one of us one of us 😌
Michael Smith
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Sorry for the delay -- here's a lil postmortem I wrote for Lore & Order. Extremely fun to sprint with a team, and I hope to do it again!
If: Then's reactivity is so extremely satisfying – asking for vitality and receiving an idle animation in turn absolutely solidified my trust in the game and its choices. I was also pleasantly surprised to see the different ways the story can unfold based on the different permutations of upgrade orders – each one I experienced offered a different texture, which is difficult to pull off without introducing tonal whiplash. If: Then is very cleverly written. Oh, and everything about the interface is so, so pretty and so, so slick. I love it to death.
Latent Heat's greatest strength is the extent to which it treats each narrative beat with respect. The art is extensive, and all of it is beautiful, and it is the only jam VN I've played that remains dynamic throughout as a result of its art. It is not simply quantity (though it is a huge boon), but the sprites are so expressive, the backgrounds are so lush, and the supernatural corruption is so striking with its color and form. It's all really beautiful, and it grants the narrative so much more weight than the text alone could deliver.
CornerBooks knows how to carry a running gag in a way I have not seen a VN do. The initial choice between the three fics is extremely funny and in itself an excellent punchline, but the extent to which that choice is referenced throughout the game is both narratively fulfilling and extremely funny. It makes the player feel like they're participating in the joke, and it elevates the comedy as a result.
Both SkyShard stories I've read dance so beautifully on the knife's edge of reality. It captivates me every time. You'll Never Catch Me Leaving is poetry. If you've read it, that is obvious. As the protagonist runs, it carries you along with it. As a writer I am so often drawn to second person as a means to grant agency to a player when they make choices. You'll Never Catch Me uses second person to speak directly to you at the same time it is speaking to the subject, and I cannot adequately describe how truly spoken to it makes me feel. Folks, I think, have already lauded how punchy the tagline and the lines around it are, but goddamn I have never described a jam VN as "quotable" until I read YNCML. Sorry, I gush.
Caged Bird does an excellent job looping on itself in a refreshing way. The sprites are charming and very pretty, but I particularly like how often we return to the central painting – it is an instance of the art working perfectly in tandem with the narrative. Caged Bird evokes the exact kind of casual curiosity the characters express – it is an invitation I was more than happy to accept.
Growing Up is so extremely adept at weaving together the hyperspecific with the universal, and the recursive with the terminal. It is a window into so many raw feelings (see: rage and trauma and love), and its structure weaves those feelings into the tapestry that is the trans experience (or one of many). Its ability to speak in singular and plural simultaneously, of course, complements its content, which presents identities that may be evolutions, mirrors, or altogether different entities. Singular and plural, etc. Growing Up has such a strong thesis and I am so grateful to have played it.
The day writers stop rambling is the day the universe implodes : )
Rating is scary! If I had to explain my ratings in a public forum I would opt to melt into a puddle instead. And the only thing scarier than a numbered list is a numbered list with my name on it.
I personally ranked Theme Incorporation based on, first, how easy it was to determine who the “You” and the “here” is in “you shouldn’t be here” and then estimating how important that You and Here was to the *theme* of the story (since most very obviously pit the plot just fine). It was subjective! But if you’re gonna put it in my hands imma do as I please : )
Oh my goodness, I didn’t realize you faced such adversity smack dab in the middle of the jam! I hope you’re feeling better, and I’m excited to see what a post-jam version looks like!
I didn’t share this in my postmortem but I almost did: Every time I exit RenPy I forget what I learned and loathe opening it back up. It does take time to get used to any engine tbh, even if I don’t need the documentation I always keep it open bc I get spooked very easily. I’m glad you’re getting more comfortable, and that you’re noticing that change!