| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Sound Design | #3 | 4.031 | 4.031 |
| Story | #5 | 3.781 | 3.781 |
| Horror | #24 | 3.219 | 3.219 |
| Enjoyment (Best Game) | #26 | 3.188 | 3.188 |
| Aesthetics | #58 | 3.188 | 3.188 |
Ranked from 32 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
This is perhaps the most professional entry I've played. Making a fully voice acted game on such short notice is very impressive, let alone one that is well voice acted four times over!
Speaking as someone with a very low tolerance for anime, I found the opening of this game to be extremely anxiety-inducing, which helps to build an atmosphere of horror.
Thanks so much for your kind words + taking the time to play and comment :3 It means a lot to me.
I have Anthony to thank for the short notice voice acting! Not only did he voice one of the male characters for me, but he also found some of his voice acting friends who were interested in helping out for the jam. I owe them all a lot for lending their talent to the project :3
I sent them the script and they only had one weekend to record cos I told em I needed much of the last 5 days of the jam to cut their lines + add them to the game in the correct places!
I'm glad you found it anxiety-inducing :D I was attempting to create something that would make the player feel kinda uncomfortable cos I love the sorta psychological side of horror the most :3
Purple is my favourite colour x3 haha. Especially if it's pastel purple combined with pastel mint or black :D
Well, that's better than I've managed on most of the entries I've been playing cos I suck at most kinds of games so haven't finished quite a few >.< It's fun going through them all though :D I've been trying my hardest to play all of them in no particular order, but I think I'm gonna run outta time to rate everything :(
Sadly, I can only take credit for editing the artwork since I can't actually draw to save my life T_T Male sprite is a free use asset I edited in GIMP + female sprite is a paid for asset I've had for a while that lets you create a sprite out of different parts, so I made her in that, then edited her in GIMP too, haha. The backgrounds are paid for from an asset pack that I also bought a while ago cos I figured there's no way in hell I will ever be able to afford a background artist x3 and by the time I decided I was gonna attempt to make something for the jam, I figured it was too late to look for an artist :(
Anyways, sorry, I'm rambling x3 Thanks so much for playing + leaving a comment <3 I'm glad you found it immersive :3 I will pass on your feedback to the voice actors as well!
This was a great experience a good story with amazing use of music and sound effects
a good jam game indeed
Interesting concept, I like this. Now I curious why this can happen to them. I must say voice actor is really good too.
In bathroom scene I think it stuck, but just too long and there is no indicator it is running, may be add some text like "(showering)" in chat box will be help. And there is too many button below chat box, I think it better limit it into 7 max and move the least important into menu
Thanks so much for checking it out and taking the time to leave feedback :3 I'm glad you liked it! I'll let the voice actors know too :D
A few people have said similar things about the bathroom shower scene, haha. I actually made it like that on purpose x3 I wanted it to last the duration of the SFX (approx 20 seconds) mainly because I listen to a lot of audio dramas and they do that sort of thing in those. For me personally, when I come across stuff like that in audio dramas, I like it cos for me it increases immersion, but I can totally see how it would be frustrating for people playing a game + might come across as a bug, so I will change that when the jam is over :3
Originally, I was just gonna make this as an audio drama with art and no text at all. Then a few days in, I decided that I would have text after all, cos if there's no text then anyone with a hearing impairment would have no idea what's going on if it's audio-only.
As for the UI buttons at the bottom, I agree! :3 Sadly, there's not much I can do about that :( I'm using Tyranobuilder because I'm not a programmer, and since the jam was quite short, I didn't make the UI from scratch. I used GIMP + ComiPo to edit the appearance of one of Tyrano's UI templates, which means I can't remove any of the buttons. I can take away the image of a button, but the button itself would still be there and function if someone accidentally clicked there x3 Editing the UI appearance took me quite a few hours, so there definitely wasn't time for me to make a UI from scratch that looks better. I might be able to spend more time to change it after the jam though :D
I'm really glad that I decided to include text in the end then :3 I wanted as many people as possible to be able to enjoy it, and I guess without the text some people might miss out. My best friend doesn't have a hearing impairment, but he always puts subtitles on movies + TV shows cos he has some problems with his throat/coughing, which means he sometimes can't hear everything being said.
