Post by Radi8on in Doll Vs Claws comments

Viewing post in Doll Vs Claws comments

After seeing Horse Girl Adventure 1992 on itch.io's front page, I started playing through some of your other games. I've had a super fun time with all of them, but out of all the ones I've played, this has absolutely been my favorite.

Where do I begin?? Well, I guess I will say I instantly adored the art style. It very successfully captures the simple charm of 8-bit games from the late 80s while not simply feeling like a tribute -- it feels distinct and true to your own art style in a very meaningful way. That's incredibly impressive. The personality you've been able to put into all of the characters' designs and expressions makes them feel instantly super iconic and endearing in this effortless way that is genuinely super rare to see, and the way you write their dialogue and any sort of text in the game is extremely natural and incredibly fun! The writing made me laugh so much, and moments like playing Egypt Count, Adam's betrayal, and giving the doll the wine are hilarious and will definitely stick with me. I also really loved moments like reading the notes in the master bedroom and talking with Dolly more casually in her room that have this great balance of humor alongside something more serious/heartfelt.

I think what's the most impressive about your writing and approach to gameplay is how good you are at making an experience that feels TOTALLY weird. I think it's really difficult to make something weird on purpose -- I feel like a lot of the time the weirdest "what the heck is this" stuff ends up being that way by total accident, and stuff that's weird on purpose sometimes feels like it's trying too hard, not being truly weird because it's weird in a way you expect. But your games' weirdness is so unique and so unexpected in a way that can only come from being extremely talented and original. Another example of this is Interplanetary Convenience -- another favorite of mine -- in which there were just so many moments where I was in total disbelief at the different aliens coming up to the counter, because they were just SO strange and unnerving but SO freaking cool. Everything about it just made it completely different from anything I'd ever played before. And I could say similar things about a bunch of your games!

It's so rare that I come across someone's work and instantly fall this much in love with it. The stuff you make is extremely special and I am definitely a huge fan, and I'm excited to play more of your stuff. So to sum it up: please keep making art!!! You have amazing ideas and the stuff you're making seriously inspires me. You're putting out some really amazing stuff into the world and I feel super lucky that I was able to randomly stumble upon it.

SnakeWinter2 years ago

Hi! Thank you for the very kind comments. It's appreciated and encouraging.

That's really interesting that Horse Girl Adventure 1992 was on the front page? I don't understand how to effectively reach algorithms or proper marketing techniques, and it's not a very recently-published game, so that's very unexpected to hear about. I see now in analytics, it did get an uptick in views/downloads recently. I wonder why, and why now? Kind of wish I'd have included my larger RPG gameplay ideas in it. Oh well! It's cool more people are seeing it, all the same.

I'm glad you liked Doll Vs Claws! Of the games I've published on here so far, that's the one I was most proud of how it turned out. There's another game I made, but didn't publish, that has a similar art style, so good to hear that artstyle being well-received. I really like how Sega Master System games look. They're bright and cartoony. There was an ALF game on Sega Master System that was cool because of its artstyle and also how open-world it was.

The writing was fun and the game genre allowed for it because those old point and click games always had tons of funny dialogue and random things to do. Maniac Mansion is hilarious. And also, the notes are like Resident Evil notes but goofy. Environmental storytelling can be fun!

I'm glad you liked Interplanetery Convenience, too! If you have trouble with that one, be sure to read the notes on the game page for it about some puzzle solutions. I always mean to fix things, but for that game in particular, I didn't want to change something and like mess up the whole thing so it wouldn't work.

Michael Crichton wrote his books from a science-based perspective, so it made a lot of his stories seem plausible, and that was his style. The weirdness of my games must be my personal style in general, since my writings are all weird, too. That's good it makes for an enjoyable experience!

I've had trouble finishing projects lately. I keep having ideas for games, sometimes writing them out, sometimes even starting work on them, but it's been almost 90 days since my last new game was published: Super Average Bunny 64. Since then, I did several early versions of a robot game that would have been very weird. Not sure I'll restart that project, but I would like to publish something new again eventually.

Thanks for writing this comment. It has been encouraging.