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Thank you for such a useful resource. I really loved all of the interactable elements and easter eggs (thank you for sneaking in my little guy!!) For something so informative, you sure made it fun to read through!! So many wonderful Phinxels!!!! There's so many!!!!!!

Hope you get to take a nice long relaxing break now. B)

I've been trying to chip away at this for a few days now, but I admittedly don't really have the motor skills required of these sorts of games... I think I met my match at the Spacious level... but it's fun!! Figuring out the puzzle orders is very satisfying. The rabbit's animations are really cute. 

You've made a very nice little game here, thank you for sharing it. 8)

""""""boring maintenance release""""" ok but the improved audio mixing is everything to me, thank you 

GOOD JOB, EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your passages were so funny I couldn't bring myself to deviate from them (probably defeating the point of this somewhat). The wolf boy was a joy to read. 

I think it would be interesting if the public domain works were labelled on each page with the year they were made (but I also realize this...this would probably be a lot of work...) 

"Or perhaps you're just a contrarian" got me

(In all honesty though, extremely enjoyable 20 minutes of my life) 

This was a really sweet read. ;-;  But also man, the opening segments manage to convey a really horrible unsettling feeling too (good job). 

Nines is so good!!!!!

Drawing for you. I liked them a normal amount. 8)

Been trying to think of a better way to say, "this story made me miserable; I loved it" for a couple days now, but I think that really does sum it up pretty well. 

I don't know a whole lot about Touhou, so sorry if some of my thoughts on this end up being a little off-base, but a lot of this story feels based in a grief of having missed out on the Touhou community in its "heyday," which is an extremely interesting meta-conversation to me. 

I really enjoyed your soundtrack choices and how you arranged them. I've had that one chase theme in my head for a few days now. 

One small suggestion I do have would be to give the chapters titles. When looking back through them to try to determine the puzzle's order, I had to revisit a few chapters multiple times, and it was a little difficult to remember which ones were which. But that's literally my only complaint with this whole thing; I really, really liked it. 

I'm literally so sad about these two. 

little guy incarnate

Stopped working for me on the 31st sheet, which was maybe the universe's way of telling me to Stop. 

"Tradition is just dead people peer pressure" and "Hospital trips are cheap here, but the mental toll of hurting a child lasts forever" are GOOD LINES.  There were a couple moments in this where I practically did a spit-take. 

Looking forward to reading the full VN!! B)

I can't get over the fact that the two of you made this in a month. It's beautiful, sweet, and endearing. I can tell how much love you both put into it. 

I loved all the little cameos. Coe wearing Gimmick's top hat atop another hat made me laugh out loud. Tried to count every little eggbug I could find (I suspect I did not find them all though). Also, I'D watch a magical girl anime just for the sphinxy lil buddy mascot character. ;) I'm probably never going to get over that Aster cookie jar. Thank you for adding my little guy!

Willow discounting that blue dress so heavily was so sweet. Going to be feeling melancholic about the fact that they didn't get it for a while... T_T Also laughed that I knew exactly what the mug section was going to be like the moment I saw it was interactable. 

I really like the reoccurring message in this... Adulthood is hard, but having people to share it with can uplift you. 

Anyway, really strong mental image of Coe and Marisa rolling that cauldron down a sidewalk post-game.

P.S. Sorry I convinced you to add a glass chicken playing a saxophone. But at least now you've got a glass chicken playing a saxophone in it (everyone wins).

Fiz!!!! Fiz, I saw like 90% of this already, but actually sitting down and reading it still got me so EXCITED. You've made something really wonderful here.

It's the perfect little introduction to Gimmick as a character, his earnestness and anxieties. But I think for me the most delightful part of this was Savvie's quiet presence in the story. The moment I saw their glove I just went, "oh....OH............." It filled me with an emotion I don't quite know how to describe. That willingness to give others a chance has really elevated my fondness towards them as a character. They're probably my favorite now.  

It was so fun watching you make this; I really hope I get to see more stories of your kids in the future.

Also, I'm starting to feel like Phinxel is some sort of planeswalker. Squint hard enough in any decker project and you will find him. Dimension-hopping little guy. 

