The Crawling Forest by vrerabek

[raw]
made by vrerabek for Ludum Dare 56 (COMPO)

The Crawling Forest

A moody, slightly horror-themed game where you must perform a ritual to save your village!

Play

Controls

  • Movement: WASD
  • Jump: Space
  • Action: Left Mouse Button, E, F

Playthrough video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ottvVNct7rk

Audio

I did not create the audio myself, so I am opting out of the category. The following audio was used:

1.png Screenshot 1 jumpscare_gif.gif Screenshot 3
Screenshot 4

Ratings

Overall 170th 3.523⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Fun 236th 3.091⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 298th 2.591⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Theme 274th 3⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 23th 4.333⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Humor 274th 2.132⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 45th 3.957⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Given 12🗳️ 31🗨️

Feedback

filgreen3
07. Oct 2024 · 06:26 UTC
Hi. I enjoyed playing the game. The atmosphere is really well done, and I liked the creativity in the world design.

I did notice a few things that could be improved:
- The text can be difficult to read because of the pixelation. A pixel font might make it clearer.
- The character moves a bit slowly, and holding Shift is the only way to speed up. It could feel better if the default speed was faster, with stamina as an option.
- The monster is interesting, but it seems more helpful than dangerous since it just sends you back. Maybe there could be a bigger penalty for getting caught to make it more challenging.

Overall, it was a good experience. The atmosphere stands out, the gameplay is engaging, and everything works well.
![Снимок экрана 2024-10-07 в 09.13.09.png](///raw/4b6/91/z/660ba.png)
Sviborg
07. Oct 2024 · 07:46 UTC
WOW!
TheSand
07. Oct 2024 · 09:15 UTC
I really liked the atmosphere! An interesting concept :) But as others had said the text is a bit hard to read and a slight faster movementspeed would've helped :)
AlxJE
07. Oct 2024 · 09:30 UTC
The atomosphere was well backed with filter, light and sound, really good job, but I feel that the crawlers are a bit of undair to me, they move too fast and unavoidable
Wren Erickson
07. Oct 2024 · 17:28 UTC
The mood was great! I even got scared once, but after seeing the crawler it became a lot less scary. The first time I got sent back I had no idea what happened. But I really like it!
SdCorpse
07. Oct 2024 · 19:04 UTC
Very nice. i collected them all!
TheChadRampage
08. Oct 2024 · 04:16 UTC
Very Impressive! Congrats on getting this completed for compo!
James-Tanm
08. Oct 2024 · 04:19 UTC
All hail torpus, the hamster god!

The good:
- Loved the atmosphere. Perfect for spooky season
- Also really loved the pseudo ps1 style graphics. Really added to the horror aspect
- The bugs were a good combination of easy to spot once you were looking in the right direction, but difficult to notice from afar. I liked that the later the game got the further you had to venture out before you spotted them, lead to the spookiness
- The creatures were a good combo of distinct enough to see them from a distance, but vague enough that I still dont know what they actually look like

What could be improved:
- Moving slower than the creatures means that if they spot you then you are kinda screwed
- would have liked to see torpus at the end :(
- the lack of stamina management meant that it was beneficial to always run, which killed the mood a bit

Great job for a compo game. I could absolutely see this being a good foundation for a full horror game
Sphinx
08. Oct 2024 · 04:33 UTC
I enjoyed it! The low-rez classic horror vibe is strong. The use of audio is amazing. The monster AI is working surprisingly well. I wish the ending would have some more story there, but this is already impressively a lot of content for a compo.Great job!
ssiannas
08. Oct 2024 · 09:25 UTC
Grat atmosphere! I really wanted to see Torpus at the end.

- Graphics really sold the vibe
- The monster AI was good enough that you had to be careful
- The difficulty ramp was nice too

Great job managing this on your own in two days.
XenoFalcone
08. Oct 2024 · 09:32 UTC
I really liked it ! The ambiance is really well done and the graphics complement it nicely. Really impressive to make this as a Compo !
jk5000
08. Oct 2024 · 09:48 UTC
A pretty scarry little game. Perhaps a bit more scare effect when getting killed. But overall a fun little jam game. Well done.
beadyeyes
08. Oct 2024 · 11:55 UTC
Really cool and well made game, very impressed. I noticed a bug where you can pick up the purple floating things even after you've gotten them already, even though the light disappears
wisstopher
08. Oct 2024 · 12:42 UTC
The mood in this game *chefs kiss*. Really good and it looked incredible! I think the crawlers in your game were a bit more scary than mine. Incredible work!
Nazariglez
08. Oct 2024 · 19:10 UTC
Great atmosphere! The retro-style graphics and sound design worked perfectly to create a spooky and immersive vibe, giving off a PS1-era game feel. The creatures were unsettling, and the tension kept building as I explored. Really impressive for a compo game. Gj!
NickHellquist
08. Oct 2024 · 21:06 UTC
Damn you nailed the mood so well. Love the art style! Don't know why but retro-like graphics always makes it more "spooky" for me more than high def stuff. Nice job :)
Pimping
09. Oct 2024 · 05:38 UTC
Beautiful game with graphics that i like. Definitely high rank
LDJam user 387548
09. Oct 2024 · 10:36 UTC
i realy like this stile of games
superpaltus
09. Oct 2024 · 11:24 UTC
Very cool game! I loved the PSX graphics, sound design and atmoshpere. The only thing lacking was some kind of ending (man, I'd love to see the hamster god). Overall, great job!
PlusOneRabbit
09. Oct 2024 · 14:18 UTC
Great art and mood, love the use of volumetric fog. The feeling when you see the faint purple glow in the distance is a mix of relief (found objective) and dread (oh god I've gotta go all the way out there). Lost a lot of tension once I died a few times and realized there were basically no consequences, though
Adam Gallina
11. Oct 2024 · 02:04 UTC
Really good job with the models and environment, they all flowed together really well and created a great atmosphere. The gameplay itself got repetitive quickly, and it kind of got boring having to circle the map once the tiny creatures were spawning far enough that you couldn't see them from the altar. I did really like the first few creatures you had to capture, where you could see a purple glow and had to carefully search the fog for crawlers in the area before approaching, I think more indication of where the creatures were throughout the game would've helped a lot
Skel3ton
13. Oct 2024 · 11:14 UTC
That was great COMPO. I wish I could do game like this in weekend.

It reminds me the old game with Slender man.

On my big screen I had trouble read text but it was my only issue.
Great Audio: great for atmosphere and for talking to the player. I knew that crawler go after me even If i didnt see him..

I hate horror games but this was fun!