Fair enough on A9! I have also avoided certain games based on artwork that turned me off, so I totally get it :3
I dunno which ending you got on Tunnel Vision cos there are a few different ones, most of which are pretty dark or gory x3 There is an endings guide for it, but if it wasn't your cup of tea anyhow, that can't be helped, haha.
I know some people seem to get a different project called Touchstarved (I think that's what it's called?) mixed up with Lovestarved x3 Just cos they both have the word ‘starved’ in the title I guess. Lovestarved is basically a Limbo Line spinoff about the world's escort service, Deadly Desires. You don't have to have played Limbo Line for Lovestarved to make sense though and vice versa cos the two stories are mostly unrelated.
With Limbo Line, I guess it depends what sorta stuff you're looking for in a game and what you would consider mild :3 I don't really know what sorta stuff you're looking for.
There are some pretty dark endings, but if a player was looking for something like dark sexual content, for example, it doesn't have that. The mature stuff in there is all non-sexual. There isn't any romance in it either, so it's not like it's a dating sim. There's a yandere in there, but a platonic yandere. (I realise there are also arguments around whether platonic yanderes are even a thing that can exist, but that's a debate I can't even be bothered to have anymore, haha).
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The problem with trying to go in too many directions with that particular ending in Bitter/Sweet though, is that you have to keep the reveal from the ‘true’ ending in mind.
For reference, I might as well be super clear and actually say it here, but I'll do so under spoilers on the off chance someone else reads this x3
Ahoy! There be SPOILERS below!!! x3
So yeah, with the ‘true’ end revealing on the title screen that Blythe is basically an antidepressant medication, it makes it a bit harder to play into certain themes too strongly. Especially when the game was supposed to be an exaggerated parallel of my own experience of being on certain kinds of antidepressants (this is something I think I mentioned in the extras section).
I did want to leave it a little open to interpretation still because I'm not a huge fan of when endings are 100% explained and told as gospel. I find it more fun when there's room to draw your own conclusions and come up with different theories. Which is a big part of why I revealed the whole 'Blythe is an antidepressant' thing as a visual element on the title screen post-'true’ end credits rather than writing it into the story x3
If MC were locked up for murder, those in charge of MC would either increase the dose of medication, which would in turn increase Blythe's influence over MC. Or they could potentially take MC off of the medication, either completely, or to trial them on a different kind of med. If the medication was changed or stopped, Blythe would technically disappear because MC only experiences Blythe as ‘real’ because it's a side effect of the Blythe antidepressant.
Basically, if we take the ‘true’ ending to actually be the truth of how Blythe exists, then Blythe only exists because MC is taking the drug named Blythe.
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Don't hate me here, but I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree that more endings = always good >.< My reasoning: I've played waaaay too many commercial Japanese VNs full of pointless bad ends at this point x3
Now, don't get me wrong, I usually LOVE bad ends! I tend to enjoy them more than good ends, haha. The problem is, a lot of VNs pack tonnes of bad ends in that are sooooo boring. They feel like a complete waste of time because often, they're not bad enough, but even more often, they just don't really do much of anything beyond be an irritating inconvenience to players trying to 100% the game or meet certain conditions to unlock hidden routes/scenarios :(
I'm all for more decent bad ends in games, gimme loads if they're epic bad ends! x3 But more doesn't always necessarily = better. Sometimes more is just a chore >.<
As a side note, I've never played Particles of Reality, and probably never will. It was on my radar at one point, but I remember when I looked it up thinking it's just not really my cup of tea, and my backlog is so huge at this point that I really needed to try and condense it somehow x3
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To be honest, most of my games were made in under 1 month xD Because I'm a game jam addict T_T
Bitter/Sweet was made for Yandere Jam, which only lasts a month. So the content that's currently available is basically what I was able to complete within the jam's 1 month time frame :3
Some of my stuff was made even faster though, like The Hostage, which was made in under 1 week for O2A2 jam. That jam is so much fun x3 I really love how all the limitations force you to come up with something you can squeeze in to the restrictions!
Solipsism Reigns is my first (and only) game that I didn't make specifically for a jam. That took a few years from start to finish to complete >.< I was my grandma's carer when I started working on the game though, so I was only getting to spend like 1-2 hours per day on it.
