Harvest Season by DrunkardWolf

'Harvest Season' is a short horror experience inspired by B-Movie Horror films about a combine harvester that has been possessed by an evil spirit and is hungry to harvest some flesh.
Will you escape? Or will you prevail in combat in a classic Man Vs Machine battle?
How to play:
- Navigate the corn maze and avoid the killer combine, pick-up ammo for your shotgun to fight it off or try to get as far away as possible. Find the exit or kill the combine harvester to escape.
Controls:
WASD / Left Joystick - Move
Mouse / Left Joystick - Look
Shift / Left Joystick Press - Sprint
E / South gamepad button - Interact
Left-Click / Right trigger - Shoot

Ratings
| Overall | 6th | 4.318⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 42th | 3.932⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 109th | 3.548⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 20th | 4.357⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 6th | 4.523⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 8th | 4.262⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 56th | 3.595⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 1th | 4.714⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 8🗳️ | 15🗨️ |
You knocked it out of the park with the Audio and visuals, and i got a chuckle out of the "not today" ending too. That's usually the first thing i try in games :)
Reminded me of Redneck Rampage game I used to play as a child!
Only thing I will mention, is Windows gave me a Windows Smart Screen warning about "unknown publisher". I scanned on Virus Total and there's no issues at all, but maybe I would recommend adding some publishing information when exporting and maybe that'd help? Because anytime someone plays they have to click "Run anyway" and for non-techy people it's kind of sus. Amazing game though, good job!
@noobman64 Thanks for playing, that ending was a late addition, I always try turning around in games so thought I might as well.
@MadR Thanks, I love redneck rampage, not the best of the build engine games, but has a special charm to it :)
audio seemed to fit the game. hard but doable. I hid behind a silo and shot to kill.
got ending 1/3 and 3/3
I loved the little details around the farm (like the cassette tape in the barn)
First fall, the atmosphere and sounds effects are just so good. If I didn't it's an LD game, I would think it's some kind of PS1 horror game demo haha. As a huge PS1 fan this was right up my alley. Great entry, in fact one of the best I've played.
I think the only thing that I would change was that VHS effect, it felt a bit too strong, but maybe that's just my bad eyesight.
- Pretty good mini-shooter, although lacks some additional enemies maybe
- Wasn't obvious what to do at first, because no feedback from the Boss when you shoot at it a few rounds
- Textures seem nice
- Maybe too much camera effects, but it's a good way to achieve a special mood
Great design on the maze and visual effects, a number of times during the encounter I was wondering whether I'd backed myself into a corner. Yet, as many times as this happened, there was always an alternate route that was somewhat close if I _really_ picked up the pace-- something that kept the encounter tense and high-stakes without just killing the player in a slow and frustrating repetition. I do wish that ammo was scarcer as collecting close to 80 bullets by the time my first run was over severely diminished the challenge. All in all, most of my issues come down to Ending 3/3 as the harvester's slow turn speed and high health made for a fight-or-flight scenario that wasn't as rewarding as it could have been if you chose to stand your ground in a newly opened field. The fire effects were great, but the first few sparks were a little hard to see from a distance and the damage sounds didn't always trigger, so it took me a second to realize I could really go through with it. Having the option was a bit of a surprise as I never expected the shotgun to do anything more than maybe buy some time or fight a secondary enemy I'd yet to see.
Something you really nailed down with this game [as with many of your other horror submissions] is the retro artwork. Here in particular it feels authentically old-school and the filters cover most of the limitations of your grid-based approach to the level. Not only this, but the rain effect and the physical impact of droplets on stalks gives the walls more of a presence in the game. The fact that your sprint isn't just a "walk but super fast" but an actual left/right stepping motion is a kind of neat detail I rarely get to see in these types of submissions and, once again, goes a long way to making the player feel present and fully within evil-harvester range. I do wish there was some kind of hit impact on shooting stalks, but this is beyond nitpicking now.
Instead of walling off certain paths until the trigger occurs, the game actually manages to sell the illusion that there's choice to the encounter and gives you the right advice without forcing the player to go down a certain path. I appreciate the additional triggers and nonlinearity to how the main event plays out, something you don't really come to expect from jam entries due to the extra complexity.
Bonus points for Ending 1/3, which ought to be the only choice... if I see a field like that I'm not going anywhere near it. Despite that, I loved the entry and saw all three endings. Excellent work as always.
The visual and level design were spot on. The fog and the rain. Effect achieved. I especially loved the meta VHS "hidden" in the barn -- haha.
So many smart decisions about the gameplay: the combine clearing the field, as you effectively carve your own arena. The multiple endings ... great replay value! The sparks indicating a hit on the combine was a smart touch.
I personally would have gone less heavy on post processing. The effect was great in the main and pause menus, but I feel like it maybe held you (the designer) back in-game.
I think part of charm is that it knows it's nothing more than little game about duel of man and harvester. Adding extra enemies would just take away from experience, adding multiple weapons too. Another level? But we already fought that harvester. Next time is not scary anymore, it is just nuisance.
At first I thought it was weird that I had to go find the harvester to really start the game and that I could just leave without even having to flee, but having it clearly spelled out that there were two more endings helped me get it and got me to keep playing, so that was good.
Audio and visuals are great and I'm very fond of the retro lo-fi look. The one thing that confused me was that the loudness of the harvester, despite the spatial audio (which was important), seemed to always be equally loud no matter how far away I was. The first time I found the silos I hadn't gone to the barn, which triggered a "what's that?" and the sound of the harvester starting but I never actually bumped into the harvester during that run, eventually reaching the door for ending 2.
Gameplay mostly felt good. I agree with the post above me that the hitbox on pickups seemed too small, but in a way I also think it added to the sense of panic; I feel like you'd struggle to pick things up in reality in a situation like this too, especially in the rain 😁 I don't know if it's easier on other controllers, but with the PS3 controller I used, it was quite hard to click the stick and push it at the same time in order to run, so I ended up pressing my pinky against the keyboard's shift key instead.
All in all very well done with just a few minor inconveniences or points of confusion! 💪