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LOOOL, perfect moment to say that all resemblance to existing people is fortuitous of course 🙏🙏 the "scapular" in the stream interface is actually a reference to him lol (thanks for playing the game, I'm glad you had fun with it!!)

Honestly, after having played several games of yours, I can say it: you certainly are one of my favourite creators in the indie VN space, especially in those short entries. Your works are always so vulnerable and emotional, and both your prose and your visual storytelling are always remarkable. This game is no exception: the track chosen, the parallax effect included, the GORGEOUS, and I can't emphasise this enough illustration... The story was also very interesting and captured a very dramatic moment! That's something I noticed this year about some of the O2A2 entries I played and didn't rate: it is difficult to capture the essence of a moment in less than 1,000 words. You have to pick an interesting moment, to manage to craft story progression, which isn't easy in so few words... And while I thought some games failed to do that, your game certainly is the one which did that the best, it's sincerely my favourite entry from O2A2 so far. Like, genuinely, thank you for those poetic experiences, even when they are quite horrfic like this one!

It was great entry for O2A2!!

First of all, I think using text buttons for the point-and-click section was a clever way to offer interesting game while working within the jam restrictions! The voice acting also added to the experience, and Mara's sprite was adorable (the background art was ALSO gorgeous!). I also quite enjoyed the perspective of the story, it was a good thriller!

*** SPOILERS BELOW ***

This game made me think "Don't hate the girl, just hate the crime" LOL

What was particularly well-made and striking about the perspective is that, during my first playthrough, it really made me play the way I thought the character would! So I ended up drinking the tea because I had no reason to suspect Mara, but refused the pie after noticing she was using the present tense to talk about Colin. But I also appreciated the consistency of the different endings, especially endings 2 and 3! In the ending in which she falls for us, I liked the detail of the door being locked, because it felt consistent with the other ending (her locking us up to kill us out of jealousy).

Congrats on the team for making this game!!

Hi, thanks for playing the game and your feedback!! And honestly, yes, Maxim  will be saying the most unhinged shit like it's normal 😭😭

Aaah thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it despite hating listening to him LMAOOO (honestly fair and valid experience, my experience with writing the game was dichotomous too lol)!!

He does need one indeed loool, thanks for checking out the game!

Wow, that was excellent! I was blown away by the prsesentation (I was on my edge the whole time, wondering what we would find at the bottom), the excellent, well-written prose, the excellent use of sound effects — the ending of the game, in particular, is implemented extremely well and sent shivers down my spine in the best way. I feel like it's the kind of games heavy with symbolism (which I ADORE) and that requires you to have a specific area of knowledge to truly decipher it, though it echoes to our general experience of Covid, but death and illness is a general theme of the story, and I think it was carried out very well!

Congrats on the entry, I adored it sincerely: the atmosphere and the presentation were top notch (and while I like the ADV VN format as much as the next weeb, I am also a huge enjoyer of alternative narrative experiences, and it was certainly one of the best uses of the NVL format I have seen in a long time!!)

LMAOOOOO, that man needs a wole examination anyway!

And thanks for your feedback, I'm glad you appreciated the game and found it amusing despite the topic matter, ngl, I did have fun writing this, so I'm glad the game made you laugh!!

Hey Hiro, thanks for playing and for your feedback! And yes, that's one of my worries, how more and more younger people are exposed to masculinist rhetoric and ideas, and how some dudes who don't have their lives together beyond a capistalistic vision of success (which hey, I don't blame them, who has their life together at 22?) still feel entitled to giving advice based in bullshit (and ngl, the wording made me ANXIOUS about releasing the game because Maxim uses words or says things I've never put in my games edfvgfdfvgf)

Thanks!! Honestly, I'm kind of vibing with the asthetic of the game too LOL

Ok, this was such a cool game!!! First of all, I really loved the vibe: somehow sci-fi yet retro (the GUI reminded me a lot of the vaporwave aesthetic). The writing was also intriguing: it feels like we got a glimpse of a well-conceived world, which definitely sparked my interest!! The four endings offered by the game felt different, yet were still all consistent with the gameplay experience and the established relationship between MC and the woman.

The presentation was immaculate: I mentioned the GUI, but of course, I have to cry on the art, because THAT WAS ABOLUSTELY GORGEOUS???? Both the background and the woman!!!! Food for my eyes, food for my heart, food for days!!!!!!! The music and the SFX were also excellent, and the use of shaders for mood shifts was masterful!! Like, really, the entry is so polished, and it makes you want to see MORE!!!! MORE!!!!! Aaaah!

