The Stone of Southery: From Beyond the Stars
The Stone of Southery: From Beyond the Stars
- Based on Norfolk Folklore
- See 3 multiple endings
- No failure state
- Content warnings: None
Controls: Left Mouse button to interact. Click the glowing spots of the stone to gain it's blessing.
Years after a rare celestial event, a farmer in need of a miracle for their next harvest has wandered into a forest in search of any hope they can find. They come across a stone unlike anything they have seen before. What could happen if they reach out and touch it..?
The Stone of Southery: From Beyond the Stars is our entry for the Norwich Games Festival 2024 game jam. Our game is set in Norfolk and takes inspiration from folklore originating in the area. The theme for this jam is ✦ Beyond the Stars ✦. For our game we wanted a less literal interpretation of the phrase. Our titular character is a meteor from beyond the stars that crash-landed in Southery, eventually this 'stone' earned a reputation for having magical powers.
It was important to us to make our game more accessible to people who have little experience with games. We did this by holding the gameplay until the player makes their first correct action, and by not having a failure state. Players can experience the game the whole way through and get an ending, no matter how skilled they are, while experts can try for the best ending. To play Use the left mouse button to click wherever the stone glows.
Credits:
Vurj: Art, font, writing and coding
David: Music and sound
berrylly: Art and writing
All assets were created from scratch within the jam period for the purpose of the Nowrich Games Festival 2024 game jam. Including font, code, art, sounds and music.
Programs used: Gamemaker Studio, Aseprite, Photoshop, Audacity, FL Studio
Comments
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I thought this was super interesting!
The music and sound effects really compliment the art style as well.
The only feedback I would have is that I wasn't really sure when I triggered something and when I didn't.
Would love to see a longer version of this!
PS: Love to see a fellow GMS2 programmer ;)
Oh, thank you that means so much!
Thanks for the feedback. The veins make a chime sound and emit particle effects when you successfully touch them if that clears anything up :)
Yeah it was my first time using Game Maker, it's an interesting engine, it makes prototyping extremely easy which is great for jams. I had some issues exporting to HTML though and needed to remake quite a bit of the game to make it work in browser so i'm glad I gave myself multiple days for exporting.
Oh yeah... HTML5 is terrible with GMS2 if I must admit. Stuff will work on PC and Android and completely break with HTML5 it's one of GMS2s downsides if I am completely honest.
But if you found GMS2 interesting I'd highly recommend joining Gamemaker Kitchen they have a lot of libraries that will really help you take your game to the next level.
https://discord.com/invite/bzXzzC38VN
Think of Gamemaker as 2D Unity without all the bloat.