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Hi, thanks for your feedback! It makes sense for Twitter, I have moved to Bluesky (although I haven't been very active in the last couple of months haha). But I've been on a hiatus recently, so that's why development hasn't happened very much; however, when/if I get back from hiatus, updating this demo with new content is one of the first things I intend to do! Finally, if you want to check for updates, I think the best thing to do is to follow me here on itch haha

Hey Carrot!! I finally managed to get to playing this game!!!

Life has been busy so I haven't been able to be much on my socials, so what was my surprise when I saw, around three weeks ago, that you released a game, but also a VAMPIRE AU??? Cowboys, vampires, DnD, it's always very neat to see these characters we've learnt to love in new circumstances!!

I have to say that I REALLY saw myself in Iggy in this one for some reason. Obviously, not a 100% match (for example, I'm rather extroverted lol), but the "act normal" when people see you (because, well, I tend to be very obviously joyful, in a way that my mother, when I was like 10, had to explicitly tell me I shouldn't dance on my way to school lest a malevolent classmate bully me) was very me core; similarly for the whole tangent about Final Fantasy loool, literally me with Racine's Phaedra. But beyond this connection, I found Iggy very wholesome and amusing, especially with the dissonance between his perception of Genzou's actions (more lewd-adjacent) and the reality (vampire shenanigans). Genzou was also very great in this game! First of all, I really adored how you altered his design to make him look like a vampire. I really LOVED your approach to fangs!! But also, he was SO CHARMING in this game?? Like dang, "My Vampire Boyfriend Smokes Love Arrows" at this point, because he shot and DIDN'T MISS MY HEART!!!! I also adored the scene with Berek, he was so wholesome, and such a good friend to Iggy. And somehow, seeing him in his element, WORK, was very fun loooool; Orlam, on the other hand, was a darker character. Genzou literally acting like a puppy and him being like "GET A GRIP" was amusing, but overall, he sounds like a grimmer, more darker addition to the story... although, who knows with you, things always get in an unexpected way!

Also, for the usual praise: the writing was excellent, both amusing, surprisingly sensual in some parts?? (which was new for me to see in your writing, and yet, you did it wonderfully), but also, the meeting of Iggy and Genzou was particularly amazing: the scene felt very tense, and it was a genuine horrific scene before efficiently shifting to humour. So yeah, I loved the writing! The art was amazing, the sprites expressive, I did love the addition to them (like the table for the meal, or Genzou sitting loool), but dang, you WENT HARD with the CGs, the colours in them are gorgeous and set such a romantic mood (romance which, by the way, was extremely well-written!). And of course, that is no secret that you're a master of animations, and once more, very funny to look at, very amusing and also very immersive! For the music tracks, once again, impecable taste, and all the tracks felt very appropriate for the scenes; and I somehow feel like you went the extra-mile with it?? Like, I don't know how to put it into words, but I guess it felt bolder, and it worked wonderfully??

I had a lot of fun with this game, Carrot, and I hope to see more self-indulgent project from you (whatever they may be: comics, games, fics, illustrations, sketches) because you genuinely never miss, you're one of the best creators I've ever encountered, and I'm counting all the dead guys of the past saying this!!

Hi! Today, I wanted to share some pieces of advice since I saw a lot of the participants never joined any jam before. So, congrats on trying to make your first visual novel, and what an honour it is for us to host the jam which will welcome, we hope, the first games of so many flourishing talents! But I also hope these pieces of advice can also be good reminders for veteran devs!

So, this post will be structured as follows:

• Scope of work
• Solo dev or team?
• General Quality of Life advice for your visual novel
• Free online resources!

So, feel free to only consider the points that might be relevant to you! Let's get started:

Scope of work

As tempting as it is to release the game of your dreams and your magnum opus right on the spot, a first thing to realise is that it is not always possible to release a game in 3 months. This is even more true if it is your very first game, since you need to figure out a long of things more experienced devs don't have to! Also, remember that more experienced devs estimate better what work they can produce in a specific amount of time.

