itch.io

I appreciate the kind words!  I feel the rating for this one is a bit too high, but I am grateful nonetheless.

I'll admit, during May Wolf as a new creator, I was flailing around a lot; I had no idea what I was doing, or how long things would take me to do, which caused me to make some (MANY) questionable decisions. 

I've no doubt I'll continue to make even more bad calls in the future, but at least I now have a direction to go on the road to improvement.  I appreciate the advice and comments you and several others on the server have given me to help me better my craft.  

Hopefully I'll improve eventually!😊  Sorry again to all who had to suffer through "the trilogy.😵‍💫"

How does it feel to have a one month project complete? 😅

You definitely went wild with the horny in this one compared to your restraint in FotP.  😆  I can't comment much on the story, as I know a bit more of the lore behind it, but good job finishing within the time limit nonetheless.  It was definitely a wild ride!

(For full disclosure, I did some light grammatical proofreading for this novel, however I was having difficulty seeing during the time due to temporary blind spots in my vision fornseveral days, so I wasn't able to be thorough.)

A good start for your first vn... I'm sure it was a great learning experience. 😅

I know you have far more ambitious future stories in mind, and hopefully taking this first big step will help you feel more confident with those in the future.

I'm glad you told the story you wanted to tell; for my first attempt at making a vn, the most eye-opening part was sitting through watching others read through and comment on it, but ultimately, I know it helped me to see my shortcomings and start improving.

(For full disclosure, I did assist with some custom art assets and proofreading some parts of the script).

Looking forward to see what eventually develops 😎

Cute start to what has potential to be a good game 😁

Oh, side note on the intro... it's kind of an inside joke on the fvn server.  Unagi had a fursona pic drawn of me as an art trade for some artwork I did for him.  He told the artist to draw me as Sonic the Hedgehog, because I tend to get things done quickly.  They drew the intro pause for Sonic 1, so I spoofed the Sega logo intro 😁

(artwork by January Bridges)

I hope I sang the harmony close enough to the original! 😆

Thanks!  

There are a number of things I didn't get a chance to implement yet, like scenes displayed on the screen, a couple of backgrounds, and a couple extra sprite expressions beyond the default ones, so hopefully I can inprove it a bit.

I experimented with altering the text speed for the first time, so I was curious if it was for the better or worse, so I will keep that in mind for when I release a new build, hopefully in January.  I wanted to try and release the full story, even if I didn't get to fully polish it.

Thanks for taking time to leave a review.  I appreciate the feedback!

You're absolutely right : D

I saved all my coding for the last 30 hours, and caught the wrong outfit in the scene before just before submitting in the locker room, but forgot to update that one!  I'll make sure to fix it in January.  Thanks for reporting it!

I also agree that I deviated a bit too much from the core of my story, so the pacing is a bit lopsided at times.  I'll be the first to admit that writing is not my strongsuit, but hopefully it will improve with experience.

I'm glad you enjoyed the concept at least; the original idea was a polar bear who mysteriously finds himself lost in the Antarctic with only an angry penguin to lead him home, but I thought that idea was too obvious. 

Thanks for the read!

Otter

.psd file

Layers version

composite images will be posted soon.

.psd version

Layers version

Composite Sprites

So, how do you use .PSD files to create usable sprites?

There are two methods... one is to use a program to create composite sprites (Gimp 2 is a free program) to select individual layer combinations and export images as .png or .webp files.  I suggest only doing the expressions and combinations you intend to use to save space, and make sure to name them in the proper format... check the Renpy Images Tutorial section on sprites (look for the section on Eileen)  Pro tip: Make sure not to export the background layer or else you will end up with a white box around your character.

The second method is considered best practice to create a smaller game file, using layered sprites where each element stacks on top of each other.  It requires additional coding and may be daunting for beginners, but if you're interested, HERE is a tutorial by GruntSteel with additional information.

Another sprite - this time big cats for variety.  Layers .zip file includes all four options in separate folders.

PSD Files to make your own: Tiger .psd  |  Lion .psd  |  Snep.psd  |  Jaguar .psd

Ready-to-Use Folders for Layered Images: All Cat Sprites - Layers version

Ready-To-Go Composite Sprites:  Tiger.zip   |  Lion.zip  | Snep.zip  | Jaguar.zip
(Composite Sprite .zip file does not contain all possible combinations of layers)

A few backgrounds I drew for some of my old or cancelled projects.  Credit to JMJerbear if used.

