itch.io

I've hidden the game files due to the Unity security issue described here:https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/unity-has-found-a-security-vulnerability-that-h...

From what I've read, the panic about this vulnerability seems a bit overblown, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. The files may return in the future - who knows, I might revisit this project one day. 😊

Hello Mara!

Wonderful to hear you liked the game, and that my testing was thorough enough. 😄

You know yourself well - after playing the demo, you said "Alex was a bit much, but I feel like he's the kind of character I find a bit annoying at first, only to grow fond of them later." I remembered that, and it immediately brought a grin to my face after hearing Alex is your favourite. 😁 He certainly is fun to write. I thought that if I ever returned to write a sequel or something with this cast, it would start with Alex's band playing a gig.

I thought the voice acting might be kinda strange, since it's just one random scene. But I left it there for that authentic indie experience. 😁 I found myself liking Brooke more and more with every additional scene, and I'm still not sure why!

You're probably the first person after me to reach the final true ending then. Most of my test players reached the almost true ending, but none were hardcore enough to reach the FTE. Also, a stellar achievement to reach the ATE on your first run! I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen often.

I went back and forth on how much to reveal in the true ending. I did not want to spell out everything, but I also worried that if I left too much unsaid, people might assume I did not know myself why certain things (like the old man being there) happened. In the end, I explained more than I first intended, but I still left a couple of points deliberately ambiguous (like the migraines) - so players can either piece them together from the clues or form their own theories.

I'd like to comment on the achievements but it would be spoilery so I'll just stay quiet. Good luck on your hunt!

Also, thanks for the Steam review! Those are really useful and hard to come by, it seems. I haven’t commented on any I've gotten on Steam, since I feel I probably shouldn't as the developer.

Thank you! ❤

I've got everything set up, just need to press some buttons when the time is right. There's a 10% launch discount on all platforms, and the bundle on Steam will be 15% off! It should be up right after launch as well.

My living situation has improved tremendously, btw. My upstairs neighbour moved away, and it seems she was the cause of all the things I thought were coming from different people! A young woman moved in, and she seems to have a sleeping schedule very similar to mine, so that's fantastic. I can actually sleep! On top of that, the worst of the party dudes also moved out, so it’s been quiet on that front too.

I’m very excited (and a little nervous) to finally share the game with the world. 😊 Hopefully you’ll enjoy it!

Thanks! 🙂

A friend told me good things about Lies of P, but I haven't picked it up yet. So many games, so little time... 🙂

I stopped slacking and got properly back into finishing SoB, and I have made very good progress on the game. Of the three possible main branches, two are now finished. Completely. You even get the "FIN." screen and everything. That leaves only the true ending path, which will be the longest one. However, I'm hoping I can soon make a post telling people that the first draft of the game is complete and that I've set a release date.

Edit: By completely finished, I mean that I've added scenes on day 5 and the ending timeline of events is also now complete for those branches. I had previously written the branches themselves, not the somewhat shared culmination of events on day 5.

The current build has about the same word count as Dreamwalker, so I can also check off my goal of making this game slightly longer.

- Jason

Hi Mara! Nice to hear from you again. Hope you're having a great summer!

Sorry for the radio silence! I did take a little break earlier to completely immerse myself into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which I thought was just magnificent—for once the story telling wasn't an afterthought or didn't solely exist because every game is expected to have a story nowadays. And currently I'm on summer vacation—something unbelievable is happening in Finland now—it's warm. It's really warm, and we are expecting it to get even warmer for the next two weeks. We're talking close to 30c temperatures. Madness!

So I need to stack up some vitamin D for the winter. You know, the other 11 months. 😁

I've still been thinking about the story, even during the break, coming up with new ideas. I have a cabin trip planned IRL for the next weekend, so who knows what inspiration strikes there. 😁 I'll post an update once I have something meaningful to announce. Hopefully a release? I'm not terribly off course, but there's still a good bit to do. Also, I've told myself I can't upgrade my PC until SoB is released. So, no pressure, right? 😉

Take care, and don't forget your own summer breaks! ☕

- Jason

A large majority of all choices affect something, but there are a few that are just for flare, or cosmetic like you said. I don't want to spoil any actual choices, but for example there is one choice that deals with the mc's morality, but doesn't have any long-lasting effects. At least for now. 😉

And don't worry—getting those "bad endings" first is a proud visual novel tradition for the few honest players! 😅 

A little update to my previous reply—I already implemented the "X marks the spot"-feature in the game. I compromised a bit and it now shows the approximate location based on the scene, which I think works reasonably well and is informative enough. 🙂

Hi Mara!

