itch.io

Thank you for the nice words, happy you enjoyed it for what it was meant to be.

Thank you! I love that you specifically pointed out the fact that nothing was actually explained, it was one of the reasons I had so much fun with it - it's ants, panic, the end. I was really enjoying working on it.

That extends to the rhymes as well, but there is an inner nitpicker in me that agrees with you on the rhyming elements - some rhymes like beneath/teeth almost rhymed too much for my taste, and some like the one you pointed out, or down/now were too far apart, as well as things like phenomenon/spawn where the length of the last syllable isn't the same. Sometimes I needed to split the sentence awkwardly... I think I mentioned it below somewhere too, the rhyming is an opportunity for endless tinkering, there is this hope that with time I could conceivably find the perfect constellation of rhythm, structure and information for each of the backgrounds, but yeah, I do get what you're saying. 

Either way, I'm glad you had fun with it, I really appreciate you taking the time and sharing your impressions and all the kind words on the other bits of the game - thank you for playing!

Thank you for giving it a go and commenting! I had a short time frame during which I could make this in September, so this sparse style worked quite well for me. I did try a few ideas for the text vs. background, at one point I had sharp backgrounds and the text was really bad to read, and while experimenting I found that a very soft blur was able to create enough contrast so I didn't have to use a dimmed "textbox" which I really wanted to avoid.

The rounded outlines are an interesting observation, I didn't notice that effect until just now, I do indeed think that the outline is rounded because of the actual resolution which is obviously higher than the "pixels" on the screen. So yeah, until now I thought the only "high res" element was the soft focus effect, but the rounded edges are in fact another one.

As for the rhyming, I really enjoyed finding out ways to express things with a similar syllabic rhythm, and having to try and re-try ways of saying things so that I could fit all the information and emotion in, and even trying to avoid same words as much as possible - but indeed it needs to work with that sort of "front loading" (not sure what the term is actually) of words or bits of information. I was quite impressed with how streamers have been able to intuit that some of the info is still not complete and change the tone of their voice waiting for the other lines... poetry or rhyming lyrics definitely do benefit from multiple readings, and I also definitely realized that given more time I would tinker with everything into eternity, and I certainly did throw away a lot of rhymes and sequences that felt forced or awkward, so the result is the sort of thing where I had to draw the line and let it be.

Once again, thank you, I appreciate the comments, and I'm happy you liked it!

I realized towards the end of the jam that the game had no jam logo (just a normal mention in the credits), and added some lines to the script file as well as the logo file itself, which I then just added to the PC file, so that it would meet the requirements. 

Thank you for the information, I now marked the jam logo version as Windows only - the original versions are untouched and should work no problems.

And thank you for playing and putting up such detailed comments, I really appreciate you taking so much time to do this!

You know, this is such a great idea that I'll be browsing for heavy metal loops to be able to karaoke it, just to see how it feels. This kind of thing would never cross my mind, but now that you said it, it immediatey speaks to me as a great fit! 

Thank you for giving this a go and taking time to comment - I had a lot of fun working on it, so I'm happy it translates into people enjoying it for similar reasons. Thank you for playing!

Yes, you can loop specific sections of the song if that's what you mean. If you have separate tracks for each instrument loop, you can still do it, as long as all instrument loops together form a consistent whole (i.e. you don't have separate melodies and mix and match since that would not really be a single song anymore)

No, those would be part of facial expressions and free to do without restrictions. The extra object would be something like a hat, or a magic orb, etc. that very clearly changes the visuals.

Eyes moving is fine, head movement would also be allowed, if there were no new frames added to create the animation, meaning if you're working just with idle skeletal animation, a head bobbing is fine. Turning the whole head to the side etc would be allowed only as a variation on a single body part (i.e. no frames in between). It would also mean you can't have an extra object you can hide/show (hat, mask), you'd have to choose one or the other - one change of body part, or extra object.

For the jam there is no distinction between a VN with choices or without, so feel free to just make it "kinetic", there are quite a few VNs without choices in the jam. Have fun and thank you for participating!

We actually never explicitly mentioned live2D, but what you describe is equivalent to what is allowed, so it's OK to use live2D in this simple way.

No, any solid background is allowed in unlimited quantity, so you can have fade to black, white out, or just plain blue to represent a clear sky for example. So if you have your one background already, you can still have many more solid backgrounds.

