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A jam submission

Vivica's HeartView game page

A mask, instructions, and inwards... only blankness.
Submitted by Cerise Makes (@CeriseMakes) — 1 day, 2 hours before the deadline
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Vivica's Heart's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Fun#164.6334.633
Scariness...#314.0004.000
Overall#403.9733.973
Halloweeny?#424.2004.200
Monsterous!#663.8003.800
Candy!!#793.2333.233

Ranked from 30 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Log Line
With no memories and no sense of self, you are brought to a witch’s house deep in the forest. To regain your life, you must break into the house, complete a task... and survive whatever you may find in there.

Content Warnings
Content warnings: For ages 13 and older.

Fairytale typical violence/gore alluded to, but not directly shown and described in a non-graphic way. Reference to trauma-related memory loss and disassociation.
For detailed content warnings, including spoilers, see end of description on game page.

Team Members
Concept & Team Leader • Cerise

Project manager • Windchimes

Co-Writer / Co-Programmer / Extra Art • Cerise

Co-Writer / Editor • Rascal

GUI Programmer / Co-Programmer • Fen

Sprite Artist & Co-Character Designer • Nikki Chai

CG Artist: Epilogue CGs • S.A Welland

CG Artist: MC portrait & menu image • Soluryn

Background Artist • Kristine Santos & Nathaniel Pettey (Waikikired)

Additional backgrounds • Ingthing, Nikki Chai & Cerise

Logo & GUI design • Ingthing

Sound • Edwin Dizer

Voice acting • Tabetha McNeal (the Masked woman), Katabelle Ansari (the Enchanted Mirror) & Rachel Schumacher (the Witch)

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Comments

(+1)

god, so creepy and mysterious, fantastic. 

Developer

Thank you so much! That's definitely the vibe we were going for, so I'm really pleased it worked for you!! ❤

Submitted(+2)

Um… wow… 

That was AMAZING.

Going to try and write this as un-spoilery as I can. But for anyone seeing this wanting to go in blind, yeah, maybe stop reading now :D

Time loop stuff can be so tricky to get right, but oh man, this was borderline perfect. Keeping things simple initially and having lots of little variations to try out and build up the complexity gradually. Having the ‘correct’ path laid out for you so you have a sense of what to do but then that ending really only being the beginning. Having it so one discovery means you can do something else right from the start and change everything. And then working it all into an easy to understand ‘completion list’ so the player has a sense of what to work towards, AND doubling that ‘list’ into a story element… Sublime.

As the player I felt a lot of care was taken to guide me naturally through the experience, yet at the same time allow as much freedom as I wanted to explore. That is a super delicate and amazing balance to be able to achieve. Hats off to you for being able to do so.

This was all just so well conceived, crafted and executed. And considering it was all put together under jam conditions… I’m just in awe. So well done.

And that’s not even to mention how top notch the art, sound and writing all was. Just all so, so good!

Oh and the voice acting. Especially the delivery of the line “I show you truly. Look” ESPECIALLY the ‘Look’. So evocative! That really struck a chord with me.

I feel like I have to come up with at least SOME criticism to balance out all this gushing a bit. The only thing that really comes to mind is that the sprites were not *quite* up to the standard of the CGs. But that is basically nitpicking, and barely a criticism anyway considering what they are being compared to.

I got the ‘B’ ending. But am definitely going to dive back in and dig it all up. Such compelling stuff.

Huge congrats to the whole team on the amazing accomplishment here. Well freakin’ done!

Developer

Hi Lazy Tiger, thank you very much for this! I’ve replied the game-page version of this comment but wanted to thank you here too, and for crossposting. I still get a bit confused where best to post so that was a good solution you came up with, maybe I should start doing likewise.

Btw, I’m really looking forward to playing your submission – I’ve only scratched the surface of the Spooktober games and I feel like a kid in a candystore sometimes, not knowing where to turn next, but I’ve got yours downloaded and ready to go!!!🎉

Submitted(+2)

Well done timeloop tale with nice art and intriguing story

Developer(+1)

Thank you so much, the team worked very hard and I'm glad you enjoyed it!

(+1)

Smart, cleverly designed story that makes really effective use of nonlinear and implicit storytelling. The digital painting is so lush--the backgrounds in particular are gorgeous, some of the best I've seen in this jam. Piecing together the story and figuring out how to get the different endings was very rewarding, and all the design choices, like making the different keys be different gems in the necklace, felt purposefully done to support the narrative. A very engrossing experience.

Developer(+1)

Oh wow thank you so much for this – I admit I do like stories where you have to fill in the gaps a bit yourself, so I’m really happy this worked for you, as I’m never sure how much is too little/too much info!!
I’m glad you enjoyed the art, and thank you for specifically mentioning the backgrounds – the artists had a big job, especially as in a lot of scenes we don’t have any characters present, so I was really grateful for their hard work!!
And btw, I’ve now played your game and it was absolutely WONDERFUL! Once I’ve caught up on replies here I need to leave you a proper comment, but just to say it was super immersive and I’m really looking forward to more!

Loving it so far; how do I actually view the epilogues? I got all the keys and the endings on the necklace appear to be unlocked, but you can't click on them or anything.

Developer

Ah, apologies that this wasn't clear! You need to play through to Main Ending 10 again, after which, if you have epilogues available, they will be offered to you! Also feel free to use the Skip (fastforward) function when replaying to reach 10, though without taking diversions it should hopefully be a fairly quick route!

Thank you also for your kind comment, and please let me know if this works okay! ❤

(+1)

Ah! Gotcha. Thanks.

Submitted(+1)

I thought the collecting of the keys would be tedious at first, but the mechanic to rewind to the previous choice branch made it easy. Well thought!

Developer

Ah I'm sorry, I replied to your gamepage comment and not this one - thank you v much for the feedback! That was a suggestion from an early playtester and although at first I’d wanted to keep the loop the same, our planned word count doubled and it quickly became obvious I needed to work out a quicker mechanic!! I’m glad it worked for you! Also btw, I have now played your game and LOVED it, I need to leave you a proper comment but just to say it was absolutely gorgeous!! ❤

(+3)

I LOVE so much about this game! The music and art are both breathtaking, and the UI is likewise just lovely. All of the different parts work together really well to present a cohesive otherworldly setting that also helps to tell the story.

I initially thought “Oh no, timeloops are going to be confusing” but they really weren't, which was a relief and a testament to the writing. The writing was also fantastic; I could visualize all of the house and how it felt to be walking through it. I feel like I want to know so much more about all of the other characters, so I'm a little sad that we don't get more about MC's past with them even though the whole point is that she doesn't remember. Wonderful voice acting as well!

I shall keep an eye out for other games from this team. Truly fantastic job.

Developer(+1)

Thank you so much for this incredibly kind and thoughtful comment – I’m so happy that you enjoyed the game! I think all of the team members did a great job, so I really appreciate you taking the time to comment on each of these different aspects.

Thank you also for sharing your experiences of the time loop mechanic - it’s really useful to know how it looks to someone with fresh eyes, and I’m glad it was easy to follow! And ah, I’m sorry that we didn’t have time to delve more into the characters stories, but you never know, perhaps one day we might expand the story or revisit this world in some shape or form!?

Feel free to follow here on Itch or on twitter at @cerisemakes for any updates, and thank you again for your support! ❤