Post by Icy_Lemonz in Sapphire Snowe: The Bear, The Beast & The Blizzard comments

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This visual novel was simply fantastic. I absolutely admire the wonderful story-line, the beautiful character design, the voice acting, the CGs and basically everything about this game was just admirable. Considering it was made in under a month makes it even more wonderful. The theme of the story was so well written. You really managed to put emotion into the writing and portrayed Saffie's problems ever so accurately. I could practically feel what she was feeling(sort of). All the endings, be it good or bad, were so well written. The way both Saffie and Snowe bonded over their shared problems was touching to see. Not to mention, the way a single choice changed the outcome of the story so drastically was incredible. You did an amazing job with the game and your efforts were definitely not in vain for the results are truly spectacular!

This must have been quite tiring to finish in a month, so i wish you a well earned rest! Don't tire yourself out too much! And I hope you have a Happy New Year!

Melancholy Marionette284 days ago

Aww, thanks so much for playing and for all your kind words ^-^ So glad you enjoyed the game! I honestly didn’t think anyone would play it x3

It makes me super happy to hear that you felt the emotion came across in the writing because I always find it really hard to tell if I’ve managed to achieve that >.< and especially when it comes to such a sensitive subject! I was kind of worried that I should keep stories like this to myself in case anyone comes across it and it upsets them in some way.

And I’m really glad that you thought the way the characters bonded was touching because that was another thing I worried about a lot x3 I thought maybe because the story was short, it wouldn’t come across very well how they bonded and grew together because there wasn’t enough time to portray it very well, so it’s a huge relief to know that it still came across!

Aaaaand, I also worried a little bit that any players might be annoyed by the fact that the choices weren’t super complex, so you’ve stopped me from worrying about that too :D

You’re right that it was tiring to try and get it done in time x3 I still need to get more done on it to finish it completely by adding the masculine voice for Snowe, but it was a huge relief to manage to get at least 1 voice version finished for the end of the jam.

Hope you had a wonderful new year and that 2024 has been going great for you so far! :3

Icy_Lemonz270 days ago(+1)

Your games in general are marvelous and extremely enjoyable , hence me playing it was simply a fateful occurrence. :D

I'm glad that my personal opinions regarding the game match your expectations of its portrayal! I truly meant what i said. Stories like these are unique and depend upon the mentality and creativity of the authors . Even though sensitive topics may discomfort people, these kind of stories can also prove to be a motivation or support for others. Stories as amazing as this one deserve to be shared with others and to be appreciated.

I'm delighted to hear that you felt my response was able to provide your mind with ease! From characters to choices, this game was indeed wonderous. :) Hope you've received enough rest!

My year's been okay and I hope yours isn't treating you too harshly. :D Keep up the good work!

Melancholy Marionette259 days ago

You’re too kind!! x3 It means a lot that you think that ^-^

Tbh, that’s probably why I’m more into indie games these days than big commercial releases, cos you come across so many unique and wonderful stories from different devs that you’d just never see in a big studio’s release!

I’m glad you see things that way :3 It’s really tough for me to judge what is/isn’t acceptable to put out there and exactly what triggers/warnings to use. Sometimes it feels like I might be going overboard and other times like I haven’t put enough. I definitely need to go back through my older games and update pages with more warnings and such. It’s just when I started out making games, it didn’t seem like others were including extensive lists of warnings, just a sort of vague warning as you get for films and such.

I’d never want to end up hurting anyone who happened to be exposed to the stuff I’ve released >.< so yeah, I just hope that the warnings I include are enough to let people know to leave if it’s something that they’re uncomfortable with. As you say, if there’s any chance at all that it might resonate with someone in some way though and potentially even be of support, then it’s definitely worth putting out there :3

I did manage to recover a bit, but then everything came crashing down again and I’m finding myself extremely stressed and overwhelmed thanks to having to try and fight the government at the moment >.< It’s a long story, but they’re basically discriminating against me on account of my autism, and it’s just so hard to even have my voice heard. I’ve actually had to resort to using an advocacy service to help me fight my case because a certain government department is essentially refusing to acknowledge my ASD diagnosis. It’s all to do with support money for living, and they’re trying to say that I’m totally fine and don’t need any help or support all based on 1 terrifying assessment undertaken by a 3rd party company who were clueless about ASD. They asked me questions like “Do you anticipate your ASD improving or going away in the next 6 months?” and “Have you always had ASD or did you acquire it recently around the time you were diagnosed?”

