Due to some kind of sorcery, you are no longer welcome among your own kind.

This page hosts my entry for Acerola Jam 0. The theme of this game jam is Aberration. Source code can be found on GitHub.

Controls:

To move your beast, use the WSAD keys.

Aim by moving the mouse.

Press the left mouse button to attack.

To quit the game, press Ctrl+Q.

Toggle fullscreen mode by pressing  F11.

Changelog:

[13.03.2024] Update 1.0.1:

• Fixed a typo.
• Food that falls into water is now destroyed as it was previously unreachable.
• Improved collision shape of water tiles.
• Added NavMesh to the world and NavigationAgent2D to all BeastAI to prevent enemies from getting stuck near water.
• Resolved an issue with the web build and uploaded it to itch.
• Improved player aim (mouse position was not taking into account camera movement).
• Improved attack sprite so it is more consistent (and symmetrical) with the collider.

[12.03.2024] Release 1.0.0:

• Initial game release. Only windows version. Web doesn't work.

VVV Scroll down to view gameplay tips VVV

(spoilers ahead)

It's encouraged to explore and figure things out on your own, yet if the game feels too challenging, consider these hints:

• Pay attention to a beast's eyes to estimate its health.
• Larger beasts have more health and deal greater damage.
• Consuming food helps in your growth and healing.
• Berries provide less sustenance compared to fruits; meat offers the most.
• The size of a defeated beast determines the amount of meat dropped.
• Nearby beasts will attempt to steal your fruits and berries, but they won't consume meat from their own species.
• Ocelots are the least aggressive; they won't attack you unless provoked.
• You can flee from combat in hopes that other species aggro upon your enemy.
• Well-fed enemies will regenerate health if left alone for too long.
• Your objective is to locate and defeat four beast kings in a single lifetime.
• Defeating a beast king bestows a persistent magical buff upon you. (Those buffs persist through death.)
• The Boar King is more resilient than regular boars; defeating it will reduce incoming damage.
• The Spider King has superior speed compared to other spiders; defeating it will increase your attack speed.
• The Snake King consistently regenerates health, even when hungry; defeating it doubles the saturation from consumed food.
• The Ocelot King is larger than its counterparts; defeating it will enhance your growth speed and maximum growth size.

Secret Story:

Four magic students have been living together in conflict for many years. Their names are: Gerward, Bimbolious, Bert, and Roger Moore. They study magic under the watchful eye of the archmage Rombobombolini. One day, their rivalry reached its peak during a quarrel in a tavern, resulting in Bert getting a beer mug to the head and ending up with a black eye. To prevent further incidents like this in the future, Archmage Rombobombolini persuaded his students to settle all disputes once and for all with a magical tournament.

The rules of the magical tournament are simple. Each of the four young wizards will place their familiar in Rombobombolini's magical sphere (called Little Garden). Time inside Little Garden flows differently; while a second passes in reality, years go by in Little Garden. The winner of the tournament will be the mage whose familiar survives the longest. The tournament winner will be officially recognized by the other three mages as the big shot, and the rest can't do anything about it. Each wizard can use one spell on their familiar before placing it in Little Garden. To prevent cheating, Archmage Rombobombolini will personally supervise Little Garden.

Gerard's familiar is a boar named Boaris. He used a spell to increase its resistance to physical attacks.

Bimbolious's familiar is a spider named Webster. She used a spell to increase its speed.

Bert's familiar is a snake named Sneksquik. He used a spell for life regeneration.

Roger Moore's familiar is an ocelot named Momo. He used a spell to increase its physical strength.

After placing the familiars in Little Garden, Rombobombolini sealed the magical sphere so time could accelerate. However, secretly Rombobombolini used more than one spell! Rombobombolini's goal is for all his students to lose. Their teacher wants to teach them a lesson and show them that the world is bigger and more unpredictable than they think. And as an added extra bonus, it will give him the opportunity to exchange his students' hopeless (soon to be dead) familiars for some cool mythical beasts, because honestly, Boar, Spider, Snake, and Ocelot bring shame to him as a teacher.

The exact definition of the game rules written by Rombobombolini is that the tournament in Little Garden ends when only one Spiritual Beast is alive. A wizard wins the tournament if the remaining Spiritual Beast alive is their familiar. So, to make sure each of the four wizards fails, all Rombobombolini needs to do is place one more Spiritual Beast in the game.

Rombobombolini blindly shot his arch-magical spell, hitting a random beast. This beast was surrounded by necromantic death magic. When the beast dies, time in the entire Little Garden will rewind until the moment the beast was first hit by this spell. Considering the vastly accelerated time inside Little Garden, this beast is guaranteed to gain consciousness sooner or later and transform into a Spiritual Beast. Then it's downhill from there because since the new beast cannot die, it physically cannot lose this bet. In other words, Rombobombolini ensured that all four familiars of his students would die.

Rombobombolini's spell hit a little ocelot kitten. As it happens, this kitten lived in a pack led by Momo (the familiar). As a Spiritual Beast, Momo is intelligent and immediately senses that something is wrong with the kitten; he feels the aura of death from it. However, Momo cannot bring himself to kill the little ocelot, so he leaves it alive. Momo names the little kitten Purr Purr and allows it to do as it pleases. Unfortunately, the powerful aura of death surrounding Purr Purr makes other ocelots unfriendly towards him. Purr Purr must hunt and take care of his own life without any help from the pack.

The player's beast is Purr Purr.

The game can only end in one way: Rombobombolini's victory. Either Purr Purr kills all the other familiars and wins the tournament, or time in Little Garden loops until eventually Purr Purr lives long enough that all other familiars die of old age.

Credits

Sound effects were generated using rFXGen.

Music track is Creepy Forest (F) by Brandon Morris under CC0 License.

Font is Press Start 2P by codeman38 under SIL Open Font License.

Engine is Godot 4.2.1.