i was pleasantly surprised when flower language came up, because my very first thought when i booted up the vn was noticing that the protagonist was named dahlia and wondering if dahlias being a scentless flower would ever come into play. it ended up going a slightly different direction, but my head was in the right place haha.
there's a very good buildup of dread in this one, for as sweet as dahlia's and ivy's relationship seemed at first, the context of the game (toxic yuri vn jam...) and the name of the secondary protagonist worked together to have me tense the whole time, wondering when it would all come crashing down.
and i still wasn't ready for when it did. my heart breaks for dahlia, she exists as a perfect juxtaposition of how cis men and cis women tend to view trans women. victimized by brad due to her proximity to womanhood and yet unable to defend herself as she wishes to (until she has no other choice) because she knows her societal status as a trans woman will make everyone read violence/anger from her as masculine despite them being universal human emotions. with ivy she finds a partner that not only stands by her side in the face of brad's aggressions but also allows her to safely explore aggression herself and yet the big reveal is that ivy herself perceives dahlia as more adjacent to manhood for having these traits. fuck man.
i love how dahlia's face blindness is used to further explore her disconnect with other people, trying to fill the gap of her sight with sound with her songwriting. the symbolism behind ivy having amusia being that she truly cannot connect with dahlia was very nicely handled.
but the biggest outstanding factor for me was how cinematic everything feels. the repetition of scenarios each drive paired with the choice of photographic backgrounds really made the prose flow more like a short film script for me than a regular visual novel, and i loved the sound design most of all. excellent use of diagetic sound and music.
i cannot express how much this resonated with me without going into details more TMI than i am comfortable sharing, but wow did this one hit.
i'm in awe of every stylistic choice made. from the way the different perspectives are in conversation with one another, the striking prose, the thought behind what the illustrations represent and when they are included, the use of color...
thank you for sharing this
Here from Uranium Gays. Wanted to see how a similar premise with heavier political background would turn out, and wasn't disappointed!
Very fun concept turned into very good characters. I found Ollie to be very cute, though I do have a bias for soft boys.
The irreverent humor is perfect, and the twist (if could be called that?) at the end was a very interesting direction to take the story; it caught me off guard, but it was fascinatingly raw and open.
I enjoyed this one a lot! I was drawn in by the initial premise and I loved seeing its execution - the way using different body parts affects the environment as well as the protagonist's interactions and interpretations of his surroundings was very creative. And despite being a short mystery (understandable for a jam game), the narrative is quite interesting and engaging. It's a simple story, admittedly, but it has a lot of soul; I immediately knew what the final evidence should be and I agree with the other comment, it is a magnificent punch.
All I'm saying: there's a lot of potential for a fully fledged mystery point-and-click here if that's something the team is ever interested in haha. For what it is right now though, amazing jam entry.
brilliant presentation for a memoir. whenever i try to write about myself it ends up a collection of disjointed thoughts and pieces that loosely correlate with one another and keep getting further and further away from the initial topic. it was a bit frustrating to navigate at times but hey so is my own brain.
thankyou for sharing. vulnerable art like this is always needed.
for a short and simple experience, it's one that i found remarkably interesting. the visual style is striking, the writing is fun and your creative twist to the word "home" was... genuinely compelling?? as someone who spends a lot of time thinking what people consider their "home" to be and how they connect to it?? woah. my personal favorite was the laptop.
it does feel short on content though, i found myself wishing more elements were clickables. but considering this is a jam project that got done in two hours, it's understandable. in fact, i find it quite admirable you managed to do this at all in that timeframe, haha.
