Swan Forest by makkurataichou
Swan Forest has fallen into ruin, and you are its last hope. Can you help your fellow subjects, reach the King, and convince him to release Swan Forest from his iron grip?
A short, simple adventure-exploration game, with 10 possible ways to get 2 possible endings!!
I didn't make the compo deadline, but all art, audio, writing, scripting, etc. was done by me within 48 hours, aside from the UI art assets and fonts which are part of the engine/art programs that I used.
Engine: gb studio.
Controls: wasd/arrow keys to move, z to interact
| Link | https://makkurataichou.itch.io/swan-forest |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/swan-forest |
Ratings
| Overall | 929th | 3.5⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1013th | 3.278⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1516th | 2.75⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1687th | 2.833⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 516th | 4⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 465th | 3.667⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 443th | 3.861⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 9🗳️ | 14🗨️ |
The writing is really nice in this one, I enjoyed getting a glimpse into the guards personalities and hints at their lives outside of their posts, without it being too wordy. It was a good balance!
Will we be able to revisit swan forest in the future and explore it more? I hope so!
Gameplay wise, I also had a good chunk of fun with it for what it was. The actual interactions were really limited (basically walk up to the right thing and press Z), but the good writing and solid narrative kept me hooked. What's more, I think you had just the right length for the limited mechanics, because just as I was about to get bored, you wrapped things up nicely with the ending sequence (I got the good ending and saved Swan Forest btw).
Really, the only issue I had was that the collision detection on the grass was quite awkward. I eventually had to look here in the comments on how to do it. Also, another track for the endings wouldn't go amiss either.
Overall, great job on a very charming entry!