Play chatdoll.exe
If:Then's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Visuals | #1 | 4.846 | 4.846 |
| Sound | #2 | 4.154 | 4.154 |
| Overall | #2 | 4.308 | 4.308 |
| Narrative | #2 | 4.538 | 4.538 |
| Theme Incorporation | #7 | 4.077 | 4.077 |
Ranked from 13 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
Loved the emotional pull at the end. Nicely done!
if there is anything to say it's that i want more... this was such a tasty experience that i found myself craving it after i found it was already done! seeing the gameplay help evolve galatea in turn was an absolute blast, and the entire game is such a step-up on the theme to really ask the reader questions on what humanity means and manifests in different beings.
absolutely loved the gui and the dialogue in this!! everything came together well! the fact that galatea started acting more like iris as you progress and then dr crane had iris under him as an intern,, im concerned. iris please be okay somewhere??
If: Then's reactivity is so extremely satisfying – asking for vitality and receiving an idle animation in turn absolutely solidified my trust in the game and its choices. I was also pleasantly surprised to see the different ways the story can unfold based on the different permutations of upgrade orders – each one I experienced offered a different texture, which is difficult to pull off without introducing tonal whiplash. If: Then is very cleverly written. Oh, and everything about the interface is so, so pretty and so, so slick. I love it to death.
Well made and well executed, with wonderful dialog and plenty of intrigue. Not what I expected but a very pleasant surprise. I would recommend this game :3
Thank you! I hope I can continue to carry on and expand its legacy in future works!!
Extremely well put together experience!! Really enjoyed playing through this, and the fact that you're a one person team and managed to get this cohesive of a final product done in such a short time is super impressive. Got a little emotional at the end 👍 Good stuff!!!
Thanky you, it was a lot of work and crunching under suboptimal conditions, but solo jams just have so much of their own fun to them that I couldn't resist!! I'm so happy my janked, brainfart writing could eek out even a fraction of emotion from anyone, truly an honor [bows]
This was a really sweet experience. Seeing the dialogue evolve and coalesce into the final story beats was cool, even if some scenes were very repetitive. maybe that was intentional to compell the player to push forward?
From a writing standpoint, I'd advise you to not allude to things that are not there but could be very closely. I picked 2x flexibility first and the doll explicitly says "get upgrades so you don't see something you're not supposed to see." - which of course I'd want to, but I didn't have a choice in the matter.
However! It also serves to tell a different story. The ultimate choicelessness of the story structure conveys the protagonist's inner drive. and the hidden wish to shape the doll in the imagine of his vision of Iris - despite her own determination als Galatea existing contra to that
I'm really glad you created this game, as complex story structures like this are a kind of beast that can be difficult to wrap your head around, and it worked really well for that. All the writing was consistent and that's not always a given - good job :3
I also really liked the doll toying with the plant. That was an adorable touch :3
Yep! Let's call it a mix of actual intention and also the karma I get for not wanting to write that weekend LMAO. I totally get where you're coming from. Orignally there was way more exploration of that quote depending on what upgrades you then proceeded to get/your actions in other runs, but such is the nature of game jams having you squish your ambitions into a semi-serviceable sample size... >M<
But just like you said--There's also this slice of the story where you have to consider how different Elliot really is from Galatea, seemingly having certain conversations that ultimately end and diverge with very little consequence because of what was written. He always comes back, no matter what, until you get to the end. And in the end, he gets a slice of what he sees, which is just what he wanted to see, and what Galatea learned to deliver...
Thank you so much for the thoughtful comment! I'd definitely love to tackle this sort of structure with more time and inspiration, but I'm glad that what I once saw as a mess (we're our own worst haters it seems) has still come across as fairly consistent and meaningful :,)) Here's to hoping I can get said plant in an update after this jam is over LOL
if game_dev == “lemonink”:
elif game_dev = “lemoninked”:
else:
print("I'm coming for you")
default lemonstatus = "chilling"
default saiyohara = "the goat"
label start:
return
Wow, the UI is amazing!!! I loved the little changes you could see in the bot with your feedback. The story fascinates me--was the bot intentionally based on Iris, or did the bot simply mold itself to Otto's needs along the way? Very interesting.
Thank you!! And omg you so get it like... There's some shenaniganery afoot here!
To not encroach too much on territory I want to cover with the main game in this universe, let's just say it's a naughty mix of both ;)) One does not simply make an AI chatbot story in this day and age without considering the current politics and issues on the subject, heheheh...
Wow, I love the conversation progression! Watching the bot develop day by day was extremely intriguing and the ending sealed the entire thing nicely. The gui is also very clean and adds an overall nice feel to the game
I'd like to call this jam "the one jam I continued to do some mining offscreen in figma" because man was I having a blast with the UI [to absolutely no other consequence whatsoever ha. ha. ha.]...
The devil works hard but Galatea processes harder, let's just say. Thank you!
Interesting. As someone who is learning about AI and natural language processing, this game gave me goosebumps. Love the textbox GUI! Oh, but maybe you should check the fullscreen button on the embed options for the web build.
Thank you! I've only dabbled a bit on the subject from a cognitive psychology pov but I really hope I can learn more about it in the future! Elliot being a bit of an unreliable narrator with his own motivations to interpret things sort of muddies the amount I can get into how truly different Galatea's mental processing can get, but that's part of the fun too, teehee!
And noted! Totally forgot that was an itch thing and made sure to add it. Thanks for catching that!