Posted January 07, 2023 by Altila
Hello! Altila here.
Thank you for playing the game! I want to share a bit about this game and the time I spent making it.
If you haven't played the game, I recommend you play it before reading because of possible spoilers.
About Hibernate
This game is actually from the draft I made quite a long time ago. More than 5 years ago, I think? It was originally written from Legato's perspective. But, with his personality, the story will not suit the visual novel format, so I changed the main character to Forte to give more options. In the first draft, the hibernating people were led to a certain village that was always snowing. Legato was trying to solve the mystery from over there with Aria and Forte was trying to wake up. Aria had more screen time in Legato's POV. The original ending was Legato standing alone as the island got hit by the disaster. In the VN, of course, I changed it.
About Canor
Confusing? Yes? I'm sorry. If you are familiar with the anime Fafner or Children of the Whales (Kujira no kora was Sajou ni Utau) you might understand it a little. The idea is just like that.
Actually, there were several islands, each with its own 'heart' that nourished the island and gave it 'blessing'. Canor was just one of the islands. The other islands exist but they will be out of the scope of the story.
Was Canor good or bad? Neither. She was just there to provide for the islanders.
About the Characters
About the Endings
It is recommended to go through the ending by the order 1 > 2 > 3 > 4 > 5 as mentioned in Guide, but it's not mandatory. Aria's route theme is basically about looking forward to the future. Honestly, I like ending 3 more because... this is the original ending but for Forte's POV. Ending 4 and 5 were the ones I wrote for the jam in 2022, that's why they were a bit messy. I didn't want to use the Deus Ex Machina ending, but it ended up like that. Sorry! But, ending 4 got me thinking... what if you were the only one who remembered someone who wasn't there anymore? I got a bit sad while writing that ending because of that thought.
About the Game-making
This game is a submission for WinterVNJam for two consecutive years. I didn't make it in time to finish it last year and I hadn't thought about the ending either. I decided to finish it in 2022, but it wasn't like I thought about the ending in advance. If you don't know my workflow, I just wrote it directly on the script file. Actually, I wanted to add CGs, but I was super busy since the start of the month, so I didn't. It was a miracle that I managed to find time and finish this. As for the GUI, I managed to ask someone to do it for me instead of leaving it default like usual.
In my previous game, The Witch's Name, I think I read a comment about someone not quite happy with the fact that I disabled the rollback. In this game, I decided to try to enable the rollback, but you cannot redo the choice you made. How is it?
Lastly, here is the bonus. The picture of Legato and Forte I made a long time ago.
Blonde + blue hair combi is one of my favorites!