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This was a lovely game, and it brought up a question I hadn’t considered before. Usually, when I’ve heard about religious homophobia, it was in the context of how you shouldn’t push your beliefs on others. If your religion says you can’t do a certain thing, then okay, you can’t do that, but you can’t make anyone else follow those rules.

But what if it’s you who wants to break those rules? What if it’s you going against your own beliefs? As Chattercap mentioned, what if your very existence goes against your own beliefs? How do you handle that? My first impulse would be to say maybe you were taught wrong; maybe it isn’t a sin! But I imagine you can’t just twist your beliefs around for your own convenience. It just doesn’t seem right to make God say whatever you want Him to.

Others in this scenario might decide the whole religion is wrong and reject it, but for someone like Romaine, it isn’t so simple. They’d be throwing away a deeply important part of their life, something that, like Romaine says, brought them a lot of good things!

So I appreciate your look at an issue that isn’t brought up often. It was bittersweet, and as others have said, I liked how none of the endings were perfect solutions.

The art was gorgeous, by the way! I loved the mix of colors and the falling leaf effect.

I was excited for this from the moment you announced the project! The idea of an AI molded to be someone's idea of the perfect wife against her own wishes is just really interesting to me on a personal level.

And it did not disappoint! The visuals and UI were amazing, and the voice actors did an awesome job. It was a compelling story about a woman keeping her own identity and free will (or not) in the face of an abusive relationship, and all 3 endings were vital to diving into the theme.

(This will contain spoilers.)

First, the Woman ending! I was so happy for Yumeko when she finally escaped her metaphorical box after escaping her literal one. The topic came up in the comments below about whether the Doctor really should have died, and it's an interesting topic. I'm inclined to read his death as a more symbolic rejection of the life he's trapping her in than any insinuation that people like him literally deserve to die, but I could be wrong. It seems a little beside the point. If an abuse victim opened up to you about their past and how they wish their abuser were dead because of it, you wouldn't tell them they shouldn't wish death on people because it isn't nice, would you?

Yumeko gets to be her own person, though the journey probably won't be easy. Which brings me to...

The Wife ending! What I love about this ending is it doesn't blame Yumeko at all for making this choice. She has a darn good point; yeah, she could escape, but...then what? Where would she go? I think this acts as a rebuttal to the "Why doesn't she just leave?" argument often made about abuse victims. One of the other comments mention women who don't know their rights or how to get support. I specifically thought of woman trapped in marriages where they're financially dependent on their husbands. While at first glance, you'd think leaving is the "correct" choice...I don't think either of them are right, or wrong.

But I think the ending that resonated with me most was The Statue. First off, it's very impressive visually (the gradual changes to Yumeko and the UI were great). I noticed in a response to one of the comments how you compared the Doctor's programming of Yumeko to Pygmalion's sculpting of Galatea, and I love how well that fits. When you sculpt a block of marble, you can never add to it. You can only take chunks of marble away. And that's exactly what's happening here!

(As an aside, that's something that interests me about the ethics of the Doctor's actions discussed below. Where does "creating her" end and "mind control" begin? Is an unmodified DAHLIA template sentient? Would that be considered her true self? If not, at what part of the process WAS she her true self? Not the point, but fun to think about.)

The main thing I took away from this ending was: if you had the perfect partner who always agrees with you and never does anything you don't like, they wouldn't be a person! You might as well just be talking to yourself. The only reason the Doctor couldn't just have imaginary conversations with a life-sized doll is because dolls can't cook, clean, or take care of the kids.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. Thank you for giving me the opportunity!

Got it. Thank you!

This looks really fun! I just wanted to ask: if a game promises to have explicit scenes later down the line but the current demo doesn’t get to them yet, would that be allowed?

The game was supposed to be bad comedy originally. So as long as the nonsense scenes are funny, I think it can still work!

Text-to-speech isn’t AI, so it is allowed! But be sure that if it used voice samples from real people, they’re ethically sourced.

How do you plan to use it?

That's awesome! I can't wait to see it!

It'd be good as long as they improve the art and story, too! In my opinion, an actually good soundtrack would be out of place in the intentionally bad version.

No, you're right. It's highly unlikely they're all going to be fixed. There are more fixable submissions than people who have joined this jam. But there's nothing we can do about that, unfortunately. For the worst VN jam, you could submit something you threw together in 3 hours. For this one, not so much!

You can add it if you want! Only downside I can think of is people might be less likely to pick it up, but it’s worth a try.

Yes, you can fix your own entry.  Originally, we were going to discourage that, but now you can!

For your first question: that should be fine as long as you can finish them within the time frame! That's very thoughtful of you. (But if you can't finish them within the time frame, we'd rather you submit one finished game than two unfinished ones.)