Future customer does indeed have a better ring to it. 😁 Once SoB is published on Steam, if I can make a bundle, I'll try to make a "JayzonBH Visual Novel Bundle" or something right away. So if you already own Dreamwalker, you'll get a discounted price—as I'm sure you know, the way Steam bundles work is that if you already own something in the bundle, you can still buy the bundle and get the discount on the products you didn't own.

I was just discussing the map feature yesterday with a friend who's been beta-testing the game—we talked about whether the map should always be accessible after it's acquired. He not only thought it should, he even suggested putting an 'X' marking the spot where the current scene is taking place. I really liked this idea, but it would be an absolute pain to set it up for every scene. 😀 Still, I'm seriously considering it.

As for the whodunit, there's always the option for another playthrough. 😅 No, but you’ll probably want to clear all three main branches anyway, because each reveals unique insights and details you won't get otherwise. And like I probably mentioned before, while it's possible to reach the true ending the first time around, I'd say it's extremely unlikely.

Huge thanks for your continued support—it really does mean a lot!

- Jason

Yes, I have five days plus an epilogue planned. I hope people will try the different routes, if I make the last one and a half days to be completely different depending on your choices. I've planned the game in a way that you probably won't get the true ending the first time you play, but need to try again and adjust things. But there are two other completely viable paths, and I think your perspective on the story could influence which ending you actually prefer.

There are also smaller mysteries inside the larger story arc that you can miss, even if you complete the game. Like for example, the surprise at the end of the demo—it's entirely possible to complete the game and never figure out who did it or what happened (yes, there is a larger story arc that this event is only a small part of 😉).

But hey, nice to know I already have at least one potential customer. 😉 

I'm kidding, I might have a couple more, I hope. SoB actually participated in Steam NextFest, which was really good for me—my wishlists tripled during that time. Now they are pretty much on par with what Dreamwalker had before launch.

- Jason

Hi Mara!

I have wondered about the alarm clock lady myself. I can't figure out why someone would set alarms like that, except to intentionally annoy people. Perhaps she's also fed up with the party people and wants to make sure they never sleep in? Have mercy on the innocent bystander!

There's one thing (or a few, tbh) I didn't mention in my post—sometimes I also hear these sounds, probably coming from the alarm clock lady's apartment (it's hard to say for sure, since this is an older building, and noise travels weirdly). The sounds are kinda hard to describe, but I can't be sure if they're made by an animal or a person. It could be a dog... but it also sounds unsettlingly human. Honestly, that would fit her vibe, since nothing she does seems to make much sense. 😂 I could almost make a short horror game about my own life (if I kinda didn't already).

"I love dogs, but sometimes I hate dog owners." That's beautifully said, I couldn't agree more. It sounds like your neighbours have some redeeming qualities to balance out the annoying parts—I'm sure mine do too, I just haven't seen any. 😅

Ahaha, no need to apologize. 😁 We all have our struggles—I'm only glad if yours are lighter. Thanks for the well wishes, they're appreciated!

I'm not superstitious, but I still feel like I shouldn't say that things have already gotten a bit better. The renovation seems to have reached a stage where not so much drilling is required anymore, I complained to the property manager about the party people and they were sent a copy of the regulations, which actually did quiet them down a bit—now they only party on Fridays until midnight (we'll see how long that lasts). And they are students, so there's a chance they could move out once summer break hits.

Meanwhile, I'm working on Day 4 of Shadows of Betrayal—it's a major branching point with a lot of different outcomes, so progress is slow, but I want the choices to really matter.

— Jason

Hello again! Thanks a lot for the comprehensive review—I'm definitely not going to delete it! 🙂

I was surprised myself that I never uploaded the demo version here. It's probably because I've never had much traction on itch.io, so I didn't bother. The alpha version I have uploaded here is pretty much the same thing as the demo, I think.