Never too late! What you describe is within the rules, if you make it relatively simple and clearly a different simplified style, especially if it's meant to fulfill a logo function of sorts.

You are welcome, it's a really nice game - very much in the spirit of this jam. Thank you for participating!

Obfuscated Achievements are O2A2 jam trophies your VN can earn for a variety of reasons!

There are 6 total trophies, (1 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze), and some of them may or may not be unlocked. Here are all the trophies earned so far:

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Obfuscated Achievement 1/6

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Awarded to 22 submissions: 

• Lost Dreams
• One More Sleep
• Elegy of a Songbird
• Yesterday, the World Ended
• Chains of Love
• Farewell to the Universe
• Thursday Laundry
• Do Not Kill Me Jacob!!
• The Puppet Whisperer
• Intimations of Immortality
• a short break 
• The Penitent
• When It Hits
• Confession Deep-Sixed
• Women's dresses
• Wakey Wakey
• Just-A-Crush
• Back When
• Dragon Gazer
• A Message and an Advice
• I Hope This Letter Finds You
• Dearest You

Congratulations!

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Obfuscated Achievement 2/6

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Awarded to 6 submissions: 

• Confession Deep-Sixed
• This Is Not My Skin
• Art for Ourselves
• IVA v10
• The Scarecrow
• Guardian of the tower

Congratulations!

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Obfuscated Achievement 3/6

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Awarded to 1 submission: 

• Hinori

Congratulations!!

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 Obfuscated Achievement 4/6 

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Awarded to 72 submissions: 

• Draw No More
• A Gamer Conversation
• Bridge Encounter
• The Sun Atop a Column
• just dumb little dances
• The Girl I Met At The End Of The World
• Unicorn Shake
• Magical Meow-Meow Warrior?!
• Forgotten Fiction
• Miss Chocolate Eater
• Our Toy Box
• A Moment of Reflection
• Burger for the Baroness
• Campfire Tales
• Reflection
• A Witch And A Ghost
• Mystery Miniaturist
• Pandora
• This Is Not My Skin
• The Thief's Palimpsest
• Medusa's Mini Mystery
• A date with the Monster in my Closet
• Dogologue
• Tech and Blood
• A Short Story
• Lost Witch
• Maiden of the Sea
• Just Floating Around
• This Game is Self-Aware
• The Demon Lord is Mine!
• (in)finite girl
• Knife says
• Weltschmerz
• Hearts Astride
• A Divine Wager
• A steamy conversation
• Dear Genny
• Promenade: An Afternoon in a Park
• Vale
• CurseBound
• I'll Come See You
• Last Day
• To Mari, From the Deep
• Just Beyond the Veil
• Vampire†Hunter
• Room 400
• A Crossroads Meeting
• Art for Ourselves
• Last Chance Camp
• Reflection of Loneliness
• Night Out
• 岁月 (suiyue)
• Prototype Mint B
• Persimmon Bloom
• Cubed Heist
• IVA v10
• Mirror Rim
• Being a Support Mage Is Harder Than You Think!
• Crimson Sun
• One Hell of a Coffee Shop
• Medusa VN
• DejaBrew
• Pimpersock's Polymorphin' Potion
• Before Dawn Breaks
• The Scarecrow
• Death. Love, Me
• A Calm Night
• Guardian of the tower
• FRALE TIDES Bridgeway
• Cave
• Verjaded
• The 13th Hour

Congratulations!!

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Obfuscated Achievement 5/6   

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Awarded to 6 submissions: 

• The Sun Atop a Column
• Miss Chocolate Eater
• A date with the Monster in my Closet
• Just Floating Around
• A Crossroads Meeting
• Guardian of the tower

Congratulations!!

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Obfuscated Achievement 6/6   

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Awarded to 2 submissions: 

• Just-A-Crush
• Back When

Congratulations!!

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END

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Yes, you can have a single song, and loop let's say a segment from 1:20 to 1:30, and from a certain point let the rest of the song continue. You need to do this in engine / via scripting, but it's allowed.

Specifically if you make a crossword type minigame, and the grid is on a solid color background, it does not count against anything . If you also create a detailed background for your crossword however that is different to the in-game background, that would be against the idea of a single background. The actual visual of the grid does not count against any other limits such as sprites or objects.

