Beyond Minimalism

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.66
Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.89
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.31
Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.11
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.08
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.73
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.61
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.67
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★100%
Your aim is to find Nature =) It really hard.
No special ending, so you should press ESC (or close tab) if you get to the (pseudo-)realistic trees.

Controls:
WASD - movement
Space - jump
Esc - lose focus in Web version (permanent quit in standalone version)

Comments40

theomnis
theomnis29 Apr 2013, 15:48
I couldn't find any trees, and quit after a while...I suck. Great graphical style though!
NiftyLlama29 Apr 2013, 16:32
I really liked this, getting lost in your minimalist environment was fun.
Polar29 Apr 2013, 16:36
Interesting... unlike theomnis, I did find the trees, though not as I expected. The first time, I went through a couple of rooms until I reached a red cube of death, which (presumably) killed me and sent me back to the start. I then repeated the route, fell off of the edge (possibly a bug?) and reached the trees. Actually, it was a shame I couldn't explore more of the trees, I quite liked that area.

On to the game, it was quite innovative and fun, and I felt it approached the theme pretty well. The only issue I had with it was that it seemed a bit lacking in what I could do - I would have liked more than going down a path and coming back.
iambored200629 Apr 2013, 16:39
I wish I could give you 50 stars for the audio, it's absolutely sublime! This is a game I'm gonna go back to!
CharlesBoury
CharlesBoury29 Apr 2013, 17:53
This thing is... relaxing. It rewarded me well.
You achieved to make me play in a non-eucidian (or what it is called) space without headache.
Great experience.
lucasncv
lucasncv30 Apr 2013, 02:28
Beautiful and relaxing. Found nature the same way Polar did.
ronsho
ronsho30 Apr 2013, 02:29
Interesting navigation, but after I kept coming back to the same room and didn't totally understand how to progress, I quit.
lulzfish_430 Apr 2013, 02:30
I guess I won, I saw the trees. The graphics are really good. Since this is a jam, did you use existing assets like the grass shader and the tree models? I liked the comic in the stone room.
LizEngland30 Apr 2013, 03:43
Very nice minimalist 'mood' with the art, music, and gameplay - it all matched the theme pretty well. The long path made me give up, and lots of identical areas made it hard to know where I was - some variation and landmarks would have helped with the tedium in the environment.
vladimirdlc
vladimirdlc30 Apr 2013, 03:46
I'm glad to give this game a second chance, I was indeed relaxing a with great sound.
I also would have liked a bigger tree area.
ilovepixel
ilovepixel30 Apr 2013, 08:27
The last thing I expected was after falling I was going to see a nice nature scene. After falling, I didn't knew what else to do though.
mchaza30 Apr 2013, 09:42
Once you found nature is that it? other than that nice job.
MrHalfman
MrHalfman30 Apr 2013, 10:30
I liked this game ! Fresh and intelligent, it took me some time to understand how it works.
Nice work !
Pinkerator30 Apr 2013, 10:31
A bit crazy. I like it! I found nature :) Or not?
fullmontis
fullmontis30 Apr 2013, 10:51
Nice relaxing game. I dig the graphics and the music.
kazukishida30 Apr 2013, 13:15
Amazing game! You're right, the theme and graphical style of your game is really much like ours, albeit you did much, much better in terms of graphics and music. XD

The added humor and surprises were great! And I love the ending, man -- it caught me off guard!

The sight of nature is indeed wonderful to behold. Great game! :)
OysterKLAN1 May 2013, 11:59
This was amazing! I couldn't find any trees (how long is that long road?) but it was nonetheless a great experience.
metalcan
metalcan1 May 2013, 15:21
Whoa that ending, at first I thought I broke the game, then... trees! Wonderful glorious trees! I also found potatoes. Nice and relaxing game.
AdventureIslands
AdventureIslands1 May 2013, 18:06
Pretty and relaxing game, I found the nature after some searching and man was it beautiful.
CherryNukaCola
CherryNukaCola2 May 2013, 06:53
Clever take on the theme. Really liked the shader effects. Thank you!
Alex Camilleri2 May 2013, 10:44
Interesting game. I got lost after a while and I quit, but I liked the mood and the feel.
mrexcessive2 May 2013, 10:48
Version tried web on Chrome/Windows7. Mouselook a bit rapid for comfort. Nice dynamic world. Sound seems to work on web version. Long long path excellent(!), reminds me of twisty passages all the same;,. Like the resolution/modelling increasing for nearby objects, very MMO-world - you just tweaking the alphas... ah no the whole thing is dynamic... lovely... Very clever and great entry.
Rafael Sales2 May 2013, 17:06
Great game. Immersive universe.
Hume
Hume3 May 2013, 16:18
Found the clues, followed the clues, got run over by a red cube. :(
Hume
Hume3 May 2013, 16:20
Found the clues, followed the clues, got run over by a red cube. :(

