Rinzai Gigen,

Subliminal Mind Games.

[({R.G.||S.M.G.)}]

The following were my influences:

Musically:

1. Nine Inch Nails, esp.:

- The Fragile.

- The Downward Spiral.

- Ghosts.

- Add Violence.

- Still.

- Pretty Hate Machine.

2. Modest Mouse, esp.:

- Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks.

- The Moon and Antarctica.

- The Lonesome Crowded West.

3. Tool, esp.: 

- Lateralus. (The Holy Gift.)

- Fear Inoculum.

4. Radiohead, esp.:

- Kid A.

- OK Computer.

5. Fleetwood Mac: Rumours.

6. Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9. ("Choral.")

7. Keiichi Okabe and Keigo Hoashi: Nier: Automata. (O.S.T.)

8. Josh Mancell: Jak and Daxter. (trilogy O.S.T.)

9. Kikiyama: Yume Nikki. (O.S.T.)

10. David Bergeaud: Ratchet and Clank. (O.S.T.)

... and many more...

These influenced not only the writing for the Original Score. but ALSO the mood and tone of the entire Work!!

Narratively, Literature:

Eishima, Jun and Yoko Taro. NieR: Automata: Short Story Long.

Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time.

Joyce, James. Finnegan's Wake.

Kafka, Franz. The Castle.

Kierkegaard, Soren. Either/Or.

MacIntyre, Alasdair. After Virtue.

Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter y la Orden del Fenix. (Spanish Version.)

Shakespeare, William. King Lear, Julius Caesar.

... and parts of Faust, of course.

Narratively, Cinema:

Anohana.

Better Call Saul.

BoJack Horseman.

Breaking Bad.

Death Note.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

Lost.

Neon Genesis: Evangelion.

The Office.

Rick and Morty.

Twin Peaks.

The X-files.

Games:

Jak II.

NieR: Automata.

Doki Doki Literature Club.

The Curse of Monkey Island.

Deponia: the Complete Journey.

God of War. (Original and 2018.)

Yume Nikki. (Original and Remake.)

Spyro the Dragon. (Original and Remake.)

Et cetera, et al...

Share your Influences if you wish!! We stand on the shoulders of Giants.

Rinzai Gigen,

Subliminal Mind Games.

[({R.G.||S.M.G.)}]

- STORY -

You are a monster known as the “silver-tongued”. What many don’t know is that you’re a siphon, a being that needs to feed on the mental energy of others to continue living. Unfortunately, as a weak, low-standing monster, you lack the reputation to convince anyone to lend you their spirit. You have nothing, but your words.

But that doesn't stop your ambition...

Persuading the most mighty beings in the realm to lend you power (of all people), is no easy task. But perhaps they underestimate the power of your words, and... more importantly your power of INSIGHT: the ability to get a glimpse into the minds of others.

- GAMEPLAY-

The game takes place over three conversations with different great terrors of the OUTERWORLD. During these conversations, you have to change your PRESENCE, PERCEPTION and KNOWLEDGE to convince each great terror to let you be their siphon, or let you consume their power...

For each interlocutor (or great terror) there are at least 3 different strategies you can use in order convince them; there's no single right way to get someone on your side. Robust chains of reasoning, emotional manipulation or even blackmail is all on the table!

This game includes stat-raising and different forms of gameplay (apart from reading text). One such example is when you use your power of INSIGHT (to look inside the minds of your interlocutors) which includes puzzle sections and top-down exploration.

- FEATURES-

• 7 unique endings

• 2 different forms of gameplay (visual novel/puzzle exploration)

• Stat raising and stat checks

• Assist mode and a Challenge mode

• Parallax animated images that move with the mouse (You can see such an image below)

• Original Soundtrack

• 38,000+ words

A little sneak peak of the game and its parallax/animated images.

- PROGRESS -

writing: 90% 
coding: 45% 
character sprites: 40% 
backgrounds: 80% 
GUI: 30% 
music: 25% 
CGs: 0%

- CREDITS-

• arkicade- Programmer, Artist, Writer

• LGM- Music composer

• Sayumi101- GUI artist

March draws to a close, meaning NaNoRenO does too.

This year we worked on a short otome game called “Snow Angel”. The idea for the project was to create a fluffy feel good game that would soothe you. What if when you wished for company it came true? What if angels were real? That was the premise behind our project.

Personally, it's my first NaNo, as well as my first work on an VN/otome. It's been a crazy and exciting month. 

I first became aware of the project through Crysil when she asked for collaborators - and the premise really appealed to me. I was too shy to even get in contact…But eventually, after being encouraged by loved ones I finally put myself forward. So hopefully, that was the right decision and I've done this story justice. 

Falling in love with Raphael was easy for me, which was funny considering I had to bring his personality to life.

Crysil had the sprite already made, and from that I let my feelings guide me into creating a personality for our angel.

I go about character creation like a friend I'm trying to get to know. In my case, my friends and I often do fun personality quizzes so I did this with Raph: I got him a MBTI, star sign, fake birthday, and all sorts of background information that obviously doesn't make it into the story. Nevertheless, it helped me build a firm idea of who this character was to me. After I made my character sheet for Raphael, I realized he reminded me of my own life love, which I find thoroughly amusing.