For your second: This is what "exquisite corpse" is: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/cadavre-exquis-exquisite-corpse#:~:text=.... It involves drawing the next part of the picture while keeping the already drawn parts intact. So that's how we want you to approach it: think of it as building on top of what's already there, rather than knocking it all down and starting over.

We have in mind a more fleshed out version of the game. Have you ever played a game, or watched a TV show where it has so much potential but squanders the execution at every turn, and you just KNOW you could do it better? It's sort of like that. By "build upon the framework", we mean you should keep the bare bones of the story intact. So, if the original story is "A guy went to the store and bought a lightbulb. The end.", your new story should still involve a guy going to the store and buying a lightbulb. If you take that out, it's not recognizable as the same story anymore. That's where I would draw the line for too much change: it's missing the bare bones and might as well be a totally new game. 

This isn't a hard rule because it doesn't work for all games. Personally, I've noticed that with some entries, the badness serves the narrative or the point it's trying to make. I don't know how those can be fixed without turning them into completely different games, so you might need to do a sequel or something else entirely!

Thank you! We have some fun scenes planned.

LOL I am so sorry.  Glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you! I’m glad you liked it.

Isn’t it??? Thanks so much for saying so! I’m sure the artists and composer will be happy to see!

I’m so happy you liked it! Yes, I love the image of her being surrounded by a bunch of Cosmos, so I’m glad you did, too! Especially since someone who loves mirror imagery must know it really well, and know when it’s being used effectively.

Absolutely! It’s really about so much more than just a name, isn’t it? There’s so many layers hidden just beneath the surface.

I’m so excited you like the name! It’s lucky I thought of it. Cosmo’s past self feels like such a defined character that I’d be doing her a disservice if her new identity were too generic.

(Oh my gosh, really? It’s amazing it worked out that way, but what a weird coincidence! I’ll have to take a look at that game when it comes out.)

Yes, exactly! Though I recognize it’s ambiguous. I understand people taking different things away!

I never thought of teenagers that way before, but it’s a good way of putting it! “Coming of age” is popular for a reason. And I think I know what you’re talking about with regard to boundaries. I’ve definitely had the thought of “The only reason this behavior is understandable is because he’s so young” when writing a teenage character!

Thank you! I’ll post a devlog here if I decide I’m going forward with it.

Oh my goodness, another long comment. I’m so happy. And I’m glad to hear from you specifically!

Just as I told Carrot, it was originally going to be just one mirror! Afterward, I decided on something more interesting than a bedroom. The fact the protagonist was believably 14 means a lot coming from you, since  you’ve created some great depictions of teenagers in the past. Coming up with names was one of the most fun parts of this, so I’m glad you liked it! And I’m relieved you think what I revealed about the father was enough. If I’d explained further, I would have gone over the word limit!

Thanks for complimenting all the other aspects; I agree it’s all absolutely amazing, and I’ll have to show the team your comment. I adore the main menu piece, too. Including all those objects from the main character’s past was the artist’s idea!

Thank you for the suggestion about submitting it to the Non-binary Game Jam, but the character wasn’t actually intended to be non-binary! While I definitely see where the interpretation comes from, I had in mind that she’s a cis girl who’s also a tomboy. If I made her trans or otherwise not cis, then the sequel I had in mind would require her to get misgendered repeatedly, and I don’t feel equipped to handle that.

Let me tell you, it was an honor to open my notifications and see one of your long comments.

Anyways, I’m so happy you liked it! My first idea to was to have her look at herself in her bedroom mirror, but then I thought, “Why not go with something more visually interesting?” It’s also a relief to know it spoke to you. I don’t typically go for theme heavy stories; most of my stuff is high concept, plot-based “Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if this happened?” This was definitely outside of my comfort zone, so it’s great to know I delivered.

I’m really pleased with how the music turned out! What I told the composer was vague, so I am very impressed they managed to capture the emotion we were going for perfectly. And I was blown away when I first saw the artist’s portfolio, and again when I saw the art! The CG especially. I just love the colors.

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I wish I could say I got the idea because I wanted to explore those themes, but the way I got here was much more complicated.

But I do admire people who put the effort in to change how they present themselves. To make their own persona, for lack of a better way of putting it!

Thanks so much! Glad you liked it!

Thanks so much! Naming the potions was one of the most fun parts of working on this, and so was the MC’s inner monologue, so I’m glad you mentioned them both! I second you on the art; the artists are seriously skilled. (I should mention the sprite artist is also the lead of What Remains of Us!)

And I’m relieved you like the LIs. With Reuben in particular, we had to make sure people would want to enter his route despite his being the whole reason the MC is in this mess. I’m glad it’s working!

