I loved this game to pieces. I wish I had made it to the exhibition but a part of me is glad I got to play it at home because it meant I got to spend a lot of time on it.
My recollection of some dialogue from one of Sylvie’s games is that “Good design [in consumer products] should be invisible’. Game design is the opposite. The player should constantly be made to grapple with new ideas.” I don’t share such a prescriptivist view, but I think this game embodies that principle wonderfully through how it constantly challenged my understanding of its premise at every stage.
I thought it was really clever how you structured the game. Beginning with the title being dropped immediately in bold font with accompanying sfx for punctuation, and then prompting the player to do busywork tasks like press space to progress and open the bag of keys made me think you were trolling at first. When the keys all spill to the floor you immediately understand the obvious premise and it feels like such a mean, easy joke that I think most players might roll their eyes - it feels right out of a 20 year old newgrounds game. I felt compelled by this point to keep going at least for a few keys, but I think rewarding me for that with a pretty quick win by opening the door while presenting me with that next longer challenge made me interested to keep going. The new “just a bit too long to just randomly grab keys” distance forced me to start trying to figure out how to bring the keys in the optimal amount of distance.Testing new character controller techniques and organisational theories for moving the keys became more just a little bit engaging to me. Up until this point I had been so focused on what I thought was the obvious premise that I hadn’t noticed the colour of the door changing as I used different keys. I wondered to myself if this was a colour puzzle, but before I could test that the door opens. The next doorway is even longer and has new markings on it, so I grab the nearest key and come to investigate. And then the big key appears, and then the game loops and you realise the keys open the door at the same, upturning your understanding entirely. Is there a secret ending? Do the number loops mean anything? Is this actually scripted to open after a certain number of keys or is it just statistically likely it will take this amount of keys roughly and I’m misremembering the amount? I was constantly questioning my understanding of the games design and every answer spawned a new question.
As an aside, the game really is funny to me. Non-withstanding the “main” joke realisation that the key odds are fixed, I was surprised at the amount jokes you can put into such a simple premise. I chuckled at both the contrast between the modern apartment door and the tacky ancient keys which grow increasingly out of scale, and the big key that slightly wiggles ominously in the dark.
I’m rambling but suffice to say I really enjoyed it!
really fun and difficult mechanic and really cute art style c:
found a bug where if you reel in with right click at the same time as pressing left click when you first hook the fish where the camera and everything get messed up.
so, so impressive. this has the quality of professional work, its an astounding achievement. love the aesthetics, especially in the occult room. really inspirational work you have done.
surprisingly fully realised despite being made under a jam deadline. driving the motorcycle around while koakuma rockets everyone to death doesn’t stop being fun from the moment it starts. also koakuma of the fields is iconic. stunning work.
always really astounded by your ability to thoroughly flesh out the internal processes that guide this type of girl which frequently appears in your games. another certified bagenzo classic.
really enjoyed this. was thinking while playing that was nice to finally play a game like quiz nanairo dreams but with questions that are temporally relevant and of subcultures that am actually familiar with and then reading your comments in the bonus room felt glad someone else had that thought. also an extremely impressive showcase of the possibilities that the maniacs patch opens up.
your art and aesthetic sense in character design is excellent and the character interactions were very fun and well written. also excited to see you do more with the combat, was nice to see those ideas from fate/extra tried somewhere else because always personally liked that game’s system. or rather maybe thought someone could take the ideas and do something more interesting with them. very excited to see more.
(think version 1.2.1.0 may be bugged since would not launch)
was exceptionally wonderful. zero and euphoria are both delightfully realized full characters even in such a short time, and their little intimate moments together punctuate the ending perfectly.
sincerely love this. ash and ven are a joy to spend this journey with and are both instantly recognizable to anyone who spends time in certain circles. it was really wonderful to get to see this kind of relationship and these kind of characters portrayed so well and with so much affection for them. your art is also exceptional.
exceptionally beautiful poem. always really deeply appreciate doing a lot with a little and you’ve achieved fantastic heights in both your prose and your presentation. truly well done.
think personally at least would have found it more straightforward if the attack keys stayed asd but the camera things were like j and l or something, but the confusion could just be being v unfamiliar with action games generally ^^;;