Does that mean you should give up on that very specific dream 200k-word project you've had? Well, I don't think so, but you can release a demo, a prototype, a v-slice, call it whatever you want, but basically, a glimpse of it! But of course, if you haven't figured out a project yet, I encourage you to try your hand at a shorter project: you'll get the satisfaction of having completed a full-game and it will teach you a lot of things to apply to bigger projects!

But now, what does a short project look like? Well, I know a lot of VN devs made their debut with the recent O2A2 VN Jam (a game jam about producing VNs less than 1000-words long!), so feel free to explore some entries (and to rate them 5 stars of course, support the devs!!!!!!!!!) to see how they used the restrictions to make meaningful narrative experiences! And if you want to play fairy tale-themed games to get some inspiration, I'll recommend checking last year’s entries for the jam!

Of course, for Once Upon A Time VN Jam, you are not expected to make your game with only one sprite, one background, one music track and in less than 1,000 words, but keep in mind that you don't want to overwork yourself and that fairy tales were short stories, since they are meant to be told rather than written: you can do something short which is in-theme!

Regarding the scope of work, other things are to take into consideration: the more sprites, the more work, the more CGs, the more work (admittedly, it's less work for the dev, but more for the artist), the more music tracks, the more work!

Now, if you lack ideas that could be executed in a short game, here is a non-exhaustive list of things you might consider:

• rewriting of an iconic fairy tale scene (Little Red Riding Hood reaching her grandma's house and meeting the wolf there, disguised as her good old granny)
• an epistolary game (for example, Cinderella writing a letter to her step-mother after having left to go live in the Prince's castle; it would also let you explore the NVL format, which we rarely see nowadays in VNs)
• two characters from different tales complaining about their fates (if you want to make it on the funnier side, give a listen to "Agony", from Into the Woods! If you're a real OG, here is the Brodaway version, and I cannot help but share this very... special but honestly hypnotising British one; or instead make something sadder, which is definitely possible, especially when I think of the representation of women in fairy tales)
• a game about some sort of meta-author in a kitchen trying to find the perfect recipe for a fairy tale, and all the ingredients are reference to other fairy tales
• a conflict between the Grimm brothers fighting over whom their tales belong to
• a game about a child (or a grown-up you do you) meeting the sandman because they fail to sleep
• a princess has been waiting for her knight in shining armor in a tower for years (you can make it on the funnier side, like this Shrek the musical song; or give instead your character a strong desire for freedom, like in this deleted Tangled song which happens to be my favourite song of all time)
• two young people meeting in a ballroom and falling in love with each other (or not; of course, we think Cinderella here, and I think "Ten Minutes Ago" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's version (I put you the 2013 version because I find it most romantic, but it wouldn't be me if I didn't put the Julie Andrews version too), but also "Shall We Dance" from The King and I, for a different mood and to give you a reference which isn't a fairy tale-like story for once)
• you play as Bluebeard's wife who just discovered the corpses of all your predecessors in his closet; he surprises you and you have to negociate for your life by pretending it was an accident (if you would like to make something more horrific or yandere-like)
• you are a storyteller telling fairy tales to children, pretending to have lived them, but a child starts questioning the veracity of your stories...

Of course, you can mix ideas, adapt them etc.; I don't pretend those are perfect or should be used as they are, but if it can be a framework, then I'll be happy! Some of these ideas could definitely be longer games, so if you’re interested in one of them, feel free to release a demo for this jam!

But now, if we're talking scope of work, something we have to talk about is also...

Solo dev or team?

So, of course, a good way to handle bigger-scope projects is to work as a team, rather than all alone. The main difficulty would be, first, to find teammates and then to direct the team.

