Thanks so much for your kind words! I really enjoyed writing this; if I can get some more practice with Twine formatting, I'd like to write more games like this.
Thanks so much for the kind words! I'm not experienced at all with Twine, so doing justified text was just about the limit of my abilities at the moment, haha. This is also intended as a sort of story bridge between the first game and the future installments (hopefully coming sooner than two years out from now!) so it felt logical to have it as a kinetic story rather than branching dialogue choices.
I played this a little over a week ago, and I'm only just "getting over" the experience. I'll try to leave a more articulate review in the future, because this game absolutely deserves it, but for now I will say that it is a beautifully crafted and truly devastating experience. I don't know why, but the scene where you pick out food at the convenience store is what got me to cry. Not even the gut-punch at the checkout, just picking out your snacks and saying you don't have to worry about the money, you can get whatever you want. Maybe because it reminded me of being a little kid and getting a treat at the gas station on Fridays. A very simple, innocent pleasure, and it's sad because of that simplicity and innocence in the face of everything else happening. I don't know. It's hard to explain, or even figure out in my own mind. This is a game that is hard to recommend to people, but I feel like I'd be doing them a disservice by not telling them to play it. Thanks for sharing this very vulnerable thing with us. I hope it has been a positive experience, or at least cathartic.
I found this tool last night and coincidentally found myself making posters for my classroom today. Ended up being exactly what I needed- converted an old Winnie the Pooh sketch so it will look better printed out. Thanks!
One of the best-crafted Twine games I've ever played. You've done some terrific things with the program here. The visuals are great, the advancement mechanics themselves - like a text button changing when you click it to show the narrator's uncertainty about something - are clever and actively add to the story, and in general it's just really visually dynamic and enjoyable to navigate. The Discord sections were the stand-outs to me: I didn't even know you could do that in Twine! I'm not super familiar with the topic of therianism(sp?) beyond vague internet osmosis so I can't speak to that, but it was an engaging and unique narrative even as a layperson.
Great game! The animations were super good, and I really appreciated how well you explained the controls - that's something I find a lot of indie games don't always explain well. And Yon's cameo as the spooky cat made me smile.
OH MY GOSH I LOVED THIS! I'm the type to click on every object to see if there's any dialogue, and this game satisfied that urge of mine. Great visuals, great audio, great story. If you ever write the further adventures of these two, I'll eagerly play it!
Tried to play it while housesitting and got so spooked when it got to "my windows are locked" that I immediately closed the tab. Glad I replayed it while I was with people this time! Great game.
It feels weird to say I "enjoyed" this, but I did. Super good use of bitsy, both in the general sense of creating pixel game environments and more specifically in using the spaces to convey your experience. Is it awful to say that the little dancing dicks made me laugh? Because they did. Thank you for sharing this.
This was so much more substantial - and so much spookier - than I was expecting! Super, super good. I'd love to see more, but it stands really well on its own.
Well-crafted and thought-provoking. I think Clint's reputation among fans is also likely influenced by him being a shopkeeper- you don't see him around town as much, and your main interactions with him are likely going to be either quests or using his shop, so you might not build friendship as fast, which means you're seeing his less engaged, more standoffish low-friendship dialogue. But of course, if he wasn't fat that probably wouldn't be as much of an obstacle for players, whether or not he was a love interest. Look at Shane- people loved him so much they voted him in as a marriage candidate, and he's not just standoffish at first, he's hostile.
I'll admit that I don't care for Clint, since the "nice guy" character type is one I really loathe and he seems to fall into it based on your low-friendship interactions with him. But your essay made me curious, and looking at his wiki page, he doesn't seem to exhibit any toxic "nice guy" behaviors aside from that one line; he's just shy and socially awkward. But because he fits into the way we expect creepy dudes to look, it's easy to interpret him that way. You've given me a new perspective on his character. I also loved how you formatted your essay into bitsy, and you did a great job recreating Clint's workshop.
I loved the art + music and liked the concept quite a lot, particularly for a first effort at making a game, but I found it a little too easy to get the true ending. Easy might not be the right word, exactly. It was the second ending I saw after the quick headpetting bad end, so it felt like I was missing a lot of context for the reveals. Still liked it, but maybe there's a way to lock a particular ending until you've seen certain key points of the story? (I've played other VNs that do this, not sure if Ren'py specifically allows for it.)
Not trying to be harsh at all, I'm not experienced with Ren'py either, but I thought it could be useful feedback. Overall I liked it a lot and I'm interested in seeing what you make in the future!
This was so sweet! I got a little misty when Jessica and Amira made up at the end, ngl. :') I loooved the UI design - I've been trying to update my own Ren'py game, and it has made me appreciate a good UI so much more. Also a big fan of the backgrounds. Nothing wrong with the classic "stock photo run through an oil paint filter" VN look, but it was really cool to see something more distinctive. And the little animated trailer for Call Me Cera at the end, wow! Never seen anything like that in a game before, it was so cool. Just wishlisted it on Steam!
I am both charmed by this concept + execution and saddened, because now it's making me think about how I haven't kissed any of my homies goodnight recently.
One of the most thorough bitsy games I've played! You did a great job with the environments - you took the largely intangible process of questioning one's gender and mapped it into a physical space, as well as making it into a narrative. I really enjoyed this. Great job, and happy Pride!
I really enjoyed this game. Naturally I defaulted to giving Arle her letter immediately, which was a quick but sweet ending, but then I replayed in order to see the other outcomes. Very thoughtfully written with some great art and a solid aesthetic sensibility.
