Thank you so much for this, and don’t worry about that, I’m delighted with comments anytime! I’m so glad you enjoyed the finished product - and I’m just relieved everything came together in time as I always forget how much work even tiny games are 😅
And aw that’s kind of you, I’m very happy with the response but I've not shared it outside of itch so that’s a reminder I should do so. Hope you had fun in the jam and congrats again on your entry!!🎉
Thank you for this incredibly thoughtful comment and for picking out so many details - and yes I thought Tabetha did a great job!
I'm glad you liked the effects - I'm unfortunately off sick this week but once I'm better I'll hopefully do a devlog about them. Just quickly though - the car paneling was black bars made in-engine and rotated over the ceiling portion of the bg image! Probably only useful for o2a2, but still fun to try new things out :-)
I really loved this – the art and writing are just beautiful, and the way you’ve combined all the elements is incredibly atmospheric. I’m not sure I can easily describe the otherworldly feeling it gave me, but combination the setting and the style and your turns of phrase created something really immersive.
The way you set up the movement and train sound was such a good combination - I felt so immediately ‘in place’ that I was a bit startled when the character appeared! Her reveal was also really well done – that’s exactly how you see people on a train, and although this didn’t occur to me at the time, having her not all visible at once was a clever way to work with the jam constraints!
Anyway, I’m looking forward to trying out all the variants, but I didn’t want to do them consecutively because I liked the ‘realness’ of the spell it wove. (Normally I’m happy to vary things straight away, but for this it felt right as a single journey.)
Oh my goodness, you are an absolute genius at this! There are so many wildly inventive details here – but alongside all the clever technique, the story really grabs you (hehe) and keeps you on your toes (hehe!) The use of the animated text is really superb, adds a whole new facet to the dialogue and pacing, but never feels overdone, just the right amount. And all those endings – I got ending 1 first, and was just blown away by how you manipulate the viewpoint to create it – and then ending 2 impressed me even more!?! (although wow, it was very dread-inducing to reach that one!) Also, the extra details in the GUI? It is truly incredible how much you customised in such a short jam! Oh and finally – as a baby who is still too cautious for the main game, this worked perfectly as a stand alone. I think we were given all the (terrifying) pieces we needed!
I really loved this – so many interesting ideas, humour and melancholy, all woven together with a very deft hand! Remi and their mentor have such a vivid dynamic between them, and even with the jam’s limited wordcount, you create a fascinating window their world and ways of being.
Each of the story’s endings were very affecting, and I particularly liked what you did with the background in the first{?} branch, it was a great example of the different options for storytelling in VN format.
And talking of the visuals – the pared back design and art direction worked so nicely here, and I don’t know how your artist made a vulture psychopomp so incredibly endearing, but here we are! They did a great job. Great work also on the voice acting – and fully voiced for o2a2 is no mean feat! A wonderful stand alone piece, though I'd also love to see more of this world if the thought takes you.
A beautiful, intriguing game with a SUPERCOOL mechanic, I really loved this! The art and atmosphere are lovely, and the setting really draws you in - books and flowers and special teas, what a great combination! And the colour palette is so peaceful. I started feeling like I really wanted to visit this place in real life and then was annoyed that I couldn’t.
I was impressed how it felt like the player really began to make a connection with Evelyn within such a concise wordcount – and there were so many interesting hints at wider worldbuilding, I really enjoyed considering the different possibilities for the questions it raised!
I also liked how – in contrast to the cute designs (and super pretty cottage-core sprite!) - some of the endings gave a real sense of menace – and I think the contrast made them even more effective.
Great music choice too, delicate but with a kind of wistfulness underneath, I thought it fitted the story to a T! And that sound effect is very clever, because it makes lot of sense for the use of the ‘ability; but also gives an unsettling feeling to some of the endings,
On a technical note – obviously I loved the lily mechanic, but also having the hint after the first playthrough and a flow chart for checking were very handy, thank you.
I also thought the text / dialogue boxes were very nicely designed! I’m actually really inspired now to go and try make something outside of the usual ‘lower textbox’ structure… Oh and! Such a cute loading screen! All these extra little details really make the most of the limited assets allowed, a very thoughtful touch for this jam.
Thank you so much for this incredibly thoughtful comment – and I’m very sorry I somehow missed it before, I’m not sure how that happened!?! I’m really glad to hear you enjoyed the game, and yes I love time loops as well so I’m glad we did them justice in your eyes!
