Explore the outdoors, find your way through the mazes, face four puzzles and live great adventures !

"A Kishoutenketsu in the countryside" is my second exploration of the chinese and japanese narrative structure called kishoutenketsu (起承転結). I've written some thoughts about it on my (old and obsolete as of April 2020) blog, which you can find HERE.

Use the arrows to move.

Press Z to cancel your last action.

Press R to restart if you are stuck.

Have a nice play !

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If you want to follow my future things, you can follow me on Twitter : @Remi_Tootata

Purchase

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In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $1 USD. You will get access to the following files:

A Kishoutenketsu in the countryside - Standalone edition.zip 163 kB

Development log

Comments

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Great game, thank you.

Wow, never mind, found it.

South eastern key? Help please...

I must say I quite enjoyed this little adventure. It is a really well-designed puzzle game, and experiencing it at one sitting made for a perfect break from my everyday responsibilities. I also appreciate the reference to a classical structure of the narration from the east. I had no idea about kishōtenketsu, but finding it out was, for me, quite fun.

Wonderful game! I had a great time solving the puzzles, and game's sounds and visuals are perfect!

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It was so satisfying solving all those puzzles and the ending was similarly great. Thanks for a good game!

what a charming little puzzle game - thank you!

very fun little game! i have to admit i was stuck on the tree section for a while but it was very fun when i finally figured it out. adore the style!!

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Love this game, it's so cute!! My favorite one was the bush-clearing one because it was so satisfying to watch the path appear. It took me a few tries to get the bridge one because I kept going too far and accidentally pushing them off the side lol. The rock-pushing one was definitely the hardest-- once you push it too far, you have to start from the beginning again!

Thank you for sharing your creation! Also, you have a very cute blog :)

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got this as part of the BLM pack and adored it. i did the rock-pushing puzzle and the bridge-making puzzle before briefly getting stuck, but felt an overwhelming sense of joy when i made it into the brush-clearing puzzle and beyond. thank you for this game!!!

An enjoyable game, although I'm stuck on the rock-pushing puzzle now, I think there's a mechanic I'm not noticing or something

Such a fun little game! Got as part of the BLM pack. Thanks for making and donating it to a good cause!

I really liked this! Definitely gave me a Zelda vibe as well, but it's equally as much its very own!

istg this was so much fun lmao its great

5/5 would play again.

Helps me relive the time of going outside. Good job!

It's pretty much Sokoban.

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Wow, I really love this game. Its very peaceful and captures the early Zelda feel of exploring the Japanese countryside without resembling it too much. Somehow this truly evokes the nostalgic feeling of a child exploring nature.


Do you happen to have an up to date link to your blog as I would love to read about the subject more.

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Thank you very much for this nice comment! I'm glad you linked it to old Zelda games as they were one of my inspirations for this, so i'm happy that it shows without being too similar.

I just found the link that i thought i had lost! My blog really is obsolete now however, sorry about that: https://heskhwisblog.tumblr.com/post/156223036537/this-week-ive-been-making-a-vi...

Have a good day!

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This was a nice afternoon for playing outside :)

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I love this game!  It was a nice relaxing experience.  Some nice puzzles and a perfect afternoon game.  :)

Thank you very much! I'm so glad you enjoyed your time with it.
Have a lovely day :)

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Love this game, but cannot find the 4th key to save my life. Wish me luck 👌🏽

Thank you very much! What's the key you're missing, maybe i can nudge you in the right direction if you want?

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this feels like a spring game to me, but i forgot to get around to it last year. i thought about it once in awhile, but today was finally the day!

it was a completely lovely experience. i think the difficulty was perfect, not too easy but i wasn't pulling my hair out at all. there was enough resistance to make the reward worth it!

i really enjoyed the "trees" key the most, that was just a nice change of pace for the game. 

thank you for this lovely experience(:

Thanks a lot for your comment! I like that you waited until this spring to finally play it, i think spring is indeed a fitting time for some key-chasing in the countryside :D
The trees key is usually the one that some people have trouble finding, so i'm very glad you enjoyed it.
Have a great day!

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a lovely, comforting, and thoughtful game that drew me in and kept me smiling throughout (besides perhaps during a period of frustration searching for the last key , if i'm being honest - but finding the secret brought an even bigger smile to my face, one that only grew as i approached the house).  

 thank you.  sorry for not being able to pay more for it - i'm broke, but wanted to show my appreciation.  registered for an account just to do so. :)

Thank you very much for your kind words! If i may ask, which key was the last one you found?

