Summary
Hey guys, I found a disk with this game on it in my uncle’s attic after he passed away. He was a park ranger and apparently the game was used by some state parks agency on their welcoming kiosks to teach young kids how to be safe in the wilderness. I don’t know why but I guess they stopped using it shortly after it was put in place.
The basic premise is that you have become lost in the wilderness and must make your way back to the park Visitor Center safely. Along the way you have to deal with typical dangers you would face in the wilderness and answer some questions to earn Wilderness Safety Points or something.
It’s a pretty easy game, I’ve beaten it a few times now, but it feels like there’s something off about it. I found a weird message near the visitor center too but I don’t know what it’s talking about, and supposedly there are a couple different endings but I haven’t seen them. I don’t know, maybe you guys will have more luck figuring it out than I did.
Also if you feel lost I’d recommend staying mostly on the path to the left from the start, there’s a lot of open space (it’s the wilderness) but if you stay near the path you won’t get lost. It looks like maybe whoever made it was planning on putting more content out there but didn’t get it done for some strange reason.
Features
- Huge 11+ acre hand-crafted beautiful wilderness map rendered in glorious 2D!
- 40+ encounters written by an actual (non-professional) comedian!
- Multiple ways to solve most problems! You can play YOUR way!
- 3 different endings!
- Completely original epic orchestral soundtrack!
- RPG-style combat and leveling!
- Realistically accurate government font choices!
- Do bugs creep you out? Innovative Blur-A-Bug technology allows you to play without anxiety!
- Many secrets to uncover!
- … and more! But mostly that’s it.
Controls
Arrow Keys/WASD to move, Shift toggles run, and Space/Enter to select. Press M to toggle mini-map visibility. + and – will change the volume, and you can use Escape in the main game to bring up a menu that will let you return to the Title screen.
Also there are a few semi-gross up-close bug pictures in the game, so if you don’t like creepy crawlies you should enable the “Blur Bugs” option on the How to Play screen.
Play
Screenshots
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- Learn Wilderness Safety!
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- Always Be Prepared!
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- Scenic Views!
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- Mystery!
Credits
Jim South (sighnoceros on SA), who did almost everything, this being the first game I have ever made.
Internet Janitor, who made amazing title art and encounter art on a whim after I whined at him.
Neitherman, who helped with the initial art for the map tiles.
J.R. Trimpe (bagina on SA), who wrote and composed an amazing completely original soundtrack for the game, which, conveniently, is available for download here: http://www.trimpe.org/survival
Danger Aversion Training: Adventures in Survival Safety was made in one month in 2013 as part of the Something Awful Game Development challenge. It was built in Unity using Futile, a light, code-centric 2D game framework.
Game Spoilers/Secrets
There are several secrets in the game, some of them minor. But most of them are a part of a single larger quest chain.
Minor Secrets
Secret #1 : There are some papers scattered near a tree slightly northwest of the starting point. Picking these up will change the credits music of the game when you beat it.
Secret #2 : There is a magazine in a bush by the Visitor Center.
Secret #3 : Try using Honey in a Bear encounter. Usually everything works out fine, but if you’re lucky something else will happen…
Quest Chain Secrets
Secret #4 : Try stepping into the fairy ring (circle of mushrooms) by the Visitor Center. This will give you a message, which will lead you south through a secret passage, to…
Secret #5 : Try stepping into the fairy ring (circle of mushrooms) northwest of the Visitor Center, outside of the normal bounds of the game. This will give you a quest to go to…
Secret #6 : Try stepping into the center of the rock circle in the lake in the southern-central part of the map, this will enable you to…
Secret #7 : Enter the secret grove in the north-central part of the map, where stepping on the rune will cause you to encounter…
Secret #8 : A familiar but not-so-familiar face. Complete the encounter to get credit for this secret.
Secrets #9 and #10 : Not part of the quest chain, but once you enable Secret #5, there is a rare chance when walking around that you will get into an encounter with an <UNKNOWN>. Seeing this encounter gives you credit for secret #9, but you have to defeat it to get credit for secret #10. This encounter is very confusing and might make you feel lost. Is there anything you can think to use to help find your way when you’re lost? Even so, it might not always work…