Open game in exclusive window

LIVING STILL DEMO

You find in the woods a living photograph of a withering flower; walk around and explore the area to bring the flower back to life.

The game is an audio–focused (not audio–only) experience where you explore the calm but unknown woods by orientating yourself using the sounds of the world around you. While a map is available to help players understand the shape of their surroundings, audio feedback should allow you to "feel" your surroundings by only listening as the world inside and outside the photograph evolves as you walk.

ABOUT DEVELOPMENT

Living Still is still in the works, I've been working on this game for about a year now. A couple of months ago I realized that, instead of trying to finish every single feature I want to include in it, I should instead finish and polish up a demo that introduces the feel of what I want this game to be.

So this is it, I've still got plenty to work on—including for this demo—because I still have lots to learn.

FEEDBACK

I would appreciate any feedback if you found remaining bugs (I'm sure there are plenty) or if you have any ideas on how to improve the feel or look of something.

STAY IN TOUCH

Twitter
@eneeigriega
@livingstillgame
@anywhystudio

Discord
AnyWhy Studio's Server
@eneeigriega

Email
livingstillgame@anywhystudio.com

StatusIn development
PlatformsWindows, macOS, HTML5
Rating
Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars
(2 total ratings)
AuthorAnyWhy Studio
Made withUnity
Tags2D, Exploration, Indie, Relaxing, Short, Singleplayer
Average sessionA few minutes
LanguagesEnglish
InputsKeyboard, Mouse
LinksBlog, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter

Download

Download NowName your own price

Click download now to get access to the following files:

Living Still Demo - Win (64-bit) 121 MB
Version 31
Living Still Demo - Win (32-bit) 117 MB
Version 21
Living Still Demo - macOS (64-bit + Apple silicon) 131 MB
Version 31

Exclusive content

Support this game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.

Digital Download of Living Still's Inspiration Photograph: "Bee With Heavy Legs on a Tranquil Backdrop"

Get the original photograph that inspired me to make this game for wallpapers for personal use!

This photograph has always been one of my favorites since I took it a couple of years ago.

I had in mind an idea for a game about taking care of a tiny world by moving it inside the player's own world and seeing the tiny world change and evolve influenced by the external elements. I've kinda always known that my drawing and animation skills weren't good enough to portray my ideas onto a screen accurately so I turned to my photographs and this one just gave me a burst of ideas to keep my ideas alive.
I realized that when I took this photograph I had photographed a lot more flowers in different stages and realized I could "cut them up" to make a game about a flower that the player could take to the right places and help it change, evolve and stay alive.

I talk more about how I came up with the idea for this game in this post if you want to learn more about this game.

10 images without watermarks:

  • 1 image in 1x1 aspect ratio.
  • 3 images in 4x3 aspect ratio.
  • 3 images in 16x9 aspect ratio.
  • 3 images in 16x10 aspect ratio.

Sample images:
For illustrative purposes only. Delivered images may be in cropped to different positions and orientations vary.

16x9 aspect ratio – Vertical

16x10 aspect ratio – Horizontal

Copyright Notice – The images, photos, videos, files and content obtained through this reward are licensed for PERSONAL USE ONLY. Please do not distribute, post or attempt to resell them.

Development log

Comments

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Hey there! I can't tell you how fascinating I found this demo. Although short, it carries a lot of weight with it and it is definitely something I would love to see more of! It has such a unique take on exploration sims and the like and the use of your personal photography in it really reached out to me.
I hope you don't mind but I did a let's play of the demo. Thank you so much for such an amazing little experience and I'm really excited to see if more comes from this <3

(1 edit) (+1)

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with your game, however short it was. It was beautifuly made, with heart and intention. Everything looked slick and finished, and that Demo label is a bit of an understatement for the state in which your game is right now ^^ probably you want to add more content next ? idk.

(more specifically, the 32bit Windows version without a hassle, even on my old and slow laptop)

Here is a list of things i noted and might need some adjustments:

  • it was unclear wether the game was charging or stuck when istarted the game. if you intend to include loading screens, consider having a loading icon (eg: a rotating arrow), or include something that confirms the game started and is now playing before your eyes.
  • as i read the introductory text, i sometimes wanted to see the next paragraph sooner and tried using enter or the spacebar. could you allow to skip to the next paragraph when we want to ?
  • in the menu, there wasn't any sound or music playing, and since your game havily relies on it, i was worried the sound didn't work. maybe include a sound test button in the options, or make the buttons make a sound when you push them.
  • have the controls being shown to you before the start of the game. i didn't know i had a map or that i had a "use" button before i went looking into the options.
  • the controls are exclusively made for QWERTY keyboards. i know this can get very tiresome to add but if you could allow for custom inputs or include other keayboard layouts that would be great!
  • i feel the map and the flower picture have a bit of a double use, or don't interact well with each other. most of the times i wanted to look at the flower and move at the same time. but i couldn't see the little wall drawings, or droplets of water etc... most importantly i couldn't have seen the letter if i hadn't looked at the map. i see the map as a visual tool for the ear-impared, a beautiful worked-on tool, but i'm not sure it is essential. i'm uite certain you could include most of the map's features into the picture's view, behind the frame.

That's it for my feedback, hope i am of some help :)

(+1)

Wow! Thank you so much sharing your thoughts and thorough feedback.
Your suggestions give me a really good place to start an update and to build upon the upcoming finished project.

The one I'm going to take the most time on is figuring out how to bring the map into the photograph's world.
In the beginning I struggled to figure this out and decided to add a map, but your experience too makes me realize that the map should turn into a completely optional tool and give players enough visual and audio feedback from the photograph's POV.

But as I said, everything you touched on is really helpful and I really appreciate you taking the time to share it with me.

Thank you!