The VA, finally, was great! Vanessa Benoit is an excellent voice actress! I had the honour of working with a few years ago in a game with a VERY different vibe, and she performed very well in RE_SERVE, which is a testament to her talent and versatility!!

Outstanding game as per usual, congrats to the team!!

tormented twink simulator 2026 🙏🙏

Hi!!! Thanks for taking the time to comment, I'm happy you enjoyed it! (not sure I'd call the game sweet though LOOOL)

LMAOOOOOOOOOOO HE DESERVES IT (thanks for playing!!)

I didn't expect to play FNAF the visual novel.....

More seriously, that was AMAZINGLY MADE????? Like the gameplay was excellent, and I made the right choice calling the protagonist Maxim for this one LOOOL, he deserved the ending... I also enjoyed the replayability (especially since, beyond the placement of the nutrition, the dialogue changes too??)!!

Great entry, and such a clever way to approach the jam!! Bravo!!!

That was a very powerful game! I enjoyed the presentation a lot (and as someone who's just started using Decker, that was interesting to see what one can do with it!!), and the story was the kind to twist guts.

What I appreciated, to be honest, is how I could somehow understand all characters' perspectives, even when I disagreed with their words, actions or ideas. Aria is a very flawed protagonist, and yet, she managed to move me. The end of the game, of course, was certainly a big moment. The kind that sticks with you, because it did NOT shy away from showing broken characters navigating complicated situations with complicated feelings.

SPOILERS BELOW

Something that particularly made me think is Ariel's date with Violet. Obviously, Violet is sincerely a "bitch", as Ariel puts it, but the question of betraying the trans community by passing more and more, by turning into a "cis" woman (with quotation marks) is one I didn't see being tackled all that much? I just remember the video of a trans man, explaining he was worried, as he was passing more and more, to lose the solidarity he experienced in feminine communities when he presented himself as a woman. So I think the question of where one belongs, as a trans person who has a passing, was interesting and tackled here in a gut-wrenching way.

The last scene was also interesting, especially considering how twisted it was?? Like, Ariel is obviously a mirror of Aria, and it was somehow confusing (in a good way) to see Aria experience pleasure during her own rape by being filled with a phallus — the same one she got rid of. There are certainly several ways to read this scene, but I understood it as her internalising the violence she was put through during the whole game, and integrating the belief that she somehow lost a part of herself, perhaps even a part of her transidentity, by getting bottom surgery. I personally think saying trans people are less trans because they got bottom surgery to be transphobic, so I think that ending helped making Aria look like the broken victim of transphobia coming from her own community. A complicated topic, for sure, but I'm glad the game handled it and did it so well.

Congrats on making this, and thank you for releasing and sharing it!!

Thanks for your comment, and YES LOOOOL, not the most sympathetic character of mine for sure!! Now, who knows....... maybe MC is trapped in purgatory, forced to watch masculinist content until their soul is pure again.......

That was definitely a powerful visual novel, very thought-provoking and with excellent presentation! I really loved the art and the overall direction! Everything looked great, even the frame of the GUI (oh how I love those!) was amazing! The visual choices made throughout the game to represent various situations were also very well done!

For the story, I was hooked. I won't get into details to avoid spoilers, but I was on the edge of my seat, and I passed through a lot of different emotions: laugh, disgust (especially since the game used one of my personal triggers loooool), fear, apprehension, but ngl, I mostly thought, I was wondering! I never truly got into any fandoms, but I have seen debates about problematic content on the web (and I guess we all were confronted to it with last year's itch censorship...). And personally, I know I'm someone who loves works that handle them with care — not saying that they should avoir violent or horrible scenes, for example, my favourite part of Nabokov's Lolita is the scene in the hotel room, as it is very creepy in an almost oniric way, and I think this approach, this horrible onirism, allows Nabokov to portray the twisted mind of his narrator in a way he couldn't have otherwise. But I guess, for me to enjoy a work tackling such themes, I need to think there is a point, and to feel like it's not feti*********. And yet, for some people, I know it's still a way to gain agency over their trauma etc. to portray in a way that is somehow positive to them, even in a twisted way. So I guess my lukewarm take would be that I don't mind as long as it's confined to specific spaces????????????

