LudumData

Fallowtide by Jeremy Ryan

[raw]
made by Jeremy Ryan for Ludum Dare 52 (COMPO)

ldsplash.png

⚠️ This game requires a display with size of 1920x1080 or greater. ⚠️

It's not that it looks worse, it's that you probably won't even get it to run and be able to click on things. Sorry!

Overview

Life from death, death from life. You've been hired to grow crops for a quaint group of villagers, and while they pay generously, there's something strange happening under the surface.

Grow and sell crops in this bite-sized farming deck-builder. Keep an eye on the health of the soil; you can't plant crops on the same patch too many times in a row.

The game is not difficult, and there is no lose condition, so relax and enjoy the atmosphere. There is an ending after about 20-25 turns.

About

Made in 48 hours for the Ludum Dare 52 compo. All art, music, sound effects, and programming was done in that time. I used some boilerplate code from past Ludum Dare games for things like loading images, managing particle systems, and a barebones "scene" manager.

Engine: Python with pygame

Art: Paint.NET

Music/SFX: Audacity, SFXR, my Casio keyboard

Fonts: Alef, Alagard, Matura, Segoe UI

Special thanks

I made this game "from scratch," but drew inspiration from many places including the following:

Inscryption: I haven't actually played the full release, but I played the jam version during Ludum Dare 43. There's definitely a similar flavor here, and I took some inspiration especially for the card visuals.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl: This game had a "sticker" mechanic where the amount of upgrades you applied to your character was limited by the size and geometry of the upgrades. While the original mechanic was not grid-based and was a bit wackier, this was the inspiration for the crop placement/shape mechanic in Fallowtide.

Pokemon Emerald version: Hear me out! The puzzle design in this game is a little similar to the "walking on ice" puzzles found in Pokemon gyms.

DaFluffyPotato: In addition to being a very prominent member of the PyGame community, this guy has consistently good environmental simulations in his 2D games. The way the crops move was partially inspired by the way he handles grass simulations in his platformers.

Fantasy artists: I looked at a number of illustrations of plague doctors for reference (if you Google "fantasy plague doctor," I probably looked at everything on the first page). I particularly liked this illustration by Lucas St. Martin for the glasses, skull pendant, and lighting.

:joystick: Download the game (Windows) :joystick:

Link https://github.com/jeremycryan/LD52
Link https://plasmastarfish.itch.io/fallowtide
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/52/fallowtide

Ratings

Overall 2th 4.455⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Fun 31th 4⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 14th 4.136⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Theme 14th 4.409⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1th 4.667⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Audio 6th 4.348⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Humor 102th 3.183⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Mood 5th 4.47⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Given 13🗳️ 19🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 279233
09. Jan 2023 · 00:17 UTC
Very polished and fun! satisfying game-play and pretty art too :)
HypernoodleJon
09. Jan 2023 · 00:53 UTC
Holy crap that was incredible! Can hardly believe how much you accomplished in so little time. Fantastic spooky mood, had a great time thinking over strategy as I added and removed cards, and the ending really caught me by surprise! This was an absolute joy to play.
Frogman
09. Jan 2023 · 11:20 UTC
Amazing game! I knew that it had some creepy elements from the description and screenshots, but the first few turns were so calm and normal the goat really caught me by surprise (I tried planting and feeding it multiple times before realizing its actual purpose). The graphics and mood were absolutely incredible, and the ending was awesome! I also quite enjoyed the game - it was pretty easy and relaxing, but still required some thought. One problem I had though was that the card preview only displayed the top half of the shape of the crop, leading me to instinctively interpret (usually incorrectly) what the bottom half was. Multiple times, I planned my turn around playing a specific last card, only to realize it wasn't the shape I thought it was, and by then it was too late. While it's probably on me for being too lazy to hover over all my cards, I think there's enough screen space to show all of them completely at all times. Other than that, great entry!
🎤 Jeremy Ryan
09. Jan 2023 · 13:19 UTC
Thanks for playing everyone!

