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A jam submission

IrrationalView game page

An emotional story portraying the struggles of anxiety.
Submitted by M.A. Starling (@MAStarling1) — 11 days, 22 hours before the deadline
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Irrational's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Judge's Choice#1n/an/a
Gamer's Choice#1n/an/a
Host Choice#1n/an/a
Special Theme: Sad and Emotional#1n/an/a
Sound Effect#24.4004.400
Storyline#24.6004.600
Developer's Vote#34.4004.400
Games for Impact#34.2004.200
Creativity#44.0004.000
RPG Maker Game of the Month#44.2004.200
Character Design#44.4004.400
Music#44.2004.200
Overall#44.2004.200
Graphic Design#63.8003.800
Fun#63.8003.800

Ranked from 5 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

  • - I absolutely LOVED the dialogue! Masterfully crafted! - The graphics are very pleasant to look at. And the visual storytelling you've done in this game at times, is absolutely brilliant! - The concepts you highlighted, felt very balanced in their presentation. - The sound effects felt very powerful, and the music choices felt really good. (I was revelling too much in the dialogue, so perhaps I wasn't too aware of what was flowing down my ears.) Thank you for making this game, M.A. Starling, and for sharing it with all of us.
  • This game is astonishing, and great storytelling about the girl who suffer for anxiety. Right or wrong choice are the same as did remember herself for nothing else to people and her friend. Most of it are the best game.

Which RPG Maker Engine are you using
RPG Maker MV

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Comments

(+1)

I've only played about half of the game (I think?) but I and my audience really have enjoyed it so far! The art is absolutely beautiful, and the music is very soothing. As someone with anxiety myself (though it's not as debilitating as Lucy's), this was incredibly relatable. Firky is a great friend. I will edit my comment or make a new one when I get to the end! 

Developer

Oh, wow. Thank you so much for this! And I really do appreciate the kind words.
I will check the video out tomorrow, as I was literally drifting off to sleep when I saw your comment. Very excited! Maybe now I won't even be able to sleep. Uh-oh.

(+1)

That was some really solid storytelling. A lot of mature discussion of some really misunderstood mental health issues. Captured so much of that despair and hopelessness that people with anxiety
related issues go through, as well as the impact it can have on people around them. I don't even like reading that much between fighting things so this kind of game is typically not my jam, but I played this through and it made me feel despair, and dread, and disappointment and a little bit of hope.

Probably the biggest thing to fix is the uneven spacing that often occurred in the word boxes. Sometimes the lines would cut off in totally different spots. The word boxes resized a lot, and the spacing was sometimes off. Maybe like a couple typos (very few for so much dialog). Pinceone instead of pinecone.

Firky felt almost too perfect a friend. Like damn, the patience and kindness is inhuman. I thought the friend Jordan sounded a little preachy in his brother with anxiety monologue, but it was nice to hear it acknowledged a little with the "time heals all wounds" jab. 

Thanks for sharing the game and showing me some of what RPG maker can elicit emotionally.

Developer(+1)

Well, I gotta yell ya', this is a very insightful review. I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts on the game in such a constructive manner.

I'm glad to hear that you felt the story was handled in a convincing and mature way, as this was, of course, my main-goal.
And on top of that, you've definitely given me something to think about in terms of fixes in future updates. 

But maybe pinceone is just an exotic fruit you've never heard about? Maybe my spelling was perfectly okay. Maybe I did nothing wrong.
Or maybe I will fix the alleged typo right now and thank you for pointing it out. Who knows? (Thank you.) 

I know it sounds weird to say this but I do agree with you about the "Jordan preaching". I was actually very focused on not making the game preachy or dogmatic, but as I was trying to get certain points across, I slipped a little. The scene has actually been re-written twice, but I can see how the latest rewrite added a little too much of the things I was trying to avoid. I will keep this is mind.

Thanks for the great comment. Very helpful and kind of you!