itch.io

Thank you so much, & thanks for the input!! Waxworm was my first upload to itch, and it holds a special place in my heart - though that also means it's the one I've gone the longest without touching! I'm actually planning an update sometime early in the new year, working on it over the winter. I'll be sure to include a more full example play section in that revision - you can also look forward to some premade encounters, to supplement / make smoother the deck of cards system currently in place. I'll reply to your comment again to ping you when it's out!

Thank you so much - it means a ton!!

Popping back in to say congrats on the jam win!!! Hugely deserved!

I absolutely love the art & character design in this! It feels like something between a storybook and an old photograph - perfect for the vibe of the story!! Gorgeous backgrounds (especially in the manor house!). The sheer number of CGs was super impressive, and the deep black framing really added to the eerie vibes as things went on (that waiver-signing... creepy!). The characters' dynamics felt strong too, and the way Emily's past naturally came up along the way felt smoothly done. Very effectively spooky sound design too, especially as the night progresses...

One note would be that the font doesn't seem to render hyphens and apostrophes properly, which leads to some blank spaces here and there. I also got a crash after turning down the cake twice and then heading for bed (image of the error code below, if that's helpful!).

Apart from that, wonderful job!! Huge congrats!!!!

A very cute little demo! The character sprites are all so charming and bouncy, and I love how you rendered everyone's eyes and hair - plus all the little animations! They seem like a charming group of friends, and I'm excited to see how their dynamics play out as they explore the club. Congrats, and looking forward to the full release!

Really intriguing story! The characters feel strong, and presenting the demo through the text-only Ink made it really stand out as a project. The concept art on your game page of the character designs look really fun, and even just with their dialogue the characters all feel really strong & developed, and the dynamic of the coven really interesting. Looking forward to seeing more of Bernard and Inez in the future - congrats on what you guys have done so far!!

Wow! The details in this are nicely on-point - from the voice acting (so good!) to all of the text effects and the mouse-tracking effect. Also the track select feature was really fun (though at times the music was a touch loud by default)! The tensions between the kids felt authentic, and the twists felt confusing in an intriguing way that build nicely, and with impressive visceral grossness at times. It seemed like my final trick-or-treat door choice (the horse related one) may have lead to the other option's lines, based on the dialogue, but other than that things felt good & appropriately spooky.  Well done!

Wow! The details in this are nicely on-point - from the voice acting (so good!) to all of the text effects and the mouse-tracking effect. Also the track select feature was really fun (though at times the music was a touch loud by default)! The tensions between the kids felt authentic, and the twists felt confusing in an intriguing way that build nicely, and with impressive visceral grossness at times. It seemed like my final trick-or-treat door choice (the horse related one) may have lead to the other option's lines, based on the dialogue, but other than that things felt good & appropriately spooky.  Well done!

A really heartfelt story, with a great sense of completeness to it! The character designs are cute and bouncy, and go great with the background art. The diversity on display, both in the characters themselves and in their sprite designs, is also really exciting to see, and I loved all the punny names. I also love all of your motion effects, especially at the beginning few scenes.  Sabine's self-discovery felt really touching and well-paced, and definitely hit home - some moments were tough to hear, & felt realistic to tough times of my own in school, but seeing how strong her support network and friendships were able to develop was really sweet. And Pepo & Poe are such sweeties! Huge congrats, and great job!!

When testing bugs and motion effects, I heard that music loop so often, and never got tired of it - huge shoutout to our composers for that!! Thank you so much, and a Happy Spooktober to you too!!

Really neat game, with really cool art! The texture and color scheme was 10/10. Fun concept, with a nice loop flow when trying to get the other endings (having seven planned being super impressive!!). Interesting characters, and choices that weren't obvious where they would lead, which combined for a really satisfying experience. And as a minor bonus thing, but I also really loved the UI, with the directional speech bubbles - it worked really well! Great job, and exciting to see such a well-made/customized Light.VN game!

Wow, thank you so much - it really means a lot coming from your team! I'm so glad that we were able to create a story that was able to touch you that meaningfully. On our end too, we've been saying that making the game was honestly cathartic. Sometimes you need some Hubbard time and a Nutmeg hug 💖

I'll pass it along to him - Thank you so much!! Nutmeg is living the dream life for sure.

A super cute demo - excited to see the full release down the line! The character art looks cute and the colors are stunning (and I love everybody's eyes' designs), and the CGs are super pretty! The backgrounds that are in place also feel lovely, with that wonderful grain effect that, combined with the music & chara design, really evokes early 90s anime in lovely way! The world is intriguing & witchy, and the budding relationship dynamics are interesting to explore. I hope Luna gets a familiar somewhere down the line, I almost expected Altair to do so in addition to the deck.  Congrats, and looking forward to seeing what comes next!!

