This was originally a Twitter thread
Now that Into The Infinite Forest has been out for a few days. I want to write a short thread about how the game came to be and how it was designed!
The Better Soulslike Jam
I started working on the game during the Better Soulslike jam. My favorite part of Dark Souls is exploring the worlds and learning little bits of lore from the environment as I explore. However, I couldn’t make the combat element work to my liking.
Whatever I did, it just didn’t feel right. So I put the game down for several weeks and did other stuff. My eureka moment came when I was watching the crows on my balcony.
Some crows hang out on my balcony. They’re super cute, but when I’m watching them. I have to move carefully, as they’ll fly off if they spot me. And this concept of subtle movements stuck with me.
Crows And Nature
I watched a load of nature documentaries and realized that spotting and filming wild animals often requires a blend of planning and luck. You need to be in an environment where the behavior you want to see will happen, but you have no guarantee the animal will turn up.
This led to the coin-flipping mechanic that’s the core of Into The Infinite Forest. You have 5 coins in front of you, and you get to flip one each turn. However, you need specific combinations of coins to make things happen.
So, while you can plan ahead and prepare as you head toward a creature, you’ll always need that little bit of luck to study it effectively. This encourages the player to take detours and explore other parts of the world. And as they detour, they’ll flesh out more of the world. They might also find themselves stumbling on another creature to study. And, the player might have the coin setup needed to study it well, leading to an unplanned detour.
This means the player feels like they’re in control of their adventure, but the animals still feel unpredictable. Capturing the feeling I have as I slowly creep past the couch, hoping the crows don’t spot me before I can take a picture of them.
However, as you successfully study creatures, you’ll gain new abilities that allow you to traverse the world quickly or flip more coins per turn. This represents your growing knowledge of the area, giving a feeling of progression.
Conclusion
This (hopefully) comes together to create a game that balances adventure and relaxation. You’re never under threat, so you can spend as long as you want exploring the land or considering the animals you encounter. Which also makes it a fun world-building tool for GMs.
Though to me, it will always be a game about two crows that use my balcony as a rainwater cafe. If you want the game, you can get it here:
Jonathon Greenall is a freelance writer, artist, and tabletop roleplaying game designer who has written for CBR, Polygon, Nintendo Life, Gayley Dreadful, Enbylife, and many other publications. They have also published several popular and highly-praised tabletop roleplaying games including “You Have One Ability….The Ability To Fuck This Up,” “Macarons, Milkshakes, And Magic,” and “Wander Wizards.”
Jonathon has always been fascinated by media, from the big hitters to the small, obscure, and often overlooked titles that linger on the sidelines, capturing both the on and off-camera stories that make these shows so fascinating.
Jonathon is also a major anime fan, having been exposed to the medium through shows like Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena. Since then, Jonathon has maintained a passion for anime, watching most new shows each season and hunting down overlooked gems from previous ones.