Aaa , I want to play it later, anyway how many days for making this game? Looks like masterpiece game I think, of course yes^^. Keep fight!!!

I played this a while ago (couldn't wait!) so sorry if there's things I missed or if I talk about outdated things since this game isn't fresh in my mind anymore.

I like the idea of the Aoi Oni style chases, and it definitely put some more tension in the game even in the calmer moments! I also think the game did a good job of making sure these chases didn't activate in certain map portions that are difficult to navigate or which have a lot of puzzles, and that every time you did get into a chase then the hiding spots would be pointed out, which was a nice touch.

My one complaint here is that, the difficulty for the chases between normal and hard felt a bit too much of a change? I played an older version so it may have been changed by now but the version I played easy was okay, normal was manageable, and hard made it impossible to walk two steps without running into Pinocchio, haha. I wonder if instead of just the chases, the difficulty options could make some of the puzzles optional instead? Or, probably the variables that affect his appearances just needed to be tweaked.

Speaking of, I enjoyed most of the puzzles though I wished some where a little more clear on what to do (specifically the clock puzzle and the puzzles with the gold and silver suits of armor are the ones I remember off the top of my head). The clock puzzle, I think if one hand were made thicker and shorter and one longer and thinner that it would help people figure out "oh, it's a clock!" and to put the hands in the right places. The armor one I only figured out by randomly pressing them... if there was a better way of figuring it out, I wasn't able to find it, haha. Overall though, I enjoyed most of the puzzles, though some (like the painting puzzle) were a little tedious... I know I did it in my own game so I can't complain, but I think making puzzles skippable kind of defeats the point of them. I think if you wanted to implement something like that, maybe if you were playing on easy and it automatically skipped the puzzle, that it might make more sense. For that particular puzzle though, yeah the constraints of RPGMaker and the way it was set up just made it kind of tedious either way. I think if there was a menu you could select the pieces from, that may play better. Which is too bad, because I got excited to solve it when I noticed the connection between the tiles and the painting! It is what it is though, I think it was a good idea just hard to implement.

I also always appreciate being able to skip the introduction, though in this case I had to start over a few times while trying to find the right difficulty. A really minor thing, but I would have preferred if the "skip introduction" could have gone all the way past the section where you play as Geppetto and started when you get the key and have full access of the house (and have to start running from Pinocchio). I understand why it's set up the way it is, and the Geppetto section didn't take too long to play through anyways, but right after is where I feel like the game really begins (and it's easier to get a sense of the difficulty from that point on). I'll also say that the old man was probably one of my favorite characters hahaha, his interactions with Geppetto were pretty funny.

My last issue is with the endings. They all made sense, they just felt too short? For some of them them being short was okay, but I think particularly the "True Ending" I would have preferred to see a little bit more of what happens rather than just being told, if that makes sense. My favorite ending was probably the one where Mia just decides to up and leave the house though, hahaha.

I also have to say, great job with the story! For "adapting" a well-known story, you managed to make a version that's not only pretty distinct from the original despite sharing similar elements, but also made sense and everything was tied together really well. Good job!

Overall, good game! I'm interested in seeing what you work on next :)

I saw HawkZombie play this game and I gotta say as a girl creative, other people commented on how women in the 1800's DID indeed learn the trade alongside their brothers when in the family. The idea of a 'housewife' was more cemented in the late 19th-early 20th centuries which makes Gepetto's misogyny VERY damning even there. With that said, as someone with a weakness for B-movie shlock, my only real issue is the borderline incest near the end of one of the more 'True Endings' but we all liked the jump scares of little Pinnochio nonetheless. 

Ok, so, here's my review. I'm going to rate it based on the latest version, which fixed a few issues, namely a few of the puzzles:

SPOILERS:

Gameplay:

There's puzzles and chases, with randomized Pinocchio showing up from time to time. The puzzles are great, the chases... well, those could be done better. Pinocchio is... well, he's not smart. You can just interact with a hiding place right in front of him and he disappears. And if you know he's coming, you can just run away from him and he has no chance to catch up.

On the other hand is the only situation where he can reasonably kill the MC and that's when he suddenly appears right in front of the door in your way and you run into him by mistake. Well, the game doesn't care about health in that case, the damage event triggers multiple times at once and you just get a game over, even on Easy where you have 200 HP. This was thought to be related to lag in the browser version, but from watching videos of the game where they played the downloadable version, well, it seems like it's not limited to the browser version.

The final chase with the large version of Pinocchio is actually great, especially how he jumps in front of Mia midway through, catching the player off-guard.

