itch.io

copy-pasted from the jam page to please the almighty itch algorythm:

I was taken aback as early as the main menu screen. The game is just really beautiful, whether it’s the menus, the textbox, or the art itself (there’s even some perspective, I could never).

Really appreciated the story too, and it has its scary moments (no spoil). I’m not a music guy so all I can say is that I enjoyed it too.

I got ending 2 first, then ending 3 (this broke my heart) and was pleasantly surprised when I realized that the puzzle got was substantially easier/shorter the more good choices you made (even if you don’t make enough of them to get ending 1 (I missed it by 1 choice I think, the first time I went for it)).

My only criticism really is that the texture in the Help and Settings menus can make it a bit hard to read the text (not as much of a problem in Credits due to the text being bigger). And also, I wish there was a setting to adjust the textbox opacity. Because it’s completely opaque, you can’t really appreciate the whole art (unless you know the Hide shortcut 😉).

I hope to make a game as good one day 💪🏽

I was taken aback as early as the main menu screen. The game is just really beautiful, whether it’s the menus, the textbox, or the art itself (there’s even some perspective, I could never).

Really appreciated the story too, and it has its scary moments (no spoil). I’m not a music guy so all I can say is that I enjoyed it too.

I got ending 2 first, then ending 3 (this broke my heart) and was pleasantly surprised when I realized that the puzzle got was substantially easier/shorter the more good choices you made (even if you don’t make enough of them to get ending 1 (I missed it by 1 choice I think, the first time I went for it)).

My only criticism really is that the texture in the Help and Settings menus can make it a bit hard to read the text (not as much of a problem in Credits due to the text being bigger). And also, I wish there was a setting to adjust the textbox opacity. Because it’s completely opaque, you can’t really appreciate the whole art (unless you know the Hide shortcut 😉).

I hope to make a game as good one day 💪🏽

Hey, thanks a lot for your comment, it made me smile 😭 I’ve tried out your spooktober submission and really liked it! Heading over there to comment on it!

If you’re using a tablet or something similar instead of a mouse for the puzzle, this might be part of why it felt hard. My tablet really dislikes drag and drop mini games unless I disable Windows Ink. I always started with the face, it made it easier in my experience

Thank you for playing! I’m glad your enjoyed the game this much, everything you described is what I wanted to get across for the lighter side of the game ☺️

Saying this just in case you missed it since it was buried at the bottom of the page and easy to miss, but if you really liked the game and don’t mind, please give it a rating, it helps immensely!

Hi! Thank you so much for letting me know! After some testing, there is indeed a specific combination of choices that won’t unlock enough conversations for the full moon to come out, and it looks like you’ve found it 😆 You’re the first one I hear this from, I’m sorry, my testing wasn’t thorough enough I suppose.

I’ve already fixed it, but can’t upload the fix yet due to files being locked during the beginning of the Spooktober jam. If you’ve saved before quitting though, the fix should be working once you load your progress. Thanks again for your time and sorry you got softlocked 🥹

Edit: I’ve updated the build!

Heya!

Really nice game! I feel like CharMaeMengMing below me said a lot of the stuff I wanted to say though 😆 But I really like how simple the gameplay is, while at the same time requiring you to use your brain. I don’t think I’ve seen this specific type of gameplay before either. Only reason I’m not still playing and instead writing this comment is because I reached the end of both modes…

But yes, ditto on the amount of highlighted text. Love the dialogue tooltips though, it reminds me of FF2.

For feedback:

I wished that when the Lesser Keeper boss switched to the… harbinger? The harvest? The enemy type that deals AOE damage and steals XP from all emblems. That one 😆 I wished that when it became that type, its “level” would also visually switch to reflect the damage it’ll do. Sometimes I would forget that it’s an AOE and not a “one-on-one” attack because it stayed at 16. Either “3” (I think it was 3 damage to everyone), or perhaps a big 3 with a tiny “x6” similar to other enemy damage modifiers (with 6 being the number of player emblem alive).

It took quite a bit of time (at least 30 seconds) for the game to launch the first time, to the point where I was a bit concerned. Like, the icon wasn’t even showing up on my task bar while loading. And I have a pretty good machine if I say so myself. I know nothing about optimization in that regard, but if shortening the launch time (assuming it’s not a problem on just my end) isn’t possible, maybe add a loading bar to reassure players? It was only for the first launch though. The second time the icon showed up early enough that I wasn’t concerned (and it overall didn’t take more than 10 seconds).

