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So, this Vampire Walks into a Bar's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Gameplay | #1 | 4.353 | 4.353 |
| Theme | #1 | 4.471 | 4.471 |
| Creativity | #1 | 4.706 | 4.706 |
| Story | #1 | 4.765 | 4.765 |
| Overall | #1 | 4.373 | 4.373 |
| Presentation | #2 | 4.706 | 4.706 |
| Horror | #5 | 3.235 | 3.235 |
Ranked from 22 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How did you choose to implement the Theme: Thirst for Blood in your game?
We implemented the theme quite literally. As a bar whose primary clientele are the paranormal, we make a drink for a customer thirsting for blood. We built the rest of the game around that idea.
Did you implement any of the optional Bonus Challenges, and if so, which ones?
We incorporated Bonus Challenges 1 and 3. The first customer we serve in our game is a vampire who is out for blood, which is a major ingredient in the drinks we make.
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Comments
Funny enough, me and my team were thinking of doing a similar concept although none of us are artists so that wouldn't have turned out well. I think the idea is solid, but the way the game is made right now could probably use some polish in regards to general accessibility. Namely, being able to go through text faster, more blatant feedback from putting in a ingredient into the drink, and a recipe book of some kind. I had a scenario happen where I reloaded my browser before a checkpoint happened so I had to go through the whole segment again, which felt really slow when the dialogue progressed slowly. If you could implement a constant save feature like other VNs, that could help a lot. There's a lot of good work done here, just need to add some QoL stuff and it'd be amazing
I was actually pretty scared, having got a brutal bad ending! Well done making a visual novel that made me feel creeped out!
Anyway, I really enjoyed the game and was most impressed by how polished it was. The story was full and contained, the characters were interesting (shall I say....fleshed out, pun intended?), and, biggest for me that despite the staggering amount of dialogue and narration .... THERE WERE NO TYPOS OR SPELLING ERRORS??? This could be a first for a VN!
Also I think the music worked really well to set the mood.
I too had to look up how to make a martini, but honestly it made me kind of nostalgic for the more draconian gaming of yesteryear. If you leaned more into the "hey, just google it" aspect of the game, it might actually be kind of cool, like a shtick. I think that having to go and learn something real for your game provided a unique experience.
One thought: I kind of wish there was a lil pouring animation to go along with the mixology minigame. Like, if you hover a bottle over the mixing bowl, you get to see it tip over (just a rotate animation) indicating you are about to add something.
About the sound: some of it is a little loud. But I really liked all the little sounds of mixing the drinks! Can you put in that cool sound that corks make coming out of wine bottles? That'd be peak ASMR. Also I really enjoyed Frankie's "MMMMMMM!!!!!" sound. I found it humorous. :)
I hope to play the extended version of this in the future. I felt like I got a chance to like these characters, but with a little more time I could really fall in love with them!
This was a great game, even if a bit light on horror. Definitely one of the best in this jam!
This was a really fun game. I didn't finish it, but it was a very unique Visual Novel.
Oh? This isn't a demo? This game deserves a lot and its "episodic" progression gives it the potential for great longevity!
[Spoilers]
I loved how true the “look at your customer to understand what to do (and what to avoid)” was. Not so much with Livia, whose nature is quite obvious, but with Frankie: Jackie says "How was I supposed to know that he was afraid of fire?" but, once you find out that he's the (son of) Frankenstine's monster, it becomes obvious and brilliant!
Yes, obviously I say this because I didn't understand it. And because I kept getting bad ends because I kept setting things on fire on purpose. Except with Livia, she seemed already quite exhausted.
I'm proud to say that I got the martini combination right
(and then I set it on fire)because, in the cocktail tutorial, I accidentally did it and the protagonist makes a comment about it. Great way to hint at how to make a martini, but maybe yes, I agree with those who suggest that maybe it's better to put something in-game in case you don't get it at the beginning.For the rest, the fact that the scariest "monster" is the only human is obvious but very effective. Him being a psychopathic stalker added to the horror factor – And I loved that, in the good ending, Jackie looked at him with absolute contempt, without fear.
As can be guessed, although Livia's part is undoubtedly well done, the title is dedicated to her and this jam is vampire themed, in reality it was everything else that got me truly involved. This isn't a criticism, on the contrary, it's just to reiterate how good this story and these characters are!
(Just one question: I caught all the onomastic references, but who does "Livia" refer to?)