I suppose when the jam is over, I could try to add the option for people to select if they want text or not so that they have a choice instead of just one or the other :3
I'm glad ya liked it even if you're not big on VNs! I felt the same about yours :3 I don't normally play stuff like that, but your creature was so cool + repeatedly made me jump xD
I still haven't played DDLC! I need to at some point, haha. People keep telling me I'll love it! The only reason I haven't yet is cos I'm put off by the fact that it looks like you only get to interact with female characters? I've tried to avoid spoilers, haha. I do know some things about it though cos it's impossible to avoid all spoilers for something so popular x3 If it was the other way around, and you could play as a female protagonist with the club members as all male characters, I would've been all over that shizz by now, hehe.
Thanks so much for taking the time to play through + comment :3
No problem! :)
To answer to your question, yes Indeed you only get to interact with female characters, but I saw that some fans made male versions, but I don't know if it is really available for the game, or it is only for fantasy ^^
Moreover, I'm glad that you enjoyed my game even if you are not a fan of this type of game :)
this is a crazy ass game lol, amazing you made it in such a short time. definitely one of my favorites from this jam!!
I feel like I should be using that as a tagline! x3 haha. Thank you so much for your kind words :3 It means a lot to me that you enjoyed it! I thought that I might finally relax after going at it like crazy to get the entry submitted in time, but now I'm going at it like crazy trying to play through everyone's entries instead xD It's so much fun though! This jam is awesome <3 Excited to play you guys' game later today! :3
Woah, nice job! What a cool story to tell and an unexpected way to tell it. Such a fun experience, thank you for doing this! It's very cool of you to also have so many options for voice acting, it really helps immerse into the game's story
Thank you for your kind words + playing, much appreciated :3
I'm incredibly lucky to have such wonderful voice actor friends who don't mind helping out with stuff like this :D I owe them a lot! Haha. Kinda feel like anything I write isn't complete without voice acting >.< They do such an amazing job of bringing stuff to life!
I'm looking forward to checking out you guys' game later on! Hoping that it will run on my potato laptop x3 If not, I'll just have to go be uncomfortable and use my PC instead (it's a very awkward setup cos I have no space for a desk, haha.)
That means a lot to me :3 Thanks so much for playing + your kind words <3 I really exhausted myself making this, haha.
As I've said in some other comments, I can't take credit for the art cos I just edited some assets in GIMP since I can't draw and didn't think I'd be able to find an artist in time >.< I wrote it all + put everything together :3 I enlisted the help of my voice actor buddy, who recorded one of the voices himself + found others who were interested in voicing for the project. I think they did an amazing job of bringing it to life, and I'm super grateful for their help :3
PS. I absolutely adore the art in your game! It's so cute + pretty <3
Really liked the game! :D
That time were the game closed and I reopened it I was like "WHAT" and my friend in the discord call was like "share screen share screen!" hahaha
Also, all those red flags at the beginning. Really cool game.
It makes me super duper happy to hear that! Thanks so much for playing + taking the time to leave a comment :3
Hahaha, man, I would've loved to have been there to see/hear that reaction x3 So glad you enjoyed playing through it :D
I'm excited to play yours! It's in my queue, hoping I'll get to it tonight before bed :3 I'm trying to play as many entries as possible, but I'm especially excited for all the ones that are story/text/RPG/cute type ones <3
Sweet art style! The amount of lines and choices (between the male or female version and the choice between two types of voice each) it's impressive, The voice acting for each case sounds very professional and the story really made me think wheter I'm an impostor or not.
