Forest Edge

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.09
Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.86
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.50
Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.45
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.37
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.10
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.38
Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.94
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★100%
Ludum Dare 27 Compo Entry (2013)

Welcome to FOREST EDGE

Player 1: Get Lord Joseph De Burg
back onto the road and out of the forest!
Controls: WASD, C, SPACE

Player 2: PRESS ENTER to play Sir Thomas Semple
Defend Lord Joseph with your life!
Controls: ARROWS, O, P

Made by: lordjosephdeburg.tumblr.com aka Joseph Burke

Music by: Kevin MacLeod

Note: There is a limit on how many keys can be pressed
once on the keyboard, this creates some movement issues
in two player mode

Press ESC to exit

Comments55

Parappa26 Aug 2013, 04:51
Well worth the download! I love the art style and old school feel of it.
gikdew
gikdew26 Aug 2013, 15:44
I really like the graphics!
GrimGary26 Aug 2013, 15:45
Graphics reminded me of some old C64 games I used to play. Unfortunately I couldn't seem to do much in the game other than move. C or Space didn't do anything as far as I can tell. =/
doctorscientist26 Aug 2013, 15:46
This is the funniest entry I have seen so far. The music is perfect and the game play is very fun. My only complaint is not being able to attack while moving.
madk26 Aug 2013, 15:48
I'm assuming that going off the screen means I won? I entertained myself by playing as both players at the same time.
stephan_h26 Aug 2013, 15:54
What a lovely game. The graphics, music, style. And the imagination begins to wander because of presentation and the scenario.
Perhaps you should have arranged the key input so that it could be comfortably played by a single person steering both characters.
Capro
Capro26 Aug 2013, 15:55
I like this game, but you have to tune the difficulty: too many enemies arrives all together.
lordjosephdeburg
lordjosephdeburgauthor26 Aug 2013, 16:38
thanks for the comments so far! glad you all like it!

@doctorscientist: Not being able to attack while moving was a design choice, I really wanted the player to think about how to fight.

@stephan_h: thanks! The defend key is a little awkwardly placed to make the player feel a bit more anxious as well as leave space for player two. I agree though an option to reconfigure or spreading out the keys would be useful!
Ravetcofx26 Aug 2013, 17:05
man... no Linux Version :/
Joxno26 Aug 2013, 17:11
Now this is what I call a horde-mode game, Hehe, I like it
AdventureIslands
AdventureIslands26 Aug 2013, 17:12
Where are you supposed to go in the game? I walked all the way down but there was nothing there. Is the road or exit somewhere?

Otherwise it was okay, I didn't see much use for the shield as it was easy enough to just kill everyone with the sword's huge hit area. The gameplay could use a bit something something, it was bit too repetitive.

Nice music and ok graphics though, reminds me of ol' good games.
intripoon26 Aug 2013, 17:31
This should have a story and world to explore. Circular enemy spawning around myself basically removes the importance of moving around in the world.
lordjosephdeburg
lordjosephdeburgauthor26 Aug 2013, 17:48
@adventure Im glad you mastered the game so fast! yes there is a road out of the forest. A hint finding it easier is in the name :)

@intripoon You are meant to escape the forest by the road and are under pressure to do so from the kern ambushes.
sgehlich26 Aug 2013, 18:04
Seems to be broken over here - when I start the game, the screen is filled with "m" letters on a grass background... :/
N42726 Aug 2013, 18:06
Loved the graphics and mood, combat was sorta weird but had some strategy to it too.
lordjosephdeburg
lordjosephdeburgauthor26 Aug 2013, 19:10
@sgehlich Sorry to hear that, what system are you using? It was written for Windows 7 and uses OpenGL. I would not mind a screenshot link to see if I can replicate the issue. Thanks for the feedback!
anjack27 Aug 2013, 12:40
I like the fact that you have to stop in order to attack. It adds a bit of strategy. I also really like the graphics style. Fun game!
Marcellus27 Aug 2013, 14:56
very nice graphics
ZeppelinCaptain27 Aug 2013, 14:59
I JUST WANT TO GET OUT OF THIS FOREST. STOP KILLING ME!
Great fun, and awesome graphics & sound :D
I loved the walking animation ;)

