Create and Control Your Own Delicate Ecosystem in EarthTongue

Eric Hornby decided, one day, to make a game  that would be a simple time-waster, a relaxing experience for friends, to be spread through social media. He didn’t intend to make a full game, but several months later, he has done just that. EarthTongue is a relaxing, interactive experience that allows players to take care of a small ecosystem consisting of different types of fungi and bugs (particular favorites of Hornby’s). These creatures co-exist in a dank cave, where players have to move them, spend limited resources on their care, and even control the weather in small ways to encourage growth (the weather consists of nutrient-rich rain). In some ways, EarthTongue is very similar to Let There Be Life.

EarthTongue is releasing today on itch.io, at a price of $4. However, Eric Hornby, being a fan of creation in general, is offering a special deal to all potential players: Pay by Art. If you would like to receive a key for the game, all you have to do is create something (any medium) that is related to EarthTongue, be it a Perler bead mushroom, a drawing of a praying mantis, or a collage of your favorite fungi and insects. Want to paint a cave? Go for it. The key is to create, period. Here are the guidelines, directly from the source:

• It needs to have taken you at least half an hour. It’s okay if you’re not good / it’s not pretty! But I’d like to spend at least a little time on it.
• Can be an art of any kind. A drawing is probably the easiest, but if you’d rather provide a song or anything else that’s fine too!
• Have it be about Earthtongue in some way.
• Include the name Earthtongue somewhere in the work
• It has to be okay for me to post this artwork on my twitter / tumblr / wherever. I will credit you however you wish.
• Limit one per person. It’s okay to trade art for a key if you’ve already bought the game, perhaps to use as a gift, but I will only trade a key for art once.

There are also a couple bonus, optional requests!

• If you have a social media, such as a twitter, please post it there! I’d like it if you could CC me below or give me a link to the post so that I can retweet/reblog/whatever it!
• If you do post it on a social media, please provide a link to the Earthtongue page! This is optional, but I’d really appreciate it!

You can view all art submissions on the earthtonguefanart Tumblr, and follow Eric Hornby on his Tumblr or Twitter for more information about this and other projects. You can also view his itch.io page for additional games.