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Ha, rad. That was one of the ones that solidified the setting for me!

Thanks for playing and your idfb review!

Thanks for coming back to play the last little bit! They're hopefully intriguing as at least a plot hook!

When taken alone, this feels hinting at a lot of the themes that it's directly referencing from the song chosen.

I really loved the simplicity of it, letting the themes come out of the writing rather than forcing it. The little bits of design in the timed segments, the size changes, and the dimming text were very effective even though they weren't the focus of the work.

This was one of the most fun games in the competition. Falling to my death? Got a real belly laugh.

It was really nice to have puzzles - quite merciful ones - in a Twine game. I'm not sure that I would have gotten the twig key without the obvious clue. But the rope in the final escape? That felt SO organic. I'm trudging around the treehouse holding a big rope, and for what? Oh! I see!

I did find a bug, I guess - that it only registers the last planet that you take from the mobile. So after I took Venus, I took Mercury before finding the lock. Luckily I made a save right before that! But I think some kind of inventory would have been valuable in general -- I probably would have organically gotten the twig puzzle with it.

I'm still not sure if the dial puzzle was meant to be just stumbled into - I may have speedrun getting there after reloading and missed the 1-3 combination's effect.

Enough about the mechanics. The story captured the underlying creepiness of the song so well. That you simply choose the reality of the person's name was inspired and added to the low-key horror elements. The tapestries were a wonderful little bit of mysticism - literally a covering for a simpler mechanic. And the final choice felt so earned: it's up to you to stay in the seeping comfort treehouse or leave the creepy jester alone.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Trans.

Gonna say it a third time: voices good.

I really liked how this was working on multiple levels: the dreamlike flow of events, the read that I have that it's two folks as one folk, the use of the images.

It did feel disjointed. I'd have loved to see more foreshadowing and payoff for the octopus attack -- which may have been the point.

The song hits on vibes, and I feel like it would have made a fine backing track for the story.

This excelled in the little things. The font choice! When I noticed the hearts over the lowercase i, combined with the hover state changing size -- those are the kinds of things hypertext fiction does so well.

I said this about Raven & Cardinal, but it bears repeating: more enthusiast IF should look into voiceovers. It gives a lot of life to the characters.

In the writing there was some stuff that I wish was approached with more nuance - having the "I'm aroace" discussion twice seems like a missed opportunity to show different reactions, and the size difference was played for laughs a few times but otherwise not really referenced. With the size difference, I wonder if the big/small dynamic could have played into those hover states: when Eu felt small, the text getting large and overwhelming; when they stand up for themselves, the thing that they say becoming miniscule in the moment? Or Eu's yellow text hover state always being different than Gabe's?

This was an easy favorite for me. The simple mechanic of whiting-out gave such depth to the piece, used the interactive medium well, and drove me to keep wanting more to take away even as fewer and fewer words appeared.

There was a moment in reading it that what was going on clicked, and I was utterly hooked from that point on.

The impressionistic writing lent itself to removing words while still keeping the story. And the depth of understanding of the song used was a refreshing take that extended the song rather than simply borrowed from it.

The only issues I had were with CSS overflows - on a smaller window, I had to zoom out to catch everything.

Thanks for playing! first day on the job jitters.

Thanks for playing! The abrupt - hopefully cliffhanger! - ending was definitely a "I gotta wrap this up and get this submitted" thing.

I'm really glad the worldbuilding feels good. It's definitely a comfort zone for me, hopefuly not too much to the detriment of other things.

Thanks for asking. There's a browser-based version linked at https://ferkung.itch.io/stare-directly-at-the-sun/devlog/876716/web-hosted-versi.. It can be a little janky, a refresh seems to clear up most sins.

This version includes both the application and hypercard versions -- there is no difference, i just load both files. It may be behind one of the stickies on the desktop.

Thank you for playing!

Ha I'm bad at "shoulds." It felt less like "the end, for now" and more like the game bugged, but that's just one pov.

Gay vampires? Gay vampires.

