Spooktober 4th Annual Visual Novel Jam

Hosted by Stella @ MakeVisualNovels, Crystal Game Works · #SpooktoberVNJam

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A jam submission

Yokai Detective KouView game page

A Yokai Detective and a Ghost team up to spread the ghost's legend.

Submitted by Secretmapper (@Secretmapper), Blink, FordAudioDesign (@FordAudioDesign), Maple (@maple2vn), mariiimallow, Pende (@mhkgnng_Pende), clericlich — 1 day, 7 hours before the deadline

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Yokai Detective Kou's itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
Halloweeny?	#35	4.286	4.286
Candy!!	#48	3.500	3.500
Overall	#48	3.871	3.871
Scariness...	#48	3.786	3.786
Monsterous!	#68	3.786	3.786
Fun	#72	4.000	4.000

Ranked from 14 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Log Line
When Kou, a Yokai "Detective" summons Sada, a ghost from the tv, he has to team up with her to spread her legend or else he'll lose his soul.

Content Warnings
Very light mention of bullying
One heavily telegraphed "Jumpscare"

Team Members
CAST

Sada - Lauren Kong (@laurenk_va)
Kou - Anthony B Perez (@AnthonyBPerezVA)
Nana - Brooke Johnson (@BrookeJohnsonVO)
Fran - Brooke Johnson (@BrookeJohnsonVO)
Business Man - Noah Lanier

TEAM

Art, BG, CG, Program - Blink
Cinematography, Program, Scenario - Secretmapper
Music - FordAudioDesign
Art, BG - jaacked
Scenario - Maple
Scenario - Noah Lanier
Editing and Proofreading - mariiimallow
Program - Cleric
Program - Pende
Additional Art - Jennie__889

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Comments

Sortros PhoresiaSubmitted2 years ago

surely one of the most beautiful games of this gamejam, the art is wonderful!

the designs and the personality of each character makes me feel like watching a slice o life anime, and that's great!

the story is very nice to read too, I love it!

Submitted

lazytigerSubmitted2 years ago

Love how the VCR theme is worked into the menus. Very effective. I liked how 'quit' was 'eject'. Some really nice touches there. The parts of the game that had the VHS animation made my laptop absolutely tank though. Felt like it was hitting sub 10fps. But that it most likely a me problem rather than the game.

The voice acting was so good! Particularly liked Sada. Lots of expression and great delivery. Feels like it needs a bit more of a pause between the lines though. They run into each other a little when it's on auto. And it's a shame it's not all the way through. But I'm assuming it's just a victim of the game jam deadline. So completely understandable.

The the intermissions were a nice touch. Helped break things up in a stylish way.

I loved the Eminem/Hamilton mashup reference. That was awesome. And the humour in general was pretty good and was balanced nicely with the spookiness.

I was legit lulled into thinking it was going to be left as a sad ending. But huzzah! I liked the way the twist was presented just before the abrupt finish. And then post credits reveal topped it all off. Very nicely done.

All in all, great stuff! Congrats to the team!

Submitted

Waterborne: Immersion

Drone Garden StudiosSubmitted2 years ago

For some reason, the game's window was cropped weird and I had trouble playing. I did like what I saw, though; very nice art and music!

SecretmapperDeveloper2 years ago

Ah that's quite unfortunate!

If you have the chance to try again, I think I may have a solution. I think the game is quite big, and so it might looked cropped if you start it. However, you can resize the window (from the sides) and windows should snap and center it, so it doesn't look cropped anymore. Let me know if that helps! Will look into solving this issue at first start as well.

Drone Garden StudiosSubmitted2 years ago

I tried resizing it but I never had the option to click the edges of the windows. It's bizarre.

BlinkDeveloper2 years ago(+1)

Hiya! Are you using windows? We've updated the windows build on the game page and solved the issue. Do you mind checking if the issue still persists? Thanks!

Drone Garden StudiosSubmitted2 years ago(+1)

Yes, that fixed it. Thanks, it works perfectly now!

G.C. Katz2 years ago

This is so cinematic, it really feels like a film-like experience. I love the shibe character, and it's a funny, lighthearted take on a bunch of old tropes. I hope you'll eventually be able to add the rest of the voice acting at some point.

SecretmapperDeveloper2 years ago

Thank you very much for the kind words! Glad you liked our cute dog :D We're pleased to say we are indeed planning to add full VA work for the piece :)

G.C. Katz2 years ago

I'll be looking forward to hearing the dog's voice especially! And be sure to check out my game as well: https://itch.io/jam/spooktober-vn-jam-2022/rate/1690696

belleinpastelSubmitted2 years ago(+1)

One of my favorite games from the jam so far. The story, art, and characters are so GOOD!! Like Melancholy Marionette said, it really had the feel of watching an anime (the voice acting really helped). I hope to see more stuff from you guys in the future! :D

Submitted

One Final Moment of Clarity

SecretmapperDeveloper2 years ago

Thank you very much for the kind words :) We really did want to make it "feel" like watching a show so I'm glad to know we achieved that!

Melancholy MarionetteSubmitted2 years ago (1 edit) (+2)

This was so adorable :3 Heck, I actually kinda forgot I was reading a VN cos it felt so much like watching an anime movie it was such a treat for the eyes ^-^ I think those cheeky loading screens probably had something to do with that, haha. That was such a nice touch.

The voice acting was so gooood ^-^ And it was extra entertaining to hear Lauren playing a character with a personality that was virtually the opposite of the character she played in our project, haha. Such versatile talent!

My only wish would be for full voice acting because I'm greedy x3 but with the length that it is, it's totally understandable that it's partially voiced.

Congrats to the whole team on an epic job anyhow... now, get your butts to work on the animated movie release :P chop chop! I wanna see it available on Netflix by the end of 2023 :3

Submitted

The Graveyard Shift

Ei KitaraSubmitted2 years ago(+1)

Very cute. Super kawaii. MEGA KAWAII!! Great job making this cute cute cute story! AHHHHHHHH <3

SPOILER: A cute megane youkai and shiba inugami combo, plus a cute supportive imouto. TRIPLE DAMAGE! I was like, "Huh, is it Sadako?! Is it Sada-ko?! IT'S LITERAL SADA-KOU!!!!!!!!"

I like the story, so heartwarming, I smiled like crazy fufufufufu~

The voice actors/actresses did good job voicing them! Maybe if there is an autoplay button so the game play itself can make it even perfect ;)

The only thing that bother me is why there is a small history button on the right corner when there is already more visible history button on the bottom? Maybe it was just Godot ... idk about it because I use Ren'Py. And can you make the history text more bigger? I almost can't read them because how tiny it was (sometime I just missed a line or two, so it'll be very helpful).

Submitted

TheChosenGiraffe2 years ago(+1)

I am a huge fan of yokai. I thought this game brought a fun and unique look of mashing yokai and detectives together. I also really enjoyed the voice acting!