Ashes

Breathe in, then breathe out. An explosion of light and heat leaves rich ashen loam in its wake, and then all of a sudden a hundred little shoots poke out of the soil and we feel the sigh of the world all around, the sound of life unfurling across years, decades, centuries even, wet and bright and spangled with color. Inhale, then exhale. Then it all withers away, then it's all burnt to cinders and ash and dust, then it's gone forever. But it's okay, because even death is followed by life, and life always ends in death, and that's terrifying exhilarating horrible awful awesome because even the winter heralds spring. 

Ashes is a game about life and death. You play as the wind, rain and the sun as you tend to a forest and fill it with new, strange life. Name each flower that blooms, every bird that sings, every wild thing and blade of grass, watch it all die as the wildfire dances, then help it grow old all over again. It's a game about the importance of life in the face of death, and the value of death in the cycle of life. It's a game about little wildflowers and old trees and songbirds and fieldmice, the fire that burns it all away, and the ashes that cradle new life.

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Ashes was written for the #GreatSpringGameJam2021 hosted by Firith Studio and Goodgis. It is a tabletop minigame meant for 1-2 players.

Inspiration was taken from the work of John Conway, the game of Go, and the hand people have always had in tending to wild places.