itch.io

Yeah, my scope knife was a spoon this year. Not sure why I felt so compelled to make this huge thing but it had to be done.

Implementing the RPG mechanic needed so much custom Python code! I learned things about the inner workings of Renpy that no mortal is meant to see!

Thank you so much for your review. I am glad you had fun. And yeah, I absolutely would love to release an extended version with less rushed visual but well... we will see.

Aisha is my spirit animal!

Really loved the characters, they were really fleshed out. Loved how they were written. Character designs were really distinct and looked great. The presentation was amazing. Not sure how you did the live2d-style effect but wow did you bring those sprites alive! Oh and animations in general, this must have taken ages!

You got not one but two composers! Melancholy Marionett and Manit definitely did a great job here. 

I was really excited to hear both samgrace and Meg TheLovableDork again who I loved in last year's Tunnel Vision. The VA has been top-notch in general, everybody did great!

Than you for making this game!

Such a unique game!

Amazing voice acting! You went really hard on the music. I am just in awe.

Thank you for making this game!

There is a hair in my soup!

Oh gosh, I love the pixelated art style! The writing was top notch and made me really invested in story. The MC is so relatable with their struggles against poverty. The abuse from the boss felt so real. I love how you gave the characters some depth and backstory.

Thank you for making this game.

You must have been coughing blood up for real after this effort!

The amount of sprites is insane! You went really hard on this! With the blinking animation and everything it really brought the character alive. The unhinged dialogue was also well written and really made me feel the horror of it all. Also impressive how polished everything looked. The UI fit perfectly. I normally advice people to not get too weird with font choices but here you choice really fit perfectly and gave it personality while still being readable.

Thank you for making this game! Looking forward to see what you will make next year!

> So so glad you enjoyed it and it resonated! It was so much fun to write and to make with Featherboy!

You two make a great team. Your writing is amazing.

> Ok now it's your turn to make a VN about someone with an avoidant attachment style so I can understand that better :D

Oh, you might enjoy my entry from last year then: https://mondlichtgames.itch.io/homecoming

It is arguably more about CPTSD and people-pleasing but you might get at least something out of it.

I love the idea of doing a game specifically about avoidant attachment style. though. Definitely a good writing challenge as you need some good outside factors for it to not end with an immediate "Oh, I love them and I will do absolutely nothing about it". Or maybe that is just me. :D

Looking forward to reading more from you!

Thank you so much!

Reading your review made my day! It means a lot especially coming from someone making so delightful games as you do!

Thank you for playing it! I am very glad you liked it!

I definitely hope to work together with artists on future projects. With this one I would have probably been murdered during the jam if I told them that we need like 8 or so full body sprites and endless amounts of backgrounds because... reasons. So I had to stick to myself to get it done. Though the blury sprites will get replaced, it is just a pain because of the action editor and me having to redo all the scenes when I change the resolution.

Thank you!

The horrors of having a psychotic roommate!

I am sucker for dystopian settings so you instantly won me over. The visuals really helped emphasize the bleakness. The background crept me out. I could relate to the corporate remote calls. Definitely curious where you are planning to go with the stories and if Niels is just crazy or there is indeed more.

Thank you for making this demo!

Cute owl is cute!

You put al lot of work into the visuals! The animations worked really great! I ended up just blaming Mirella to save my own skin. Didn't feel bad for her at all. Didn't expect her to end up at the literal stake but hey at least it wasn't me!

Of course as a Unity game (and you probably did not use Naninovel?) some accessibility options are missing. Especially an option for instant text speed would have been nice. Also, some kind of backlog would have been key especially in such a mystery setting where you can easily miss a clue. But I understand these features take time to implement.

Thank you for making this game! I had fun!

Please try the latest build.

The problem was that I didn't know about this issue cause I had forgotten to delete my persistent files before testing. So it worked just fine for me. 

Another banger from FeatherBoy!

