Spirits of the Forest by Divitos

[raw]
made by Divitos for LD35 (JAM)
Spirits of the Forest is about an animal messenger who helps the forest spirits look after their world. The animal messenger is a being who exists in both the physical and metaphysical worlds. He is the chosen one, and he helps the spirits communicate with each other by delivering messages. In return, the spirits grant him shape-shifting abilities that aid him in his journey. The “chosen one” begins the story as a panther, but learns to transform into a kangaroo and a flying squirrel. Each animal has unique abilities that need to be used to overcome challenges and obstacles.

The wolf-spirit Zanakalth has severed his ties with the forest-keeping spirits, and is on a self-serving quest to gain power. It is up to the chosen one and the other forest spirits to protect their world against Zanakalth’s dire plans.

----------

WASD or Arrow Keys for Movement
Space to Interact and Change Forms

---------

Programming and Design by @DivitosGD

Music and Sound Design by Wesley Devore www.wesdevore.com

Art by Hisan Iwo

Ratings

Coolness 45% 1350
Overall(Jam) 3.23 560
Audio(Jam) 3.54 199
Fun(Jam) 3.00 629
Graphics(Jam) 3.81 275
Humor(Jam) 2.50 509
Innovation(Jam) 2.44 972
Mood(Jam) 3.52 243
Theme(Jam) 3.36 540

Feedback

codeartisticninja
19. Apr 2016 · 03:30 UTC
didn't seem to run for me.. but the screenshots look nice :)
Lewwwer
19. Apr 2016 · 15:23 UTC
The good old platformer with the ability to change characters. It was fun to play. I liked the pixel-art style graphics!
AceyT
19. Apr 2016 · 20:46 UTC
Good games, quick respawn (even though, certain phase were made diffusivity and teeth-grinding, but in the wrong way [2 screen to traverse and bat + hedgehog, NOPE, didn't like that one])

The pixel art and the mood put thanks to the music are excellent

However, i found a bug : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12976475/SpiritForest.png

It happened right after respawning for the long fall
Petya
19. Apr 2016 · 20:57 UTC
This was fun and I liked the visuals. Sometimes the screen shifting was annoying cause there would be an obstacle right out of sight so I would either die or get stuck
vicious_br
19. Apr 2016 · 21:57 UTC
the third to the fourth screen can not imagine that I can go to the left ... I loved the music and graphic design.
Horsed
19. Apr 2016 · 22:05 UTC
The savepoints are really necessary as I often couldn't tell what most of the stuff is and if it will harm me or not. The movement feels too rough for a platformer. The music was the best part for me. It mostly made the atmosphere for me.
Titangea
19. Apr 2016 · 22:14 UTC
I like the pixel art, Is difficult but the checkpoints are placed in good positions, I enjoy it. Sometimes is difficult to change from one scene to another, the first time I believed it was a bug. Nice Entry ^^
Pusty
19. Apr 2016 · 22:14 UTC
Really good sounds and visuals! I like the animal-changing part and the mood that this has. Great Game!
zaywolfe
19. Apr 2016 · 22:25 UTC
Pretty fun but ridiculously hard. Also the screen shifting would sometimes mess up
Gametery
21. Apr 2016 · 07:05 UTC
Love the Pixelart! Especially the Panther. Overall good game!
testzero
21. Apr 2016 · 08:10 UTC
"It's supposed to be hard" is always, Always, ALWAYS a difficult prospect for something like this. You have to be careful to make sure the physics and hitboxes are fair and feel right. Unfortunately this game does not. The jumping physics are okay, but there's no sense of satisfaction when you finally get to another checkpoint. I stopped after the bats first appear because it's just not worth it.

A health bar would be VERY appreciated. It would give players a reason to avoid damage without having to be so pointlessly unforgiving. The instant death here causes the game to appeal only to the most sadistic of players, and will really turn off a lot of people from what could otherwise by a very fun game.

I really wanted to keep playing the game and see the other animals. The art style is great and the music is soothing, but don't try to hide behind the "It's supposed to be hard!" mantra. It just the game.
IonProgramming
21. Apr 2016 · 08:21 UTC
Great game, very fun, very difficult, great mood (thanks to the music), and a well designed world.
Erkberg
23. Apr 2016 · 12:30 UTC
Really enjoyed this one, the pixel art and the music are just amazing! The gameplay is really solid and fun, but the high difficulty can be quite frustrating. If the hitboxes of the enemies were just a tiny bit smaller it would be more enjoyable I think. The ending was a little abrupt, I was hoping for an encounter with Zanakalth and the game just shut down after talking to the owl.
Anyway, great job overall!
Alphish
24. Apr 2016 · 19:54 UTC
Uh, oh, it's a platformer. Not only that, but it's a precision platformer. And with rather unfair collisions/hitboxes, too. >.<

The art was mostly good, with background having better quality than some sprites (e.g. a hedgehog), but overall it serves its purpose well. I liked the soundtrack, too (some sound effects were a bit annoying, though, like kangaroo's dying... screech?). The story isn't particularly creative, but it works well enough.

The collisions and maybe level design require some serious work, though; it's fine when a game is difficult (unless it's platformer, because I played way more difficult platformers than necessary to prove my platforming skills), but I've found some segments annoying, and not rarely because I died seemingly without any contact with spikes whatsoever. This led me to using R button so often that sometimes I was mistaking it with Space (including the one time when I reached the owl spirit and restarted mid-dialogue after a really, really painful segment). >.<
Also, you need to get a better grasp of designing multiple-window maps. Sometimes when I jumped the view was moving up and down to catch up with main character, other times I tried walking left/right not seeing there's a ledge just around the window border, the ledge I need to jump on. Also, the flying squirrel fall segment (the one where you avoid bees nests) felt a bit luck-based due to little time for reaction to the next-screen obstacles.

I like the game's mood, but mechanics and challenges require some serious reworking.
AnaGF
25. Apr 2016 · 21:19 UTC
Great graphics. Game is a bit hard, but it is good overall.
Rock Eaters
01. May 2016 · 20:16 UTC
cool graphics and concept
csanyk
09. May 2016 · 15:14 UTC
This feels crude. Much refinement, and I think you will have a good game. But I didn't like that the panther is wider than the standard block size.