itch.io

Sounds like a solid plan for now . From what I have seen so far, at least, I'd be interested in an enhanced version, if there's ever one. It's a joy to help indie games, when possible\viable.

i gotta say, I'm truly happy there seem to be more people engaging with the page and the game lately. Granted, I only found out about the project 4 days ago XD , but it is  good to see it getting more traction. Now I'll wait until June; cannot wait to see what's in store! I cannot say I'll be that free in June, though. But when I do get some free time, I'll definitely play the update when it comes.

Now, on to a small discussion regarding the Merlin show, since you mentioned it and i have some free time for now, at least:

(I apologize if some of my sentences are a bit weird... English is not my native language.)

Spoilers for BBC Merlin below:

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Dear developer, whatever do you mean by "the effects and cinematography have not aged perfectly"?!






Well...

I wonder, when Myrddin said it takes a lot to scare him, how he would fare against the Diamair. (Even wilder thought: how would a BBC Merlin and Myrddin interaction go? Ahahaga) 

Anyway, the creature above spooked/surprised me a little the first time I saw her, honestly. Anyway, she helped Gwaine, which is great! She is a good one, just has a design that made me stare at the screen for some solid seconds until I hit play again.

But jokes aside, I really enjoy the practical effects the show had. The fantastical creatures, "the almost-Queen" troll, for example. And even though the dragons' CGI wasn't the best, due to the environment and look of the show ( Plus the great voice acting! ), things did look more magical.  (And do not even get me started with the medieval clothing! I love that aesthetic, and even though it is not 100% accurate, it looked very good and intune during the show.)

Very often older shows have that style that's similar to comparing homemade food to restaurant food. One is shiny and popular, the other is made with time and care. Newer shows don't have that "charm," I would say. I do notice care and time invested in Interact With Me! so, naturally, people would connect deeply to projects as such.

And since we were talking about actors, let me mention Morgana's actress: Katie McGrath. Whenever I find any interactive fiction game or story about Arthurian legends, I very often see her as Morganaa. She really impacted how the character is envisioned in many future related projects, I believe.

Which brings me to a silly question that occurred tome right now, If you could choose a voice actor for Myrddin, who would it be? Or rather, how do you imagine his voice? Aside from the bleeping sound and humming in the main menu or courese, haha.

Now, a funny detail I decided to mention for last: I haven't actually finished the show yet!

So I'm glad you didn't mention the ending directly, hahaahha. Funnily enough, I have known the show ever since i was younger, having tried to watch it with a family member back then. Years later, i managed to start it, but I didn't finish it because I didn't want it to end yet... if that makes any sense, aaaha. As I said, maybe it is the nostalgic nature of it all, but i stopped at episode 9 of season 5: "With All My Heart." And i'm waiting for the day I'll rewatch it once again and finally finish it. (Yes, I've managed to avoid big spoilers to this day... at least in general.)

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Those were my two cents. I'm sorry to diverge from Interact With Me!, but don't worry, after the next update, I'm sure I willhave a lot to talk about regarding the game. Thank you for your attentive words, developer, have a great one!

And I thank you! I was wondering if you plan on publishing the game on Steam (I don't know the bureaucracy regarding that, though. So it might be difficult.)

Or if you plan on having a Tumblr blog about the game? Many VNs have it, it might help spread the word about the game and\or create a new way for people to get to find out about it.

Additionally, yes I know of BBC Merlin! Colin Morgan's acting was great. I have nostalgic memories from that show. And I quite enjoy all its seasons, characters and overall story.

Regarding your comments, I will carefully add them to my thinking folder so that I expand my theories. 👀 

Since you also shared some theories, I mentioned some of mine in the most recent update post that ToMyself did in the comments section after a reply ( https://tomyself.itch.io/interact-with-me/devlog/1525192/road-to-03 ), in case you wanna exchange perspectives/theories and findings. 

And, yeah, it's a good idea to explore the game files as well, didn't do that yet.