After Trashwing Crowchild I was so excited to try out your next game and oh boy does it not disappoint! On the contrary, I had little tears in my eyes the the ending starting playing. Such a touching, cute game!

As to be expected great music and awesome animations. The art style fit the story perfectly! 

Thank you for making this game!

Another banger from FeatherBoy!

After Trashwing Crowchild I was so excited to try out your next game and oh boy does it not disappoint! On the contrary, I had little tears in my eyes the the ending starting playing. Such a touching, cute game!

As to be expected great music and awesome animations. The art style fit the story perfectly! 

Linux builds did not work for me but that is just a Tyrano thing, I could play the Windows build fine using WINE. My only wish is for an option to have text appear instantly because even the fastest option had a little delay.

I wish I had such a patient and wise familiar as Nutmeg. Unfortunately my cat has invested zero points in wisdom. It was also very touching how you portrayed someone with an anxious attachment style. As someone who tends to be on the avoidant side it really helped me better understand the other side.

Thank you for making this game!

Psychological horror at its finest!

There was so much emotion in the voice acting! Absolutely haunting! The art style perfectly enhanced the mood. There was also a lot of reply value in this game if wholly different scenes depending on your choices. Animations were  really smooth and really added to the mood.

Thank you for making this game!

Oh thank you so much for the review!

Yes, this year's release is a total mess. Sounds you played one of the earlier releases. I have to say, I am very sorry! I couldn't update in the first few days and it was maddening. There is actually a whole self-written turn based fighting system underneath all that wasted sooo much time and that I could barely get to work for submission. I tried to do way too much!

I just now pushed another release fixing a lot of stuff and I am now barely at the point where I wanted to be for submission. I hope you might check out the game in a few weeks or so to see how it was actually meant to be.

And yes, I am very fond of heavy swearing. To be fair Claudia is from a lower-born merchant family from fantasy Australia so it kind of makes sense that she would swear a lot but yeah I get that it might sound weird for American audiences where certain words are seen to be much harsher.

I promise next year's entry will receive much more polish. And thank you so much for the review, again! It means a lot to me and I am so happy you remembered my games for last year!

Old school fairy tale vibes!

Enjoyed the mood of this game. Also great voice acting!

Perfect mixture of creepy/cute!

The visuals are great in setting the mood of the game. I also liked little touches like me looping back from a dead end so I didn't have to reload the whole game. The story definitely had the proper amount of madness.

I had fun playing it!

Exactly my kind of story!

The UI is really pretty. I also really enjoyed the black and white art style. It had some great transition when you looked up into the stars and such. All in all solid demo that leaves one wanting for more!

 Looking forward to the finished game!

Exactly my kind of story!

As you can guess from my profile picture and my last year's Spooktober entry, Werewolf stories are absolutely my alley. So I was super excited to play this! Also loved that you handled the childhood trauma the MC has. It gave her some extra depth.

The UI is really pretty. I also really enjoyed the black and white art style. It had some great transition when you looked up into the stars and such. All in all solid demo that leaves one wanting for more!

Looking forward to the finished game!

Finally managed to play it and wow, that was a trip! Definitely one of the most memorable visuals of this jam.

Thank you or making this game!

"I really, really like your eyes."

Really fitting music and spooky atmosphere. The CGs looked absolutely gorgeous. Loved playing musical chairs with ghosts! Enjoyed all the spooky characters especially the Collector and the Baron!

Absolutely outstanding visuals and haunting story. The speech bubbles make it feel like watching animated series while the various phones chats, logs and diaries add some interesting variety and depth to the story. The cinematography is absolutely amazing! Like seriously, that camerawork must have taken ages to do!

The partial VA really drives the emotions home. I grew really attached to Pavel throughout the story, the characters were amazing with very memorable designs. That whole team did an amazing job!

Thank you for making this game!

Absolutely outstanding visuals and haunting story. The speech bubbles make it feel like watching animated series while the various phones chats, logs and diaries add some interesting variety and depth to the story. The cinematography is absolutely amazing! Like seriously, that camerawork must have taken ages to do!

