Alone On A Journey
A downloadable game
Alone On A Journey is a zine featuring three solo journaling and exploration games and a guide to writing a hack of those games.
Alone Among the Stars: Wander through space and experience wondrous sights.
Alone in the Ancient City: Explore the many districts of an ancient city.
Alone Among the Shifting Trees: Come across objects deep in a strange forest.
To play, you will need a journal and something to write with, a six sided die, and a standard deck of 52 playing cards.
Alone Among the Stars and Alone in the Ancient City were originally published as separate games. You can also find other Alone games on Itch in the Alone at the Table collection.
Cover and insert art by Shannon Kao
Graphic design and layout by Quinn Vega
Alone On A Journey is licensed under the Anti-Capitalist Attribution Cooperative License.
Status | Released |
Category | Physical game |
Rating | Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars (44 total ratings) |
Author | Takuma Okada |
Genre | Card Game |
Tags | Exploration, journaling, poc-made, Singleplayer, solo, Space, Tabletop role-playing game, Walking simulator, worldbuilding |
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $10 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Exclusive content
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Donate a Community Copy
Buy a copy of the digital zine and donate a community copy!
Additional tips over $20 will be donated as multiple copies.
Claim a Community Copy
Claim a free copy of Alone On A Journey if you are marginalized or in need.
Development log
- Pre-Order ZinesSep 06, 2022
- Alone On A Journey Physical Copy Pre-ordersMar 12, 2022
Comments
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Alone On A Journey is a small series of solo journaling rpgs. You use a die and a deck of cards to work through extremely open-ended prompts focused by a choice of genre.
The print book is 29 pages, with a gorgeous full-color cover that is reprised throughout the book as interior black and white illustrations.
Mechanically, the games in Alone are very simple. You can learn one in under a minute. They're also designed around playing in bite-sized chunks, and can be used secondarily as a way of building worlds---Alone In The Ancient City is a really solid, eye-level city builder.
An important and interesting part of the book is that it includes a lot of guidance on how to hack its engine. I think this chapter makes Alone a *really good* pickup for anyone who's getting into rpg design---the writing is accessible, the directions are clear, and its engine is a really strong foundation to build solo games on.
Overall, Alone On A Journey is ideal for anyone who likes shorter, cozier solo rpgs. It feels grounded and well-paced, and the print version comes with some journaling pages built in.
This is a wonderful gaming experience. It was my first try at a solo journaling game and I loved it! Super flexible as well, excited to play it some more in the future.
I just found this at my local game shop. I'm excited to play.
I just started this today as my first ever journaling game, it’s so effortless to get into. I want to visit this ancient city I’m discovering <3
Beautiful journey. The writing prompts are specific enough to get the mind working, but open enough to let you lead the way. I was instantly transported into a world of my own design, and found myself writing a short story inspired by what I found.
If I buy the PDF version, is it ok if I have my the students in my class play along or do I need to buy a copy for each of them? I think they'd love this project.
Oh no one purchase is fine I hope they like it!
Hello! I was wondering if this game is kid-friendly? I’m looking for take-home writing activities for my struggling students for this year and don’t have the $ to purchase all the options to review. Thanks.
Yes it's kid-friendly! It's been used with elementary kids before, if money's an issue I can send you a copy or you could also snag Alone Among the Stars which is free!
Thank you! I’ll take a look at Alone Among the Stars and I would be grateful for a free copy. I spend an insane amount of money for my students already and every place I can save helps. My email is sharyna (at) gmail (dot) com
Thank you so much! I am hoping to have a library of games that they can try to find where they can be passionate about words.
Checking out Among the Stars first. Want something to draw the kids away from an iPad/screen. Perhaps this might also be a nice option.
I like this game but I cannot pay for it, could you please make some community copies?I really want to try this!!!!!!!!
THANKS
Have just embarked on my first journey and am thoroughly enjoying it so far, it is an excellent distraction and quite meditative. Also it has been quite cathartic in releasing my imagination once more, that the day to day, often tries to drown out. A wonderful outlet for a wandering mind. Thank you!
Hello! First - I'm in love with the Alone games. I got the physical copy and have started making some hacks of my own.
Second, I wanted to check with you about a possible use of Alone On A Journey. I believe it would qualify under your Anti-Capitalist Attribution Cooperative License, but it's always best to ask.
I'd like to create an application for playing Alone On A Journey on PC (and possibly on Android). This is primarily a learning project for me to sharpen some developer skills, but I'd like to check in with you first if this is 1) OK, 2) OK to release as open source, and 3) (if the Android version comes to fruition) if it would be OK to release on the Play store as a free, non-commercial app.
Thanks - and thanks for all the great games!
Sorry to be a bother, but do you have any update on the physical copies being sent out? I’m happy to wait as long as it takes, I just remembered today that I’d pre-ordered and was curious. :)
ah sorry, no worries! Yeah I was initially going to move end of the month but it doesn't look like it's happening, so hopefully I'll have them shipped sometime in August?
sounds good! Thanks so much for the response.
I really enjoy the Alone hacks. Alone Among the Stars and Alone in the Ancient City are among my favorites and reprinted here, alongside a new hack with a spooky deep forest atmosphere that feels very different from a similar hack (Alone on the Rocky Beach, not present here). I think of Stars and City as medium weight in terms of time investment, and Forest as lighter.
I love having these games gathered together, though I wish Beach had been added.
this is so lovely! i'm excited to play through the solo adventures.
I'm probably missing something obvious, but I don't see the reward survey for shipping details for the $25 version - where should I look for that? Thanks!
it’s not active yet. When it is, it’ll look something like this on your downloads page:
takuma just needs to save changes after hitting the “fields” box, and it should be live after that:
Hope i was helpful!
Thanks! I'll keep an eye out, then. :)
yep! sorry I thought I had set them to be live but apparently not! Will post an update when they’re actually live.
alright, the survey should be fillable now!
Great, thanks! Filled it out. :)
I'm in Canada but would love to preorder the physical zine, is that possible/should I add a certain amount on top for the additional shipping?
I would really like to offer shipping outside the US but I don’t know how easy it will be right now so I’m planning on figuring that out after I’ve fulfilled the international Kickstarter orders I have! Sorry for the uncertainty