*The bottom 3 waterfall pics can be animated in Ren’Py.  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Eq2fYzuffLoffh6hL2awvUCBARveBRWm/view?usp=drivesdk

a sprite of a younger to middle aged bear I created.  There are a few hair variations that can be toggled to give the impression of time passing/aging.  The sprite has a twink build and athletic build option good for stories involving working out and training.

Credit should read as JMJerbear if used.

.PSD File

Layers Version

Composite Sprites Starter Pack: Twink Version (with piercings) | Athletic Version (with piercings)

(Composite Sprite .zip file does not contain all possible combinations of layers)

Some music files.  I’ll add more as I create them.  These are loopable and are in .ogg format and .mp3 format.  Ogg files must be downloaded to preview as Google Drive does not support natively playing .ogg files.

Somber Serenity
ogg: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TIbEn9dtXBihqZslP2RjcYJj5vHYJmcA/view?usp=drivesdk
mp3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j2kM72Dq5T0NHIZXS9cQcPxjWe7mzYtV/view?usp=drivesdk

Our Name is Despair
ogg: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hn01ucNRRZ_8qyb8WdOasQLSLq0MCRp-/view?usp=drivesdk
mp3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1en4RUeQwInqF7GLN9B5WsJ3CNacGUvAa/view?usp=drivesdk

Our Name is Despair (with wind, siren and voice sample)
ogg: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NAaoAs7UYh6PzGMdNaU4Ac6jmAEu4JuA/view?usp=drivesdk
mp3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13Ybx3LbMsYd9mP2benrV-HvYhNP59JID/view?usp=drivesdk

Shred of Hope
ogg: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Uf0LSzVJhe-4u2i1Xsbl-eT-ESawovOq/view?usp=drivesdk
mp3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nhJSGNV-2e6H15wlu-w-MnFZ1uxDg5MF/view?usp=drivesdk

Turning Tides
ogg: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EZNcDY86OjvbIhbkM5ykZgJLpQ3oQr1z
mp3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1diMxMPrfowceTtpOMjLHR8_jDYyMAyjY

StrawBEARy! Now we just need BlueBEARy and RaspBEARy to complete the set : D

To start this, I have a sprite of an older bear I created with lots of variations: Polar Bear, Black Bear and Grizzly Bear.  

The sprite is around 2000 px. tall, and should be a suitable size for enlarging in a standard resolution game.

Layers version is converted to .webp format

Credit should be to JMJerbear if used.  Modifications are allowed for any of the sprites I am providing.  If they are modified, credit as base sprite provided by JMJerbear, and modified by ____________.

.PSD version

Layers version

Ready-To-Go Composite Sprites:  Grizzly Bear | Black Bear | Polar Bear 

(Composite Sprite .zip file does not contain all possible combinations of layers)

In addition to the resources generously provided by the organizers, some members of the fvn community have decided to create additional assets available for free use to NovemBEAR participants.

Terms and Stipulations for Use of Assets

Any assets posted in this thread are free to use for your project, provided the project is part of the 2024 NovemBEAR Game Jam and you follow all of the stated rules of the game jam and itch.io.  

Failure to do so may result in the creator of the asset pursuing a DMCA takedown of your project unless the assets are removed.  In addition, no AI generated assets should be posted in this thread, as this would also violate the rules of the game jam.  Lastly, credit must be given to the creator of any assets used.  (For those providing assets, please list how you would like to be credited in your post).

Yes, this was my least favorite.  I intentionally wrote something as far out of my comfort zone as possible, but unfortunately had to stop in the middle of the story to take care of some emergency home repairs and lost two weeks  of potential time to work on the story, not to mention my train of thought.  

I like to do all the writing at the same time to maintain cohesiveness, but writing in general is my weakest asset to begin with; I haven't written anything in a very long time prior to the game jam, and entered primarily so I could get feedback on what areas to work on.  I more enjoy working on the art and music parts, and would like to work as part of a team next time.  I wanted to get some basic programming experience and creating sprites and music tracks under my belt, and as a result, the story was less a priority than it should have been in all of my entries. 

I went from planning three "chapters" down to two, and focused on trying to tie up all the loose ends from part one, hence the extra heavy exposition that I hated even as I wrote it.  I tried to go for over the top and cringe, but due to my mediocre writing, it ended up falling flat by the end.  I would have been better off leaving things unfinished and taking my time with this one.