Obviously the subject is catnip for me. But the interface does so much here. The chyron on the screen would have been fun enough, but that it changes on hovering over the bold text (with a CROSS cursor!?!)? Perfect.

I more than loved the constantly shifting voices - so many views and opinions, largely from outsiders, on the MC's life.

It's definitely an exploration instead of maybe a focused, clear narrative. The 197X section felt of the era, but the other ones were kind of in a miasmic sense of time which is good if you were trying to make it all "this is all the same" and not if you were trying to delineate more strongly.

The linearity of the story is what it is. I felt like there was definitely things to do beyond just read, and I'm not sure if a diary-style should have lots of branching. The final choice felt earned - either you want to give in to the toxicity or try to stand alone.

This shines in its prose and overall story. The narrative, especially ending with the husband also being embroiled in the Maze, highlighted the themes that were uncovered in the hyperlinear gameplay. The flow of the prose packed so much story into a short experience in such a rewarding way.

I really struggled with the fact that it's specifically about choice: essentially that you don't have one. But I think having single-branch game-overs weakened that feeling of being railroaded no matter what. The section where there was reflection on this - where the MC talks about "this was the only choice i've been able to make and you're taking it from me" was a hint to things I'd love to have seen more.

There's also the formatting, which made it very mushy around who is speaking and acting, especially across pages.

This hit so many points for me. Of course, the aesthetics hit me square in the breadbasket. Really clear, using the circle in multiple ways really was effective.

The initial mechanic - going through 8 stories without repeating too much - was inspired. That moment where it clicked WHY some of the passages were so repetitive was really an incredible moment. If I were not reading out loud, i feel like I would have hit what I assume is one ending and thought the game was neat.

Moving past that - the moment that it became a different game, especially as the screen dimmed with the hope (and I assume that might have been another ending) pulled me into specifically the character of Elena.

The third act - finding the lighthouse - was a satisfying coda, and the question of what would have been happiness for Elena was a genuine question after the first two sections. Unfortunately, it seems like the endings weren't there! I tried poking around in Decker but couldn't find anything down the path I was on.

ah-ha! then all good on that front!

I really loved the 17776 vibe of this. That idea of winning at immortality is particularly plot catnip for me.

I do think some of the color choices, combined with the right-alignment of the text, made it hard to read at points.

There were, ultimately, few choices. The core question of "end or continue" is very in line with the themes and felt very earned. But there were times in the sections where I wanted to be cut off from choices, especially when remembering, since it was a plot point that the POV character's memory was fading.

It didn't display the text on the first one, but the other two looked readable.

There was a lot to like here. I'm a sucker for scifi worldbuilding and a lot of this was creating this world in which it's normal to have broken lines of communication and weird soul-eating power cores.

I feel like the main choice comes in relatively early - the "keep the same song" vs "change it" choice. I think about the role of aleatoric elements in art and I think that's such an interesting choice that I may explore what that choice changes.

The other choice - business vs. murder - I felt unprepared to make. There were some sinister overtones but that's part and parcel of a scifi setting. I wonder if calling it business was what led to the kind of left-turn ending I got that left me a bit puzzled instead of something that resolved the plot threads.

The writing in this was wonderfully oppressive.

I loved the vibe of the whole thing, and I saw a few places that the narrative probably diverged. The world wasn't over-explained but gave more than enough to latch onto. The creeping ecological issues, the work in a dangerous pirate situation, the separation between the two characters -- all really worked for me.

The choices didn't seem all that meaningful - putting the letter in the pocket? It felt like an important thing at the time, but ultimately just felt like an interesting roleplay moment.

This was maybe my favorite narrative that I've seen so far.

That first jolt of the main hook - that all the characters were one person - was so fun. I loved that you didn't shy away from implications of it - that a congenital disease for one might mean one for all, that both romance and lust would exist, that personalities could be both very similar and wildly different and you can hand-wave it. I was really taken by the world created.

I did feel it was SUPER linear, instead of something more interactive, but that the narrative held up enough to justify it.