I wish I could take credit for the art, but I can only do so for sprite editing x3 My drawing skills suck :( Didn't think I'd have time to find an artist, so just edited some assets I had stored. Glad you liked the story too! I can take credit for that at least, haha :D
The voice actors will be super happy to hear the positive feedback on their performances so I'll make sure to pass that on :3 They're all really lovely, incredibly passionate people!
Thanks for playing and taking the time to comment :3
Thanks for taking the time to check it out + comment! :3 I will be checking out your game, hehe :P I'm planning on playing as many entries as possible :D + I'm sure it's not terrible! Haha.
PS. I can't take much credit for the art, haha. The male sprite is a free use asset that I edited in GIMP + the female sprite is a paid for asset that I've had for a long time and never used (basic character creator where you can choose hair, eyes, clothes, facial expressions, etc.) where I built the character in that, then edited it in GIMP. Oh, and the backgrounds are all from paid background packs I purchased in the past. I don't have art skills beyond basic editing in GIMP T_T I do try to edit art assets whenever I can cos I don't like to use em as they are if I can help it.
I wound up having to pay for sprite creator software for my first big project cos I couldn't find enough free ones to suit my game T_T (and even though I could hardly afford that, there was no chance of affording an artist to draw em all cos I'm perma poor! Haha.) I've tried so hard to learn art skills, but it's like I have zero natural talent for drawing xD
This game is voice acted to the Nth degree. You can play the game with either a male or female partner, and within each game you have a choice of two different voice actors??? In this 10 day jam, you wrote all this and got 4 different people to read all these lines. That's insane to me. Really, that's an incredible accomplishment. Good choice of subject matter, too! The impostor nightmare is a great one to explore
Edit: I'll echo what others have said about transition times and that shower scene. Nice work overall!
I loved working on it, but at the same time, I was so relived for it to be over cos I was beginning to feel a bit ill from lack of sleep xD (I'm kind of an idiot, I know, haha.)
Can't remember the exact process, but the 10 days went something like this:
Day 01
Discovered the jam while taking a break from writing for my main project. It was late evening and submissions were due to open in about 30 mins. Had a big debate with myself as to whether or not to attempt entry.
Got up the next morning and continued working on my main project while trying to come up with an idea for the jam. Started writing a script in the evening.
Day 02
Continued working on my main project, thinking that I would easily be able split work between that and the jam entry (huge mistake xD) Contacted Anthony to explain the situation + ask if he or anyone he knew would be interested in helping me out with voice acting. Used the evening/night to work on finishing the jam script. Anthony said if I could put together a document explaining the project + send the script, he would get people to have lines recorded for me ASAP.
Day 03
STILL continued half-working on my main project during the day like an idiot!
Got the documents sent to Anthony. Agonised over which art assets to use since I can't draw well myself + figured it was too late to find an artist. Edited the male sprite I chose. Built the female sprite in a generator I purchased years ago but never used + edited it afterwards. Selected BGM to use.
Realised by the evening that I would have to put all work on my main project on hold to finish the jam project on time.
Got some feedback from my friend which gave me a brainwave. Unfortunately, the idea would require some additional lines recording. It was Friday night and I'd already sent Anthony the stuff >.< he said VAs were planning to record over the weekend. I knew I wasn't going to be able to work on the entry over the weekend, so I wound up staying up until 7am to get the brainwave idea fully jotted down + write additional script lines to send before getting approximately 3 hours sleep. (I usually only get around 6 anyways, but still, I felt like crap xD)
Day 04
My dad was coming to stay the weekend + take me back home with him, so I decided it would be kinda rude to continue working on the jam. Had a nice relaxing day, but was very anxious about the clock ticking!
Day 05
Much like the day before, only when we finally got home after a long drive, I ate pizza, watched a film which I fell asleep halfway through, woke up and ate cheesecake xD Began working on the entry again until about 5am. Cut some voice lines. Thankfully, Antony helped with some of the editing so that I didn't have to change much and could just cut the lines from the files sent.
