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Hi! Thank you so much for this thoughtful and kind comment! I'm not sure I have the words to reply in a way that would show all my gratitude! Overall, I'm glad the narrative choices made here (no clear good ending, the struggle being between Romaine and herself and not being with something exterior) felt authentic to your experience. In th end, it's something to navigate, with no clear answer, and we can just respect people for the choices they make. Thank you so much for sharing your experience, your thoughts and for all the kind words, you really made my day, you have no idea!!

Thanks a lot of the feedback, I'm glad you could connect with the story!

honestly i did pick even worse at first but i thought it would distract from the other qualities of the writing................ 10/10 comment, did read it with glasses

Hey! Thanks for the feedback!! And yes, I'm French too looool, so it was too tempting to also shitpost in French!!

I HAVE NO IDEA I THOUGHT I RELEASED LESS GAMES THAN THIS BUT APPARENTLY NOT DFCDFVBGC (and well, in the second half, I guess I released 3 games...... I did take it easier!!!!!!!)... AND PHANTOM BL IS MY OBSESSION, IT IS GIVING ME LIFE, IT IS THE REASON FOR WHICH I BREATHE

Hi, thank you so much for all these nice words!! And indeed, Arcturus and Araceli's relationship is really ideal, although I do hope the respect of boundaries is a bare minimum for everyone haha! But I'm glad you enjoyed the game, thank you so much for sharing your feedback!!

I had the honour of proofreading this game, and what can I say but that another banger was added to The Under The False Sky universe...

For the story per se, per usual, it is a striking tragedy, highlighting the fragility and the vanity of human existence, and how so many deaths meaningless in conflicts are actually meaningful to someone. An inner fight in the concept of humanity itself: what will triumph? Our empathy ("humanity") or what we deem the great good is (for "humanity")?

This game in particular, more than any other previous written for the series, is rather slice-of-life, focusing on the rebels' daily life, especially when facing the ruthlessness of winter... This games serves both as an amazing introduction to some of the characters we get to see in other games (Micah, Mariam, Ester...) for new players, and as an excellent exploration of some well-known characters for players already familiar with the UTFS universe. The characters we get to discover are also very touching (Cain my baby)!

For the art, it is absolutely lovely! The sprites look gorgeous, and I love the addition of colours in hair, to either mirror the eyes of the characters... or mirror other things! It felt like an amazing addition, making the characters pop! And also, I ADORED their character designs, they were so good! The outifts were detailed, the haircut so good, and for the characters we've already seen, it was so great to compare them with how they look now and how they look in the future!

The backgrounds too, as usual in these games, are very well edited, and completely immersive. But here, in particular, I really appreciated how desaturated they were, how grey the sky was... It felt cold, just like winter. The GUI too is absoluely gorgeous, perfectly implemented, absolutely immersive - long story short, perfect!

Finally, the sounds in these games were so good: the music slapped, and how many indie VNs have custom SFX????? This is absolutely insane, and the audio engineer/composer did such an amazing job!! The voice actors, per usual in this series of games, knocked it out of the park, the performances were amazing, and the more dramatic lines were truly heartbreaking!

Long story short: this game, and this series in general, is a gem, and I encourage everyone to play it!! Thanks for involving me in this!

I'm glad you loved it, thanks for sharing your game, and congrats on the release!!

Looool, less about you being critical than the game presenting religious celibacy as a possibility loooool, but I'm glad it was fine (that was the point I was really anxious about with the game, I was worried it could get misconstrued about me promoting some nasty homophobic things religious people do dxcvcxcvdc)

Hey L, thanks for your feedback and for sharing your thoughts!! I won't lie, I was really anxious about what you would think of this game, so I'm glad it is this positive loool; and yes, that is a complicated situation, and I think that, in the end, people try their best, follow their paths, and that's enough looool

And yes, it was a conscious choice: in the end, Romaine and Juliet's environment is rather accepting, the conflict is really internal, between faith and attraction (I just felt like the conflict being with a third-party was something that was represented more frequently in general loool); and I'm glad you could overall overcome the paranoia and the guilt you were feeling!

Hey! Thank you so much for this detailed feedback and for sharing your experience! I'm ENTHUSED you found it relatable, because I did notice media would tackle it in general as "queer religious but not so religious kid wants to be queer but the environment doesn't let them" which is a valid experience that we should shed light on, but at the same time, it neglects the one experience I wanted to tackle, without indeed shaming Romaine, no matter what choice she makes because... it's just hard dfvgfdfg

And interesting thoughts on the concept of love! It's an interesting perspective to oppose love in the common sense to a possible more theological meaning!

