itch.io

Thanks for playing!

Aesthetics aside, I think this is the most artistically consistent game I've made so far. I was able to greatly simplify the UI, which opened the door to making custom graphics and optimizing the layout instead of letting the theme engine throw a coat of paint over the same tired interface.

I've definitely been trying to improve my poses and scene composition, even if I am keeping more or less the same overall style, so I'm glad that worked out.

I agree that the story is pretty rushed. Nguyen and Tiff take things in stride because (minor spoilers) they already know, but I wish I'd had more time to spend on Mitch and his relationship with Steph. In retrospect, it might have been better to spend more time extending the story, possibly spacing it out a bit more, even if that meant cutting some of the animated sequences. But then I'd probably look back and say the opposite.

This is a story I've had in mind for a long time, and my mindset has kind of shifted from "I want to do this story perfectly or not at all" to "I want to tell this story, even if it's not perfect". I had to constantly remind myself it was a jam and I didn't have a lot of time, and not let perfection be the enemy of close enough.

The one thing I really wish I'd had time to do is animations in the visual novel sequences themselves. I made that a stretch goal early on to limit scope and never had time to come back to it. The animated sequences are technically separate, and the one character animation in a conversation is hacked in via scripting instead of implemented in sane way.

As an aside, it was pretty weird to do a linear visual novel with no significant branching and no alternate endings given that I usually emphasize player choice, but it was a breath of fresh air after the open world nightmare that was Shattered 2. I was expecting more complaints about this to be honest.

I'm glad that the web build is working (I did run through it a few times myself). I can't guarantee every game I make will make it to the browser, but I know it's a lot easier for people to deal with so it is something I'll try to make happen where practical. It does help that CommonCore actually supports Unity WebGL now (albeit still with a lot of caveats).

Finally, I wouldn't worry about Sakura's "new haircut" too much. It's not a deliberate design change, just the result of taking a shortcut and half-tracing hair from another character to save time.