Post by Ashkastel in Somewhere Near Romance comments

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Enjoyed this game. I made choices that reflected SAL being unable to feel true love and that just made the game sadder. I will replay to see all the routes, so here are my answers! :D

1) Not really, that's not a factor for me in any choice based game.

2) SAL for some reason I visualised as one of these sci-fi robots with white, shell-like casing (think like the ones from the film I, Robot) and Ash as...Ash Tyler from Star Trek Discovery, because that's what comes to mind these days (big fan). I did mentally assign genders: SAL female, Ash male. My perception is obviously coloured by my own orientation.

3) As I said before I made the choices where SAL is unable to feel true love and Ash accepts this, and they remain friends.

4) Liked: the poignant, self-reflective POV and the sadness. Disliked: the music. It's not bad, but very rarely I can abide music while reading. It's distracting. Purely my own problem and not the fault of the track itself.

5) Sadness mostly. I felt bad for Ash, because I think they wanted something more from the relationship that SAL can't give them. I'll replay and see what other paths are like, though.

6) I would like to see them again, but I think not together. I'd like to see Ash with someone who can fully give them what they want, and SAL with another robot who is as analytical as them. Or possibly by themselves too.

7) I'm honestly not sure and any kind of prediction would just be me projecting my own relationship desires. With this in mind I think that Ash will eventually drift away from SAL.

8) I love Steven Universe : 3

Naomi Norbez (call me Bez)6 years ago (1 edit)

Thank you for playing and for your responses! If you don't mind elaborating, I'm a bit curious on some of the things you said: for #6, what do you think Ash wants in a relationship? And for #7, why do you think Ash will drift away from SAL?

I'll be checking out your game in the jam asap. :) Thanks for the feedback! If you see other routes later, please let me know what you think of them.

(Woo! Steven Universe is great.)

Ashkastel6 years ago

I think that Ash wants someone who can fully love them in the way they want to be loved, which includes honest emotional responses (that SAL cannot provide). I think that's what everyone wants really. Again this might just be me projecting but Ash saying that they don't mind SAL being so logical and different from them, is a bit self-deluded because Ash wants to continue the relationship.

I think Ash will drift away eventually once they realise that SAL and they want different things and SAL cannot give Ash what they want. But as I've said this is coloured by my own experiences with relationships. I think I'm reading this as a sci-fi parallel of "I love you but you only see me as a friend" and I've been there like many of us have been. In these cases trying to remain friends is difficult and people tend to drift away. Not always but this has been mostly my experience.

Then again this is just an interpretation. Everyone sees different things and that's the beauty of art, isn't it? :)

I hope you enjoy playing my game and I'd love to see some feedback! It's a rough first effort but I'm proud of it in a weird way. I was a bit hesitant to make a twine but after playing the great twine games in this jam I'm pretty encouraged. :D

jozid5 years ago

1. Did believing you could play this only once impact how you made decisions?

It made me more nervous about picking "wrong" answers that would make the game end badly. I might play it again , but it is interesting to think about what you could do if you only had one chance.

2. What do SAL and Ash look like in your mind? Did you mentally assign a gender to either or both characters?

I thought of her as some sort of advanced lab computer, and I thought of him as a worker at the place. I can't imagine people or places as images in my head, so I didn't really think about how they looked too much. I thought of her of a girl, but as she and I alternated bettween he and they for him, settling on him after some thought.

3. What choices did you make? How did your game end?

At the first choice I picked _"No. I believe you and I must talk." because pretending everything was fine seems like a bad idea, then I picked _"I don't think I'm capable of fully loving you." Because I think that hiding the truth is a bad idea, and it seemed like a cop out. At the next option, I really wanted to go for "I was not made for physical intimacy" but _"My understanding of our relationships rests in very logical places." seemed more in character and like a good choice as well. At the last choice #2 seemed really dramatic, #3 seemed like a cop-out. and after option 1 seemed really heartwarming, esp after the speach that ash gave (that speach made me think of asm as a real character, and without it I would have gone with 3).

4. What did you like and dislike about this game?

I loved SAL's inner thoughts and the delema that she was facing, the gender neutral pronouns just worked very well (there are a lot of games where they don't work) I liked both the characters and how they thought, the idea of this game is handled really amazingly with a maturity that is almost never seen.

5. How did this game make you feel?

Contemplative, nervous, happy, sometimes saddish. Once everything seemed to work out I was happy, and the way the game dealt with its theams made me very contemplative. The music fit well with the game. I love the way that even though they have very different perspectives, they are able to appreciate and love each other

6. Do you want to see these characters again? What would you want to see in a follow-up?I would want see them again, but can not think of anything in perticular that I would want to see, the big thing for me is the way that you portray the situation and the people+ the strength of the writing, and that is not going to change

7. What predictions do you have for SAL and Ash's relationship? Where do you see it going? I cant imagine anything sexual, seeing as she is a computer, but I can imagine them being partners. I keep finding myself wanting to gush about how good the idea and writing are, but I can't think of anything to say.
8. Any other things you want to mention? You are such an amazing writer! I love the way that you make the characters just click, and be thoughtful, heartwarming and everything. I clicked on the button expecting to find a timewaster as I was waiting to sleep, and It blew me out of the water! Sorry for the wall of text!

Naomi Norbez (call me Bez)5 years ago

Thanks for playing! C: Don't be sorry for the wall of text--I super appreciate your detailed comments, and am really happy to see people responding to my feedback questions. Thank you so much! :D

itch.io

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