It’s just exhausting cos I wrote 7k words in my original forms and they just straight up either didn’t read any of it or chose to ignore it. So yeah, fun times >.< I basically had a meltdown as a result of a letter they sent me last week which was so insulting and invalidating.

But anyways, I’m rambling, sorry >.< I just hope the lovely advocacy people will be able to help me because I really can’t deal with it all by myself.

Hope things have been stress-free for you and that you get to have a wonderful week ahead :3

Icy_Lemonz244 days ago(+1)

:D Glad to know that!

I agree wholeheartedly! It feels so amazing to be able to view their train of thoughts. Everyone is so unique after all!

You aren't wrong for being confused! Different people have different problems hence its hard to cater to each persons requirements. However, I feel you are doing great currently! Try not to overthink it and keep up the good work!

I truly understand what you mean! It would hurt me immensely if something I did ends up hurting someone. I'm pretty sure someone or the other will be positively influenced by your work! Afterall, it does seem like it comes from your heart.

Oh my! That sounds terrible! That is extremely cruel of them to do. i personally fail to understand how people can be so oblivious to another's condition. Those questions are ridiculous! Utterly outrageous. I am currently studying psychology and although i do not have much knowledge about Autism yet i can tell that it isn't something that would ''go away'' as they put it. It is extremely disheartening that many people are unaware about the troubles that one can face due to such conditions. I hope everything works out for you and I wish you peace and happiness. Do tell me if things get better(and hopefully not any worse).

The audacity of those people! That is simply disrespectful. I am so sorry you had to deal with that. :(

Its fine! I don't mind! I quite enjoy replying to you. Honestly, you are quite an interesting person hence i enjoy these short exchanges of replies and comments we have here! I know its been wayyy too long since you sent this (I'm telling you, I tried to respond but uh... well I'm a procrastinator you see, ehehe...._) but I truly do enjoy our conversations. :D Hope everything works out for you!

Well... Lets just say that life is everything but stress-free haha! I'm surviving though, so its quite okay currently! Hope you're able to make your life a bit better though! :) Until next time!

Melancholy Marionette234 days ago

Yeah, I’m still not fully clued up on everything autism, but even before I was diagnosed I was aware of the fact that it’s not something people pick up or that goes away like a cold x3 I can only assume they asked those daft questions because they’re following a script and they have to ask that for every diagnosis you’ve listed, but still, it’s a waste of time and you would’ve thought they’d just use common sense and not ask it in relation to ASD >.<

Psychology is such a cool thing to study though! :3 I tried to do A-level psychology at college and on the course I was doing, that was the one that I genuinely loved every lesson! I dropped out of college though cos of my personal situation at the time and my mental health. I had a breakdown in the library and ran out never to return >.< I do wish I could’ve finished the course though cos it was so interesting. I would go back as an adult student if I had more confidence or someone to accompany me, but I wouldn’t be able to handle it without.

But yeah, it is indeed disheartening to come up against attitudes like that, especially considering that the company undertaking those assessments has a government contract! They should be more clued up really >.< But then again, it says that the person assessing you will be either a registered general nurse, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, or paramedic. You don’t get to choose, and they don’t assign someone to you who might have more relevant knowledge of your conditions, you just get who you get. I mean no disrespect at all to any of those professions, but it’s unlikely that they have much in the way of knowledge or experience in speaking to individuals on the autistic spectrum >.< I think if the company knows they’re gonna have to assess people with ASD and actually understand how it impacts their lives, they should have an ASD specialist to do it.

The lady who did my assessment wrote in her report that I did not ‘appear’ anxious (therefore I must be fine!) But it was a phone appointment for starters, so how on earth would she even know? But more than that, I TOLD her how anxious I was. I TOLD her about the physical symptoms that I had. Aaaand, I made her aware that because of my ASD, my voice and way of interacting might not reflect how I'm actually feeling inside, so it's important to listen to my words more than analyse my behaviour >.<

Oh, I'm terrible with my reply time to messages usually >.< For me it's more just badly losing track of time than procrastinating and the fact that my executive functioning is terrible xD I do like speaking to you and others though :3 I'm just not very good at it, haha. Especially when I start rambling because then there are no short exchanges anymore, just giant walls of text because I can't stop myself xD but because they're so giant, it ends up taking me months to actually respond to stuff and I end up feeling really bad that I was so slow T_T haha.

I hope you're able to get out of stress and survival mode soon so that you can have a chance to relax a bit at least!! :3

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