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"i wish i knew how to adjust my own mouse sensitivity"
          - a Sewer Rave attendant, probably

I finally got around to playing the updated version! The possibilities granted by the double jump totally exceeded my medium-low expectations. I was able to climb back up from the bottom of one of the two rap battle rooms by jumping on the pipes. I found out that the snake's tongue actually has collision, so you can stand on top of their head. I jumped on top of the train, of course, but also on top of the metro sign after jumping from the top of someone's ratsona. I climbed on top of the queen too. And finally, I reached a secret exit in the screaming rat face sky room. All in all, I feel like it gave me a taste of what Sewer Rave 2.0 could be, and it certainly let me have a bunch more fun.

I really relate to your feeling, by the way. I made a story-heavy game mod that makes you outwit a powerful entity setting traps for you. A playtester found an exploit that trivialized one of the traps, and I just had to leave it in, or else it would dishonor the narrative.

Well, I'm a little disappointed now, but that's what I get for reading too much into "Much more!" (although I'm not sure what it could actually mean...) and seeing the title of the "A secret way to beat Endling?" blog post but deciding not to read it at all before I play through the whole thing. I played it in the past, by the way, and it was all around lovely, but I saw a third ending as soon as the other two showed up. Too bad it was only conceptual, and didn't exist outside my head... but it seemed so obvious, that I somehow assumed you'd also think of it, and add it in an update while you're at it. Oh well, it lives in my head and that's enough. I'm not sure how you'd implement it, anyway.

"why do tomorrow what you can do today"? That sounds like a minor shortcut. I managed to skip a brief cutscene, but if that's not it, I don't know what it is. There's really not much to do there, and I tried everything. The surprisingly interactive bathroom door is intriguing, and a bit glitchy (in some ways... in other ways, it's one of the least glitchy videogame doors ever). But you said it's not a coding error, so no clipping out of bounds, I suppose.

Oh, by the way... there's a bug that prevents you from picking up items... in a green room. So that's preeetty bad. I'm not sure when exactly that happens, but there's also a late doorway that makes carried items vanish, so maybe that's related. Maybe I'm somehow carrying and not carrying an item at the same time.

Eight legs. Zero hugs. 88w88

Small and confusing, but I liked how easy it was to bunnyhop.

The remake's gonna be time-consuming, but once it's done, you can call it...

SEWER RAVE 2

So prestigious. 

It could be like one of those oldschool sequels that just add 1 new item and 20 new levels and everyone loves it anyway.

Okay, I went through the whole thing. It definitely feels like a game that deserves to be even bigger than it already is. Plenty of good writing in there, though some parts did feel like they squeezed too much plot into too little space. The moment right after contacting HQ in particular seemed to have a lot of personal stuff and intergalactic politics mixed together very rapidly. Didn't always feel natural, and some of it was deliberately invoked by the meta-videogamey theme which I enjoyed, though it wasn't always as clear cut. There were a few parts I felt like I would've written differently, but those are just details. The story as a whole is great.

(I just replayed with a different path, and found something that feels like it crosses the line from odd phrasing to an outright error. A phrase "BoredAlien" shows up, differently capitalized and punctuated. It would've been an appropriate deliberate placeholder at the start, but it wasn't used anywhere else, and at that point it seemed less apt than ever.)

Sweet! I do love how it's not just a sci-fi themed romance thingy that happens to feature a lizard guy, but the unconventionality of it is a central part of the game.

I'm partway through the Twine version currently. The spaceship interiors look nice, but I didn't really want do download all those megabytes just to get less story. At the same time, I'm glad the graphics are here on the game page to provide some extra immersion either way. Maybe you could sprinkle in a few screenshots within the Twine game as well to give the players a better feel for their surroundings? It can be more fun to leave things up to imagination, but a glimpse of a location here and there could really help set the mood, I think.

Okay, I got 3349, 125! The jumping feels super smooth and responsive, and I also found out the animations are skippable. How many of those 6 days did you spend on developing the main thing, and how many on polishing? It's just such a well rounded game.

Wait. Jumping?! I got a high score of 2000-something and completely forgot about jumping. Now the game seems even more forgiving than it already was. Can't wait to see how many lasers show up once I get further! A really good modern spin on the snake with nice smooth difficulty. Both more and less difficult in good ways.

The only issue I had was the moon lasers - not entirely obvious when they stop being damaging. Also, I don't see a way to actually see my high score. Other than that it's really perfect.