It makes me happy to think you enjoyed the game enough to hunt out the different variations, though I apologise that there wasn’t more variety in some places - there were quite few extra ideas we didn’t quite manage to fit in the time frame which I was sorry to lose. Thank you also for sharing your earliest impressions, it’s always helpful to how the ‘mysterious start’ comes across to people, as it’s a quite odd entry point to a story.
I really appreciate you mentioning aspects like the VA/music/GUI too – it always makes me happy to see everyone’s work being recognised, and the project has definitely underlined for me how much work goes into these aspects!
(And one last thing – if you enjoy time loop stories, have you tried Rolling Crown’s VN ‘Jester / King’? It’s an unusual story with very clever mechanics all centered around a time loop, and definitely keeps you guessing. I found it from a bundle, but I think they often do sales, too.)
Thank you for this very kind comment – apologies for the delay in replying, I’m not very well just now and it’s really put the brakes on my online (and VN playing) time!
Anyway – I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the game, and I’m delighted to think that the ‘endings’ mechanic might have given you inspiration for future projects! I wanted an endings screen that could function as a sort of ‘informational flowchart’ but that which would also look pretty and encourage completion, so when I got the idea for the necklace I was quite excited about it (and then Ingthing brought it to life more beautifully than I could have hoped)!
And thank you also for shouting out the team, I was so lucky to be joined by such generous and talented people, and everyone worked really hard.
I’m still really looking forward to checking out your game once I’m better, and congrats again on your Phantasia update!
Thank you so much for this – and ah I know the feeling when you’ve got a long list of games to play, it’s exciting but wow VN devs have been busy this year! 😅 I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed it – I was really lucky to work with a group of such talented people and it’s so nice when people take the time to leave feedback about all the different aspects!
And with the plot, I was really fortunate to work alongside Rascal Devworks planning this out, her ideas were absolutely invaluable and if you had fun with the story I’d definitely recommend checking out her games (once you get through the jam stuff)!
Hope you enjoyed the jam, and looking forward to checking out your submission hopefully very soon ❤
Ahh thank you for your lovely comment, and for checking out so many aspects of the routes – that was very kind of you! I wish we’d had the chance to add more variation to some of those options (there was meant to be a lot more variation, initially!) but I’m glad you still enjoyed it!
With the script, it’s true that we made it quite stylised and left quite a bit of the backstory up to interpretation, so I’m sorry if it was a bit impenetrable at times – I might try and write up a little ‘what on earth happened?’ spoiler guide later, to help with that!
But thank you very much for the feedback, and for shouting out the art and music, I will pass along your comments to the team!
Thank you so much for this amazing video and for commenting as well! Your playthrough was a joy to watch, and I loved hearing your thoughts and reactions. You picked up on lots of little details, and your observations were so interesting, I had a lot of fun revisiting the story through fresh eyes!
Apologies though that accessing the epilogues wasn’t v clear, I’ve been meaning to make a guide post about that, so I’ll try and do that soon. I should do likewise with the mask on/off differences, as there actually was something different to see in the garden, and a small difference in the parlour (just dialogue though!) so I will write up a little list for anyone who wants to be completist about it.
Talking of which, we are honoured that you took the time to collect all of the endings and epilogues for your video, that was very generous of you! Thank you also for your kind words about all the team members’ work, everyone worked very hard and we’re so glad you enjoyed it. Looking forward to checking out your game soon!
Ah I’m sorry I don’t know how I missed this comment?!! Thank you so much, I had a lot of fun writing them and your description makes me so happy as that’s exactly what I was going for!!
Thank you for persisting to find that last ending, I worry a bit that it’s so ‘minimal’ but when/if I return to expand this hopefully I can flesh everything out a bit more. But I see you did the jam too so you know that wordcount restriction can be tough! I still haven’t played through all the o2a2s yet but I’ll look forward to checking yours out soon! ❤
Thank you so much for this incredibly sweet comment – and ah don’t worry about timing, I have SO MANY spook games I’m excited about which I still haven’t manage to play yet, October has just disappeared!
Anyway, I’m really glad you enjoyed it – I was lucky to have Rascal as co-writer who added so much richness to the world (and the beautiful journals/memories for the lore) and I was really fortunate to work with so many talented artists and designers as well.