I didn't really know what I wanted the story to be, and it shows.

I absolutely agree.  This was quite literally a two day project, and I plan to go back and expand on the story as soon as we are allowed to following the game jam.  

That scene in particular was a last minute addition to the story, and was not implemented well.  I literally wrote the story, start to finish, in about 8 hours, coding it as I went.  

The entire time dragon aspect wasn't even thought of until I got to the MC's death scene; I had already written him into the story as the doctor, so it was a quick edit, and not well thought out.

I figured it was something like that.  I debated on posting here or messaging you instead, but guessed this may be easier for you to refer back to later on.  If you need me to, I can delete this review if you prefer.

I forgot to mention: keep in mind on the narrator box the first line is displayed behind the buttons when the box appears, as the buttons on the top aren't hidden.  I think you had also discussed that in the same group of posts, so you were probably already aware.

No problems with me on hearing the same issues; the criticism is entirely justified, and now that I realize what my main issues are, it can be rectified.  I haven't written anything in a REALLY long time (+20 years), so I'm incredibly out of practice.  

Out of the three, this was my least favorite too, and part of it was trying to write something so far out of my comfort zone.  I tried writing completely different stories, and for this one, I wanted to be absurd and cringey,  but I've concluded it's just not my style.  

I thought of each project as an experiment, and tried to incorporate different things into each, but writing without narration made it nearly impossible to give fluid exposition, and I even realized as I was writing.  

That was a handicap I shouldn't have even had in retrospect; I based using first person narritive on the time a teacher gave me a bad grade on a writing assignment.  She said I relied too much on narration in my writing and that I should avoid it, which I took quite literally afterward.  If I paid more attention while reading other vns it would be rather obvious it was okay, even expected to use.

To be honest, I was more concerned with I learning the mechanical aspect of making a vn and less on the story itself.  All the stories I wrote were basically my first drafts, much to their detriment, and written with nothing more than a vague idea of what I was doing.  

I had never used Ren'Py, or done any programming prior to the second week of May, so I focused most of my attention on learning how to do the basics, and learning how to draw layered sprites.  I've learned a lot from the game jam, which was my primary reason for entering it anyway 

Thanks again for the review!

You asked earlier in your final May Wolf stream if anyone knew how WBT played on Android, so I ran through it afterward. 

Once I was able to toggle the memory leak fix, it chugged a bit in skip mode, but I managed to make it through without crashing.  Most of the text had no issues; it wasn't until toward the end where things got a bit crazy.  

The main culprits seem to be Pyrrhos' narrator boxes and Agnarr's text boxes ( I also can't remember from the windows version if the otter sprite is supposed to remain at an angle for most of the scene):

On a second playthrough to get screenshots it  did crash on me after I swapped between apps, but that's fairly common for Ren'py android builds, so it shouldn't be as much a concern.

I ran this on my galaxy note 10+, which is not the latest and greatest, but has 12 gb of memory.  Normally my phone uses around 4gb, but with the game running at the most intensive part, memory usage maxed at 7.6 gb, so it should work okay on most modern phones.

I really enjoyed the story with this one as well as the art and music.  Well worth a look.

My final qualified entry May Wolf vn!  I don't know if anyone has reported issues with the Android port, but I could not get it to work past the title screen at all...

EDIT: FIX IS NOW INCOMING!

To make sure it wasn't a bad install, I re-downloaded the game, reinstalled it this evening and got the same error.  I didn't change my ratings as a result though, as I was able to play the Windows version without incident.  I just wanted to make sure you were aware is all.

I liked the pace and writing, and found the sprites and backgrounds to be charming.  I feel some of the scene transitions were timed oddly, in that the events narratively happened well before the visual transitions took place on multiple occasions.  I feel the ending was a tad abrupt, even if the project will continue in the future, something about the last bit seemed to hit a bit flat.  Overall, there is an interesting premise that I am interested to see fleshed out a bit more going forward.

I liked the custom sprites and artwork.  I think it was an improvement to make them more into your own characters. 

I do wish there was some music in this, though I suppose I can just play whatever soundtrack I want in the background : )

The moment I lost it. : )  Sorry I couldn't crop the entire circle for full effect.

