A downloadable horror game for Windows

Story:

In the last years plenty of children went missing. You have one last clue left that led you to an old and mysterious place. Equipped with your lamp you go to investigate.

What are you going to find out?

Gameplay:

This is a short horror game with puzzle elements. Explore your surroundings to progress in the game and to understand the story. There are JUMPSCARES!

Depending on your play style it takes 10-15 min to finish the game.

Info:

I used Asset Forge to create my own stuff and also used some assets from Kenney - Graveyard Kit. I worked on this project alone for a short period of time so please forgive me I you think some mechanics are a too clunky.

This game started as a game for the Scream Jam 2019: https://mikorashu.itch.io/wooden-hearts-demo.

I continued working on it and this is what it became.

Thanks for stopping by and have fun playing the game! 



!!SPOILERS IN THE COMMENT SECTION!!




StatusReleased
PlatformsWindows
Rating
Rated 3.6 out of 5 stars
(22 total ratings)
AuthorUndead Cartridge
GenreAdventure, Puzzle
TagsHorror

Download

Download
WoodenHearts.rar 141 MB

Development log

Comments

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i loved the atmosphere

Really fun little game and I liked the ending, good work :)

😊👍

I really liked the game very much and for me the story was really very interesting

I actually loved this, no jpeg jump scares It had a good plot and puppets aren't used all that often in horror games, this was fantastic. Awesome job on it !

Here is my video i made on the game if you want to watch!  :)

This was a really nice game! We loved the idea that this game was like a Pinocchio Horror Game. We had a lot of fun playing this game! Keep it up!
(+1)

Man, this was so good. I was binging short indie horror games yesterday, and this one stuck with me the most. I LOVED the story and creativity of this game, and I really hope you do more with it in the future. I'd definitely pay for a longer version of this in a heartbeat. Thanks for a very memorable 15 minutes <3

(1 edit)

Thank you very much! I will do a complete remake of the game in the future.  I can't really say when it will happen... BUT IT WILL at some point. Getting positive feedback like yours definitely helps and keeps me motivated. Thank you for that! 

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I am SO glad people have been posting playthroughs in the comments! I attempted to stream this but had to stop because I'm a wimp and got too freaked out the first time the puppet comes after you, but I'm really really intrigued by the storyline and I want so badly to know how the whole thing wraps up. One thing I really loved was the environment design. Everything about that house was just left of what a real house would look like (furniture placement, the weirdly steep stairs, etc), and it all worked well to create a sense that Something Is Wrong. Very very cool!

Thanks a lot for the kind words! Really appreciate it. I plan on remaking Wooden Hearts in the future and turning it into a "complete" game. Maybe an 1 hour long game or something. It was just a game jam game at the start which I updated a bit after the jam was over. It's nice to see people enjoying the style of the game. Keeps me motivated! Thank you!

hey, it says file has been in unknown format or damaged

Hey I just tried to download and extract it and it worked for me. Have you tried downloading it again?

-Made a Video.

-The Game: 00:06 (The 1st Game)

Nice! Thanks for playing!

(+1)

played this game a few weeks ago and had my fun with it. wooden puppets are quite scary 

Hey nice video! Glad you enjoyed it. 

Keep it up! :)

(+1)

That. Was. AWESOME! Kept me on my toes, and the story behind it all was great! Thank you very much for that little gem :) Here's my playthrough (Polish language) Cheers!

Hey thank you very much for the kind words! Glad you liked it! :)

Thanks for making a video about it! I appreciate everyone making a video about the game no matter what language! :)

Keep it up!

No problem! :) Keep up the good work!

(+1)

Started out just another average horror short, but then the dolls. Holy hell, that was creepy. I kept expecting them to start moving, had me feeling more than a little nervous walking through them. Good job.

Hey glad you enjoyed it haha! :) Thanks for making a video about the game. Always cool to watch people play it!

Appreciate the kind words. Keep it up! 

(+1)

Nice horror

(+1)

Hey thanks for showing it in your video! Nice playthrough!

Keep it up!

(+2)

So I streamed this tonight, and it has some really good ideas in it. It's definitely rough, but there were a lot of really interesting moments.

Things I liked:

- The use of the blue light coming off the lantern as a way to mask some frankly bland textures and make the environment look eerie and interesting. I absolutely love creative solutions to budget/time constraints that also work in the favor of what you're trying to achieve.

- The lack of an ambient soundtrack, using the silence as a tool to make smaller sounds stand out.

- The concept of a man trapping the souls of children into wooden dolls is inherently creepy, I feel like this idea could be explored and expanded upon.

- The fact that you never actually see a doll move until the end. Yet you resisted the urge to do the SCP173/Slenderman/Weeping Angel thing where it only moves when you don't look at it. That idea is so overdone and I appreciate that it wasn't used here.

- The sequence at the end where you get grabbed and dragged to the table to be turned into doll, that was really well done. 

- I absolutely LOVED that you didn't have it play a really loud screeching sound at moments like the knife being thrown into the wall as an example (which was great btw). That kind of moment is creepy and startling enough without having to resort to a cheap loud screeching sound. 

Things I didn't like:

- I wasn't crazy about how on the nose the notes were, they spelled everything out way too blatantly. Some ambiguity can go a long way, you can give just enough to let the player put the pieces together without being like 'hey so here is word for word literally exactly what happened"

- The literal key hunt near the start where the key is pretty easy to miss. Key hunts are very overdone in horror games and I could have done without it. 

- Minor QA stuff like clipping, overlapping meshes/models/textures (the top of the railing on the stairs for example). 

- Some the proportions of the environments were kind of off. Like the rooms felt way too large, the stairs were very steep and wide, yet the hallways were narrow. It just didn't feel like the internal dimensions of an actual building and detracted a little from the atmosphere.

