Unfinished Valley by stochastic
- About
I had an idea for some time, about a game like Harvest Moon, but instead of it being relaxing, it's stressful and full of pain and suffering. So I wanted to try prototyping it for this jam.
I managed to implement the most basic mechanics, but sadly I haven't had enough time to finish it. What you see here is just the most barebones concept of what the game could potentially be.
- Controls
SPACE - Talk / Pick up item / Drop item / Collect water
Z or Y - Use shovel
X - Eat held item
C - Pick up / Drop an item stack
| Link | https://stoch.itch.io/unfinished-valley |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/unfinished-valley |
Ratings
| Overall | 858th | 3.409⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1002th | 3.091⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 442th | 3.548⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 648th | 3.69⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 347th | 4.065⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 731th | 2.868⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 471th | 3.69⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 25🗳️ | 22🗨️ |
While its obviously unfinished, the few minutes I spent playing it felt very unique. It's like a farming game that makes you question the whole point of farming. You spend time working the fields to try and sustain yourself, but the work takes up your entire day and drains your energy, and when you go to sleep (next to the corpse of your predecessor), you can be afflicted with any sort of bad luck or disease that inches you closer to death.
I felt like I had a sort of epiphany that farming was just a waste of my time and I should be doing something more valuable with the little life I had left
I don't know maybe I'm overthinking it but I'm sure there are a lot of unique directions you could take this type of game
The gameplay is unfortunately unfinished (the game stops working for me if I put anything in the chest, so there's no tangible way to "delay the inevitable"), but what's there is a solid foundation for a morbid farming simulator. Some kind of a cross between Graveyard Keeper and Darkest Dungeon, as I see it.
I like the idea of displaying random nightly events as cards drawn by the skeletor.