It's a surreal FPS game made with Godot. Probably ompletely different from this game, but the visual similarity is there.

Looks like Cruelty Squad. I have no idea what to expect but I'll have to check it out at some point.

One thing I forgot to mention... the music! Love it! Good audio can add a whole another dimension to a game, and it sure does here. Plenty of fun tunes!

Here are some detailed thoughts, with the observations I had while playing and some advice! (spoiler warning)

 * you can remove all those default resources if you're not using them! (except for system2, for some reason. I usually set a blank graphic there in my games). If you're not using any "vehicles" you can also set their graphics to whatever in the System tab, so that they no longer require their own graphic. Other than the vehicles and system2, I don't think RPG Maker checks for the existence of any resources until your game actively tries to use them.

 * Lovely start, with the bridge you can walk over and under right at the beginning! And it makes a sound, too. Now that's an underused mechanic... for good reason, but it makes for a nice touch in moderation. I also like the box being visible but unreachable until you walk a bit more. It's the little things!

 * You could probably set the cliff edge tile to only be blocking on the upper side, so you can walk right up to it.

 * math puzzles! I like it. Surprisingly, I don't think I've ever seen a puzzle like this one in rpg maker.

 * not sure how I feel about the totally nonexistent storyline so far... but maybe I'll soon find out why Penelope never speaks. If that's even the main character's name.

 * the battle first is not much to speak of... but to be honest, I've been working with RM 2k3 for over a decade and I was never able to make good battles in the default battle system, so it's fine. The good thing is that it didn't drag on.

 * So now Mead is not only letting us stay for the night, but embarking with us on a potentially deadly journey. What a guy! Nice to see we're unraveling the mystery of Penelope, but Mead and his little town could use some background too. Maybe I'll find it up ahead!

 * Mead is invisible in battle? That's kinda weird. And why do the dogbeasts drop hot dogs upon defeat? Are the hot dogs in fact made from dog parts in this world? Dubious indeed.

 * The graphics are pretty good despite their simplitity, and only a few things about them bugged me. The water could use a different texture for sure - maybe some lines instead of the dots like the grass has? Also, the bushes have been blending in with the ground and I mistook them for holes. Maybe add a bit of an outline, or make the outer bit brighter.

 * Well, now I can see one reasons for other party members to remain invisible. Would be hard to fit Nessie into the regular-sized battle hero graphics! That was a nice surprise. Speaking of the battle itself, it was difficult but fair - a tricky combination to achieve in default RM2k3 battles!

 * Here's a fun tileset trick - when using auto-tiles (the ones with borders and stuff, like water), hold shift to prevent them from changing! You could use that with the lighthouse, for example, to make it look like it's truly above the water, without water borders surrounding it. In addition, you can also hold shift with right click to copy a specific type of auto-tile! So if you wanted three thin water streams right next to each other instead of one big pond, for example, you can do that too.

 * Defeating the Daytona fish didn't seem to reward me with anything, and I couldn't figure out the significance of 2 and 8 on the wall either. But once I got the other two numbers, I could bruteforce it easy!

 * Oh. It meant that the 2nd one was 8. Okay.

 * I'm kinda doing things backwards, taking on the cityworld after the islandworld. Seems like a good choice though.

 * Yay, exposition! Not sure why it's a random guy on the street delivering it. Could've been a road sign or something. But that works too!

 * An empty, gray room with signs that say PARTY! That sure is promising.

 * The poster closest to the partyhouse didn't change its appearance when I replaced it. Overall, a fun little quest though! 

 * Well, here we go! The explanation, with no stones! But of course, there's more to be understood...

 * Oh, nice. There's RPG Maker on the screen behind, even! As far as simple plots go, this one's real nice.

 * The final battle was a bit of a letdown - the big boss has too much health, too few offensive capabilities! Maybe give them some sort of status effect spell to incapacitate the heroes with? That would make the boss stand out nicely against the other enemies!

 * Also, the ending could be longer too. If just to let the ending song play properly! Maybe just a few scenes of our heroes hanging out together.

Dang, it's already better than mine by virtue of existing and being published. I'm jealous.

Also, the art style is good looking and the dialogue is looking pretty decent too! I'm sold, gotta download it and find out if it has gameplay.

Edit: sure does! More detailed feedback will follow.

subway rat made eye contact with me and said "join us. when the train comes we slide under the tracks and feel it rumble over us like a warm thunderstorm. we live forever and we love to live" I said no thank you I am too large he turned away from me I cried

Maybe you could rebuild it into Sewer Rave: Mastodon Royale! Or something like it. Well, if Twitter wants to miss out on the opportunity to promote their platform through your game, good riddance.

