A pretty fun atmospheric game! Thank you for your work <3
GiovanniDrogo
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Recently, I have been on a bit of Sokoban binge, after being so excited for Order of the Sunken Star, but realizing I won't be able to play it due to controversy.
I yearned to find a similarly good Sokoban game with a novel set of mechanics that also beautiful. I do not know what the reason for this is, but 99% of Sokoban developers believe that their game needs to look as visually and audibly abrasive as possible, despite the players needing to spend a long time looking at their levels.
Forgive me for starting with such negativity. This prelude is there to say that my expectations were high and niche and even then your game has completely blown me out of the water. I could not believe my eyes when I played it.
The progress system of a Zelda-like (hard corridor progression with the illusion of an open world) works so well in your game! No matter how "forced" I was to complete any particular puzzle, it still felt like I could go back and wander the world, so vast and interconnected!
The unique Sokoban mechanics (stone blocks, logs, spheres, columns, swimming) were each so "meaty" and yet meshed together both in terms of gameplay and the "story" of a low-fantasy adventure. Don't know how to describe it other than a ludonarrative harmony.
The different powers you accrued from different animals were SUCH a wonderful mix with Sokoban mechanics! Every time I gained a power I legitimately felt more powerful, more able to traverse the difficult landscape ahead of me! There wasn't a feeling of "oh, this sucks, I'll have to learn another difficult mechanic because of this power-up", there was a feeling of "oh heck yeah! I can SWIM now! After an entire game treating water as dead space!" I haven't felt this ecstatic about Metroidlike powerups even in Metroid itself!
I can't say anything about the artstyle that the artstyle doesn't say for itself simply by existing. I would only add that it manages to be detailed and complex without hiding the puzzle itself. What these developers of barebone-designed Sokoban games probably think is that additional flair would make it more difficult to comprehend what's going on in the level. Your work has no such problems, I've always understood what each piece of terrain and equipment was. Clear, yet beautiful.
The music is a curious dark horse of this work. I could not have imagined that this would be the thing to floor me in a Sokoban game. The way the main motif shifts into the motifs of each of the animals as you go from one scene to the next is so seamless and all 8-9 main motifs (unicorn+victory included) are etched in your mind without growing annoying (the squirrel one was my favourite!)
The difficulty spike if great as well! This will differ from person to person, but this game took a couple of hours across three evenings specifically because I didn't want to burn myself out on a game this beautiful. And while the earlier levels were a bit too easy for my liking, the later levels hit this perfect blend of "not too hard for complete frustration, not too easy for it to be boring". And plenty of good "eureka" moments!
All in all, this is such a love letter to both the Zelda games and the Sokoban puzzles, my heart is overfilled with joy.
I do not know if there is such a thing as a "perfect puzzle game". I can only say that I have had the perfect puzzle game experience with your masterpiece of a game. Thank you so much for making it, for your hard work and for your creative vision! <3
Of course! :D SPOILERS:
The only thing that is visible on the paper is the word "diebin" (or something like that, double-check). In the "CONTENTS" folder, you have a rar. file called ITEMS. You cannot unzip this file without giving a password. The code written on the paper is the password you need! So just unzip the file and you'll get a file called "fuse". Then you put it into the "BOX" folder. Voila! You now can take this fuse from the box on the second floor and use it to fix the elevator in the basement :D
Let me know if it helps!
Hello! :D If you're still interested in the answer after four months, SPOILER
Eve is now in the mirror world. You have to make the files say that she is not in the mirror world, so she goes back. In the folder "CONTENTS", there is a file "BOX.json". You have to edit the line that says
>"mirrored" = true
into
>"mirrored" = false
So the world is not mirrored anymore. Hope this helps! :D
Fantastic game! :D It's stellar work both from the programming (wonderful meta-mechanics that push the boundary of what you can do in GameMaker) and art (fluid, imaginative inflation sequences with unique final shapes). Glad to have helped Eve get out of that predicament and will be looking forward to any of either of yours' future works! :D Thank you for making this game!
Thank you for such a fun game! Tactics-like games are so rare beyond the Fire Emblem series and you've captured what I love about the genre pretty well! The units and their skills were quite fun and unique and the story (or, at least, the beginning of it) was very engaging!