But that's not commenting on the story loool, but I guess this tangent proves the game is thought-provoking! For the actual writing, I really enjoy the prose and the fact the two characters had different voices. I enjoyed the portrayal of their dynamics and of the progressive shift, and I think the two characters were handled masterfully — Annie, of course, who really moved me, and Sunny, who was just perfect in her role! I also appreciated the fact the game took time before going into the more horrific stuff, as it allowed to see the characters through more "neutral" lenses before things go south! I also was pleasanty surprised with the fact that we, as players, indeed understand quite quickly the nature of the two characters' relationship (the co-dependency, in particular, was VERY GOOD), and that the game somehow... acknowledges it and doesn't make it a plot twist?? In the end, the moment I thought I was so clever for anticipating a twist was actually just the game letting me know the info without even me realising, which was very impressive writing-wise, I've rarely seen this done!

Long story short, that was an EXCELLENT VN, the kind that makes me happy this jam exists if it allows to explore such themes and dynamics that way! Thanks for making it!!

Aaah, thanks a lot for playing the game and sharing your thoughts!! And oooh, I sometimes do a bit of pixel art, it's fun!!! For the game, yes, alas, mentalities like this one exist, which is a shame! Glad you enjoyed the game!!

Sincerely, one word for the game: WOW. That was an AMAZING experience, and I'm putting it lightly. I found the presentation absolutely STELLAR. The visuals were generally inspiring, but also so cohesive despite the variety of the collage and of the illustrations? I am genuinely speechless, this VN is literally one of the most beautiful I've ever laid my eyes upon, the artistic vision here really spoke to me on a VERY DEEP level, I'm an absolute fan 😭😭😭(like, my dream project involves exploring various forms of art in a VN, traditional art included, so seeing EMBROIDERY in a VN, OH MY GOD, my heart skipped a beat, I loved it!!!!! I went to an artistic centre last month and remembered seeing wooden dolls covered with embroidery, and it was a very cool vision)

For the narration, I thought it was very well crafted too, especially the parts where we're more stuck in the protagonist's mind. I could feel, reading the lines, the exhaustion, the desire to just be somewhere ese, in another body that isn't suffering. I don't have hEDS (and I appreciated the screening section a lot; I don't think I am concerned, beyond my carpal tunnel syndrome, but it was very educative!), but I still thought it was relatable due to other health circumstances! The viscerality of the prose and the illustration also contributed to a narration of a suffering that just needs to stop. I really enjoyed the two endings: the first one, embracing the "toxic" yuri aspect of the jam, and the second which was more hopeful while refusing to give into naïve hope or to promote miraculous solutions: wanting to get better isn't enough to get better, but that doesn't mean trying is meaningless, even when sometimes it involves suffering. The game narrated this very well, and the metaphor, allowing for the yuri aspect of the game, was very appropriate!

Congrats on making this amazing game, I'm blown away!!

Hey! I played the game, and I really appreciated it! I don't know how ending there are, but I got two of them, and I enjoyed how the two of them offered a cohesive storyline about what it requires to be present for your partner! Especially since Mia is very involved in her relationship with Jake, so the ending in which Jake seems to care less or postpone everything does an amazing job at showing the lack of balance!

I also appreciated the presentation: sleek, elegant, and a very great approach for O2A2! Congrats on making this!

Hey, thanks for sharing your thoughts, they are interesting! Because I indeed wanted him to feel like a person and add some depth, without denying that he is indeed a toxic person at its core. He may be wondering, deep down, what kind of future he'll find going down his path, but in the end, he's still trapped within a toxic, masculinist mindset, that he can't just overcome in the twinkling of an eye.

That's a sad thought to have indeed, especially since I think people refuse to question their beliefs because it would force them to put their whole lives into perspective and realise how unhappy they've been, which can be quite violent. And for Max, it would indeed consist in accepting he built his career on something that would destroy him if he stopped believing in his ideology and accepting the vanity of the intrusive procedures he went through. So a part of me, maybe a bit overly optimistic, can't help but think that if we accompany people on such a journey, they can change, but in reality, I can't help but adhere to your observations dfvfdvg

Thank you for playing the game and sharing your thoughts on the topic!!

Maxim has changed my life, now I'm the alpha of my acquaintances, and I broke free from the shackles of my omeganess (which makes me wonder of looksmaxxing in the omegaverse now........).