Overall, the gameplay is alright, the puzzles save it from a lower rating. If it were only the random Pinocchio chases, it would be 1 star lower. But it had the potential to be much better.

3 Stars!

Story:

Well, it was a fun and silly story about a murderous version of Pinocchio. It also has way too many bizzare plot twists and it was hard to suspend my disbelief at times. Like for example, Geppetto's plan is... well, if you think about it even a little, it just doesn't work. Why did Gepetto need to have Mia run around the mansion trying to solve the puzzles to open the way to the underground church while being hunted by murderous Pinocchio? He needed her alive and his plan falls apart without her.

For example, Mia has a very... sparse characterisation and despite Geppetto being openly abusive towards her, she doesn't seem to be very afraid of him or distrustful, instead she seems to care about him a great deal and he seems to know it, since he uses that to manipulate her into dealing with Pinocchio and going into the church. So why not instead just ask her to go to that church with him. If she were reluctant to trust him and he had to trick her somehow, that could make sense, but this way it just seemed like it was there to justify the gameplay.

Also, why not just find some woman who was his wife's age and looks like her and do the soul transfer ritual with her instead of waiting 30 years to raise a child and then do the ritual? Also, the jewel supposedly grants wishes, so why doesn't Geppetto wish to bring his son and wife back to life instead of going with that soul-transfering method. There's no real explanation of that.

The vast majority of the endings are tied to one scene at the very end. I feel like there should've been atleast a couple additional possible ending before you reach that point. Still, it's a game jam game and atleast it's great that you give the player the option to easily get all of the endings without needing to replay the whole game multiple times.

3 Stars!

Presentation:

Alright, so, the music is great, as are the sound effects (except when Pinocchio gets stuck somewhere or you run into him and the scissors sound gets played about 60 times per second) as are the graphics, mostly. There's a slight inconsistency between the art when it comes to sprites, for example, Mia is fully animated with an elaborate idle animation, while Gepetto is fairly static compared to her. Also, Gepetto looks the same when he's 38 years old as he does when he's 60. I guess making marrionettes is the secret to eternal youth. Still, those are relatively minor issues.

I'm just gonna ignore the "adjustments" to the sprites of Mia and Geppetto in the latest version and rate the original sprites.

4 Stars!

Creativity:

Well, if there's anything that can be said about this game, it's certainly that it's creative. Especially the puzzles and although the gameplay with Pinocchio has serious issues, it's also creative.

5 Stars!

Horror:

I think the game did well in this category, although it's nowhere near the level of A House for Alesa or even some of your older games such as Phantoms in the Camp. Still, I'd say it's above average.

4 Stars!

Theme:

There's a cursed jewel and you've implemented all of the bonus challenges as well. That said, the jewel itself isn't really the focus of the story, more so the catalyst for the story. Still, I'd say it was a good take on the theme.

4 Stars!

Overall, it's not your best work. However, it was still a very good game, especially the puzzles were very good (save for the original version of the picture puzzle). Looking forward to your next game!

absolutely love this. The story was mwah masterpiece, and when i opened the door for the first ending i was like "yesss bye bitch haha" then Pinocchio pops up again and like oop well- but overall this game was very fun to play i greatly enjoyed it keep up the great work ^^

The artstyle in this game is definitely different from the ones that I played before which are "The Toy Factory Across the Street", "Bzpkszp" and "60 Days till the World Ends". The storyline for this game is definitely very interesting and is the main factor that pushes the player to complete the game. The story is quite grim and some of the 5 endings are definitely not what most players would expect. SPOILERS ALERT, Sister Complex incoming. Furthermore, I liked that the game made good use of lighting and chasing to create a tense and horrifying mood and atmosphere to keep the player at their toes while travelling around the manor. 

Of course I'm going to be biased, as I wrote the music, but I just have to sing the praises of this short, thrilling horror rpg! I was able to finish it in just under an hour, albeit on easy difficulty lol. I appreciate the difficulty settings and the options to skip puzzles (I did skip the actual picture-puzzle puzzle after trying for awhile - I've been terrible at those since I was a kid), but the rest of the puzzles throughout the game were very intuitive and I'm curious to play it again on a higher difficulty and see how it changes the experience! I particularly like the mask puzzle - not only did it connect two separate room materials, I think it really alluded to the history of the area you learn about later in the game. I wonder if I'm correct about who those masks belong to...

The chases were fair but unnerving, with just enough hiding spots and a very creepy antagonist! A unique twist on the Pinnochio story, it was interesting to have Geppetto portrayed in, well, let's just say a much darker light than he usually is. In signature Dossow style, you get the option of multiple endings, all of which are worth trying out! 

You never know when you're safe - I suggest you save frequently ;)