When the theme for this jam was announced, my mind was instantly drawn to the image of the Old West. An era where man had to carve his living from the unforgiving soil. Survival was hard won, from the great American steppe to the high desert. Cattle ranchers were the vanguards of civilization, providing the life blood of not only the frontier, but the "civilization" of the East.

These thoughts lead me to my protagonist, Eric Hernandez. A man who can be characterized best by the spaces between his substance. A man greater than the sum of his parts and independent of them at once. He's not an easy man to love and understanding him is harder. Were you to take him only at his actions you would find the disservice done to yourself greater than the one done to him.

I'd like to place this game not among the entries to a game jam, but within the canon of great American Literature. And, with that, I give you The Ballad of Eric Hernandez, Cattle Rancher.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/52/the-ballad-of-eric-hernandez-cattle-rancher