What a sweet game!! I love how many details and references were tucked in (Jollibee -> Happywasp got me good) - the amount of love that went in to this one is super apparent! And Jack's section made me hungry so many times, gosh. Bonus points for that alone. The characters all felt sweet and lovable in their own unique ways (which made exploring different routes after my first playthrough very painful), and seeing MC develop was really fun - and everyone's voices were great! The art was really cute, and I loved the comic panel layout of some of the CGs in Manon's section - it worked really well, and made the whole thing flow. Definitely leaves you curious how else things could have gone (or would go in the future!), even beyond the already-impressive three endings you guys did (especially with Diana... I was so hopeful...). For a short jam game to be that good at capturing players is really impressive - big congrats to the whole team!!

Extremely good writing!! The story and world was incredibly compelling, and developed itself quite nicely - brought to mind The Hexologists as well as the Parasol Protectorate books, in a very satisfying way. The characters were engaging, and the plot well-paced. I also was a fan of your selection of music - as someone who often listens to dnd/medieval-y music compilations in the background while working, I recognized a few favorites! The sprites make good use of the minimal style, and splashes of red hit nicely whenever they appear (especially in that foggy chase sequence). Well done!!

Well done - you've made a really tender story about a really hard topic, which would be a tricky thing to tackle any time, let alone as solo dev on their first project! Your art is really gorgeous, and fits the vibe well - if anything, I'd have loved to see more of it, for some of the other backgrounds too, but your use of photos also worked really well. The amount of emotion you were able to imbue in your characters' expressions is also really impressive, and makes some of those emotionally-tough story beats hit even harder. Congrats on your first jam!

Incredible job! It's impressive to make a single whodunit within a month, let alone five... the mysteries all felt good, and the characters really likeable. I also loved their designs - all were incredibly cute, and the outfit/fashion design was great (especially Horse and Cat!). All the UI also felt really immersive, and the voice-acted sections felt great too - really satisfying feel all around, which is impressive given how much of the same locations we see. The music tied everything together too, and I loved unraveling everyone's pasts together. And the Freed ending felt like a very sweet interpretation of the myth! Huge congrats to the whole team!!!

The only bug I encountered was getting sent back to the Metal Case a second time... I'm not entirely sure what triggered it, since the saves wiping meant I couldn't test it too much, but the skip function registered it all as read text so it was quick to get through again!

Great job on this one! I love all of the little details you've put in, from the character movements to the CGs. I'm also a really big fan of the letterboxed framing of the game, with Ritsu in front - it works well, and creates a really unique feel! And the way it cuts Ritsu off from everyone else works so well with the story. The art itself is also really pretty - I love the softness of the lines on all the characters, and the glow and lights in the backgrounds feel really satisfying (and makes the creepier / more unsettling moments feel that much more drastic). I also give a lot of credit for the complexity of your characters and their dynamics - they feel realistically flawed, in ways that impacts the story naturally and paints a clearer picture of Ritsu. That's an impressive thing to balance, especially in just a month!

What an absolutely lovely game! I always try to explore multiple routes before leaving a comment, and boy did it pay off for this one! All the paths (and endings!) that I've gone through feel lovely and well-written, which is incredibly impressive given the scope of the game.  The voice barks and lines here and there also felt great without being obtrusive, and all the actors did a really great job. The little nods to characters' mythoses, both in their lives and their character designs, felt well-thought-out and incredibly fun to discover, and the flow of the minigames within the story worked really well (and the option to skip past them when failed was appreciated)! The characters all felt lovable and had great depth, and so many of them touched my heart (especially Garret and Sanraya's routes!). I also loved the diversity of character designs, and how human everybody looked - knowing that beings who could look like *anything* would find beauty and meaning in looking like you and me felt really unexpectedly beautiful and affirming. It's such a treat to find a game about the cosmic and unknowable celebrating the beauty in the mundane. 

The scope & completeness of this game as a work was wild to see - huge congrats for finishing this within the month!!!

An incredibly charming game! I was looking for something cozy, and this absolutely fit the bill! The characters are all so lovable (especially Herman), and the gradual building of your relationships with them feels well-paced and sweet. The art is also on point, and I love the ways you interpreted each of the cryptids. The music throughout was cozy & lovely too, and the panning backgrounds felt satisfying. Easily one of favorites from this year's jam. Great job on all counts - huge congrats!!

As an fyi, I got one error code right at the end scene, which seemed to be caused by a typo in the code and prevent Herman from showing up (thematically appropriate!) - bigfoor instead of bigfoot, it seems!