That is great to hear! (And, yeah, I really like Alice in Wonderland as well, it is my favorite Disney tale, hahjhaa, what a nice coincidence. Myrddin and I are pals in that regard.)

Warning of long text below, I apologize. You don't even need to go through it all, honestly. (Only perhaps the bug report, but they are minor.)

And I'll try to share what I've thought so far,  even though I am probably missing details for my theories, hahah. Although, I do plan on theorizing more after the big update in June.

But before that, I did notice possible bugs in the game, and I will use this chance to mention them:

- The furniture question does not disappear even after the player has already asked it. ( If I'm not mistaken, the question is something along these lines: "How did the furniture get in here?" )

- (Possible bug) Myrddin does not react accordingly when the player changes the ambiance sound. He always says we picked the same one (granted, I only tested with two sounds: rain and wind, if I'm not mistaken). But I don't know if it is intentional or not. Maybe he doesn't identify the different sounds for lore reasons?

- In the Linux version, the cube CG is missing! At least in my case, that's what happened. I had played on the browser first, though. So I knew the CG was supposed to show up. In the end, I installed the Windows version and used Wine to run it on Linux. I  managed to get to the scene with the CG, so I'm guessing it is only related to the Linux version:




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That's it regarding bugs.

Now, regarding my initial silly theories

- Myrddin: his name has an interesting meaning. It is related to a semilegend of a mad man who ended up having prophecy powers... Interesting.

"While there his insanity only grew until he finally reached enlightenment and recieved the gift of prophecy."

Plus, he had a twin sister. Reaching very poorly here, but maybe his sister is involved in all this or is part of the voices? I have no proof,  just found it interesting to know that he haas a twin sister. He was also reinvented as Merlin in some books and legends. ( Which is such a nice detail since I really like the Arthurian tales. ^^ )

Myrddin does have special abilities inside the cube: some could say he behaves like a warlock or wizard. Additionally, being stuck in the cube might drive him "mad" like in the legend. However, my problem here is that he doesn't seem to have much memory, when he mentions he doesn't have a past or future. Still, his predicament does look like a magical prison of sorts. So whoever locked him there was probably an equally (or more) powerful wizard...

- The ASCII85 code: his first sentences are a short poem mentioning him being trapped, but also a door which dreams of being opened. Interesting that he was muttering that right at the moment we arrived. Also interesting that he mentioned at some point in the game that he does know how we got there. I wonder if his mutterings are part of a spell that would create our connection, and he was simply waiting to see if the idea would work out or not, giving him a chance to finally talk and interact with someone. That does reinforce the wizard side as well. 

Finally, the sentence in the game description is related to the last one we got in the current version of the game: the false messiah. Since Legend Myrddin is a "prophet" of sorts... Hmm... someone does not want us trusting him, huh? Perhaps the voices and dark eyes do think they are in the right.


So far im leaning towards the idea that Myrddin is the Messiah. and the voices believe he is in the wrong, or, at the very least, is untrustworthy.



- Whenever the voices or weird sounds show up: I tried to correlate all the times the weird sounds show up, and one got my attention:

When we mention if we feel strongly toward our name or not. In that instance, no matter what answer we give, Myrddin responds the same, and that caught my attention. While that does happen in other moments as well (due to the limitation of variations in a game, of course),   the fact that the weird sound was there as well makes me believe that Myrddin's name is important and in tune to who, or what, he is. And the voices agree with that. That is also why we can add more meaning to the Legend Myrddin tale.


- The first book: okay, when I first heard it, my immediate thought was: Myrddin is or was that silhouette. Perhaps they took away his memories and he was stuck in the cube as a means to not destroy the world anymore. That line of thought is, in a way, related to the odd questions he asks us before his past/future breakdown: he asks for how long can someone suffer until what they did is excused, and if someone is being good only because is being watched.

