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This was a lot of fun! I really enjoyed the demo; but I hadn't seen until the other day that the full game was out, so I was really excited to experience the whole story! For anyone reading this who hasn't played the game yet, I tried my best not to be too specific in my review, but there are still some spoilers, so definitely play the game before reading this (it's definitely worth the playtime)!

I really felt like you fleshed out the characters of all of the family members really well; I honestly really like games like this where the player has meaningful choices, but still plays a character with a unique personality, and I think that you really captured a compelling family dynamic throughout each chapter. I was not expecting how grief would impact the story; I felt like the way you illustrated how a family has to pick up the pieces after losing a loved one was really poignant. And man, talk about some tense moments! I totally felt the main character's parental fear of their kid's superpowers being found out, but I tried really hard to chart a path with my choices that let the kid know both that her powers were a good thing that could be used to help people, and that the weight of the world wasn't on one child's shoulders (whether or not they happened to be a superhero). The choice that was the hardest for me was the conversation the main character and kid had after the bus crash, picking between the two options definitely felt difficult in light of maintaining that balanced approach; I would have liked an option that emphasized less what the kid should have done, and more just an assurance that she was loved and I was proud of her for trying to do the right thing, but that she wouldn't be able to stop every bad thing from happening and that was never her fault. I felt like the conversation in a future chapter after the spouse's death, where we talked in the car about magic powers not being able to solve everything, was a really good capstone to the superhero's arc, and let me say what I wish I could have said to the poor kid earlier. I felt like the overarching theme of imperfect people trying their best in an imperfect world, and that love is the strongest of any other powers we might have, landed really well; and the conversational, vignette sort of storytelling felt like a uniquely potent and creative way to convey that message.

The ending I had in my playthrough was Ending 4/5, "Not All Heroes Wear Capes"; I haven't tried to get any others yet, and am really curious how different the story can turn out. I only saw a couple of typos on my route; I had a daughter superhero, and the prose accidentally said, "homeschool him"  in Chapter 5,  but besides that there just was one missing "to" in Chapter 9 when I think it said, "needed me say the right thing".

I was wondering, when it says that the main character told the kid everything in the storm shelter, was that just related to her discovery in the ship, or was she also told about that time the spouse character took out that time-travelling assassin (a lot of the story was quietly poignant and bittersweet, but that was the one part that actually got me to say, "Dang!", but the whole thing felt very in-character; I actually appreciated that there wasn't some kind of "betray your kid because some murderous guy from the future said something vague about her being evil" option, and  that the time-traveller wasn't so overpowered that he couldn't be taken out by a shotgun). Was that red cloth a cape, or do I need to try other routes first to find out?

I also liked that you included an epilogue about your inspiration and process for writing the game, I always appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the relationships other interactive fiction authors have to their stories, and I definitely relate to that feeling of having an idea for a project pop into your head when you're already supposed to be working on several others (or, in my case, also schoolwork).

All in all, I really enjoyed this game! It was an emotional rollercoaster that felt like it really delivered on its unique premise (as well as a great distraction for players who have the coronavirus), and I'll definitely be replaying it to find out about the other endings. Thanks so much for writing this story, and best of luck with your future projects!

This was really unique, and honestly one of the best implementations of an amnesiac protagonist and timed choices that I've seen in an interactive fiction game! The art is really well done, too, and I'm really curious to learn what happens to Sadie and Asher in the next chapter! I was wondering, which program did you use to create the game? I played on mobile; it wouldn't start the game beyond the starting menus on Itch, but the whole game ran just fine on the site you linked to.

Thanks very much for the opportunity to experience this story, I can't wait to see what comes next, and best of luck on all of your future projects!

Is there a word for the video game equivalent of comfort food? This is definitely it for me, I love the story so much, thank you very much for making it. I've been planning on buying another step DLC as a reward for making it through another term of college; so now, that I'm finally on my (very brief) summer break, I'm hoping to start playing through the game again.

Thank you again to everyone who made this game possible, and best of luck in your future projects!

Oh my gosh, this was so much fun! I ended up with the Diplomat ending ("D5.4: 'The Diplomat' (Influential)"). Zan was a really fun character to get to know, and I was really glad that he agreed to stay with me throughout my quest; it wasn't definitely bittersweet when he had to leave.

I really liked the epilogue! Having the decisions I made during my quest shape my reign felt really unique, I'm honestly just really amazed by how complete the story feels while still leaving room for imagining the details of Imelda's future exploits as queen. Seeing how her interactions with Zan slowly chipped (pun intended) away at her initial prejudice was great to see, but it was even more awesome to learn in the epilogue about how their friendship helped mend relations between their countries. I'm glad that they stayed penpals, and was also happy that Jaspi stuck around at Imelda's court (one of my brother's cats is named Jasper, but Jaspy is his most common nickname, so I thought of him when the monkey was first introduced).

