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This was touching to me, as I have loved ones who are in therapy who are seeing real improvement and appreciate media that promotes trying it out. I think the summary gives away a little too much, in contrast to how the game tries to hide information with “???” names and unseen sketches. I liked the feeling of realization I got after the session. I went back and re-read in slight disbelief. Perhaps it was out of scope, but I would also like to see what the sketches would look like in the future. It would be fun to have visual hints that are faded/hidden away due to repeated erasing trying to get it to look just right.

Right off the bat, love the expressions and the GUI design. I accidentally went into this without reading the content warning on the game page, which differs from the warning at the beginning of the game, my mistake! Made the events even more surprising. I went into this way more blindly than intended. I will also note that the in-game warning calls the game “Silver Bullets” instead of “Silverstone.”

I made one “slip up” and got the neutral ending first. Didn’t want to beat around the bush when I told Walt he’d have to stay. I did think Walt reacted a bit strongly and brushed it off until the end. Sadly, I ruined the panic attack transition by rolling Back/Forward at just the right time but I still appreciate it being in the game. I think the best silent moment was right before this as well.

As I progressed in my first playthrough I darted between possibilities of what was going on: “Another panic attack? Something supernatural? Walt coming to our rescue? Uh oh.” I wasn’t sure if I was going to replay it again, but after calming down I’m glad I did. Seeing the stark differences between all the routes was illustrative of how much influence the Silver Bullet legend has, to a volatile degree. Looking forward to more!

I have gone through this a few times, searching for answers and trying to come up with a solid interpretation of this mystery for myself. This did not happen to me on my first playthrough: I found that if you press Escape to close a Journal Entry instead of Return, it can prevent you from opening other Entries or using most of the menu options. Going Back a step before this can fix it or by making a Quick Save/Load.

The reading level for this was a little higher than I am comfortable with, but I tried my best to comprehend it as I went along. My favorite parts to read would be whenever Didi walked across a part of the ruins, a good amount of text in a lonely transition. I think this does a great job from the novel side, fueled further in atmosphere with the selection of sounds, music, and discordant backgrounds.

Can’t figure out why exactly, but I felt very drawn in after reaching the tree. Machines in the ruins? Sure. Pool room? Expected. Mattress laid out next to a seemingly harmless tree? Eerie. I can only imagine what it would have been like from Gogo’s perspective with no one else around.

Entry Nine was the only piece I had misunderstood, thinking that the answer was going to be “at least one of each.” A few specific things took me out of it, wondering what a “pregnant pause” means (I have since looked it up), the use of “betray” in both “failed to betray” and “betraying no traces,” and finally, “Wuzzat?” Haha.

Thanks for your review! Glad the art/dialogue/execution of the concept are alright. I'm not sure which way around the tone/pacing consistency is being addressed. Is the mall section better for its consistency, or is the difference between the other parts too much? Writing is one of my weaker skills and I am grateful for feedback about it!

Leon and Nico are so sweet, cautious yet still comfortable/eager with each other. I feel the descriptions are effective, especially when they move furniture, or become engulfed in fur/breaths. I was half-expecting Leon to accidentally walk into a growing wall of fur in the dark, or Nico’s green tint to be illuminating. I’m hoping for a fun, future foreshadowing description of Nico’s shadow growing on the wall as he gets closer to the light. Like the pacing, and the slight tease as Nico’s sprite moves to show a bit more, bit less, and back to the reveal.

I played through the demo of PRESSED just in case before going through this VN. Hopefully I have not missed anything available that would show what happens in-between. I may have an emotional bias towards this side story, as I grow increasingly aware of the passage of time, and detachment from my own family. 

It felt real and raw, it was difficult to get through (in a good way). It is a good teaser for what is to come next, or chronologically before, for the PRESSED storyline. Maybe even some foreshadowing for Josiah and his own father? I'm very interested in reading more about Winston's family!

It was jarring for me to listen to Timothy’s backstory, presumably through Winston’s eyes, and have his sprite show up at the end. Timothy looks huge in comparison, but it could be said that the "runt" grew up to be the tallest after all.

Going back and forth in the story, I finally noticed the attention to detail in the time of day outside of the window and the lighting. A bit covered up by the size/presence of the character sprites and transitions, but a nice touch.

Thank you for commenting! After I finished the final CG it was tempting to revamp everything in a similar style, really want to try to apply this in a future VN. I'm really happy you liked the cafeteria scene, it has been lovingly labeled the "Slightly Paradoxical Panorama" in my notes.

I implemented the mall beats backwards from what I should have done--came up with the directory image/implementation and regretted having so many new CGs to draw, dialogue to fulfill. Good practice in hindsight, but could have strengthened other areas more.

I went lightly on the topics addressed and it has hurt the connection to the theme, after seeing just a few other submissions I am getting a better feel of what I can say and do. Thank you!

Thank you for your feedback! It is representative of many personal things at once that I think you have pointed out accurately. Creating this game has helped me confront such difficult feelings and topics and I hope to learn from what others see. Changing their name was one of the last additions I made, and I had was anxious about breaking my game at that point. If I could do it again, such a vital development in their identity would come first. I have learned that experimental features for my skill level, such as the mall navigation or a flagged name change, is best taken care of as soon as possible. I did create as much of the visual assets as I could by myself, except for the dialogue font and other RenPy defaults! Thank you again :)

Sure, my Discord is shapeshiftstitch

Ah I see, I will have a look and make note of them right away!

An epic showcase of wolves and what is possible through animations, filters, effects, and customizations. With so much going on, the fix that has been implemented is worth doing to experience the rest of the game. There is quite a lot of variation in fonts and styles of dialogue, a little tricky at first, but I found it easy to adapt to.

I have just joined May Wolf this year, but am already getting a good sense of who these wolves are through their depictions and look forward to further exploring their sources. I feel that each character gets a good amount of representation and screen time. I looked forward to every reveal and read all unlocked entries. Hoping to return to the continuation of this, after I become more familiar with the cameos!

I like the "system" that is being used here, with a balance of elements and unique terminology. There is a lot of meta commentary that makes for an interesting interpretation of gachas and a character's individuality.

I enjoyed the interlude text between days, they were beautifully poetic and illustrative. The outfits of the wolves are well-designed, with an interesting backstory of opposing groups as they slowly mingle with each other as seasons pass. Having the main color of the UI be purple also alludes to this mixture. Communicating complex feelings through shared sign language is something I have tried to do before, I can understand their struggle. I noticed in the final scene they do not speak in italics anymore, have they learned a common language by then?

Two small errors I noticed was some beginning dialogue describing the heatwave being skipped, and a typo that had an extra space in, “Before I knew it, I arrived at the park,  again.” Finally, if the main menu music continues as the game starts, there is no need to “play” it again in the script.

Wishing the best for Hennalin, their worried expression is precious, and I can relate to them!

Thank you too! Creating these characters was a lot of fun, and I wanted to draw someone like Kinna for a while. Really happy with how they fit into the story! I hesitated a lot in adding the animations and the GUI, but it was well worth it in the end :D

Whoops, forgot to do that after updating them, thanks for the heads up!

Thank you very much! It was a little tricky for me to get the click and drag to work together with the engine's physics, will have to return to it in the future ^^