Wughh I teared up a little bit reading this, to be honest. 

I've experienced my fair share of community collapses/closures over the years, but cohost has been an oddity in just how much people have been working to stay friends with each other. I find it deeply touching every time someone tries to push back against that "I'm probably bothering this person" gut reaction; makes it easier reaching out myself. (Though admittedly, one-on-one discord DMs don't really mesh comfortably with how I communicate wahahaa) 

Inevitably there are going to be times when it just doesn't work out and people drift apart, but I hope that you can hold onto as many of your little seedlings as you can!! ;-;

Feels worth saying your color choices are beautiful as always. I loved the highlights and shadows of the leaves, in particular.

Funnily enough, I think I was repotting a plant right as you posted this last night...

Were you late, or were you having your own personal Nightmare before Christmas? :p (Thank you!!) 

Really enjoyed getting a sword license from Ye Olde Gamestop. :p

Feelings of longing over the unpurchaseable Eggbug plush in the item store...

Thanks for reading it!!! B')

Thank you!! :')

Thank you for playing (and making a video of it)!!

I think you actually DID find all 14 eggbugs! :) Just forgot to count two of them.

THAT SOUNDS REALLY CUTE (I LOVE ENABLING PEOPLE >:D ) 

Thank you!! 8) It's pretty fun! There's a jam for it coming up in December too, if you're looking for an extra incentive.

Thank you!!! I appreciate that hehe

Thank you!! 

I had a lot of fun with it, so I probably will! :)

Thank you!! 8) I am a big fan of them too heh 

I think candybug & the beach eggbug are the two hardest to find. You gotta click on pre-existing eggbugs to get to those. Maybe I should make an answer key for that. 

Thank you!!!! B') Happy Halloween!!! Thanks again for all your help!!!!!!

Thank you!! I'll keep that in mind next time 8)

The naming aspect of this was so neat!! It took me a couple tries before I actually figured out what I was supposed to be doing ahaha. Got a laugh out of the game asking me not to name myself "82"

Anyway, really nice little polished story!!! Enjoyed it :) Can't wait until I'm a little less busy and can catch up on Quaint!

Thank you!! :'D

Aww thank you!! T__T I'm glad you like James so much; I had no idea whether people were still going to be receptive towards him after a certain part in the story, so it's refreshing to hear! I can't comment on some of this stuff, but I'm delighted you're thinking about it 8)

I hope you enjoy the full version; thanks again for reading! :')

Thank you for reading T__T This comment made me really, really happy. I think I reread it nearly a double-digit number of times as I was trying to type this ahaha

I'm glad Chris's shift in behavior left that sort of impression on you! It feels odd to say "I'm happy James made you sad," but I'm happy that you cared, is what I'm trying to get at!!

It kind of sounds like you read things in a slightly odd order; I've been curious about how that affects the perception of the story, if you happen to have any other thoughts on that specifically (it's fine if you don't!) 

Thanks again!!! ;-;

I really, really appreciate your enthusiasm , thank you. ;_;

Just letting you know there are some lag issues that I'm trying to work out of the browser version right now, so if  you happen to read that one and it seems like it froze, just give it a bit to finish loading the scene!

I hope you enjoy(ed??) reading it!!

Thank you!!! T__T Your stream was so funny and nice, I stayed up late watching it and then when I woke up this morning I immediately rewound it and watched it again!

The way you voice acted Emily was my favorite, but I really liked the voices you picked for James & Lena too!! Your comments about James made me smile a lot; I'm really glad you liked him so much. :')

Since you asked in stream, I'll just mention here that I used TyranoBuilder to make this. It's very janky and I definitely wouldn't recommend it for large-scale projects. (But despite that, I still infinitely prefer using it over Renpy...haha.)

You've given me a very particular sort of joyful experience here that I doubt anyone will ever be able to replicate, so I hope this reply captures at least a fraction of my appreciation, thank you.

Finally finished reading today! Here's some thoughts.

