Thank you so much for taking the time check out the game and leave such epic detailed feedback! I feel like what I said in my comment was nowhere near enough now >.< haha.

You also really cheered me up because I happened to see this while I was in a gigantic queue for a theme park ride, and it just really lifted my mood :3

I think the bad ends are probably more exciting than the good ends for the most part anyways, haha. The good ends wound up being somewhat rushed in comparison x3 Plus I do tend to struggle with writing happier endings because I personally prefer the bad ones as a player!

I imagine LPB will be very pleased to read your comments on the colour palette and style because that's exactly what she was going for when she described to me how she wanted things to look/feel! It will never fail to amaze me how I can give her a very basic, probably not particularly helpful description of a character, and then she just works her magic and it comes out awesome! I had nothing to do with the colour palette whatsoever because I knew that she'd come up with something stunning :3

Hehe, Niard would be so pleased to hear you say that x3 And I'm really glad the writing didn't suck since aside from putting everything together and sorta directing assets, that was my main job! Throughout the entire jam, I just felt like I didn't deserve to have such a wonderful team, and that if anything was gonna let the project down, it'd be my writing >.<

And I'm super glad to hear you thought that about the music because I both love and despise creating soundtracks at the same time xD I get so much joy from doing it, but I also feel like it consumes me to the point of insanity, haha. I'm still frustrated that I had to use 3 tracks from asset packs because no matter what I did, I couldn't get the sort of sound I wanted for Niard and Nyari's themes especially!

SPOILERS

Ahh, man, sorry they ended up making you feel like that >.< Was the sound files that you download from Maddie's page that you're talking about? Or the ones that are within the game on the PC inside her folder? Either way, do you think I should edit my warnings somehow to better alert players? I don't want to wind up making anyone feel crappy >.< I just went with 'disturbing sounds' hoping it would cover everything, but I wasn't really sure if it'd do the job!

The Maddie stuff essentially just leads to another ending which is considered a bad ending anyways, so you're not missing out on too much :3

Man, I don't know what to say cos you've been so in-depth and said so many lovely things x3 Thanks so much for playing it and taking the time to write up such detailed feedback! It's very much appreciated ^-^

I'm so glad it was well-received because we absolutely worked our asses off, haha. I spent almost an entire day working on Niard's voice effects alone xD It got to the point where I was having to try and psyche myself up to finish, like reassuring myself there wasn't too much more to go because it became quite grueling, haha. It's my own fault for overcomplicating things >.< I just can't help it when it comes to sound design because it's something I really enjoy working on, and if something is missing or doesn't sound right, I can't just ignore it.

LPB and I discussed the possibility of displaying the characters in that sorta camera feed style for sections of the game, and I said to her, I think it'll look really cool, but it's gonna be a hell of a lot of work on the art front >.< It's fine for me to sit there spouting ideas, but they're not always practical to actually create xD I still can't believe she made as many art assets as she did in such a short space of time. I still also kinda feel bad for dragging her and everyone else into my madness >.< haha. I'm sure many people would have told me to get lost! Heck knows how hard it must've been to figure out a practical way of creating those camera feed assets. Because it's one thing to have an idea, but another to actually implement it! I'm no artist, but I just imagine it must've been an absolute headache figuring out the perspective and stuff.

I did wonder if maybe I kinda let the whole project down on the horror front >.< I really wanted to try my hand at writing something non-romantic, since all my other projects have been sorta otome-like. And I really wanted to try bleak comedy x3 but I feel like some of the opportunity for horror got lost along the way, haha. I would have liked it to be scarier/more disturbing than it turned out! And I was very worried that the comedy would wind up not actually being funny, haha.

Looking back, both LPB and I said we don't really know how we managed to put out so much work in one month x3 Our team was pretty big with having 4 artists, and then many of the voice actors doubled up on roles as well to help out. Admittedly, my work ethic is not the most healthy when it comes to game jams >.< I get a little too absorbed and because I don't have a job beyond housework and general chores due to my mental health, focusing on project work for 15+ hours a day is enjoyable for me because it gives me a real sense of purpose! I realise I shouldn't push myself like that, but I bet I'm not the only one who does during jams xD And I do make sure to slow down and take things easier afterwards :3

Yeah, I have to agree with you about the ending! I'd definitely love to have fitted more stuff in there. I was disappointed that I couldn't get more creepy calls done because the ratio was supposed to be about even between comedy calls and creepy calls >.< That kinda went down the pan!