[/End Spoilers]
In conclusion, congratulations indeed!
Thanks for your detailed and thoughtful review! This is our first game jam, and we wanted to push ourselves to make something that could be viewed as a finished product. So yes, while it's actually a demo for a longer, more in-depth game, we wanted people to rate it as a full game. Maybe next time we will do it differently.
We are working on revamping the mixology minigame and the recipes to make it both easier to understand and more flexible, so thanks for helping us with your feedback.
I picked the name Livia based on the ancient Roman empress Livia Drusilla (Augustus' wife.) There is no specific connection to vampires, other than I was originally planning to name her Drusilla, but that's a vampire's name in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I didn't want to rip it off! Haha
The current plan is to finish the game with more customers and continue the overarching plot with new details and mysteries. Thanks again for your thoughts!
Very round game, art, story, music and the mixology mechanic. Fun and very pro. Quite a gaming experience. Congrats!
Mixology games are always fun. It's nice to see the MC turn from a what-not-to-do-at-an-interview example into someone more confident.
The only part that tripped me up was the martini, cause I legit didn't know what a martini was made of before I played this game. I ended up having to google what its components are.
Do you think adding a recipe book or some hints would be something you’d want to see in a later release?
I think a recipe book may be too direct or upfront. In theory, I would believe that a player's choice should somehow impact whether they would have info that helps them later in the game. To that end, maybe an NPC could drop a random hint on how something like a martini is made of, and it would be up to the player to decide whether that was information they would need or not. Or maybe Frank only has one recipe book and the pages are strewn about in random obscure places in the bar, which the player will have to look for.
You make a good point. We do want to have some challenge to the mixology game or there's no point in including it! I'm liking the idea that the recipe book could be lost, damaged, or incomplete. Thanks!
Yesss I got the good end! Fun story and great presentation!
Stellar game you made right here. Though in terms of an actual horror game it only sorta of falls flat in terms of being scary. I really did like the game though, and I had fun exploring the mixology involved in this game. However, I was completely unsure if I should've made a Vodka Martini or not.
Thanks for the feedback! We figured we’d have to take a hit on the “horror” score once we saw where the story was taking us. C’est la vie!
The game will accept a vodka martini!
Ah I see, I was messing around to see if I could do my own spin on the Martini and after that failed, I simply played it safe.
As the resident Craft Cocktail nerd at Unlucky Planet, please hit me up for any and all questions about hobbiest mixology.
Or just get your hands on a copy of "Imbibe!" by David Wondrich. It sparked my journey and is a fantastic resource and history book.
Got it. Thanks for the tip.
I loved the story, dialogue, visuals, animation, music, mixology mini games…the whole thing! It was funny and well written, and pulled on monster tropes in a novel way.
Awesome work on this game! Really fun concept and the art fits so well! The narrative is super strong and interesting to uncover.
This is such a cute and fun game, I had a blast making the drinks! The art is really nice and sells the vibe well, the dialogue is pretty solid and sells some fun characters while also allowing world building. Livia was also really cool looking, and I loved her story being just a rough day, but I'd like to know more about herself and not just her vampirism.
The gameplay of making different drinks is fun, and I absolutely loved Frankie's grumble in the game. Having actual proper drinks you could make (I.E. "Bloody Bloody Mary") is super cool, but didn't seem to affect the immediate ending route I got. Like with Outerlimits that I was also sad when the game ended, I could really enjoy a longer version with more customers and story development between Jackie and their old boss, as well as I just like Frankie he's so interesting and nice.
On an additional note, congrats on your first game together! It really plays well and is a blast.
Thank you for your kind review! We plan to expand the game and take a lot of this into account. A lot was cut in the time crunch, and we had to learn how to build the mixology minigame which meant keeping it pretty simple. But now that we know what we're doing, the framework is there to add more interesting drinks, new characters, and new story outcomes!
The characters look awesome. I am having a fun time playing this game. I need to go back and try the garlic olives :3
I really like the character design of Livia and the aesthetics/music of the bar. The dialogue could be a little less obnoxious, but maybe I'm just not a Jackie kind of personality.
Fun game! I enjoyed the mechanics and sounds. Very satisfying. I loved mixing the drinks, and the the story and characters were entertaining. I was sad when the game ended. It would be cool to have a longer version with other monsters coming in and you making the "usual" for them based on their appearance. I was disappointed cuz I couldn't make a ghost a drink!