Your Friend Is Lost In The Woods by pilly

[raw]
made by pilly for LD 39 (JAM)

Your friend fell in a pit, in the middle of the woods. You're the only one who can save them.

Link: https://pilly.itch.io/your-friend-is-lost-in-the-woods

POST JAM BUG FIXES:

7/31: fixed bug where music was sometimes playing double on restart

HINTS:

If you're stuck or would like to see hints, go here.

Screen Shot 2017-07-30 at 1.24.46 PM.png

Ratings

Overall 55th 4.053⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Fun 194th 3.553⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 34th 4.079⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Theme 3th 4.553⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 452th 3.447⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Audio 133th 3.703⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Humor 120th 3.405⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Mood 46th 4.132⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Given 26🗳️ 29🗨️

Feedback

Wolfie
05. Aug 2017 · 18:56 UTC
This is an awesome game, well done!
CTTFOW
05. Aug 2017 · 19:08 UTC
Well.. I never found my friend but at least I had a blast!
foxor
06. Aug 2017 · 03:33 UTC
This is amazing. I love love love it. Great music, great theme, great level design.

I want to dye my hair blue and make friends who have adventures in the forest!

I even thought to myself while playing: "The mechanic is cool, but I can just ignore it and still solve the maze. Better save my battery even though I'm seeing super distinctive tree patterns." NOPE. Doesn't work that way! Gotta play the game.

You're a madman!
minibobbo
06. Aug 2017 · 04:46 UTC
That was fun! I liked how the two friends are apparently completely unphased by this life or death situation and are texting back and forth instead of using the remaining battery life to call for help and get an actually competent search and rescue party together. I never found my friend, but not for lack of trying.

Also, you suck for making me waste my batteries to get directions at the diamond which ended up being wrong
:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Suggestions:
- Maybe as an emotional punch make the texts more frantic as the power in the phone gets low.
- Break up the trees with some other graphics. It kind of felt like they were lost in an orchard with all the identical trees in rows

Bugs:
- None. Nicely done!
Tymus
06. Aug 2017 · 20:29 UTC
Fantastic mood, I was not really into it but as I walked deeper into the woods and my battery was getting lower, I was enjoying it more and more.

Thank you for making this :3
Scrumplesplunge
06. Aug 2017 · 20:39 UTC
Nice work, this fits together pretty well :)
elmismopancho
06. Aug 2017 · 23:05 UTC
This game shows that a great idea and good gameplay is way more important than HD graphics. Well done!
This is one of the best games i've played so far, it's really good. And the end, WOW! very well executed.

Some suggestions:
- The game is a bit too long so it becomes repetitive, I can imagine many people giving up before reaching the end, and missing the punch line.
- The best idea is the cellphone. The way the messages appear and are contextual to where you are is amazing. So it's a shame that if you are not careful with the energy you will be missing this feature, which makes this game so unique.

Nothing more to say, excellent job!
joebeard
07. Aug 2017 · 06:34 UTC
Ah man, everything about that was great. Strangely enough I think the walking animation of the player character was my favourite thing - it just looked so cute. I simply had to find my friend!
MrTroy
07. Aug 2017 · 06:50 UTC
If @elmismopancho didn't say there was an ending I was ready to give up on this game. We spent entirely too much time on this game, I refused to let it beat me once I knew it was actually winable.

AWESOME job!
ChelDav
07. Aug 2017 · 06:52 UTC
Wow! I can't remember the last time I had so much trouble solving a puzzle! Every dead end was heart breaking (or infuriating) and so many of the text messages made me smile. Such a well made game! I had a blast playing and absolutely refused to stop until I found my friend!!
bombjack
07. Aug 2017 · 08:21 UTC
The gameplay is poor but I like the color palette
evbo
07. Aug 2017 · 11:43 UTC
This is easily the best use of the theme I've seen so far. I'm really glad I didn't let the phone run out and start trying to brute force the solution.

The only thing that bugs me is the control scheme - WASD + mouse (or arrow keys + space) would have made more sense to me.

Great idea, great execution!
orcdraco
07. Aug 2017 · 16:41 UTC
Simple gameplay, but fun :) Well done! :)
Aterlamia
07. Aug 2017 · 17:31 UTC
Great "story" on teh side in the phone and i loved that you had to navigate the forest with the sometimes help from the friend and slowly your battery is running low. Also the background music very atmospherice
Pixel Game Wizard
07. Aug 2017 · 20:38 UTC
The audio and art are great IMO. They add a certain quiet (yet desperate) ambience to the game.

I loved the texting sequences. I'm sad I didn't get to keep the phone on to see all of them. :-)

The only suggestion I have is perhaps to reduce the amount of backtracking involved. I felt like a lot of time was spent mindlessly returning to where I was before.

Otherwise, it's a really nice entry, good job! :-)
celia14
08. Aug 2017 · 01:18 UTC
I love this game! I'm such a fan of simple, fun mechanics enlivened by character interactions. This is a great use of the theme and the texts were so much fun. (I'm glad I got to see one about this is the most they've ever talked! I hope they hang out more after this. :relaxed:) I appreciate how tricky it was, since that means you have to rely on your friend to make it through. Wonderful!
fangzhangmnm
08. Aug 2017 · 02:20 UTC
Nice tree placement and game level design. Like the last where you must push the tree to go.

Tried 3 times.
Sir Daniev
08. Aug 2017 · 03:31 UTC
Awesome level design. I got lost in the woods too since both me and my friend were bad at knowing where we are, but still a good game :)
tybantarnusa
08. Aug 2017 · 04:16 UTC
I finally found my friend. Now how do we get home, I think we both are lost xD

Very cool. Your game is similar to mine, but your concept is so much better. The game is a little boring at the beginning, but after that it's really cool. I love how you use your phone to get hints from your friend where you should go. Good job!
Cydouzo
08. Aug 2017 · 13:16 UTC
A simple concept that proves to be quite fun.
The theme is very well exploited.
The story is simple but captivated me enough so I would try again after the first game over.
Very good job!
Rahtainka
08. Aug 2017 · 14:57 UTC
Nice little game. I really like the level design and the music.
simonhutchinson
08. Aug 2017 · 15:12 UTC
Great game! This is a really clever use of the theme and really interesting. It's a bit hard to know when to use your phone and when to conserve, kind of necessitating multiple playthroughs. I love the overall style and how the graphics and sound work together with the loneliness of the story. Really nice entry.
Meta-link
08. Aug 2017 · 21:27 UTC
Great game !
The mecanics are really easy to understand, but the narrative part is clearly a big plus !

Good job :)
foodzilla
10. Aug 2017 · 05:17 UTC
Really cool use of the theme. The slow loss of power makes this really urgent rush and amplifies the whole 'lost' atmosphere. The dialogue is fun and cheeky.
Super Shark
14. Aug 2017 · 06:15 UTC
I loved playing through this a few times and writing notes down on a piece of paper each time. The game is a really clever use of the theme and has a lot of character in spite of its simple gameplay. This has already been mentioned, but WASD is probably better if players are going to use the mouse. Fantastic entry overall.