Cannot BELIEVE I didn't play this sooner, it was such a lovely epistolary journey through the start of these two characters' relationship! I absolutely loved the ability to read between the lines of their respective letters through seeing the shifts in their expressions. There was such great humour throughout, and I felt I got to know Harold and Hawley so much better through this game! Encore 👏👏
Ahhh, I'm thrilled that you had a good time with it! The bulk of this text was originally written when I was trying to write Lead Into Gold/Serialized Killer as a NaNoWriMo project, and I had these letters scattered between chapters, so that they were filling in the blanks of the main narrative, as the story progressed.
But I'm sure you know how it is when you're writing prose; sometimes the desire to see sprites on screen is just too much! And I found myself really pulled between how I wanted each letter to be read, and which character's perspective I wanted to lean into. The letter-sliding mechanic came from that pure greed to have it both ways. VNs are so wonderful when you're a greedy writer; you get to have multiple tracks and endings and all the intimate character social interactions you want during dialogue. ^U^
this was a delightful little romp through the early lives of two fascinating original characters that I'm excited to see more of someday. I plan to recommend it to everyone who's new to the visual novel format as a way of getting started with a shorter story
Thank you so much! Writing for these two is such a joy, and I would be delighted if they could function as good ambassadors for visual novels in general. ^u^
Thank you! I was hoping that that section would be a little tense, haha, I didn't want this game to be like, a horror game, but sometimes a little bit of fear makes the fluff land better later. :3
This was a really neat experience to play through! The mechanic showing the reactions to the letters was very cute and it was nice to revisit the characters after playing The Case of the Serialised Killer and getting to know a little bit more about their backstory.
And Hawley sure did find out what Harry sounds like after three drinks but maybe not in the intended way
I really like this visual novel so far, cute characters and a very strong visual style. However, I only have a touchpad and I have no Page Up button on my keyboard. Both dragging the stamp and scrolling back through the letter are pretty difficult. Please consider adding some common hotkeys!
Harold Ludicael and Hawley Faraday! Stars of the epistolary visual novel!
"You write like a gentleman, but there is something wild in your way of thinking."
"It is a wondrous thing, to hold a secret in one's heart, and, without uttering it, to hear it reflected back through the words of another."
I LOVE both of their reactions to "...the one I wish to unravel is that of your preferences." and "You great and incomprehensible ass, Of course I will forgive you." HAHAHA
"my surgical duties include regularly dislodging your head from your posterior."
"I myself" ... "have a friend" GOD I felt that
THE REVEALLLLLL 1st of MID-WINTER 1905 OGH MY GOD AWW THE UPDATED TITLE SCREEN TOO :'))
And it was all a prequel!! Awesome, love it. I was so interested in the supernatural lore. Well, supernabiological. Fantastic work, I would love another game like this. Going to check out The Case of the Serialized Killer soon!
Awww, thank you so much for enjoying it, and leaving the kind words! You picked out a fair few moments that made me very happy to write, so that leaves me feeling confident that those moments landed. ^u^ Thanks, Scale!
ALRIGHT. I made an account just to comment. and holy shit
BEST VISUAL NOVEL EVER!!! (though I have not played any other visual novels, so this could change very quickly (I doubt it) (unless it's another one of yours))
it made me smile, laugh, and admittedly, tear up. thank you.
AND THE ENDING LMAOOOOO
P.S. i replayed the ending at least thrice. it just tickles my brain
P.P.S. god the gender stuff hit me so hard, especially the trans man part (im one myself) hgsfsgsgdgsfgshs you wove it in so well though
Thank you very much, and welcome to the world of visual novels! I have no doubt that you'll find something that you like even more soon. And that's not because I don't have faith in my games, but because the medium of VNs is so weird and cool that it's easy to find new favorites all the time. ^u^
If you liked Harry and Hawley, please consider trying out Serialized Killer, they're in that one, too!
I really love the concept, and the accessibility options are a good gesture, but playing with larger than default text sizes isn't really possible. Text in letters will sometimes go offscreen with no way to see it all. I think the "display as a new page" points are hardcoded?
The text contrast in the options menu is fairly low, it's black (sometimes dark green) on dark tan. Most settings you can focus & they turn white, which helps. Navigating with a keyboard somewhat works, too- menus and advancing text is fine, but I couldn't find a way to switch perspectives without a mouse.
If that stuff isn't an issue for you, this seems like a really charming game- I just can't play it as it is. Hoping for an update :)
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such detailed feedback! I'll note these down and see if I can learn a way to fix them. Truth be told, I'm still not entirely happy with the controls for the swapping mechanic, and if I can find a way to animate the screen movement and code it to a keyboard button, I'd really like to offer it as an alternative!
This was so sweet. Y'know, it took me longer than it should have to realise just how close Harry and Faraday were in The Case of the Serialised Killer, because they clearly cared about each other, but it took me a bit to see the romance behind all the trauma they were coping with. This view of what came before deepens things.
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Cannot BELIEVE I didn't play this sooner, it was such a lovely epistolary journey through the start of these two characters' relationship! I absolutely loved the ability to read between the lines of their respective letters through seeing the shifts in their expressions. There was such great humour throughout, and I felt I got to know Harold and Hawley so much better through this game! Encore 👏👏
Ahhh, I'm thrilled that you had a good time with it! The bulk of this text was originally written when I was trying to write Lead Into Gold/Serialized Killer as a NaNoWriMo project, and I had these letters scattered between chapters, so that they were filling in the blanks of the main narrative, as the story progressed.
