Arcane Forest by LadyMistLeaf

[raw]
made by LadyMistLeaf for Ludum Dare 47 (COMPO)

title.png

You find yourself in a magical forest, where only taking a certain path will allow you to escape. Take a wrong turn, and no matter how deep you are in the forest, you will find yourself back in the beginning. Or is it the middle of the forest? You're not so sure anymore.

Use the arrow keys to move, and the mouse to click on the play button when you are ready to escape. ...Or try to.

Made in 48 hours for Ludum Dare 47 using:

Paint.net (graphics)

Brackets.io (code editor)

Ratings

Overall 505th 3.024⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 563th 2.5⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 547th 2.667⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 137th 3.976⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 242th 3.571⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Humor 192th 2.921⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 293th 3.19⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Given 10🗳️ 12🗨️

Feedback

Zachary Barbanell
05. Oct 2020 · 04:09 UTC
If there's supposed to be some sort of hint in the game as to the path you're meant to take, it's too subtle for me to notice. I gave up after wandering around for a while without making any progress that I could discern.
TolMera
05. Oct 2020 · 04:59 UTC
I came across a few different pumpkins, and I think I managed to progress a little, but I couldn't be sure, I'm not getting enough feedback to really know.

Nice game though

The music was interesting and good for the environment that you're trying to setup.

Good luck and well done.
TolMera
05. Oct 2020 · 04:59 UTC
![Screen Shot 2020-10-05 at 2.58.37 pm.png](///raw/5e2/1/z/3633c.png)
SpaceMonkey
05. Oct 2020 · 14:08 UTC
I finished the game without using a pen and paper, but it was close! Really cool mood. The art and music fit really well together. Nice take on theme too. Well done ;-)
🎤 LadyMistLeaf
05. Oct 2020 · 15:34 UTC
@zachary-barbanell Thanks for playing and for your input! The pumpkins (at the bottom of the screen with text) are the hint. Each new zone has a pumpkin with a new quote. I ran out of time to draw all the individual pumpkins though, so I had to reuse the first three. If you take a wrong path, you're back at the beginning and have to start the same sequence of paths over.

@tolmera Thank you for playing! I figured part of the "puzzle" would be to figure out how to progress with the small hints given rather than explain how to play it. Do you think I should include more details in the game description?

@spacemonkey Oh, cool! Congrats on finishing it! Thank you for playing!
Yngvarr
06. Oct 2020 · 16:23 UTC
I ditto @spacemonkey with pen and paper. I knew you would do what you've done in the last "room", but I didn't think the end will happen this soon. All in all, it was a good memory exercise and I enjoyed it. :)

Nice work on the atmosphere! I love the art, and the music is fitting. And you've got cool kickable pumpkins, which is a nice little touch. ^_^
🎤 LadyMistLeaf
09. Oct 2020 · 00:46 UTC
@yngvarr Kickable pumpkins? Oh dear... I mean- Yes! Yes, totally planned! Thanks for playing!
commanderstitch
09. Oct 2020 · 03:25 UTC
I beath this. Beath the WHOLE thing. I got away!! AH hAHHAHHAHAHHAHA cute little person animation.
RedHermit
09. Oct 2020 · 05:24 UTC
I made my way through to the end. I appreciated the last direction required. Fitting music, cute animation and art, nicely done, it was a fun memory game :)
Frank Gevaerts
17. Oct 2020 · 15:05 UTC
Nicely done! The graphics are nice, the music is fitting, the pumpkins are sufficiently self-aware. I did get out, but I wrote my moves down :)
ditam
20. Oct 2020 · 12:58 UTC
Very cool! I almost wish the way out was a bit longer, it was quite satisfying to extend the path once you figured out what's going on. It reminds me of The Stanley Parable a bit, where entering the same room twice you might find different things. Every room looking identical here makes it fit the theme well, congrats!

@patrickjr's game was quite similar in theme, and my jam entry was also about exploring some woods. Go Team Forest!
🎤 LadyMistLeaf
20. Oct 2020 · 21:27 UTC
@ditam Thanks! It was essentially a straight ripoff of the lost woods in Zelda OoT where everything looks the exact same, but the sequence is what gets you through. I actually already had multiple difficulties coded (this was easy) so if I had a few more hours, you would have seen longer ones too lol. Thanks for playing!
PatrickJR
21. Oct 2020 · 01:02 UTC
The rooms look exactly the same except for a few which have different pumpkin placement. More elements like rocks and mushrooms and birds would make this much better. Even just moving the tree and grass placement would help. Adding landmarks to make certain rooms stand out would be good. I also wish the player moved faster. I like the dialogue with the pumpkin and the music is decent.
pedrocoden
23. Oct 2020 · 00:51 UTC
Nice game!
sakura_magika
23. Oct 2020 · 01:13 UTC
I finished the game! I think the pumpkin was supposed to be a hint, pushing it would show you the direction you're supposed to go, but it seemed to allow me to push it the wrong way in at least some of the screens. I liked the pumpkin's expressions and dialogue, and the character and her animations were cute.

It was fairly frustrating to get reset without a firm understanding of how the pumpkin hint system worked. I understand that you're trying to make it a puzzle to figure out how to get out, but if the interaction of the hint doesn't give me a reliable answer, then I feel like I can't trust it, and am more inclined to just give up, rather than painstakingly exhaust all possibilities and memorize the solution.
DeathStorm
26. Oct 2020 · 18:15 UTC
Cool Game and idea

Good Job Well Done
Fractal
26. Oct 2020 · 19:34 UTC
If you want to use music that you didn't make yourself, you should upload your game as part of the jam, not as part of the compo. Please respect the rules of the compo.

I was somewhat confused by the pumpkin, but I just tried all possible ways and managed to escape :)
🎤 LadyMistLeaf
27. Oct 2020 · 22:51 UTC
@fractal I believe that in compo, you are allowed to use free assets. The music was made prior to the jam and is free to use in projects. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Also, thanks for playing! The small pumpkins were just supposed to represent the one talking at the bottom of the screen, which were the hints :)
🎤 LadyMistLeaf
27. Oct 2020 · 22:53 UTC
@sakura-magika Being able to push the pumpkins was actually a glitch, they were supposed to be immovable. The pumpkins speech at the bottom of the screen was actually the hint. Thanks for playing!
Fractal
28. Oct 2020 · 10:00 UTC
@ladymistleaf No, you are not allowed to use free assets in the compo, only in the jam. The idea of the compo is that you do everything yourself in 48 hours. There are a few exceptions for fonts for instance, but definitely not for music. Look at the rules here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/rules
🎤 LadyMistLeaf
28. Oct 2020 · 13:03 UTC
@fractal Duly noted! Apologies for mislabeling. I will keep that in mind for the next jam.