Sapling: A Tree's Tale

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[Sapling GGD]

[Sapling GitHub]

[Sapling 1.15 Free Download]

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Project Scope:

This game was created over a weekend for the Global Game Jam. The theme of the jam was ‘Roots’. It was intended as a low-intensity anti/idol RPG game, taking inspiration from Vampire Survivors. The gameplay is solely based on the player periodically choosing upgrades for the tree to create a build that can survive the randomised weather conditions. This was designed as a small game. Sapling was created to align with the Hidden Heritage Transfuzer which it succeeded in and was featured on the show reel.

 

Design Goals:

• Create a game with complex systems that are not very visible to the player.

• Minimise player input.

• Offer a tranquil and relaxing experience.

• Make it playable in the background.

 

 

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Steps Taken To Achieve This:

To create complex systems, a dynamic weather system affected by the in-game calendar was developed, which also affects daylight hours relevant to the season. A timer is set to a random number; once it elapses, a script called "chance of weather" is run, and a new time is given to the timer, which starts to tick down again. The weather is randomly generated, with seasonal changes altering probabilities of certain outcomes (e.g., it is much more likely to snow in winter).

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These randomly generated weather patterns then have the chance to trigger other events that will lock the weather into a certain pattern for a random amount of time (e.g., if there is a protracted period of time where it is only sunny, this will trigger a drought, locking this weather pattern in for an amount of time).

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The systems are virtually invisible to the player; they have no way of directly seeing these, but the perks that affect them highlight these concepts. The player should instinctually perceive that if there is not enough rain or sun, the tree will die. The invisible stats consist of:

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• Sunlight, generated by clear skies.

• Water, generated by rain (and if the right upgrade is acquired, snow).

• Love, representing how much the human community values the tree and generated by things such as markets taking place nearby.

• Health, an overall representation of the tree's stats.

 

These all decrease at variable rates that reflect the conditions the tree is in when they are not being specifically generated. Player input is completely minimised. Played only with a mouse, the player chooses from a selection of upgrades after predetermined amounts of time. These upgrades or ‘Roots’ are the only way the player can affect the game, and the idea is to choose roots that give the tree the best chance of surviving the weather/seasons.

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Art and music were crucial to creating this sense of tranquility. The weather, time, and calendar system all affect several audio loops that constantly play. These loops are adjusted in volume as time ticks by and the weather changes in relation to the events on screen. These loops were all recorded to be different lengths, creating huge amounts of subtle variation. The simple art style follows the same principle, being reactive to the events that unfold in the game. The game was not fullscreen-enabled, as the idea is that the player has it on in the background, perhaps on a second monitor, and large amounts of time elapse with no player input.

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Evolution Of The Project:

This project being created in such a tight time schedule meant that numerous things conceived at its conception had to be dropped. Some of these were features that I still wished I could have included, but the limitations also helped inspire creativity and keep the project lean. This project could easily have become too convoluted, and having to cut features, in some cases, was a blessing in disguise. Some features dropped include:

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• Several other invisible metrics, including structural integrity.

• Wind severity, which was going to affect integrity, was also dropped, though the groundwork for this can be seen in the windmill and the speed at which the clouds move in the current version.

• Originally, the game was going to use a full calendar, but this involved too much data input for the timeframe of the jam, so this was simplified to a Stardew Valley-style system with four seasons, each with four weeks.

• Other systems that were tweaked: Originally, the game was going to take place over the course of 100 years and involve real-world historical events happening in the background, but within the timeframe, this was deemed impossible.

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