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• Rev 88 2025-11-01 23:05:11
• Author: daniel-marschall

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Nightmare Forest

Nighmare Forest is a game developed in the programming languages DarkBASIC Professional and Delphi. The development stated in 2001 and in 2025 I finally brought the game into Beta stage, after the development had paused several times.

The Tale of the Nightmare Forest

They say there's a grove outside the village.

By day it's small, nothing more than a patch of trees.

But when night falls, it opens into a forest without end.

A few have gone in after dark. None came back.

The elders whisper the forest doesn't lose you - it keeps you.

And each soul it takes makes the grove a little larger by morning.

Today you've set up your tent below the trees,

waiting for nightfall... to see if the legend is true.

Let's play

see Let's play of the beta version

How to play

Download and Installation

• Download Nightmare Forest and DirectX 9.0c here: https://github.com/danielmarschall/forest/releases

• Install DirectX 9.0c (you need this even if you have a newer version of DirectX installed). If Windows requests to install .Net Framework, accept that too.

• After everything is installed, you just need to run ForestLauncher.exe to play the game

Instructions

• When the clock shows 15:00, enter the tent located between the small patch of trees.

• Survive until the clock shows 7:00

• Leave the forest

Controls

• WASD keys to move

• Use the mouse to look around

• Hold Ctrl to run (not inside water)

• Hold Shift to slowly walk (regains run energy faster)

• Jump with space key (hold longer for higher jump)

Known issues

• If you are playing in fullscreen mode, you MUST NOT minimize the game (e.g. using Alt+Tab), otherwise the game will crash once the window is restored. (This is a bug in the DarkBASIC compiler)

Development

To compile and/or modify the game yourself, you need the following tools:

• DarkBASIC Professional: Free version available at https://github.com/Dark-Basic-Software-Limited/Dark-Basic-Pro/releases/tag/12.02.16

• Embarcadero Delphi: Free version available at https://www.embarcadero.com/de/products/delphi/starter (non-commercial use only)

License

The main game and source code is licensed under the terms of the Apache 2.0 licenses.

Sound and Graphics files are licensed under various free licenses. See the file Credits.md for details.