Thanks again for all these kinds words, and for sharing your thoughts. Best of luck on your journey too!

My pleasure!

Hey! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! And yes, admittedly, the only way I could think of making it more heart-breaking would be to have Romaine and Juliette rejected by your parents or something, but ultimately, I really wanted the conflict to be only between Romaine's orientation and her faith, without anything exterior, to paint an inner conflict. But I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for the compliment on the art! I went wild on the colours, but I had fun drawing Juliette!

Haha, I'm French, and Thanksgiving isn't really something we celebrate, but thank you! I hope you have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Oh, realised I forgot to reply, I'm so sorry!! I'm happy you enjoyed Sandra's route! (Forest is an amazing name by the way, I should definitely use it someday...)

And LMAOOO, that's part of the Doug charm ✨

Aaah, thank you so much for this lovely comment!! I'm glad you appreciated the game!

Hey Hiro, thanks for trying the game!! I'm glad you enjoyed the visuals, the story and the sadness!!

More seriously, this is quite a difficult conflict indeed, and I'm glad you shared your thoughts on the matter tackled here! The compromise isn't perfect, it can never be, but well, sometimes, you indeed just gotta try to find what "overall" works, although not in detail!

Thanks again for your feedback and your thoughts, I appreciate them!!

Hi! Thanks a lot for playing and for sharing your experience. I'm absolutely sorry about your parents, I really hope things can be better in the future - or at least, that their homophobia doesn't prevent you from being yourself!

Hi Taumi, thanks for sharing your thoughts! And it would have been really nice indeed for Romaine and Juliette, but that actually was the point of the game haha: it is complicated to conciliate the two, and most of the time, you can't. So, what is there to do? Try your best, no matter what your choice is!

I am glad you appreciated the art (and the leaves effect loool, it was a struggle to think of a way to make them noticeable without making them overbearing), and that was the idea: have everything look very sweet because, well, in any other context, it would have been a perfect romance scene: Juliet and Romaine love each other, they confess it... and yet, there is something blocking it.

And yes dfvgfdfvb it actually reminds me of a preacher in the train, who started his preach by saying: "The world is bad!! Celebrities turn out to be sexual offenders! There is global warming! An economic crisis!" and concluded his looong enumeration by saying: "But fortunately, there is JESUS", it was so unexpected for me that I burst out laughing dfvgdfg

Thanks for sharing your feedback Taumi, I appreciate it a lot!!

Hey Carrot, thanks for your feedback!

I do feel very conflicted too about the game, I won't lie haha, because, well, there is no perfectly happy ending in the end, and I don't think the conflict can be resolved; just trying your best to be happy and to limit the dooming feeling, whether it is guilt or regret.

And I'm happy you enjoyed the presentation! It was meant to be very very sweet, but only to contrast with the less idyllic situation Romaine is going through.

And yes, even I wanted to confront Romaine to what she could be missing on even if she didn't confess, it was in theme, unfortunately for her!

Thanks again for all these kind words, I was so unsure about releasing the game (I think I wasn't that anxious about a game ever since High School Lolita lol), so I'm glad it was a touching experience!

next step is to release a hug romaine simulator 😞😞

Hey Omega! Thanks for this lovely feedback on the game!

And you overall worded the difficulty of the game very well! For exemple, Islam or Judaism forbid the consumption of pork, but now, I'm sure most Muslims or Jews don't mind other people eating pork, so yeah, to each their rule as long as you don't force anyone! But now, when the problem is within you... it is more difficult, and I wanted to explore the inner conflict indeed, rather than everything exterior (societal expectations, family, "church" or anything similar).

And thank you for the art! I overall tried to get closer to my traditional art style for this game, and I'll admit I quite like the results in terms of colour too! Thanks for the kind words and for sharing your thoughts, Omega, they mean a lot, and they were very interesting to read!

Hey! Thank you so much for the kind words about the game, I'm happy you enjoyed it!!!

And I agree with you, I think most gay people I know from religious households tend to hide their relationship from their family. Admittedly, this game wanted to tackle the conflict not with the family (as it is more often portrayed), but an inner conflict between the characters and their faith, which you illustrated quite well with "even if the ultimate fate is a tragic ending, we still need love", and I'm happy you allowed Romaine to experience her love!

Thanks for trying the game and sharing your thoughts, this means a lot!

Neat, thanks for letting me know about the bug! I hope the game is worth the wait!

Hey! I managed to reproduce the bug, and it should now be fixed! Let me know if the fix doesn't work for you. Hope you enjoy the game!

