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Fawning Over a Corpse's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #1 | 4.590 | 4.590 |
| Theme | #1 | 4.769 | 4.769 |
| Creativity | #1 | 4.615 | 4.615 |
| Story | #1 | 4.769 | 4.769 |
| Presentation | #2 | 4.538 | 4.538 |
| Horror | #2 | 4.462 | 4.462 |
| Gameplay | #2 | 4.385 | 4.385 |
Ranked from 14 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How did you choose to implement the Theme: Family Secret in your game?
Fawn's strange disease and downfall is kept as a secret within their tiny family for a long, long while.
Did you implement any of the optional Bonus Challenges, and if so, which ones?
I tried to implement Home Video for a small scene!
Did you create your game in RPG Maker?
Yes
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Comments
(I rated this game in all categories, but I didn't always have something to comment on for some categories so I omitted those from this review).
Gameplay:
It runs like a typical visual novel, if a little buggy. A couple times I had windows pop up about "so and so song not being played in channel 2" or variations of that, but I was able to keep playing for the most part.
Main thing I would have liked to see, what's common is sometimes visual novels allow a "skip" option to progress through parts of the story you've already seen. I'm not sure how doable this is in RPGMaker specifically, but it would have made it a lot easier for people trying to see multiple endings than just having to click through all of the dialogue over again. I appreciated being able to save whenever, but it has it's limits.
Story:
Story was pretty interesting, I enjoyed a lot of the writing too. The first ending I got was Ending 3, which honestly I was expecting. But I was surprised by endings 4, and then ending 1 and 2- 1 felt the most realistic, and I appreciated it. I also only realized at the end why her name was "Fawn", hahaha.
Presentation:
It's works well for a visual novel, though it's a bit buggy in some areas. I think some of the UI could have been spiced up a bit. I think the art is lovely, though it was a little visually confusing sometimes, mostly when Fawn would show up in the backgrounds in a pretty different style than the talking sprites.
Horror
Sound design was excellent here in moments were Dana was scared, and I appreciate how there's plenty of moments of horror, even at the beginning when there's "nothing" to be scared of.
Overall:
If it were me, I would have tried to use a program like Ren'Py or other program made more specifically for use with visual novels to avoid some of the more buggy aspects, and a lot of those programs include things like the "skip" option automatically which helps when trying to get all the endings. But otherwise, it was a pretty neat little game! Good work!
hey, thank you so much for your review and constructive criticism! the thing with the clashing art styles is because the cgs were done by me and the sprites were done by trinket. hopefully in any future projects we can make it blend a little smoother, haha! thank you for your kind words and hopefully we can implement some suggestions in any future projects.
No problem! Honestly the CGS weren't that bad. It was mostly just when I was playing and I would be talking to Fawn's sprite, and then her sprite would disappear and the background would change to include her that it would trip me up a little, if that makes sense.
The story of this game is genuinely incredible and had me in tears. The characters are so lovable, the visuals are wicked, and the atmosphere was really well done! I think making a story scary, especially when most of the horror is coming from just the words, is really tricky and the fact that you both were able to do that so flawlessly is a testament to your talent as artists and storytellers. This is definitely queer representation done RIGHT. Not used as a marketing point, not demonized or villainized, but for the sheer passion of bringing a horror story to life with characters relatable to minorities who otherwise lack that level of relatability to characters. Overall this game is absolutely stunning and the fact that you were able to take these two characters who I didn't know previously, and make me BAWL over them is some serious talent and I love this game to bits and pieces. A well deserved five stars.
I loved the depth of the characters. Dana’s expression of what she was feeling from freezing in the moment to justifying Fawn’s actions kept me wanting to see what would happen next. The pixel art was very detailed and gave the game a new dimension which was interesting and memorable. I loved it! 5 stars all the way
Alright, so, here's my review of the game:
Gameplay
It's a short visual novel, so choices, branching paths, different endings etc. It features the ability to look up past messages and save at any time, which are both great quality of life features. There's no rollback, but still, the best visual novel I've seen that's been made in RPG Maker.
4 stars!
Story
It was sad, it was interesting and emotional, the characters were great, especially their relationship with each other. I could maybe nitpick some things, but honestly, nothing that really matters.
5 stars!
Presentation
It was good overall. The sound effects were probably a bit too quiet and some of the furniture looked wonky (especially in Dana's room) and it took me a while to realize what those antlers on the screen mean (that you are holding a certain item), but otherwise great work!
4 stars!
Creativity
Making a visual novel in RPG Maker is bound to be hard, so I'd say it deserves some praise for creativity just for that alone. That said, there are also many creative visuals and the story is fairly creative.
4 stars!
Horror
While there are some horrifying visuals in the game, I'd say the horror comes mostly from the dialogue and story, the sense existential dread and sadness of Dana's situation. It could've been "scarier" or go even deeper on the themes explored in the game, but as it is, I'd say it's just fine.
3 stars!
Theme
Along with the Story, I'd say this is the category where the game really shines. What I liked in particular is how you had the protagonist actually deal with the "secret", react to it and think about what she should do about it. It wasn't just "this family has a horrifying secret and now, you have to escape"! It's someone she cares about that has a horrifying secret. the game is about how she deals with that and how hard it is to act against someone you care so much about. This is something I hoped to see in the submissions to this game jam when I selected this theme!
5 stars!
An incredible, thought provoking game !
Dana and Fawn are both lovely and well written characters. It feels all natural, and the dread is much heavier for that reason. It'll have the player question what they would do if faced in a situation like this with someone important to them.
The art is gorgeous, and it's easy to want to stare at each moment for hours. Both of your styles complement each other very well, and that combined with the dialogue + sound design brings such a deep immersion. The intense moments can hit in such an incredibly specific way and it really resonated with me personally. I cannot give this enough praise! Good work the both of you!