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A jam submission

The Greener SideView game page

Submitted by Vanillabell — 5 minutes, 23 seconds before the deadline
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The Greener Side's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Story#143.5883.588
Implementation of Theme#173.1183.118
Creativity#203.7353.735
Presentation#292.9122.912

Ranked from 34 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Name of Wolf/Wolves
Diarmuid

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Comments

HostSubmitted

I AM RATING THESE ALL THESE JAM SUBMISSIONS RELATIVE TO ONE ANOTHER. THERE ARE HIGH HIGHS AND LOW LOWS BUT PLEASE DON’T TAKE THIS TOO PERSONALLY, AFTERALL, WE ALL ONLY HAD A MONTH.

Implementation of Theme (4):

I thought the MC’s powers slowly expanding was a great use of the theme. I grew up as one of those people obsessed with Earthbound so I always wanted my mind to suddenly expanded with magic and PSI powers. The idea of just this new realm to discover and explore piqued me even if we just needed to take an inter-dimensional plane to it.

Story (3):

I’m a sucker for classic Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest like elements just appearing in modern times as if it was nothing. Unlike my submission… you didn’t bog down your VN with tedious RPG stuff like I did. Nothing dragged on for too or over stayed its welcome.

It’s nice playing a MY WOLF that moreso seems to focus on bromance over romance.

Presentation (3):

The part where Diarmuid is fighting monsters on the road was hilarious and exactly the type of shenanigans I had in mind when we decided that the Pre-Made sprites would be fully body again.

The audio direction was spot on and you did the most that you could with the Pre-Made Assets. I was expecting another power suit on the wolf like with Rogue Star River.

Unfortunately, the missing asset errors at the end, really took me out of the moment. It would have been more funny if you were able to program them as Ren’Py Girl Placeholders but alas.

Creativity (4):

I really wanted this to have some VN/RPG Hybrid elements in it but alas that asking for a lot in a VN Jam. It felt like we were only scraping the surface of this world you crafted.

I still remember the line that Siofra says about how much money it costs to revive her boyfriend.

Total (14):

So quick anecdote. I was watching video about the Substitute Characters from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War and it talked about Lachesis’s son named Diarmuid. I hadn’t thought of that Fire Emblem character is a while and found it entertaining since Fire Emblem usually doesn’t take naming influence from Irish mythology.

Out of everyone who submitted something Solo, I think you might do the most wonders trying out a Non-Batman approach.

The biggest tragedy in this VN is that the thumbnail you used and continue to use, is so unenticing. Although Rogue Star River suffered the same fate so it might just be your personal style at this point. Whatever you release next, I’ll know to play it despite whatever thumbnail you use. Maybe something that reminds me of Tsukihime which I should be finishing by the time MAY WOLF 2025 is finished.

This was a nice one! Some action, some lore about the world and it's characters and some potential romance at the end. The perfect combo! 

Only the ending was a little aprupt, jumping right back to the main menu, but that's something which can be fixed very easily. 

Overall, very enjoyable! ^_^ 

Submitted

A pretty fun ride overall, I must admit to having enjoyed it a lot more than the dev's entry last year. There were unfortunately a few issues with the coding that caused a lot of the sprites and other images not show up correctly, but I did enjoy the bits that worked correctly (the game uses the sprites very playfully).

I enjoyed the fantasy setting and the story was fun, but I do feel like it misses a good punchline. Having read it a few days ago, I must admit I remember pretty vividly a lot of scenes, but I would struggle to describe what the story is about or how it ended.

Submitted

I honestly don't have too much to say about this entry. It was very unfinished, and the writing has a "cut-and-dry" aspect to it that doesn't make it very fun to read, unfortunately. That being said, I think what is properly implemented and coded in is nice to look at, and the premise has a lot of potential to be interesting. Well done and congrats on the entry.

Submitted

Ngl, I was a bit perplexed by the thumbnail and the title, but when I read it I was delightedly surprised!

A nice story about a group of friends fighting monsters and exploring dungeon to get some loot, with magic and stuff.

It missed so many visual effects and sprites, but otherwise, good job!

Submitted (1 edit)

The Greener Side is quite the competent little project. Though there are a couple of unique beats to it, the story is really tropey. Reading it, you can easily predict what will happen if you’ve consumed some media with a remotely similar story. That said, the times where the games does wield its more unique traits, it works pretty well. With a little more variety of inspirations, this could be a more interesting start to this story. Also it really could have used of some SFXs, it would really enhance the experience.

Submitted

I got into it fairly quickly, It's well presented even though the UI is a little rough to me. It does its job but it make itself seen a bit too much to my liking.

