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Gamble of a Lifetime's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Concept | #1 | 4.407 | 4.407 |
| Story / Writing | #4 | 4.333 | 4.333 |
| Overall | #8 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Visuals | #10 | 4.074 | 4.074 |
| Gameplay | #12 | 3.370 | 3.370 |
| Balance (Challenge and Fairness) | #12 | 3.074 | 3.074 |
| Audio / Music | #23 | 3.037 | 3.037 |
| Use of LGBTQ+ Themes | #24 | 2.963 | 2.963 |
Ranked from 27 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Team Members
AngryCow, junejijo, Jackyyeah, Hippppo, camellia, them3ds, Mollyco, Rosedelio, misabiko, Jade, Carnel, Rose, Akira
Streaming Permission
Yes
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Comments
This has one of the most unique concepts that I've ever seen. The storytelling has a lot of personality!
The visuals are also quite nice! Character art is fun to look at. Backgrounds are simple and don't overtake character portraits, game text, or stats, while music is placed to fit all of the events and scenarios well.
The game's overarching scenario seeming unclear at first integrated into the writing really nicely. It becomes clear over time, without any immediate sucker punches in the game's choices - although I was so curious about it that I ended up finding Ending #3 before either other one. ^.^;After getting the main endings and reaching Ending #2 (good theme integration here!), I noticed that I had never played an oni or kappa in 20 lifetimes. It led me to wonder if I was supposed to get those as well. Otherwise, the endings added a lot to the already captivating writing.
Overall, it's an amazing story with some amazing writing start to finish. Your team did excellent work on this game, so thank you for making this! It's easily one of my favorites!Thanks for playing our game! You are not the first to find Ending #3 first. A bug prevented it from being available in the jam version, but maybe we made the conditions too easy after fixing it. In the original design we were going to have oni and kappa lives as well, but they had to be cut due to the usual jam time constraints.
I played the jam version and even without the implementation of final graphics and presentation this is still captivating on its own. I think that's a testament to how good the writing is.
I was looking forward so much for this one and I was really happy to finally play it n.n! Getting through the two first endings was so intriguing. Finding out what happened if I choose different paths and discovering new scenarios. When I thought things were going to be sort of the same. Then, the overarching narrative started appearing which truly grabbed my attention and I wanted to know more about what was going on and it was very lovely and charming.
However, once the game was "done", I sort of ruined the game for me since I really wanted to discover the other two endings and I tried to reverse engineer how the decisions had an impact. Mostly because I was given Tengu and Human for the most part and I was given Youkai around three times which sparked my curiosity and I never knew if you could be a Kappa or an Oni from what the game implied. So I tried as many decisions as I could but I still was getting the same results. I also didn't have any music, playing on chrome, firefox or by downloading the game :*)
My Favorite Part: The concept of the game is amazing and it can be expanded so much and with so many adventures which I would love to see if that's the case. It has a lot of replay value (As long as the game is clear in letting the player know how their decisions are having an impact, perhabs 🤔) At the end of the day, Gensokyo is sort of my dream world so it's kind of Gensokyo Simulator, which I adore hahahaha
Thanks for playing!
The music is a known bug we're hoping to patch tonight, so please look forward to that. I'm glad even despite some of the flaws, you were able to enjoy what we had to offer!
i can't handle this game well enough to see it to the end... It's the love and life things and how long it can be played, it's so grand to my mind. But it's great still.
- I'm not sure if the "rerolling" of cards is even intended. Almost all the time, when the background isn't shaded black and when there's an event card on screen, I can just click on the dialog window to show another card. At least I can say "I have control of my life" *laughing tracks*
- But I finally found the one part where the game hardlocks. No choice card showing up, all I could do was returning to main menu.
Hardlocked at the thought of getting a job? Very relatable! *laughing tracks*
- Also music didn't play for my first playthrough. Which lasted 70 minutes and I don't have much more energy to play the game to hear the tracks x.x
- Now for the praises I give:Lots of writing! Lots of scenarios! The main plot is interesting too. The dramatic stories, the chance encounters, the life turns. So insightful it feels precious.
This kind of game isn't quite my cup of tea but I'm sure many people who like novels will really like this one.Art, just looks very good, with a soft-looking, almost traditional-media style.
P.S.: (My favorite part was when you spawn as a youkai, and you don't call for the distant person, which makes you just die.)
Thanks as always for some wonderful analysis!
We're aware of the reshuffle bug and some other issues with event cards not quite working right (especially in Tengu route) and are trying our best to fix them.
The music *should* be working and it works on our file so I'm not sure why it isn't displaying for you but we'll look at that too.
Glad you were able to have a rewarding time either way!
I got ending 2 and have to say I really enjoyed both the concept of this game and the execution. It does everything it needs to all while managing the limited resources one week provides. The random event deck system for life events and the meta narrative across lives is great. I wish it was more intense on queer themes being a pride jam entry, but I recognize an exploration of life itself requires a more subtle approach, from my adventures as a tengu in a doomed relationship with kosuzu leading to my death, to my platonic life long friendship with yuuka, to many other tales. Good shit.
Amazing. Reminds me of so many old CYOA flash games I used to play, and I love the framing of the story.
I only managed to really finish the Sekibanki romance, but it was great. Didn't find the third ending!