iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 02/12/2025

TRAILS is a cozy puzzle game in which you guide sand ships across a crumbling desert to reach isolated outposts. Draw paths for each ship across the treacherous sands, planning carefully to avoid collisions and ensure each ship reaches its goal. #indiedev #gamedev #indiegame #puzzlegame

Level 5 of our game TRAILS in portrait mode.
Two sandships need to get to their goals. There are already paths drawn in.

Level 46 of the main path of TRAILS in portrait mode. A grey ship has already got a path through the red desert and the player needs to get two other ships towards their destination while bringing water to some villages and not crashing into each other.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 02/12/2025

📱⛵ TRAILS is now available to go! ⛵📱 Get it on iOS: apps.apple.com/us/app/trail... google play: play.google.com/store/apps/d... * no ads! * first 20 levels free! * full game as one-time purchase! * portrait and landscape * dark mode #indiegame #indiedev #mobilegame #puzzlegame

Mixed media picture. A photo inside of a Berlin Tram with a black and white (and grey) drawing of a person sitting on one of the chairs and holding a small sailing ship with turbines between their arms on their lap. The photo shows a ticket machine and the doors of the tram on either side of the one person seat.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 25/11/2025

Take your beloved sandships with you in train, bus or ferry: Our challenging pathfinding puzzle game TRAILS is coming to mobile on December 1st! Follow us for more information. #indiegamedev #mobilegames #puzzlegames

A mixed media picture. A photo from the M13 Tram in Berlin in sunny weather. On top of the photo is a black and white chalk-like drawing of a person entering the tram. The person pulls a sandship behind them on a leash.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 18/09/2025

So what do you think about level editors in puzzle games? Is that something you want or would use? Is there a game that you enjoyed more because of the level editor or community levels? #indieGameDev #puzzleGames #levelEditor

a screenshot of the level editor of the game Skwish https://pawprints.itch.io/skwish

a screenshot of the level editor in the game Gem Setter

a screenshot of the level editor for the game What the Golf

a screenshot of the level editor for the game Bots are Stupid

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 14/09/2025

We are currently finishing up the mobile release of TRAILS! 🎉 Not entirely sure all of it was worth it though - I mean does anyone even care about achievements on mobile? Just adding the translations in the terrible online interfaces was a good 5-6 hours... #indieGameDev #puzzleGames #mobileGame

a screenshot of the mobile version of TRAILS showing a level and the UI on a screen in 9 by 16 portrait orientation

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 20/08/2025

At #gamescom ? Come by the @amazefest.bsky.social playground area (Hall 10.2 - E030) and 🕹️ try out TRAILS or 👋catch us in person tomorrow between 2 pm and 4 pm and say hallo :) #indiegamedev

Photograph of the a maze playground area at gamescom showing one of the consoles that hosts TRAILS and other indie titles.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 08/08/2025

We have just released the free #demo for our latest puzzle game TRAILS. You can now check out 20 levels (18 on the main path and 2 optionals) for free! Let us know what you think of them 😊 Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/3605120/... itch\.io: purplesloth.itch.io/trails #indieGameDev #freeDemo

A screenshot of the overworld map of the game TRAILS. Twenty levels have been solved, the others are greyed out. There is a rip across the center, everything to the right of it is in greys instead of colored.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 01/08/2025

Just make it exist first - you can make it good later! When developing our game TRAILS, a lot of time was spent on improvements and polish, but the crucial first step was a prototype that was created in less than a week! #indieGameDev #prototyping

the "just make it exist first" meme. In the first row of images a screenshot of a prototype of our game Trails using only unity buildin elements like simple cubes and spheres is placed next to the sentence "Just make it exist first" and a crudely drawn circle. In the second row a screenshot during a later phase of development with very rough outline shaders but somewhat final colors and some 3d models. In the third row next to a perfect circle and the sentence "You can make it good later" is a screenshot of our final game with a well balanced cartoon look, a background texture and refined UI.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 22/07/2025

Choose your own colors! 💜🦥 With update 1.3 of TRAILS you are able to customize the ships' colors to make them stand out best for your individual needs. Even though we are only a small studio, as neurodivergent devs we care about making our games as accessible as possible. #gamedev #accessibility

A screenshot of the color change menu from TRAILS. It has three ships with 10 color options for each ship and a possibiliy to choose the ship's background from all 5 backgrounds in the game.