And overall, yes, everything you mention is right! I wanted to tackle the theme, and indeed, the mention of a possible son is quite important! At first, I wrote the line with the neutral "they" pronoun but then I thought "as if a guy like hi is going to use the gender-neutral 'they'"! And you're right for the ending: I wanted him to feel human, to feel that somehow he isn't exactly at the right place, that he can feel it, but the toxic mentality of the manosphere is alas so ingrained into his mind that it wouldn't have felt in character for him to have his big moment; and yet, I still wanted to include him to make of this game something other than mockery and disdain, because in the end, I do pity those people blinded by the vanities of life and trapped into such horrible mindsets 😭😭

Regarding the art, I won't lie, I didn't necessarily try to make him look like a man in his 40s LOL (I guess Lazare is a good reference for how I'd approach a 40-yo man), but indeed, he does look like older than 22 — he loses his youth, somehow, to his toxic undertaking. And in the end, yes, I fail to see how this path doesn't lead to more and more problems as you age...

Thanks for playing the game and sharing your very interesting thoughts (as usual!), I'm glad you appreciated it (especially since it's so different from my previous O2A2 entries LOL)!

Actually, writing this game, I was torn between screaming he was speaking too much, but also I had much more to write and comment on looool, I did cut parts..... when will Maxim get his 20k-word BL redemption story 😔😔😔

Thanks for playing the game!!

Once more, a thought-provoking short story, and I love exploring this universe! Here, in particular, I couldn't help but think of Salvation playing this, especially when Evan was brought up, which made it all the more emotional!

I really appreciate how, through your O2A2 games, you capture short yet impactful moments: writing a letter, last moments before someone's death, and here, the simple setting of mourning a loved one. I liked how we could influence Clarissa's reaction to the death and how it made, every time, a different myth out of her! The story was very well-written, and I appreciated how the theme of war was handled (but I think I already shared my views when I commented on Salvation). And as per usual, your art is absolutely gorgeous (I'm a genuine fan of your art style!).

Great work as usual!! Excited for next year!!

Thanks for playing the game!! And yes LOOOOL, some things are going on in the background regarding them....

Honestly, you did an amazing job with the two of them!!!! But my eyes sparkled the moment I saw Hoku, so maybe there is something loool!

I played the demo!!!! And well, I ADORED IT!

First of all, the game looks gorgeous: the sprites are BEAUTIFUL, all the characters, Kaede included, are HOT!!!!! The GUI was, as per usual, looking amazing and allowed such varied implementation!!!! The presentation was really stellar, very dynamic, and the ATLs were amazing! I also found the music very great!!!! And the voice acting, while more minimal than usual, was still excellent, and the voices fit the characters very well!

Now, for the story, I did enjoy how it rewrote the original demo of Yominokuni! In particular, I think the new version, by giving Kaede a bigger presence (as implied by her getting a sprite: she is more active in the story), makes her a character we can relate to much more! The love interests were also introduced very well, and I felt like their personalities gained in nuances, even in the way they are introduced! In particular, Haruka felt very different, much more mysterious!!

The story is as interesting as ever, and I’m still curious to see what links Kaede will create in the future with the other LIs and to find out more about the Yominokuni as a place!!

Congrats on making this beautiful demo for otome jam: I’m looking forward to more!!!

Hey!! I played the game, and gosh, I was impressed and amused by it!

First of all, I have to say I was impressed with the implementation of everything! The GUI was gorgeous and very consistent with the vibe of the game (its modern, sleek design made it feel futuristic without being outlandishly so, just like the relatable future the game takes place in!). The art was gorgeous, I did love the characters’ expression, and the shading was amazingly done amazingly well! The backgrounds were vibrant and colourful, which fit the story!

Now, for the elephant in the room, the customisation system was OUTSTANDING??? Like it made me pull out my hair, question all the years I’ve spent devving, I think it might genuinely the best one I’ve ever seen in terms of possibilities???? So congrats to the team who implemented it, and to the artists who designed the various assets so that they would work well with the colour sliders!

Now, for the story of the game. I’m quite used to Chattercap’s writing, and yet, it was very fun to discover a new side of her story-telling, as this game is definitely more comedic than her previous work. Zuri, despite having her own issues, is a character much lighter than the usual protagonists portrays (Nelli from Karamu, the socially anxious MC from MindMindMind, or the self-deprecating one from My Husband Is A Stranger). It makes sense: while Zuri isn’t a happy-go-lucky person, she is a media-savvy influencer who is not only an expert at being entertaining after a decade-long career, but who is also quite good at dealing with people.

