amazing amazing AMAZING. i was planning to play through and get all the endings, but i'm so happy with the ending i got (ending 3) that i can't bear the thought of getting a different one.
"I didn't know what to do with myself without someone to perform happiness for."
What a fantastic game. I was wary at first of the concept, thinking the demon represented something that he actually didn't in the end, and after seeing all of the endings and sticking with the one where he stays, I gotta say this was a lot more emotional and impactful for me than I expected. It got me teary eyed at the end.
Willow is relatable despite how short the game is, and so is Ella, even if she's not the greatest friend, I can totally buy her as a character. And of course, pretty much every scene between Willow and Haze was great, very tightly written as a whole.
I love this game a lot, and I'm sure it'll stay with me. Thank you so much for writing it <3
This is a beautiful game. I've never been in this kind of situation, of having to choose between two relationships I care about so much yet can't co-exist, but I can imagine it happening. I don't know what the 'right' answer is for how to handle it, and maybe there isn't one! I like that the protagonists choices reflect my own thought process there. None of the ways forward seem like the right answer, and that complexity feels realistic. That said... ending 3 feels like the best outcome to us. It was the first one I got, and it just feels so honest to the protagonists feelings. If there's no 'right' answer, then perhaps the 'best' answer would be what feels the most true?
Okay and also being a monsterlover rules, which definitely influences my opinion, hehe.
I also want to say, we relate to the framing of this story as a plural system. The way the demon is, the protagonists relationship with them, and the fear of rejection from others for something so "impossible" and "wrong" resonates strongly with us. We're very open about being a system, because we can't handle existing otherwise, but we still have a lot of fears about how people can react. The protagonists desire to show Ella the demon feels like our own need to be open about being a system. The combination of relief and anxiety she feels about planning it is so much like how we feel about telling new people about our existence. (Spoiler for the game: thankfully, in real life, nobody has run away in terror from us or demanded we stop being who we are).
I know from a previous comment you've made that this game isn't an intentional depiction of plurality, but we wanted to share how good it feels to us to interpret it with such a perspective :)
I really enjoyed this. I kinda wish we ever found out what's Ella's deal, but even without that, I really loved it. It's quiet, poignant and just very beautiful. I got ending 3 first because I'm a monsterlover, lol.
Thank you! In an earlier version of the script there was more Ella content, but there wasn't enough time to focus on her during the month-long jam that this game was made for. :') I think of her as someone who is very dissatisfied with her own life, and unfortunately that dissatisfaction seeps out sometimes and affects her relationships negatively. I think she genuinely wants to be a good person and a good friend, but in her current state she struggles.
I got ending 3, and I thoroughly enjoyed the game! Everything from the music, to the writing, and especially the art style. Thank you for creating this and sharing it with us.
What a beautifully depicted story, I'm so glad I got to spend the time to go through it! The change in tone in ending three to be more hopeful than the rest was really wonderful and uplifting.
Hello! This looks very intriguing. I hope I'm not troubling you, and I hope this doesn't seem like a silly or an inappropriate question. We're a plural system and this game looks very intriguing, at first glance. A protagonist whose "demons" have manifested to the point of this external one just being there, just being this presence that she's used to now, that she talks to regularly... well. As a system, we can relate to the rough general concept of that, of a lot of my issues and broken-off shards of my soul becoming their own entities that I just kind of hang out with and play video games together with at this point.
That said, we have to be careful, because plurality, inner demons, etc. are topics that are handled... in a very upsetting way for us, a lot of the time, in most media. So many games, movies, etc. out there seek to paint the demon/other personality/etc. as a tormentor, a malevolent influencer, the cause of the protagonist's troubles. Something to "grow up" and move on from, like an imaginary friend, at best, or even something to actively oppose and fight and defeat and banish at worst. Stories where headmates are friends (or even lovers..?) are extremely rare. And as a system, it hurts us when some of us see ourselves in entities like this demon, only to be treated like villains and/or cast aside in the end by the narrative when we actually sit down to play. We are a team, a family, and we seek more representation of that. We don't mind if the relationship is turbulent at first (goodness knows we ourselves have been through a lot of adversarial... not getting along, before we finally learned to work together) but we at least want there to be a happy ending in that regard.
