This game offers a fresh and contemplative narrative to experience, alongside its rhythmic gameplay. For fans of the rhythm game genre, Jungle of Poems will not only offer new gameplay elements to explore, but also new music that reflects the historical background of the game. 

To offer challenges and replayability to the game, there will be numerous opportunities for meaningful choices in player agency. This will be explored through the following: 

Collectables: There will be several collectables around the river. When obtained, the character fills in their scrapbook with historical context and a line of relevant poetry. Find all the collectables to piece together the story!

Score meter: To get the highest score, the player can maximize their run by aiming to collect all the lily petals and getting PERFECT ratings on all button presses.

In terms of player agency, the player’s decisions will be influenced by the obstacles, enemies, collectables, water lilies, and score meter, and ultimately impacts the path they will take. Jungle of Poems plays with two senses, sight and sound, to create a feeling of immersion. The art style is flat and saturated with rough painterly textures to create the feeling of a children’s story book, and integrates well with the 3D models. This art style is meant to bring comfort to the player as they explore trauma through the lens of a young child.

Jungle of Poems will have a number of challenges or “biomes” that appear as the player traverses the level. They are as follows: 

Tutorial

Beginning at a low intensity, the tutorial includes basic rocks and logs to teach the player how to move and dodge rhythmically. Some button press segments will be included to teach the player when and how to complete them.

Mangrove

At a medium intensity, the mangrove section includes large mangrove trees with arch-shaped roots that allow the player to move in between them. This gives players a slight challenge, while also teaching them to quickly move between lanes.

Fruit

At a higher intensity, the fruit section is the first real challenge for the player. Fruits fall from the nearby trees, obstructing the player’s path as they take up a spot on one of the three lanes. In the dream state, the fruits are massive, obstructing the player’s view of what is ahead.

Fire

The fire section references the architecture of the villages found in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region. This includes wooden and bamboo huts, docks, and bridges, fashioned along a gorgeous hilly vista. The reality of the war strikes when the player encounters this village as it is engulfed in flames.

Forced Dream State Transition

This short transition forces the player into a dream state for the boss fight, ensuring that every player encounters the dream state at least once in their playthrough. This raises the intensity gradually to allow for the highest intensity section up next.

Boss Fight

At the highest intensity, the boss fight is entirely in the dream state. The player encounters the tiger, putting them through the challenge of both navigating the obstacles and completing button-press moments in time with the beat. This challenges all that the player has learned so far. After defeating the boss, it tralis into low intensity to give the player a break as they reach the end.