The partial VA really drives the emotions home. I grew really attached to Pavel throughout the story, the characters were amazing with very memorable designs. That whole team did an amazing job!

Thank you for making this game!

Such a amazing romance! The whole team did a great job! The characters are very well written and felt grounded. The chemistry between Emy and Ayaka felt very believable. I was really rooting for them!

Thank you for making this game!

Such a amazing romance! The whole team did a great job! The characters are very well written and felt grounded. The chemistry between Emy and Ayaka felt very believable.  I was really rooting for them!

Thank you for making this game!

This game is so cute! The character expressions are amazing! I loved how our crowchild was hopping on the shoulders of the other character! The ending was so heartwarming!

Thank you for making this game!

Thank you! :)

"It turns out relationships aren't like a GAME at all!" 

Great art style. That hologram animations looked really cool. Loved the backgrounds and reading all the game titles. The parents going HAM was so funny. I love that the game leans heavily into the cringe of being socially awkward while never being creepy but in fact surprisingly wholesome.

I actually called myself Karl on my first play trough which cause some funny confusion. I spend a few minutes thinking I had been cloned by another projections thing. :)

Thank you for making this game.

"It turns out relationships aren't like a GAME at all!"

Great art style. That hologram animations looked really cool. Loved the backgrounds and reading all the game titles. The parents going HAM was so funny. I love that the game leans heavily into the cringe of being socially awkward while never being creepy but in fact surprisingly wholesome.

I actually called myself Karl on my first play trough which cause some funny confusion. I spend a few minutes thinking I had been cloned by another projections thing. :)

Thank you for making this game.

This magical girl has amazing character design.

The UI looks amazing. The magical girl transformation left me in awe! Seeing her magical girl form made me laugh so much. The humor has been pretty great and you really nailed middle-school angst. The VA-team did a great job and really brought the characters to life! Demo definitely left me with wanting more!

This magical girl has amazing character design.

The UI looks amazing. The magical girl transformation left me in awe! Seeing her magical girl form made me laugh so much. The humor has been pretty great and you really nailed middle-school angst. The VA-team did a great job and really brought the characters to life!

Demo definitely left me with wanting more!

"How many rats do make a king?"

Absolutely amazing visuals. The lovely backgrounds and cute character designs perfectly enhance the horror this story delivers! Also, really loved talking with Nathan about loneliness. That was very well well written! Thank you for making this game!

"How many rats do make a king?"

Absolutely amazing visuals. The lovely backgrounds and cute character designs perfectly enhance the horror this story delivers! Also, really loved talking with Nathan about loneliness. That was very well well written!

Thank you for making this game!

Thank you so much for your review! <3

(Longer response on the ratings page)

Oh, gosh, thank you so much for your comment! It means so much to me!

I still have trouble coping with people being nice to me, so I had a difficult time gathering the strength to even respond. Just know, you really brightened my day with your review and made me grin like an idiot. <3

I am so glad you could relate to Ida. Honestly, one of my biggest worries was how to make her relatable to other people but I guess the right people will just understand. It is probably not very big secret that I am very socially anxious myself so writing her came very naturally.

By the way, as for character designs, I had such a fun time working with heartsoulstudios. Normally I have trouble conveying to artists what I want but this time it was me just giving a general description and they immediately came up with a sketch and I just exclaimed "This is my Ida!". They have drawn both amazing sprites including different expressions in like a few hours. Absolutely insane.

As for the unemployment, well you are a Spooktober goddess or well before it gets into your head and you go full Rhime, lets just say Visual Novel Developer. You probably brightened the day of a lot of devs with your many and very kind reviews. There is this horrible notion under capitalism that only earning money "counts", when that couldn't be further form the truth!  That is why I tried to show how much of a difference Ida makes in other people's life without her even realizing it.

I am glad to hear you get along with your father. Thank you for sharing this with me. Yeah, just having one positive attachment figure can make a huge difference in a person's life and dramatically increase resilience.