We're not asking for spoilers of specific plot beats or anything like that... if this game is a good one for us, then we'll of course want to play it unspoiled as possible and really experience the story. And this one really looks interesting! Without having played it yet, the art style in the preview images is gorgeous, and the premise definitely catches our attention. But we just want to know, if it's not too much trouble to ask (again, apologies for bothering you if so!) Based on our sensitivities, do you think this is the kind of game we should play, or the kind of game we should avoid? Without giving away the details, does this game have a happy ending for people like us (even if it's just one of the possible endings, and even if there's bad stuff to work through along the way--just so long as there's some sort of way we can feel validated in the end or at least an end?) We just want the protag and her demon to hug is that so wrong
Hi! I assure you you're not bothering me at all, in fact, I'm glad you asked these questions before playing the game. Unfortunately I'm not too familiar with the topic of plural systems, but hopefully this reply will help you decide whether this is a good game for you to play or not.
The game does not feature any intentional depictions of plural systems. I can totally see why some might interpret the characters that way, though. The exact nature and origin of the demon is intentionally ambiguous, and a bit of a spoiler, so I won't explain it here, but I certainly can if you'd like me to! I can say that I personally view the protagonist and the demon as completely separate entities from each other. Both have their own body and mind.
You asked about endings, and about how the demon character is treated. There are three endings. Some are sad, some happy. What all three endings have in common is that the protagonist never, ever sees the demon as evil. Other characters do, but the protagonist never does. I consider the two of them to be very much on the same team, as you put it, no matter what choices you make during the story. I should warn you that some of the endings do involve separation, and those paths were upsetting for me to write, so I imagine they may be upsetting to read, as well. But there IS a happy ending, and I have a feeling you'd find it easily.
I'm not sure how much more I can say without spoiling everything, but I want to reassure you that I find the demon character highly sympathetic and relatable, and I think that comes through in my writing. They are not an enemy.
Hope that helps! If there's anything else you'd like to know, please ask, I know my answers were quite vague since I was trying to avoid spoilers. And if you do end up playing the game, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
What a beautifully written and illustrated story! I purchased the Queer Games Bundle in part because I wanted this particular game as it looked like it would be a good one, and my expectations were exceeded! Thank you for creating this.
Yeeeaah she's not the best. I don't think she's a bad person, necessarily, but she certainly has her own problems that she isn't dealing with very well. I hope ending 3 made up for it!
Hi! Found your game on the recommended page and I must say, I liked its story and art! I would like to ask, if you're interested in adding a Russian translation to your game. I do them as a hobby, and I would like to make them for your game/games! If you would like that, please, let me know, if there is another way of contacting you, so we could discuss everything there. Hope to hear from you, and have a nice day!
What a heavy read. Not that it's a bad thing though. The art was lovely and the music very fitting....quite an experience, well done! :)
Here's my little no-commentary-no-facecam version (I thought about doing the whole thing in one sitting but I had to break it apart because heavy themes are heavy...):
Look, I just have to thank you this game improved my night, even though English is not my primary language I managed to understand it very well, your writing is incredible and the way you show your friendship to mc with your friend and her sadness, me too I felt bad just like her when I heard about the bad performance at work, I just have to thank you, I hope to see more chapters or other games with the same style
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amazing amazing AMAZING. i was planning to play through and get all the endings, but i'm so happy with the ending i got (ending 3) that i can't bear the thought of getting a different one.
very touching.
Thank you! I'm glad the ending resonated with you. :)
Lovingly crafted, bittersweet tale. Short, but very memorable. Hits a lot of thoughts and memories for me -- but maybe that's a good thing.
Thank you so much! I'm glad the game was a good experience.
"I didn't know what to do with myself without someone to perform happiness for."
