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| twomeadows |
 Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 5:07 am |
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Joined: 23 Jun 2006
Posts: 5
Location: New Zealand
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Greetings,
I began playing Endless Forest last week after reading the 'we make money not art interview'. I wanted to let you know how much I'm enjoying wandering about the forest. I particularly appreciate the slowness of the experience, the mood of the forest and the interactions I have with other deer. I also love that there are few things I can compare it to.
In terms of computer games, only Ico and 'Aquanaut's Holiday come close.
Thank you.
While resting in a mushroom circle, my mind started to wander. I started thinking about what it would be like to live at a tree's pace. I also remembered various stories about spirits who inhabit trees, longing to see a dryad or a gnome slip from behind one trunk and flit to another.
This train of thought led me to thinking about the boardgame Waldschattenspiel (also called Shadows in the Woods). The description runs:
"The dwarves hide in the shadows of the trees from the wandering light. The burning tea-light [adult player] moves through the dark forest [mostly randomly] and tries to find the small dwarves in their hiding places. If a dwarf is touched by the light, it is frozen and not allowed to move anymore. The other dwarves try to release it. To achieve this they must wait until the light has gone far enough so that one of them can join it in the shadow. All the dwarves try to unite under one tree while the candle tries to freeze the dwarves. Who will win, the light or the dwarves?"
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/1070
Something about the combination of cooperation and dimly-lit woods reminded me of the Endless Forest. I just wanted to pass this impression on before I forgot about it.  |
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| Michael |
| Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 7:56 am |
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Site Administrator
Joined: 07 Jun 2002
Posts: 8065
Location: Gent, Belgium
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Thank you. Sounds like a nice game.
Obviously, it's way to competitive for The Endless Forest, but maybe you can pretend to play it. 
Welcome to the Forest! 
And thanks for the "Aquanaut's Holiday" reference. I had never heard of that before. |
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| twomeadows |
| Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 6:46 am |
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Joined: 23 Jun 2006
Posts: 5
Location: New Zealand
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I meant to reply to this a while ago but life keeps getting in the way.
The neat thing about Waldschattenspiel is that the game is cooperative. The gnomes (generally a group of children) must work together or else they will be frozen by the wandering light (generally moved around by an adult). The win-lose aspect of the game seems to be outside the spirit of what you want to achieve with Endless Forest (it should be noted that the children almost always win). What reminded me of your work is the sense of community and working together. What I like about your forest is that this is achieved without the need for a unifying goal.
(I wish there was a small tree icon in this forum.)
Aquanaut's Holiday is an interesting game. The player takes the role of a oceanographer/explorer. There are two parts to the gameplay. The first involves piloting the submarine through a continuous oceanscape. From the small undersea base where the experience begins I was free to explore an immense underwater space populated with all manner of fish, sharks, eels, plankton, whales, corals and other sea-life. Everytime I thought I'd reached the edge of the gamespace an obscure chasm would open into a vast new area.
The controller's shoulder buttons cause the submersible to emit sounds. Combinations of sounds make the fish respond in different ways. through trial and error one could learn what sounds would make particular fish run away, turn happy circles or stare impassively through the cockpit glass. This non-verbal communication reminds me a little of the gesture system in operation in Endless Forest.
Most of the fun comes from exploring the ocean. Every so often I would come across a strange site. It's been years since I played it, but I still remember the time I came across a bubble encased in another bubble ... and the undersea city .. and the sunken pirate ship ... and the giant stone faces ... and the wall ... and so it goes
The other part of the game involves building an artificial reef. Every species of fish or whale that the player communicates with earns another brick for the reef. Piece by piece the player builds a 3D reef to attract fish. Different spatial arrangements and colour combinations of bricks will attract different types of fish. Once the reef is completed a secret is unlocked.
No guns. No hot-pursuits. No life bar. Just swimming about the ocean, following a whale to the surface before ducking into the depths to swim with a stingray.  |
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| Michael |
| Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 7:53 am |
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Site Administrator
Joined: 07 Jun 2002
Posts: 8065
Location: Gent, Belgium
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Sounds wonderful!
We'll have to look into this. |
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| twomeadows |
| Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 11:53 pm |
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Joined: 23 Jun 2006
Posts: 5
Location: New Zealand
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Aquanauts Holiday was an early playstation game (1995?) so it might be a little tricky to track down. It's well worth the effort though.
I'm aware of only one other game that Kazutoshi Iida made. Tail of the Sun, released a year or so later, centres on a tribe of cave folk. The players assumes the role of one of the cave men or women and sets out to gather food for the tribe. It's a more of a traditional game than Aquanauts Holiday but its still highly original. Oh, and the soundtrack is fantastic!
A review of Tail of the Sun.
http://www.gamerevolution.com/oldsite/games/sony/tailofthesun.htm
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| twomeadows |
| Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:09 am |
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Joined: 23 Jun 2006
Posts: 5
Location: New Zealand
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