Yet, Zuri is something quite important: past her prime. She is 36, and of course, that means she is a fossil… Okay, obviously not, life doesn’t stop at 25, but that is something that is a lot on her mind: she is getting older (and I did appreciate the fact she was older than the love interests, even the attractively broad-shouldered Hoku), and saying we live in a society that devalues women who aren’t young would be a truism. So, as an aging woman, with the symbolic age of 36 (being in her 30s, but being closer to 40 than she is to 30), Zuri has to find ways to make herself look pretty, because that’s what makes her feel relevant to society, especially considering her divorce (with a fuckface, he didn’t steal it dfvfdfg) was a blow to her self-confidence. So her struggles are rendered absolutely well, in details I won’t spoil too but which felt very interesting!

So, how to prove that, on the market of desire, you’re still an attractive woman? Compete with other ladies of course! The game gives us options when it comes to how we want to approach the competition, and on whether or not we want to humiliate other girls. But the setting of a TV reality show inspired by The Bachelor was genius when it comes to addressing the issue at the heart of the story (the consequences of the beauty expectations on women).

The game also uses that to brush on themes like constantly keeping up with trends (with Zuri, for example, mentioning she wants to go au naturel to avoid having to adapt to newer trades every single time, in the same way some people opt for “timeless” pieces of clothing just to never be out of fashion, without questioning whether or not that is their style). This theme is also carried out with the technology introduced in game, that allows women, through medication, to change appearance quickly in a reversible manner. I think it was an amazing adaptation, in universe, of the problem with fast fashion or of all the pretexts corporations find to lead us to consume more (like winter colours, spring colours etc. for clothes… who said you can’t wear pastel-pink in winter??????) I’ve been questioning recently the necessity of consumption (radicalising myself into my anti-capitalistic views), so I did enjoy this theme in game!

For the love interests, I appreciated them a lot, the two of them! Hoku might sound a bit rude at first, but I could tell he wasn’t mean-spirited, and the game never makes him go too far! I did enjoy Zuri’s dynamic with him, and even the snippets we got of his route/character made him grow on me (but to be honest, I was, just like Zuri, hypnotised by his muscular arms the moment I saw them loool).

For Orion, he was great too! I did appreciate, in particular, that his relationship with Zuri isn’t a stereotype at all. One might expect an enemies to lovers route, but in fact, there are nuances, which I really enjoyed, as they made him look more human, even with his businessman/influencer façade. And of course, it did help he was so beautifully designed!

Like, seriously, I don’t think I have a favourite between the two LIs, and I really enjoyed the two of them!!

Hi, thanks for your opinion!

I agree with you when it comes to AI being present in Photoshop etc., the issue is mostly that Ren'Py isn't owned by a company, so that is certinly why people (including myself) feel "betrayed", whereas, I can at least speak for myself, I don't trust Adobe or Microsoft in the slightest when it comes to acting ethically. This is a selective standard, especially since, at the end of the day, Renpytom's goal is to make Ren'Py better to allow people to create games.

Now, I think I don't agree with you when it comes to inadaptation. I do agree, however, that AI isn't as simple as pressing a magical button that will do a task for you, and that, if you want AI to actually be efficient, you really need to work on your prompt in a way that will direct it efficiently. And although I am no expert, I have been trained, to my displeasure, to do that: so my problem isn't that I'm not able to adapt or handle the tool, my problem is with the tool itself — though I still admit it has merits, as I've mentioned in my original post when it comes to help people. Real life implications include, for example, allowing better water irrigation in some regions, which I think is an amazing use of gen AI (although research has raised some scepticism considering the ever-increasing water consumption of AI, but that's another discussion). To carry on commenting on this theme, I do not personally adhere to "survival of the fittest" as a philosophy/moral, as I don't think something being natural (natural selection) is necessarily good (for example, "survival of the fittest" would be a way to justify meat consumption; and yet, I'm a vegetarian).

It isn't true that the panic comes from "niche artists": when it specifically comes to art, AI has outraged the whole profession: it's not just a niche majority complaning because they can't adapt, but a whole field of profession that has been threatened, people who lost their livelihoods because they were replaced etc.