To find teammates, there isn't any miracle; but in general, I think having a well-put document explaining what you want is a good thing to have. If you need an example or a template, here is the one I made for one of my visual novels, When The Wind Blew You Away. Voice Acting can be a bit different, and here is the document I wrote for another one of my games, The Daughters of the Sun. Feel free to share it on social media (twitter should be your best bet as there are a lot of different talents there, despite the platform being broken)! But don't forget to use the hashtag #OUATVNJam, I will make sure to retweet you!

You can also use other websites: CastingCallClub is primarily made for VA (so you should consider it if you intend to have voice acting in your game, despite the platform not being the most ergonomic in my opinion), but you can use it to recruit artists, writers and programmers too! You can also put an announce on the LemmaSoft forum (being able to create an account will require you to go to a discord server though).

Talking of Discord servers, maybe you can try finding VAs or artists in relevant Discord servers, although I've never experienced finding artists on an art Discord server myself.

One thing you can use is also the community tab of this game jam, in which you actually are if you're reading this! So don't hesitate!

Now, you could also work as a solo dev: it spares you the whole recruiting process or the struggles of finding people who will deliver your vision as expected, but it also puts more pressure on your own shoulders: you'll often need to take care of everything yourself (art, GUI, writing, code, music), so you should really think twice at the scope of your project to keep it manageable. Of course, there always are online resources, but we're going to list them later!

General Quality of Life advice

Now, there are just a few minor flaws I see in VNs, especially from newer devs. That's why I want to bring your attention to these issues.

First, and I'm talking to people like me, who are mostly writers, rather than artists and think: "Well, what matters most is the story!" because that's how we experience VNs... NO. No, the story is as equally important as the visuals. First, the visuals are what is going to attract players, but even so, visual novel-telling is different from novel-telling. If you really don't care about visuals and want your story to only be focused on text, perhaps consider exploring an interactive fiction format? And I see you guys coming: even in NVL format, visuals are important (as wonderfully illustrated by the fantastical VN On Mount Ségou is; I wholeheartedly recommend it).

Then, the main thing you want to keep in mind when designing your GUI is READIBILITY!!! For instance, this isn't acceptable:

So, make sure your menu items and your text is always readable!

Also, and here, I'm targetting Ren'Py devs: change the default font. Admittedly, Deja Vu Sans isn't that horrible of a font, but if your GUI gets very specific, you would like the font to match! For instance, I see so many games with very fancy and elegant GUI using it rather than opting for a serif font, and what a shame! Admittedly, it's a detail, but hey, quality of life is in the details!

The following advice is obvious, but I'll always remind it: puncutation isn't optional and, although a few typos here and there rarely bother (I mean, it would be hypocritical from me to mock typos), spelling mistakes being too frequent really is detrimental to the quality of your game. There are tools online to check your spelling (like Scribens), so feel free to use them if you know you have trouble with that!

Last advice: if you use a pre-made Ren'Py GUI, do not use their options.rpy file, keep your default one, or else, your save directory is going to be shared with all the games using the GUI. Another trick, if for some reason you really want to use their options.rpy file, is to open it, go to the line "define config.save_directory" (in general, it's line 146 of options.rpy), and to change the directory.

Online Resources

When you don't have the financial or material means to work with a team, online resources are god-sent, and there are a lot of them on itch! But itch now has one problem which didn't exist even one year ago... the website is now flooded with AI-generated content. So be careful! Now, you just have to go to the assets page and to search for what you want! For instance, use the visual novel tag for visual novel-specific assets (and you can use several tags for research, so you can combine visual novel + sprite or visual novel + background), so feel free to browse! Of course, you can find assets elsewhere, and CloudNovel is an excellent website to find sprites and backgrounds. And if we talk about backgrounds, how not to mention UncleMugen! Admittedly, his backgrounds are modern, but who knows what idea you have in your bright mind! In general, if you're not afraid of photo-editing, you can try to take a look at websites offering copyright-free pictures (Pexels, Pixabay, Freepik...).

