The Endless Forest is a multiplayer online game for Microsoft Windows by Belgian studio Tale of Tales. In the game, the player is a deer in a forest without direct goals or the ability to chat with other players. Pictograms above player's heads represent their names. Players communicate with one another through sounds and body language.
Gameplay
The player begins the game as a fawn. In a little over a month, the deer grows up and becomes a stag. Common activities include exploring the forest, eating, drinking water, and sleeping under trees. There are also social activities that deer commonly engage in, such as dancing, pool parties, hide and seek, and tag.
Abiogenesis is a mechanic that allows the developers to intervene directly on the game environment, and allows them to change things in real time. It is an event that either happens randomly, or is organized in advance. For example, cages can fall from the sky, disco balls and soap bubbles will pop up.
Forest Magic is the main way to change the appearance of one's avatar, but the player cannot change their own appearance. Other players must cast spells on them in order to change their appearance, and it is up to the player to communicate and ask others to change their appearance for them.
There is no player chat in The Endless Forest. Deer display the actions of the player above their heads in order to communicate with each other.
Setting
The Endless Forest consists of seven main areas: First Forest, Birch Forest, the Ruin, the Pond, the Old Oak, the Playground and the Twin Gods Statue.
The First Forest
The First Forest was the first part of the forest to be created, as well as the only section originally released. Its flora consists of poppies, hyacinths, and ferns, while the fauna consists of doves, butterflies, fireflies, and squirrels. Butterflies are seen floating over the hyacinths in the daytime, while fireflies replace them when it becomes nighttime.
The Birch Forest
The Birch Forest (double the size of the First Forest) was introduced in Phase 3. It added more land to roam and explore, as well as new visuals and sounds. The Birch Forest consists of birch trees and sycamores, blue berries and little birds. With the addition of the Birch Forest, little birds can now also rest upon the deer antlers if the player is very quiet. The grass in the Birch Forest is much taller compared to that of the rest of the forest.
The Ruin
The Ruin was created as part of an exhibition in Phase 1. Exhibition curator Michel Dewilde invited Tale of Tales to contribute to the fourth edition of the yearly Ename Actueel group art exhibition (September 1, 2005 to October 30, 2005) organized by the Provincial Archeological Museum in the small town of Ename in Belgium. When it was first created, its main focus was on Tardis, a time-and-space-travel device featured in the Doctor Who television series.
After that, the base of the ruin was introduced, resembling the archeological site of a gothic Saint Salvator church. During the exhibition visitors could steer a deer through the forest like the online players can. But when they stopped playing and the deer went to sleep, the soul of this visitor escaped and started floating through the forest. If the player found a soul, a new button would appear in the action strip which could be used to convert this pagan soul. If the players did a good enough job by the end of the day, a grave would be erected near the ruin. If the players failed and the majority of the remaining souls were still unchristened, a pagan idol would show up. Every day of the exhibition, a grave or an idol was added. The size depended on the number of visitors of that day. Now that the exhibition and Tardis is over, the ruins stand exactly as they have been created, left to be seen by the current forest players. Today nothing remains of the once large stone building but its foundations.
The Pond
The Pond was released in Phase 1.5. It was the premiere location for the first ever ABIOGENESIS. Weeping willows, frogs, lily pads, the occasional flower, and some brightly coloured koi fish make up the pond location.
Falling into the pond will cause any deer to lose all of its magic. Without careful footing, all of the players' hard earned spells could be lost to the water. The pond splits off into a small river, over which a small bridge has been built. One of the secrets of the forest is the idea of how the bridge came to being.