itch.io

thank you so much, i’m very grateful for your comment and support! yes, the choices each are meant to lean into an archetype – my intention was for each to represent what the character THINKS they need to be happy. so secure love from someone is one, changing their nature to become a “good person” is the other, and the last one was basically taking a break from work and settling down!

this is honestly on me for not making it more clear, and i’m sorry for that! basically, my intention was for each route to sort of shed more light on how the player is being pressured and pushed into thinking what they want/what will make them happy is one of the three things i mentioned. so you’re right; in the peace ending, meaning would’ve been a better fit and in the hero ending, the mc doesn’t actually do anything heroic and just.

for the love ending, i think the better choice would’ve been to actually develop and grow close with someone who will prioritize YOU and unconditionally love you not because you asked for it, but because you like each other. and in a way, miran and val have that but never with the mc – so to me, it’s kind of like just rewriting their relationship without having any of the groundwork that makes it genuine. it’s not really true, just like with the hero ending.

i hope that’s a lot better at conveying what i was thinking going into writing this! sorry again for any confusion or mishandling in my plot >_<

thank you so much!! any writer, of course, wants to hear people think their writing is good…me included! i’m really glad that i could get a good baseline just for the writing from you :D and it def was kind of a struggle to write that much over 4 days so i’m happy to hear that it was noticed and appreciated by you! i feel like three endings was necessary to really kind of play with the themes i was tossing around :P which did mean more work for me but hey we’re here now! i hope more people feel up to unlocking the endings and trying diff choices to get the most bang for my buck haha

and i’m glad the ticking worked!! i wanted to give it kind of a liminal, empty feeling – but also to tie back into the last ending when it clicks that you’ve been running out of time this whole time. and thank u so much! i feel like ren’py sucked the soul out of me, so your words really mean a lot to me & the frustration i had to go through to get everything to work as intended >_<

i’m very glad also that aion’s unhappiness and dissatisfaction was really able to get through and cut deep. the endless loop and slog of having everything change but you alone, and wondering what it is you’re doing wrong and what it takes to be happy – so if everyone says it’s this, then i’ll do that, but why am i still not happy? silly aion…happiness is in the eye of the beholder! [badum tsst]

as the author/game dev i control the characters, and so i will split miran and val apart in divorce court and give him to you. he’s yours. [passes him into your hands]

this game is absolutely polished to perfection!! the palette, the ui, and the plot ties together perfectly and seamlessly into a game that absolutely speaks to the theme and was really interesting to play. i’ll admit, there were a couple repeated runs and checking the itch.io page, but once we got over missing the mistress scene in the first loop everything else fell into place. timeloops are always peak media, and i loved the slow losing of the senses and the way the narrative changes around that – the red of the ui makes the green of the new ending just that much more striking, now that blood no longer needs to be spilled.

i loved unraveling the plot and watching it unfold, and the stat raising was a nice interlude between the visual novel segments. days of saturn is incredibly put together and such a wonderful experience! if this is what you can do in four days, the gaming community is set for the next decade >_<

thank you so so much! i’m glad to hear it managed to keep a goos atmosphere and the progression of the plot worked out. that means a lot to me :D

i really liked the way you used the theme here, using different perspectives that build upon and add to one another and yet differ depending on what’s happened in the prior worlds/locations. that thoughts, the world, and even the events change depending on who becomes the pov character, even moreso when we take on the new perspective towards the end. brilliant incorporation of the theme! also loved the sprites, especially matt’s – dating sim when?! i don’t know much about art, but i think it’s very impressive to have three sets with such varying expressions!

i think your writing is so solid too, and it sets off to achieve exactly what it needs to. descriptive in the right parts and vague in others, all pulling together in a macabre yet touching storyline. i loved the beginning fading into black and the good ending fading into white! the contrast makes winning all the more sweeter, when it succeeds. amazing entry!

thank you so much for your kind, thoughtful, and altogether delightful comment – i spent a solid 10 seconds with my hand over my mouth, i was so stunned and grateful >_< i really am so happy that you enjoyed my game and took the time to write something so lovely about it, so thank you from the bottom of my heart!