Omg, thank you so much!! That's super validating to hear from such a wild team!! Hope you enjoy! 😊

Wow! Incredible job from the whole team!!! This feels huge for a demo, with already super impressive art and a riveting story. The characters and their dynamics feel really captivating, from the folks at camp two (the walkie mechanic working really well!) to even our own grumpy Gregory - you really get a feel for them and begin to root for each one within a really short time (Kyle in particular was instantly lovable!), which makes the rest of the looming story hit that much harder. The voice acting is probably the best I've seen in the jam so far, and the character art is stunning - love those thick black shadows & lines! The limited settings also really drive home that creeping restless trapped feeling, which builds on you just in time with the pacing of the story.

Super excited to see what comes next (hopefully with a chapter select to onboard quickly with the next version?), and huge congrats!!

Very impressive demo, with a neat concept! The TV and channels as a framing device work really well (love the channel surfing!), and the one current feels really impactful. The characters throughout the story, even outside of the Big Comfy Couch -zone feel really in line with 90s aesthetics, from CrashBox to Mac Tonight, in a way that really solidifies the world and TV concept. The slow push past typical 90s gross to full on body horror worked really effectively too in that context, and the sound effects and snippets of voice acting here and there really made the whole thing viscerally unpleasant at times, in a genuinely impressive way. My stomach literally went queasy at points, which is a wild thing to get from a game made in just a month. Great job, and congrats to the whole team!

A really tender and beautifully wistful game! You've made really good use of the few graphics, and the tarnished gold and black color schemes and music add to that wonderfully. The endings I got felt strong, and the theme potent. Great job all around!!

Incredibly creepy story, that really used the medium well! Forcing the player through the initial decisions, making use of user imputs, and the cutesy graphics all combined into something viscerally unpleasant, in a very impressive way. Well done!

Huge fan! I love the world you've set up, and the character designs are 10/10.  The dynamic between Remoryn and Jeok-Ah was great, and the endings I got all felt satisfying.  Also blown away by the sheer number of CGs. Loved the halloween decorations throughout too - congrats!!

Genuinely really neat mix of resolutions and style in the art throughout this game - it creates a super effective vibe that feels really in line with the world! Things feel really like really interesting apocalypse, with character dynamics that feel realistic and intriguing.  Great use of effects and music as well - big congrats on the solo dev!!

Really fun character designs, and an intriguing story! Quinn is a very easy character to love, and the landscapes of Aspenmill are so pretty and autumnal! The baking sections were also fun - nice job with all of those sprites - things feel really cohesive! I wish there was a bit more music throughout, but overall it's a really neat game. Congrats!!

Cute game - I'll definitely be taking a look at some of the other VNs in the world. The character dynamics are fun, the mystery satisfying, and the CGs were really effective. Plus a cute cat, which is bonus points in my book. Nicely done!

I'm so glad it was able to touch you in that way! Humanness was definitely something we tried to emphasize in this one, and knowing that that was able to come through in a comforting way is really great to hear. Thank you so much - it means a ton!!

Ooooooo I absolutely love the vibe of this game!!! From the adorable character designs, to the map, to Mimi's wonderful little view of the world.... spectacularly adorable. More than any other entry this year, I think this one really captures the feeling of trick-or-treating for me. Dialogue was sweet, endings felt solid, and the music fit the scenes well. Huge congrats to you all!!

Wow - even bigger congrats then!!! It suits you well!

What a visually stunning game! From the animations to the UI to the parallax effects navigating the shop - what a treat! The characters were fun and zany, and exploring the effects of each item on everybody was really cool to investigate. Cool world, cool premise, and all around great game! Congrats, and looking forward to any next updates!!

Really stunning entry! Efficient use of an admittedly limited number of graphics, with really great sound and effect design to make them feel that much richer. The story was immediately intriguing, and easily drove a desire to figure out just what was going on, and explore the different endings with new knowledge (I hit three endings total, including the true ending, all of which were really well done!). The sub felt realistic, the choices complex, and underlying humor of MAIDS as a concept brought enough levity to make the rest of the premise hit that much harder. Also, really great title drop when it occurs.

Huge congrats to your team!

Love the texture on everything in this game! Really nails the vibe, from the energy of the linework to the vhs effects.  Felt very 90s cartoon throughout. Really funny writing, and the three endings I played around with all felt about right. Rough night for sure. Huge congrats on the solo dev!!

Really interesting story, with some pretty heavy moments - I can tell a lot of work was putting into the writing. Would have been fun to have a little more variety in music and background art, but the characters felt strong and well-established. Congrats on your submission!

Really interesting premise! The way sacrifice is treated is a neat level of spooky, and the character design aligns with that well. A few typos here and there, but overall a really neat idea for a game, and a world that would be fun to see more of. The background designs for heaven were really haunting and so much of the game of the game leaves you wondering more in a really fun way. The map is also integrated nicely! Congrats on the submission, and looking forward to any next updates!

Lol a nice, calm vacation, nothing to worry about at all...
Truly though, thank you so much!!!

Thank you so much!! Hubbard holds a special place - & very glad shucks landed, that one felt inspired in the moment lol