The Forest Calls began as a 72 hour, solo, game jam entry. After that trial by fire, I decided to continue to improve this spooky, adventure game whenever I had some free time. Surprisingly, I didn’t make too many changes to the story besides sprinkling in a bit more explanation. My focus ended up being in how far I could push the maps by adding variations due to items and backtracking. The end result wasn’t that complex, but I learned a lot here through my own experimentation and from valuable player feedback. 

 

For example: one of the early challenges I faced was the level design. My limited skills + the lost tone I wanted to evoke, made for an interesting conundrum. How much handholding did I want to give the player? My solution ended up being these white flowers. The opening maps used them simply as a background aesthetic, but as the story began the sole flower transitioned into a marking tool (as pictured below).  It’s a subtle change, but it worked well. Even in the original build it received the most notable praise. Some players picked up the change right away, and others discovered it proudly through trial and error.