Also, for music, I wholeheartedly recommend dova-syndrome! You'd like to explore more (pixabay also proposes music tracks, but be mindful of using the "advanced search" tool to exclude AI-generated tracks), but dova-syndrome is a solid one. Feel free to consult the Free Music Archive, and have a thought for classical musics who are now in the public domain (Bach, Mozart and alike). For sound effects, pixabay is at it again, but Zapsplat is a very rich website!

And I guess that's it! Phew, I hope I didn't make it too stressful and that this post might be helpful instead! Also, if anyone wants to share some more free resources for devs to use, feel free to post them below! But let's all remember the main priority is to have fun! So just make a game that'll make you happy!

Hey! Here is chimeriquement, the host of Once Upon A Time VN Jam, and today, I just wanted to share a bit about fairy tale writing.

Most of us, I think… don’t really write fairy tales, so we might be lost in how to do so. Well, this little note is here to bring some relevant elements to help you (or at least I hope)! Of course, remember that you don’t really have to follow it stricto sensu, or at all, or that you can play with these rules to make your own thing.

Okay, let’s get started!!!

In general, you can structure a fairy tale in five major steps, which are as follow

• initial situation
• twist
• episodes
• solution
• final situation

So, let’s define these different terms and see how they apply to writing a fairy tale!

The initial situation is quite the explicit expression: characters live their daily lives, as they’ve always known… But then, this initial situation gets twisted: you need to make it tremble, to disrupt it for the story to be necessary. So, we see here one of the major points of a fairy tale: the initial situation is broken and we want to bring it back. Then, trying to solve the problem brought by the twist, the characters live several episodes, at the end of which they find the solution to the twist. The final situation is the one the characters are in after having applied the solution (and often contains the morality).

For example, Snow White’s tale could be structured like this:

• initial situation: Snow White, due to her dead mother’s wish, is a beautiful young lady with skin white as snow, lips red as blood and hair dark as ebony. Her father, before his own death, then married a vain woman, only caring about her beauty, moreso she regularly asks her magic mirror who’s the fairest of all. The mirror has always told the Evil Queen she was the fairest.
• twist: One day, the mirror answers instead that Snow White is the fairest of all.
• episodes: The queen asks her huntsman to murder Snow-White, but the man can’t bring himself to do so. Snow-White finds a shelter in a cottage owned by dwarfs. The Queen, when she learns that Snow-White is still alive, decides to take the matter in her own hands: she first tries to make her suffocate with a corset, then tries to poison her with a toxic comb, and finally makes her take a bite of a poisoned apple. Snow-White falls into eternal sleep, her glass coffin guarded by her friends the dwarfs.
• solution: A prince passing by sees her and asks the dwarfs to take her to his castle. During the transportation, one of the carriers stumbles on a stump and Snow-White spits out the toxic apple bite, finally breaking free from her curse.
• final situation: She marries the prince, invites her step-mother to the wedding and forces her to dance in red-firing shoes and the evil queen dies.

Now, let’s do it with The Little Red Riding Hood:

• initial situation: A little girl is asked by her mother to deliver a basket full of treats to her grandmother.
• twist: The little girl meets a wolf in the woods and tells him where her grandmother lives.
• episodes: The wolf arrives at the granny’s house faster, using a scheme to distract the little red riding hood, eats the grandmother and disguises as her. The little girl arrives later, goes into the wolf’s bed, believing it is her grandmother, and gets eaten too.
• solution: A hunter passing by kills the wolf, freeing the little girl and her grandmother from the wolf’s stomach.
• final situation: They are all saved and the little girl has learnt not to be distracted by strangers.

And that’s it! Of course, such a structure is meant to be toyed or played with, but for those who haven’t given much thought about their project yet, I hope it can help!

Hope you live happily ever after!

Ah, thank you so much for the kinds words, I appreciate them a lot! 💛

Aaah, thank you so much, I'm glad you had fun with it! I had a lot of fun making it too!

