Baba Is You

In each level, the player is presented with a one-screen puzzle consisting of various objects, characters, and movable word tiles. The player is given control of one or more characters or objects on the screen (most often, the player controls a character named Baba, a white creature). The word tiles consist of nouns corresponding to specific types of objects and obstacles on the field (such as Baba itself, the goal flag, walls and hazards, and other creatures), verbs such as IS and HAS, linking operators such as AND and NOT, and descriptive tiles determining the properties of these objects (such as YOU, which makes all instances of the object become controlled by the player; PUSH and PULL to make them movable; STOP to make them impassable; and WIN to designate the goal object).

When three or more word tiles (minimally consisting of one object, one verb, and one property or object) are aligned vertically or horizontally into a valid syntax, they create a rule that determines how the object behaves and that is enforced until the string is broken up. For example, the goal can be changed by moving IS and WIN blocks to apply to another object, and the player can pass through objects by removing the STOP trait from them. Specific rules for a level may be placed in a way that the tiles cannot be broken up (for instance, by having the rule placed in an inaccessible corner), committing that rule for the entire level. e.

The theme of the 2017 Nordic Game Jam was "Not There", which prompted Teikari, a student at the University of Helsinki who had previously developed the Metroidvania-genre game Environmental Station Alpha, to envision a game concept based on manipulating logic operators. He pictured a block of ice standing next to lava but not melting, protected by the phrase "ICE IS NOT MELT". This sparked the idea of creating a puzzle game where the player would push words to form rules. Initially, each object was supposed to have intrinsic properties (e.g., ice would melt in the presence of lava) that could be disabled using the word "NOT". However, Teikari later concluded that the game would be more interesting if objects had no default properties.

He explained that levels were often created by brainstorming a "cool" or "amusing" solution, and then coming up with how the player would accomplish it. Teikari noted that "the most satisfying moments in puzzle games are those which present the player with simple but hard-to-wrap-your-head-around situations, so that solving the puzzle is about figuring out that one neat trick/twist". As with his previous projects, the game was developed using Multimedia Fusion 2, and a Lua scripting plugin; Teikari credited his friend Lukas Meller for help with the Lua implementations. Teikari wrote on Reddit that the naming of the characters Baba and Keke was inspired by the bouba/kiki effect.

Baba Is You won first place at the 2017 Nordic Game Jam. It was nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and won awards for "Best Student Game" and "Excellence In Design" at the 2018 IGF Awards. It was also nominated for "Best Indie Game" at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards, for "Indie Game of the Year" at the Titanium Awards, and for "Best Independent Game" at The Game Awards 2019. In addition, it was nominated for "Gameplay Design, New IP" at the NAVGTR Awards, for "Game Design" and "Original Property" at the 16th British Academy Games Awards, and for "Best Indie Game" at the Famitsu Dengeki Game Awards 2019.

E. Awards, as well as for "Best Design" and the "Innovation Award" at the 20th Game Developers Choice Awards. The PC version of the game was among the best-selling new releases of the month on Steam.