Ok, your problem seems different to what I first thought; could it be possible to have a screenshot?

Hey! What platform are you playing on? Anyway, when you launch the game, you should automatically get to the main menu (after some loading if you're playing on the browser or android versions), which looks like this (if you're on Android, the "Help" and "Quit" options shouldn't be there)

Then, you just have to click on "Start" to start the game, and click anywhere on your screen, but on the icons at the top right corner in-game to play the game! If you successfully launch the game, this should be the first thing you see after the main menu:

I hope this helps!

Yes, that was a need too, to have a bit of representation of this conflict, since in general, it just looks like the character in question doesn't think much about their religion in the exploration of their queer identity, which is fine, but why the religious background then dfvfdcv. And thanks again, Chatter, I'm glad I could get it out of my mind loool

Hey Ebi, thanks a lot of trying this game! I'm glad you appreciated the art! And yes, that was the main conflict while writing it lol: I didn't want the game to be excessively optimistic, because I think it would be idealistic rather than realistic, but I also didn't want it to be all terrible and that's it. So hopeful is the right word, indeed!

Hey Chatter, thanks for the long feedback per usual!

Overall, what can I say but that I appreciate all your compliments, and that I'm very grateful you accepted to edit and beta the game!

You overall caught my artistic intention; I wanted everything to be excessively dreamlike, only to have them contrast with a bitter reality, with a fatality from which you can't escape: the eyes of God (dang, when I phrase it like that, I realise this is very VERY RACINE-like again, I can't escape the doom either fvgfdfg). And good catching on the name loool, I couldn't not go with a Romeo and Juliet reference here; and beyond the obvious "forbidden love" reference, it was also just to add to this dreamlike, fictional feel, contrasted with reality.

And thanks, I really enjoyed making the art for it (not so much the GUI, I gotta admit)! Overall, I wanted it to look closer to my traditional art style in terms of colouring, since I tend to go crazy with colour pencils loool, but yes, I wanted to keep the GUI as minimal as possible, so that the focus is on Juliet only!

Regarding the writing, you caught it all: there can't be a perfect resolution, and whatever the decision Romaine takes is, it isn't judged: in the end, all that matters is that she attempts to be happy on her own terms, whatever these are. But, whatever the decision is, there is a drawback, a conflict that will never cease to exist, since Romaine's very existence somehow is the conflict... which is kind of depressing to think about lol, and I hope the game is more optimistic than that looool

Once again, thanks for all your kind words and your support, they really mean the world!!!

Hi! Thank you so much, I'm glad you appreciated the story! Thanks for all these compliments, they are such a relief! 😭😭

Hi Ebi, thank you so much for your feedback, I'm glad you appreciated the game! I think the "late night" setting and the music participate in the cosy atmosphere it has! Thanks again for these kind words!

Hi!

Well, it depends on how present the fairy tale aspects are. If the park is fairy tale-themed, but the fact it is fairy tale-themed doesn't contribute to the story (i.e. the story would not change very much if it had another theme), I'd say it wouldn't be fairy tale enough. If the attractions/rides are a significant part of the story, then it absolutely fits (and the looking-glass type scenario would absolutely fit, as it would be a reference to Alice Through the Looking Glass).

Good luck with the game!

Thank you so much, I'm glad you appreciated the game!

Hey! Thanks for noticing it, the jam indeed runs for four months, I'll update it!

Absolutely, although I'd like to add the following precision: since the game was released before October 1st, you would need to have a significant writing update (at least one new scene) to submit it to OUAT.

Hey! I played the demo and I was very impressed by everything!

First, on a technical aspect, I really appreciated the dynamic use of the sprites, it really added a lot to the cinematography of it all! I also loved the use of silhouette sprites here, since it's working very well with the narrative (everyone keeping something from Demeter). I also thought the music was very well picked and, more importantly, very well used! It gave the scenes the weight they deserve, and when not the weight, the mood that fitted them. Really, I cannot emphasise enough good the music was used in this game!

The sprites also looked absolutely magnificent. I really loved the character designs here: it felt very unique and yet very "mythological Greek" too. I often see adaptations of mythological stories (especially in theatre) modernising the clothing despite the story not being set today; and while I think it can have some interest, it was good to see something that tried to be more faithful! The rendering of the sprites was also very great, and I loved their expressions! The CGs too were beautiful beyond measure, and flawlessly integrated into the flow of the game. Finally, the backgrounds were gorgeous, and I think I particularly loved the wheat and the flower fields!