What a fantastic game. I was wary at first of the concept, thinking the demon represented something that he actually didn't in the end, and after seeing all of the endings and sticking with the one where he stays, I gotta say this was a lot more emotional and impactful for me than I expected. It got me teary eyed at the end.
Willow is relatable despite how short the game is, and so is Ella, even if she's not the greatest friend, I can totally buy her as a character. And of course, pretty much every scene between Willow and Haze was great, very tightly written as a whole.
I love this game a lot, and I'm sure it'll stay with me. Thank you so much for writing it <3
Hello! Where can I contact you?
Hi! There's a link to my twitter in my profile, same username as here. You can send a private message there!
Thank you for your interest, but I'm currently not open to translations. Good luck with your other projects!
This is a beautiful game. I've never been in this kind of situation, of having to choose between two relationships I care about so much yet can't co-exist, but I can imagine it happening. I don't know what the 'right' answer is for how to handle it, and maybe there isn't one! I like that the protagonists choices reflect my own thought process there. None of the ways forward seem like the right answer, and that complexity feels realistic. That said... ending 3 feels like the best outcome to us. It was the first one I got, and it just feels so honest to the protagonists feelings. If there's no 'right' answer, then perhaps the 'best' answer would be what feels the most true?
Okay and also being a monsterlover rules, which definitely influences my opinion, hehe.
I also want to say, we relate to the framing of this story as a plural system. The way the demon is, the protagonists relationship with them, and the fear of rejection from others for something so "impossible" and "wrong" resonates strongly with us. We're very open about being a system, because we can't handle existing otherwise, but we still have a lot of fears about how people can react. The protagonists desire to show Ella the demon feels like our own need to be open about being a system. The combination of relief and anxiety she feels about planning it is so much like how we feel about telling new people about our existence. (Spoiler for the game: thankfully, in real life, nobody has run away in terror from us or demanded we stop being who we are).
I know from a previous comment you've made that this game isn't an intentional depiction of plurality, but we wanted to share how good it feels to us to interpret it with such a perspective :)
I really enjoyed this. I kinda wish we ever found out what's Ella's deal, but even without that, I really loved it. It's quiet, poignant and just very beautiful. I got ending 3 first because I'm a monsterlover, lol.
Thank you! In an earlier version of the script there was more Ella content, but there wasn't enough time to focus on her during the month-long jam that this game was made for. :') I think of her as someone who is very dissatisfied with her own life, and unfortunately that dissatisfaction seeps out sometimes and affects her relationships negatively. I think she genuinely wants to be a good person and a good friend, but in her current state she struggles.
I got ending 3, and I thoroughly enjoyed the game! Everything from the music, to the writing, and especially the art style. Thank you for creating this and sharing it with us.
Thank you for playing it! :)
What a beautifully depicted story, I'm so glad I got to spend the time to go through it! The change in tone in ending three to be more hopeful than the rest was really wonderful and uplifting.
Thank you for the lovely comment! I'm glad you found it uplifting, I did too.
Hello! This looks very intriguing. I hope I'm not troubling you, and I hope this doesn't seem like a silly or an inappropriate question. We're a plural system and this game looks very intriguing, at first glance. A protagonist whose "demons" have manifested to the point of this external one just being there, just being this presence that she's used to now, that she talks to regularly... well. As a system, we can relate to the rough general concept of that, of a lot of my issues and broken-off shards of my soul becoming their own entities that I just kind of hang out with and play video games together with at this point.
That said, we have to be careful, because plurality, inner demons, etc. are topics that are handled... in a very upsetting way for us, a lot of the time, in most media. So many games, movies, etc. out there seek to paint the demon/other personality/etc. as a tormentor, a malevolent influencer, the cause of the protagonist's troubles. Something to "grow up" and move on from, like an imaginary friend, at best, or even something to actively oppose and fight and defeat and banish at worst. Stories where headmates are friends (or even lovers..?) are extremely rare. And as a system, it hurts us when some of us see ourselves in entities like this demon, only to be treated like villains and/or cast aside in the end by the narrative when we actually sit down to play. We are a team, a family, and we seek more representation of that. We don't mind if the relationship is turbulent at first (goodness knows we ourselves have been through a lot of adversarial... not getting along, before we finally learned to work together) but we at least want there to be a happy ending in that regard.
