Harmony Forest by Argon

made by Argon for Ludum Dare 55 (JAM)

Warning : Linux version was not tested.

In a forest, there is a sacred tree which balances the world. If it dies, the forest dies too. Will you be able to keep it alive ? Summoning animals and plants in the forest is the key.

In this game shaped as a card game, you will have to balance the harmony in the sacred forest by growing the sacred tree. The sacred tree needs energy. This energy is produced by the animals and plants of the forest you will have to organize as a card board. They are summoned in the forest when their given chord is played. Cards have different types, and some eat others. They leave the board when eaten or when they cannot eat in a given time. If they eat, they produce something.

If the tree doesn’t receive energy, you loose. Each time, it demands more energy.

Good game !

The people summoned to work on this adventure are :

Félix Metzinger ~ Developper and game designer ~ http://felix-metzinger.fr/

Sarah Germain ~ Illustrator, graphist and UI ~ https://www.instagram.com/sarahgermn/?hl=fr

Peter Trelcat ~ Illustrator ~ https://www.instagram.com/peter.trelcat/?hl=fr

Antoine Arrinda ~ illustrator ~ https://www.instagram.com/antoinearrinda/

Guilin Braïda ~ illustrator ~ https://www.instagram.com/guilin_braida/

Link	https://argon39.itch.io/harmony-forest
Link	https://argon39.itch.io/harmony-forest
Link	https://argon39.itch.io/harmony-forest
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/harmony-forest

Ratings

Overall	593^th	3.556⭐	20🧑‍⚖️
Fun	856^th	3.167⭐	20🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	418^th	3.528⭐	20🧑‍⚖️
Theme	744^th	3.472⭐	20🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	557^th	3.763⭐	21🧑‍⚖️
Mood	674^th	3.472⭐	20🧑‍⚖️
Given		19🗳️	1🗨️

Feedback

TheMaskedMan

16. Apr 2024 · 19:10 UTC

You should definitely add some screenshots! Given the artwork quality and the overall warm vibe the game has.

Could be a great chill game given some more love and most importantly, a smoother learning curve.
Took a while to figure out *some of it*, but other than that, it's VERY cozy.
Something I would certainly play the full/better/bigger version of.

SOUNDS on chords and all too! <3

schadocalex

21. Apr 2024 · 20:56 UTC

Even if graphics have different styles it looks pretty good espacially the cards. I did try to understand the mechanics but I didn't understand all. I was able to summon a lot of cards quite easily, to let the fox live by eating others but it was quite hard to figure out what cards needs and how to get what they need (like energy). You could have incorpored some levels to introduce the game with less cards and a objective. I felt like I had top optimize card types by choosing which one to summon to keep harmony, but without understanding well the mecanics it was quite hard to do it and have fun. You may add some simple (static, screenshots) examples for future testers and I may come back try again if you do so!

Ausstein

21. Apr 2024 · 21:50 UTC

Hey, while my stream was quiet I found this on top of the games list so I played it,

you can watch it here:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2126084861?t=0h33m10s

🎤 Argon

22. Apr 2024 · 08:57 UTC

@ausstein Hey, I watched the replay, thank you for your patience and taking the time to understand the mechanics. We were very short on time so we didn’t have to make a proper tutorial or ingame information, which would have definitely helped. This was very useful to see live feedbacks and thank you for your nice comments !

Baluj

23. Apr 2024 · 16:55 UTC

It's an interesting concept, I like art. Good job!

Okamit

29. Apr 2024 · 00:55 UTC

Interesting concept and quite chill. A lot of information to understand at once though, and as you mention, an interactive tutorial would be nice, introducing a few concepts at a time which is a lot more effective than an info screen. Understandable you didn't have time to make one though.

I hope you continue polishing this after the jam! Nice work!
Also, try posting blog posts to get more ratings, rate more games (and comment) and submit your game to "I'll rate your game"-posts so you make it to 20 ratings!

Arman

01. May 2024 · 23:27 UTC

What a fun game! The constant consumption and death really fits into the whole ecosystem aesthetic of the game. It took a while to get the hang of, but I'm really enjoying it now that I'm starting to understand. I don't know how other people think it's chill though, it feels kind of stressful to me (not that that's necessarily bad). My only complaints are the board felt a bit cramped, and I wish there was a high score system.

runningopenloop

02. May 2024 · 06:19 UTC

I'll call it a win when things got so cramped that I couldn't figure out what was going on anymore... I lost when I needed to feed the tree crawler/plant/beast/bird. Good game... but having the ability to pan would help me to setup chains of things to produce things needed by the tree. Oh, music that increases tempo as time runs out to feed the sacred tree would be a great addition. Played on linux, worked great for me. Thanks for making a linux version.

LittleGamer

02. May 2024 · 09:22 UTC

Very good game in my opinion but a bit hard to understand at first. Once I understood how it worked I actually felt engaged in the run. The graphics are nice and the whole concept is interesting and seems relatively well balanced.

It's a bit disappointing that there is no sound because it would surely give a good atmosphere with the musical theme of the summons.

Empyreans

02. May 2024 · 13:59 UTC

Sweet art and soundtrack. I enjoyed the aesthetics!

UI/UX was confusing at first, but okay after a while.

Well done :)

LDJam user 389319

02. May 2024 · 17:42 UTC

You definitely need to keep working on it! I love the chill vibe and the soundtrack <3 I'm pretty sure with a nice tutorial/guide/landingpage kind of thing it would be even better for people to get consumed by this cool game :D well done!

frankiesmileshow

03. May 2024 · 01:24 UTC

Very beautiful and mildly bewildering, I did not understand what I was doing!
Also, this could really use some audio, considering all the musical theming. I was certain at first that the sound was turned off or glitched out!