I'm happy you liked the endings necklace, when I got the idea I was quite excited about it but it was almost cut it for scope until Ingthing volunteered to do the art for it (as well as the GUI)!! I was so grateful for that, and really all of the team were very generous with their time, so being able to share comments like these really makes my day! ❤
(As for a personal timeloop... alas I’ve no way to erase a memory but the game is set up to loop infinite times, so feel free to replay as much as you like 😂)
Hi Lazy Tiger, thank you very much for this! I’ve replied the game-page version of this comment but wanted to thank you here too, and for crossposting. I still get a bit confused where best to post so that was a good solution you came up with, maybe I should start doing likewise.
Btw, I’m really looking forward to playing your submission – I’ve only scratched the surface of the Spooktober games and I feel like a kid in a candystore sometimes, not knowing where to turn next, but I’ve got yours downloaded and ready to go!!!🎉
Thank you for this incredibly detailed comment, and sorry for the slow reply. I’m so happy you enjoyed the game, and really I owe a huge thanks to our playtesters who gave feedback on the loop mechanic pacing, it definitely wouldn’t have gone as smoothly without them!
Thank you also for shouting out all the different elements, I was incredibly lucky to have so many talented team members for all of those things, and everyone worked very hard!
And yes I was really thrilled with all the VA’s performances, it was my first time adding voice acting and when the lines started coming through I was blown away! The mirror line you picked out is one of my faves, the VA was Katabelle Ansari and she committed to this unconventional part 100%!
As for the character art - it seems to vary from person to person which style they’re more drawn to, and this falls at my door for recruiting two quite different styles within one project! I’m really happy with how both turned out, and the reception they each got, but style matching is something for me to pay closer attention to in future game.
I hope you enjoy the other epilogues if you do go back to them - I consider them all ‘True Endings’ but if you end up with a favourite feel free to let us know! 🤍
YOOO if you read the above comment tomorrow and wonder why I didn't mention your amazing FIRST PLACE AWARD it's because I was sneaking in some last minute commenting before the awards happened and I didn't know it yet!!! (I'm now extra glad I managed to do so before it gets lost in the flood of attention hehe!!!!)
Anyway, a massive congratulations, it is so well deserved and I'm so happy that you'll get more eyes on your game from it! Hurray!!! 🎉
I absolutely loved this game, the writing was absolutely gorgeous and I really liked the way that you uncover more about the story / history / characters with the different playthroughs.
The atmosphere and descriptions were incredibly evocative, and I loved the art too - the mermaid is somehow both so cute and so creepy at the same time, really wonderful character design. Loved one of the CGs in particular but won't say for spoilers!!
An absolute jewel of a game. 💚
I was super intrigued by this after seeing your art style, and wow it did not disappoint! The whole game is a visual treat and incredibly polished, and more than that, very VERY fun as well!
I loved the main character and his wilful disregard for private property, loved the super mysterious premise, LOVED where you went with it, and ahh the place you ‘end up’ was just PERFECTLY done, and the visuals and writing there gave me a proper chill.
The puzzles were super impressive – one of them I did find quite frustrating, but I believe you’ve updated it since I played it (I am very behind with my commenting) so I’ll look forward to checking that out when I replay (as so far I only got the 1 ending!)
I admit that the game did leave me wanting more, but only because I was hooked in so much - and I equally respect the mysterious note you left it on! A really fantastic submission.
I LOVED the atmosphere of this, the writing is so so good (not a surprise there, of course!) and the visuals, sound and interface really add another layer of unsettling-ness to the whole experience.
I had a lot of theories about what might be going on, and I was entirely wrong about all of them, but I had a lot of fun guessing!
(Also, I happened to play this while I was a bit unwell which gave a whole extra layer to ‘being’ this character, if you play it with a headache/feeling sick this is an extra trippy experience 😅)
A very ominous / emotional / worrisome / hopeful / fascinating game.
This game was an amazing experience, I loved the story book feel, and the writing was absolutely gorgeous. The artwork and the user interface were also beautiful and fitted the theme of the story perfectly.
I'm a bit behind on my commenting so I'll be back to leave a more detailed comment later, but just wanted to say at least something in case I'm further delayed! Also, really looking forward to the next part!!