I didn't notice any typos, I really liked the format of introducing different book pages, and I really loved the puzzles throughout—my favourite one was definitely the music box, but the one to free Jaspi was a close second!

Thanks so much for all of your work in this game! I love interactive fiction like this that offers you so many different choices, while still having a strong story structure. I'll have to play again to find out which choices I could have done better. 

Thank you again for writing this exciting adventure, and best of luck with your future projects!

Oh my gosh, that was awesome! Having a Superman-esque kind of story from the perspective of the hero's adopted parents is just so uniquely brilliant. I had a lot of fun and ended up pretty invested in the game by the end, even though the prototype is only a few minutes long, and I'd really love to see more of it!

Somehow I'm pretty late to the party; but wow, this was a really unique story, and probably your funniest game yet. It's really cool getting to see Bell Park again, both in her younger incarnation from the game that came out when I was a kid, and the version of her all grown up now but still figuring out what she wants her life to be like. The final confrontation with the cat burglar and the whole hostage chicken scene were both hilarious, the dialogue between the two Bell Parks was well written and fun to read, and even the dark comedy of Adult Bell trying to keep Kid Bell in the dark about the pandemic landed pretty well.

I get that it's beyond the focus of this story, but I'm just curious, do you have any ideas about what happens in the timeline Kid Bell goes back to?

This was a whole lot of fun to play! The learning element is really cool, I feel like I learned a bunch of different kanji I didn't know just with my one playthrough, it felt kind of like Duolingo with a story to go with it. I really enjoy the game as it is, but also really like the ideas mentioned at the end for expanding it in future versions.

Thank you for making this game, and best of luck in your future projects!

This was a really unique idea for a story! The conversations with each soul felt very natural and unique. On my first playthrough, Juno convinced me not to choose any one soul over another, so the AI chose Nia (my compatibility with her was nine if I'm remembering correctly, it was her best ending), and I reincarnated into the Spiderman toy.

Thanks for the hard work you put into this game, I really enjoyed it. Best of luck on your future projects, and Merry Christmas!

Woohoo! I've been really looking forward to this! Thanks for all of your hard work!

I'm off to Golden Grove now. Have a great holiday season!

This story was highly enjoyable, thanks so much for making it! I know that this is probably oversharing a little, but I didn't sleep last night and have been basically nonverbal all day (don't mix autism and TBIs), and I just wanted to say that reading this really cheered me up! Lily is a gem, I really enjoyed her banter with Crystal, and I literally laughed out loud during the end credits sequence! Also, I know that it's a small detail, but I really appreciated that there was a back button; accidentally clicking through dialogue without being able to rewind is one of my visual novel pet peeves, haha.  I downloaded the mobile version of this game, and didn't encounter any technical issues; it even remembered my place in the story when it had to reload after I switched applications.

Anyway, in conclusion, thank you again for creating this fun experience with an important message, and best of luck with your future games!

This was both a really funny and beautiful take on the ritual theme; the altar server disaster comedy in particular is hilarious! My parish doesn't have air conditioning, and one summer evening when I was a teenager it was so hot that the old priest I was serving with said like forget vestments, and just had us serve in plainclothes. I've never been in a procession that went all over the neighbourhood, that sounds really cool.

I really like the Divine Praises; there's like a duet arrangement online with Matt Maher and Audrey Assad singing them back and forth, have you heard it?

This was a lot of fun! All of the different characters felt unique and fleshed out, and the mechanic for switching between them was really interesting—I especially appreciated that you used it not only as an engaging way for solving puzzles, but also as an opportunity to see the same things from different characters' perspectives.

The music in this is beautiful! Did you compose it yourself, or is it from a library? I love piano and cello pieces.

This was a lot of fun! This is one of the few interactive fiction games that I've played that feels like it really captures the energy and party dynamic you get while playing something like Dungeons and Dragons—from seeing how different characters' abilities are used, to the decisions made for resolving the conflict. All three of the protagonists were memorable (pouring one out for Bjob), and the quest was both really captivating and genuinely fun to adventure through.

Excellent work, and best of luck on your future projects!

This was a lot of fun! Having the narrative in the form of a logic puzzle like this was really interesting and challenging, I'd never seen anything quite like it in a visual novel. Both the story's setting and its mechanical use of time travel make the game really unique, and working until I reached the true ending felt very rewarding. Figuring out how to make sure different characters have specific pieces of the puzzle as you learn more about the dynamics in their relationships was very cool, information as a resource in itself isn't something you see explored super often in games; plus, it's always fun getting the chance to outtrick a trickster villain.