We're not asking for spoilers of specific plot beats or anything like that... if this game is a good one for us, then we'll of course want to play it unspoiled as possible and really experience the story. And this one really looks interesting! Without having played it yet, the art style in the preview images is gorgeous, and the premise definitely catches our attention. But we just want to know, if it's not too much trouble to ask (again, apologies for bothering you if so!) Based on our sensitivities, do you think this is the kind of game we should play, or the kind of game we should avoid? Without giving away the details, does this game have a happy ending for people like us (even if it's just one of the possible endings, and even if there's bad stuff to work through along the way--just so long as there's some sort of way we can feel validated in the end or at least an end?)
We just want the protag and her demon to hug is that so wrongThank you so much for your time!
Hi! I assure you you're not bothering me at all, in fact, I'm glad you asked these questions before playing the game. Unfortunately I'm not too familiar with the topic of plural systems, but hopefully this reply will help you decide whether this is a good game for you to play or not.
The game does not feature any intentional depictions of plural systems. I can totally see why some might interpret the characters that way, though. The exact nature and origin of the demon is intentionally ambiguous, and a bit of a spoiler, so I won't explain it here, but I certainly can if you'd like me to! I can say that I personally view the protagonist and the demon as completely separate entities from each other. Both have their own body and mind.
You asked about endings, and about how the demon character is treated. There are three endings. Some are sad, some happy. What all three endings have in common is that the protagonist never, ever sees the demon as evil. Other characters do, but the protagonist never does. I consider the two of them to be very much on the same team, as you put it, no matter what choices you make during the story. I should warn you that some of the endings do involve separation, and those paths were upsetting for me to write, so I imagine they may be upsetting to read, as well. But there IS a happy ending, and I have a feeling you'd find it easily.
I'm not sure how much more I can say without spoiling everything, but I want to reassure you that I find the demon character highly sympathetic and relatable, and I think that comes through in my writing. They are not an enemy.
Hope that helps! If there's anything else you'd like to know, please ask, I know my answers were quite vague since I was trying to avoid spoilers. And if you do end up playing the game, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
What a beautifully written and illustrated story! I purchased the Queer Games Bundle in part because I wanted this particular game as it looked like it would be a good one, and my expectations were exceeded! Thank you for creating this.
Thank you! What a kind thing to say. I'm glad you enjoyed the game even more than you thought you would!
Wasn't enthusiastic about the red haired girl. Telling someone that they'll be alone forever if they don't trust you... is a terrible thing to do.
I really liked ending 3, it was very beautiful.
Yeeeaah she's not the best. I don't think she's a bad person, necessarily, but she certainly has her own problems that she isn't dealing with very well. I hope ending 3 made up for it!
i have only found the 3 ending and i am in tears its amazing and emotional
Hi! Found your game on the recommended page and I must say, I liked its story and art!
I would like to ask, if you're interested in adding a Russian translation to your game. I do them as a hobby, and I would like to make them for your game/games!
If you would like that, please, let me know, if there is another way of contacting you, so we could discuss everything there.
Hope to hear from you, and have a nice day!
Thank you for the kind offer, but currently I'm not open to translations. I wish you luck on other projects!
What a heavy read. Not that it's a bad thing though. The art was lovely and the music very fitting....quite an experience, well done! :)
Here's my little no-commentary-no-facecam version (I thought about doing the whole thing in one sitting but I had to break it apart because heavy themes are heavy...):
Look, I just have to thank you this game improved my night, even though English is not my primary language I managed to understand it very well, your writing is incredible and the way you show your friendship to mc with your friend and her sadness, me too I felt bad just like her when I heard about the bad performance at work, I just have to thank you, I hope to see more chapters or other games with the same style
Aw, thank you for the thoughtful comment! Good to hear you enjoyed the story, that makes me happy.