Hippo Island

The brig Strangford, out of Portaferry in County Down and bound for the New World with everything the Boyds owned, went down in a storm in the night. Hugh and Martha Boyd, wee Tam and Nell, and Bonnie the dog swam for the shore.

The island is small and lovely: palms, bananas, a spring of sweet water. It would be paradise, except that somebody else lives here. A hippo. Nobody knows how he got here either.

Nobody is coming for you. Not unless you make them see you.

- One island, one screen, four seasons that go round until the island wears out. Coconuts in the Calm and Cool seasons, bananas in the Green and Storm seasons, yams if you dig and plant them, fish if you make a rod.

- Everyone eats and drinks at dusk. Water comes home from the spring in coconut shells until you build a collector. Three dry days and the fourth is the end.

- Craft at the bench: a rod, warm clothes, a lookout to survive the rogue wave, a dock and a boat for the big fish (sharks: row back in time or lose the boat and the rower), a signal fire that may bring a ship - or pirates - and a HELP sign.

- Storms bring lightning, hurricane winds and rogue waves. High tides take the sand. Some days a shark works the shallows and anyone on the shore is gone.

- Humphrey the hippo sleeps in his wallow, then wanders. He charges anyone close. The healthy get away if they run at once; the hungry, the sick and the cornered do not. He cannot be killed.

- Lose someone and the colour drains from the island. Lose everyone and it is over. The game remembers your longest stay.

- Craft crosses for the dead, or they walk at night. Pet the dog. It helps, for a while.

Mouse to play. Keys 1-4 choose a person, D digs, B fences, W fetches water, C crafts, F sets the fire, SPACE pauses, TAB changes speed. Autosaves every dawn.

Built from the Forged in Formation cast and island kit, by 3BL_Indie in County Down, Northern Ireland.