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Sorry for the very late reply, things got very busy once the jam ended. 

Just wanted to say thank you very much for the comment and feedback! (even if Im 3 months late)

I'm happy to hear the positive comments on the art, I decided to do it different than I usually do and it's nice seeing the positive response. Also how I managed to make the game feel on tune wiht the jam theme, I had heard about the topic before but went and researched a lot to have a better understantement so Im very happy that showed up in the final result.

The sketchiness of the sprites was intentional but the lack of movement when walking was due running out of time, idealy they will all have more movement once I can go back to working on it.

I do agree it's missing on the horror factor, specially after playing the rest of the jam submissions I do want to lay more heavily on that once I keep working on this project.

Again thanks a lot for all the feedback :D

This might sound weird but I mean it in a positive way, the whole game feels like a creepypasta/cursed game exe collection of small stories that you would find in a very hidden, and old internet forum that is allegedly cursed and bad things happen if you play it. It also reminded me of an old tv show with short horror stories that were one weirder than the other but in a very creepy way. 

This has been the scariest game I've played on this jam, I hated (in a good way) running around the mazes not knowing if there was a creature there with me or if it was just sound effects. Favorite one had to be the apple collecting one. 

I think the only thing I missed was some sort of chapter selection so going back to repeat specific stories to try different options was easier/faster instead of having to rely only on the save files. 

But overall a great game.

Thank you very much for the feedback and nice words! 
I’ve been a tiny bit worried with how incomplete and unpolished it came out (even if being a jam its normal) so it’s nice hearing even with that I manage to caught some interest. 

I will check the graveyard, thanks for the headsup, I rushed that scene on the last day so I am not surprised something bugged out.  

I want to start by saying the visuals intrigued me and liked how you use default assets but feel like they fit, plus the sprites are really nice. The characters got very cool designs and I think the only thing I would add is that the npcs had varied different body expressions, but the protagonist only changed her facial expressions, so she felt very stoic compared to the others (tho Im aware it could be because a limited time thing).

I was curious about where the story was going, and some of the deaths actually made me jump, like the necklace bust, which reminded me of classic horror RPG games deaths. 

I honest didn't manage to finish because I got eventually tired of running around, it is hard to tell where to go next and most of the time I found myself spamming the enter key to find what I could interact with. I managed to get several items and move forward but most of it was me using all the items in every spot I thought could be used and hoped for the best (and often I wasn't sure why I was doing certain things). 

Spoilers:

For items I got, rope, glass shard, brush, the phoenix seed, and I think that's it. I also managed to get the strange man to go to the stage but I got stuck after that, not sure what to do next.  I got a message in the mirrored room that "Something downstairs changed" or something along those lines but couldn't figure what downstairs was. 

I planted the phoenix seed on the pot nearby the horse and brushed it's mane, but not sure what I accomplished with that. 

Yeah no that’s a bug, still not sure how you managed to get on that side of the trigger, you should be on the right of it.

On the bright side thank you for finding that, I’m going to stress test the rest of the transport player triggers to avoid this happening. 

Oh I need to check that, you shouldn’t be able to exit on the left, but you shouldn’t be getting stuck either.

Thank you for the feedback, I haven't been getting any comments so I really appreciate it!

The story is meant to be confusing and weird, so that’s alright, hopefully once I finish the full thing it will be more obvious that is not meant to be fully understood. 

I did plan to add character busts for the dialogues but ran out of time, but it’s nice to see that’s something that would be liked or wanted. 

I’m really happy to hear you liked how I used the theme and the visual part of the game, I was lowkey worried about it, the theme was very planed but the visuals I had to rush them cause I ran out of time

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Concerning the bug, when you enter the Arena (Hero’s room) you are not meant to be able to leave from either side unless you interact with the Hero (and afterwards you can only leave from the right) hence the “Wrong way” window if you try to leave. 