The story is off to a great start! I did love how the relationship between Demeter and Persephone was portrayed (supportive), and how it helped characterising Demeter's character. The game implies she didn't plan on giving birth, but still loves her daughter with all her heart: and further events in game, that I won't spoil, outline the circmustances of this birth, and that the gods aren't that nice to each other.

I also appreciated a lot the mystery element of the game, it was quite unexpected! And yet, I really loved how faithful it was to mythology, even keeping the narcissus flower detail that proved to be fatal to Persephone. And while, unless some unexpected plot twists, we know the circumstances of Persephone's kidnapping, I still found it well-writtenn and engaging!

I also appreciated the bird episode at the start of the game. Maybe I'm reading too far into it, but a baby bird dying away from its family reminded me of Persephone... So I thought it was a great opening scene!

Overall, this was a great demo that has made me want for more (of course, when it is ready haha, games do take time!). Congrats to all the team!!

THE WAY THIS COMMENT IS TOO NICE TO BE TRUE THOUGH WHEN DID YOU GET A REDEMPTION ARC

Hi! After some playtesting, we decided to remove your submission for the following reasons:

• One of the backgrounds was an online stock image with the watermak, indicating it was collected without abiding to the creator's licensing (see rule 6);
• We failed to see the connection with mythology and thought the game was fairy tale-themed instead.

Now, if you can perhaps make clearer the connection between your game and mythology and replace the stolen background with one you have the license to use, then we could add it back.

I hope this helps!

Hey! Here is chimeriquement, the host of Once Upon A Time VN Jam, and today, I just wanted to share a bit about fairy tale writing.

Most of us, I think… don’t really write fairy tales, so we might be lost in how to do so. Well, this little note is here to bring some relevant elements to help you (or at least I hope)! Of course, remember that you don’t really have to follow it stricto sensu, or at all, or that you can play with these rules to make your own thing.

Okay, let’s get started!!!

In general, you can structure a fairy tale in five major steps, which are as follow

• initial situation
• twist
• episodes
• solution
• final situation

So, let’s define these different terms and see how they apply to writing a fairy tale!

The initial situation is quite the explicit expression: characters live their daily lives, as they’ve always known… But then, this initial situation gets twisted: you need to make it tremble, to disrupt it for the story to be necessary. So, we see here one of the major points of a fairy tale: the initial situation is broken and we want to bring it back. Then, trying to solve the problem brought by the twist, the characters live several episodes, at the end of which they find the solution to the twist. The final situation is the one the characters are in after having applied the solution (and often contains the morality).

For example, Snow White’s tale could be structured like this:

• initial situation: Snow White, due to her dead mother’s wish, is a beautiful young lady with skin white as snow, lips red as blood and hair dark as ebony. Her father, before his own death, then married a vain woman, only caring about her beauty, moreso she regularly asks her magic mirror who’s the fairest of all. The mirror has always told the Evil Queen she was the fairest.
• twist: One day, the mirror answers instead that Snow White is the fairest of all.
• episodes: The queen asks her huntsman to murder Snow-White, but the man can’t bring himself to do so. Snow-White finds a shelter in a cottage owned by dwarfs. The Queen, when she learns that Snow-White is still alive, decides to take the matter in her own hands: she first tries to make her suffocate with a corset, then tries to poison her with a toxic comb, and finally makes her take a bite of a poisoned apple. Snow-White falls into eternal sleep, her glass coffin guarded by her friends the dwarfs.
• solution: A prince passing by sees her and asks the dwarfs to take her to his castle. During the transportation, one of the carriers stumbles on a stump and Snow-White spits out the toxic apple bite, finally breaking free from her curse.
• final situation: She marries the prince, invites her step-mother to the wedding and forces her to dance in red-firing shoes and the evil queen dies.

Now, let’s do it with The Little Red Riding Hood:

• initial situation: A little girl is asked by her mother to deliver a basket full of treats to her grandmother.
• twist: The little girl meets a wolf in the woods and tells him where her grandmother lives.
• episodes: The wolf arrives at the granny’s house faster, using a scheme to distract the little red riding hood, eats the grandmother and disguises as her. The little girl arrives later, goes into the wolf’s bed, believing it is her grandmother, and gets eaten too.
• solution: A hunter passing by kills the wolf, freeing the little girl and her grandmother from the wolf’s stomach.
• final situation: They are all saved and the little girl has learnt not to be distracted by strangers.

And that’s it! Of course, such a structure is meant to be toyed or played with, but for those who haven’t given much thought about their project yet, I hope it can help!

Hope you live happily ever after!