This Ludum Dare jam was a fun whirlwind for me. I accomplished nothing on Friday night because I was so exhausted after work. But worked about 20 hours total this weekend to finish. This is my second LD submission (previous one was only 1/4 finished). I didn't finish everything I wanted to, but I worked hard and finished something I'm proud of. Sadly, I didn't incorporate the theme in anyway (I'm not proud of it but it happened). Thanks for playing! Any and all feedback is welcome!

Controls
The entire game is played using the left mouse button. No other buttons are used.

Windmills in the Sky is a variation of a windmill game, an ancient strategy board game, in which 2 players try to eliminate each other’s pieces by moving pieces around the game board to form 3 in a row. This variation, more specifically, is based on an ancient game named “Dara” from Northern Africa, especially Nigeria.

Goal
The goal of the game is to eliminate the opponent’s pieces until your opponent only has 2 pieces remaining. You do this by moving your 10 pieces around the game board to form 3 pieces in a row, or a windmill. On the turn that you form a windmill, you must choose which of your opponent’s pieces to remove from the board.

Due to the short time frame I was unable to build a computer AI opponent. So this game does require a friend to play with.


You may find it helpful to read the rules before you play.

Start
Initially, the game board starts empty. To start, you and your opponent alternate turns placing 1 piece onto the game board until all 10 of your pieces are placed. Alternatively, if you have at least 1 piece on the game board, you may choose to move a piece instead of placing one on the board.

Turn order
The player who is using the “Sun” pieces always goes first, the player who is using the “Moon” pieces goes second, and the neutral player, represented by the red knight, goes third.

Moving
Each turn a piece can be moved a single space up, down, left, or right, but never diagonally. Also, a piece cannot ever jump over other pieces. There will be some situations where a piece cannot move because there are pieces blocking the way.

Removing pieces (or forming a windmill)
When a player places or moves his or her pieces so that there are 3 in a row, either horizontally or vertically but never diagonally, then that player has formed a windmill. The same turn that the windmill is formed, that player can remove an opponent’s piece (any piece) from the board.

Ending the game
The game ends when one player, the loser, only has 2 pieces remaining and the opposite player is the winner. In order for the game to end both players must place all 10 available pieces on the board.

Neutral player movement
There are 2 neutral pieces on the board represented by the red knight. These 2 pieces only move around the board at random. The neutral player automatically takes a turn after player 2 (the Moons) by moving each piece 1 space in a random direction (if possible).