i’m so glad that my time spent trawling the depths of zapsplat was well worth it – i for sure wanted the sound to do exactly as it needed and nothing else, but i was worried it might not be as noticeable without actual music since that’s usually what i pay attention to. and i’m also happy to hear the lack of character sprites didn’t impede the storytelling! i do wish i was able to draw them, but in the absence of my ability to do so i’m so happy that at least the words could still carry through.

i’m also really happy that the sort of restrictive unhappiness was able to be properly conveyed! i think it’s honestly such a hard balance especially in gameplay, because like you mention, sometimes it just comes off as bad writing or the author not really incorporating what players want to see. but that’s the point, right? the player character here is basically shoehorned into everything – and i’m sure we all have had points in life where it feels like we’re just clicking through and nothing we do has any impact. when you’re told “you can make out of life what you want” but there really is no way to do so at the moment. i don’t think i was able to do it the way i wanted to ultimately, but i really wanted players to kind of take away the main issue too, that it’s hard to find that kind of fulfillment and joy in life if you’re not living life for yourself too. i hope everyone, us included, ends up NOT like this mc – i hope we can find ways to make our lives so much more worth living for!

and yay! i was worried the worldbuilding would feel out of left field, so happy to know it made for good interlude/intermissions between the worlds :P and yes, i intentionally wanted players to see the choices being locked out! sort of to add to that same feeling of missing your chance when you see it initially – and then when you go and experience the other endings too, to realize that there really was no difference anyways. omfg that sounds very pessimistic looking back on it now but well i hope the takeaway is a good one!

thank you again for playing my game and leaving a comment :D i really appreciate the time and effort!!

there’s a lot of really good lines in this game, but my favorite is (just like how bez says below) “good liars never stop”. i’m sure not many people can personally relate to a life spent changing your identity and yet never finding fulfillment and genuine love from others – but under your prose, it becomes a natural flow of life and almost feels like second nature. you can’t stop if you’re too good at becoming someone new, and how addictive it must feel escaping from the burdens of your old identity. the title is deliciously ironic to me; angela’s life is all about picking up and leaving and being caught in various ways each time, and yet it makes sense that you’ll never catch her leaving behind this game/practice/habit/lifestyle if she’s so adept at it.

regardless, i think you have a really beautiful writing style. i’ve always had a soft spot for that vague kind of narration that is, in a way, directed towards the reader and you’ll never catch me leaving pulls it off so well. i’m excited to read and play more works from you in the future!!

this game gave me such an “alice in wonderland” vibe with the way the librarian was lowkey talking circles around the protagonist! and what an interesting concept too, a place that holds only things of unimportance – and how the “librarian” uses that in his wordplay. the writing has a very dreamlike, surreal sense to it, and i think the 3D background and movement really helps play into that.

amazing work in four days, especially with the detail in the backgrounds! it was a pleasure having my ass verbally handed to me ^_^

what a beautiful game! the quality of the artwork and cgs really brings life to the narrative, and i spent most it just glued to how amazing they looked :D the flatter, 2D style looks really stylistic, which makes the strange purple haze during faye’s visions and the bad ending seem all the more eldritch and strange. i also quite liked the uncanny bad ending – it made me feel so sad seeing maya walk off into the field alone…

…which makes the good ending all the more sweeter! i really had to force myself to be mean to faye bc i wanted to see the bad ending </3 but i’m glad i did since i always love ending on a good note hehe. and now they can walk off together, car-less but alive! good work on the jam :)

court is now in session, and i hereby decree that lore & order gets an oyeh! from me ^_^ i enjoyed playing through this very, very much!! the writing was very punchy and tongue in cheek, the ui was smooth and well suited for the game, the monsters were all depicted with their own unique charm (and the beholder was especially ugly), and the sound design completely popped off with the atmosphere. also the touches of visual effects really made the narrative bounce in the right places. put all of this together and lore & order is perfectly done, polished, and an amazing experience for something put together in 4 days! i eagerly went through all possible routes … and i think this will be popular opinion, but i def loved the one where you get your own little right-wing harem of daddy alpha protectors <3 dating sim version next please!