I can tell how much love you've been pouring into this... The attention to detail is like, genuinely heartwarming. The butterflies landing on Milo are probably my favorite example ahaha. That one sky scene was really beautiful as well! I was also really surprised that the load screen changes as you progress through the story!! It's a really nice touch. 

I figured out the plot twist about 60% in, and was so excited to be right! I feel like you left just the right amount of clues that it was solvable, but not too obvious. 

Milo ended up being my favorite. Them talking about reviving the dead while wearing the most stone-cold expression was probably the exact moment they really won me over haha.  

I had an issue with fullscreen mode that caused the background to flicker to black at the end of every dialogue blip, almost like it was forcibly reloading it. I switched over to windowed mode and it went away. Just letting you know!

I can't wait to see where the story goes; I'll be looking forward to it!! :D

This is very cute! :D Hellebore especially!

I went into that one scene fully expecting it to be a SpongeBob reference, and I was not disappointed.

The worldbuilding is amazing and it feels like something that should be adapted into a movie.

This comment in particular...feels very good...thank you....

If I was in there, I would be freaking out and shaking James as I demanded he explain what was going on haha.

In Chris's defense, he does basically do that, just short of physically grabbing him. I dunno if the time gap between reading the scene and commenting here impacted your impression, or if the visual limitations got in the way of communicating just how demanding and frantic he initially is in that moment. I'll think about it, either way!

Apart from that though, I wrote Chris like that 100% intentionally. I'm building towards some stuff; I promise he won't be like that forever! (Unless you're hoping for him to like, actually kick some ass. He's always going to be a wet noodle in that aspect.) I'd actually go as far as to say that James is the actual protagonist for the first 40% or so of the story...Chris just doesn't really have his shit together quite yet.

I'm glad you like Jack for those specific reasons...whenever people tell me they like him, I'm always lowkey worried they're actually falling for his mask. I think you probably WILL like Kade a lot, just from the general vibe I've gotten from your own characters ahaha...

I need to speak to Maestro right now because forcing all these teens to play in your orchestra definitely goes against child labor laws

((And they weren't even getting paid.))

Anyway, thanks for the comment!! And thanks for reading!!!

Thanks a bunch!! Really motivating to hear! ;_; 

Hope you'll enjoy the rest

 so hearing it in the game was a really fun surprise

Hehe I've had some similar experiences to this so it makes me happy knowing I could unintentionally bring that kind of joy to someone else.

I'm glad you like Lena!! :') I end up worrying about her getting drowned out by other characters that have a stronger presence in the story, so hearing this was really nice.

Thanks for reading and thank you for this very nice comment! 

Just wanted to say too that I read through "Esther Has No Voice" and really enjoyed what you've got so far! Elfric was my personal favorite. 

"I would love some ambient noise as an alternative for background music during scenes where it's just Chris and James walking around. Even a low drone or something would be enough to draw me in."

This is a great suggestion, thanks. I don't know why I never considered doing it haha. Dialogue blips are probably going to be a little too much for the engine I'm using, but I'll look into that too.

My brain can't tell the difference between effects/affects even when I google it ahaha, so thanks for pointing out the typos!! 

"At first, I was kinda excited because I thought this was a built-in feature! I thought there was like, second-playthrough bonus content." 

Yeah, this is a scripting error, sorry. :( I actually...had been considering second-playthrough content, but couldn't imagine anyone playing it that thoroughly, so thanks for proving my doubts wrong!

Thank you for the thorough comment!! I really enjoyed reading your reactions too! I hope you'll enjoy the full version. :')

Thanks for reading!

Ohhhhhhh man it's so nice to hear from you again!!! I'm glad you liked it, that means a lot! ;_;

Thanks for pointing out the typo, I was in the middle of patching a bug anyway so like...perfect timing hehe.

I noticed you followed my art blog on tumblr, I'm going to follow you back with my personal reblog blog...just letting you know that's me! :'D (You don't have to follow it back; I just didn't want it to come across like I was ignoring you ahaha) 

Thanks for reading, this comment was super encouraging to receive!! T__T

Ahh thanks a lot, I really appreciate it!! ;_; Hope you'll enjoy the rest in the future!