itch.io

I'm a sucker for evocative microfiction, so I thought this was really cool. Using the title and preview image like that was also big brain. I did get stumped for a minute because, like one other commenter, I wasn't paying much attention to the status and I would reset every time. But oooooh I love when an idea is just vague and juicy enough to make you think.

Yes that is as far as it goes right now

I really enjoyed the count to 50 ending. I'm not super susceptible to hypnosis so the repetition was a little lost on me, as were some of the visual and audio effects. But I do think they were well done! The snaps were nice and resonant, the variety in the spiral designs was very cool.  And I'm thankful for the options to turn individual effects off. 

The writing here is intensely satisfying, and I have come back a few times to find a new ending when in the mood. Also the species specific language is a  very nice touch, it really helps keep the immersion.

I wasn't familiar with  this type of puzzle so I was struggling for a bit, but eventually it started to feel pretty good! The tension of the game meshed really well with the struggle of the character, very fun!

The card battling system in this is very engaging, and the dialogue did so much to communicate the ideas behind the mechanics. Flowing back and forth in your mental state to throw off an intruder was so well communicated through the mechanics. Thematically I like it a lot. 

The pacing felt a little slow, and I think it's because of how separated stepping and balancing stats is. I actually really like the movement mechanic, but I'd love to see cards that adjust your stats and position at the same time like: cower to step back +despair, saunter to step forward +lust, intimidate to push opponent +fury etc.  Offensive cards could also be a little more common, near the end I was cycling hands for a while waiting to deal the final blow.

Though all that being said, this pacing kinda makes sense for essentially a high stakes boss fight, and would make for a good boss rush if you wanted to expand the story to just a few more opponents. I think the tone served the tension in the beginning, but the hopelessness of the endings might be a little heavy handed. I do also always advocate for a horny payoff for winning and not just for losing. Maybe you turn the tables and quell his rage to make him docile. Or just fuck him like you're trying to fix him.

Great pulls for the music, the battle theme definitely added to the tension.

Showed up to the game jam wearing the same t shirt, lol. A two character puzzle stealth game is  such a banger idea, it's wild to see that working so well with the camera splitting and giving them specific interactions is such a nice touch. I'll have to give it a try with the bf later. Love the interactive takedowns!

 I was losing my mind a little on level 3, I think tossing a few random decorations around as landmarks would maybe help keep oriented. Maybe having the camera zoom out when you're split up so you're not losing so much of your horizontal vision. But I did finish and I love the toys hidden around as an exploration bonus!

I love a TF magic fight, and having the mechanical effects so well matched to the flavor of the potions is really doing it for me! The clinking glass sounds are so juicy, and I love the art and the way the characters are put together. I keep restarting the first round until I get one that looks like me, thank you for the curly hair.  Also gathering a witch polycule as one of the witches is such a cute and refreshing framing vs the usual harem building vibes.

Most of the criticisms I have are the same as what's already been said on the game page comments. But this is genuinely one of the games I'd  most like to see expanded on in the future, because being able to more deliberately explore some of the mechanics absolutely would keep me coming back. Cowbell starter deck, I beg you.

Same brain cell

Honestly I would love to tighten up the game to where speedrunning becomes really satisfying. I've already had friends joke about adding a timer while we were playtesting.

I love a gambling game that's got just enough complexity to get you thinking (while you can think at least.)

I mostly ignored the dealer's roll though, he showed a lot of 1s on a d2. If he showed the higher roll,  it might encourage more risk taking by giving a higher floor that needs to be beat. Showing whatever was rolled first, or maybe saying what size die is hidden might also just get the player thinking more.

Now low INT gambling was where things really started to get interesting. I love tangible consequences and increasing risk.

Oh I do enjoy running around to solve a little mystery. Keeping track of so many new names is tough though, maybe because I haven't played the previous ones. Loved seeing the chaos ensue!

I'm in agreement with Kerfuzzle's points on the controls. I actually think going point and click would be pretty smooth, but that's if your engine supports it.

love the styling of the characters and their varied shapes, especially the subtle wobble they have. 

I did get a character stuck in the slowed state by switching while they were slowed.

Thanks for the feedback, you're not alone in struggling a bit on the last challenge!

I added a difficulty option in the start menu that makes them chase less aggressively for now. I'll look at organizing them so there are just fewer on easier difficulties in the future.

All my years of Diner Dash have trained me for this moment. A perfect genre fit for a drone game. Waiting for an interaction to finish felt a little sluggish, but once I found you could just move them vaguely towards interactions to get them both in motion, multitasking brain started to go  brrrrrr.

 On behalf of the service top drones (all twelve of us) thank you for the big dumb blorbo. I wish a bright future for him, delivering gently distorted one-word commands for the benefit of labor.

One behalf of the drones who regret getting a business degree... *sigh* like yeah... I guess you can call it that.

Was there a particular section or maybe an enemy behavior that you found too  difficult to deal with?

I'm considering ways to adjust enemies for easier and harder difficulties.

Yeah I realized pretty late that the pathing is gonna need an overhaul, grid based is a little rough for this kind of game.

Really glad to hear you enjoyed the characters!

Currently it runs at a fixed resolution

I ended up just removing the option 🙃

I've done some tweaking and got it working on my end, would love to know if you can get past the bug now. Thanks so much for the detailed responses!

That might actually be something, thank you!

It's a somewhat comon issue on firefox that I haven't been able to work out yet. Did you also play through firefox?

It should run entirely in the browser, as long as javascript is enabled for the site. Maybe if you have a different browser you can see if it works there. 
This is the first I've heard of a black screen issue so I'm not really sure what else to suggest.

Hey thanks! As far as ideas go, if you've played any of the "open world" styles of cyoas where you can freely move between locations, I think that would be interesting to try. I don't know if combat would really add much, but I've at least considered rpg mechanics like usable stats and inventory. There's also potentially switching to a dating sim or rpg maker format, which might complicate things a bit.

Ultimately I'd want to tell a story and build an interesting setting, while allowing the player to enjoy the sexy side of things. There is a story to the lab that could be further explored, but scaling the  core idea of tailoring the experience to your preferences does turn into a lot of work when I'm writing 4-8 possible outcomes to each scenario. I also don't think it would continue to be a bad end simulator, I like the idea of continuing after being changed. 

This was made with Twine, using the SugarCube 2 format

Oh, tfgames.site would be the url just so nobody gets sent somewhere sus. 

I haven't ever actually made an account there, so I'll have to give it a look!