all the jurors had very distinct personalities and worldviews that anyone is no stranger to, but i think my favorite was the last one/the green one LOL. i’m actually attending the same university beloved conservative media icon ben shapiro is an alumni of AND he was invited on campus a few weeks back for some political speech slash debate so i was quite delighted to see the green juror ramble on and on about colleges getting infected with wokeness and leftism since that was like 40% of ben shapiro’s talking points haha. but enough about me! i also loved the setup too – it is just SO funny, ironic, and dark (watch out snowflakes) how the beholder/eldritch being’s favorite place to be is the US courtroom. really speaks a lot about the justice system we have lol…. i was almost recruited onto a jury actually on monday (as my goat cd-rr0m knows) so in another life i am the evil demon juror saving the hapless young eldritch horror and we share a cross-species beautiful romance as i flay their elder tormentor…. anyways, please drop a sequel!

this crazy ass comment i gasped, screamed, shouted, hit the table, got a drink of water, exclaimed, and put my hand over my mouth… and i’m ready to do it all over again. i hardly deserve the praise (AND the fanart but we’ll get to it later) you’ve lavished on me here, but i’m infinitely grateful that something my humble self has made can be reiterated so beautifully in your words. i feel like you were able to articulate so much better than i could my thoughts on making this game!

i’m glad that the variability and fluidity of experiences were able to enhance that kind of personal, individual feeling! how ironic that there is so much you can dictate through your choices, but they fall hollow and meaningless in the end regardless. some call it bad gameplay, but we can call it adherence to the theme here :^)

thank you for making my modest writing sound so beautiful and evocative in your words! the forest has been lost to the trees, one could say. i like that you specifically mention both the failure of the mc to see their inherent worth and the way they’re misunderstood by those around them — blinded by the wishes of others, they’re put in a situation where they can never be happy. this is definitely a bittersweet ending for aion, but hopefully not for us! we’re not trapped in a forever limbo yet, luckily! you and i have many more happy days in the sun at a beach that won’t be evil :D

and, of course, our guide. the hottest faceless voice one could have. i feel like a real bleeding heart doesn’t call themself a bleeding heart, but hey, he still made the effort to help out — even if it ultimately wasn’t a happy ending! i guess we can say that the eye of the beholder ought to be open to even find something to behold :P

coming from a ren’py MASTER such as yourself, i’m glad my shoddy code can still manage to hold up! it wouldn’t look nearly as good without the snake you drew for me too off the worst concept squiggle in existence >_< i suppose with your encouragement i might as well keep on trucking and find a new way to beat ren’py into submission for me. c‎ = ==3 (robobarbie & allie vera please don’t kill me for the obscenity)

[le awesome timeskip brought to you by prussia ^_~]

the fanart is NOT jank. it’s AWESOME. i love the background being the nvl textbox and the colors being from the textbox like i see u. i seeeee you. his little erm actually voice and the way his skinny little waist tapers in like he is so FINE if i were talking to this guy in the afterlife let’s just say i’d choose a world with him in it >_< and also the SNAKE NECKTIE sheeeesh….. i need someone to come get this crazy combo of writer artist and coder like you can do it all. most unmatched itch.io user ever. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

if game_dev == “lemonink”:

not ONCE have you missed on ui and in fact i only see your meteoric rise with no downfall in sight. i have to glaze the ui first because it is so smooth, beautiful, and perfectly encapsulates and even enhances the gameplay. it IS a chatdoll sim, of course, but the flowers add an organic touch that we later understand is this undercurrent of humanity – or the impression of humanity – within our lovely chatdoll. the irises in the beginning to represent the thing elliot is seeing within the chatdoll sim, and the roses alongside the text boxes in reference to galatea talking about why she adores flowers. flower language captures the subtle nuance of language that ai doesn’t yet have a perfect grasp of, and the red roses for romance is especially poignant and fitting when we find that elliot is seeing a lost love in galatea’s place.

elif game_dev = “lemoninked”:

the main gameplay loop is incredible, as you get to see galatea slowly morph into the shape of a person – but not just any person, no, but shaped by our pygmalion elliot into the shape of iris. (meows here which only you will understand). also he’s so stupid LMFAO he knew it was a chatdoll and he fell for it!! he fell for her guise, the one he molded!! i can see the way you pulled the theme into the very essence of your game; he’s forced himself into such a narrow view that he only sees what he finds beautiful and he discards all else. his logic, his reason… he couldn’t see galatea as human before but as soon as she becomes more like iris, that’s all he sees.

else:

otherwise, i just want to emphasize that i enjoyed this game very much!! please keep this going – i want to see more of galatea! maybe in a sequel? this is def my fav rendition of pygmalion/galatea!

