I'm in 3 Spooktober games and am in a directing & producing role for 2 of them (I'm the casting & voice director in the 3rd), but when a Velox jam comes a long, I always try to participate when I have time. And so, I made fucking time.
my heart is a city is similar to But You Are in the case that the Velox theme offered an opportunity to explore some feelings I wanted to let out/share in some way. What's depicted in the game and discussed in the description are things that happened to occur during the Velox period; it was only thinking about it in the aftershock that the personal allegory(?) came together. I've been in this cycle for 9 years and I need to stop. I was surprised how many people related to it; it felt (and still feels) like something only I've experienced.
As for A Sunset Never Truly Fades. . . I love giant/tiny shit. Have loved it since I started writing at 6 years old. And I've been thinking more about borrowers thanks to Flori, a borrower VTuber I like (he's your 4-inch tall pocket protector! Isn't that cute?). I thought about what kind of genres borrowers haven't been in, and post-apocalypse came to mind. Then the character appeared, an old witch. Originally, A Sunset was just about Zara and was her story, but when I brought Fray on board, she said that Zara needed someone to bounce off of, and we made Orion--changed the game completely, in a good way. Now it's a game about Orion's journey, learning about her strength and what it means to be a healer. I got the chance to work with some VAs I've wanted to work with for years (Sky & Kaylee of course) so that was very exciting. (I was the VA behind the spirit's whispering, btw. )
If you don't know, there was a bit of a problem getting in on time for the deadline--it turns out you can't submit to a jam a game page you don't own, even if you're an admin on it, so we missed it. Thankfully, talking to robobarbie fixed that right up--very grateful for that. I didn't get to play the game until it was released, and I worry that while the story is good, it doesn't make a good visual novel, so please tell me if I'm wrong on that. I'm scared lol.