Spirits of the Forest

thinkwithgames 2024-04-15 15:30

Interesting game! It was a bit hard to grasp what to do, but that was interesting gameplay.

A few things that could improve the user experience: * If there are no enemies, automatically increase the turn counter. * Is there reason that the user needs to press the "level" button once they have enough mana to move to the next level? It seems like this could be automated. If you have enough mana, it seems there is no reason to want to stay on the current level * This could be really cool as an "auto battler"! If the game recognizes that the player has no moves available besides pressing the turn button, the turn could auto increment. * The sound volume was rather loud and could be turned down a lot. I normally have my computer volume around 30-40%, and this was at a good volume when I turned my volume to 4%

Hope to see you continue this idea!

incd021 2024-04-21 18:44

Very nicely done! And in such a short time! Very nice. :smiley: Had to play the first level a few time before I got the mechanic down. I really like it, has a nice puzzle aspect. Maybe a bit hard from the beginning, but all in all a very nice game. :thumbsup:

lonelygamedev 2024-04-22 02:07

Decent little game. the graphics could be alot more clearer. but other then that it's a pretty interesting little puzzle game

tamara188 2024-04-22 03:49

I did not understand your game, but I understand over scoping in my heart and soul. I could click on the trees, but that didn't do anything. and I could click on the different colored moons, but that also didn't do anything. I pushed the turns button and watched the darkness spread.

woona 2024-04-22 06:14

I liked the puzzles! Even though they were easy, it's satisfying to slowly progress through the level and capture trees from the opponent.

I think the game really lacks an in-game tutorial. There are instructions on the web page, but having contextual hints would really enhance the experience.

Great job! Good luck with your future projects!

hilary-fischer 2024-04-24 22:48

It took me a little bit to realize the green circle was the starting tree. However, it was very fun when I did! Very clever idea and well done. I totally understand the struggle with scope. But, in a future version of the game, it could be interesting to design levels to play more into the puzzle aspect of the game because that was definitely a strong point. For some reason I missed the darkness killing my people and spawning new enemies until the last level. Super interesting mechanics!

Also, it would be nice to see some screen shots on your page.

jhax 2024-04-27 11:01

Enjoyed this game! There's a really satisfying level of strategic choice in the spirits your placing and trying to balance that off against mana usage and trying to hit 300 mana to finish a level, particularly with the sort of creeping darkness thing. I think it would have really benefited from a bit more stuff in game to explain the mechanics, but given it's a compo game (and a bit overscoped / overcomplicated for it as you've said) I think it's fair enough to have focused on getting as much actual game in there in the time as you could!

debone 2024-04-27 20:40

Thanks for your submission! It took me some time to realize what the mechanics are and how to play. The thing that jumped into me after I learn though was that there was not many choices available to me as a player. If there were 2 trees in range, it was the mage, if there was one, the archer. The white tree gets a white mana one and I finished the game like this :)

CleanShot 2024-04-27 at 22.34.39@2x.png

I think @thinkwithgames put down a lot of what could be improve at least on the UX side, but mechanics wise movement probably would be something to look for, as it would be less of a "how many trees are in range" thought process.

fractal 2024-05-01 09:46

Nice work! It was a bit unclear at the beginning what I had to do, but I got it after reading the rules again. The green spirits don’t seem very useful, though, I could beat the game easily with just red and white spirits, so there wasn’t much of a strategy.

bob152 2024-05-02 14:19

I like the idea, but overly simplistic at the moment. Still had fun playing though, and lost on the last level the first time oop. The green spirits aren't very good :(