itch.io

Amazing experience! I went in with a goal in mind, but the more I read, the more unsure I felt. You explored so many different flavors of trust, doubt, and love. I didn't think I would be caught off-guard, but I was! Excellent storytelling, and the inability to save and skip too makes every choice all the more impactful.

Wow, what an extremely detailed postmortem! I really enjoyed reading this, as I got to peek a little into what it's like working on a team for a game jam. Great work to you and your team on Lore and Order!

Thank you so much!!!

Ahaha yeah the time crunch was too real, so I omitted sound entirely. xD

Thank you so much! I'm really happy that you grasped my intent! I had so much fun creating Matt's light sprites that I FORGOT that the flashlight sprite would not be used in his route. LOL. Maybe in a future update.

Thank you so much! That really means a lot to me.

This was my first game jam and first time developing a game! I'm impressed with myself that I even got it done, since I wasn't able to start within the first 36 hours due to real life events. As a result, I pulled an all-nighter and got to experience the infamous game dev crunch time, haha.

The most challenging aspect of game development for me was the concept and the writing. I originally came up with another idea, but it was too long and linear. It took me quite a few hours to reformulate some of the more interesting aspects of the initial concept (infection/possession, multiple protagonist perspective) into the backbone of the final submission. As I started writing the game (directly into the Ren'py script files, since I had no time to transfer between word processors), I struggled with wanting to lean into tropes or break away from tropes. I recognized this partway through writing the 2nd and 3rd routes, but I had no time to revise the concept. I think this waffling of ideas is reflected in the final submission, where some characters' routes were thematically weaker and vague. The lesson I learned here is that it's preferable to lean into tropes; they are tried and true. If I had more time, I could better explore bending or breaking those tropes, but I'm satisfied that I wrote about 14k words in about a 24 hour period.

Art fell into place easily. After an hour of playing around with drawing style, I settled on what I knew I could execute: grayscale sprites and edited photos. I intended to add more CGs, but unfortunately only really made one. It was sort of fun creating sprites on the go as I worked on programming. I took some inspiration from Christine Love's advice on being liberal with how often character sprite expressions change or move. I don't remember the exact way it was worded, but I had noticed the effect in one of her games, and thought it would be an excellent way to bring more life to my characters.  I created lots of expressions to that effect, but a downside was that it became difficult to keep the timing of expressions consistent between each characters' routes (since the same story is told through three different perspectives). I think there are some discrepancies, but it also plays a bit into how each character perceives other characters' emotions.

Lastly, I just had no time for sound design, so it was omitted entirely. I also think it would have been fun (and maybe less stressful?) to collaborate with someone on, but maybe that can be a future goal.

I'm still playing through other participants' entries, but so far, I'm impressed with the level of interpretation and the quality of writing of each submission! Seeing everyone's creativity is always a treat, and I'm super happy to see how supportive and thoughtful each person's comments are.

Thank you so much! Poor Garrett... he was the easiest to bully...

Excellent dialogue and commentary on the American "justice" system + conservative politics. I do like how manipulative the choices are. Sending the beholder to hell also scratches that itch to go, "To hell with the justice system!"

Ooh love a good bit of eye horror. The parts in Ending 1 where Marcell is quiet, you can just imagine what the Beholder is whispering to them. Love the writing!

I loved this short and sweet game! Finally getting the Apollo ending was so satisfying!

I do love a story with biblical themes!!! I think both Lilith and Eve's characters were true to their namesakes! The interface was also really cool, and I think the 3D-backgrounds were so well done!

I love how you combined this theme with the trans experience. There's pockets of sadness and anger, but also pockets of joy and just being!

Love the narrative! As I read on, I could feel the central theme, the conflict, taking shape. Your prose is very fluid and had me hooked! I think the the visuals and sound contribute much to the tone as well!

ohh now i'm curious how other entities/people see the backrooms

This is soooo cute! I love the cast of characters that stumble into the bookshop! Even though you meet them for a brief moment, you immediately pick up on what kind of character they are! I got the Onceler Self-cest end on the second try, and that was such a cute ending!!!

Ayyy thanks! I'm really curious to how people approached the game, so thank you for telling me you did Jules's first! I'm also glad you loved the sprites.

Thank you so much!!! Matt dating sim DLC soon :) jkjk but I did have fun making his sprites

Thank you! I'm glad you liked the good end, and that the perspective came through! [Places the three friends in your palms.]

Thank you so much!

Thank you so much!

OMG LOL thanks for that. I didn't realize that Renpy also compiled the .clip files as well. I'll remedy that.

This was a really lovely read, and I liked exploring all three endings. Fantastic character design!

I enjoyed this game a lot! The graphics and music were very pleasing, and game play for the most part was smooth. I like the puns, jokes, and characters! Makes me wonder what kind of world it is, where monsters and humans coexist, and being a typist/adventurer(?) is a thing. I had a bit of trouble in the beginning trying to figure out the mechanics of the type-fighting, but eventually did after dying a few times. A tutorial or something would've saved me five minutes, but afterwards, it's pretty intuitive. I also wish there was a full-floor map that you could view to see your progress, as the mini-map is limited, and it's quite easy to get turned around and wander for minutes when the walls look the same. Overall, I enjoyed this game (my typing ranges between 60-90 wpm), and the bosses with their unique word choices and mechanics made it fun. Great work, y'all!

Finally got around to playing this game! I laughed so hard for three hours, it was great. The characters are so refreshing because even though they are a little bit extreme at times (i.e. Min and I'LL PUNCH THE BEAR IN THE HEAD), they are written like normal high school girls. I could even see parts of my friend group in here, which was really fun to take screenshots and send it to them.

I had a lot of fun playing this game and loved it very much!

Super cute, super silly. I laughed a lot! Nice work, guys.