!!! let me pop out the candles and cake and champagne, thank you so much for your comment (and being the first)! you could maybe say i was very heavy handed with the snake imagery, but i’m so happy you caught the ouroboros especially on the title screen! even though i never explicitly refer to it, i wanted it to clearly call back to the main character’s pessimistic, cyclical cycle of never quite having enough and having what they want. and you’re so right! i’m also guilty of always imagining going to other worlds and having infinitely many more exciting experiences – but i have so much here that i don’t consider too. i think this was my clumsy attempt at trying to narrate that your happiness is so much more than what other people think should be your happiness (happiness is in the eye of the beholder amiright?) so i’m glad that even if a little, it could touch you!

and exactly! wanting more, but not knowing what the more is – they’re lost because they never thought about what they wanted, only what other people said they should want. but anyways, thank you so much for playing my humble game! even if no one else plays i’ll be happy that you enjoyed :D

wait i’m loving the divorce simulator here can we pick which parent to go with in the next installment >_< but this game seriously ROCKED my WORLD…. such a devastating sense of horror as each segment unfolded. i love that lilith is set up to be the good cop to eve’s bad cop, but someone whose emotions run rampant is often more dangerous than someone who’s stone cold efficient, and even the employees know lilith by her reputation…. i just adore the concept of a creation talking to their creator, and i really liked the back and forths of the player ai character and eve especially.

my sorrow was immeasurable with the reveal that all this would culminate in was the player being sent off to float in space forever, then my sorrow became shock with the game further playing out…. i feel like i’m a little bit baka >_< because i don’t think i 100% get the plot in all its complexity but it’s okay because the experience was jaw-droppingly worth it. amazing game!!

although i can’t say i can personally relate to the main idea of the game, i can just feel the strength of emotion behind it. every dissonant part cohesively combines into one story – a powerful one! this game had a very strong experience to me, and i like that regardless of what order you choose, it still very much feels like a happy ending either way.

i like that life can feel very beautiful as depicted by this game… and i can’t help but wish we lived in kinder times. but in a way, life is what we behold of it, right…? >_<

AUUGHHH NOOO MY EYE!! <– my impression if i was marcel. but anyways this game was so clever with the theme haha! the little beauty is in the eye of the beholder thing, i see you… all the ways in which the wordplay and the events of the game contribute to being all about beholders and eyes was tickling my funnybone ^_^ and what a horrific concept too! i tried out for the bad ending first because i always like to end on a good note, and what a scary idea to think about…

luckily, i ended on an awesome note with the good ending! sometimes, beholding with a beholder’s eye at no one’s behest but your own doesn’t hold any benefits for your wellbeing… but what a haunting experience to sit through! i’ll be keeping any eye sockets well away from beholder eyes, thank you very much! >_<

this was so on theme! the meaning of the artwork really does lie within the beholder, huh… i honestly feel ambivalent but certainly not apprehensive towards death of the author, which i feel you like flitted around here. having nero himself show up towards the end was such a treat especially with the build-up around his identity via elisa and xavier, only to have jin show up with nero the faceless in tow – and the irony of jin being the only one who doesn’t have a fancy, eloquent response in mind when he sees the painting, but still says something meaningful regardless.

i really love thinking about the role of art, regardless of medium, and the way we interpret it. if i’m the caged bird (the cage being society) (society being bad) then this is like the key! (the game being the key) (the key being good) ^_^

maybe the beholder we made along the way was the backrooms… i was super locked into the conversation, especially with the engaging voice acting, and then i noticed the little rage bar in the corner – mind = blown [explosion noises] <:O so needless to say i immediately got glarence super pissed and mad! i also went back to see all the choice outcomes and see the not-mad ending too, and honestly i think i learned a lot from their conversation.

