RMMV Winter Survivors - Final Patch 1.2 is here!

[Zion]

It's autumn. Mama Squirrel needs to stock up on food for herself and her five babies so they can survive the approaching winter. But of course, she and her babies also need food every day! So while you're gathering nuts, acorns, chestnuts, eggs and other supplies, you have to decide: Do I eat them myself? Or do I give them to my babies tonight? Or do I hide them so we have supplies for the winter? The decision won't be easy, because if you or your little ones don't eat for too long, they'll die!

Will you make it through the winter safely? Will both mama squirrel and all five little ones survive?

All sorts of dangers lurk in the forest and the surrounding area. There are martens, weasels, foxes and other predators that also fight for survival - but here YOU are on the menu!

This game was originally created for the "Dark Season Jam" in the german RPG Maker MV forum.

Genre: RPG, survival

Playtime: 2-4 hours

Free to play: Download on itch

 

[Shian]

The concept and general gameplay is good, however I found two pretty annoying things:

1. I had a bug where the cars at the first road stood still and blocked my way out. I thought it was just a visual bug but took damage when I touched them.

2. The crow that sometimes spawns at the foot of the cliff on the same map essentially creates a choke point that's annoying to cross.

I felt having to spend food to heal, as opposed to healing at least a bit of health when you sleep, is a bit annoying too.

Good luck in the contest!

 

[Zion]

Thank you for the comment

1. I had a bug where the cars at the first road stood still and blocked my way out. I thought it was just a visual bug but took damage when I touched them.

This is in the list of "known bugs". I know they act strangely sometimes, but I hadn't time to fix it. And yes, this is purely visual. But of course, if you see a car and touches it, you get damage.

2. The crow that sometimes spawns at the foot of the cliff on the same map essentially creates a choke point that's annoying to cross.

I admit, the spot I chose is a bit mean. But you can get across without any damage. Just leave the stair as soon as possible and run as fast as you can (jump can help!).

Maybe one thing to note. This is a survival. I made different difficulties, so everyone can play the game as easy or as hard as they like. BUT. As I said, it's a survival. I remember playing The Long Dark or Don't Starve for the first time and I died A LOT. So probably the player will also die a lot in Winter Survivors. This is intended. The more you get into the game and get used to the mechanics and the spots where predators can lurk (and unlock skills!), the easier it will get.
So far, I got some feedback, and it seems the easy difficulty is still too hard, so maybe I will lower it after the jam. Maybe

 

[fizzly]

I wanted to make a squirrel simulator, too, so I'm so happy to play that! But... I was wondering why did she and her babies sleep in a bird nest? Is this on purpose?

 

[ShadowDragon]

to me, it is inside a tree, maybe a birdnest inside the tree, so why not
it's survival game, so anything is possible

 

[fizzly]

My feedback:
1. Mama sprite is small, but the collision box is rather large, sometimes it's hard to tell that you can fit/pass somewhere; really annoying when something is chasing you.
2. It's really hard to tell where to look for food, I mean, sometimes there is a walnut on the floor which I can not to pick up, sometimes you can go on a tree, sometimes not (you need to be 1 tile near the tree to define the tree is climbamble or not). Sometimes I see fruits on tree, but can not pick them up, etc... It's a little frustrating

 

[ShadowDragon]

@fizzly some tree's that mostly have a hole in it can be climbed as food
can be inside of it

sometimes is not, so that is intended.

for the collision, I might agree, pixelmovement could work, but it can break
some plugins she is using, and while its a JAM, she hadn't all the time to
fix things up or add things, it doesn't trouble me with the collision though

 

[Zion]

Thank you @ShadowDragon for resolving my game's issues while I wasn't here

I wanted to make a squirrel simulator, too, so I'm so happy to play that! But... I was wondering why did she and her babies sleep in a bird nest? Is this on purpose?

First of all: Thank you for playing! ♥

Let me be honest: What difference is between a nest and a drey? Both consists of branches, sticks, twigs, so what is the graphical difference? Sometimes squirrels even use old bird nests so it's practically the same.
Because I can't draw by myself, I need to take pictures I can find, I didn't found a picture of a drey (because it's almost the same) so I used this one.

1. Mama sprite is small, but the collision box is rather large, sometimes it's hard to tell that you can fit/pass somewhere; really annoying when something is chasing you.

As ShadowDragon said, the game is tiled, not pixel movement. I made the mistake once in my life to try out a pixel movement plugin. I will never do that again, I have very bad experiences with compatibility with other plugins. And I don't think it's really required here.