I wouldn't have been able to make anything remotely like this without such a wonderful team though, so I owe them all a hell of a lot :3

Thanks so much again for checking it out and for leaving such detailed feedback!

Thanks so much for playing it :3 I'm glad you had fun ^-^ I couldn't have done it without the whole team! I can't even draw a good stick person myself, haha. And not only did they all work really hard to help bring everything to life, but they were also super supportive with cheering me on :3 Which really helped a lot when I was starting to get incredibly tired towards the end of the jam!

It's probably not your computer because mine's not that old but it's still very slow to load. Especially the part after you choose a voice for Kiol and go into the office! It's because the game has so many assets >.< I could have split the script up into smaller chunks and put in more loading screens instead of having 1 really long wait, but I got a comment in the previous jam I made a game for from some people saying that having multiple load screens caused their laptops to struggle >.< So I thought I should maybe try not to put many in this time.

As for the missing subtitles on the calls and when interacting with Wishmaker and some of the other PC content, that was by choice, but I still feel conflicted about it. I wanted to have those sections without text for extra immersion, but at the same time, it did occur to me that if someone is hard of hearing or if English isn't their native language, the text could be essential in order to get the full meaning of what's going on >.< Ideally, I would have liked to have had an option to ask the player if they want subtitles for the calls or not, so that the player could choose. But there just wasn't enough time left in the jam to add that, sadly :( I will probably add it in an update though because I wouldn't want anyone to miss out on content :3

Thank you so much again for all your kind words!

Thanks so much for taking the time to go through it and drop a comment :3

I was kinda hoping to make one of the numbers on the telephone Nyari's number after she gives it to you, but there just wasn't time to add a bunch of extra things like that >.< It's not really an ending as such, but there is a bit of extra content with Nyari if you speak to her on all of the break times :3 I won't say any more than that because spoilers, haha.

It's funny you mention DLC though because Lazy Polar Bear and I were discussing wanting to expand on the game sometime in the future in one way or another, and I suggested maybe making either some kinda DLC or spinoff type thing possible for Valentine's VN Jam since the current version of the game doesn't feature any sort of romance. I just wanted to write something without romance this time around because all my other games have had romance stuff in so far x3

Well, that's officially made my morning x3 Thank you so much for your kind words! I woke up to see that and just felt really honoured to get a comment like that.

I'm a big fan of fake computers in games too, haha. That and the phone were the most anxiety-inducing parts of the game for me because I've never tried to code anything like that before. It was my first attempt at making sorta gameplay elements that weren't just typical visual novel story stuff. I was really worried that I wouldn't be capable of executing the ideas with my limited knowledge >.< But it turned out to be easier than I thought it would be! Largely thanks to LPB's awesome artwork because having such amazing assets made everything quite smooth to implement and a hell of a lot easier to envision.

Everyone worked crazy hard on this, to the point that I feel kinda bad for dragging them into my madness xD Especially LPB, because when I discussed the idea with her, I feel like most artists would have told me to fuck off considering the sheer amount of art assets required, haha. But nope, she was just as up for the challenge as I was!

I mean, I'm unemployed at the moment cos of my crappy mental health >.< So aside from doing housework and such, I can afford to spend 15 hour days working on stuff like this, but the rest of the team all had work/school/college/uni. It's just incredible that they all managed to do as much as they did while having those other commitments. And on top of that, they were so supportive with cheering me on as well :3 I couldn't have wished for a lovelier bunch of people to team up with!

I'm so glad you ended up enjoying it :3 And thank you so much for taking the time to play it!

I reckon your game is still the creepiest one I've played so far, hehe. I kinda wish I had managed to get the same sorta level of disturbing into Limbo Line, but it's not even close compared to The Housemate >.< I just really wanted to try my hand at comedy writing while keeping psychological horror in the mix, but I feel like I probably went too far with the comedy and the horror was a little lost in the end, making it more along the lines of comedy x mystery maybe >.< I tried to make certain moments disturbing, but they just don't have that same oomph that you guys have in yours with those really creepy moments!

Like the lights going out and the superbly timed thunder sfx! And those glitchy, freaky expression changes were just *chef's kiss*, haha. Loved em! You guys have definitely inspired me when it comes to properly creepy horror!