Gameplay Loop
Core Gameplay Loop
Meta Gameplay Loop
Mechanics
Sprint: when the main character sprints, she turns into a patch of flowers that moves around the ground, leaving flower trails behind it.
Collection: the player can pick up things like plants, twigs or fruit to increase chances of successful interaction with the animals. Another collection mechanic is dedicated to the Soul fragments that the main character earns from earning the animals’ trust. When the Soul Fragment is shared with the character, it transforms in a bulb of light and enters the MC’s chest.
Puzzle solving: some animals need assistance, and to help them the player will need to solve different puzzles for each animal they encounter.
Lake location:
Deers: if player manages to find berries that have been growing on a nearby bush, they will have a chance at earning deers’ trust by feeding them the berries. To do so, player needs to approach them and, when the action options pop up, choose the “feed the deer”. If player ties to approach deers without any backup plan and try “patting them”, the animals will just run off.
Egret: when the character encounters the egret, they notice that its leg is stuck in algae from the lake, therefore preventing it from flying off. If player chooses to help, they will need to untangle the algae. The mechanic is similar to the mini-games where you need to untangle wires/ropes, but change them to algae.
Clearing location:
Horse: the animal is trying to reach for a fruit at the top of the branch, but it’s too high up. Player can pick an option to help it; if they do, they enter a short cutscene where the main character beckons the branch to tilt down, letting the horse get the fruit successfully.
Peacock: the main character notices that the bird is lacking its colour, and player has an option to ‘re-paint’ its feathers. When the character approaches the bird, the POV switches to MC’s on a zoomed in feathers on the tail, which player can paint with different colours using the objects they have picked up during their journey (fruit, flowers). PC players can use their mouse, console players can either use the joysticks or touchpads.
Cliffside:
Wolf: on her way to the cliffside, the main character stumbles upon a deceased wolf, that has been laying for a while from the look of it; its body was slowly being enveloped by vines and flowers, the same way the Keeper’s body was when she woke up. When trying to interact, a message pop up, “The Souls of the ones who have approached their end will always remain in your Heart”. After the message disappears, the wolf’s Soul leaves its body and joins the ones that the main character has already collected, in her chest.
Cormorant: when the main character approaches the cliffside, she sees that the bird is acting worried and anxious. coming closer, she notices that strong winds destroyed the cormorant’s nest and blew away all the twigs and grass. The player has an option to collect discarded materials for the nest and help the bird re-build it. The goal is to put all the twigs in the right order for the net to hold its shape.
Notebook: serves as a small archive for the information and images of the animals the player encounters. Allows the player to personally name each animals after acquiring their Soul Fragment.
Systems
Soul Fragments act like tokens for unlocking new pages in the notebook, but they never run out or get spent on anything, as it it the MC’s goal to keep them with her at all times. After acquiring the Soul fragment of an animal, the player will be able to read about them in the notebook and eventually give the a name.
Constraints
As mentioned above, interactions are locked behind resources or puzzles that the player needs to find/solve. If, for some reason, the interaction with an animal fails, the player will have to restart the game, as there is no chance of encountering the animal again. The player can also ignore the animal, but that would mean not gaining any Soul Fragments and not unlocking the page in the notebook.