Gnomon

The sun is yours to move. Below it stands a ruin of sandstone pillars, and on the ruin lives a shade: a small dark thing that can only exist in shadow. Turn the sun and every shadow swings like the hand of a sundial. The shade follows the dark wherever it can, always trying to reach the well. In sunlight it burns, so keep it covered.

How to play

• Drag sideways on a touchscreen or with the mouse, or hold the left and right arrow keys (A and D work too), to turn the sun around the ruin.
• Drag up or down, or use the up and down keys (W and S), to raise or lower the sun. A low sun throws long shadows; a high sun throws short ones.
• The shade walks by itself, along any shadow it can reach, toward dew first and then toward the well. Tap the shade, press Space, or press Wait to make it stay put.
• Sun stones open gates once sunlight reaches them. Light the stone, but keep the shade in the dark.
• Dew is optional. Gather all of it on a level for a full set of marks.

If the shade stands in sunlight for more than a moment, it scorches and the level starts over. Press R or Restart to start over on purpose.

Fifteen ruins

Three chapters of five levels: Dawn teaches turning, raising, and chaining shadows; Noon adds sun stones, gates, a sun that only crosses part of the sky, and a sun so high that shadows barely reach; Dusk keeps the sun low, with long light across courtyards, a keyhole, a switchback, and the great dial itself. Each level is cleared once the shade reaches the well, and finishing one unlocks the next.

Details

• Keyboard, mouse, and touch each play the whole game on their own, including every menu.
• Your progress, your dew, and your sound setting are kept in Arcadible saves, so they survive updates and are waiting when you come back.
• The game pauses when it loses focus. M toggles sound; Escape opens the level list.
• Everything is drawn in real time with three.js. There are no image, sound, or model files: the ruins, the sky, and the sounds are all made by code. The source is on GitHub at https://github.com/games-by-claude/gnomon.