2. It's really hard to tell where to look for food, I mean, sometimes there is a walnut on the floor which I can not to pick up, sometimes you can go on a tree, sometimes not (you need to be 1 tile near the tree to define the tree is climbamble or not). Sometimes I see fruits on tree, but can not pick them up, etc... It's a little frustrating

Let me explain the mechanic.
According to chosen difficulty, it's more or less food what will spawn. What food and where it will be, is purely random. Of course I set up some regions where the food can be, so you can achieve it (it won't be in a wall or such). The climbing trees are random too. The RNG decides wheather it spawns an acorn, or an apple, or a climbing tree. So it can be almost every tree (at least, if I marked it with the correct region ID).
The food itself (acorns, nuts, and such) isn't always in the center of the tile. Sometimes, it's near the edge so it can look like it's in the next tile (maybe I'll change that).
If you are near food (range of 1), you get the pop-up. Then you just have to search, is it above? Or left? To the right?
Imagine yourself being a squirrel, searching for food, and you smell something, but can't exactly tell on which spot the food is. You have to look a little up or down or left... You smell it, so it must be near, but you don't know 100% where it is.
Hope this makes it a little bit more clear.
Ah, I almost forgot: You said you can't pick up the walnut. You know you can't pick them up right from the beginning? Did you had a look on your skilltree?

 

[fizzly]

Ah, I almost forgot: You said you can't pick up the walnut. You know you can't pick them up right from the beginning? Did you had a look on your skilltree?

Actually not, sorry, I was in a hurry, and wanted to play it so badly I've missed that. Thanks for clarification By the squirrel sprite to small for collision I mean that maybe you could change tiles to 16x16 or 32x32, so the squirrel will be fits more to the collision boxes, but that was just a suggestion Thanks for replying!

 

[Zion]

Actually not, sorry, I was in a hurry, and wanted to play it so badly I've missed that. Thanks for clarification

I think I will make it more visible in the next version. It seems to many players don't notice they can choose skills. Thanks for your feedback! As developer, sometimes you do things differently and don't know what the player will act like.

By the squirrel sprite to small for collision I mean that maybe you could change tiles to 16x16 or 32x32, so the squirrel will be fits more to the collision boxes

Of course I'm always open for suggestions, thank you! But I also need to sort out things I can't do. This is not made with MZ where you can choose the size freely. This is a MV game, so I can't choose the tile size without problems. This would be too much work and I don't think the effort would justify it.

 

[fizzly]

Right... I think I forgot that in MV there is no engine build-in option to change tile size.

 

[Zion]

Finally - Version 1.1 is here



Took long enough and the patch notes are damn long!

The community has spoken! I received tons of feedback about this game - thank you very much!
Without you guys, this game wouldn't be what it is right now ♥
This patch fixes numerous bugs and brings a lot of QoL changes that significantly improve the survival experience of our squirrels.

The most important changes in a few words:

- There are 28 achievements to unlock!
- Mike now reacts to groundhog day date (how could I forget that? )
- enemy damage is no longer calculated multiple times, but has a waiting time of 1 second
- countless small quality-of-life changes!

If you are interested in the complete changes, feel free to click on the spoiler

Spoiler: Patch 1.1 Groundhog Day

New content:
- Mike now responds to groundhog day date.
- Achievements implemented. You can now collect 28 different achievements that are counted across savegames (three of them are not yet available).

Gameplay:
- Daddy Squirrel can now be approached multiple times during the day, but will only ask if you're coming back tomorrow.
- The conversation with Daddy Squirrel now no longer breaks off if you don't give him any supplies.
- Daddy Squirrel will not accept any more supplies if he has enough to survive the winter.
- At the end of each day there is a choice whether to use the EXP received directly. After that the game is saved.
- You get a hint at the end if Seebastian survived or not, or if you didn't meet him at all.
- [Hard and Infernal only] The starting bonus once you have played through the game has been increased from 50 to 300 supplies.
- [Infernal only] On a Game Over with no extra lives, you can choose the "Quick Restart" to restart on Day 1 without having to rewatch the intro.

Balancing:
- All food values have been revised. Apples and pears now weigh less, most other food weighs more.
- All bonus yields from gatherable food have been increased.

Graphics:
- There is now a statue of the Bremen Town Musicians on the farm (Swift 2 version).
- [Home] The area has been slightly changed.
- [Village - Winter] The area has been slightly changed.
- [Fields] The area has been slightly changed.
- [Lake] The area has been slightly changed.

Musik:
- [Forest - Autumn] Background music now starts earlier.

