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Cart #overthegardenwallv110bbs-0 | 2024-06-09 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
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= Info =
"Over the Garden Wall (Ep. 1-3)" is a 2D Pico-8 Zelda-inspired adventure game where you play the titular characters introduced to us by Cartoon Network's gem of a mini-series of the same name, Over the Garden Wall. The story spans the first 3 episodes of the show: "The Old Grist Mill", "Hard Times at the Huskin' Bee", & "Schooltown Follies".

This Pico-8 game was completed after on-and-off efforts over 3 years (first commit was Sept '21). The Pico-8 game uses 96.6% of available tokens and 99.99% of the compressed capacity.

= Controls =

= Features of this game include =

  • 7 Stages: Boot, Menu Scene, Main Menu, Controls, Intro Song, Play Map, & Game Over
  • A retro GBA-inspired boot sequence
  • Full screen intro menu scene from original show image
  • Main menu with 4 randomized characters & show-accurate logo
  • Controls menu displaying how to play the game
  • Randomized frog name on each run
  • Intro singing frog sequence and full song
  • Story for first 3 episodes (Mill, Pottsfield, & Schoolhouse)
  • More than 50+ story beats
  • 130+ lines of dialog
  • 21 distinct characters, with map and dialog sprites
  • 3 hidden rock facts to find
  • 7 hidden Edelwoods to find
  • 6 useable items
  • Achievement system w/ 7 achievements
  • Game Over screen with score total based on time spent and achievement counts
  • NPC behaviors like chasing candy/player, walking in loop, going to new position
  • 13 distinct maps, 7 exterior, 6 interior, and 5 distinct buildings
  • 1 secret room!
  • Fog-of-war type darkness with partial visibility & tile discovery system
  • Lurking eyes in the darkness
  • Party members
  • Map-locking trigger system which hints to player how to progress (e.g. “leave a candy”)
  • Sprite world element randomization - e.g. specific tree textures are random each run
  • Play map UI items, map title
  • Player selection system with item descriptor texts and NPC idle texts

= Screenshots =

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I am softlocked?

Seems the other characters can go through walls while following...


Sorry about that! I think that might be the only spot in the game where this is possible IIRC. I’ll fix it by removing a bush or 2 from that area. And yeah, the NPCs don’t have true pathfinding. They just walk in a straight line wherever they go.


Curious to know if anyone found the secret room yet! Happy fall 🍂


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I just finished playing the first episode. I am familiar with the show and I can notice the effort you have put in the first episode alone, @PepperoniJabroni. The amount of work you put into this is pretty impressive.

I think it would be fitting to give Wirt's profile photo a more worried expression.

The audio lags after thoroughly looking through an area that uses "fog-of-war type darkness". The lag disappears once I enter a new area.

"Into the Unkown" continues playing after I spam through all the lyrics (like the monster I am).

I bet this could be developed even further! Maybe someone on the Pico-8 Discord can help you manage the token count? :)


Thanks for the comment! I agree about Wirt, maybe I could revisit the sprite. And thanks for the bug report - I will take a look when I can (and the music repeating is intentional).

Its the compression limit that's killing me - the intro image (which is stored as a string), all the dialog, configs, and game event sequences take up lots of string text.

The non-minified public source is available here:
https://github.com/Pepperoni-Jabroni/OverTheGardenWallPico8/tree/main


v1.1.0 has been uploaded to the bbs, changes include:

  • Fix frame drop resulting from "fog of war" on playmap
  • Removed party swap mechanic, moved object/npc selection to B button
  • Add version indicator to title screen


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