ZenBox

by anstabo
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.80
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.20
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.98
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.85
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.59
Mood★★★★★★★★★★4.24

Chill and Zen diorama of procedural bonzaï-building, take your time building your bonzaïs or try and complete the whishing well quest.

This game is about observing an environmental change, you can help guide it by choosing which buds to hatch. You can use this technique to break twigs and gift them to the wishing well.

You will be able to seed new bonzaïs and transform the landscape by harvesting their flowers.

Have fun designing your own bonzaï from a single seed:
07.png
The wishing well will reward you with cosmetic items and a final secret:
03lite.png.jpg

Keyboard:

Use WASD/ZQSD for camera movement

Mouse:

press right click to spin the camera

Left click to interact and to grab objects

If your game crashes it means that you've won!

You can reload from the game if you're stuck

64 bits-only and a pc that's at least 6 years old

HAVE FUN!


Comments22

CloudWannabe9 Jan 2023, 19:34
This was a really cool concept and I liked that the goal was to crash it lol
Indronna9 Jan 2023, 19:53
I don't why, but I really liked this game, everything work together very nicely
FoxWindler9 Jan 2023, 20:22
I dont know why i dont see hundreds comments here yet. It's the most beautiful thing that i've ever seen in LD52. Zen music + perfect graphics makes realy zen mood. Thanks for that!
Derek Volker
Derek Volker9 Jan 2023, 22:32
While i liked the atmosphere and the visual of it, it didn't seems much of a game as it is a work of art.

Any way you see, it's a fantastic creation. Congrats.
Devilsmile11 Jan 2023, 11:56
Love this game! Waiting for full ;D Thank you!
redcoff
redcoff11 Jan 2023, 13:02
I love the visuals and atmosphere
froissant
froissant11 Jan 2023, 13:11
The scenery is really beautiful. I like contemplative games like that.
ArqSenpai11 Jan 2023, 13:18
This game is such a fresh breeze. Very contemplative, the music and the graphics fits very well with the amtosphere. When I saw the screenshots I said "wow!" then it's even better in the game when you progress.
Maybe it lacks a bit of gameplay (the goal here doesn't seem to be gameplay heavy which is fair), but this was a really lovely experience.
Good job!
Alex de la Cour
Alex de la Cour11 Jan 2023, 17:56
Well done on a truly stunning game! The art is perfect, and the whole experience was almost dream-like, wandering around this beautiful peaceful garden helping my trees grow, watching as the place became more green and picturesque with the birds chirping in the background. I genuinely lost myself in the time I was playing this - great job!
JavaSaurus
JavaSaurus11 Jan 2023, 19:45
This game is great... You've picked a perfect name, I was zenning out ! This is a keeper and should be a top contender for art if you ask me :)
WeeFairyFabi
WeeFairyFabi11 Jan 2023, 19:55
A really cute game and unique idea, I really enjoyed the zen vibes and growing my own little cherry tree~
Alex de la Cour
Alex de la Cour11 Jan 2023, 22:15
By the way I didn't realize you made Dark Points last time around - that was probably my favourite game from LD51, so no surprise you've made something so great once again!
Starlight Glimmer is best poney11 Jan 2023, 22:44
> If your game crashes it means that you’ve won!

I don't know if it's supposed to be a joke, but the game crashed alongside the entire PC. The strain becomes really hard once the tree from the well grows big.

Amazing visuals and concept, but movement in the 3D space was very uncomfortable, and a standard FPP camera would have done much better (or at least screen dragging shouldn't move the camera's XYZ).
LDJam user 8951
LDJam user 895114 Jan 2023, 05:58
Love the visuals!

Maybe you didn't notice but this guy also made Crumble - pretty nice NS platformer game.
Forik
Forik14 Jan 2023, 20:48
Love games like this one. Very beautiful and relaxing.

Greate work! Thank you =)
Chase of Bass
Chase of Bass16 Jan 2023, 15:18
The atmosphere in this was really nice and peaceful, really liked the graphics and the vibe -quit before it crashed lol -great job on this!
Schmalex22 Jan 2023, 18:52
Now while i would not really call this a game (more like an art thing) the visuals, music and atmosphere are outstanding! I am in love with the artstyle and would love to see something slightly more game-like coming out of it. Congrats!
Lukuluk23 Jan 2023, 17:33
Woah, I loved this game's aesthetics and how it dynamically evolves.
It makes think about a similar kind of relaxing/creative game we made during the last LD jam ( https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/ultimate-chill-home ). We didn't figure out a nice progression mechanic, and I love the way you do it with growing, harvesting and puting stuff in the well.
Sadly, at one point my computer could not so many trees and crashed, but I could reach level 6.

So it was great! Hard to know when to end playing, I feel like it's similar to Minecraft -> stopping when you feel you have done what you wanted here. But the system of leveling kinda teases the possibility of having more content if you continue... (like new forms of trees, something like that).

Some comments I had in my head during playtime :
- would love to see some birds.
- I suspected that trees would eventualy die over time
- I would perhaps feel better just controlling the camera in a more FPS style instead of rotating on an axis.
- The leaves are just so wonderful :heart_eyes:
- Well, the trees themselves are wonderful :stuck_out_tongue:
- Oupsie, the gifts I'm given can fall into the ground!
- I would love to be able to just place the "gifts" more easily, and why not in the trees, but this looks like another technical challenge to solve ^^

In any case, congrats for this nice entry!
Lukuluk23 Jan 2023, 17:34
Oh yeah, I forgot the "If your game crashes it means that you’ve won!" :laughing:
LeoRototo23 Jan 2023, 20:37
OMG !
It is fantastic, I really love it.
I wish there was a video or smothing where i could learn how you did everything, from skybow to branch generating !

Let me know if you do something like this one day :D
DaivyIsHere
DaivyIsHere26 Jan 2023, 08:39
Really like the overall atomsphere. Super relexing and cool. Music is my favorite of all :)

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