A good and relatable plot, never easy moving far away from home. The music selections were fantastic, and I loved how the sprites were manipulated to have such varied expressions. Two really nice CG's, as well!
I didn't pick up much on the theme, but ironically not picking up on the theme feels like a theme for the MayWolfs this year.
All in all, a cute, thoughtful, and well-put-together entry for this years jam.
It centerleft me wanting more.
Another Urban Fantasy entry! Hurray!
I was quickly immersed into the setting, and Nino is a cute little weirdo. Like many MayWolfs it ends too soon! The assets you used, such as the music and the other sprites, really amplified the tone of it. It made it feel gritter and more serious and I am impressed the way you leveraged so little to do some excellent worldbuilding.
A solid entry, but I can tell you were pressed for time (like everyone else!), but a great concept and a strong foundation that uses a little to say a lot.
I love a short king, and the custom spritework/bg's gave this a lot of character! I still wish I had downloaded the LOST MEDIA ORIGINAL CUT
But The Canis Convalescence is a fun, fast, and cute story that I enjoyed my relatively brief time with! My one complaint is I don't get a lot of 'expanding' from it, but I enjoyed it none-the-less!
EDIT: IM SO SORRY I DONT KNOW THIS POSTED LIKE FOUR TIMES
By far the most unique take on the theme, and you have some hilarious dialogue in here. I came out of this knowing so much more about Finnish Municipalities than I would have ever thought, and I learned it from an FVN no less!
Your passion and care for the project comes through in so many little details, this is so far the most polished entry I've read (of the ten or so). Incredibly impressive effort from a solo dev, it looks amazing and your hard work is clear for everyone to see.
The literal expansion of Helsinki into other parts is a good use of theme.
I do agree with Loudo's critique, I was bombarded with Finnish words and names and it made things difficult to digest at times, I would often have to pause or reread sections to understand who or what was being discussed. This is, of course, an issue of not speaking the language or not being from the region and while it slowed me down it didn't diminish my enjoyment of the story at all.
That said, you presented what would otherwise not be (for me) an exciting topic in a way that was ceaselessly engaging, and in spite of a couple slowdowns and hiccups I tore through the whole thing with a smile on my face!
Excellent work!
This one was a lot of fun to read, I tore through it! Goofy, light-hearted, just a lot of fun. I'm not sure it was your intention, but beyond "Expanding" JJ's size I interpreted the food truck as an "Expansion" of his fathers' bakery, if you did this on purpose GREAT JOB.
If you didn't LIE ABOUT IT. As such, I thought you applied the theme really well!
I liked the sprites, too, they just vibe with the story really well! You also wrote the cake-pop lion so hateable and even though he's on screen for just a few scenes he makes me think of that annoying foodie hipster we all know.
The story was simple and straight forward, but fun! I think you applied theme well (on purpose or otherwise), and you picked good music to go with your scenes. All in all? A fast, fun, silly slice of life about donuts. Great work! I hope you make more VN's in the future.
EDIT: Thank you for embracing the Hole jokes. Also cute Minotaur Hotel ref, KHENBISH SUPREMACY.
I was the most excited to read this one because I love the sprites so much, and it met my expectations!
There was a lot of good tension during the card game, and one can easily empathize with Jack. I love how you put the suits above their head, and the portraits being cards when they speak looks fantastic!
Some pauses/fades between scene transitions would be nice, though, because some of the shifts felt just a little jarring but not to the point I was unable to follow the story. Like Erebus, I'm assuming your application of 'expanding' here is the growing bet / rising risk / stakes which for me, works just fine.
Your music choices were great! It contributed to the atmosphere of a dark, back-alley card game complete with the desperate smell of cigarettes, cologne, and (In my imagination) A little booze.
For your woof, Remy, He's cute! I hope he's not going to backstab Jack.
Overall I had a lot of fun reading this, I was engaged from start to finish and I look forward to seeing how the story concludes should you continue!
Spoiler warning!
I think there's a lot of potential here for a fun, action-y story right out of an old-school macho-man 80's movie (This is a compliment!) and I like the sprite designs, they're fun and full of character!
However, my biggest disappointment is a lack of music at the Jazz Club. I checked the files afterward and I see a Jazz song in the audio files, but I went back and checked a few times and it never seemed to play. Also, I'm not sure how you applied the theme of "Expanding".
Is it Adrian Expanding his horizons by going to a jazz club? By hooking up with Colton in the first place? It's unclear.
I also think when they walk from the club to the motel a background transition from the club -> Street -> Room would have worked well for it immersion-wise.
Now what I really feel is that you have a genre that isn't extremely explored in FVN's, which is that "Big Macho Man meets *love interest* and then things spiral out of control!" Like an 80s action movie, but because this is a Jam submission I think your plot points weren't given a lot of room to breathe.
Colton offhandedly mentions what he does for work, but I think some sort of implication about it to make the scene with gang more organic or less jarring (it was very surprising to me) would help ease the reader into it, and I think making adrians motivation more clear is a good idea too.
He says "I won't let them control my life!" But we don't, that I recall, get much of him feeling out of control, more just him not knowing what to write. I feel that his motivation could have easily just been "THIS WILL MAKE A GREAT STORY!" And then over the course of a longer project his feelings toward Colton might evolve from "Good hookup/Good Story" to more romantic and invested.
All in all, I liked a lot of the ideas you put forward here, but it feels like they weren't given the time to breathe or room to grow to make them really shine.
I struggled to really grasp the application of theme here, but I came to the same conclusion as Rag. Aside from that, I particularly enjoy the presentation! I loved the final cg, the animated backgrounds, and was particularly fond of the scene in the cafeteria.
It was a lot of fun to read, short and sweet, but some of the plot beats felt rushed, which happens in gamejams.
I really liked how colorful everything was, and again that final CG was great!
Screaming, crying, anxious. Am I talking about the most recent update or just the vibe the VN Gives me? Both? Who knows! Now excuse me I'm going to go cry and scream and stuff.
Fan-FRICKIN-Tastic VN. Beautiful execution on the things that make Cosmic Horror so good. Paranoia, Ignorance, Creeping Dread, the failure and unwillingness to understand. You've captured the essence of the HP Lovecraft quote
Absolutely stellar work.