A screenshot from level 20 of TRAILS with a turquoise, a red and a purple ship.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 26/06/2025

We have two exciting events for TRAILS today(ish): First the joyous @kaemsi.bsky.social will stream the game at 8pm CEST. 👑 And after this at 1 am CEST you can join the Moonlite Madness Showcase by @nevermoreniche.bsky.social The event tonight will feature a variety of indie game trailers. ✨🎮

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 20/06/2025

Checkout our dev log discussing our approach to designing the difficulty curve of trails. We look at our last two puzzle games Chronescher and TRAILS and how to bridge the gape between approachability and challenge. purplesloth.studio/blog/trails_... #indiegamedev #gamedesign #devlog

Image showing partial title Chronescher and Trails title art assets.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 19/06/2025

Did you know? 3 out of 4 devs of this game are non-binary. #PrideMonth is important for us not just to show visibility but also as a month honoring the fight of those that came before us and paved the way for the rights we have & which are currently under attack. Pride means continuing the fight

Title Art of the game TRAILS in the colors of the non-binary flag. In the foreground a purple and white sandship glides through a yellow desert. In the background there is a rising or setting yellow sun in front of a purple sky and behind black mountains. The title TRAILS is inside of the sun.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 18/06/2025

musi Talise la mi ante toki tawa toki pona a! tenpo ni la musi li jo e sona len wan. sina sona e toki pona la ni li sona pi len ala li sona taso. sina lukin ala lukin e ni? kin la musi li jo e nasin lukin kepeken kule pimeja, e ijo ante mute. o lukin e musi! #TokiPona #indieGameDev #secret

Title art for the game TRAILS with the name replaces by it's Toki Pona translation "musi Talise". Talise is written using the following symbols in sitelen pona: telo alasa li ijo suli esun

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 17/06/2025

A secret hidden amidst dunes! A new language! More accessibility! ⛵🏜️ For TRAILS v1.1 we included a dark mode, improved performance, translation of the full game to toki pona and a hidden twist. now on store.steampowered.com/app/3605120/Trails/ purplesloth.itch.io/trails #indiegames #indiedev

A screenshot of the overworld map of TRAILS in dark mode. There is a foldable map with a path winding through it on which pins show the locations of levels. The map also has height lines and text in sitelen pona.

A level from the night biome which always has the dark mode colors. There are three ships in it and some breakaway tiles.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 07/06/2025

sina sona ala sona e toki pona? We are translating our game TRAILS to Toki Pona, adding some more accessibility options that weren't done in time for version 1.0 and adding a special achievement. Stay tuned for version 1.1 coming soon! #screenshotSaturday #gamedev #TokiPona

a screenshot of the game Trails, showing a settings menur translated to toki pona. the overworld map is visible in the background. centered on it is the toki pona text: "sina sona ala sona e toki pona. sina wile ni la o awen lon tenpo lili."

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 06/06/2025

🏜️⛵ Check out the trailer as well! ⛵🏜️

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 06/06/2025

Hey @pitchyagame.bsky.social folks TRAILS ⛵ is a cozy yet challeniging puzzle game in which you plot routes for floating sand ships. ✨super cozy 🕹️easy to get into 🧩extra tricky endgame TRAILS released last week on steam and itch! store.steampowered.com/app/3605120/Trails/ #PitchYaGame #IndieGame

TRAILS title art featuring a sandship with a rocky desert background and the TRAILS title above.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 03/06/2025

If you played our game TRAILS or any of the other great games currently part of the @puzzleshowcase.bsky.social please consider leaving a review. ✍️ Reviews are extremely important for small indie studios like ours to be able to reach more people. Thanks! 💜🦥 #indiegames

Screenshot of a Steam review left on the TRAILS steam page with a purple heart labled "reviews help" superimposed on the comment.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 03/06/2025

Hey Berlin game crowd! 🐻🎮 We are going to be at @womenize.bsky.social at the Institut Français Berlin tomorrow showcasing our game TRAILS. Come by and say hi! We're looking forward to meeting some more feminist game devs and game associated people! 💜🦥

A watercolour drawing of our team sitting on or in front of a coach gaming enthusiastically with game controllers and a purple sloth plushie in the middle of us.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 02/06/2025

We are a queer worker owned indie dev collective from Berlin. Many of our smaller games like 'What's Your Gender?' are free on itch: purplesloth.itch.io/whats-your-g...