Hello Carrot I’m so sorry for the slow comment, I wanted to take the time to write you something properly detailed but my brain has not yet managed. So for now, here are the bullet points I wrote right after playing -
This was so much fun and so INCREDIBLY polished!
Fantastic action sequences!
Brilliant banter!
Great pacing in the tense moments!
Love the 4th wall asides!
So many clever uses of visuals (especially liked how you did the, hmm, self depreciating spirals??) Also really liked how you did the ‘passage of time’.
Laughed so much at the giant eye and the javascript riddles!!
Enjoyed the rabbit soldier confetti!!
Wonderful writing and so many great turns of phrase
Esp loved the sprite expressions!
Iggy is a such a sweetheart and should be protected at all costs!
And although I’m afraid I’m too fraidy about the trigger warnings in your main game, I’m so happy I got the chance to meet the characters in a slightly less ominous context, they were all wonderful and this game was such a delight!
I absolutely loved this – an intriguing story, gorgeous artwork and very clever cinematography!
The text and the images worked together so well, and the action sequences were fantastic!! The characters fitted into the background art very nicely, and the panning was very clever - in fact the whole game had a very cinematic feel.
I also really liked all the character designs, especially the armour which was beautifully detailed. Oh and I thought the roses background was very clever as it changed as the game progressed!!
It's exciting to hear you’re intending to expand this a bit, but it’s still a jewel in its current form - I enjoyed it very much indeed. 🌹
Thank you so much for your kind words! I’m so glad you enjoyed it, the team worked really hard to put it together!
And ahh V’s original character was just a one-note villain before Rascal and I had our character discussions, so you really have her to thank for that! Happy to hear that those snap-happy tendencies didn’t overrule her other charms!! 😂
And that's kind of you to look at my older stuff but just a head's up it's still pretty in progress, hoping to get back to it after the next update on this project though!
Sorry for the slow reply, I was really overwhelmed by this comment! 😭 Thank you so much for your incredibly kind words, and the team shout out, they were honestly so wonderful and I will make sure they all see what you said!
I am excited to make some devlogs but it might be a little slow as I’ve injured my hand and can’t type easily just now, but fingers crossed it wont be too long. Thank you again for all the support!! ❤
Ah I'm sorry, I replied to your gamepage comment and not this one - thank you v much for the feedback! That was a suggestion from an early playtester and although at first I’d wanted to keep the loop the same, our planned word count doubled and it quickly became obvious I needed to work out a quicker mechanic!! I’m glad it worked for you! Also btw, I have now played your game and LOVED it, I need to leave you a proper comment but just to say it was absolutely gorgeous!! ❤
Oh wow thank you so much for this – I admit I do like stories where you have to fill in the gaps a bit yourself, so I’m really happy this worked for you, as I’m never sure how much is too little/too much info!!
I’m glad you enjoyed the art, and thank you for specifically mentioning the backgrounds – the artists had a big job, especially as in a lot of scenes we don’t have any characters present, so I was really grateful for their hard work!!
And btw, I’ve now played your game and it was absolutely WONDERFUL! Once I’ve caught up on replies here I need to leave you a proper comment, but just to say it was super immersive and I’m really looking forward to more!
Hi SeaLiteral, I just left a comment on your main page about the things I really liked, but I had a couple of thoughts so I thought I'd put them over here.
In my playthrough, if I don’t trust Clara, then go to the park and see her, then we go to the inn together, I get an error message saying
Line 255 if seen_bard:
Name error: Name seenbard is not defined
I'm not great with errors but possibly you’ve set up your variables using “define” rather than “default”? I think maybe putting default seen_bard = True (before the start label) might fix this.
Also, at the inn with Clara, it might be worth to put a visual effect or line of text saying “I slip into a dream” before the dream sequence, as when I first reached that scene, it appears quite suddenly and I thought the game had accidentally jumped back to an earlier point.
Another suggestion is - it sounds like you had a disappointing experience with your proofreader, and likewise with the card game mechanic, but a new player wouldn't know about these issues, so I think it might serve the game better not to mention them at all. With the card game specifically, you could just add a line of text describing winning the game, and it wouldn't interrupt the flow of the story.
For proofreading, I didn’t spot any issues except this sentence - “I hear he blows the candle, it goes dark” which should be “ I hear him blow out the candle”, but its still understandable!