I think you raise an interesting point when it comes to indie artists not being able to bring some stories to life due to a lack of skills, and that's why, while I don't approve of gen AI when it comes to creation, I do feel empathy for those who eventually turn to it. Yet, I can't help but think of my own situation: I've been wanting to make visual novels since 2017, realised I wouldn't go far if I didn't learn how to draw, so I decided, in 2018, to learn how to draw. Eight years later, my art still looks amateurish, but I've developed some skills that I'm trying to grow, as a way to improve myself and still find an authentic form of expression, which I don't think AI truly allows, even under the supervision of a "narrative architect." So to that, I would reply that learning to acquire a skill is always better than just relying on an AI to do, for example, art for you, because it directly contributes to your growth as a person. But even for someone who doesn't have time to dedicate to that (existence has material conditions after all), I have worked with artists and voice actors who volunteered; and beyond me, the examples are numerous. People have skills they'd love to share for creation — that's what drives artists after all —, there are free resources, so I find the use of AI rather unjustified. Obviously, you can't ask too much of a person working for free, and free assets might not always match the idea in your head, but limitations allow creativity. I therefore can't see how using AI isn't instead suffocating creativity.

I can concede that AI is a useful tool for people who know what they're doing (like in Renpytom's case when it comes to programming). However, there is a difference between using AI for tedious tasks (Renpytom's case) and using it as a "narrative architect" to compensate for skills you don't have. Because that is the very problem: you don't have enough skill to redirect the AI, and therefore, you stop being a creative, you just let the AI take reins (for an example based on your profile, there is a picture of a woman: why aren't the buttons of her sleeve shaded in the "cartoon" version? why is the border of her hair blurry in the photorealistic version? why is there on the board a planet AND a brain???? That is because the two of them are giving "sci-fi", but I fail to see how someone studying space would also be studying the brain).

And your focus on the fact the story is human-written is interesting, because it echoes a perspective I used to have: I've always written, so I used to think that what mattered most was the story I write, rather than the quality of the art. Well, that is completely false: visual novel is a novel, but is visual. So I think that losing control over your art (as AI tends to cause) doesn't allow to make your voice "survive", if we are to use the Darwinian framework you offer: instead, someone speaks over your voice.

I am very grateful you shared your thoughts and phrased everything very respectfully! I appreciate it!

Best,

Chimériquement

Hi, thanks for your feedback! I'm very glad you appreciated the writing and the presentation (for the latter, I feel like it is very barebones in terms of what Decker can do, but that's my first project with it so I gotta give me some grace!). And dang, these are some good lyrics!! Thanks for sharing!!!

Hi Azure!! Congrats on your Ossan Jam entry, I'll make sure to check it out (and your NaNoRenO entry too btw it's been on my list loool)!! And thanks for leaving a comment here!

Truth be told, I have NO IDEA how I did that in one month; I guess I ended up having so much LOVE for this game that I didn't count the hours haha! And yes, I think that's something quite important to make gothic literature actually horrific: smoothing things out is a mistake, it has to truly face the dark subject matter!

And thanks a lot, that means the world coming from you!

Hi Hiro! Thank you so much for the feedback! I'm glad you enjoyed the prose, I did make it closer to the way I write in French this time, since, well, the theme of artistry is a rather important theme in the game! And yes, that was a lot of words and a lot of drawings in a month, but I guess I enjoyed making this game so much I just did it 😭😭😭

******* SPOILERS *********

Haha, I was wondering how Lazare would be received; so far, it seems that people do anticipate that he's an unhinged character, just hope he won't be, but alas, I decided to commit to it, as it was much more horrific that way! And I did enjoy writing the cemetry scene, and honestly, the way it turned out, I think that, in this game, at least when it came to my vision, everything was just like in my mind, so I really love this scene too!! And I did enjoy manipulating the water imagery and eventually subverting it indeed in the end with the fire (since the water represents tr**ma for Jonas and death for Nérée)!

Now, why Aquarius beyond the obvious water association... hehe... well... the water association... (more seriously, "water as a trap" is a theme throughout the game; so putting the beauty marks on the face was to signify tr**ma and ab*$e, since Nérée and Jonas are the characters having those; but even Jonas' name is the French spelling of "Jonah", the biblical prophet literally trapped in a whale, so in the ocean, so... water associations looool; but the prison of water is the prison of the mind ofc). And for the beauty marks, indeed, a bit of suspension of disbelief is required looool, but I thought that was quite great character-design wise!!

For the gallery, I hesitated about implementing one haha, but I just thought no one would bother wanting to look at the pictures again (+ the extra work for thumbnails etc. required made it quite difficult within the jam frame!). (And dang, the one with Jonas lying on the bed was one of those I appreciated the least loool, it's always good to get out of my own mind...)

Thanks again for your feedback Hiro, I'm glad you """enjoyed""" the game!! 💛

Okay, that was a great game!!! I loved the art direction, both for the sprites and the CGs, the GUI, the storyline and the character writing! The music was amazing too, which, well, was obviously something to be expected from this game!