Overall I liked it and I think that you have a good eye for horror that could be honed further to make some really cool and interesting games. I hope you keep at it! 

(+3)

Hey thank you very much for the detailed feedback. It's greatly appreciated! 

It's funny that you mention the aspect with "creative solutions to budget/time constraints" because basically the whole story for the puppets emerged from me not having the time to create some good models. Something that could be creepy/alive and be modelled by combining simple shapes: Puppets. 

I agree with the notes. I rushed it a bit and wrote them at 4 am after a long session of programming. I will put more thought into this next time. I see why key hunting can be annoying but it's also a tool to have control over where the player can go at certain points in time. I totally agree on the whole models/meshes/proportions aspect. I am really inexperienced in creating 3D models and I did the whole house by myself.

Right now it's a bit hard to find the time to work on this but I will consider all points as soon as I can. Notes taken :)

I will definitely continue making games. The next game probably will be a different genre though.

Thanks again for the feedback and the kind words. It really helps!

(+1)

Well done, the sounds creeped the hell out of me.

(1 edit) (+1)

Hey thanks for playing! Cool video and sorry about the game breaking bug that occurred. Normally the puppet would chase and try to kill you. Still have to fix this as soon as I have the time.

Keep it up! :)

(+1)

Enjoyed it immensely, had just the right about of scary


https://vlare.tv/v/tOhk21J3

Hey thanks for giving it a try! I just want to let you know that you played the old version of the game which was just made for a Game Jam. This version right now has a lot of changes.

Still a cool video though keep it up! :)

(+1)

oh wow, had no idea, I will definitely try the new version then. Thanks!

(+1)

The eerie sound of when that little DEMON GIRL is coming to get you really give me goosebumps. INSANELY GOOD SHORT HORROR GAME 

Hey cool playthrough! It was really entertaining watching you getting scared haha :) 

Keep up the good work and thanks for making a video about the game!

(+1)



Hey there spectators and dev,


New and improved, Wooden Hearts 2.0 brings about a new sense of spine chilling gameplay.


I must say, this was an absolute joy and terror to play.  The beginning of the game makes it vastly different from its predecessor and provides a much needed atmosphere that I was hoping for in the first installment.


You scared the shit out out of me dev.  Thanks for showing all of us your work.


Have fun spectators . . . .


- L Squared

Hey thank you so much for the kind words! I Really enjoyed watching you play the game. You have missed some things but it's because I just need to time and place some events better. 

You have a cool voice and you are really entertaining overall! I appreciate you making a video about the game.

 Keep up the good work! :)

Oh PLEASE let me know what they were.  I'll gladly go back and do an updated video, especially if they're scary things haha.

And thank you very much for the kind words, I'm glad the video entertained you and I've been working on the voice for some time now.

Well I don't know if it's worth making another video since your playthrough is already pretty cool to watch as it is but right after the music box part when the hammer-sound starts there is something chasing you. You can also die in that part x) 

Just today I changed it a little bit and added a small cool detail to the ending sequence. Nothing too crazy but it's  cool I think. 

Maybe it will be worth a new video in the future when I add some more stuff though :) 

Definitely keep going. I understand that some people just want to make funny videos while playing these kind of games and this is okay but I actually like it that you didn't do this. You just dive into the atmosphere and maintain and support it with your style of commentary which is really enjoyable. 

Deleted 2 years ago

Thanks for playing it! Glad you liked the game! :)

(+1)

While not amazing, instead of going ahead and try to make your game groundbreaking by implementing advanced graphics or setting, story, etc., it's clear you did best on what you could do - everything feels super polished and show no signs of errors. Props to you for your efforts on this, looking forward to future works

(1 edit)

Hey thanks for the honest feedback! I am not a 3D modeler so I tried to stick to a simple look. That way things stay somewhat cohesive and I can apply changes/create own models without ruining the look of the game. 

I got to say though that the gameplay could be done better. The foundation for this was made during the ScreamJam2019 where time problems forced me to implement some parts a little bit messy. Also finding the time to work on this and doing this alone is one of the biggest issues.

My next game won't be a horror game but I think it will a better game gameplay-wise.

Appreciate the feedback!

(1 edit) (+1)


I enjoyed playing the first version of the game, I enjoyed playing this one even more. Overall I liked the puzzles, the throwing knife jumpscare shit that made me jitter. The atmosphere was creepy and slightly eerie especially with the sound effects like the slamming doors, knocking and the soul breathing coming from the Puppets.

Rating : 4/5

Thank you very much for the kind words! Glad you like the new version of the game. It's cool to see people checking out this version after they played the ScreamJam version. :)

Nice playthrough keep it up! 

(+1)

This is a really good game! I like the sound and the jumpscares too. Great job for update this game to the point that it is good like this.

Hey thanks for trying out the new version. Appreciate your feedback.  Also nice video!

(+1)

This was pretty cool. Lots to see but lots you couldn't see. After the knife throwing you never knew who was going to show up. Great sounds and atmosphere and all ran very smoothly. Atmosphere makes a good horror game and this has it. A very well done on this. Great work... :)

Thanks a lot for the kind words! Really happy to hear you enjoyed it.

I like that you patiently examined everything! Great video keep it up! :)

Deleted 4 years ago
(+1)

Amazing game dev had so much fun playing it :) i hope you enjoy my gameplay 

Hey thanks a lot for playing it again! Nice video and keep it up! :)

Thank you so much glad you liked it :) .

(+1)

Thanks for your efforts Dev...Nice game and the puzzle were also good and I like the jumpscares + the ending was pretty good :D

Hi thanks for playing! Happy to hear you liked it. Nice video! :)

Like and share will be appreciated :)