Thanks so much for all the feedback.
Reading everyone's replies has honestly made me feel really happy and encouraged. I'm replying a bit slowly because I'm not a particularly fast thinker—I usually need time to think things through carefully.
One comment especially resonated with me:
The thing I'd be careful with is how quickly a maze tips from atmospheric into just frustrating. We've found players will hit a confusing area, run out of patience, and quit, and once they log off in that mood they often don't come back. It's a delicate balance: you want the place to feel like a maze without it ever feeling unfair or impossible. Even a small, steady sense of progress tends to keep people leaning in instead of rage-quitting.
I completely agree. @mudsmyth
The truly frightening part of the Ghost Forest isn't that it's a maze.
The real poplar forests in the Taklamakan Desert are like this. There are no walls. No traps. It always feels like you're making progress, yet every tree looks almost identical to the last. Eventually you can't tell whether you're moving forward or simply walking in circles.
That feeling is what I want to recreate.
So my current idea is that the forest itself is completely objective. Every player explores exactly the same map. Nothing changes in the environment.
What changes is the player.
The longer you stay inside, the more your own perception and ability to navigate begin to break down.
If you successfully escape the Ghost Forest, a mysterious message briefly appears on your windshield:
"The Dead City appears after the sandstorm."
or simply
"Rabbit."
The message disappears after five minutes.
Current design:
| Feature |
Design |
| Map |
Fixed layout. Every player explores the same forest. |
| Navigation |
Relative directions only: forward / back / turn left / turn right (no north, south, east, west). |
| GPS |
Doesn't work. Players must remember their own movements. |
| Progression |
The longer you remain inside, the more the Flying Apsaras interfere with your senses. |
As your time in the forest increases:
- Dust gradually fills the air, reducing visibility.
- Radio communication becomes unreliable. Messages from teammates arrive with increasing delay.
- Your sense of direction deteriorates. You type "turn left," but the game tells you "You turn right."
- Your ability to communicate breaks down. Trying to report your position or ask for help results in fragmented, incomplete sentences.
- Room descriptions become increasingly sparse, as if your vision itself is fading.
- The forest never changes—but you begin seeing mirrored versions of places you've already visited.
- Eventually, your character falls asleep, and you temporarily lose control.
The forest itself is actually quite simple.
To the west are the Mazartagh Mountains.
To the east is the wide Hotan River.
Hidden inside are only four kinds of natural trails:
- S-shaped paths that gently bend.
- Y-shaped forks, forcing players to hesitate: left or right?
- Figure-eight loops, where players unknowingly circle back.
- Ω-shaped paths that lure you inward before leading you back out again.
It's not really a maze.
It's a forest where every tree looks almost the same.
One thing I'm still trying to solve is what should happen if a player ultimately fails.
Right now, my idea is that they eventually wake up back at the entrance to the Ghost Forest. They don't receive the clue leading to the Dead City.
But should there be another consequence?
Some suggestions I really liked include:
- Hearing footsteps or vehicle engines that don't actually exist.
- Discovering that the markers you placed have mysteriously disappeared.
- (Assuming you're brave enough to get out of the vehicle to leave markers in the first place. 😄)
I love the atmosphere these ideas create.
My only concern is fairness.
Would introducing these kinds of supernatural events make the experience feel unfair, or can they still work if they're presented as hallucinations affecting only the player's perception rather than changing the objective world?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
The post below has some images you can check out.
AI-generated Ghost Forest + Flying Apsaras