i’ve never really engaged with backrooms media so my knowledge is minimum, but i feel like glarence and adiel really articulate their perspectives well and i think i got to understand life in the backrooms really well via that. chin up, glarence! i’ll get u all the almond water u need! (that IS a backrooms thing, right? >_<)

bye why was this game so mecore mepilled memaxxing…? zootopia x reader smut was my fav fanfic to go with and yes of course i have read the zootopia abortion comic. i think the elaborate literary description for all three fanfic genres were so clever and well done, i was tickled pink going through and reading those :D gameplay wise, i was really sweating trying to puzzle together which book was good for who…and let’s just say me and the back button got to know each other quite well >_<

i really liked the conversation with diante at the end if you do well; i thought it was so sweet! fanfiction to me is a love letter in the end, so i hope more people can also come to love fanfic. and being moved to write something because your friend got it stuck in your head, in a way, is a love language too – love to the point of creation. using this as a reference, i think i will finally get my friend to read this amazing parkour civilization smut fic! ^_^

it is so terrible, egregious, and awful…that you’ve made me fall head over heels for a greek god who could easily throw me aside who in fact does during the bad ending and YET…is so sweet to his oracle that i’m like okay so like maybe maybe maybe? also the kiss scene HELLO? this game was an absolutely divine treat; the level of polish, detail, and quality of writing truly blew me away for a game made in four days!

sunblind was just the thing to tide me over during that long wait for the next epic: the musical saga, except now i’m way too overly invested in the delightful romance between a blind oracle who can only behold their divine captor/patron/unbalanced dynamic-y love interest >_< the ending really kept me in suspense – i’ll be pondering on the possibilities for a long while. i really had fun playing!

I'm so impressed you guys got so much done in three days! Loved going out to defeat axolotls :D

Another day in the factory as a minimum wage employee... Consider this cycle broken at last. [salutes]

SO CUTE. SOO CUTE. I super loved this game & the axolotl! 

Loved being the perpetrator of a mass genocide of the frogs...joking! I'm joking! Loved dashing through the water as a murderous axolotl x)

Lowkey the atmosphere and the gritty feel of it is so peak... I'd call this a kamige! ^_^

Tetris and axolotls?! Crazy combo...sign me up! 

Super rhythmic and smooth! Really enjoyed getting to dance my enemies to death :P 

The axolotl is so cute! Will defend it from algae any day :)

Awesome game! Can't say I'm an expert with foddian games, but I really liked the way "break the cycle" was incorporated into the plot and gameplay.

This game was a wee bit hard for me >_< but I liked playing for as long as I could survive for! Gameplay felt super smooth and tailor made for someone better with bullet hells than I...

Moral dilemmas I LOVE... This game was such a lovely experience with the cohesiveness of the art and atmosphere, definitely a must play :)

The explosion LOL... I crode <3

Love the concept and splash of humor involved! Breaking the cycle indeed...

Really enjoyed playing this game, save for level 4 -- little too hard for me :(

I'm incredibly impressed! I played this game when it was first submitted -- and I'm completely shocked by visual overhaul and improvements in gameplay. I quite enjoyed spending time breaking the cycle here :)

thank you so much!! yesss that was a huge inspo for lea who designed it so major props to her for that :D

but yay! congrats and thank you again for playing our game all the way through and noticing the little details. one thing we wanted was to have the narrative intentionally focus in on your behavior as the player. it definitely shouldn't just be you questioning barbara, as that's something we want players to really think about and consider with all the information that's provided throughout the game, from her and others. 

and as for the right words... of course! it wouldn't be a secret, passcode locked journal if it couldn't hide its most hidden entries, right? ;^)

thank you both for the comments! yes, the crossed out menu options are only when there are certain things you can't do, like access history if there's no history. hopefully it works as intended otherwise!

and as for luke, i don't think you're delusional at all. i hesitate to confirm or deny anything for the sake of keeping our plot and ways mysterious, but...i will say the relationships between the cast are more complex than what they appear to be, and the narration you're reading is not necessarily the full truth. the interviews are completely true, at least from the standpoint of the people giving them! hope you guys enjoyed <3

thank u so much! glad u enjoyed :D

thank you hehe :P

would that i could cut my heart out and give it to you for dinner i would, so that you could consume it whole and let me be a part of you. let's just say if i needed to not turn back to bring you from wherever you dwell to wherever i dwell, i would turn back and face you with love and doom us both to an eternity in the shade