Halcyon Woods by PopDaddyGames
UPDATE 0940 14 AUG 2018 - Due to overwhelming feedback: we have rolled back the physics changes and freed up the players movement! You can now move like we originally intended, and also have the ability to throw logs much further again. Have fun! :)
Hi there! My name is Lumber Jack. I’ve lived in Halcyon Woods my whole life. Though these woods are beautiful and abundant, I need to clear out some room. These trees just keep closing in around me and I’ll be needing some fire starters for winter. I can either store the logs in my shed for building later or chop the wood into tiny twigs. Can you help me to chop down trees?
Welcome to Halcyon Woods!
The Halcyon woods are full of flowers, trees, and gorgeous scenery. Explore the mountains, forests, and zen gardens with Lumber Jack.
Ready to play? Here’s a few quick tips!
Use W, A, S, D to move Lumber Jack around and explore the Halcyon Woods.
Q to take out and put away the axe.
E to pick up logs. Bring them to Jack’s shed to store in order to collect enough to build.
Left click to swing axe, or throw a log if you’re carrying it.
B to build campfires or torches.
G to switch between items in build mode.
Spacebar to jump.
This game was made for the LD Jam 42: Running out of Space. Notes for Gameplay: Take the Logs to the shed behind your house. If you have enough logs, you can place torches and campfires from the build menu. Have fun chopping down trees! :)
Developed by:
Programming & Lighting- James Tusha http://twitter.com/PopDaddyGames
Level Design- Ali Tusha http://twitter.com/PopMamaGames
Music- Joshua Damian http://twitter.com/AtmcType
Assets- Synty Studios http://twitter.com/SyntyStudios
The artwork used in this game is purchased from the Unity Asset Store- from the Asset Creator "Synty Studios". They provide awesome work! Our main focus in this jam was learning level design using the Terrain creator tools inside Unity, and also developing interworking systems (building, inventory, physics, etc.)
Thanks for playing!
UPDATE 0940 14 AUG 2018 - Due to overwhelming feedback: we have rolled back the physics changes and freed up the players movement! You can now move like we originally intended, and also have the ability to throw logs much further again. Have fun! :)
LINK: https://popdaddygames.itch.io/halcyon-woods
LINK: https://popdaddygames.itch.io/halcyon-woods
Addressing Comments: Some anonymous commenters don't seem to understand how the Compo and Jam work, between both their submission requirements, deadlines, and rating periods- attempting to throw shade on our efforts from that lack of understanding. You are welcome to listen to their comments, but they are both mistaken in their understanding and dishonest in their declaration. Don't let shade throwers and haters cast a negative light in your life. Have a great day!
| Windows | https://popdaddygames.itch.io/halcyon-woods |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/halcyon-woods |
Ratings
| Overall | 1169th | 2.732⭐ | 43🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1260th | 2.19⭐ | 44🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1178th | 2.413⭐ | 42🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1255th | 2.075⭐ | 42🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 366th | 3.295⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 892th | 1.803⭐ | 40🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 408th | 3.325⭐ | 42🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 77🗳️ | 37🗨️ |
**You've also rated over 45 games (make that 53 games 5 minutes after this post) in the 2 hours that the jam ended.** Come on guys, really?
re: your "update" - you have 0 karma for feedback. Maybe you're not leaving comments but I saw your 'rated games' number go up by over 1 game per minute for a good 10 minutes so I don't buy your 'update'.
The game looks nice and seems like a cool concept. The movement was unbearably slow, I was always stuck on the terrain and the trees would just fall through the ground. Is your character using a capsule collider?
The game looks gorgeous though. Even if the assets were bought, the world is put together beautifully.
Based on this feedback, I think it would be best for me to roll back those stats to where I had them during development and testing: I let the player move way faster, jump way more smoothly, and have fun shooting logs all over the map!
I'll get an update posted first thing in the morning that has these changes rolled back.
Thanks for playing, and I hope you come back to see it with the update in the morning! :)
-James
What's really cool about the Terrain tool is how you can fine tune all of the details of the trees, grass, and other landscape elements (including the texture painting) to the point where it can really feel like a real world. We've had issues in previous games where it's really tough getting everything to fit together cohesively-- so that was our major focus: trying to figure out how to make everything cohesive.
You mention there are no surprises- but quite the contrary we put a lot of little easter eggs and surprises all over! Unfortunately, however, I believe my last minute player control changes may have made them really hard to 'get to' in the sense that it would take a tremendous amount of time. Like I said in the other comment, I will roll back those changes so that you have more mobility and freedom to explore. For example... though the goal is to chop trees-- try chopping some of the other things in the world, there are some unique events! One example: the gong by the pond!
Again- thank you very much for providing this feedback. I can see that we have already upset some people based on using assets we have previously purchased, but despite that we are tremendously proud of what we were able to do during this Jam. It was a very positive and productive gamedev experience for us- and we definitely were able to calmly complete this Jam more efficiently than previous jams.
Thanks again! :)
"Is using the Theme required? Officially no, you are not required to use the Theme."
I think this game was a personnal challenge, like you said, learning new tools. Its ok to join the event to stay motivated.
the voting probably doesnt matter for you
Some notes: This is actually our 4th Jam-- I moved over from another account so that I could have the name that actually matches my other Social Media presences.
Thank you for your feedback.
Good luck during this jam! :)
-James
I just remind that the theme is not mandatory but still, i dont see the purpose of the game.. honestly, i can't dive deep like half an hour in a game when i don't understand what's happening. I can only vote for the mood category. we can talk about the game in private if you dont want to reveal too much publicly
I absolutely agree-- the 2 most major flaws are a dulled play experience due to dropping all the interaction stats, and also not demonstrating how to progress the thematic goals. In our next Jam-- we will try to create a bit more of a faux tutorial for showcasing what the intended goal is.
Thanks for evaluating the game, I hope at least that you can appreciate the tremendous effort it took to tie this all together in just 3 days, despite some of the more glaring flaws. We had a blast, and as always we can't wait to take what we learned here into the next project! :)
Good Effort!
I really appreciate you providing feedback and insight! Because you all voiced your opinion, and it was an accurate critique, we have fixed the physics issues that we made the last minute decision to change, and believe that the experience is -significantly- better for it.
There are still some trees that fall through the ground-- that's an unfortunate consequence of how we generated the levels. We added a bit of pop to combat this, but there are still some trees throughout the map that start too far below the horizon line to prevent falling. Thanks for your input and helping us out!
Here's the Update text:
UPDATE 0940 14 AUG 2018 - Due to overwhelming feedback: we have rolled back the physics changes and freed up the players movement! You can now move like we originally intended, and also have the ability to throw logs much further again. Have fun! :)
Try our game too, maybe you'll like it)