Hey Carrot! I played the demo and...

OH

MY

GOD

I was directly hooked, the introduction scene was legit INSANE???? The way you implemented everything was truly impressive! The composition of the shots, the "shading" style of this intro, how you perfectly matched it with a perfectly chosen music track, my eyes were wide open, it was AMAZING!!

Then, after this intro, the story starts and... ONCE AGAIN, REN'PY MAGIC????? You did tease this part and even wrote a tutorial about layers to explain how you implemented it, but seeing everything in action was still extremely impressive, and the effect was total: it was a HILARIOUS introduction, and a very great way to have a first glimpse at Ze and Marshall's dynamic with each other, but also with Gum!

The art was also extraordinary!! The variety of expressions, their intensity, the amount of CGs and their quality (the pillow fight one was so heartwarming, especially baby Gum oh my God, they were adorable in this), and the colours were overall so cozy?? And yet, for more dramatic moments, you managed to have them look insanely dramatic! Really, a sans-faute on my end, the art, the GUI and the music completely got me into the story!

Regarding the story, of which we only have an intro so far, I really enjoyed it! The dynamics between the characters were very clear and interesting to witness! Overall, a lot of HILARIOUS stuff, and I can't keep count of the number of times I laughed out loud while playing this game, but also quite interesting to see how the "conflicts" (which are so far rather wholesome) still stem from one difficult question: adulthood. All the characters are at different point in their lives, which I guess is bound to happen during the 20s, especially the late 20s: some of your friends are still at uni, others have been in the workforce since they were 18, others are married with children, well, long story short, everyone goes at different paces loool, and, being 26 as I'm writing these lines, it was interesting to see, since, indeed, "expectations" are quite present, especially since you're reaching the age where you are supposed to have things relatively figured out as an adult, and other adults expect you to have them all at least. Writing thing reminds me of a conversation I had with family members, which was interesting: basically, I tick a lot of cases (my sister and I are the first members from our family with master's degrees, I have a job etc.), but even then, I was told: "You are perfect save the driving license"; so, indeed, I feel like those expectations are quite present, all the time, and seeing the characters somehow impose them onto each other, spoke to me. Especially considering they do it in a variety of way, depending on their personality: my flesh and blood Cordy for example is very sweet, but still holds such expectations towards Gum; despite him not being entierely happy with his job, but he enjoys the stability. I feel like coming to this sort of compromise is very much a late 20s-early 30s thing, so it was very spot on!

I really enjoyed the writing of the characters: their dynamic, and overall, how they all feel like a big group of friends, with crazy shenanigans. A reflection I had months ago about VNs is that we don't always see friendship portrayed in all its depth (I have a few exceptions  in mind, of course, like Tattoos and Tulips, Quaint, let alone Our Wonderland lol), and I really enjoyed the warmth you brought to the friend group! Considering what you teased about the plot and posted on your socials, which I won't spoil here, but that anyone reading this should follow *wink wink*, I know this is meant to fade, and, as you put it yourself, expect "an overwrought character drama that spends way too long on the psyches of and convoluted dynamics between its very flawed characters." The cracks will definitely be interesting to see in future releases!

Once again, Carrot, TERRIFIC job on this game!! An amazing demo, from the art direction, to the writing and the implementation! Thank you so much for making this!!

funnily enough IT WAS SO HARD TO WRITE LMAOOO, like I cut endings, reorganised scenes and stuff because DANG, is the timing of things important to get in comedy loool

(and I'm happy to read this, I'm glad the game brought you joy! Same thing with your pseudonym, I've been CACKLING like the WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST)

Hey Carrot! Thank you so much for your detailed feedback!