This is a unique example of "edutainment" to be sure.  The visuals were incredibly well done.

I was definitely going for the most outlandish, bad story I could think of:

- Waking up with amnesia as a furry, probably the single most overused trope for any furry vn.

-Alex Jones level conspiracies as fact.  

-The most cringe sex scene imaginable, since people say they don't care about the story in porn.  

-Changing genres in the middle of the story.  

-Misleading cover art.

-Overused groan-inducing one liners.

-Sprite clipping

I wanted to make it as B- movie as I could, while still having a semblance of plot in there.  To be honest, I wrote part one with no idea how to tackle the second half, and decided to treat part two as how to even begin to explain the crazy world I constructed.

I hoped to make it so bad it would almost be good, but I think it was a swing and a miss.  I haven't really written anything since before the game jam in over 20 years other than the other vn I posted at the  beginning of the month, and I wanted to go as far outside of my comfort zone as possible.

Don't worry, I've now got the message loud and clear about adding narration.  I had received a bad grade on a writing assignment years ago because the teacher thought I used it too much, and it just always stuck with me. 

I tend to take things a bit too seriously sometimes.  I also miss things right in front of me at others.  I can't tell you how many fvns I've read, and never really considered HOW they were written.  I knew even at the time I was being too explanatory on the plot, but couldn't figure out how to handle it without a narrator, though in this story, I didn't care as much because being bad was the point.

This was the main reason I wanted to enter the game jam, to learn the basics, try new things, and find out where I need to improve.  I literally never touched Ren'py until the second week, so I was just trying to learn as I went along.  I didn't want to wait another year to get started, so I just jumped in to see what I could do.  My focus was more on the technical aspects and less on the story part, to their detriment, but I feel much more prepared if there is a next time.

Believe it or not, that was quite unintentional; I drew the red wolf first, and then just used liquify and warping on his sprite and recolored it to make the gray wolf look a bit different. Given the naming thing I was going for, finding names that meant red wolf and gray wolf were fairly easy, which is why I chose those colors.  I never even thought about it until I saw your post! 

: D

I liked the flute music, and how the chants were mixed in later on in the story.  I also like the concept; a human descending into madness, and how one would react to stumbling across a world of beast men.

This is the second to last vn I've read for the jam.  At this point it may just be vn fatigue setting in, but the story was so short it was hard for me to connect with it before it was over.  I read it through twice to make sure I wasn't missing something.  Also immersion breaking was the background photo featuring humans in a location where we just learned the inhabitors were unfamiliar with humans, unless this was intended to indicate to the reader the beast men were also a hallucination of the mc.

The donut puns thing wasn't criticism at all, just an observation!  : )

I'm right there with you on Ren'Py - I didn't touch it until after the first week of the jam, so I understand totally.  You did quite well to have branching story paths in there already if you're just starting!  I always try to offer a suggestion or two, but it was hard for yours, because it was so good already!

Absolutely fair!  This was my favorite concept, but I didn't flesh it out as well as I wanted.  

To give you an idea of how vague the idea was, magic time dragon wasn't even an thought until I wrote up to the part of MC dying and was thinking how to give him the ability to turn back time. 

I already had the dragon as the doctor, I already had the standard "I'll give up anything" line.  I just went back and added the doctor's musings so the other part would make sense later.

I'm not proud of it, it's just the way my mind works (or doesn't, as the case may be).  ; )

You are right about no other happy memories as well; the tapes representing the end of his life all had the same shade of purple to show he wasn't devastated, but he was never really happy, either.  He just kind of... existed.

I have more I'd like to go back and add once this is all over.  Thanks again for taking part in the event stream.  

I agree.  I added the scene at the end due to some confusion on my part.  Based on a couple of joke comments in the forums, I thought it HAD to contain NSFW, and I couldn't figure out how to shoehorn it into the story, hence the after credits, because I knew it didn't belong there.  It wasn't until later that I figured out this wasn't the case, but by then, I had already released it and wasn't sure if people had already been judging, so I was afraid to change it.  Come July, that's the first thing to go!