I am not sure if you meant that or if still after interacting with the Hero, it won’t let you leave, cause then that is a problem I’ll have to fix. Otherwise it is on purpose that you are not allowed to go back.

Ohhh gotcha, I assumed I couldn’t turn them in until I had all the masks, I talked to the Director when I had 1 mask and said nothing so I just didn't tried again. Now that I think of it I didn’t try interacting with the small stage next to him either, so I will do that once I’m back at my computer. 

Edit: Went back and managed to finish, struggled a bit with the mask rooms puzzles but eventually got it.

I got kinda sad when I reached the end of the Demo, or at least I think I did since the key wouldn't work, so I am assuming that's the end for now, but will definitely come back to play once it's fully finished.

Story got me intrigued to what is happening with Lexi and by starters I do not trust the theatre owner/director (sorry I forgot his name), meanwhile everyone else are such interesting and charming characters, I would love to know more plus I loved their designs.  

I played with normal mode so I wouldn't be worrying about the tickets, but I think that is a very cool saving mechanic I feel I don't see as often and could have interesting uses.  

I can't think of any other feedback, so far it feels balanced and I liked picking the coins from the floor instead of the usual shiny sparkles for items, it's nice to see what are you're picking up. Maybe the only thing I'd add is knowing what you can interact with and what not but since there are not many objects it wasn't that bad having to click everything to see if there was something. 

I couldn't quite understand the Owl puzzle, but by luck found the numbers and brute forced the code, on the other hand I am very bad with logic puzzles so you can take this with a grain of salt. 

Overall I enjoyed it and good luck with the finished game! I hope I can play it once it's out.

Edit: I forgot, I love the grey alien looking lil guys dancing, I wanna dance with them.

I want to start by saying the visual aspect caught me from the start, the retro looking and bright colors made it stand out and the character sprites had a lot of personality. 

The battlight, although interesting at the start, turned tedious after battling the Hero, and it constantly cut the narrative. 

The story was very interesting and I was hooked on it trying to figure out what was happening while wanting to know more, but I kept getting pull away by the fights and getting distracted by them, I personally would have rather just explore and learn the story with puzzles in between, than to constantly fight my way through, it changed the mood from mystery to action focused.

The story and narrative again was my favorite part and really well done, so far it's one of the games of the jam that took different aspects from the Theathre of the Grotesque, with the Play and Reality mixing together in a way that shouldn't be possible but is. 

Edit: I almost forgot, but I don't know if it's a bug or if I did something wrong, but I was never able to trade any props in the room with the green doors. I kept trying to exchange to a knife or shield by talking to the npcs but it never actually changed my items.

I got to start by saying that I loved the mechanic, is unique, creative and gave me a lot of anxiety of "what if I'm wrong and don't identify this person correctly". I'm proud of myself I got all the minigames right first time, but I had to re read each several times before clicking an option.

I got a bit confused about the story when I reached the end, but nothing too big.

Honestly a great game overall!

Thank you for the comment! 

I'll take note to maybe make the TVs stand a bit more in the future, along what is interactive and what not. 

About where you got stuck I just realized I should have made it a bit obvious given that's one of the biggest stages. You have to go to the other side and try leave through the left side curtain exit, once you do, The Damned will stop you an call you back to the center stage. After the stage interaction, you should be free to exit through the left curtains.  

 If I got the time I'll go back and add a bit of dialogue so it is a bit more clear what are you supposed to do in the diner level.

On the other hand if The Damned stopped you from leaving and when you approach the center stage (between the two slices of cake and stools) and trying to interact with the stage doesn't do anything then that's a bug I'm going to have to look at because that is bad and should let you do something. 

I want to start by saying that I found the concept interesting and the circus characters creepy and disturbing (in a good way), I understand this is a work in progress but would love to have seen more of them and the circus.

It was very easy to spot the big influence of Undertale (it's a very big inspiration for me too), but at some point it stopped feeling like the game that had nods to Undertale and more of a "fangame" with too many references like the save points which felt a bit out of place with everything else. 