But yeah, I find that writing is the most difficult part of game jams in general because if it's a 1-month jam, you really need to try and have the full story script finished within the first week of the jam if you wanna stand a chance at actually submitting a finished game by the jam deadline >.<
It's fun, buuuut it also means you're kinda forced to think fast and run with a first draft, which is pretty much always gonna mean the writing is weak in places, if not throughout :(
At least you can always update stuff when a jam is over :3 Even that comes with issues though because sometimes, voice actors are happy to play characters for game jam games, but may not want to reprise the same roles later on once the jam is done >.< That means script revisions aren't always possible without recasting. And even if recasting happens, re-cutting, editing, and implementing voice lines that you've already done once is a nightmare to have to go and do a second time cos it's so time-consuming T_T
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As for Blue's route, weeeeell, when I say it's supposed to be mainly spicy fluff, I'm still talking DARK spicy fluff :P Some of what I've written is already sort of along the lines of some of the things you've mentioned :D
What I've got so far is definitely heavy on the manipulation side of things. Somewhat on the abusive side, but in a twisted caring kinda way x3
I've had a tad too many manipulative and abusive men in my actual life, so I'm kinda always conscious of that stuff cos what's fun in fiction isn't always so fun in reality >.<
I don't tend to get triggered by anything, but there are still certain things I avoid writing in fiction because they're things I've actually been through and don't particularly want to write about them in a fantasy kinda way x3
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There is indeed a warnings section on the page, but I adore your idea of having separate warnings/triggers for each version of Blythe :3 I will absolutely make sure to do that when the time comes so that it's extra clear to players what to expect from each, and then they can avoid whatever they might not be into. As you say, it's good to help players choose better :D
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The singing voice choice at the start is literally just to choose whether you want Blythe to have a masculine voice or a feminine voice :3 Whichever you pick determines for both versions of Blythe for the rest of a playthrough.
I've tried to include masculine and feminine voice options for the love interests in as many of my games as possible just to be more inclusive :3 Sometimes the sprites will appear physically different too, but because Blythe is designed to be androgynous, the sprites look the same whichever voice players pick.
It doesn't change anything else about the story because you pick MC's name and pronouns separately. So yeah, it's just a choice for Blythe's voice.
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I do appreciate the YouTube recommendation, but I'd be lying if I said I was actually gonna look the guy up >.< I just really don't like watching stuff on YouTube. I find written articles easier to digest than people speaking. Like if I need an answer for something in the form of a tutorial or whatever, if videos are the only option available, I will just go back to trying to figure out whatever the problem was by myself x3 I dunno if it's cos of my autism or something, but I just can't seem to process information very well in audio/video form >.<
There is a guide on the game page, yeah :3 Well, a link to the guide anyways since I made it in a separate post that I linked back to the page. It's here: https://melancholy-marionette.itch.io/bittersweetblythe/devlog/496221/walkthroug...
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I don't know if I could consider myself a skilled writer, but it means a lot that you would say that :3
I always assume my writing is clumsy >.< Partly cos of always having to run with hastily typed first drafts for game jams, but mainly cos I don't have much faith in anything I do, haha. I still haven't learned how to actually grow some self-esteem x3
Doesn't help that I always feel like an impostor when it comes to everything about game dev since I'm entirely self-taught.
I didn't even really get an education as a kid cos my school couldn't be bothered to teach anything. I only passed my GCSEs by studying textbooks at home. And I never had the opportunity to go to college/university because I was trapped in an abusive relationship and confined in his house. So yeah, I guess I just always feel kinda inadequate and inferior to all the folks out there who have actually had the opportunity to study stuff and get real degrees and experience etc. x3
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I do intend to keep writing for this until I have Blue's route finished anyhow :3 I'm not entirely sure when cos my main focus is finishing Lovestarved before anything else, and then I also have another older project I wanna finish since the script was written years ago >.<
Just not sure what to prioritise after that because I want to get back to working on Darling Duality. That's a really long project though, so maybe I'd be better of finishing Blue Blythe's route before getting into that. Cos once I get working on Darling Duality again, I'll probably be on that for a couple of years or more x3
Sometimes I wish I could clone myself and make my clones work on my projects so I can have some time off to play games xD My clones would probably just wind up murdering me or something though knowing my luck!
Thanks again for all your insight :3 I'm so glad you wound up enjoying this one. Hope you have lots of fun gaming and writing in general :D