Return to Civilization by Dave Anders

made by Dave Anders for Ludum Dare 45 (JAM)

Download the game for a better experience! It is not optimized for playing on a web browser.

Return to Civilization is a quest of a lost merchant to find his shipwrecks after crashing into a forest.

Find your way back to civilization before dying of starvation, becoming insane, or running out of time. To survive, our merchant needs to collect and eat mushrooms. But keep in mind that some mushrooms can have adverse effects

POST LUDUM-DARE FIX #1 - added bad mushroom reaction - chance not to play mushroom reaction - fixed scaling for some screens - fixed bug where tall trees didnt spawn - reduced regular shroom count by 20% - decreased legendary shroom spawn chance - increased bad shroom chance - mushrooms shouldn't spawn on top of each other - reduced chance to spawn obstacles on map

MEMORIES

Youtube	https://github.com/NeguliSimanis/LD45
Youtube	https://neguli.itch.io/return-to-civilization
Youtube	https://neguli.itch.io/return-to-civilization
Youtube	https://neguli.itch.io/return-to-civilization
Youtube	https://neguli.itch.io/return-to-civilization
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/return-to-civilization

Ratings

Overall	832^th	3.15⭐	22🧑‍⚖️
Fun	1038^th	2.525⭐	22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	968^th	2.6⭐	22🧑‍⚖️
Theme	511^th	3.375⭐	22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	88^th	4.31⭐	23🧑‍⚖️
Audio	183^th	3.711⭐	21🧑‍⚖️
Mood	330^th	3.632⭐	21🧑‍⚖️
Given		12🗳️	17🗨️

Feedback

philomory

08. Oct 2019 · 23:54 UTC

The game looks and sounds nice, but it feels pretty hard to control. My first three attempts I kept stumbling into mushrooms I hadn't meant to eat, running out of sanity with near-full time and hunger bars. I did eventually find all three pieces though, and finished the game!

You may wan to fill out the "Ludum Dare Submission URL" field in Itch.io (below the tags section) so that people who find your game through Itch can find their way back here, by the way.

Simanis

09. Oct 2019 · 00:05 UTC

@philomory hey, thanks for the feedback! Yes, the controls are our weakest point. It was initially intended to be a turn-based game, but our programmer run into some issues, so we scurried to get at least some kind of controls ready before the deadline

Don Fouts

09. Oct 2019 · 01:12 UTC

As already mentioned the controls were a little wonky and found myself trying to find wide paths around the mushrooms because I was mistakenly eating so many of them. I really like the art style in this, nice work overall!

Mykola

09. Oct 2019 · 05:56 UTC

The game reminds me of Don't Starve, which I like a lot. I really like the art, but I miss a bit of diversity in the gameplay and I think a looping soundtrack would add a lot to the mood. The sounds of nature are great though! Voice acting is a good idea, but you could do more there and randomize it a bit. Overall, the game is complete, I could lose and win, and enjoyed playing it, so you've done a great job!

Simanis

09. Oct 2019 · 21:11 UTC

@don-fouts @mykola thank you guys for the nice feedback :blush:

Goldorak

11. Oct 2019 · 15:06 UTC

this game is good but i dont understand the principe

Starblast

11. Oct 2019 · 15:18 UTC

I just looked at the screenshot and gave the score for graphics before even playing the game, I will try it soon tho

Simanis

11. Oct 2019 · 15:22 UTC

@goldorak ah, sorry about that - we could have done a better job by adding a tutorial or something.

Your goal is to collect three different ship parts to win the game.

Eat mushrooms not to starve to death, but be careful - most mushrooms will decrease your sanity. If you become insane, you'll lose the game. The third way to lose is to run out of time.

Cyrolis

12. Oct 2019 · 13:02 UTC

Graphics are cool and music too ! I'm not a big fan of point and click, but you made it beautiful, well done !

Simanis

12. Oct 2019 · 15:47 UTC

UwU thanks! @cyrolis

MateusBoga

12. Oct 2019 · 17:45 UTC

Really cool game! I especially liked the art style, similar to paper cutouts or something. I did think the background was a bit confusing and out of place, and I did not like how sometimes I'd eat a poisonous mushroom because it was hiding behind a tree. It was a bit strange those arrows that teleported you, were there multiple levels?

Hcursino

13. Oct 2019 · 06:38 UTC

The art is beautiful, amazing work. The animations seems a bit off which makes moving around a bit uncomfortable, but once you get used to the style it is enjoyable. The music and sfx are good, the voice acting is ok. I found a bit hard to dodge all those mushrooms, but the mood of the game made it really enjoyable. Good job nevertheless.

Simanis

13. Oct 2019 · 11:19 UTC

@mateusboga Thanks! Yup, there are multiple levels. Whenever you reach the end of a road, it brings you to a new one. The levels are randomly generated, but you can complete the game without ever going to a new level

Oakwarrior

14. Oct 2019 · 11:45 UTC

Amazing art! The gameplay is quite tedious though, especially colliding with stuff that you really don't want to collide with.

Simanis

14. Oct 2019 · 12:42 UTC

@oakwarrior thanks! Yeah, we initially thought of making it a turn-based game & will probably rework the movement system to match the intial vision.

Oakwarrior

14. Oct 2019 · 13:06 UTC

Cool! Looking forward to it :)

kaeveris

16. Oct 2019 · 17:54 UTC

Graphics are really neat, well done! I feel like it's quite hard NOT to eat mushrooms, they lay near other objects a lot and I bumped into a mushroom many times because it was next to a tree XD

Swanijam

22. Oct 2019 · 03:55 UTC

ayyyy they were just walking funny because they lost a shoe, nothin weird about that

I love so much when people narrate their Jam games. This was no exception, great work!

and fANTASTIC art as well. Thanks for the cool game :)

Terribly Awesome Games

22. Oct 2019 · 15:32 UTC

Love the art style for this game! Really beautiful work with the assets and the isometric grid. I also enjoyed the narration and audio. I had difficulty navigating and finding the ship parts, but this is a really good concept piece of the world you're trying to create. I wasn't sure if when I went through the portal (arrow) that I got more insane, or if I just ate a mushroom when I landed.

fabula_rasa

22. Oct 2019 · 18:40 UTC

I loved the art and atmosphere!

Controlling the character feels very strange though. I think it would be much better if you would have to press some button to eat the mushroom you are standing near, cause as it is now, I just kept eating mushrooms I did not want to eat at all. Walking around is rather painful, it feels like our merchant does not really want to go where I want him to go (and that's even before he eats crazy mushrooms :wink:). Even animations have a problem with this walking system, as sometimes I was walking backwards or my head flew of my body for few frames.