I believe you have a lot of original concepts and visuals to make it stand out without the need of getting so much inspiration from Undertale, the circus creatures are so cool, the protagonist is very cute and most of the hambiances were very creepy even if nothing happened. 

Also I don't know if it's a bug but I couldn't make the menu work, and the save points did nothing when I tried interacting with them, I don't know if it's more of an auto save thing.   

If you go back to fully develop it I'll be sure to check it out again!

I want to start saying that the music is really good and different, fits the ambiance perfect. Also I think what you have going on with the visuals and aesthetic is super creative and unique, plus it has lots of personality.

I sadly couldn't get very far, I think the battling needs a lot of balancing, the enemies attacks are too strong and 1 hit you most of the time, and normal attacks barely do anything to them, while special attacks consume mp fast. I also got stuck more than once with Steve fainting and having no way to revive because the ability wouldn't work while dead, and I couldn't find a way of reviving that wasn't with the revive ability. 

I wish I could've had gone farther, both to see where the story was going and to see if the theme of the jam showed up further up since I couldn't see  much with the short gameplay I had.  

Again I think you have a very cool concept and idea here :D but I think it needs a bit of polishing (which I know a lot of times is hard to get during a jam with the limited time).
 

I'm gona talk a couple spoilers, just a small headsup.

First of, the visuals of the game are beautiful, I liked the red sephia look almost monochrome but not quite. The troupe's sprites and masks were charming and I really loved the character designs, especially the audience. I don't know if you all plan to go back to add more to the game once the Jam is done, I personally would have loved to see more of the scary performances with either sprites or illustrations, or even more detailed text, cause the cutting in half cutscene was so good! I was lowkey sad there was not more of that, maybe even seeing Ari sewing back Tulip.

I was only a bit confused at the end because it felt cut short, with no ending screen or something similar, just sent back to the title screen. I am also not sure if one ending is supposed to be "Good" and one "Bad" (personally I liked more the ending Kat joins the circus, Ari speech was very convincing lol).

Aside that the combat felt a lil bit odd, at times it would be very easy to just spam slash, and others I would get my butt kicked in 2 turns. Ari fight was also odd but I don't know if it was intentional or not, first time he never attacked me, only did force fields so I assumed maybe if I didn't attack either, that would led to a different result. Then second time I fought him he almost defeated me in a couple of turns, so I am not sure if that was on purpose or accident.

Overall I liked it, only downside is I wished there was more, I was stating to like this circus and wanting to see more of them :D (also poor Tulip, she did not deserve that).

Thank you for the comment! :D

Also thanks for reminding me I had to adjust the web  browser size, I fully forgot that's a thing I had to adjust manually, it should work now. 

Yeah my biggest issue with this demo is I couldn't get to the point things start to get scary, tho it's a different kind of horror than my other games, but hopefully if I have time to keep working on this the full version will be more horror than what it currently is. 

First of all, take everything I say with a grain of salt cause I don't usually play games with this type of mechanics, so I am definitely not your target audience. I managed to open the gate with the 3 sigils and the gate with the clock and stopped once I got lost in the mirror maze. 

Storywise, I think you had something very interesting going on and would have loved to know more, most of the time I felt a bit too much in the dark and wanting to have more information as I progressed or explored the building. It caught my attention from the start and so far the 4 characters I found were very intriguing and would have loved to know a bit more as I progressed. 

Mechanic wise it took me until the mirror to realize I had in my inventory two books that explained the stats and that actually fighting everything was bad, so I probably made the game harder to myself without even intending too lol. On the other hand I found really interesting the mechanic of some enemies only reacting when you ran past them, and being able to walk around unnoticed, it pushed me to not sprint constantly and try maneuver around the enemies if I didn't felt like fighting. 