As far as sprites go, they are in the uncanny valley.  I tried doing the eyes several times but kept having trouble with the results.  Since we were supposed to use new sprites, I decided to take the opportunity to try a different lineless style with varying results. Still, I wanted it obvious I hadn't just recycled what I made in late April for my other project.  It was also my first attempt at learning to use layered .psd files to make expressions with moveable components - the ones I did before by erasing and redrawing parts of the face.  That's why they were all facing the camera directly, as I felt it would be easier to manipulate the expressions, but I've learned how to do some better throughout the game jam.  I'm still a beginner in the drawing department; I only recently got a tablet with ProCreate, so I started messing with it around the beginning of the year.

After the game jam, I plan to switch the sprites to the familiar ones with different clothes to make it integrate better with the other story.  I will probably add some outlines to make the old wolf match, but it should be easy.  I also plan to add cutscenes to further break up the monologue's beginning.  I had made some, but debated on whether to use them or not.  As it turns out, I guessed wrong : )  I wanted them to come across as the son imagining what his father was talking about, hence the crude, chalkboard-like look of them.  (I never finished the second one, and a couple others were unfortunately overwritten by accident).

The painting over the fireplace was also originally meant to be a cutscene background, but I recycled it, since I had already taken the effort to draw it.  I was daunted then by the prospect of drawing a full family of 16 wolves before I came up with the silhouette concept, which i also ended up scrapping.  Now that I know how to do simple frame animations in Ren'Py, a two frame animation with a more chalky brush may be a nice touch to add.  I had lots of ideas, but not a lot of focus or experience.

I even had thought about going the photo background route.  As this is based on my father's real life experiences, I have old photos of most of these places already, though I would've had to photoshop the people out of them.  Unfortunately my computer with my old copy of Photoshop CS5 died on me back in March, so I've had to try and get by with GIMP, which I'm not at all familiar with.  I also prefer not to use real photos with drawn sprites if I can help it, as it rarely looks cohesive.

Every one of these projects were full of experiments, hence the different genres for each.  I also didn't start using Ren'Py until after the first week of May, so a lot of my effort also went into learning the basics,  I know all of these stories were quite rough, but I appreciate you taking the time to read through them and provide comments.  Hopefully I can use what I've since learned to improve going forward.

I can see your artistic progression since "When I Knew You" with more refined character sprites, and I feel your writing has also improved.  I like the visual flair of the comic book style.  

My only nitpick is I do feel a few of the photo backgrounds were too busy for the scenes. 

Thanks for the feedback! This is precisely why I took part in the game jam.  I wanted to know which things I need to work on most.  I can do better, and I wanted to get advice before I go any further with my main project.  Based on what I've learned, all three projects will have significant changes made following the game jam.  I've also acquired materials to assist me in learning how to write better.

I'm still very new to all the aspects of making a visual novel.  I haven't written anything since English class in high school over 20 years ago, so I'm woefully out of practice.  I only started drawing again at the beginning of the year (again, since high school), and before now, I had never done so digitally.  I have no coding experience and had never touched Ren'Py before the tenth of last month.  But I'm not using any of this as an excuse.   I'm here to be judged critically because it's the best way to improve.  I'm open to constructive criticism, and I promise I will improve!

It's an interesting story with insane elements.  I did find the font a bit difficult to read, though I do understand the choice to use a less formal font.  I am a bit curious why the wolf's heat was too great to remain in football, but not enough to interfere with badminton, but not everything needs to make sense in this world.

Given the tone of the rest of the novel, I did feel mc's backstory was just a bit too dark and plausible... (suicide after not living up to unrealistic expectations is unfortunately way too common).  Dark is fine, but maybe chaos in a more absurd way?  Like hitting a birdie directly onto a jumbotron sign, causing it to shortcircuit and burst into flames, fall over, and crush people in the stands sort of crazy?  I could imagine him telling the events like it was some sort of war flashback.  Just a thought.

I did enjoy the parody elements of the story.  I think in general the story took itself just seriously enough to have a functioning plot while balancing the absurdity.

I'm enjoying this visual novel so far. It seems to be the start of an epic adventure!  Also, nicely ominous cliffhanger ending to keep us invested!

There were quite a number of missing sprite errors, though it may just be that they weren't completed before the deadline.   I also noticed some minor spelling issues.

I noticed that the sprites were sized and placed appropriately with the backgrounds and that they were dynamic.  I also appreciate the parallels of the mc and love interest.

I can't wait to read more!

I'm invested in the story.  I can't wait to see where it goes from here!  Other than wishing for an overhead view of a game while the explanation was given, I really can't think of anything else I would suggest to add.  Well done!