However an additional thing to look out for is that the minigame doesn't overwhelm the VN aspect - otherwise it won't be primarily a visual novel and thus would not qualify - this is a VN jam. With a 1000 word limit the time spent on the minigame may be disproportionally large, so only very short minigames are suitable. 

Yes, you can have the alternate main menu be just a plain color. There are no restrictions on plain colored backgrounds.

In general it's possible to create game pages, thumbnails or banners before the jam, provided they don't use any assets which are part of the final game (for example if the banners used detailed character designs, or the VN's logo, they would disqualify the future VN), and at the same time provided such allowed assets also don't deny the the player who only plays the plain game without this context a full experience. Creating a placeholder / draft page on itch before the jam can be seen as preparation, but putting in customization work, writing up synopses or character bios is in itself work on an auxiliary final asset and would go against the spirit of the jam, even more so if such created content were also published before the jam. In other words if at all possible, good etiquette would be to wait with preparing and publishing the itch page beyond a simple draft/placeholder until the VN is done or close to being done.

Hi omure! Using effects that the engine provides (blur, vignette,...) or that you program yourself is within the rules. Have fun with the jam!

Hi Leporine, the jam rules apply only to the actual VN, not its website or any extra materials (see also above crystal's question about the itch cover which follows the same principle).

A game page that features a decorative banner with people not shown in the game should be fine, but just try as best you can to make sure the player who only plays the plain game without this context has a full experience. For example if you have a romantic game where only the Love Interest is shown as the sprite and the game is narrated by the Protagonist, then an itch banner that shows their faces inside a heart shape is fine. 

Hi saitoki, the one character is only for the "sprite", which means you can have many more characters in your story, also interacting, as long as they are not shown. For example you can have a press conference where a person (1 sprite) is in a press area (1 background), and you can have several reporters ask questions.

The same goes with the second question, you can mention and interact with as many characters as you need to (in the present or past), as long as only one sprite is used in the game. 

Hi! 

Before answering the first question, the rule is that you can use a CG, but that means you can't use a sprite and a background anymore (since a CG is counted as background+character).

But yes even so you can still have a main menu solid background with lineart (from the CG) as a form of alternate menu, that specific graphics would also be within the rules. But it has to be the lineart from the CG, not a separate sprite line art made specifically for the menu. 

The second question, the itch.io cover does not count for the jam limits, that can be anything.

The theme is open for any genres (comedy, drama, fantasy, sci-fi...). And like everywhere else, when tackling sensitive issues be respectful, and tag the content appropriately. But otherwise, anything goes. Have fun!

The title screen/menu BG can contain some segment of the in-game sprite, such as closeup of the eyes or its silhouette. It would also be OK to use a lineart-only version, of the in-game sprite as well (as long as it's the lineart layer from the in-game sprite). A new pose, or a completely different character however would go against the idea of a single "sprite", despite it being a baked in part of the (allowed) special menu background. If you had a stylistically unrelated representation or suggestion of a character in very abstract form (such as a simplified logo or chibi/mascot) be a part of the menu background, then that would be fine.

Yes, this particular way of showing the background is allowed, provided the background is a single environment. Have fun with the jam!

In this specific instance, that would be okay, since the baby isn't a "character" in that sense, it's more or less integral to the mom's character. I could also see a pirate with a parrot as a single sprite like that. Have fun with the jam, thank you for joining!

Yes, choices are allowed, and you can have multiple endings. But of course the words in the choices also count against the 1.000 words limit. So for example if you add two choices saying "Go out" and "Stay in", that would be 4 words to include in the 1.000 word limit.

Yes, one character means one sprite (smaller overlay over the background). It's mostly a person, but you can also have a monster, or alien, etc...

And thank you for joining the jam, I hope you'll have fun working on it - if you aren't on Discord already, you can join us there as well. 

If you'd like to work with another person on the jam, free to post/organize your team here.

You can also head over to the DevTalk+ discord (and its jams section): https://discord.com/invite/VzM6DeQ

Welcome to the jam! A lot of the discussion around O2A2 happens over at the DevTalk+ discord (and its jams section), you can join us there: https://discord.com/invite/VzM6DeQ

You can also ask / mention me directly there: mikey#9311