I liked the loot system, and being able to level up your Fortune to find better objects, my only issue was not being sure what I could interact with and what I couldn't eventually I figured out most barrels, boxes and bookshelves could be interacted but I don't know if there was something else I missed. 

Overall I think it is a very cool game and will try go back and see if I can get farther once I am done playing the rest of the games in the Jam. I was also very surprised to see a seemingly 3D model as the player, I didn't knew you could do that in RPGM.

It is a short but very charming game, it reminded me of animated children tv shows I watched as a kid that had a fairytale feel to them, with beautiful but slightly unsettling visuals. Like old animation vibes. 

Really enjoyed the dialogues taking turns between what I assumed was the play, and what had been happening in the theater. And the music was very good too, it had that same feeling of this is nice but slightly wrong, if that makes sense.

I think my only feedback would be the black n white checkboard pattern is a bit aggressive to the eyes and made all the other details  hard to look at. Aside that, I usually am against big rooms in RPG games but here they felt right, I don't know how to explain it, felt empty but in a way that made sense. 

But overall I enjoyed it :D 

This sale was like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 

I'm an indie game dev and you have no idea the number of times I've struggled to find cool looking fonts for my projects that are affordable and also don't require me to pay a fee every time I use them in a commercial game (something I can't afford with my current income).

Thank you so much for doing this sale! I got so excited when I saw the price that I accidentally purchased it in my side account instead of my main one 😂

I cannot wait to include any of this in my next project.

This gotta be one of my favorite comments so far 😂 

Thank you for playing!

Just left a comment on youtube but thanks again for playing both versions!

I just left a comment over youtube but thanks again for playing!

Thank you for playing! I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it :D

I was a little worried the third ending would be a bit too hard to find, so I'm relieved to know that someone did find it. 

Thank you very much! That is always encouraging to hear :D

Thank you very much and thanks for the review! 

Can I ask just a tiny favor? Could you please put a link back to my itch.io page/the game page in the video description? I would really appreciate that.

Thanks again and thank you for playing :)

Don't worry about it, it happens. And sure! I'll be sending you the key via Twitter then, I'm looking forward to seeing you play :D but please take all the time you need, no hurries 👍

Thank you for playing! I had a good time watching :D

If you want a free download key for Catrina's Halloween Nightmare please let me know, I'll be happy to give you one.

Hello! I was just looking for something like this, what are your terms of use for this plugin?

Thanks in advance!

Nice! I don't think I can send DMs in itch.io, do you have a Twitter of Instagram I could send you the download key?

Hello! Thank you for making this, I used it in my game, it helped lots giving it the ambiance I needed. Please let me know if you'd like a free download key, I'd be happy to send you one.

Hello! Thank you for making this, I used it in my game, it helped lots giving it the ambiance I needed. Please let me know if you'd like a free download key, I'd be happy to send you one.

Hello! Thank you for making this, I used it in my game. Please let me know if you'd like a free download key, I'd be happy to send you one.

Thank you for playing! I'm very happy you enjoyed it :D

I am very happy to hear you enjoyed the game! 

Thank you very much for your comment :D

Not dead, just paused. 

If you want to keep more current updates on my games I recommend following my Tumblr dev blog, it’s hard keeping updated all my social media and over there I update more frequently. 

I will be updating here once I can officially announce the back to development!

Thank you for playing! 

It did bug at the credits scene but I am not sure why, that never happened through the testing, but I'll keep an eye open in case it happens again.

 Thank you! It's always encouraging to get comments like this.

Hello, I hope this helps with your problem!

After turning on the sprinklers you should be able to go through the door in the top of the screen (the one to the control room, not the scenario). You should be able to go through that door, if not, then I'll see if it's a new bug I wasn't aware of.

Also, after turning the power on again and defeating Radio, I advise not entering the Control room again, there's a bug I wasn't aware off that will send you in an unbreakable loop where you will be unable to finish the game.

Thank you very much for your comment! I'm glad to hear you liked it.