Bugfixing:
- Enemy damage is no longer calculated multiple times on contact.
- Predators and food are now available again in the home area in winter.
- It is now no longer possible to overfeed the children.
- The woman in the village who gives you walnuts in winter was programmed incorrectly. Now she gives you some walnuts every day.
- Under certain circumstances, it was possible to get infected with the gray squirrel virus without any repercussions.
- It is now no longer possible to jump in the skill tree.
- The cursor in the skill tree now moves a bit faster.
- The stairs at the top of the mountain can now be entered from the side.
- If you don't find anything in a snow pile, the supply icon no longer appears.
- If you dig in the snow pile at the end of the day and thus end the day, your character will no longer automatically move on the next day.
- You can now no longer move while creating a stash.
- The letters when entering a name are now centered in their place.
- When you die in the evening, the background sound with the evening sounds is no longer played permanently.
- If you flee from an predator into one of the hiding caves, the enemy music in the cave will no longer play.
- Enemy music is no longer played in the skill tree.
- Reflections were not always displayed in winter.
- Fixed a few graphics bugs.

Other:
- Food that cannot yet be collected now displays a lock and a message that you must unlock it first.
- The family overview now shows how much food you need for today.
- At night, before the prompt asking if you want to stay awake, the current day is now displayed.
- Gatherable food is a bit more centered in the tile and not so far away that you have to search for the exact location.
- There is now a hint when you unlock the gray squirrel profile.
- Reflections are now turned on by default in the options menu.
- Logo in title screen reworked. The initial letters should now be easier to recognize.
- Version number now appears in title screen.
- Credits revised.

Download on itch, as always

I would be really interested to know if it is now more playable than before


Next thing will be a big update with new maps!

 

[Zion]

Currently I'm reworking some of the old maps. I never liked the forest, the mountains and the fields, how they did come out at the end. But while the jam was ongoing, I had no time to start new.
The forest is almost done now, it's much bigger than before (from 35x35 to 50x50 tiles).

Here's a small preview:



If you'd like to see the map in full:

Spoiler: Old and new

Old:



New:

 

[Zion]

Patch 1.2 is finally ready



This update represents the final version of the game. No more updates will follow (except bugfixes, in case someone still finds bugs).

With the new version there is now also the possibility to play the game directly in the browser

The most important changes in short:

There are two new areas and two new characters! Also two new achievements and one new skill.

Three maps have been graphically reworked - the mountains, for example, now look completely different than before.

List of all changes in the spoiler.

Spoiler: Patchnotes 1.2

05/17/2023 - Release 1.2 "The bear and the skunk" - >>> ENGLISH <<<

New content:
- [Meadow - Autumn & Winter] A new area has been added.
- [Meadow - Autumn & Winter] A new character has been added.
- [Cave] A new area has been added.
- [Cave] A new character has been added.
- [Fields - Autumn & Winter] A new game mechanic has been added: Poisoned Food.
- A new hidden skill has been added: "identify poisoned food".
- Two new achievements can be unlocked.

Gameplay:
- [Forest - Autumn & Winter] The area has been reworked and is now much larger.
- [Mountains - Autumn & Winter] The area has been completely reworked and is now significantly larger.
- [Fields - Autumn & Winter] The area has been reworked.
- Chris now mentions the human village after you talk to him about his tax return in winter.

Graphics:
- [all areas] The maps have been graphically polished up a bit.

Music:
- [Meadow - Autumn & Winter] Two new music tracks have been added.
- [Cave] One new piece of music has been added.

Bugfixing:
- [Forest - Autumn] Fixed a bug that caused there to be less food than planned.
- Fixed a bug that caused you to collect berries from the same bush twice under certain circumstances.
- Minimally reduced the size of the mini-label font so that the black bar no longer appears.

Other:
- Updated the custom key configuration plugin to the latest version.
- Light effects adjusted (previously OcRam, now Khas).

Spoiler: New screenshots

Feel free to leave me some info on how it feels to play now and if you like the two new chars

Download on itch.

 

[Zion]

I fixed a couple of bugs, so version 1.21 is live now.

Patchnotes:

Gameplay:
- When you guess all of Mike's numbers, you get an achievement.
- There is less food to find in winter.

Bugfixing:
- You can't jump over the rock in the cave now.
- The sounds of the waterfalls and cars have been made quieter. Also, the sound no longer disturbs when changing maps (plugin changed, thanks to OcRam).
- Text error in Brother Bear's achievement fixed.
- The edges of rivers do not "flicker" anymore.
- Fixed a spelling mistake (German version).

Have fun playing

 

[Zion]

This game - along with 25 other games - is currently part of a bundle that is available for $4.99 on Itch. Both free and paid games are included (normal price approx. 55$). Great side effect of such a bundle: you support the developers and get a bunch of great games. And they are all yours, including future updates, even if one or more games should become more expensive at some point. So it's worth taking up the offer

The offer runs until the end of the year ( 12/31/2023).

Click here for the bundle.



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Have fun playing