VISITORSFROMDREAMS'S PROFILE

Hello,

My name is Daniel, I am an Australian animator and film maker living in the Australian outback.

Currently working on a game called "Shooty and the Catfish".

You can check out my animation and game work here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/VisitorsFromDreams

You can check out my gaming channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Gerkinman
Flatwoods
Something mysterious has landed in Flatwoods.

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2016 Misaos (Fin)

author=SgtMettool
My game did great on RMN and bombed everywhere else. The internet is a curious place.


I guess it also depends on how well you are known in the community, you have been making quality stuff here for quite some time, i'm only new. Likewise Flatwoods had over 29k playthrough's on Newgrounds where I have been submitting content for almost 12 years.

author=zDS
I'm so far behind that RMN is the only place I know of to submit lol.


Itch.io is the only other one I really know of, that and steam obviously. Now ive played over an hour of Three Ghostly Roses I can say I could have happily paid a few bucks for it on either Steam or Itch.io, though I know actually getting the word out about a game is the hard part in the end.

2016 Misaos (Fin)

author=SgtMettool
So hey, has anyone else tried Flatwoods? I think it's deserving of a few nominations.


Your too kind. ;3;

author=JRibbons
Just nominated Flatwoods. I'll have to review it so it stands a chance!

Thanks for nominating The Ledge for best Shamalama-ding-dong!


I am looking forward to it! Its certainly done a lot better on every site that it was submitted to that wasnt rpgmaker.net for some reason, ha ha.

Grim2.png

Making a trip to Space Funeral. This is looking great.

Happup Got Featured! + The Possibility of a Demo

Id love to check out a demo, something that just shows off the mechanics would be lovely just to get a bit of an idea what the gameplay that goes along with those gorgeous visuals is like.

[Review Request]

Well, my review for Flatwoods is gone. It was nice to have while it lasted. RIP

G Review

Flatwoods Review

author=Corfaisus
author=visitorsfromdreams
I like that sort of ambiguous story telling and had hoped people would come up with their own theories as to what the monster was doing in the forest and why they needed those strange pieces of metal.
If I can be honest here for a second, I thought the strange pieces of metal had something to do with repairing the presumably broken tractor.


I guess I can see how that would happen seeing as one of the pieces was sitting on it, ha ha.

fhe_7.png

Really sleek enemy design.

Flatwoods Review

Thanks for the review!

I thought I should address some of these as they are definitely things I want to work on fixing in my next project.

Furniture is too big and walls are too short.

I didn't actually notice this until you pointed it out, I wont lie. I had tried to stick to a similar scale system as used in the second generation Pokemon games, and looking at those games again now they have a similar issue. Its something I should have tried to improve on as opposed to replicate. I was definitely more focused on what you as a player could see (focusing on a 3/4 top down view as opposed to a directly top down view)rather than the players character, which I think I can use to try and justify things like the counters in front of the windows and the book shelves, but it doesn't excuse the ridiculously huge lamps which in retrospect look quite silly.

As I mentioned in the mapping section, what the game has down pat is its ability to direct the player in the direction they need to go. You walk down a forest path and see many stumps along the way that prevent you from getting the sparkling pieces of metal strewn throughout the path. When you get to the end of the path, you find an axe and a stump and you use one to destroy the other, teaching you about this key mechanic. You then pass by the stump back into the central part of the forest path (completing the loop) and your first instinct is to go back down the path and cut down every stump that you couldn't pass before. It all feels very intuitive and rewards the player for acting in a logical way.

This was a big focus for me, as huge amounts of wasted space are something I often find in RPG Maker games along with backtracking, both of which are big pet peeves of mine. I am a big fan of wrap around level design (the Souls series are a big inspiration for me in terms of level design, although the layout of this forest was actually loosely based on the Woodfall Temple from Majoras Mask's level design) so I am glad I managed to pull this aspect off and I hope I can tighten those elements up even more in the future.

I'm assuming that all the graphics and music (and even videos) used in the project are custom designed by the developer, and they're all very good.

I have been a professional animator for over 10 years and really wanted to get away from animating shorts in my free time to making small games, this game was actually originally intended to be a short film. All of the assets in the game were created by myself aside from the music which was composed by my cousin. Im glad you dug it.

Of course I'm not going to spoil how this game ends, but due to its abrupt nature, I have to feel like a direct sequel is necessary. The mystery of the UFO (the protagonists refers to it as a shooting star) isn't really reconciled during the course of the game, but I'm not sure how a game like this would work with the introduction of a greater conflict.

Sadly this game wont be getting a sequel, I wanted to keep everything from the perspective of the lead character who goes out to find some answers, but being a kid observing such a strange event there's only so much you could ever really know. I like that sort of ambiguous story telling and had hoped people would come up with their own theories as to what the monster was doing in the forest and why they needed those strange pieces of metal. The abruptness was regrettable, I had originally hoped the game would be around an hour long but I couldn't find a way to extend it without it feeling like padding. Hopefully my next game has a bit more meat to it.

Thank you so much for playing through the game and leaving this incredibly helpful review. As I said earlier, I look forward to implementing fixes to these issues in my next project. :)

(In)mature moments in gaming

This sounds like it pretty much sums up the entirety of Shadows of the Damned, and I wouldn't have it any other way.