 The world building is interesting though i'm not a huge fan of the "video gamey" world feel it has. Relying too much on those clichés makes the world feel very generic, maybe that's on purpose(?). This aside though I was kept interested, Siofra was my favorite character, she's very funny through the whole story, she's a lovable asshole not as egoïst as she seems at first glance. Just seeing more of that character alone would be enough to make me want to continue reading the story if it continues. Also despite not being finished it still has a satisfying ending to it, doesn't leave on a huge cliffhanger.

Good job with your entry!

Submitted

Spoilers:

Theme: Expanded worldview.... I guess, but he already seemed to be pretty aware of what was going on, on the other side (from having already talked to the wolf).

Story: One part "reconcile" with family, one part isekai. I'm a sucker for isekai in that I read too much of them, as mediocre as many of those mangas are... but this was pretty cute. Reminded me of Gate.

I think you did pretty well at what you were setting out to do, but your reconciliation scene didn't resonate for me given we didn't have a "before" to compare it to. We needed a prior level to  compare the resolution to, imo.

I'm not sure how I feel about the "sequel" bait in the bigger scope ending, but I guess it's on brand. The main issue is perhaps a lot of the time was spent on "yes it is isekai, but here is how it is different" which is cute but pulls away from the narrative you were trying to tell (at least, the short one of family bonds prior to the librarian scope creep).

Presentation: What you did have, I liked, like the really small wolf moving from side to side, and the music you picked felt mostly appropriate, but there was a lot of gaps of music, and a lot of broken images (and I think it woul have been nice to see the pixie too).

Creativity: Psychometry-esque power is always fun, as is isekai subversions, although isekai subversions are still so mainstream at this point that you rounded back to mainstream, but I won't hate too much in that regard.

Overall thoughts: I would enjoy reading more, although that may be because I'm a sucker for isekais, but It was still enjoyable and the character banter was pleasant and did betray a sort of cultural blending of the two worlds.

If the presentation's major gaps were fixed, I think this would be a very enjoyable romp (although I don't know about the sequel bait/continuation ending so much for me).

Submitted

The presentation is kind of rough, first of all – the UI is both really plain-looking by itself and not that different from the Ren'py defaults, even using the same font. Besides that, there are a lot of "missing image" errors. The backgrounds feel well-chosen, however, and the dungeon in particular is a nice interpretation of what that could look like in an urban fantasy setting. I also like all the things the game does with sprites, even if animations aren't as plentiful as they could have been.

In terms of writing, The Greener Side is not a bad read; the pacing feels fast even with all the travelogue in the beginning, the character voices are distinct, and the tastefully implemented worldbuilding wisely prioritizes fun details. The frequent punctuation errors (most often a missing comma) are kind of distracting, though, and some character backstories are exposited smoother than others.

I think the story's greatest strength is feeling appropriately tropey, with the isekai conceit and various other fantasy elements being given an entertaining, gently satiric spin. The ending feels way too brief, however – I'm actually not even sure if this was supposed to be it or if there's more to come, which I guess various unresolved plot points suggest. (It's also very sudden in its implementation, with the instant kick back to the title screen feeling slightly jarring.)

The overall lack of polish betrays that we're dealing with a game jam project, but the story is inoffensively realized and eminently readable. I honestly had a pretty good time with The Greener Side, just wish things could have been pushed a little further all around.

Submitted

I'm enjoying this visual novel so far. It seems to be the start of an epic adventure!  Also, nicely ominous cliffhanger ending to keep us invested!

There were quite a number of missing sprite errors, though it may just be that they weren't completed before the deadline.   I also noticed some minor spelling issues.

I noticed that the sprites were sized and placed appropriately with the backgrounds and that they were dynamic.  I also appreciate the parallels of the mc and love interest.

I can't wait to read more!

Submitted

It's ambitious. I'll give it that.

I do think, under the circumstances, it was a great attempt at creating a fantasy world with such a small word count. Also the extra animation work and sprite alternates were well appreciated. Not enough VNs put in the effort to do those things and they really help give the game its own personality imo.

That said, the story moves at a mile a minute. So many things happen one after another that I never had a chance to settle into this world that you are trying to build. Further, because the pacing is so fast, there is quite a bit of telling going on, and that hurts the narrative voice.

It's an interesting entry and one that I think could have been made a lot better if the Jam allowed you more time to polish things. Am interested to see what becomes of this in the future.

Banger

Submitted (3 edits)

Ok. I have just finished reading this VN. Let's share my thoughts.

The vn is full of references to Irish culture and Gaelic mythology, which shows in a wide range of forms, from slang words to the characters' names. The idea of turning the concept of expansion into expansion of horizons to a new world was a creative way to use the theme and introduce pseudo-isekai in the vn. Sometimes it feels like a parody of epic fantasy media, yet the vn has its sort of serious moments too.

A traditional epic fantasy piece of media with a touch of genre-conscious satire.

Thank you for the experience!

Submitted

Fifth entry I will read. Let's read and rate this!