What's your gender title graphic with title, stylized horizont line and a white-pinkish stylized tree.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 02/06/2025

TRAILS⛵ is a cozy little puzzle game in which you plot routes for floating sand ships to deliver cargo and get home. We just released the game last week on steam and itch and it's currently 20% off. 🎮 store.steampowered.com/app/3605120/... 🕹️ purplesloth.itch.io/trails

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 31/05/2025

4. HAZARDS OF THE WASTELAND🔥 The dunes are your home but they're not without danger. Collapsing terrain, narrow passages, gaping chasms, ancient traps and errant drones can block your path or derail your journey. Foresight and careful coordination will keep the ships on track. #indiegames #gamedev

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 31/05/2025

3. JUGGLE RESOURCES 💧🛩️🗝️ Each sand ship can carry one item at a time, whether its crucial cargo, a key to unlock a new route or a rare power-up, improving the ship's capabilities. Managing pickups, handoffs and avoiding unwanted items is essential to reaching your goal. #indiegames #gamedev

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 31/05/2025

2. SUPPLY THE OUTPOSTS 🏚️ Scattered across the wasteland, remote villages rely on the convoy for vital cargo. To complete each level you'll need to supply every outpost. Pick up the right goods and bring them safely to their destination. #indiegames #gamedev #gamedesign

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 31/05/2025

Let's talk about some game mechanics in TRAILS! 1. CHART YOUR COURSE 📍 Plan your route by drawing paths across the desert grid. All sand ships must follow their trails without visiting the same space twice - and without crashing into one another. #indiegames #gamedev #gamedesign

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 31/05/2025

We're super excited about yesterdays release of TRAILS, but we also have another game taking part in the @puzzleshowcase.bsky.social 🧩Meet Chronescher, our space-, time- and mind-bending puzzle adventure set in an escherpunk world. store.steampowered.com/app/1911170/... #puzzle #escher #indiegame

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 30/05/2025

During the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase we're showing prerecorded streams by @jinxperegrine.bsky.social, @fletchmakesstuff.com and @achiegamedev.bsky.social. Please check them out they are all three wonderful people and really chill and fun streamers! 💜 #indiegames #puzzlegames #indiedev

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 29/05/2025

3 reasons why YOU should buy our game TRAILS: 1. It will absolutely make your brain fluids boil! 🧠🔥 2. Sailing Ships in the Desert! ⛵🏜️ 3. Support your favourite queer collective! 💜🦥 store.steampowered.com/app/3605120/... #indiegames #puzzlegames #indiedev

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 29/05/2025

🍰 For our release celebration we had TRAILS themed vegan cake, muffins and a TRAILS dance competition 🥳

Photography of a desk with TRAILS running and a dance mat used as controller.

Trails themed vegan cake. Showing a level with goals, ships, trails and mountains.

TRAILS themed muffins with deco pins showing outposts, ships, drones, gates and resources.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 29/05/2025

🎉⛵ TRAILS is out now! ⛵🎉 Hoist the sails - the desert awaits! Get the game here: store.steampowered.com/app/3605120/... purplesloth.itch.io/trails #indiegames #release #indiedev #trails #steam #itch #gamedev #puzzle

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 28/05/2025

Tonight is the last opportunity to catch a glimpse of TRAILS gameplay before the launch! ⛵ Outfrost will stream the game at 10 pm CEST. They are a seasoned indie dev who does very chill streams both making and playing games. Join them braving the desert at www.twitch.tv/Outfrost #indiegames

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 28/05/2025

🔥The desert is most dangerous late at night. The harsh cold might surprise unaware travellers.🔥 🌑 Darkest hour biome: becomes accessible after you manage to collect enough coins. It only contains 3 levels but each one will prove a true test of your understanding of TRAILS' mechanics. #indiegamedev

The crucible - one of three levels of the 'darkest hour' biome. An endgame level containing 3 ships, a key, a gate, resources, villages and volatile tiles. Using a dark colour palette.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 27/05/2025

It's desert time again! @fletchmakesstuff.com is streaming TRAILS 3pm CEST. Go check out the stream ⛵ Fletch is also a game dev himself, mostly making PICO-8 and Playdate games, and has a caring and sweet community. Join him for a cozy stream and sail along at www.twitch.tv/fletchmakes #indiegames

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 24/05/2025

Have a look at our reworked overworld map 🗺️ The map now features symbols corresponding to newly introduced mechanics, making it easier to navigate, when you are looking for a specific level but cant quite remember its name. #screenshotsaturday #indiegamedev #puzzlegame

Screenshot of the overworld map, featuring a combined 70+ main path and optional levels.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 23/05/2025

🧩Can you beat the level and lead both ships to their destination without crashing or falling into the chasm? TRAILS will release May 29th on Steam and itch.io. 🕹️ store.steampowered.com/app/3605120/... 🎮 purplesloth.itch.io/trails #indiegame #puzzlegame #cozy #gridbased

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 22/05/2025

You're not the first to think that. A lucky coincidence :D

TRAILS level recolored in the colors of the trans pride flag.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 22/05/2025

