I wish the comments had more criticism instead of self-promotion. Everything below is my opinion and of course I could just be wrong lol.
I really liked the molly moon videos when they first came out. I was super excited when the teaser trailer came out with all these great names attached. I really wish I was able to enjoy the demo even if it was a bit of a teaser, but it falls so short.
The pacing of this game is bad. Even for a fast-paced horror short. Molly Moon's 20 second tiktoks have better story pacing than this game does. I was hoping this game would expand upon the concept, story, and feeling that Molly established, but everything feels super lost in translation. It's just the bare minimum, molly has creepy voice and stands there, that's all this game really has to offer (which all the tiktoks already do).
The premise of the game is extremely uninteresting. You go in the house and to the basement, there's random weird cult dudes, and you go through a simple and weird chase sequence. The premise for Molly Moon's other shorts are already much more interesting. For example, the Babysitter short. You have a role that anyone can understand, and you're under a large amount of stress due to your failure, leaving fear for the unknown consequences. The "Want to play my game" tiktok's scare is much creepier and more visually interesting than the generic spooky face this game gives you a game over screen with. It feels like Airdorf just threw in his cult aesthetic without any thoughts about how to make it interesting.
I don't understand the weird phone resolution of this game, is it even playable on mobile? I understand the original shorts had the phone layout but... that's because it was recorded on a phone. You're absolutely allowed to play with this format but how it's done here doesn't add anything to the game, and it has so much unused space it makes me think the game might look and feel better in a more standard full screen format. This is honestly by biggest nitpick though, the game can be great even in this resolution.
Again, this demo really does not expand upon the idea of molly moon's shorts at all, I would argue it's a downgrade if anything. To be completely honest, as much as I initially loved the molly moon shorts, they can get kind of old, especially when they rely on the fear factor of molly herself and the voice. This game has a chance to add more to it, do more with it, make a world or show how terrifying this character is, but it really is the same shtick just again (which already got kinda old).
How would I try to improve upon the game? I think some more visual flare would be nice. In the shorts, while you're trying to think of a response, you feel scared and pressured as molly stares and blinks, waiting for your response and looking at your options, as if something bad can happen every second you're too reluctant to make a decision. Here, it just feels like nothing. Maybe try to expand the world itself to be strange and creepy with a similar vibe the molly shorts have, maybe something similar to Harvester. Maybe have the game focus on one simple scenario with molly with different paths that can lead to many different scary scenarios.
I really wonder what the intention of this game is. Is it trying to be just a random free small project made for fun? Is this something intended to one day release on steam and cost money? Because if the game keeps at this pace of quality, I feel it'll inevitably be cancelled or be super uninteresting. I'm sorry for sounding so negative, but that's just because I really wanna see something great come out of this project, it has so much potential. I just hope it can live up to it.
Creator of
Recent community posts
Made for Horror Jam #11 for the theme of a Death Game!! You are mysteriously brought to a bunker to test telephone products! Nothing scarier than capitalism. Sorry :(
Short!
Spooky?!
Funny?!
Abstract and colorful! (With lots of black!)
MSPAINT GALORE ~ ! ! !
Me and my friend Vicen worked really hard on this game and hope you enjoy it! ☎️
Please leave your thoughts!
https://crispyblue.itch.io/fingernail-floss
https://crispyblue.itch.io/fingernail-floss
WE MADE A SHORT HORROR VISUAL NOVEL FOR THE HORROR GAME JAM!!! CHECK IT OUT!
LIKE EYESTRAIN? LIKE MSPAINT? DO I GOT THE DEAL FOR YOU?
Survive trails where you test phones! Befriend weirdos! ITS LIFE AND DEATH!!!
I'm working on a video editing project that will not be uploaded to Itch.io but will appear as a mspaint visual novel. I would like it to have a soundtrack that could be called its own. I'm looking for a composer that can match its chaotic mspaint vibe with possibly a bit of a retro feel. Feel free to provide some samples of your work. NAME YOUR PRICE!!!!
Here is an example of what the video project will look like.