I’m so glad you think so :3 It’s not like I can take all the credit for the art side of things since almost everything came from art packs that I purchased, but I did spend a HUUUUGE amount of time editing every single art asset in the game to get things to look exactly as I wanted them to x3
I edited the colours and tone of everything, which was gruelling cos most of the images didn’t have layers, so I had to do it all in a very time-consuming way >.< And the CGs were all created by meticulously positioning stuff until it looked as about acceptable as I could get it, haha.
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Loading times is honestly something that really pisses me off about Unity/Naninovel >.< I desperately wish there was a way to improve them.
On my PC, it’s not an issue cos everything loads almost instantly, but on the potato laptop, load times can sometimes exceed a full minute!!
I’ve noticed it when trying to play other people’s VNs on the potato too. Largely with ones made using Unity/Nani, but I even have issues playing Renpy games sometimes if they have heavy use of video or animated elements :(
I’m sure there must be a way to achieve better optimisation, but yeah, I think a big part of the problem is just how Unity/Nani games run in general T_T
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You kind of answered your own question correctly there x3 Yeah, she really is just that resigned, haha. She literally went out there kind of wanting/expecting to die anyways, so when the creature appears, she figures she might as well just go along with things to see what happens.
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There is a pretty strong reason for the narrator rewinding that particular bad end decision, and it’s a personal one :3
Basically, I dunno if you read anything on the background of why I made this game, but I made it when I was feeling suicidal after getting my own ASD diagnosis. So making the game was kind of my way of processing everything I guess. It was quite cathartic, but I can’t really go back and look at the game now cos it’s too painful to remember feeling the way I did.
The reason you’re forced into outcomes where Saffie survives is because, deep down, as strongly as I felt I wanted to die at the time, there was still a part of me that wanted to live.
I wanted Saffie to live because that’s what I wanted for myself x3
I couldn't allow any bad endings where Saffie dies to be 'reality' for Saffie because, in a weird way, it felt too much like I would be giving up on myself / reinforcing the idea that I should die.
Even though Saffie isn't me, she was the personification of what I was going through back then, so while we have differences, I felt extremely protective of her, haha.
Heck, when I was making the game, I wasn’t even thinking about other people playing it. Like many of my games, I made it purely for myself. It was only when I got towards the end of making it that I decided I might as well release it just in case it happens to resonate with anyone who might be feeling similarly.
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I guess the other choices determine what kind of future Saffie has alongside whether or not Saffie and Snowe have any romance going on.
Some endings are healthier than others, but the main thing for me was to make sure Saffie survived x3 I will happily admit that some of the endings in there are a bit meh xD My personal favourites are:
SPOILERS BELOW!!!
End 05 - Permafrost Princess
The one where Snowe essentially obliterates the rest of the world to keep Saffie safe x3
End 07 - Beyond The Blizzard
Just cos it's a happier one with hope that's a bit more involved than some of the other 'happy' endings
End 08 - Guardian Angel
Because Saffie has the freedom of living her own life away from Snowe while healing, but he's still being a sneaky yandere through her bear xD
And even though I know it's bad that Snowe's harming other people from afar, it's just kind of sweet that he loves Saffie enough to let her leave, but won't let go of protecting her x3
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Anyways, I’m so, so glad that you still enjoyed the story even if you would have preferred a greater variation in choices :3
It honestly means a lot! Especially considering I happened to see a review on it recently from early 2024 where the person had said they thought the storyline was childish >.<
I mean, it’s a dark fairytale, so in a sense, it’s kind of supposed to have those childish vibes xD But still, they clearly meant it in a negative way rather than positive.
I won’t say the name of the person who wrote it, but they rated the game 2 stars and their review was as follows:
"While the mechanics and design where fairly great, the story… Well. It felt really bad. Like a children story by a grown up who try to make something fancy out of a fancy word, but it’s still not a great story at booth.
Sorry writer, but I feel like there should have been a revamp :("
…That’s just not very nice to hear from someone when it’s something I wrote to process my own trauma.
I know that when you publish stuff online, you can’t control whether people consume it, or what they think about it if they do, but still… I didn’t make it for them. I made it for me.
I wasn’t trying to 'make something fancy' out of anything. I was literally just doing something to stop myself from committing suicide at the time >.<
Sometimes I think people make comments and reviews without even considering for a second that devs are just regular people with feelings :(
I’m extremely fortunate to have received kind comments on most of my games, but when I see negative stuff, or things that are straight-up mean, it just really feels like a slap in the face. I’ll be the first to admit I am not a resilient person when it comes to getting comments like that.
Genuine criticism is fine because that can be constructive if it’s written the right way and comes from a place of goodwill.
But reviews/comments like the one I quoted just hurt. They’re not constructive or helpful in any way. It’s just someone’s opinion and something they could have just kept to themselves. As the saying goes, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all >.<
One day, I’d like to be at a place in myself where I have good enough self-esteem to just let those sorts of comments wash over me so they don’t hurt quite as much, and it’s something I’m trying to work on in therapy x3
But in the meantime, I’m stuck in a place where every time I get something like that on my game pages or my inbox, it makes me wanna quit game dev because the pain it causes makes it feel like publishing what I make isn’t worth it.
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Aside from that, and I know I can't truly blame players for this because the average player won't be aware of it, rating games anything less than 5 stars on itch is extremely damaging to devs >.<
It's itch's fault really for operating the rating system the way they do. But yeah, a 5* rating increases a dev's overall visibility on the site while anything less than 5* decreases it >.< It means some players are giving genuine ratings of 4* or 3* thinking they're just being fair and honest without even realising they could be hurting the dev's chances of others finding their games :(
I only learned that by being a part of a dev server and joining game jams, so I wouldn't expect players to be aware of it. It's why devs tend to only rate other devs' games 5* even if they only thought it should be like a 3* rating.
Basically, the unspoken rule is, rate 5* if you liked the game, and if you didn't like it, just don't rate at all.
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Even though some of your points could be construed as negative, I understand that they’re your personal preferences, and we all have our own of those, haha. No dev could make someone’s perfect game without heavily consulting with an individual on their preferences at the end of the day. They can do a decent job of appealing to maximum players, but it’s unavoidable that some players will love what they make while others won’t be so keen.
Heck, part of the reason I started making games was because I was finding that while I enjoyed the stuff I was playing, there were certain things I would change if it were me making them, haha.
So yeah, just thank you for posting something nice :3 Because when I read stuff like what you’ve written, it lifts me back up again rather than pushes me down. And that means a lot!