Thank you so much for your work! :D
A Bright Light in the Middle of the Ocean comments · Posted in A Bright Light in the Middle of the Ocean comments
Hello! :D Just wanted to say, what an amazing update! Cannot help but marvel at the work you and so many artists put into it. Thank you for constantly pushing the boundaries of fetish gamedev, besides Burger Kurger's work and One Potion Please, have played your game for longest, it's really cool <3
Especially considering you strive to do something small, like "JoJo menacing marks" and it's a whole complicated process and a fight with the game engine. As someone who is coding illiterate, that's like magic. So wish you all the best on this final stretch! Would buy it on Steam in a heartbeat B)
In regards to your qualms about the introduction of the Delinquent, I'd have to say they are unfounded. I think it's really nice to meet a living person that's not an android after such a long time wandering these rooms alone. She's a really fun character and I have to say, it felt like Jane and Delinquent were together for a while longer than they actually were (4 rooms). And the whole fight sequence with the Bimbot and later boss battle against Ruined Delinquent was cool!
I'm a fan of bimbofication myself (and Ruined Delinquent's design is really bloody cool!), but it's a bit sad that her original personality got erased and the process is "irreversible". If there was a "good ending" with her restoring her intelligence, that would be great, because, despite being a literal black market abductor, she seems like a nice person. Sad to see her go out like that :(
(I know it's rich being into bimbofication and then feeling sad for victims of bimbofication, but what can you do? :] )
Anyway, incredible work, spent hours with it to get all the secrets and looking forward to the Steam release! However long the wait is, it's worth it. Good health to you and good luck! :D
Having played Lilith's Lair, I cannot begin to describe how much I loved Bellagarth as a character. She is the best! A pious, no-nonsense barbarian who is not jaded by her years of fighting and always fights for something bigger than herself. It's probably stupid to think something like that about a fetish game character, but her attitude is very aspirational.
Having thought that Lilith's Lair is the last time we'd see her in a game, I was still happy to have followed her short and concise story.
To find out that you are making a full-length game about her future journeys where she meets so many new and interesting characters and takes a much more active role in her story, with a multitude of fighting styles and forms was incredible news!
Everything I could say about the gameplay/art/humour was said better by other commenters, so I'll try to say something niche, but something I feel deeply.
I appreciate the richly-illustrated visual novel parts of the game. No matter how "mundane" the conversation, you punctuate almost every phrase a character says with a new picture-reaction. Even in Bellagarth's talks with the slime, you had like 5 different facial expressions for a faceless slime! You knew that most people wouldn't notice if you repeated just one frame a bunch and went all in because that way, the scene would be the funniest it could be. And how you animate text! No disrespect to VAs, but with text movement like this, you don't need voice acting, you just hear it in your head.
The movement and dynamism of your art shines even more in this game, which is crazy since Lilith's Lair had fully-animated cutscenes. The escape from chelnoks with Dusk and Bellagarth leaping into the window was one of the coolest, adrenaline-fuelled experiences in this demo.
Yours and Bambi's character designs are absolutely incredible, seemingly cliché "fantasy" concepts that don't feel like anything else I've seen. The chelnoks, froblins and those frog ladies that inflate their breasts are definite stand outs.
The chelnok city is INCREDIBLE! That short level feels so alive because of your fantastic work with citizens walking around, looking down on you as they pass. You've done something that I've felt in Zelda's Ocarina of Time: populate a small and technically limited space in such a way that it feels alive.
The way your writing reveals some aspects of Bellagarth's world without turning it into lore (derogatory) is really fascinating. Haraman and Bellagarth's disagreement on whether the gods do magic comes to mind. You hint at the conflict without needing to go full Dark Souls loredump over it! And the chelnok butcher saying that froblins are lucky to not eat meat and not grow strong, because they don't pose a threat to the chelnoks and aren't crushed? Still think about that easily-missed dialogue. It's a perfect example of how you wrote the chelnok to be a war-like antagonistic nation without dehumanizing them! Maybe I'm reading too deep into this, but the writing is peak!
The fact that you've tailored the boss fight for different difficulties (I think) is also really cool. I've 100% the demo (gamer) and appreciated that Major's axe throw cannot be blocked for long, it just cuts through your defense. But in a Youtube video I've seen of the game I've noticed that a person playing on lower difficulty was able to block it outright. That's a really hands-on approach to adjusting difficulty, which is really cool!