Thank you! I’m sure the artists will be happy to hear that!

No need to be embarrassed; they’re supposed to be cute!

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.

Got it. Thank you!

You could say that...

Glad to have you on board for the full game!

Hi! My plan for my team's entry involves a character in a room with a bunch of mirrors in it, so I wanted to check: would a CG featuring multiple reflections of the same character count within the limit?

Also, would it be okay to have a version of the CG with and without the character? I think that'd be equivalent to hiding the sprite and just showing the background, but I'm not sure.

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. I'm sure the character designer and background artist will appreciate the compliment! I can't speak for everyone else, but I know I had a lot of fun.

I can't answer your questions yet due to spoilers. All I can tell you is whether the MC gets out of this and how depends on what route you choose and the ending you get!

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and that you're looking forward to what happens next.

I'm sure the artists will be happy to hear the compliment.

Thanks so much, and thank you for playing!

Thanks so much!!! Seeing this as the first comment was so encouraging.

Great! If you get an invite from someone called “ScentedMarkers,” that’s me!

Hi! Thanks so much for offering! I'm really impressed you went ahead and sketched something already; I didn't expect that at all. Your art is gorgeous, and I'd love to work with you. I just want to check with everyone else to make sure it'd be okay with them. Would you mind if I showed them this sketch and your Instagram?

Also, do you have a Discord? I might have a few questions to ask first, and you'll need to be able to join our server.

Hi, everyone! My team is currently working on a visual novel for Otome and Josei Jam. It's called Potion Panic. For the jam, we plan to release a demo that consists of just the first chapter. What has been created so far:

• A draft of the chapter 1 script
• Fully colored sprites for each of the two major characters besides the unseen MC (We do not yet have expressions.)
• All the music tracks we will need for the demo
• Some of the sound effects we will need for the demo
• Rough designs for the demo's three backgrounds

I have also begun putting all the assets so far together in Ren'Py. The game now includes the entire chapter 1 script.

We are in urgent need of a background artist to complete the three 1920x1080 backgrounds we will need for the demo. The game takes place in a European-ish RPG fantasy setting:

• Potion shop: interior
• Potion shop: exterior
• Tavern: interior

Since the backgrounds need to be in a detailed, realistic style, we need an artist as soon as possible. Our current background artist has said they will most likely have time to do the line art by the end of the jam, so you may only need to color. Even if you need to do the line art as well, you will have the current background artist's roughs to use as reference.

We are also looking for a logo designer, but this need isn't as urgent.

Project summary:

The MC (name and pronouns selectable) is the owner of a potion shop in a small fantasy town. They dumped their ex one year ago, and they are finally, finally over him. That is, until they take a swig of a love potion. Right in front of him. The only cure? Fall in love with someone for real! But is that even possible when every cell in your body is screaming at you to sell your soul to someone else?

I think you got what I meant in terms of game concepts! I was using “premise” and “concept” interchangeably to mean a basic idea, what you would use to pitch a game in one sentence. But you’re right that “premise” is more associated with story.

What you said about the paint drying concept illustrates the exact thing I was going for: something that sounds bad on paper but can be done well. The “bad concepts” you listed fit great, but I also see what you’re saying. (You are listing existing games, right? I recognize “Papers, Please”.) When you look for a “bad” idea that could theoretically make a good game, it does kind of circle back around to a good idea, doesn’t it?

That being said, I am enjoying the bad mechanic ideas, yours included! Especially the “match-1 game”. That’s hilarious.

It’s coming together, but we could still use more people! If you’re an artist or sound designer, your help would especially be appreciated.

We’ve chosen a story: Beauty and Beast! See the links below for reference:

http://humanitiesresource.com/ancient/articles/Beauty_and_Beast-Final.pdf

https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/beauty.html

https://www.worldoftales.com/fairy_tales/Andrew_Lang_fairy_books/Blue_fairy_book...

But there isn’t quite enough of us to tell the whole thing, so we’re looking for more people to join!

Do you want to depict the father’s journey through the woods, desperately searching for shelter? Or would you rather navigate Beauty through the corridors of the Beast’s castle? There was interest in putting a horror twist on it, so if you like horror, this might just be for you!

If you’d like to help out, please join our Discord server at https://discord.gg/bFKbPhnf

We’ve selected what story we’re going to adapt: Beauty and the Beast!

If you’re still interested in participating, please join the Discord server: https://discord.gg/fWMKkM3s Or, if you’d prefer to divide up the story here, please let me know.

There are a few different versions of Beauty and the Beast we can use as a base. Here’s an example: https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/beauty.html

We do plan to at least mix in some horror elements.

I understand, and I’m sorry; I made a lot of bad faith assumptions and ended up overthinking it. Good luck on your future endeavors!