''Hidden Folks'' is a

hidden object game A hidden object game, also called hidden picture or hidden object puzzle adventure (HOPA), is a puzzle video game genre in which the player must find items from a list that are hidden within a scene. Hidden object games are a popular trend in casu ...

developed by Adriaan de Jongh and Sylvain Tegroeg. In the game, players are presented with a series of animated, interactive scenes and must find hidden characters, objects, and animals. The game was released for

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

, Android,

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

, and

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...

in February 2017.

Gameplay

''Hidden Folks'' is a

wimmelbilderbuch A ''Wimmelbilderbuch'' (German, literally "teeming picture book"), wimmelbook, or hidden picture book is a type of large-format, wordless picture book. It is characterized by full-spread drawings (sometimes across gatefold pages) depicting scene ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

in which players are tasked with locating hidden characters, objects, and animals in a series of environments, similar to the British book series ''

Where's Wally? ''Where's Wally?'' (called ''Where's Waldo?'' in North America) is a British series of children's puzzle books created by English illustrator Martin Handford. The books consist of a series of detailed double-page spread illustrations depictin ...

''. Each scene is animated and composed of monochrome art. The majority of objects in the environment can be interacted with by tapping or clicking on them.

Development and release

''Hidden Folks'' was developed by Dutch

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules of video games in the pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the production stage. Some common video game design subdiscipline ...

Adriaan de Jongh and Dutch artist Sylvain Tegroeg. A prototype of the game was created by de Jongh after he saw detailed illustrations during at Tegroeg's graduate art show. The two began collaborating in 2014, when Tegroeg noticed and was impressed by how de Jongh had used his art. The idea of creating a

came naturally from Tegroeg's detailed art. All of the game's art was hand-drawn on paper, scanned in to create digital images on a computer, and then layered manually to form the scenes. The game was built using the

Unity game engine Unity is a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies, first announced and released in June 2005 at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference as a Mac OS X game engine. The engine has since been gradually extended to support a var ...

, however de Jongh also built custom tools to specifically handle the process of digitising the hand-drawn art and maintaining detail on mobile devices. ''Hidden Folks'' was designed to be a casual and relaxing gaming experience. The game's audio is composed of noises made from the developers' mouths. The game was announced in February 2016. It was released for

Android (operating system) Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android is developed by a consortium of ...

, and

on 15 February 2017.

Reception

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two to ...

'' ranked the game 41st on their list of the 50 best games of 2017, while ''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media ...

'' named it one of their 15 Best Games of 2017. It was also nominated for "Best Mobile Game" in

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

's Best of 2017 Awards.

Accolades

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://hiddenfolks.com/ 2017 video games Android (operating system) games Hidden object games IOS games Linux games MacOS games Monochrome video games Video games developed in the Netherlands Windows games Single-player video games Nintendo Switch games Indie games