Arbour by literallyjosh

[raw]
made by literallyjosh for LD 41 (COMPO)

A game where you catch fish and fetch water for a bed-bound house guest. Kind of a walking sim/fishing game. It was supposed to be more horrory than it turned out but I'm fairly happy with it.

Press Z to interact with stuff. Mash Z when fishing to reel the rod back in. This lets you recast if you need to as well.

Note: there's a bug where water sometimes displays as black for some reason and I have absolutely no idea why or how to fix it and I'm out of time. Sorry.

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Ratings

Overall 369th 3.342⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 490th 3.026⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 559th 2.921⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 635th 2.763⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 435th 3.053⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 34th 3.895⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Given 21🗳️ 16🗨️

Feedback

🎤 literallyjosh
22. Apr 2018 · 23:44 UTC
Oh also if you have LÖVE 11.0 or 11.1 installed, it should work on Linux/Mac but that's completely untested.
spelos
23. Apr 2018 · 10:47 UTC
Well, that was dark. I quite like games like this, though. For me, the greatest strength of this game is the mood. Other than that, I actually had fun with the fishing mechanics.

Thank you for making this. Good job! =)
Aterlamia
23. Apr 2018 · 10:48 UTC
That was a sudden ending :) . I liked it a bit of spooky/dark music would really have added to the feeling of the game.

A bit of explanation on how the fishing mechanics work would be helpful but in the end it was not that hard
Zarkonnen
23. Apr 2018 · 12:20 UTC
That was very atmospheric, thank you! It took me a moment to figure out how to get the fishing to work, but then it was smooth.
Zarkonnen
23. Apr 2018 · 12:21 UTC
Oh, and I assumed the water displaying as black was just part of the visual effects. :smile:
Aarre Entertainment
23. Apr 2018 · 12:50 UTC
Top 3 material so far. I enjoyed all the twisted, dark, eerie bits of it and even the very sudden ending. Mood heavy game, but the gameplay wasn't bad, very solid all in all, and the writing was standout.
Hugimugi7
23. Apr 2018 · 14:14 UTC
Very interesting ending and mysterious.
Good job!
nerdysl0th
23. Apr 2018 · 17:33 UTC
The fishing controls were a bit strange, but it's a good experience. Very intriguing atmosphere.
HKoisumi
24. Apr 2018 · 00:07 UTC
Freaking amazing! Excelent work, wanna check ours too??

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/hype-time
Simon Rahnasto
24. Apr 2018 · 18:45 UTC
**SPOILERS**

This is a fantastic entry. Where do I even begin? You manage to tell a story without using a wall of text. From the very beginning you are filled with a creeping feeling of hopelessness. But you carry on, until the very end. You gave just enough information for the player to keep wanting more, and piecing together bits to try to figure out what's going on. And you could not have done the ending better, after you die and the game closes, you are left there with a feeling of emptiness.

I genuinely enjoyed every moment of it. Great job!
Nikaoto
24. Apr 2018 · 20:23 UTC
Despite there being no sounds, the game still stays atmospheric, in fact, I think having no sounds at all ties in well with the mood and story. Very well done!
Erkberg
29. Apr 2018 · 20:27 UTC
Such an atmospheric game, wow. Although there is not much to do, the dark story and mood kept my interest high until the end. Really liked the use of the growing dithering at the edge of the screen. Great job overall!
(PS: I had a little bug where the fishing line got stuck in the bottom left corner of the screen and I could not move it anymore and had to restart the game)
Relsqui
02. May 2018 · 06:20 UTC
This was exactly the right level of creepy for me -- one jump scare and I would've been done, haha. The changing exterior landscape is really effective, it kept me from knowing what to expect in a way that both added to the mood and kept the main mechanic from becoming monotonous. I would've liked to explore some of the questions raised in the story a little more before it ended, but having an end at all is still pretty good for a jam game. Great submission. :)
Jupiter_Hadley
02. May 2018 · 14:12 UTC
Interesting game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 41 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wurw5JuaZs
🎤 literallyjosh
02. May 2018 · 18:21 UTC
ty for kind words. I've updated the description to make the fishing controls a little more obvious.
cristiano.m.garcia
07. May 2018 · 00:48 UTC
Good job! Cool game!

I left my rating of your game, if you can leave your feedback in our game, Witch's Escape.

I hope you continue with the project.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/witchs-escape