But as someone who's been a theatre kid and musical theatre nerd for more than half my life (fell into it at 13, and I'm literally turning 27 today lol), I WAS SO EXCITED TO TRY TO CATCH THE REFERENCES, and you guys delivered, I didn't have all of them!! But a lot of my favourite musicals were there (The Phantom being my absolute favourite which, well, is certainly an inspiration for the plot, that and Heathers I think with how it develops??). I'm also unsure but I think I caught a reference to Death Becomes Her?? Because if so, OMG, recent discovery (I mean, it's a recent musical lol), but literally became my second favourite of all time, THIS ONE IS AMAZING!!!! But also, with Flor as a creative director, I was waiting, waiting, waiting (Penelope) for the Epic references, and I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED EITHER. SO yes, as a musical amateur, I really LOVED reading them!

To get back to the game, I did appreciate how Jaime and Maxim, while being badasses, were also literal musical nerds: it gave them more dimension than their assigned trope! But the direction of the story was great, as it reminded me of the Phantom of the opera, with Jaime obviously being Raoul and Maxim the phantom (and the fact I named my MC Christian after Christine only made it more savoury lol). Also, regarding MC, I did enjoy the fact we were allowed to play them as UNHINGED, like the little drawings that would appear depending on... let's say, some interactions of ours, were a HILARIOUS addition, and I indeed found this game very funny!

So far, I got the ending where we date Jaime, and I think the ending where we romance both (unsure as the CG was focused on Maxim), but I'm going to play more to get more, especially my yaoi ending with Maxim and Jaime, they are shippable loool!

It was an impressive NaNoRenO entry, congrats to all the team!!!

AAAH HIRO CONGRATS ON RELEASING IT!!

And what to say! First of all, thank you for giving me the honour of beta-testing this game, which was a lot of fun!!

First of all, well, the art is, as per usual with you, very pretty! The game feels very vibrant and joyful, and Lawrence's expressions were a DELIGHT, I cannot emphasise enough how funny he was to look at! And of course, Vale was handsome as can be, I was FED. The CGs were not only numerous, but also looking GORGEOUS!

Then, the story line was a good balance of everything you need for a great slice-of-life story! While there was drama which allowed us to explore the characters more thoroughly and see other sides of them, you managed to keep the overall tone very wholesome — certainly thanks to the humour, which was PEAK. Mostly situational, and it allowed, once more, to explore the characters and their dynamic! Beyond the very good set-up for the story, I think the evolution of their relationship was very natural and convincing, and in a way that made sense for the characters! And I can stand behind the Lawrence and Vale ship, let it sail!!!

Also, the possibility of playing the same scene from two different points of view was a great idea, as it allowed to break the "monotony" of the kinetic novel (I have nothing against kinetic novels, but you get my point) while still allowing to explore the characters and help all players to understand where the characters come from in the way they react to things etc.

So the wait was worth it because you DELIVERED!!!! Congrats on releasing it, you did great!!

First of all, thank you for letting me proofread this! I was excited for the final product!

And what can I say other than HOLY MOLY, the game is so good?? First of all, and as per usual with your games, the presentation was AMAZING!! The GUI, the sound effects, the sprite implementation, even the way you used colour matrices to make them fit in their environment, it all was so good!!

The game was visually very pleasing too. I mentioned the gorgeous GUI, but the art looked EXTREMELY good too! The backgrounds were nothing short of amazing, and the sprites were FOOD, with Milena and Keisuke both being CUTIES!! The OST was absolutely GORGEOUS with some memorable tracks, and the voice acting was STELLAR! The efforts, the lines, everything was amazing!! Congrats on the team, everyone did such an amazing job!

For the story, it was INSANELY GOOD too! I think Milena has become my favourite protagonist of yours, I loved her personality: light and cheerful, despite the weight of her past. And Keisuke is a SWEETHEART, and yet, you balanced his sweet side very well with his aloof personality and... well... with the end of the demo!

But the story in itself, beyond the characters, was also great! The point-and-click was amazingly implemented and really got me involved in the mystery! Milena's transference ability is a great way to explore it, and I thought the game did a terrific job at building up the lineaments of the situation! And also, CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE BAD ENDING? I won't spoil it, but the execution was absolutely FLAWLESS! I really loved bad endings that don't shy away from being actual endings, rather than just a "failed" good ending, and the game DELIVERED!!!!

