Ahh, that certainly explains it. Audio is usually the most bulky part of a game, I believe.

Thanks for the prompt answer! (And then I take a week to say thanks…)

I see now some of that was also mentioned on the download page, though that isn’t accessible from the Itch app. And thanks to the mention of the Steam versions, I was able to find this from the Technical FAQ, for anyone interested:

What is the mkxp version and how do I opt into it?

The mkxp version runs Jimmy through a C interpreter. Basically, this makes things run at a much nicer framerate. However, battle music doesn’t loop correctly, and some people experience other glitches, so I felt it was too unstable to have as the main download.

How is this version a fraction of the filesize of previous versions? Down from nearly 200 MB to under 20. Was anything cut?

When I try to run this, I get an error message:

Java has not been found on your computer. Do you want to download it?

I do have Java. My Java Control Panel says it’s up to date. Clicking the OK button does nothing. Help

Hey, what’s the difference between the win and pc versions? Is one better?

What is the difference between the --mkxp download and the other one? They both include mkxp files

Cool, much more straightforward. Thanks!

Is there any difference between the NES and PC versions? Or is it a direct port/emulator?

Might I suggest renaming them? Like instead of The Game is here no ads, how about HammerA SWF.rar, etc.

Please explain the patch. Why is its filesize twice as large as the actual game? Is it a newer version? Why a separate download?

The Game is here no ads HammerA.rar

Hammera no adsEXE version.rar

Complete Packaga HammerA by Khermann aka airman4.rar

Why on earth are there three completely differently named downloads? Are two of them outdated? Are there differences? Compatibility issues? Which one do I download? Do I need all three?

Whereas I see toys and games separately: you play a game, following its rules to complete objectives; but you play with a toy, maybe making up your own self-enforced rules (though something like Mouse Trap blurs the lines a bit—arguably more fun to play with the Rube Goldberg contraption than to play the game). I would classify something like Cosmic Osmo as a highly interactive toy, as it has no definable objectives, no win state, no loss state.

Not judging—many visual novels are absolutely not games, but I’m planning to buy the rest of the SciADV VNs as soon as they’re available. Because game-ness doesn’t matter as long as you enjoy it.

Could you elaborate?

Maybe it’s just down to personal opinion, but personally, I don’t see how something without objectives could be a game. A toy, sure. An art piece. How is it a game?

Some years ago, a lot of the internet got angry about Gone Home being sold as a game, levying various arguments with varying numbers of holes in them. But it had the objective of piecing together the story through exploration. Of course it was a game.

So, what makes this one a game? What makes this something you play rather than something you play with?

Is it really a game if it has no objectives?

It’s essentially a 3D rail shooter with free movement on a 2D plane.

But yeah, “My game is like [insert game here]” is the worst description one can give.

This really shouldn’t be listed for sale here after it’s been abandoned. The Steam version is the same price for an extra year of updates—last updated in November 2020, compared to October 2019 here.

Will the Itch app be able to auto-update this demo with the filename changing with each new version? Or how will that work? If it won’t work, could you remedy that?

Ohh, that would be nice. A playable online version of Quest

I think that’s why this page explicitly recommends playing the offline version. Quest is pretty neat, but their web tech is terrible.

You can move (and rename) the game folder anywhere and get rid of the rest, it seems.

This is an excellent question though. Does it need to be in %appdatalocal%?

Edit: It absolutely does not. Just move and rename the folder containing the executable (in my case, empy..tion_26e291384eb56324_0001.0001_5b6de51a672003b3), and then you can feel free to delete any containing folders, including Apps itself if you don’t use it.

Right-click the file and choose Open with. Or change your default browser.

Old comment, so maybe you resolved it, but in case it helps anyone else

So you just follow the cat around until a heart randomly appears? Because that can take quite a while.

I can’t work out how the cat scene is triggered. Any help?

Maybe turning off hardware acceleration fixes it? I disabled it for other reasons, but just tried this game again with that off and now it seems playable.

I believe I stumbled across a bug:

• Enable NSFW Mode
• Get Nitalah in your belly and go to her Belly screen
• Small Talk
• Undress
• Suddenly, Nitalah turns into Taini and now they’re both in your belly, Taini nude and Nitalah still clothed

I don’t know if this is still relevant, but sure, what part gave you trouble?

Yep! There’s no “The” or “Darn” now either. What was supposed to have been there?

Also, I think there’s a misplaced bracket very early on, in the third screen of the game. The blue text ends at “but at least I got my wits about me!” even though the dialogue continues.

And super minor, but some quotation marks are colored and some aren’t.

Formatting issues aside, I’m fair certain you’re the best vore writer on Itch!

Would be great if creatives on Itch would give clear licenses for use of their creations.

Think there’s a bug.

The esophagus squeezes around your face, constricting your movements and preventing you from trying to pull your face out. The (if:) changer should be stored in a variable or attached to a hook. Darn There's nothing before this to do (else:) with. Not that you would even try that at this point. . .

Released in March.

after a month ill make it free

It’s July. If they made it free, it wasn’t here.

Or on Eka’s. Or on FA.

The map has some serious readability issues. Text doesn’t do well on busy backgrounds, and would greatly benefit from a nice dark purple textbox like you use everywhere else in this.

In the browser-based game, I can’t get past “Press Enter to Begin” no matter what I press, running Chrome on Windows 10.

I have seen this with some Itch games. Somehow the permissions don’t get set right, so (for the less technically literate) this command just tells your computer that it’s a program you can run. For the path, just drag the app onto your Terminal window.

For Mac users: I had to make it executable (chmod -R +x /path/to/game.app) before it would run. It doesn’t have its file permissions properly set.

Yay, thanks!

I’m sorry to hear that, and I hope I didn’t make you feel pressured. Focus on the important things! Hope things turn well for you. <3

Okay, so I made the folder and copied lib/monogame.framework.desktopgl.core/3.7.0.7/lib/netstandard2.0/MonoGame.Framework.dll to lib/netstandard2.0/MonoGame.Framework.dll (I assume editing the manifest would also have worked), and now the game seems to run fine, except I still get these errors on launch:

AL lib: (WW) GetProcPath: Failed to readlink /proc/self/file: No such file or directory
AL lib: (WW) alc_initconfig: Failed to initialize backend "jack"

Not sure if those are significant. The game does have sound.

Sorry for taking so long to give it a shot, but:

$ ./The\ Heart\'s\ Illumination
Error:
  An assembly specified in the application dependencies manifest (The Heart's Illumination.deps.json) was not found:
    package: 'MonoGame.Framework.DesktopGL.Core', version: '3.7.0.7'
    path: 'lib/netstandard2.0/MonoGame.Framework.dll'

Soooo… it’s broken. Or at least, it’s looking for a nonexistent directory.