I really appreciate your comments and your tip, it means a lot to me. Please don't be sorry about anything, you just made my day!
Have a lovely day yourself :)

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you're very welcome!

it was the key to the southeast of the starting point.  my problem was that i was sure i'd already carefully checked every possibility; i'd written the area off as a dead end.

so i was truly....stumped.  terrible pun intended.  it was only thanks to extreme stubbornness that i finally found what i'd overlooked.

take care, and thank you for the the reply. :)

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Fantastic game! It has this exploration adventure vibe which very few games have (no matter the scale). It showed time and again that it's not all about technologies. Thanks! 

PS Also, thanks for the reference about kishōtenketsu! It was an eye opener. One was often trying to figure out what is so special in Totoro and other Miya-san movies, as well as in some games (apart from the obvious factors). And kishōtenketsu explains it beautifully. 

Thank you very much for your sweet comment, I'm glad you liked the game :D

Yes Kishoutenketsu in something I enjoy very much, and I've learned to notice it in many great things (animated films, games or else). It's always nice to know a new tool to analyze and make stuff!

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Very  nice game! I'll explore the "big level separated into zones" style in my next games...

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Pretty cool game, it took a while to find the 4th key!

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that cup of hot chocolate was totally worth it.

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This was exactly what I wanted to play today. Thank you!

Thank you too, I'm really glad you liked it :D Have a nice day !

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This was amazing! The puzzles were just the right amount of difficulty, and I love the low res graphics. When I realized that all that green area was an ocean, instead of bushes, I got really excited! You did a good job hiding the 4 keys, I thought the game was over after getting the key from the island.

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its cool

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ahhhh i did it. very nice puzzles

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It's a nice jab to the old sokoban-esque game! Would it have any ambient music for the background and it would be perfect. :3

Thank you ! Yes, I thought about that but I really don't know what music I could chose... So for now, it's silent, just you, the rocks and the trees :)

I would suggest just a long soundtrack of rivers, forest, wind, and all that nature-y sounds. No music necessary.

Personally, I *loved* the super minimal sound design! I do filmscores & video game scores, and I thought the choice to not include a soundtrack was a brilliant & effective way to immerse you in this quiet place.

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I can't seem to find the last key... It's seem to somewhere in the south east, but there it's just a dead end... But really enjoing it so far. Has a great adventure vibe!

Well, I can't tell you the answer, it wouldn't be fair... Just look very closely at the trees and you may find a clue ;) Good luck, and thanks for your kind words !

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Really enjoyed it, nice to have short games like this that are a nice concentrated manageable does of Sokoban puzzliness. You should make a sequel or something, 2 keys left me wanting more (in a good way!)

Thank you very much :D

Oh, you got 2 keys ? Then rejoice : there are 2 more in this game, just waiting for you discover them ! And a final puzzle at the top-right corner of the world. You should be able to play fo a little while !

omg yes. I knew something felt wrong. I spent a while looking for more places, trying to get into the house but couldn't find anything...I will try again!!!

AHH i am like one screen away from the house but i cannot figure out how to PUSH the thing

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Wow I loved this game so much.It reminds me of my game Hungover. I loved your use of slight differences in sprites to denote passable areas. I kind of would have liked to have to push the keys to their locks but I guess a lot of people would find that quite tedious. I especially liked the islands puzzle because I enjoy the mechanic of making bridges in sokoban style games. Cant wait to see more of your work.

Thank you so much ! I smiled at the idea of pushing the keys to the locks, it would be funny and awful at the same time %D

I just played and enjoyed your game, I liked the part where you have to push the coin to the seller, it's great (and now I understand why you'd like to push keys). And the rafting feelings are very good !

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I loved the game! <3 Several wonderful moments and a beautifully serene mood.

Ho, thank you ! :D

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Very cool game. The early block pushing puzzles are a bit of a turn-off, as I've seen them a bunch before in other games, but I particularly like how it gets more clever and subtle as the game goes on.

Thanks ! I wanted to try things with the pushing-blocks mechanic, but I understand it can feel over-used. I'm happy you came to like the game nevertheless !

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Good game, a little on the cryptic side at the beginning, and a little on the easy side eventually, but a very enjoyable little distraction nonetheless. I really enjoy puzzleScript games with one big area, rather than separate small levels !

Thank you ! I agree with you, Puzzlescript games with one big world are fun to play and fun to make :)

It looks like between Pokémon and Zelda for Gameboy, but in Sokoban plan.

Ho thanks ! It means a lot to me :) Did you like it ?

More or less...

If you have some time and you're motivated enough, I would be very interested in knowing what you like and most of all, what you didn't like. I'm still a beginner in game making and I have lots of progress to do, so any informations would be very appreciated if you want to tell me !

If you prefer doing something else than commenting a game you didn't really like, of course I'd understand. Go play some good games ! :)

In any case, have a nice day !