People love saying "I can't wait for this game to come out", but not me. I would be happy to wait for a decade if it meant you and your team brought your vision to life. Thank you for continuing the story of Bellagarth the Brave and thank you for your astounding work!!! :D
Well it must have been extremely early into development, because the work you've done on all the character and "encounter" art, making it variable based on the expansion level is enormous! Still, an interesting "what if". Because won't lie to you, during that last level with the monster all I was thinking was "man, am I lucky this is a porn game and I won't be scared any more than I am now" XD
Yeah, what's happening with NSFW games and payment processors is really not great, but it's all the more reasons to support people like you who, with their work, fight for creative freedom! So all the best on your next game ;)
Finished the game on Steam and loved it! The storytelling, the atmosphere of these inhospitable, desolate environments are really well-delivered through such a minimalist artstyle (talking about the map, not the well-drawn character art). Almost a shame it's a porn game so I can't recommend it to anyone ;)
In short, wanted to thank you very much for your work!
(Mario) The Music Box Remastered Edition comments · Posted in (Mario) The Music Box Remastered Edition comments
Hello! Having played through one endings which seems to be (honestly), one of the better ones, I just wanted to say what an excellent game this is. Something as absurd as Mario in a horror game really blossomed into a beautiful and haunting story, really reminiscent of the classic horror RPG Maker games. Thank you very much for creating this wonderful game and all the best to you in your futures, Team Ari! :D
Four months later, there are so many new things in the latest updates! You have really put your whole heart into this! :D The writing is as fun and snappy as ever, interactive objects are plenty and the artists have done an incredible job with the intro and the various sequences! Sequences, funnily enough, are so hard to come by even in games like these, because it takes a lot of effort to consistently finish. So respect to both you and the artists!
Really liked the rooftop save point, you're right, outdoor contemplative scene like feels really calming and nice :)
My favorite thing in this game is, of course, that Sisyphus joke. Completely out of left field! XD The fact that you took time and effort to program this in, cannot thank you enough ;)
All in all, glad to see you're making progress towards that 50 room mark. Honestly, from your development progress, there are many fetish games on itchio that are left unfinished due to many reasons, but I would actually bet money on you finishing it, you've got the work ethic like no other.
Thank you once again for these updates, didn't want to play it until I supported this game financially, because so many paid fetish games don't hold a candle to what you've made and the work of such a dev and such artists needs to be supported. Once again, hope that your college studies/work goes along swimmingly! And, if you haven't yet played Undertale, absolutely recommend you give it a go, it's a classic.
Thank you for your work and good luck! :D
Thank you very much for taking time to post it! :D It was a really beautiful little experience, like I actually got to visit an old acquaintance for a couple of moments. It's cliché to refer to experiences as "meditative", so I'll just say it was very nice :)
And the photos are gorgeous! The sky with the dark buildings combined with this unique filter effect look really beautiful!
Thank you very much for making this game and wish you all the best in your uni work! :D
森ちゃん wants me to stop cutting her down, but I'm a Lumber Jill! comments · Posted in 森ちゃん wants me to stop cutting her down, but I'm a Lumber Jill! comments
Hello. Me and a friend have played this game a month ago, but I couldn't write exactly just how impactful and beautiful this game is. I think I never will be able to do it fully, but I still want to tell you that you have created a masterpiece I never want to forget. We spoke of it until sunrise. Both of us are from different countries, but we both felt this "something", the feeling of a post-Soviet dilapidation and nostalgia! It's incredible that you're not Russian (I assume), because I'd never expect someone from outside the Eastern Bloc to understand this feeling so well. Or this everpresent feeling of an empty life, where you are afraid to die, but think about how good it would be to go out peacefully, without suffering. Or this twisted, but good, but needed, hope and optimism for something in the future, or at least a desire to live, to exist. Anything I say now will be pointless, because your game has said everything for me.
I've read your journals and saw your other beautiful artwork. It is incredible that you are not only a great game dev (something that already needs several different talents like artistry and coding), you are also a biologist and study Russian, you have so many passions and skills that other people would struggle to contain within them. I know I do.
I have already forgotten the names of the two main characters since last month. I am very bad with names. But I want to let you know that I'll never forget their bond of friendship and what they meant for each other.
Thank you for this wonderful and thought-provoking game and, more importantly, thank you for existing, for bringing your talent and your passion into the world.
Wonderful experience! The apartment and the corridor outside are so lovingly crafted, with many tidbits that make it feel like an old Eastern European apartment! Love it when you can check out and click on everything in games, and you have been extremely throughout in your world-building!
The cutscenes are so awesome, large-scale and expressive, perfect for showing the massive coming apocalypse. Very film-like!
Thank you very much for making this game!
The prototype shows such great potential! The artwork is nice, the gameplay loop (what little there is at the moment) is quite engaging, especially with the three-way direction of attack and the game controls quite well! Looking forward to playing the finished version and good luck to you with the creation process! :D