Honestly, for this game, I really let the soul of the anime speak through me; I don't know if I have been very successful, but one thing I know for sure is that everything good about this game derives from it! And that's something I have a lot of fun with when it comes to O2A2 games: just thinking of ways to use Ren'Py to make the game looks as lively as possible, as just putting one sprite on one background might be a bit boring to most players! And I've come to think that, when it comes to Ren'Py, O2A2 is an amazing teacher since it forces me to think out of my comfort zone (although at this point, I think I do have the colour matrices thing down loool). And for the art, thank you! I tried to adapt it to the style/proportions of the anime, while keeping the painterly touch I usually do, and I'll admit this portrait of Romeo is the favourite thing I've drawn this year so far, or perhaps a close second to the illustration I used as my Patreon cover loool

Anyway, thank you so much for playing this VERY self-indulgent project, I'm glad you enjoyed it!!

Yes, tormenting little creators and yet letting big corporations get away with worse things is hypocritical 😭

Hi! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with such great detail!

I'm glad the Linux version was useful! Honestly, creating it doesn't really require much effort with my engine (Ren'Py), the way an Android build would for example! So I don't know if I have much merit, but you are welcome! And similary for the game being rather light, magic of Ren'Py and of the visual novel genre in general loool

Regarding AI, I do find the use people make of it when it comes to art rather disheartening, and I'm 100% opposed to it! I guess people who defend it fail to see that the point of art is the process of creation, much more than the final result, which doesn't look that good anyway when AI-generated.

(SPOILERS)

I'm glad you enjoyed the characters, and Amaia and Happho's relationship! To me, it was indeed important that they have a conflict, so that they can solve it, with the two of them admitting to their wrongs (something Azaiah doesn't do in contrast). But something I also wanted to highlight is that, there is no bloodless fight like Amaia wishes (an argument I see masculinists use a lot, when it comes to feminism they consider "extreme", is that they are hurting their cause), and that, if your freedom and security is threatened by someone who would go to all lengths to oppress you, then you have to go to similar lengths.

For the dragons, that's actually true! Caleb mentions they turned to stone, and the secret to revive them is to bite it, so your theory is absolutely right! I couldn't expand much on the lore of this universe, as Amaia's grief was the focus of this game, but congrats for catching this! And that is a lovely headcanon, they would do such a great job together!! (The original ending of the game involved Amaia also dying, and Azaiah being the only one alive, so, well, it could have been worse looool)

And thank you! For the dragons, I wanted their bodies to look more "reptile/snake"-like (a bit like Asian dragons), while having a friendly face (roughly based on Komodo dragons).

Once again, thank you for your thorough comment, I'm glad you enjoyed this game!!

Hey, sure! The songs were all downloaded from Dova-Syndrome:

• こころのきず by キュス (the one playing when things get toxic);
• 雨音落ちる日(A day,hear the sound of rain) by 蒲鉾さちこ (the one playing during the introduction of the game);
• Soft Wind by Yuli Audio Craft (for the one playing at the end of the game, after Alois hangs up)

Hi, thanks for sharing these kind words! Indeed, I've seen the situation of a queer character having religious relatives portrayed oftentimes, but I had never seen the queer character struggling themselves, so that's why I made this game, to get the representation I needed. I'm glad the game brought you comfort despite (thanks to?) its bittersweetness. Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts!

Oh don't apologise, it was an important topic to bring up! Thanks a lot!

I didn't even know some countries were blocked, gosh?? I wish this situation helped them be heard, because I didn't hear anything about this?? And for Patreon, I did not know this indeed, so if you have any other platform (I don't mind diversifying the places where I post my games), I'm interested

Thanks a lot, Potato! I'm trying to take care of me, haha, because itch won't be helping me loool

Thanks Carrot, the situation does feel hopeless indeed, although part of me still wants to beleive it isn't lol. But I'll try to focus on things that bring me joy indeed, and I hope you do the same! 💛

Thanks Naarel 😭💛

Hi, what are you calling text effect? Also, a screenshot of what it looks like in game and of your code might help me help you!