The summary works as intended then—I added it precisely to inform the player that they might have missed something. Amusingly, almost all my game testers saw the "Jenna didn't come to sleep with you" notification and replayed the first day. 😄 That romance is meant to be kinda like Sonya's in Dreamwalker—you probably aren't going to unlock it unless you actively try to. Sonya's is still more difficult, though.

Your comments about Alex gave me an idea—perhaps I should write a flashback scene about how he came to know the group. Funnily enough, out of all of them, he's the character that's most based on reality. I used to be a full-on metalhead myself, and went to a lot of metal festivals and gigs... Alex is like a combination of all the people I came to know there.

I've used the delayed relationship change mechanic in multiple scenes now. I even went a step further with a choice that damages your relationship with someone initially, but later, when they've had time to think, they apologize, and you end up gaining more points than you lost. I hope this encourages players to pick what they actually want to say or do, rather than trying to min-max. Of course, that depends on whether they realize this is a thing.

Good point about the cover image, it might be a good idea to revise that before launch. I also forgot that I needed to make a night time version of that one scene background, whoops!

I don't have a set release date yet. I've changed my plan for where the story is going a couple of times now (in ways that still work with the foreshadowing I've done). I usually write knowing the major events that are going to happen, but between them the characters just live their lives, and sometimes surprise even myself. I've also had some really wild ideas recently, both plot-wise and in the way the game operates, but I'll have to decide if they are something I actually want to implement.

- JayzonBH

Oh! It seems like luck was on your side then. In case you didn't know, "A Lover AND a Fighter" requires you to make all the right decisions to have Sonya's romance flag turned on, and then to roll a 10% critical hit in the first fight scene of the game. I've had a few people ask me about that one.

I'm glad to hear you liked the demo! I'd love to hear your thoughts once you've processed everything.

Hey Mara,

Thanks so much for the kind words and feedback, and congratulations on getting all the achievements—"A Lover AND a Fighter" has definitely given some people trouble. Well, that one might be a bit unfair. 🙂

To be honest, I've been a little bit discouraged with Shadows of Betrayal, since in my mind it improves on everything Dreamwalker did, and I expected a bit more traction early on. The demo downloads have been a pleasant surprise though, so currently I'm again feeling a little bit better about it, and back at writing.

Your nice message also brightened my day—thanks again for your support and I hope you enjoy the demo!

- JayzonBH

I wanted to try my hand at Unity, and made this quick dungeon crawler rpg. It's quite alpha, but it has:

• Exploring the dungeon (duh)
• Combat
• Leveling up and skill trees
• Looting and equipping, inventory 
• A boss fight with a loot table!
• Riddles and secrets
• Music, sound effects, some (ai-generated) speech

I don't know how much more I'm going to be working on this, so I thought I might as well make it public.

As it is now, it's a fully playable mini-adventure. Try it out if you'd like and I'd appreciate any feedback.

https://jayzonbh.itch.io/echoes-of-the-dark-god

Things I know the game is still missing:

• Using healing skills outside of combat
• Character status-screens

Dreamwalker is a visual novel about a man who discovers the existence of another dimension hidden in dreams. Explore and learn the rules of a new reality, meet fellow dreamwalkers and solve the mystery of a disaster in the past, while simultaneously avoiding getting fired from your day job as a software designer. Make decisions, build relationships and strive to reach the best ending!

https://jayzonbh.itch.io/dreamwalker

Dreamwalker is something I am developing on my free time as a kind of a one-man passion project. I have been working on it for a while now, and the current version is about 30k words long (all paths combined). The game has choices, branching paths, and a relationship system where your decisions affect what people think of you, and some options might be unavailable if a person doesn't like you enough.

Be mindful though, that the game is not finished yet! The story is not finished, and there are some placeholder or missing graphics. When the game is finished, it might get a small price tag, especially if I choose to go full voice acting. But for now, it is free!

Thank you very much for your interest in my post, friend, and if you choose to try Dreamwalker out, I hope you will enjoy yourself! ❤