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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!

<3

Sunblind is a Greek tragedy to its core – to suggest that exercising the power to choose is itself hubris is cutting, tragic, and fitting for a CYOA VN. Also, Apollo Daddy : )

Thrice We See, in my opinion, realizes the Eye of the Beholder theme more fully than any other VT2 entry. The way each perspective plays with tension differently was such a joy to experience, since it meant I was never sure which part of which story would strike hardest.

Days of Saturn is such a lovely confluence of GB aesthetics, microgame stat-raising, and dread! It's a combination that brings out the best in each. It's truly artful, and I deeply appreciate Days of Saturn's commitment to its whole vision.

fluoride excels in steeping its plot in cutting and character-rich banter. The delivery of the narrative in fluoride is smooth as butter, and that's mostly on account of the charm of the two leads, especially Eve.

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.

Major credit for The Backrooms is In The Eye of the Beholder for supporting the only VO in this particular jam – an amazing feat for a four-day jam. The VO manages to communicate so much more than the text alone!

The Importance of Unimportance is simply a lot of fun to read, the way the dialogue twists and folds upon itself reminds me of both Alice in Wonderland (making sense of nonsense, etc.) and, of course, Waiting for Godot (finding meaning in the nothingness between meanings). It's delightful. 

together with you until the end of time has my favorite implementation of choice and consequence of all the VT2 entries – allowing the player to decide their priorities and values and narrowing the story toward those values and priorities is very smart and deeply fulfilling.

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.

An Eye for an Eye makes it very clear what its outcomes are from the get-go, and it uses those inevitabilities to its advantage – its runtime is a steady escalation of tension and dread, and it pays off expertly. 

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.

Frankly it would be disrespectful if you didn’t 

Thank you so much, I'm grateful for the kind words : ) "metal af" is among the highest compliments, bless you

thank you so so much! i'm glad the game's got stuff worth chewing on : )

thank you! means the world : )

Your kindness humbles me 😌 especially such kindness from the ambience maestro

I’m so glad to hear it 😌 thank you so much!

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!

thank you ❤️ that’s very kind of you to say 

I’m surprised to hear folks said they wouldn’t be able to follow the story, your story has such a clear emotional arc that I don’t even really care personally about the wealth or dearth of context that surrounds it all that much. That’s obviously just my perspective but I like my perspective : ) 

I suppose I oughta link my own postmortem which answers some of these questions (don't read it till after you play my entry plz and thx). That document, plus the comments I left, do a pretty good job highlighting what I really liked in other folks' entries. To answer the rest of the questions posed:

I have no idea how I did! Not even a little bit of a clue. Carcinogen turned out how it was always gonna turn out I reckon, and personally I wouldn't know how to even begin to rate a fever dream. So lmao sorry about that. I'm personally very happy with my own conduct during the jam - I took good care of myself and kept my expectations pretty reasonable, which are both pretty tall asks.

The highest moment for me was sharing the WIPs with friends and just getting responses like "gross" and "jfc michael". It tickled me. 

My personal low was probably struggling to start the script in the first place. For about three days I didn't know how to start, so I worked on art instead. It took leaving home, going to the library, and holding myself accountable to some friends to get me writing. Once I got the ball rolling, it wasn't so bad, but that first leap was surprisingly difficult to take. Thank the stars for friends.

 On the whole I'm amazed at the extent to which each entry either had something very powerful to say or made really bold choices that I'm still turning over in my mind. A very strong showing. Honestly I'm curious how this jam self-selects but it's a talented group of folks any way you slice it. Great work, y'all!

I'm curious to hear what you feel you overcomplicated! Iirc All of us Flames' writing was very sharp and whatever went unaddressed or simply teased left me more curious than confused. 

You're welcome for the crab game >: ) Thank you for the kind words!! Sound design was the most fun I had on this jam, I think. Finding new off-putting crunchy sounds was a lot of fun. 

Thanks for taking the time to play it and for the kind words! Sorry-not-sorry for the lingering feelings : )

I would describe my feelings on the final day of the jam as very much "bushed" : )

If it's any consolation I also had to use the dictionary several times! I'm glad the game's opaqueness gives it some texture at the very least. I had too many talented GUI artists looking over my shoulder to let me keep the default Ren'Py UI, and I'm grateful for it. 

Thank you kindly!

Grateful to hear you made it out in one piece!

Under Your Moon is a visual feast, and very much a personal exemplar for the kinds of brilliant touches I would want to include in my own projects. Obvious examples include relighting scenes with the candles, altering the phase of the moon to indicate the passage of time, the pullover GUI menu, the blinking sprites, and the title cards for each act. All very, very good stuff.

Starlit Regrets burns slowly enough to make the endgame’s twist punch unexpectedly hard — it’s a great way to recontextualize all the choices the player already made with Orion. The pretty boys are, of course, very pretty — the sprite work is strong and just cannot stop staring into Orion’s eyes someone please stop me please. The layered speech bubbles are really nice UX as well, letting me see the recent history of the conversation almost NVL-style.

All the visual elements in My Escape to Hell (BGs, GUI, sprites) cohere extraordinarily well, and of course special mention must go to the sprite work. I was expecting to be able to follow a path with Vee or the Cosmodeus, but Dokuro’s banter is sharp enough that I didn’t miss the others once his path got rolling. Light and morbid is always a good combination, and My Escape to Hell very much delivers on that front. 

Flight of the Cuckoo unwaveringly commits to the feel of its world in both its prose and its dialogue, to its great advantage. Character voices are strong but also blend well together in conversation. I especially think the water’s edge scenes are the strongest of the bunch in almost every department: The soft GUI and pastel BG complement each other well, and we get a whole host of characters who run the emotional gamut  (including the PC, even). Good work!

A lot of Iron Star’s charm comes from its sprite work and the VO for those characters — that’s to say its two leads are a very strong core around which Iron Star revolves. The CG and then the epilogue provide such immense payoff, too. It’s good feelings all the way down.

And in case you were wondering, my alien was named Columbo.

Our Haunt is I think an exemplar of confident and deliberate scoping. It’s a tight story with just enough choices to keep things fresh, its tight cast of characters is complemented by excellent sprite work for each, and the original music is such a wonderful way to cap off the game. They all contribute the game's excellent sense of momentum.