I hate this forest.
Tainted_Code27 Aug 2013, 15:33
Wow, well done! It's awesome ;D
tiffi27 Aug 2013, 15:35
the grafics are awesome, but why are the wookies that angry???
BerdiNerdi27 Aug 2013, 15:53
Very cool little game :) I loved the old-school atmosphere of the game!
Tanser27 Aug 2013, 16:23
The art is nice, I like the game a lot, just had some trouble reading the instructions at the beginning, some people will need more than 10 seconds.
Altogether this is just amusing lovely entry!
TeamFlare
TeamFlare27 Aug 2013, 16:54
Thumbs up for the two player mode, we just had alot of fun here bashing what appears to be wookies :) Awesome entry :)
Almax2727 Aug 2013, 17:03
Thought Chewbacca had cloned himself!

Awesome!
Reverend Speed27 Aug 2013, 18:08
Sadly, couldn't get this to run. "Error creating process (Forest Edge.exe location). Reason: Access is denied." Looks interesting, though!
boddiul
boddiul27 Aug 2013, 19:11
Nice game, glad I am not the only who used Game Maker.
The game is VERY hard, but interesting
lordjosephdeburg
lordjosephdeburgauthor27 Aug 2013, 19:22
Hi reverend, sounds like your windows account doesnt have the rights to run it (your security is too high). Right click and try running as administrator - let me know if that works. thanks!
Boodog27 Aug 2013, 20:37
Good job!
Fluffy Tigers in the Sky
Fluffy Tigers in the Sky27 Aug 2013, 21:03
Cool game! I like the style, the music and sound :)
Is there any way to actually win it? I went downwards and finally off the screen... :)
Sh1rogane
Sh1rogane27 Aug 2013, 21:05
Good game, good graphics and sounds. And that framerate :P
ryantouk27 Aug 2013, 21:13
I hate to point it out, but since you submitted to the competition and not the 72-hour jam, all content is supposed to be made by you within 48 hours... AKA no Kevin MacLeod songs (as much as we all love royalty free music).
Markavian
Markavian27 Aug 2013, 21:24
Things I liked:
- Open world exploration, sense of being in a forest
- Killing stuff in clouds of bloody mist
- The directional graphics and attack animations

Things I didn't like;
- Only one kind of enemy, no real strategy except stop and swing
- Picking the wrong direction at the start is really punishing
- No end screen when you find the glowy bit at the end of the road ???

Things I think would make the game better:
- Random / scripted encountered in the forest, e.g. a fire, a trap encounter, crouched monsters/thieves that attack when discovered, weapon changes (axe, spear, bow?)
- Different trees, that change subtle to show different parts of the map
- Different end points, which may not be the road, but give the play a story to tell, e.g. a grave yard, a raider camp, a ravvine, etc.

Good on the basics, nice music too. Was inspired enough to write a whole bunch of ideas about it :)
dook27 Aug 2013, 21:28
This seemed really good, but unfortunately I had no one nearby to help me! I didn't get the 10 second count down thing, though. What does it do?
lordjosephdeburg
lordjosephdeburgauthor27 Aug 2013, 22:17
@ryan It is perfectly acceptable as along as you have the right to use them, I have seen many submissions using royalty free music and off the self assets etc.

@mark thanks I know I had so many similar ideas, I think I will work on a version with more enemy types etc. I would also have liked to reward the player with more stuff to find in the forest if you do take the wrong direction... if only I had more time! Im glad you enjoyed it.

@dook Ive added a screenshot of the road to my journal if that helps! I think some people were having trouble with this as well.
tokw27 Aug 2013, 22:32
Looks good so far looking forward to playing it.
lordjosephdeburg
lordjosephdeburgauthor27 Aug 2013, 22:39
@DOOK (again) the cooldown is a safe time from the next wave, after that you are in danger of attack.
Kragnir28 Aug 2013, 00:52
Kind of lacking in gameplay.