Our upcoming title ⛵TRAILS will be part of the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase, a Steam event celebrating all things puzzle. 📅 The showcase takes place May 29th - June 5. For more info on the event checkout @puzzleshowcase.bsky.social . #puzzlegames #indiegames

TRAILS key art with cerebral puzzle showcase frame.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 21/05/2025

🏜️The desert is colorful! 🌈 TRAILS features several biomes, with new mechanics, complexity and a fresh coat of paint. 🌞Day Biomes: Discover these three zones while progressing along the main path. 🌙Night Biome: Venture into the these optional levels for additional challenges. #indiegamedev

Day biome level featuring buttons and fire hazzards.

Day biome level featuring two ships, villages and ressources.

Day biome level featuring keys, gates, drones, wings and villages.

Optional level from the night biome featuring gates, keys, buttons, ressourcesm villages, fire hazzards and volatile tiles.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 21/05/2025

Another sneak peek opportunity tomorrow: @jinxperegrine.bsky.social will stream TRAILS at 3pm CET ⛵ Jinx is a cozy streamer playing a variety of game genres. Fae has a very sweet and caring community and is an advocate for neurodivergence, disability and queer rights. 🌈 www.twitch.tv/jinxperegrine

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 17/05/2025

This is a midgame level in TRAILS featuring one of the most interesting pick-ups: the wings 🪽 This rare item allows your ship to glide over chasms and unstable tiles. But treat carefully: wings are an inventory item and picking up another will make your drop them. #screenshotsaturday #indiegamedev

Mid-tier level featuring 2 ships, wings, chasms, villages, resources and volatile tiles.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 13/05/2025

Our new game is releasing soon! 🤩 TRAILS is a cozy puzzle game in which you plot routes for floating sandships and deliver vital cargo to remote outposts - without collisions, dead ends, or backtracking. ⛵ Wishlist now ⛵ store.steampowered.com/app/3605120/... #indiegame #indiedev #puzzle #gameart

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 07/05/2025

With TRAILS releasing so soon we have started reaching out to press and content creators. If you are interested in reviewing or streaming TRAILS or know someone who is interested in indie puzzle games please reach out to us either here or via email at: trails@purplesloth.studio #indiegame #press

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 05/05/2025

Have you ever danced a puzzle? For our upcoming game TRAILS we are supporting a wide range of input methods. Last week we were testing how well the game worked with a dance mat. Interested? Wishlist TRAILS on Steam now :) store.steampowered.com/app/3605120/... #indiegame #indiedev #puzzle #dance

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 01/05/2025

The state of the video game industry is an absolute shit show. All the more reason to take the international workers day as an opportunity to remember to stand together and fight for workers rights in this industry and all others! #mayday #solidarity #workersrights

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 30/04/2025

We are super excited to announce that we will be releasing TRAILS on steam and itch.io on May 29th! ✨Whislisht TRAILS on Steam now✨ store.steampowered.com/app/3605120/... #indiegame #indiedev #puzzle #trailer

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 16/04/2025

I was taking some screenshots of our boat asset, when I realized it was only a few clicks in photoshop away from this little fellow. 🐸 Meet Froggy, a humanoid amphibian, who roams the wasteland on a sand ship that looks eerily similar to their face. #gamedev #accidentalArt #thefrogsarecoming

A frontal render of a stylized sail ship slightly modified in photoshop to have eyes and look like a cartoony frog face.

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 10/04/2025

We are putting our finishing touches on our new game TRAILS. Wishlist it now on steam to get notified when it is released! store.steampowered.com/app/3605120/... #indieGameDev #makingOf #soundEffects #sound

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Purple Sloth Studio @purplesloth.studio · 06/04/2025

🏜️ From concept to finished overworld map! 🏜️ You can still join our Beta Test for TRAILS: Just write us and join our puzzling journey through the desert. ⛵ #indiegamedev #gameart #conceptart

A handrawn inked folding map of a desert with height lines drawn into it. There is a dotted path with crossings going from the left to the right side of the map. There are severals numbered pins on the path marking locations. The map is folded in three parts which separate different biomes. Every part has a label. Labels from left to right are: “chrono dunes”, “graphic heights” and “center lake”. The last biome features markings of atomic radiation contamination. There is a map scale on the left lower side with the headline “desert map”.

The finished in-game map. It's more colourful in a sandy yellow tone and with a brown-red background. The dotted path, height curves and atomic areas are drawn in similarly. Some of the pins outside of the path have flames surrounding them. The region descriptions are saltwind expanse, the shardlands, the spine and whispering flats.

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