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The Walled Garden is a platformer RPG set in a surrealistic Garden of Eden with procedurally generated trees which grow from a destructible environment which subdivides as it is destroyed.

Inspiration for TWG stems from video games such as; Super Mario Bros, Flashback, N+, Zelda & Super Metroid. With artwork inspired by Hayao Miyazaki, Zdzislaw Beksinski, Hieronymus Bosch, Salvidor Dali and many Esoteric Illustrations.

The game assimilates esoteric symbolism to video-game iconography via the appropriation of existing source materials. Essentially TWG is a interactive representation of the pictogram depicted on each tarot card.

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Level 1 - Oh the fool I was

News

11 YEARS?! Wow.

Can't believe that I'm coming up on 11 years working on this project. Certainly bit off more than I could chew. But I have a big stomach. What began as a side project has become somewhat of an obsession. It's been 11 long years of researching the Occult depth, Tarot the Kabbalah tree of Life, Studying Buddha, Meditation and Chakras. Trying to understand myself for so that I can understand The Walled Garden more.

But I digress, for a fool I am. Always blindly stepping off a cliff.
The Fool is a numberless card. It also is represented by 0. Meaning it's the beginning and the end.

The Fool (Tarot card) - Wikipedia


This first level of the game starts off pretty simple. Cliff, edge. You learn that you can wall slide - or you learn the hard way that falls hurt. The screenshot below represents the state of that level in 2013.

Fool's Journey

7 years later, it's 2020. Not much has changed. The tiles still need an overhaul. But the level has a lot more going on. 7 years might seem like a long time. but during this time I had to work a full-time job. So work on the game has slowed down. Mind you, that doesn't mean it stopped.

Each level is a tarot card. So the game is all about the levels and story. Making sure to use the available mythology and hermetic references to correlate them to video game tropes and icons. That's not a very easy task.

This game might never get finished - this I know. That's part of knowing that I don't know everything.
For instance. 11 years ago. I didn't know how to program, didn't know how to create, record and edit sound effects. Still don't know very much about level design. This takes a few years to get down.

Got a good handle of what my engine can do. There are hundreds of interactions and up to 40+ creatures that are for the most part functioning.

Released a tech demo earlier a few months back and received some great feedback. I've always feared that the game wouldn't work people. Especially after 11 years of development in Game Maker 8.
Might hopes are to port the game to Game Maker Studio in the near future. There is just a lot of ground work that needs to be done to do such.

And as such, as a one man team. Art is lacking. Levels lay unfinished.
Spent all last night working on making resolution and aspect ratio, and full screen working options in the pause screen. This is a good start to allowing more people to play the game as people were struggling with the restricted resolution setting.

Hope 2020 hasn't been too hard on all of you and thank you for checking out Walled Garden. Stay tuned, hoping to bring a much better demo to the public very soon.

2020 Demo Released

2020 Demo Released

News

Have decided to release the current existence of Walled Garden. The last demo was released in 2012. So this is 8 years of development since then.

Dusting off the old GMK

Dusting off the old GMK

News

Hey everybody! Wow.. I haven't posted in 120 days. 130+ days since I've worked on the game physically. Earlier this week I brushed the dust off the Ol...

Enemy Mounts and Interactions

Enemy Mounts and Interactions

News

There are particular animals in Eden that don't mind Atom riding on their back. At the moment the current existing mounts are; Horse, Rooster, Swordfish...

July 2014 Update

July 2014 Update

News

A lot has been worked on this month. I'm really trying to push for a demo to be released this month. The first chapter consists of Four elemental realms...

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2020 Demo

2020 Demo

Demo 3 comments

It's been 8 years since I've uploaded anything. Keep in mind, this is the first game I've ever made. Bare with me, and let me know if you come across...

Winter Solstice Demo 2012

Winter Solstice Demo 2012

Demo 1 comment

In regards to the whole 2012 December 21st, new age belief. I rushed myself to get a demo out by today. This demo is pretty haphazardly thrown together...

Tech Demo

Tech Demo

Demo

This demo is about two years old. You can either try playing the demo, or switching throw rooms by pressing Q&E The plan is to release a stable demo...

Post comment Comments
kyropim
kyropim

Cool game man, especially that tree growing and platform changing gun. tracking.

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Guest
Guest

I am currently studying games development and am trying to build up my CV, so if you would allow me to help you with anything you need for this project it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

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JackAM
JackAM

Sorry the post above is me please contact me with this user info

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DrBones Creator
DrBones

Three years later...

Hey bud, hope you managed to graduate from your studies. best of luck.

Reply Good karma+1 vote
richtofen115
richtofen115

Oh holy crap, I remember playing the super old 2012 demos when I came across this, I had no idea it was being worked on, looking really cool. tracking.

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DrBones Creator
DrBones

4 years later.... Yo! I just released a new demo, check it out if you're bored. <3

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DrBones Creator
DrBones

Wow that's intense not many people have played the 2012 demo.
So it's great to see you back again - There should be a new demo just as soon as the first chapter is fleshed out to my satisfaction.

Reply Good karma+1 vote
luciuspain
luciuspain

I think it looks awesome totally love to play it.
Wish I had a few bucks to donate but ill gladly purchase it when it comes out.

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DrBones Creator
DrBones

Glad you like how it looks, no worries about donations.
Have you had a chance to try out the demo that is on indieDB already?

It's pretty old to the new demo that will be coming out very soon.

Reply Good karma+1 vote
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Latest posts from @walledgardentwg

If anybody wanted to interview me for a podcast, I wouldn't say no.

Jun 4 2013

The intent is to inform via self education without a malicious aim to gain profit from such a system.

Mar 10 2013

Indiedb.com Walled Garden Demo release is official! #indiegame #gamemaker #2dgame #platformer #gamedev #demorelease #endoftheworld

Dec 21 2012

Filedropper.com Demo release! On filedropper till #indieDB authenticates the demo download. #demorelease #2012endofworld #indiegame

Dec 21 2012

Extensive play test session today Stomped out a game crashing bug! couple more levels, Friday release is not looking so scary. #indiegamedev

Dec 20 2012