Nice graphics.
Eelfroth28 Aug 2013, 00:56
Awesome soundtrack!
ryantouk28 Aug 2013, 01:46
@lordjoseph -- OK maybe I misunderstood. (I would edit my comment if I could find a way to!)

I do like the look and feel of the game, but it was too difficult for me to get very far on my first attempt, I will try again tonight!
KhaoTom
KhaoTom28 Aug 2013, 04:51
The look kinda makes me nostalgic for old DOS games
Zer0Kelvin28 Aug 2013, 05:01
Good character animation for 48 hours! :) Need to spread the enemies out a little more, introduce them one at a time at first and then build up. Kind of overwhelming being attacked by so many at once right off the bat. Not sure if using the shield helped much versus just swinging the sword?
Purplescape
Purplescape28 Aug 2013, 05:22
Great adventure, I like the graphics and music a lot. Didn't use the shield though, it seemed like the best strategy was swing the sword like crazy. I played as both characters too which was difficult but fun.
Shugor
Shugor28 Aug 2013, 11:03
This was very fun to play! I liked the graphics and music, and the gameplay was good despite its repetitiveness. Some different types of enemies and ways to fight them could be good ideas for the future. I didn't get to try out the two player mode, but it seems like it would be a lot of fun to do someday~
MinionStudios
MinionStudios28 Aug 2013, 16:15
So fun! I love the oldschool look and the game play is fun.
ashdnazg30 Aug 2013, 17:42
The sprites are really pretty, but gameplay lacks a bit.
shard123
shard12331 Aug 2013, 18:43
Really fun with great graphics and music!
lordjosephdeburg
lordjosephdeburgauthor15 Sep 2013, 15:17
@michail I did not use the whole track I had to do at least an hour or two of editing different tracks myself to make it loopable and allow for sound variation during the 48 hour compo and make it work within the feel of a game, so the ownership of this track is not even fully kevins, its actually debatable that I needed to cite but I did anyway.

I have been very up front about the use of royalty free music and the part about '(But not the whole music track)' is NOT written in the rules so I would appreciate if you had not said that.
Mandraw15 Sep 2013, 17:38
really col gra
Mandraw15 Sep 2013, 17:40
Oh my , something gone bad , sorry for the doub le post...
Anyways as I was saying , really cool graphics and ambiance , never found the road , but the wookies were really aggressive...

just one question : why wookies ?
lordjosephdeburg
lordjosephdeburgauthor15 Sep 2013, 21:36
@Mandraw glad you liked it!

I wasnt expecting people to call them wookies lol so I find this pretty funny. There is a bit of history behind the game. I was actually going for irish kerns with a more sinister look. http://www.heraldry.ws/info/kern.jpg

This was a naturally enemy of the normans in the game, and my ancestors! The choice of colours was just a coincidence with the palette I was using. I was going to add a friendly kern as a selectable character, with different look etc, which may have clarified things but ran out of time.

http://gamejolt.com/games/action/forest-edge/17196/

I actually have the game on gamejolt and intend to put a big update out in maybe 2-3 months time (halloween) if you are interested. I will eventually update the look of the kern more than likely, but the next update will focus on expanding the mechanics. thanks for playing!
theholychicken15 Sep 2013, 21:53
I love your game!
Dual controlling two characters is an epic experience, and the extra character adds so much to the player's own imagined narrative.
The nostalgic art style is very very enjoyable.
It took me until the end to find the road, and before that I only walked straight north without knowing where to go. But that only made finding the road more exciting, I think.

Now... this doesn't detract at all from how much I like this entry, but @ryantouk and @michail are right... The exemptions for audio are
"Fonts, drum loops, drum samples, and sampled instruments are allowed IF you have the legal right to use them."
and
"Content generators are allowed. In fact, you are encouraged to create them and share them with the community. sfxr, the extremely popular sound effect generator was originally created for Ludum Dare. It has since gone on to be used in many indie and commercial games."
Kevin's music is not exempted unfortunately.

But Ludum Dare 27 is over soon anyway. This is your game now and you can put whatever music in it you like :]
superfrog16 Sep 2013, 08:14
I love old school graphics.

good job.

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