For me, the images didn't add too much - i think the overall darkness of them didn't lead to the maybe unsettling feeling you were looking for? 1-bit dithering is hard! I was excited to see it though since it was another game in the Jam that had that aesthetic.

I'll check it out!

This was my favorite of the games I've played so far.

I feel like there's a third ending I didn't find with a larger section - I found two and glanced that there was a third path.

The obvious path - picking up all of the pearls - was just a masterclass in how to use link-based systems for place-based narratives. I loved how the player picks up the pearls and the detail in the macabre scene.

The other obvious path - not picking up any of the pearls - felt a bit more limited though I didn't do as deep a reading of it.

The less obvious one - picking up some of the pearls but not all - was one I didn't explore.

The interface was a joy (though i hear you about the color-based navigation/differentiation - curious if you find a good solution!). Each description was gleefully written. And even just as a single scene I think it would have worked, but then to have an second scene was a depth that I didn't expect.

This was the rare game that I look for other endings for. My first run was short, unsatisfying, and maudlin -- I felt trapped by not being able to find the right things to say, and it felt like all the answers were going to lead the same place of unresolved tension.

I am ecstatic that I backtracked and went another direction to find the different branches and two or three other endings. The experience went from one of "oh, well that was successful on its own terms" to something that gave a LOT more flexibility in the dialogue tree and opportunities for both characters to open up.

Using just one song and plumbing those depths was really strong as well.

Using one song I think was a strength in this, keeping it focused while getting beyond the surface level of the music and lyrics.

The voice acting I think gave a lot to the implications of things said - Raven's VA was delightfully smarmy and Cardinal's VA really felt like he was recently taken under someone's wing. Something I think more IF needs to do.

I did struggle with 2 thoughts. The first was that the dialogue felt very Stjepan Šejić in the sense of "let's explain the basics of SSC for the normies" which might have been a missed opportunity to explore deeper ideas around the dynamic. The second is that Raven seemed too toxic to give the standard line on safewords - maybe that's just my preference for toxicity in my romance fiction.  (maybe this was due to the choices I picked?)

I'd love to see more stories with these characters - sort of a "spies, but they're dating" from the other side.

I really liked this.

The puzzles were really straightforward, which when streaming I appreciate but maybe could have been obfuscated a little bit more. But the puzzles weren't the point.

The world was vibrant and really used in particular the music video as a great leaping-off point. I was pulled into the dream-logic of it all. I didn't find a use for everything - and maybe everything didn't have a use. I'm glad i could sleep in the hammock though. I needed that.

This was a treat.

I found this really interesting, even as sketchy as the sections are. It's really linear, which may have benefited using something link-based, rather than parser?

Keeping it limited to three songs really helped focus and give structure to the three sections, even if the scene changes are disjointed. I did really like the unmoored feeling between the first and second sections -- it made sense to wake up from a dream with that loss of identity. In listening to the song, the epilogue makes a lot more sense.

(I did use Gargoyle and it looks like the first screen didn't render right, but the rest of it worked fine)

This was super interesting and a great way to kick off the rating for me. I really loved the setting of the game and the ideas in the worldbuilding.

I'm really not sure of the engine used here - I wanted to go deeper on the smelling mechanic rather than it being a second examine (and of course the narrative mechanic).

In playing I found the ending very abrupt and without a "The End" I wonder if I bugged or just didn't find the solution to that section - I am prone to missing obvious spots when I lawnmower.

It shouldn't :) caught the issue (don't code at 2:30am, folks!)

New versions should be up.

Thanks so much for checking it out and letting me know about the issue!

Ack! It should not! there is a the-end screen.

I will check it out! Thank you for the report!

Thank you for playing. All the real credit goes to the seed authors. This got me to revisit this after a good while, so thanks for that as well.

Updated! Sorry about that!

Hey! I streamed this for a good bit yesterday, discussing how interesting it is as an experiment!

I really liked a lot of the ideas put out in this, and I think it's an interesting and impressive demo.