For the art, I really liked your pencil drawing - and I wonder if it might have been fun to make all the art 'traditional style', to fit in with the storybookish feel? If you bump up the contrast on some drawing like the sheep one, you could maybe create some quite nice visuals without having to go the photo editing route either.
I hope you don't mind these suggestions, and if you've already fixed anything in your new update, apologies for being slow with the comment.
PS - forgot to say in main comment, but I love the title you chose for this game! A very dreamy and evocative sounding name!
I really liked the atmosphere and the worldbuilding in this game! So many interesting details of this land and characters, and the main characters all felt very sympathetic (except the antagonist of course)!
I admit I’d have liked a little bit more to the script so we could learn more about the background and situation with the dragon tamer, and Al’s abilities, but I release jam projects do have their limitations, or maybe you wanted to keep it more mysterious.
Probably my favourite scenes were with the bard - his song was delightful, and then when he tries to give Al a poem, and Al says “no, I don’t need this” – that made me laugh so much. Absolutely devastating response. It's a bit of a shame you don’t get to meet him if you trust Clara, which is tricky as she is very trust-able – perhaps if you do update the game later, you could weave their stories together a little.
Talking of Clara, her VA was wonderful, she did a great job conveying the character, and it was tough to leave her behind to get those bard scenes! You also did a good job filling in the Fleming part yourself, though maybe for a future update it could be nice if both of his scenes had VA, for consistency.
I had a couple of other logistics suggestions I’ll pop in the jam comments, but I see you've made an update since I played this, so maybe some won’t still be relevant.
PS – loved the little glowsheep game icon! That was a really nice touch and made me smile to see.
Ah I’m thrilled to hear that the universe (or itch!) randomly introduced you to this game, thank you so much for taking a chance on it! I like to replay different options in VNs anyway, so I thought the format would lend itself to one of my fave narrative devices (the timeloop!) and I’m glad it worked for you.
And oh wow that is the highest praise I can think of for the art, thank you so much! Please do check out the artists' links if you’d like, and two of them make games with their art here on Itch if you're interested, at https://sunlabyrinth.itch.io/ and https://forsythiaproductions.itch.io/
For my part, yes I do have some ideas in the works, so thank you for the support and feel free to follow me here or on twitter for any updates! ❤ Likewise feel free to check out the rest of Spooktober jam, there is an amazing selection of 160 VNs and all for free this month!
Thank you so much for your kind words, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I’m also always interested to hear what order people play the endings in, so thank you for sharing your first run through! All are valid!! I sometimes worry that the ‘by the book’ play through is a bit dry for a first go round though, so I’m glad you continued on to check out the other routes!
Thank you for playing, and looking forward to checking out your game very soon! ❤
Thank you for this lovely comment! I’m happy to hear you had fun, and I’m honoured that you went through it in just one sitting!
I’m really glad you liked the art and design, I was v fortunate with my teammates and everyone put a lot of work in! And yes, Saint’s clothing designs are always wonderful, and Ing did a great job with the GUI and endings screen! (I ought to share my initial necklace sketch for a devlog sometime as she took something super basic and made it so beautiful!!)
And ah, Edwin’s operatic track is my absolute favourite, I had a lot of fun discussing the sound of the game with him, and I’m looking forward to making an update with a music player so people can return to listen to any tracks they want!
I was in two minds about adding voice work as I’ve never done that before – but I’m so happy I did as I think the VA s did wonderful work, I’m v grateful to them, and to Rascal for her assistance.
I love a good adventure game feel, so I'm glad you enjoyed the POV in this one - and the pans were all Fen's expertise, you should have seen me trying to fight with the maths on those. 😅
Oh! About the diary stuff – this totally slipped my mind til now but the idea of collecting diary snippets was partly inspired by collecting the ficlets in your game ‘Find my Mind’ (though I didn't get round to making ours ones re-readable)!!! I need to add your name as an inspiration source in the credits, I am terribly sorry for this oversight and will add it to the next update!!🙏
Ah, apologies that this wasn't clear! You need to play through to Main Ending 10 again, after which, if you have epilogues available, they will be offered to you! Also feel free to use the Skip (fastforward) function when replaying to reach 10, though without taking diversions it should hopefully be a fairly quick route!
Thank you also for your kind comment, and please let me know if this works okay! ❤
