game, i only finished 1 ending cause of game lag). 

Absolutely loved everything about this game~

(+1)

This was a cute game. I like how it included a handful of bonus puzzles outside of the main story. Making Cassia an airhead like this really enabled Senna's character in a way that I found fun. Also, interesting to know that you did all the music yourself. Since it was noted that you don't really listen to Lo-Fi casually, that explains how it came out a bit closer to what I'd expect to hear in some chill lounge rather than an anime girl studying for a test. 

I will say that the story 15x15 is equal parts easier than it was made out to be and really fun to draw, since it has an outline that can be drawn without lifting the "pen", so to speak. This means that once it clicks what the numbers are hinting at, then the player can glide through most of the puzzle. For a final boss, that's pretty clever, and since it's the only 15x15 in the story that doesn't diminish what I view as a low difficulty 15x15. Plus the final post-game puzzle was in line with my personal skill level, so I got to have my cake and eat it without getting a player less used to picross than me stuck on the final level. 

As a final note, I didn't know you could make picross in RenPy. I'm super curious what it was like making a puzzle game in what most people view as a VN engine.

haha i love picross; gaem good

(+2)

On a more serious note, it would be great if you could highlight the line and column you're currently hovering over. It's a bit easy to lose sight of the row/column on the 15x15 puzzles.

(+2)(-1)

Please add Russian as soon as possible :(

(+2)

it's added! :)

i love picross, so i couldn't not check this out! very cute, i had fun

I loved this! The puzzles were fun and the story and characters were very cute. The art throughout is also very well done :)

Wow this is actually amazing. I came for picross and I stayed for actually fun characters. Just wow.

(+1)

please port it to android, there are countries (like mine) that mainly uses android and not IOS, i love your games and i really want to play this one (no, i dont have a pc or laptop, i only have my phone pls port it to android pls)

(+12)(-1)

thank you for your comment, it gave me the motivation to finish the android version :) you can play it now, hope you enjoy!

(+2)

you're the best!!

(+3)

I like ukrainian localization

(+1)

This was a really adorable and fun game! The puzzles got really challenging, especially the ones towards the epilogue. I've never been a fan of picross, but I may have found a new hobby.

Also - this game was such a *vibe*. The art was really cohesive. The characters and UI blended seamlessly, and your color palette was very pleasing on the eyes. 

The writing was also really lovely. I really enjoyed how it focused on Cassia and Senna's story, while casually painting the world they live in and giving a believable sense of purpose to each puzzle. Honestly, I could learn a thing or two from how restrained and focused the story was in general.

Lastly, the epilogues were so wholesome, and Epilogue 3 was totally worth doing the bonus lore over. It really pulled my heartstrings, haha. Cassia and Senna make really good friends, and I hope they don't part forever. I'm not sure if I caught on to Cassia's hint correctly, but if I did, then I'm totally glad to see her accepted and happy. They're both adorable! I've love to see a sequel someday!

everyone's talking about how easy the puzzle's are and my dumbass spent 30 mins on just one. thank you for the option to hide the timer LOL!! 😭

despite me being a dummy, i had a lot of fun ❣️ very cute and wholesome and the beats are definitely chill ♪(´▽`)

(+1)

Don't sweat it. What makes them easy is doing a million of them so that you start recognizing patterns.

this is so nice of you !! thank you for taking the time to reply to me <3

You're very welcome. I do hate to see someone who seems to be equating a lack of practice with an inability. I saw enough of that crap in school! All picrosses/nonograms are is just practice.

Have a great day!

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