Honestly, I do also intend to create a Ko-Fi, I just don't know if it is possible to set a Ko-Fi page to be completely free; but I would recommend to diversify the platforms as much as possible!

And for Collective Shout, yes; itch did go overboard, but ultimately, they can't ignore their open letter is the root of the problem, and that they mentioned finding "hundreds of games" that should be banned; and what is 20,000 games, if not 200 hundred...

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and for the kind words!! I had a lot of fun with the animations!

YOU ARE WELCOME!!!!!

You're welcome!

Hi Lila! Thank you so much for this very sweet and nice comment, it touches me a lot! I did try my best to indeed use colours in a creative way! Thank you for your sensitivity 🥹

Ah, thanks a lot for those very kind words! I did have a lot of fun using the Ren'Py features to incorpate small effects that would support the narration haha! And I'm glad you managed to connect with the characters, perhaps I did do them justice to some extent!

And I sobbed developing this looool, so I guess that makes two of us!

This was so unhinged in the best way possible, I genuinely had a lot of fun with this game... Fizzy was also the perfect protagonist for it, it was a priceless experience 😭😭

Aaah, thank you for those kind words, I'm most happy you added the anime to your watch list! (And yes, it is based on a novel entitled Die Schwarzen Brüder! Haven't read it yet, but for what I know, the anime looks like the superior version of the story haha).

And that's exactly it: the idea of living through the hearts of the people who love you, and making the people you love live within yours is something very core and very touching to the anime!

And thank you for playing this game!

Honestly, I'm not someone who is too keen on Omegaverse. Nothing truly wrong with it, but you know, just know my thing? However, I was interested by a game focusing on a "beta" character, and the least I can say is I had a lot of fun playing this! Kaito's whole scheme was very funny to read through, and the consequences were amusing in their own right. I appreciated how the game played on the tropes of the omegaverse and tried to question them diegetically (indeed, why is smell such a thing????? and how is it enough for a lot of omegaverse stories to convince the reader of the "true love" between the characters??????); so seeing a fresh take on everything was something I needed! Thank you for this! Also, the art was beautiful, and the main menu was a nice detail! Congrats on releasing this for O2A2!

Zhen is the literal definition of CHARISMA. I don't make the rules. His design was great, and the concept of the game is excellent. It really put me on the edge, trying to think of how I can continue the conversation with him to gather as much information as I can about the world or the BBA; although, it all ultimately leads to one thing, and this one thing, gosh, we need to talk about it, because this one thing was soooo wonderfully executed!! The spinning, the colours, the effects used were absolutely magistral, and it helped portraying Zhen, at the end of the day, as a very skilled and charismatic manipulator!! Congrats on releasing this game, and thank you for making it!

Momotarou is certainly one of my favourite games ever, so I was truly looking forward to this entry the moment I heard about it (+ Kaimana is a sweetheart)! And the least I can say is that I am NOT disappointed AT ALL, it was extraordinary!! The vibes, Ari, the VIBES???? I can think of another game from this jam which followed a similar aesthetic (empty green fields as some sort of limbo between life and rest), BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER THE NAME OF THE AESTHETIC DESPITE LOVING IT, AAAAH!!!!! This entry was sensitive, very touching and true, and it's crazy to think you made this in 48 hours?? Like, you handled your theme beautifully, and exploring the different variations to get the whole picture really was a pleasing experience, as it always is with your games. I just want to hug Kaimana, or at least pat his hair, silently, as we look at the blades of grass bending under the breeze... Thank you for making this, it was stellar!!

Only you could come up with some sort of apology video as a game concept, and the execution was flawless! Honestly, as much comedy potential as it has, I think you managed to make Tiffany feel very human, despite certainly soaking the tips of her toes in a bit of drama looool; the art was also beautiful, and the voice acting was SO PERFECT???? Like, the VA genuinely found the perfect voice to make Tiffany sound... influencer-like, for a lack of better word, but also quite vulnerable??