I actually didn’t mind the sketchier art during the choice/NVL section. I felt like it was its own thing without necessarily clashing with the rest of the game? I could totally see you refining the linework and leaving it colorless for example.

Really enjoyed how there were always reminders of how the game works accessible during combat + reminders of your solaces and other such bonuses

Oh and while you can skip most conversations/cutscenes, you can’t skip the dialogue mid-fight which can make replaying the story mode a bit of a slog, especially when they’re “tutorial” dialogues.

Also I’ve accidentally discovered that double-clicking a node/battle will make me move there as if I held left-click, which is very nice but I wish the tutorial told me about it (maybe it did and I just have fish brain though)

Besides that I love Weapon. Ngl That one screenshot of her and Magic really picked my interest at first 🫢 I want to love Spirit but I feel like he’s going to stab me in the heart right when I start thinking everything will be alright 🥹 especially if I believe what that bird is saying…

Hiii, I momentarily escape the Spooktober Jam mines to respond here!

Honestly I’m shocked you played my game this early, I thought you wouldn’t have time to get to it before the end 😭 But I’m glad if you found the game cute, that’s sort of half the objective since I’m aiming for “cute, cozy melancholy”. And if you’re sad it ended early I’m extra happy 😈 Don’t worry though, as I said in my devlog the whole thing is outlined, it’s my little passion project and I don’t plan on giving it up!

Aaaand yeah, english isn’t my first language, I’m working alone on this, so this was to be expected though I’m really cringing at the “You/Your” mistake. 😭

Yes, Alisa had two mothers. When you said “I x your mom” she got to respond “Oh? Which one?” it was really funny. All of the mommy (and daddy) issues will be explored in the sequel (I didn’t stutter, no).

And lastly you make a nice point. In consequence, after Boris says “it’s been over twenty years” I’ve decided to add a tiny bit of narration to be more precise: “Closer to thirty, actually.” They are indeed somewhere in their 40s 🫢 the awkward spot where you’re not a boy but you’re not that old either. I feel a bit weird calling this story Boy’s Love and I just think the phrase Old Man Yaoi is super funny and stands out a bit more 😉

Hello, I was at work in the Spooktober Jam mines and now that my script is done I’m taking a little break (hah) to respond here!

Thank you so much for your comment, it made me really happy! It’s kind of scary how you can notice all of those little details and put into words my own intentions better than myself lmao 🥹 But I’m glad and I have more in store for these two!

Taking notes about the music for this game (as well as the one I’m currently working on). Admittedly that’s the part I spent the least time on, as I was more busy leveling up my Ren’py skills in preparation for Spooktober.

Thanks again and I’ll make sure to check out your game before the deadline, it looks really interesting!

Uhm… so I learned that itch reviews aren’t public/aren’t posted on the game’s page, so I’m copy pasting my review here to hopefully help with the evil evil algorithm:

Nooo 😭 I didn’t think this would be able to make me sad in such a short amount of time! As others have said, the UI and visuals overall are pretty peak. I don’t know why but I really like the sound effect you used for the button hovering too. The VA was also a very nice touch! 7 minutes well spent on my end.

Uhm… so I learned that itch reviews aren’t public/aren’t posted on the game’s page, so I’m copy pasting my review here and in your comment section to hopefully help with the evil evil algorithm:

Nooo 😭 I didn’t think this would be able to make me sad in such a short amount of time! As others have said, the UI and visuals overall are pretty peak. I don’t know why but I really like the sound effect you used for the button hovering too. The VA was also a very nice touch! 7 minutes well spent on my end.

Hey! The tldr is: do we need to have started working on the game before the jam started (I assume Aug 3rd), or is it acceptable if we started before knowing about the Jam?

For context, after participating in art fight 2025 which ended on Aug 1st, I decided to work on visual novels instead of comic. I've absorbed documentation and tutorials in the meantime, and only started scripting my game (as in scenario, not code) on the 3rd... so I don't know if I'm toeing on any kind of line 😩

Not that I don't have like three different magnum opuses that I started on RPG Maker when I was 14, but I want to finish a game with a smaller scope first y'know?