@frogman Great feedback on the card visuals! I think I originally had a slightly larger "field," so your cards were covering it up when hovered. I defaulted to the behavior of MtG Arena and similar, but importantly, in most other games you can understand the card fully from just the name (not true here!). That's great feedback if I decide to make a card game again.
Jesseww
09. Jan 2023 · 19:41 UTC
You did a fantastic job. The games atmosphere was executed perfectly and surprisingly makes it very calming to play. I really enjoyed my time with it. The only critique I have is that I couldn't figure out how to close the game, but honestly that's all.
Starlight Glimmer is best poney
10. Jan 2023 · 19:33 UTC
Great game with unique mechanics and tons of polished content for a compo game. The forced discard mechanic is brutal. I once had to discard either a goat or my only two hell cards. I bought a sacrifice, and I immediately had to discard a sacrifice. Meanwhile, I also had a two-tile wheat card for the entire game. The optimization factor stops being important once you get one or two goats, and it's amplified by the lack of a loss condition. It's a fun and relaxing game involving human sacrifice, which is an interesting dissonance!
🎤 Jeremy Ryan
10. Jan 2023 · 19:45 UTC
@alaah Thanks for playing! The randomness of the trash mechanic definitely leads to some feels-bad moments since you could end up having to trash one of your three best cards. I considered making it smarter, so it was more likely to choose "worse" cards to trash, but timelines are tight in Compo so I didn't get around to it.
bentglasstube
11. Jan 2023 · 03:30 UTC
The amount of polish in this is impressive. The art, especially the little animations on the crops, were really great. The gameplay was fun, if a little too easy/simple, but the interesting story distracted from that to keep me engaged until the end. Great job all around.
superpokeunicorn
11. Jan 2023 · 05:03 UTC
Really great game! I love the combo of farming with deck building. The dark theming was well integrated with the composter mechanic seamlessly turning into ritual sacrifices. There were multiple moments in the game that took me off guard, and I especially loved the buildup towards the ending. If I had to criticize one thing, it felt like you don't really need to use much strategy to get through; it was hard not to turn a profit with even a minimal amount of effort. But the game still managed to keep me engaged to the end. Overall, great work!
LDJam user 318832
11. Jan 2023 · 05:03 UTC
The game is really nice, atmosphere and music are awesome! Gameplay is relaxing, and there are some horror elements, like killing 7 cultists in composter and goats blood for plants. I think this game has a huge story and gameplay potential!
LDJam user 299276
11. Jan 2023 · 05:07 UTC
The amount of polish and atmosphere in this game is amazing! It was relaxing to play, and also managed not to get boring.
LDJam user 320570
11. Jan 2023 · 05:33 UTC
What a fantastic game! I love the atmosphere of it all, from the swaying of the crops to the music to the dialogue sounds of the Doctor. And the gameplay itself is very satisfying and fun to plan out, while remaining pretty stress free and oddly relaxed considering what you're eventually doing. Really well done!
LDJam user 279867
11. Jan 2023 · 05:47 UTC
This was a great game! I loved the audio for real for real. Also the mood of this game was really unique: very moody but also really chill.

The interactive and dynamic puzzle mechanic was really unique, and it really shows off your skill because of how complex the flow is. The transitions from playing a card to showing the crops was smooth and I loved to watch it.

You're doing great work! Keep it up
Gizmolo
11. Jan 2023 · 21:11 UTC
![Screenshot 2023-01-11 130839.png](///raw/5e6/f/z/562bd.png)

Woo I completed it! I really enjoyed that! The UI, SFX, and music was so engrossing. Even though the gameplay was pretty basic, I found myself really engaged because of the craftmanship all around. I figured there was some sinister element at play with the narrator... and then I got the goat. I tried to place the goat to graze my crops but no... I had to... well I won't spoil things for the other players.

All around great experience and impressive work for a game jam! 5/5 stars!
Cobear25
12. Jan 2023 · 02:56 UTC
This looks cool, I'd love to play it. Any plans on a mac or web build?
🎤 Jeremy Ryan
12. Jan 2023 · 03:03 UTC
@cobear25 Unfortunately, it's not easy to do with Python. However, you could download Python (3.7 or higher), install pygame, and run it from source if you were really motivated!
Tvorojok
12. Jan 2023 · 03:03 UTC
I liked how everything feels. The screen is shaking a little, the effects are super too! I enjoyed the game
Cobear25
12. Jan 2023 · 03:12 UTC
@jeremy-ryan I'm tempted to do that (already have python3 installed). If I get around to it I'll send you a build that you can post.
kythehuman
12. Jan 2023 · 03:23 UTC
So glad I played this one. Incredible polish, great vibe, and some real juice in the interactions. The nesting-triangles-into-each-other mechanic reminds me of a pattern-making toy I enjoyed as a kid. A small change that I think could make an impact: the cards are a little too hidden while in your hand and not highlighted; I'd love to easily see the full patterns so I could strategize without hovering over each one.