(also fun fact, I had a dream last night about an influencer suing some media for slander because they called him an influencer instead of a content creator..... it has nothing to do with the game, but it was a weird dream to have, so i'm sharing it here)

Hey, I played the game! First of all, I have to say I adored the art direction, which is always a VERY STRONG suit of your games!! The colours were beautiful, and somehow, this star-like atmosphere for such a... date worked! For the story, the concept was VERY funny, and there are a few that made me laugh out loud (let's say, to avoid spoilers, the "Fuck this shit, I'm out" and "Go fuck youself" ones)! You used wonderfully the restrictions of O2A2 to convey a very unique narrative! A reminder of how much we can do with creativity! Thank you for making this and congrats on the release!!

Ooooh, this was such a great short game! The GUI looked great, and so did the art! The Prophet looked amazing, and I loved his expressions! Similarly, the concept of playing as prophet writing his prophecy is a very neat idea for this jam, it was perfect, short, and impactful, in both its endings. Thank you for making this!

It's a HARD recommendation!!!! And thank you hehe!!

Haha, the anime is a forgotten gem, but definitely a gem! And thanks for the kind words!

Ooooh, I loved the twist at the end of the game! I was also charmed by the music track, and absolutely ADORED Anthony's expressions! The discussion of the two characters was very pleasant to follow, amusing in its own right, and once more, the story's ending was VERY nice! It was a perfect project for O2A2, and the execution was flawless, congrats!!

Ooooh, it was such a well-crafted experience! First of all, I did appreciate the poem a lot! The trigger warnings were essential to guide my reading, because I feel like the poem has this short of ambiguity that could be lead to a minsinterpretation - somehow, I was too manipulated by the unreliable narrator of this story, which was quite a strong move writing-wise! I also LOVE the art direction! The edits made to the piece (regarding the clouds and the character) were meaningful and very natural and well-done, and the setting chosen for this poem/story, a man, alone on the beach, was the perfect one. Congrats on making this, I really loved it!!

"Man does not have a port; time does not have a shore.
It passes, and so do we." - Alphonse de Lamartine, "The Lake"

This game (and the other quote from Lamartine you put on the game page) reminded me of this quote! Because, at the end of the day, this game is a story about confronting the two characters to the passing of time, leading to the inevitable end of their drama club. And yet, Cris sharing how, from music, they slowly learned how to care for the drama club was very sweet, and it also helped grounding what they loved about music in the first place. The art was beautiful, and I also appreciated the music track chosen. Thank you for making this game!

Ooooh, it was a short yet impactful story! I really loved the visuals in this one, both the sort of music sheet and Esther, of course, especially how she progressively changed! The story feels like the type of metaphorical ones that could apply to so many things; a simple moment of poetry, perhaps allowing us to reflect on what's left of us after we're being used and broken by others... Hopefully, more than our cracks! Thanks for making this!

I was looking forward to your entry, as I remember having a very great experience with Obsession and Dear Rosalia! And honestly I think Song of Stars is my favourite O2A2-game of yours so far!

First of all, I am impressed with how you always manage to select such unique and interesting art pieces and use them so brilliantly so in your games! Like, I am genuinely flabbergasted this illustration dates from 1921 considering the outfit of the character, which makes me think of the late 1990s or early 2000s! And to think you turned a picture about consumerism into a dialogue with the stars and a story about cycles!

This story indeed touched me; sometimes, there are answers we can only find in ourselves; there are difficult changes we have to go through; there are mistakes that will constantly be repeated, and mayhaps, if we try really hard, we might forge a new path. The path that has been hoped by the stars. Stars that judge us for walking in their footsteps; and yet, are surprisingly kind to us? I felt a lot of love from this story.

Anyway, I'm rambling at this point, haha! Just like every year, the expectations were exceeded! Thank you for making this, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you're going to create next year!