Great work with your game, and best of luck with your future projects!

I don't know much about Hololive, but I usually enjoy mystery games like this one, so I gave it a shot; I'm glad that I did because, even though I didn't get most of the references, it was fun and very well made! As a massive Bookworm fan, I really liked the "Ascent of the Bibliophile" reference—it's definitely my favourite TV anime, and I'm like always surprised how many people I talk to haven't even heard of the show; did you get to see the finale the other week?

(Kind of spoilers for the game below, even though I'm trying to be oblique about it).

Even though I was wondering about the possibility of the injections getting mixed up and was confused about the beginning with being tapped on the shoulder, I definitely did not see the twist ending coming! It was a really great narrative use of time travel, and having the actual clues scattered throughout the game with the vials was really cool.

Thanks for your work making the game, and best of luck with all of your future projects!

Thank you! I actually haven't had a lot of people I know play all the way through what I've written of the game so far, so I really appreciate the feedback!

This is a really unique story! I finished the whole demo; I love your use of classical pieces as character leitmotifs, especially Le Tambourin for Jack (I played it at a piano recital when I was eleven, and it's been one of my favourite songs ever since, so hearing it in the game was a really fun surprise). All of the character art is really well done, too, and I was impressed in particular with the amount of detail you've put in for the backgrounds for the different locations throughout the theater. I think that my favourite character so far is Lena, and I'm curious to see where you'll take the story.

This is a really unique idea for a game! I played through the whole demo; having historically accurate politics influencing the plot is really cool, and I had fun learning more Spanish!

Best of luck with your project, and keep up the great work!

-Isaac''

Oh my gosh, it's so freaking frustrating! Like, I get that it's not just a me being autistic thing, I understand that to some extent it's difficult for just about everyone to get work, but how the heck do I prove I'm qualified for any position when most of what people are looking for even in entry-level stuff is previous work experience? I'm twenty-four and the only jobs I've had in the past were part time; at this point, I see the appeal in basically working for free at an internship just to get my foot in the door somewhere, but like all the ones that I've found are only for people who've been enrolled in a college program for some time.

I appreciated the Frasier reference, haha. This was a fun game; thanks for making it, and keep up the good work.

Hi Ann,

Thanks, that sounds super, and it'd be fun to get to help. I'm not really able to work a full-time job right now (I'm unfortunately still symptomatic from a TBI I had a few years ago), so I actually have lots of free time for projects and stuff.

I think that probably the easiest way for me to get feedback for my game would be by email; that way I could get back to you if you have any particular questions about it. Right now, when it reaches a point I haven't written for yet, it links to a passage that has my email address on it for questions, comments, or for reporting typos (sorry if that's kind of inconvenient, I'm just hesitant about posting my contact information on a public page because I'm a little concerned about spammers). Alternatively, I think that you can provide feedback on Itch in a rating.

Happy Leap Day!

-Isaac````

PS: Here's a joke: Did you hear about the two guys who stole a calendar? They each got six months.

Hi Ann,

Your sequel ideas sound really interesting! I know that this is kind of early to ask, since you're still planning it out, but do you think that you'll need any playtesters? I'm still learning Twine, but I could maybe help out with simple fixes, like correcting a broken link if I find one or something like that. Again, I know that it's kind of early to be asking, and my feelings won't be hurt or anything if you're already pretty squared away, I was just wondering.

You can actually play what I have so far of my game here; I first published it to Itch back in November, and I uploaded some new content for it last week. I don't think that a lot of people have played it outside of my immediate family, so I'd actually really appreciate the feedback. Also, just in case you're interested, I wrote up a blog post a while back that details some of my goals for the game, which you can read here (it's spoiler-free).

Thanks again for making Days with Shaylin, and good luck on your future projects!

-Isaac````

PS: Here's a joke: If you ever get cold, just stand in a corner; they're usually about ninety degrees.

Hi Ann,

Thanks for making this game, it was fun; I think that it's actually the only Twine game with an autistic protagonist that I've seen so far (other than a game I'm writing, which is more of an adventure game than a slice of life, and is still very much a work in progress), so I was really excited to discover it.

I enjoyed playing all of the episodes (I'm actually still exploring other paths that I missed my first playthrough); my favourite was Episode 2. I'm autistic, too, and I feel like you did a great job capturing the frustration of going nonverbal.

I was just wondering, are you planning on adding more episodes in the future for the other days of the week?

Keep up the good work!

-Isaac````

PS: Here's a joke: Four fonts walk into a bar. The bartender goes, "Hey, get out! We don't want your type in here."