Day 06
Panic began setting in x3 Still only working on building the first version with Anthony's voice in, hoping that having that template completed would save me a lot of time making the other versions.
Day 07
Ran into problems implementing the puzzle element like I wanted to due to engine limitations >.< spent ages trying to come up with a different way to do it. Having solved my dilemma, went on to copy the puzzle scenes to make it easier to build, they all bricked and became useless so had to start the puzzle stuff again and replicate each tiny change manually for fear of more bricking if I tried to copy/paste the scene files again.
Day 08
Having solved the puzzle issue, ran into more issues trying to implement timed choices towards the end of the game which took up much of the day. Managed to finish building version 1. Started testing version 1.
Afterwards, copied entire project to a new project + begin replacing all male sprites with female ones while adding female voice lines for voice 1.
Day 09
Completed female version 1. Copied all scenes within both versions so that I could just swap the voice lines over for voice 2 in each version. Spent the rest of the day switching voice lines.
Day 10
Got moaned at in the morning by my mum for not coming to visit while she's on holiday because I've been working on the jam all week xD
Finished adding voice 2 to both versions and began final tests. Ran into some bugs, got mad, fixed bugs. Exported all versions, built the game page, uploaded, told VAs it was playable, noticed an annoying typo in the puzzle, fixed it, re-tested everything, re-uploaded everything >.< Done. Remained paranoid that there was something severely wrong for the remainder of the night x3
So yeah, I didn't get much sleep, haha. Also, I don't have a normal day job cos of mental health issues, so I was able to spend all day long working on it + into the early hours of the morning. It was much faster in the beginning, as I was using my friend's PC with 2 monitors, which is why I thought I'd have plenty of time! When I got to my dad's though, I had no choice but to continue on my crap laptop, which struggled with the project load and constantly lagged with every action I tried to take... it was incredibly painful >.< haha.
So sorry for rambling! I'm terrible for it T_T I just can't bloomin stop myself when it comes to stuff I'm passionate about (I'll just blame it on my Aspergers x3)
Thank you so much for the feedback! <3
Regarding the wait times as other people have commented on, I'll make em shorter once we can upload new builds, haha. I should have realised that sorta thing would frustrate players. It didn't really register at the time cos I was still thinking about it like an audio drama more than a VN, and I'm used to hearing long sections with just SFX in those so didn't really think about the fact that it could become tedious in a game >.<
Hoping to get a chance to play some of you guy's submissions later today! :3
EDIT: Forgot to mention the fact that I left making the game page until the last few hours of the jam, despite being on the Discord and seeing the announcements advising to get it done in advance xD Sat there thinking, it'll be fiiiiine! I'll just keep working on the game. It got to 8pm and I was making the page while thinking, I'm so darn hungry, but this stupid page needs finishing or I can't upload my stuff T_T
This was the first visual novel I ever played. From now on I'll give this genre a few shots. The voice recording was really good and, as JiRath said, the atmosphere kept me engaged until the end. You could probably fasten up the build up and shorten the shower scene. All in all good work! Keep it up :)
Makes me super happy to hear ya say that :3 I know VNs aren't everyone's cup of tea, haha.
This was pretty experimental for me cos I would normally have a player character that narrates in some way when making VN stuff. I kinda wanted this to be more like a hybrid of a VN + audio drama. I wanted the player to have some form of interaction, but didn't want any narration. I find writing narration kinda boring x3 whereas writing dialogue is fun!
I used to play those old 'choose your own adventure' books as a kid before all the fancy RPGs of today existed, so when I discovered VNs were a thing I was overjoyed cos they're like a modern day version of those books :D As much as I love VNs, I still prefer huge RPGs with choices like the Dragon Age series, haha. Oooooor, heavily story based games with choices like what Quantic Dream and Supermassive make!
Sorry, rambling on there xD
Hehe, yeah, that shower scene is 20 secs I think x3 I did debate shortening it! Wound up leaving it just because I wanted to hear the complete sound effect >.< I agree it is too long though really, haha.
