play | watch video from location

I have a big problem. My city is flooded with tourists and most of the locations that I’d like to show you are occupied with picture snapping hordes of foreigners. That doesn’t sound like a good setup for the gnomes, does it. Then I remembered that there is this one place in the very centre of the old town of my city that hardly no one knows about and no one goes there. For real, it’s 5 metres away from the outside crowd and biggest tourist’s attractions of my old town, not speaking that it gives a nice cool shadow relaxation and is quiet and peaceful. And beautiful as well. Yet it’s always empty. It’s open for the public, but you have to go through two doors to get into that inside yard. That’s the solitude I was looking for in a city overrun by people in shorts. And the gnomes were there.

play | watch video from location

As promised, we’re still in the shipyard, inside a giant assembly hall, now deserted because of the fall of the shipyard. As I was getting there I saw that another hall, just like this one was already destroyed, all that was left of it was a giant pile of rubble, so it is possible that these gnomes have historical value, as this hall can be scheduled for destruction as well. Anyway – this time I’m SURE I wasn’t allowed to take any pictures in there ;). This one is the biggest installment of the gnomes yet – somehow I feel it won’t be as hard to finish as previous ones, but it’s for you to decide.

By the way – take a good look at this video – you can find 4 gnomes in it :D

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Illegal adventures continue. This shipyard was getting permanent inspiration mention since Submachine 1. No wonder that I wanted to show you part of it in pictures, gnome game seemed to be the best way to do it. You can see only a small part of it, as the whole shipyard is vast, actually workers over there have their own bicycles to get from one location to another, so there. I think I could easily built all 12 gnomes games based on the shipyard alone, but that would be boring probably. Instead I made pics only on two locations, outdoor (this game) and indoor (next month). Besides that I can’t really tell if I was fully allowed to take pictures anywhere over there. Fortunately there are some artists colonies as well in this shipyard and that’s how I got in in the first place. Otherwise they would just stop me at the gate and tell me to get lost. :D But being inside doesn’t mean “yeah, you can take pictures, here’s a free soda, enjoy”, so there was a little thrill in the package as well. Anyway – gnomes are hidden, clock is set to 10 minutes, enjoy. :D

p.s. – weather report – total sunshine this time. No fog nor rain. ;)

This picture was taken by Bruce A. Rogers on September 4, 2007 in the old walled city of Dubrovnik, Croatia. I’m speechless. Seems like one of my gnomes run away into reality.

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Time for another dose of monthly gnome madness. This time there’s a little sub-story that goes along with this location. It’s a roof of one of the longest buildings in Europe (don’t worry, we’re visiting only one end of it) and basically getting there was kind of difficult. I remember being on that roof about five years ago, and when I started creating 10 Gnomes series this year the idea of placing one episode over there struck me with it’s simplicity. But as I went there it turned out that the access is forbidden, doors are firmly shut with a lock, and they even replaced the old wooden door with a brand new, steel door. Sounds like and episode of Submachine. Closed door? No key? The idea of finding some acid and melting the lock struck me, but then I remembered that it was kind of illegal thing to do in real life, unless you’re in a deserted laboratory with nowhere to go. What would you do. Find the key. Get it from conservation team, or maintenance of the building. And that’s how I get hold of that key, with priceless help of my sister and her husband as they live in that very building, and arranged the key for me. Thanks guys. And it was a foggy day, the day I went there to shoot those pics, need I say more? Perfect combination of a roof, fog and pesky 10 gnomes to find will surely make your day brighter. Right?

Anyway – find 10 gnomes within 10 minutes. Have fun. I had a blast creating this episode. :D

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Find 10 gnomes hidden in pictures in 10 minutes or less. Part 3.

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Second episode in the 10 Gnomes series. Once again your task is to find 10 of those pesky gnomes in less than 10 minutes.

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For all of You that enjoyed search for secret items in Submachines, or the bird quest in DayMare Town. This is a game created entirely on the idea of finding hidden objects (Gnomes in this case). You have 10 minutes to find 10 Gnomes – navigate via the normal point and click manner.

2008

10 Gnomes was a full-year project created throughout 2008. Each month there was new episode added, hence 12 episodes in total.

2009

In February of 2009 10 Gnomes received a Storm of the Year award. That’s an award by polish nationwide newspaper for best artistic achievements in different categories like music, literature, graphics etc. Gnomes won the multimedia category. The winner is selected by people’s choice from that newspaper’s readers.

2010

In April of 2010 Gnomes went international. With a slightly changed UI (improved from game to game), but with the same gameplay Gnomes became an extended postcard. This was the beginning of the second phase of the project.
[10 Gnomes in Bologna].

2015

In 2015 Gnomes ditched the 10-minute time limit, thus removing the lose state from the game, but leaving you with total freedom of exploration in peace and zen.
[10 Gnomes in Montaigut-le-Blanc].

2016

In September of 2016, Gnomes jump the ship from Flash to Game Maker studio 1.4.
[10 Gnomes in Pothia].

2017

Gnomes are upgraded to Game Maker Studio 2, and are as of now on the bleeding edge of accessible to me technology of game development. Stay strong my Gnomes.
[10 Gnomes in Trstenik].

2018

Ten years after the initial project Gnomes are still staying strong, with brand new shining engine, two future games already on the burner and a finish line on the horizon. We’re almost done, boys. Hang on.
[10 years of 10 Gnomes…].

2020

For the first time Gnomes are released earlier due to worldwide events. The Covid-19 quarantine that hit us all out of nowhere in March resulted in Gnomes being quarantined in Malmo and released early April. Sporting new gnomes engine, created in GMS2, completely sprite-less and with one-room architecture. Included files are loaded and unloaded from memory with each change of the photograph (sprite_add, sprite_delete). Slim and slick build of the game proved worthy. Also: O.

2021

Since flash is not working in any browsers anymore, the original 2008 project was exported to .exe files and posted to itch.io. Timestamp. Also – this year I revisited Trstenik after 5 years. Also also – the series is complete with the release of 10 Gnomes in New York. Adios gnomes.

2024

Small update, but series-wide. All games have been updated in November of 2024. Here’s what happened. Author of the ambient music came forward and I decided to add their credit to all of the games. Now you can see the music was created by Calpomatt in all of them.

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real life gnome sightings:

• Dubrovnik
• Mnisek pod Brdy
• Prague
• Paris

gnome videos:

• mention in the Attack of the Show!
• video from episode 6 location
• video from episode 7 location
• video from episode 8 location
• video from episode 10 location
• video from episode 11 location
• video from episode 12 location
• Liege location
• Dubrovnik location
• Venice video
• Montaigut location
• Pothia location
• Trstenik location
• Paris location
• Oristano location
• Malmo location
• New York locations
• Trstenik location revisited 5 years later

Additional information and articles:

• interview in Radio Euro
• article in mmTrojmiasto
• article in Gazeta Wyborcza
• happy New Year 2009 and fireworks over first 10 Gnomes location
• 10 gnomi a Bologna
• Opowieści Mateusza Skutnika
• The times they are a-changing…
• 10 gnomes in ‘Liberation’
• 10 years of 10 Gnomes…