Congrats on the demo, it was AMAZING!! Looking forward to September 2026!!

Oooh, thank you so much for playing the game and sharing these kind thoughts!

OOOH, thank you so much for your kind words, I'm very happy you enjoyed the game!! Truth be told, I didn't expect anyone to take the time to translate the French text, I'm moved!! And I'm glad it felt visceral, I really wanted to face the darkness of the theme and dive into it, rather than whitewashing it (and oooh, your simile for it is so good!!!). Thanks again for playing and sharing your thoughts about the game, that means the world!!

Hi, thanks for the detailed feedback!

Thank you so much for the writing! I did try to make it quite fancier for... vibes, that was sincerely what led me the most this game haha, beyond any structural/rational thought! So most of the time, I was like "Is this necessary? No. Overpunctuated? Certainly. But do I vibe with the sentence.." and that's all that mattered to me in the end! And I've never read or heard of The Drowning Girl, I take note! For Murakami, he's been on my list of authors to discover haha, I gotta go through the books I currently have unread on my shelves and then start thinking of the first book I'd read from him (but inspirations for the depravity are Mishima's work, obviously, but also Lolita, which I re-read earlier this year).

And for [redacted], exactly! Admittedly, I didn't think too much of how the trope while writing this game (whereas subverting the teacher/student trope, for example, was in my mind while writing High School Lolita), but I just thought that, if I am to make a horror VN about [redacted], then [redacted] should take centre stage as the source of the horror!

For the sound effects and the jumpscares, very fair, that's something quite difficult to balance, so I'm happy with it, but that will definitely be a hit or miss in the gameplay experience haha. But I had fun using those, as I don't think many VNs present them that way (I can only think of DDLC, and I guess, to some extent, of Totono's "I'm taking to YOU")? Although, checking the "Jump Scares" tag on VNDB, there are quite a handful of VNs having those, so I just gotta play more!

And that's right for the foreign text, I thought it added to the mystery (I mean, except for the French-speaking audience loool), while evoking those books/prefaces from past centuries including untranslated texts (personally, I read a lot of 17th-century literature, and they constantly do that with Latin haha).

Thank you once more for sharing your thoughts and opinions, they were great to read!!

Hi Chatter! Thank you for your detailed feedback, and thank YOU for helping out with the game! You really turned my mud to gold!

Once more, I'm very happy you appreciated the presentation! I did go the extra mile for it this time around, because I thought it would contribute to the horror haha! And that exactly was the idea behind the "black bars" on the side: to make it all the more striking when things happen out of the frame haha!

#SPOILERS

I'm very happy you also enjoyed the depiction of ab**e in this game, and of, well, the very complicated dynamics going on since, indeed, Jonas' time with Lazare does allow him, to some extent, to feel more comfortable wit his sexuality. However, Lazare is trying to orient the situation towards what he wants it to be, in some sort of textbook gr**m*ng. And I'm very happy, in that regard, that Jonas was relatable!

And you're right, the game is filled with symbols, motifs, references etc., amongst which the fire and water motif, and the ghosts one, which you explained very well! So I'm glad my motivations appeared clearly!

Once again, thank you for your very detailed feedback, for your nice words and for your support while developing it! And how did I do all of this in a month... well... I do wonder so myself loool, and I'm already confused thinking at how I'm going to pull off something similar next year, haha...

Time to finally write my thoughts about the game! And what can I pronounce but my ADORATION FOR IT?????

Like, first of all, Célestin, for some reason, is a name I hold very dear to me. But also, YOU MADE HIM BLOND SO CHARMING!! His lines were both sweet and playful, the art was GORGEOUS, and the voice acting, OMG!!!! I would literally go back several just to hear Célestin's laugh over and over again, like the voice actor did an AMAZING job!!

As a French person actually living near Paris, I appreciated the depiction! The game managed to make the city feel magical while still keeping things very grounded (the flowers on restaurant, the pigeons...), and my thought process was really like: "Sure, the Paris that I know isn't so magic..... but Célestin is making it look wonderful!" and it made me fall for him even more, like sincerely, I LOVE HIM.

And also, we need a petition to create an Elodie hate club!! Who needs foes with a friend like her?? So I even had fun with MC thinking of her in the narration etc., like really, I can't emphasise with words how much fun I had playing this (and how much I chuckled thinking of Célestin!).

Amazing job, team!! Congrats on making this, and THANK YOU!! It really was a perfect entry for OUAT!!