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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!!

Just wanted to say I played it, and it was a RIOT! The game was unhinged in the best way possible, hilarious, and the perspective opened by the epilogue was frankly interesting! The endings were both very amusing too, and I lost it when I saw the ID.

The writing was excellent : Horai was such a DRAMATIC character, and the quality of the prose managed to portray her as such! The art was also very cute, I loved the aesthetic of the game!!

Aaah thanks!! And honestly, same, I'll admit I enjoyed nerding out in this game loool

And interesting, because while writing and devving this, I was wondering how players would like react to Lazare looool, so good to know!!

Ooooh, that was such a nice game to play!! First of all, I loved the illustration (that's true in general by the way, I never voiced it, but you have an admirer of your art, I really LOVE your art style!!) And well, quite fitting considering the theme of the game!

I think everyone who's ever cared about creation or art can relate to the writing to some degree (by the way, I really loved the images used in the prose!). In my case, I'll admit I'm not really the type to be envious of others, but I do feel inferior to them all the time looool, and I feel like what I'm doing is never good enough (although even this feeling has its highs and its lows; sometimes I'll be very happy with something which will make me realise the progress I've done, and sometimes I'll just hate anything my hand dared to create loool). I did enjoy too how, in the end, appreciation and support is what helped Nero to have another perspective on things, and how you subverted the fire symbolism in it!!

Thanks for creating this, it was a moving experience!!

Hi Altila, thanks for your feedback!! I'm very happy the game managed to be scary haha, I tried not to spoil too much about it, but I did give everything a lot of thought in this loool!

And yes, it was important to have Jonas analyse the excerpts, first to get his perspective, and also to still make sure the non-French-speaking audience (which I assume to be the largest portion here loool) wouldn't miss on important details, since the book is still very important to the plot after all!!

Once more, thank you for checking this out, I appreciate it!!

Hi! Thanks for playing the game, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Ah, thank you for sharing this, I'm happy you found the game emotional!!

Ah, thanks Meiri!! I'm very excited for it so far!! (And yes, crazy considering the game in question looool, but I guess itch is itch alas!!)

Hi, thanks for your interest! Unfortunately, no Spanish translation of the game is planned as of now (I would need a translator in order to do so, as I don't speak a word of Spanish).

AAAH thank you so much for giving the game a try and for sharing your thoughts!!

I'm really happy the game subverted your expectations! I had a lot of fun setting Caleb as a stereotypical love interest (like he's genuinely nice, and I'm a SUCKER for the childhood friends to lovers trope, literally my favourite romantic trope), so it was indeed tempting  to make Amaia not love him (+ it allowed me to say things about Caleb still having some sort of oppressive expectations for Amaia; the main difference however being that Caleb accepts Amaia's decision).

But yes, you got it: the idea was truly for Amaia to find the strength to save herself and to become herself; and Happho, by not expecting Amaia to become like her (even for the stone thing, she mostly suggests this so that Amaia can fight back against Azaiah at this point in the story), was offering a much needed countermodel (since the only guy who didn't have such expectations for Amaia is KAPUTT).

And gosh, knowing the ending got you teared up means the world to me because I really am fond of this climax (from the moment the boys enter the tower to the final line), and I did find it emotional too!

And honestly, you got the meaning of it loool, so don't worry!! And even if not, it's always interesting to read other perspectives on something you create (as it can highlight shortcomings or instead show that your work was richer than intended etc.)

(And thanks, I had a lot of fun writing this devlog looool; and currently brainstorming the game I'd like to make for NaNoRenO 2026... a romance this time (albeit a toxic and tragic one lol), and I just hope I can pull it off as well as I did the Dragon Princess, but I'm trying to find a good climax to the story lol 😭😭)

Thanks again for your comment and your kind words, it shot an arrow straight to my heart!!

Oh yes, I should definitely buy a storage device, I've been eyeing them waiting for good offers haha; but to be honest, I'm not too traumatised by it, as I didn't lose anything too substantial fortunately!

And thank you! For the book, it's all hypothetical as I would want it to go to the usual process of publishing (I don't think I have the strength for self-publishing haha), but that would require a publisher to be interested in it! And happy holidays to you too!!

FGVBGFGBH WELL, I delete the back-ups for the games that get released since the released game is the back-up anyway LOOOL, but a shame for WOTF looooooool

(and yes, gotta face it at some point... because at this pace, I'll turn 50 before I release it! But I'm very excited for the demo, whenever it is released lol)

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!