And I am just happy to hear how people relate to my little story, no need to apologize for any ramble. It is me who has to thank you.

I am sure the day when you stand up against you mum will come! You are such a strong, intelligent and kind person, I am sure you will be alright! <3

"Don't forget to feed the cat!"

An absolutely amazing horror experience from my favorite Spooktober writer!

First of all, the UI looks amazing. In the fact the whole game looks amazing. A total trip. And the sound design, perfect! The whole team did a amazing job. I tried both pairs of male and female sounding voices and they all were superb.I am in awe of the scale of the project and how you managed to direct all of it in one month!

SPOILERS BE BELOW HERE

My first reaction was: Oh yeah, cool horror story, you made me unreasonable invested into playing Simon Says just to rip out my heart, good job! Then I saw the "credits" and absolutely lost it when Li went "Who the fuck is Melancholy Marionette" and realized there is even more.

Going meta is kind of hard to pull off but it worked well for you. I could see people getting really annoyed by the game quitting itself and making it hard to see all the content. Though part of the charm is how unpredictable it is. It is what makes the game so amazing and a work of art. I just just hope people don't start to copy you. Only you can get away with these kind of shenanigan! My first play trough I just acted like myself and tried to be nice but it still ended with Li getting killed because I kept being persistent. The second time, I went full psycho. Yes, I went back and killed the cat. I just had to check if I could. And there was a CG for it! Oh, gosh! I hate you but also love you for that. 

Thank you for making this game!

"Don't forget to feed the cat!"

An absolutely amazing horror experience from my favorite Spooktober writer!

First of all, the UI looks amazing. In the fact the whole game looks amazing. A total trip. And the sound design, perfect! The whole team did a amazing job. I tried both pairs of male and female sounding voices and they all were superb.I am in awe of the scale of the project and how you managed to direct all of it in one month!

SPOILERS BE BELOW HERE

My first reaction was: Oh yeah, cool horror story, you made me unreasonable invested into playing Simon Says just to rip out my heart, good job! Then I saw the "credits" and absolutely lost it when Li went "Who the fuck is Melancholy Marionette" and realized there is even more.

Going meta is kind of hard to pull off but it worked well for you. I could see people getting really annoyed by the game quitting itself and making it hard to see all the content. Though part of the charm is how unpredictable it is. It is what makes the game so amazing and a work of art. I just just hope people don't start to copy you. Only you can get away with these kind of shenanigan!

My first play trough I just acted like myself and tried to be nice but it still ended with Li getting killed because I kept being persistent. The second time, I went full psycho. Yes, I went back and killed the cat. I just had to check if I could. And there was a CG for it! Oh, gosh! I hate you but also love you for that. 

Thank you for making this game!

Summertown Romance!

The custom-drawn CGs looked absolutely amazing. I really like the character designs. I can tell that you took great care to find some fitting music that enhanced the mood.

Kael's childlike wonder and enthusiasm were so cute and really won me over. I enjoyed the friendship between April and Cora. I think Brannan might be quite an interesting Character. Funny enough, I picked his route first, because I was excited for the cult stuff. Kael felt like more like the main route though, as we spent more time with him and that Kiss CG was amazing. I felt like it was a bit of a personal happiness vs (possibly) greater good choice and that made it interesting. Thank you for making this game.

Summertown Romance!

The custom-drawn CGs looked absolutely amazing. I really like the character designs. I can tell that you took great care to find some fitting music that enhanced the mood.

Kael's childlike wonder and enthusiasm were so cute and really won me over. I enjoyed the friendship between April and Cora. I think Brannan might be quite an interesting Character. Funny enough, I picked his route first, because I was excited for the cult stuff. Kael felt like more like the main route though, as we spent more time with him and that Kiss CG was amazing. I felt like it was a bit of a personal happiness vs (possibly) greater good choice and that made it interesting.

Thank you for making this game.