Hopefully you fall in love with Raphael too.

This month has been tremendous fun, and so fulfilling - and yet I wish we could keep going because I want to spend more time with Raphael. 

There is such a great team behind this game! 

• Crysil is a great project lead and is super organized. Of course, her art is insanely good. Raphael is so cute as a sprite, but his appearance in CGs and the menu art is just mind-blowing. 
• Crystal is a fellow writer, as well as the real outliner for the plot. She wrote the tragic ending, which hurt my feelings in the best possible way. If your heart hurts too from that ending, it's down to her talent. 
• Cygni is our editor/proofreader and if I'm being honest, I think my contribution to this project wouldn't be half of what it is without her. She added so much polish to my word vomit and I appreciate it immensely. 
• Ednar is responsible for all the beautiful music in this game. He has so much talent and is so humble too. His music provides the perfect atmosphere to this game, and I wish this game was a big commercial project just so I could urge you all to buy the soundtrack. I'd totally buy the soundtrack. 
• I'd also like to thank Lily. She's a baby and can't even speak yet but she contributed to this project too.  She was with me every step of the way (and often distracting me from the process) - she often would type on my iPad whilst I was trying to type. She deserves partial writing credit too, I swear.

I wrote a lot of this to a playlist I made specifically for the story, but the standout to me is "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from The Lion King soundtrack. (The movie version is better, sorry Elton.) Some of the lyrics resonated so well with the characters.

Wanting to let your partner know who you really are, hoping they’ll understand you, and knowing your partner is hiding something, and yet still seeing nothing but the best in them perfectly encapsulates the relationship between Raphael and the main character. (I may or may not cry to this song.)

Anyway, it's been a month of great lessons for me and my takeaway is this: 

• Have faith in yourself and your own abilities 
• Grab those opportunities you want with both hands 
• Tell the people you love that you love them 
• Remember that loneliness isn't something that lasts forever. Your people are out there waiting for you, and you will find each other

I really hope you enjoy the story! 

Let those cute lions play us out. 

"Can you feel the love tonight?

The peace the evening brings

The world, for once, in perfect harmony

With all its living things

Can you feel the love tonight?

You needn't look too far

Stealing through the night's uncertainties

Love is where they are" 

Play the game  here:  https://galengames.itch.io/snow-angel

-Liv/LunaMakaio - writer, young warthog and embarrassing Raphael fan.

I'm part of a project for this jam, and one of the roles I'm going to play in the team I'm a part of will be creating original music. I read the rules to look for a quick answer to this but couldn't find anything regarding it so I figured I'd ask here. Is there any restriction on the commercial release of music created for a project in this jam? I'd really like to be able to put it out on my Bandcamp page, but I understand if there is some kind of restriction on selling it.

( ʟᴏɢᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ )

【 Snow ✦ Wistful ✦ Garden 】

 A game about   reliving the unknown  and  battling through the fear.
Your choices affect the near   future,
will you choose to   confront  what you don't know ?

»»——— ★ 𝔽𝔼𝔸𝕋𝕌ℝ𝔼𝕊 ★ ———««

  Rich storyline with 7 memories and   25,000+ words
  Over 3 unique endings with branches ("ᴛʀᴜᴇ ᴇɴᴅɪɴɢ" unlockable)
  Interactive choices that matter
  Original soundtrack and album to elevate the experience
  (tentative) Limited    voice acting
  (tentative) Localization in   Korean

»»———— ★ 𝕊𝕋𝕆ℝ𝕐 ★ ————««

ꜱᴇᴛᴛɪɴɢ: Cheonan, South Korea

You work at a local café in a small suburban city from South Korea. Not much happens in the tiny town, but you've made a few decent friendships. As it snows this year, a random, disheveled girl walks in lost and alone, disrupting your otherwise mundane livelihood. With her, a mysteriously enchanting necklace enters your life. Soon you begin to delve into the memories of ones you don't know. How? You're not sure. But the experiences feel too real to be simple daydreams. They all have one thing in common: ᴅᴏᴜʙᴛ. Each moment is filled with uncertainties and the rising anxiety chokes you. You can choose to confront  the unknown or force the worries aside. 

»»———— ★ ℂℝ𝔼𝔻𝕀𝕋𝕊 ★ ————««
   snoqie  ◈   writer     |    artist    |   gui designer
   Lunadyn   ◈  lead    programmer    |     helper
   brightbone  ◈   music
   SKMuffinEXE   ◈   idea-bouncer
   Shie   ◈   mini-game    programmer 

»»———— ★ ℚ𝕌𝔼𝕊𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ𝕊 ★ ————««
◼ What are you expecting/hoping to see in the game?
◼ Knowing the theme is "Exploration confronts the unknown," how does that affect your thoughts on this game?
◼ Does the lack of "romance-able" characters decrease your interest to play?
◼ Since the story is set in South Korea, does that interest you more, less, or no difference?
◼ What are you looking forward to the most?