!>My favorite moment was discovering how the goat works, and I'm so glad you chose not to explain it to the player beforehand. (Idk why spoilers also look like quotes, but I didn't want to call out the goats for anyone else!)

Great game.
jitspoe
12. Jan 2023 · 04:16 UTC
This is insanely polished, especially for a compo game! So much juice -- little things like screen shake when you can't buy an item, etc. Great audio design. Just a really nice all-around project. Good work!
TheOtherSamP
12. Jan 2023 · 04:17 UTC
Beautiful art! The animations are incredibly satisfying, I love the procedural wheat waving. All of the "juice" in this is excellent. The triangular grid is a very simple thing, but something about it is very satisfying. The ingame text is nicely done, and little things like the highlighted phrases make it feel very polished.

A card game with a geometric component to fitting together hands is a nice idea. A simple idea with a lot of depth, and potential for more. I like games that do "solve this puzzle as well as you can" without just gating progress on getting the correct solution. This sits nicely on the line between puzzle and management.

An incredibly impressive feat in the time! Especially for a compo entry! And built in PyGame too!
Zonoxx
12. Jan 2023 · 10:08 UTC
What a beautiful game. Very impressed and inspired by the visuals. I just finished my first LD entry and this is very inspiring to see what you can acomplish with experience. Very well done!
JustinMullin
12. Jan 2023 · 15:26 UTC
Beautifully done. The art, sound and music work incredibly well together here, and I really enjoyed it through and through. The game itself is interesting, though not quite fleshed out enough here to stand on its own I think. Of course it serves mainly as a platter on which to serve up the story and mood of the game, and it works well for that. I love the plant animations, just lovely. Very cool submission!
Tomssuli
12. Jan 2023 · 17:12 UTC
Beautiful and polished game. Not very hard though, played it through in the first run.

The music was adorably gloomy and graphics were great. Mood was wery well transmitted with the music, sounds and the dark imagery. I appreciated the dual meaning of harvest too.

The game didn't get hard at any moment, maybe it was because of my choices or maybe it wasn't made very difficult, or maybe I just got lucky with rngsus. Anyway, it had interesting mechanics. I liked the pieces that were familiar from Blokus Trigon -boardgame.

All in all great job!
🎤 Jeremy Ryan
12. Jan 2023 · 18:47 UTC
@tomssuli From the description:

> The game is not difficult, and there is no lose condition, so relax and enjoy the atmosphere.

I decided to focus more on the graphics, mood, and story for this one, so the gameplay is intentionally pretty easy and it's not possible to lose. Hopefully it's still interesting enough to keep the player occupied through the end though.

Thanks for playing!
Alchemic
13. Jan 2023 · 21:19 UTC
Absolutely outstanding on all metrics. My only "complaint" is that the gameplay is easy, but it was definitely engaging enough to get me to the end.

The artwork is phenomenal, I love how the plants sway in the wind.

I see you cited Inscryption as an inspiration - I can definitely feel it! Inscryption is one of my top favorite games, and I like Fallowtide for a lot of the same reasons.

I recorded my gameplay experience in this video,
Fallowtide is at the **39:13** mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TPsLkQIfYE
digital bacon
13. Jan 2023 · 21:58 UTC
Awesome game! Very grim story, beautiful graphics and music, engaging gameplay. Nice to see a Python game, too! Excellent job! :thumbsup:
🎤 Jeremy Ryan
13. Jan 2023 · 22:18 UTC
@alchemic Thanks for playing and for making a video! Definitely took a different direction from some of my other recent LD games. Additional mechanics like adjacency and more "special" crops was a great suggestion, or some other kind of pressure to make the puzzle aspect more difficult/interesting.
Ethan Hair
14. Jan 2023 · 01:53 UTC
Very well done!
Xandruher
15. Jan 2023 · 22:32 UTC
Really cool game. The graphics are nice. Also cool that you used pygame to make it!
Krassenstein
16. Jan 2023 · 16:04 UTC
Hey there, a buddy of yours suggested this and it was pretty darm awesome! I ended up playing your game on stream!

Here's the VoD so you can jump to your chapter and see it again!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYvmJ8_8kww
🎤 Jeremy Ryan
16. Jan 2023 · 18:30 UTC
@krassenstein Thanks so much for playing and recording the video! My friend let me know you were streaming, but it was late in my time zone so I wasn't able to tune in live.