Thanks for taking the time to play + comment, really appreciate the feedback :3
This had some really cool ideas in it; I appreciated the sound design that went into it, especially since you didn't have that long to make it. The fact that you can choose between male and female voices (and then choose between two different voices) is a lot of effort to put into customization. I was really pleasantly surprised by the meta aspect of the ending where the game "crashes" and what happens when you start it back up, which fits neatly into the "twist" of the other ending where you input the correct code.
My biggest criticism is that the game's transitions between scenes are really, really slow. This was pretty difficult for me to stand during the "waiting" phase of my character's captivity, especially because even with the skip option on I still had to wait 6 whole seconds between each scene, and there were many scenes to get through before and after the "lightbulb" bit. It hampers replayability.
Thanks so much for the feedback :3
Yeah, I'm a huge sucker for voice acting in general + a lover of audio dramas. If I could afford to purchase dummy head mics for all the voice actors I collaborate with, I would xD I can't even afford to feed myself much more than beans on toast half the time though, haha.
Having a choice of voices was only possible thanks to my friend who is both a voice actor himself + knows lots of fellow VAs who are happy to help with stuff like this. As the deadline for the jam was looming though, I was beginning to regret the choice to use 4 voices as time was ticking away while I was trying to get the last voice in there xD
In regards to the slow transition times, that's partially down to the engine I used, but also partially down to my poor design choices xD The loading of the puzzle with the alphabet on screen is the engine being slow to load all of the branch buttons for the letters >.< But, the slowness of the lines while you're captive where they're like 1 off lines with a wait in between is my fault cos I was trying to represent it as though some period of time had passed in between each spoken line while the character is waiting for you to confess. I agree that it's somewhat painful, haha. I should probably have made the transitions faster than I did! It's something I will likely change once voting is over cos I didn't realise how tedious it was until the last second when I was testing before submission, by which point it was a bit too late for me to go through and change it :(
PS. I love the art on the main picture for your submission :3 Hoping my laptop can manage to run it + other entries so I can actually play the stuff people have created! My PC is kinda hard to use at the moment cos I don't have room for a desk >.< so to use it I would have to sit on my bed, with a TV for a monitor, and have the keyboard on my lap, haha.
I'm also a fan of audio dramas! 0w0 That's pretty cool that you were able to get this done even with money constraints on top of time ones. And to be honest I think if you wanted to do a longer horror game with this voice-acting centered idea you'd find a good audience for it, I haven't seen a lot of other games exploring it.
DX aaah the times when we only notice something afterwards. To be fair it was alright and did convey the passage of time the first time around for me, it was just the fact that I couldn't skip past the pauses that made it harder (I also kept getting the code wrong at first because I was inputting the letters in the order the game showed them to me, so a lot of the rewatching was my fault XD)
Yay! *high five* audio dramas are awesome :D I would really love to make more stuff kinda like this! As much as I love working on big projects, there's something really fun about making smaller things :3 I am currently working on an audio drama series alongside my big VN main project, and I'd like to make the audio drama series into a kinda hybrid VN thing like I've done with this eventually. Money is always a big problem for me, especially when I can't draw >.< It means I have no choice but to edit free sprites or cheap ones I've bought cos there's no way I can afford to hire an artist :( haha.
I really suck at anticipating how players might play anything I make >.< I'm an absolute maniac for saving in all games that allow you to save, and I forget that not everyone is gonna be an obsessive saver like me! So I was just thinking that people would save frequently, and the waits in those scenes wouldn't be an issue cos no one would be starting the game again from the beginning, they'd just be loading nearby saves. I really need to try and get better at learning to think how a range of players might think when playing my stuff :3
Thanks so much for taking the time to check out the game + comment! I really appreciate it :3 Glad you enjoyed it :D
VNs are pretty much the only thing I can make cos I just don't have the knowledge to create other kinds of games, haha. I'm a big VN fan myself, but would love to be able to make 3D games.
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