Games change, but the brick texture is eternal.

It was sad for sure, but on par with the rest of the game. And not so bad of an ending after all... the raccoon finally gets to let go of the past and move on with their life. And the very final line of narration seems to support this.

Wait, what? *double-checks* Okay, no, it's all good. Cat night is Film Cow, this WAS in fact created by the same author. I thought I might've been wrong for years, but no, I can rest easy knowing that Charlie the Unicorn Dating Simulator is canon.

I always liked it when some of the rats' random dialogue had a shorter and longer version of the same line. Kinda gave it more depth.

Okay, I'm 40 pages in and I guess it's way too verbose at times, with stuff like unnecessary clarifications for things that have been well established already (for example, "Except that life mattered,dang it (if it was Mark or Crissy)" - yeah, I get it, some characters are stronger than others, I kept that in mind and I won't call you inconsistent if you omit that fact now and then). Still, it's interesting enough that I'm going to read the whole thing.

I'm 12 pages in and it's very interesting so far! It may give me inspiration for my own game design. I just wish there were some illustrations to go with the visual aspects described. I guess it may be problematic to include in a commercial product?

I get the impression the ending is way less serious than it seems. In fact, I'm almost convinced that the non-fight options were at least partially generated by a markov chain. So a half-game, but not very artsy-fartsy.

Still better than most NES game endings.

That aside, everyone and everything else in this game was super fun and likable and I'd love to see it expanded into something more.

Now we can evoke RAT VIBES and RAT-ADJACENT VIBES with every word we say. Thank you.

At least give us a frustratingly cryptic clue, buyer! Put the "fun" in fungible!

I always thought the so-called "mind control device" in the original game was just a fancy name for a bot network that forcefully creates a new meme on social media until everyone starts to quote it. This only confirms my theory.

Epic, thank you very much. Especially "items that change gameplay a bit" sounds particularly revolutionary since that sounds like it would spice up all the wandering.

Great to hear! I just gave you a follow, so hopefully I'll get some kinda notification when that happens.

In the meantime, can you vaguely allude to what I should be looking forward to?

Police broke up a 200-person rave in a sewer in Newcastle, UK, this weekend, in the early hours of Sunday morning. The organizers set up a soundsystem and lighting in the underground tunnels, and revelers had to "wade" through a few feet of water to access the party, said the police in a press release.

The rave was organized on Facebook, and partygoers met at a nearby pub before heading to the destination. Police said the event "put lives at risk," and that they were initially alerted to it by people on site who had safety concerns. They broke up the party at around 4 AM.

"It didn't smell," said Jess, a person who went to the rave, in an interview with student publication The Tab. "It wasn't a sewer, it was like a storm drain or some sort of flood defense – or that's what I got told it was, but there was sooo much mud. Leaving the rave it was so surreal. I felt like I had been kept hostage from a zombie apocalypse under ground for about 20 years, and when I emerged I just wasn't the same person anymore haha."

According to The Tab, the event took place in a former WW2 bomb shelter.

"You can clearly see from the pictures that this is a dangerous site for members of the public, nevermind an appropriate party venue," said Chief Inspector Dave Pickett. "We are very lucky that we are not talking about a more serious incident, particularly when you consider that many of those involved were under the influence of alcohol."

Nobody has been arrested in connection with the dubiously-hygienic festivities, but an investigation is currently underway, with many of the people involved believed to be university students.

Over 50 bits of cheese, and no effect. Snaky, my dude, this just isn't working... clearly they just think you're trying to be friendly. You just gotta be honest with your feelings. I know it's hard. But it's the only way.

Anyway, it would be cool if the game was a million times more complex with more characters and story and gameplay and whatnot. But it was still plenty of fun.

Here's one specific idea though: it would be super cool if rats acknowledged each others' presence more often. Once or twice I had two rats say something in quick succession, and the second line sounded like a direct response to the first, and it was super cool. How extra cool would it be if that kind of stuff happened ON PURPOSE? It could be kind of structured but still heavily randomized.  INFINITE COMPLEXITY. INFINITE IMMERSION.

All hail the mighty shift key!

I can indeed believe you didn't think it should have a title screen. But it's nice to see this game become more and more of a real something.

Sprinting! I was on the fence about giving the game a try, but this is getting me convinced. This and the cool snake.