Sword and Song

A game about banjos, blades, boats, and the meaning of heroism.

Introduction:
This is a short visual novel/adventure game for Mini Jam 152, set in the world of a D&D campaign from 2020 that was itself inspired by walking along a canal. 

In this game, you play as an uncertain hero, tasked with an important quest... but rarely given enough information about that quest to make their own choices. All they have are two items: A banjo, capable of charming the river into propelling their boat; and a blade, capable of defeating their opponents in combat.

This game includes (generous) timing-based combat, a finished story with some small but nonzero narrative branching, mechanical progression, a gorgeous river soundscape, and even some procedural generation. Enjoy!

How To Play:

• In conversations, click responses. Left-mouse or Space will skip the text scroll.
• In combats, use W and S to block high and low, and use D to attack.
• When traveling on the river, use WASD to play the banjo to move the boat.
• Don't worry about the physical layout of the forest - just keep going, and you'll get where you need to.

Credits:

Code, Art, Writing: Matthew Marsland
Sound Design: Ellen Kate Malpas

Special thanks to Pip Andersen for some character art references and of course for shaping the story of the original campaign by playing in it.
Additional thanks to everyone in my life who has put up with my slightly obsessive devotion to this project over the last few days.
And finally, thank you to everyone who has gives our game a try!

Changelog:

• 5.1 20th Feb: Misc. narrative and audio bugs