Quite good. Loved the audio. Loved the weird geometrical headspace. Not quite a fan of the always-the-same trigger box...a little variety there would have added to the symbol over each path.

Use of potato noted.

Great submission, thanks.
TinyDrakkarStudio5 May 2013, 19:32
Good idea... just so funy... minimalism art is used by a lot of people but not in this direction ... i like
joe40001
joe400016 May 2013, 07:43
It's a shame some people are finding nature by accident, it's really clever what you do in this game, everything was very well executed and informative without a walkthrough. You just explore and slowly realize what you needed to do. Too often these days games coddle the player, this was the perfect balance of letting me discover on my own without it feeling unfair.

Easily contender for my favorite game of LD26. 5/5

2 small things:
1. You probably could have made nature a nicer place, maybe changed the skybox and the music so the player really feels like they've "found nature"
2. Why no love for potatoes?
rujo6 May 2013, 09:59
nice one. i love the minimal rendering style.
Maple
Maple6 May 2013, 15:36
Was this by any chance inspired by Antichamber? :)

I didn't expect that I would be giving my first 5 stars to a game like this. I really enjoyed exploring the world, and I found the trees after searching everywhere, EXCEPT down! I also liked the design of some of the rooms. It was a very interesting world to explore.
patrickward
patrickward6 May 2013, 18:48
I had to try this game several times before I started to get it. The clues are there, but it took some time for me to get what they were pointing to. This was a strangely addicting game, I didn't want to stop until I saw those trees everyone was talking about. I'm happy to announce that I finally saw them! Nice job, but it borders on being frustrating at the same time. Graphics and sound were superb.
Dir3kt
Dir3kt6 May 2013, 20:35
When the scale change, that's really mind blowing effect. Neat game.
SaintHeiserauthor7 May 2013, 04:57
@lulzfish_4
Yeah, grass and trees is standard TerrainV2 asses from Asset Store. Edge effect is modified script for wireframe drawing with GL.

@Maple
I've finished Antichamber few weeks ago. Maybe I inspired it for a little =)

Thanks for comments! This game is small part of my current project with I working on! You all inspired me a lot!
CMaster7 May 2013, 19:31
Really love the effects and style of this.
It's not mega interesting as a game, but the fade- in and out of changing, outlined objects was very cool.
Beldarak
Beldarak8 May 2013, 16:44
I couldn't finish it because I lack the time to do it right now but I'll definitely come back to it later. Awesome game, congratz !
KevinLaity
KevinLaity16 May 2013, 02:48
The surrealism is giving me a headache. Good job!
Ryusui
Ryusui16 May 2013, 06:47
Reminded me a lot of Antichamber - always a good thing. I just wish the paths led straight from one area to another - turning around and going back each time got a bit tedious.
MinionStudios
MinionStudios18 May 2013, 15:18
Fun and at times very funny. Love the art!
VDZ
VDZ19 May 2013, 18:37
Absolutely amazing. I think this is the first time I've rated an LD game 5/5 in every applicable category. Perfectly executed in every way, it's a shame so many people don't get it.

--SPOILER WARNING--
To the people who don't get it: Each door has a minimalistic symbol above it that indicates where it leads to. Using these symbols and hints you find on the walls (notably the ones to search for the red cube and that 'nature is below your feet') you are supposed to find your way to nature. (The eventual solution is to find the room with the red cube (! symbol) and jump off the path leading to it; nature is below that room.)

Other games by @saintheiser

Found a bug?
Tell us on Discord