Favorite quote out of context:

> We have to kill seven people. Do you know how long that's going to take?
ditam
18. Jan 2023 · 19:01 UTC
I've been a fan and following your LD games ever since Fade, so I had very high expectations for this one, in fact I saved it for "dessert" until now. It did not disappoint! It's definitely in my top 3 from the ~50 games I got to try out.

Such a neatly polished game, looks great, and the atmosphere is excellent. I like that you decided to make it easy enough to make sure that players get to experience the mood and story instead. Feels like a smart call for the compo, and a good basis for developing the game later on. I hope you get around to making a post-jam version with maybe some extended mechanics and some puzzling challenges. Maybe the lore could be extended too?

!> For example, I think the goat could be adjusted to provide some basic mechanic, such as fertilizing tiles, to make it less "on the nose" that sacrificing it is what's needed to progress the story. It felt a bit inelegant that the game forces you to immediately sacrifice it once you get one in your hand.

I use python in my day job, and your games are an inspiration, definitely tempting me to give pygame a go one of these jams.
🎤 Jeremy Ryan
18. Jan 2023 · 19:31 UTC
@ditam Thanks for playing and thanks for the great feedback!

I agree with everything you said. I do think there's some risk to being less "on the nose" because people may just completely miss it, especially if they're only playing your game for ~5-10 minutes. Of course --- if I had more than 48 hours I probably could have worked in more nuance. It was nice to see a couple streamers play the game, and catch the "aha" moment.

As far as pygame --- it's lots of fun if you like building stuff (mostly) from scratch and prefer Python over other languages. For anything more complex than a game jam game, I'd recommend a "real" engine though.

-------

Edit: and regarding...

> I like that you decided to make it easy enough to make sure that players get to experience the mood and story instead.

...I know that was one of the chief criticisms of "Fade"... I put so much work into the story and accidentally hid it behind an impossibly difficult game! Definitely played this one on the safer side haha.

Thanks again for playing!
Alex Garbus
19. Jan 2023 · 01:45 UTC
I've always wanted to be a farmer who also sacrifices my loyal followers! This was a fun, chill (in contrast to the tone), and very polished entry! I loved the risk & reward that came from positioning crops while also making sure there would be enough space for future rounds. I also found it really cool that the game had as much challenge as it did despite not having a lose condition. I do wish some of the mechanics were a bit more fleshed out, such as getting more mulch for composting more valuable cards. I also really wish there was at least dialogue letting us know how everything ended.
PhilStrahl
25. Jan 2023 · 19:52 UTC
I think this is my favorite LD52 game so far, I love what you did with the storytelling and the mechanics! Definitely see the Inscryption inspyrations! 😉 Thanks for submitting! Here's the video of me playing the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj_pzh6rT7I
🎤 Jeremy Ryan
25. Jan 2023 · 20:16 UTC
@philstrahl Thanks so much for sharing the video, glad you enjoyed it!

I loved your little breakdown at the end about the mood and story. To be honest, I wasn't about it too much, and mostly made a plague doctor because it looks cool and I'm bad at drawing faces.

Thanks for playing!
DaivyIsHere
26. Jan 2023 · 08:33 UTC
Poor sheep
bwalter
27. Jan 2023 · 00:17 UTC
I loved the tone of this one! and the gameplay is really intuitive!
Honest Dan
27. Jan 2023 · 18:59 UTC
Really nice execution. I enjoy the triangular tetris, and the way everything has been packaged up is (as usual) very coherent and well executed. What started as cute farming ended up in sacrifices.. what have you done to me
LDJam user 202408
30. Jan 2023 · 10:48 UTC
@jeremy-ryan I enjoyed the music of the game so I made A little remake in my style, this is also a thank you for always making fan art of a bunch of games in the end of ld, even if my game isn't necessarily one of them, I still want to thank you for the effort, anyway here it is, I hope you like it:
https://soundcloud.com/dissonant_void/fallowtide-remake
🎤 Jeremy Ryan
30. Jan 2023 · 12:02 UTC
@0x-void-x0 That's amazing! Thank you so much!
Lee Reilly
04. Feb 2023 · 03:16 UTC
Hi! Delighted to share that Fallowtide is featured on the GitHub Blog in our [Ludum Dare 52 wrap up post](https://github.blog/2023-02-03-ludum-dare-52-staff-picks/).