Gloaming Woods - a Surreal/Fairytale Adventure

[Seerfree]

 
​

*You find yourself lost in the Gloaming Woods.
*Where morning never comes and everything seems eternal. 
*You don't know how you got there. All you can do is continue on. 
*Journey through the woods, meet its strange inhabitants. 
*Overcome puzzles and challenges to advance forward. 
*Can you escape the woods, or will you become a lost soul? 
​

About the Game

Spoiler

Gloaming Woods is a surreal adventure/horror game in development with some fairytale themes. You play as a nameless character who will simply be referred to as 'You'. 
Gameplay will consist of interacting with your surroundings in the woods and the characters that reside there, playing small minigames and completing puzzles, and collecting important things. The game will have three main areas that each have their own important characters and mini-storylines that you will have to play through to advance to the next stage, or chapter. Each one has a different theme and variation of the game's aesthetic, from Christmas to Fairies. Atmosphere is one of the main focuses of this game; it should be calm, magical, and creepy. 


Gameplay Features: (will be updated)
*Collect fireflies to light your way in the darkness and advance in the woods
*Complete puzzles and challenges
*Interact with and assist the inhabitants of the woods


*Make decisions that have an effect on yourself and other characters

Screenshots

Spoiler

Music

Spoiler

(I only started making music this week and most tracks here are WIPs that need improvement, but they should give you an idea of what kind of music there will be anyway. I apologise that there are only links to soundcloud, I'll figure out how to embed them into the post some time :/) 

• https://soundcloud.com/shinyshing/meowlow
  
• https://soundcloud.com/shinyshing/mellow
  
• https://soundcloud.com/shinyshing/gentle-melancholy
  
• https://soundcloud.com/shinyshing/stark-afternoon
  
• https://soundcloud.com/shinyshing/quiet-forest
  

Creator's Note

Spoiler

Gloaming Woods is my first game, excluding the short dumb ones I made while learning the program that were never meant to be completed and don't really count as games. 
The game is in early development, and I still have a lot to do in regard to mapping, art-ing and making everything super pretty, music, ironing out the gameplay mechanics and, well, pretty much everything, but development is going well so far and progress is certainly happening. I don't have a huge amount to show you right now, but I'll keep this thread updated and have it looking better once I can. Feedback would be appreciated, though keep in mind that what I have to show you is incomplete.

Credits (susceptible to change as things are added and removed)

Spoiler

Scripts


Galv
Hime


Ixfuru


Meowface


Yanfly


Vlue


mjshi


Ceodore


Enelvon


Fomar


Music


Kevin MacLeod


purple-planet.com


Soundeffects


nathanshadow
reinsamba
tagigobaso
wescwave
jankoehl
yottasounds
cylon8472
dtown1220
reitanna
inspectorj

 

[Yusha]

Love love love the art style here. The thing about the fireflies sounds interesting! Looking forward to it, Seerfree.

 

[Tais S.S.]

Looks like an interesting game! Love the art style too!! 


Also, I LOVE surreal adventure/horror games! That, plus a fairytale theme sounds awesome

 

[Canini]

Looks very beautiful! Love the design of the main character. How long do you plan for the game to be?

 

[rue669]

The art style totally matches the fairy tale scheme you're going for. It's got a Tim Burton feel to it

 

[Seerfree]

Thank you for your kind comments, everyone


As for an update: I was on holiday this week and prior to that I was mostly working on planning puzzles and plot and other spoilery things rather than implementing them into the game, but I'm going to work harder now and I'd like to put up some new screenshots soon! Right now I'm working on the first chapter of the game, and the puzzles and progression within it, and then I'll move onto the next and so on. 


@Canini Thank you ^^! I'm glad you like it. Not too long, most likely 2-3 hours or around there? The time might nod a little either way, but it won't be too long anyway. 


@rue669 I'm glad it fits  I was actually inspired by Christmas Town from The Nightmare Before Christmas with some parts of the game, haha.

 

[ScientistWD]

Your game looks simply delightful. I yearn for modest, effective graphics like that.


What did you use to draw them, if I may ask?

 

[Seerfree]

@ScientistWD


Thank you ! 


I used Krita for all the art in the game, it's a free program that's very good in my opinion. 

 

[Seerfree]

I updated the screenshots with some new things and got rid of some ones that weren't up to date  I took a break from development for a little while but I'm back on track now and things are going well! 

 

[Crabs]

I love how the art fit the fairytale theme and the dark atmosphere. It's beautiful.


Too bad I don't like horror games. I'd love play it otherwise.

 

[Seerfree]

Hey guys! I hope you had/are having a great holidays! I updated the thread with a new poster  it'll also probably be the title screen. As for development of the game, I took a break over Christmas and through some school tests, but it's going quite well! I'm quite a bit into the first chapter of the game now (there'll only be around 3 or so). What I have still needs to be refined, but once I have everything in place that won't be too hard. I've also worked out more about how some essential game mechanics will work, so everything is bit clearer now and progress will be a lot easier.  

 

[Eliel Micmás]

I've really liked the art style, and surreal adventure games need more love than they already have <3


Good luck with your project, I'll be sure to follow it and play the game if you manage to finish it.

 

[Bitschi]

I agree with Eliel! We need more surreal horror games!!  ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ  <3 Horror rpg maker games have a soft spot in my heart so I'm always happy to see them in development, and your story seems really interesting!


The firefly mechanic is also very endearing, and path building with the fireflies really helps with building that fairytale immersion. Cant wait to see more progress, keep up the good work!  ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ 

 

[Nenê]

@Seerfree


Initial thoughts: This game looks and sounds really interesting. I'm curious to see how you'll accomplish the horror aspect of it because in my head I'm trying to imagine feeling genuine fear or suspense from this type of game. But, then again, I'm a novice to horror themed games and have found that the atmosphere and music are usually what triggers my anxiety, not necessarily the graphics.


That being said, I'm also aware that this isn't primarily a horror game, but an adventure and puzzle solving one as well.


Overall: Aside from its unique look, the music sounds great (even as WIPs) and very fitting. I went from being concerned about how I'll be scared or spooked to being eager to dive head first into the atmosphere and setting of the game. Great job so far!

 

[hppyniss]

@Seerfree Loving the atmosphere and illustrations! I'll definitely keep an eye on this -- really looking forward to seeing the final project! 

 

[Seerfree]

Thanks for the feedback/support guys ^^


@Nenê I'm glad it seems interesting, thanks for your feedback  As for the horror aspect of the game, there won't be anything too terrifying or over the top, but the horror aspect will mostly be present in the atmosphere of being in a strange, potentially hostile place and from some mildly dark plot elements in some of the mini-stories, etc. There'll also be a few chase scenes, but nothing too extreme. 
I'm glad you found the music OK ^^ right now, a lot of the music in the game isn't created by me, but I'd like to create some more tracks that fit the game more.


As for how development itself is going, I'm working on Chapter 2 right now - not to suggest that chapter 1 is finished yet, but I think sometimes it's good to go ahead and know what I'm working towards. That means that soon I can upload a couple of screenshots that aren't snowy for once haha. Currently, I'm in the stage where I'm laying out the foundations of the game I suppose; making semi-rough versions of the maps, leaving some gaps for extra content etc, then I can go back and refine everything and make sure it's all working right, I think things will be a lot easier then.

 

[ptimiya]

Ah I love these kind of settings!