But I'm sure you know how it is when you're writing prose; sometimes the desire to see sprites on screen is just too much! And I found myself really pulled between how I wanted each letter to be read, and which character's perspective I wanted to lean into. The letter-sliding mechanic came from that pure greed to have it both ways. VNs are so wonderful when you're a greedy writer; you get to have multiple tracks and endings and all the intimate character social interactions you want during dialogue. ^U^
this was a delightful little romp through the early lives of two fascinating original characters that I'm excited to see more of someday. I plan to recommend it to everyone who's new to the visual novel format as a way of getting started with a shorter story
Thank you so much! Writing for these two is such a joy, and I would be delighted if they could function as good ambassadors for visual novels in general. ^u^
THAT WAS SO GREAT AND GAY AND asdfghjll;sdlg'kd;glkws'kpef!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was really worried when Harry stopped responding oh gosh
thank you so much for this piece of art!!
Thank you! I was hoping that that section would be a little tense, haha, I didn't want this game to be like, a horror game, but sometimes a little bit of fear makes the fluff land better later. :3
This was a really neat experience to play through! The mechanic showing the reactions to the letters was very cute and it was nice to revisit the characters after playing The Case of the Serialised Killer and getting to know a little bit more about their backstory.
And Hawley sure did find out what Harry sounds like after three drinks but maybe not in the intended wayThank you! Coding character reactions is one of my favorite parts of VNs, so I thought swiping the letter to peek at them would be fun
And who says that wasn’t what Hawley was intending 👀I really like this visual novel so far, cute characters and a very strong visual style. However, I only have a touchpad and I have no Page Up button on my keyboard. Both dragging the stamp and scrolling back through the letter are pretty difficult. Please consider adding some common hotkeys!
Thank you! And I would like to have a button to click to slide the letter sometime, I just need to figure out the coding on it XD
SUCH A UNIQUE IDEA FOR GAMEPLAY!!
Harold Ludicael and Hawley Faraday! Stars of the epistolary visual novel!
"You write like a gentleman, but there is something wild in your way of thinking."
"It is a wondrous thing, to hold a secret in one's heart, and, without uttering it, to hear it reflected back through the words of another."
I LOVE both of their reactions to "...the one I wish to unravel is that of your preferences." and "You great and incomprehensible ass, Of course I will forgive you." HAHAHA
"my surgical duties include regularly dislodging your head from your posterior."
"I myself" ... "have a friend" GOD I felt that
THE REVEALLLLLL 1st of MID-WINTER 1905 OGH MY GOD
AWW THE UPDATED TITLE SCREEN TOO :'))
And it was all a prequel!! Awesome, love it. I was so interested in the supernatural lore. Well, supernabiological. Fantastic work, I would love another game like this. Going to check out The Case of the Serialized Killer soon!
Your Friend,
Scale
Awww, thank you so much for enjoying it, and leaving the kind words! You picked out a fair few moments that made me very happy to write, so that leaves me feeling confident that those moments landed. ^u^ Thanks, Scale!
ALRIGHT. I made an account just to comment. and holy shit
BEST VISUAL NOVEL EVER!!! (though I have not played any other visual novels, so this could change very quickly (I doubt it) (unless it's another one of yours))
it made me smile, laugh, and admittedly, tear up. thank you.
AND THE ENDING LMAOOOOO
P.S. i replayed the ending at least thrice. it just tickles my brain
P.P.S. god the gender stuff hit me so hard, especially the trans man part (im one myself) hgsfsgsgdgsfgshs you wove it in so well though
Thank you very much, and welcome to the world of visual novels! I have no doubt that you'll find something that you like even more soon. And that's not because I don't have faith in my games, but because the medium of VNs is so weird and cool that it's easy to find new favorites all the time. ^u^
If you liked Harry and Hawley, please consider trying out Serialized Killer, they're in that one, too!
ok i started serialized killer and hello???? did trauma happen or something? i can still dig it though
and idk if harry got a glowup or glowdown in my book but he's still surprisingly good-looking
I love this sm, it made me all warm inside! Does Hawley have albinism, by the way? I thought so but i cant be sure lol
also- if you ever need a turkish translator, im more than willing lol
Thank you so much! Hawley does indeed have albinism, which presents quite a lot of challenges for him out at sea.
We always welcome translation! There's a channel for it in the playtester discord, if you ever feel like going for it!
I really love the concept, and the accessibility options are a good gesture, but playing with larger than default text sizes isn't really possible. Text in letters will sometimes go offscreen with no way to see it all. I think the "display as a new page" points are hardcoded?
The text contrast in the options menu is fairly low, it's black (sometimes dark green) on dark tan. Most settings you can focus & they turn white, which helps. Navigating with a keyboard somewhat works, too- menus and advancing text is fine, but I couldn't find a way to switch perspectives without a mouse.
If that stuff isn't an issue for you, this seems like a really charming game- I just can't play it as it is. Hoping for an update :)
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such detailed feedback! I'll note these down and see if I can learn a way to fix them. Truth be told, I'm still not entirely happy with the controls for the swapping mechanic, and if I can find a way to animate the screen movement and code it to a keyboard button, I'd really like to offer it as an alternative!
This was so sweet. Y'know, it took me longer than it should have to realise just how close Harry and Faraday were in The Case of the Serialised Killer, because they clearly cared about each other, but it took me a bit to see the romance behind all the trauma they were coping with. This view of what came before deepens things.