However, that was just my first thought. Honestly, I believe Myrddin isnot going to end up being completely, 100% evil. B ecause I can see there are sides of good in the way he is written in the story so far. So, now I'm more inclined to the idea of Myrddin being the prophet who tried to warn the other kingdoms of the upcoming attacks from the silhouette, OR he is merely a part of the silhouette, who could, perhaps, receive a second chance, atonement! Anyway, early theories here, of course.

In any case, I do think that first book is VERY related to Myrddin's nature and past. Like he theorized, maybe he did create the book with his unconscious memory. But, at least regarding him trusting the player and wanting to be free, I don't think he is lying about those. So far it appears he really trusts the player in a way that gives him hope. So I hope we can help the good side of the story.

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I'll stop now hahaa, im probably missing a lot, but it was a nice thinking exercise. In the next update, I'll come back to my theories and see if any of them were useful. 

Thanks again for creating this very enjoyable game!

Nice to know the game is going to be receiving updates soon! Take your time and don't forget to rest, Im sure the result is going to be great.

I'm very curious to know how we are going to deal with the aftermath after that cliffhanger. I wonder if the player will unlock different ways to affect the room's world.

I really like the idea of the beeping sounds for Myrddin's voice, I think it adds more dynamism to the interactions, but, in the end, choose what mostly fits the game and your vision.

Regarding objects, man, can't think of many right now, but maybe: snow globe, bolo paddle, 8 ball, rubik's cube? A disco ball? XD

In any case, curious to know about the new chosen objects!

So happy I found this one by accident, hahaa. What a fascinating game!

I really like the little hints about the mystery scattered here and there. We have room to theorize. And It's so interesting to find such an interesting game that plays with the idea of breaking the fourth wall. I usually gravitate to games like that.

The art style (character design and background piece) are beautiful as well, minimalistically beautiful, I'd say. Additionally, Myrddin is such a funny guy, haahah.

But aside from all that, I really enjoy the themes it touches on: physical and mental isolation, anxiety, the risk vs. reward discussion and so on (At least in the current version of the game I played. I assume more themes will be explored.). I think this game has even more potential to be extremely fun and, what I consider to be the most important part: very touching as well. The buildup really helps us put ourselves on his shoes and the current ending is a great cliffhanger.

I would also like to compliment Myrddin's personality more specifically: since it is  a game focused mostly on text, the protagonist's behavior and perspectives are vital to making the experience engaging, and I really like what the developer did here by giving him silly/ironic/confident personality traits making him genuinely fun to interact with. At least from my perspective, that helped the experience a lot.

I think this game is shaping up to be extremely interesting, and I can't wait to find out more about the mysteries (I already have some theories, they are probably wrong... But the intention is what counts.) and the meaning behind the voices and the dark eyes...

I will definitely keep an eye out for the next updates!

A very interesting short story! A self-contained one that still managed to convey sentiment.

Great! Thank you very much for the response!

Hello, itchio team.
Im unable to comment or reply, noticed this behavior yesterday, but it might have started sooner. I believe no previous comments of mine violate rules, can you please remove the restriction?
My ticket id: 367159

Wooo!! Promising! I like the branching narrative feature, im curious.

No problems! People warned me about that. ^^ Very excited about the next chapters.

Spoilers










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WHAT!!//?? I DIDN'T know that, wooooooow

Poor Athiel in that route, maaan I gotta try that route in friendship's path, thanks for telling me T-T , I gotta check the authors Tumblr more often

And here I thought the game coudnt be more hurtful\emotional hahahag

Heeeereeee we go!!! ^^

Finally got back at reading this after some months and im pleasantly surprised with the emotional turns this plot has up until chapter 3.

The characters all have very unique and funny interactions in a way that is so comforting. 

This IF is very good, the way the trauma is written is amazing. It is fascinating to have a text based IF talking about grief! <3

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW

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Okay, Juliet, somehow, became WORST than I imagined, how COULD she do this??!! That's sick behavior right there,  I am very curious to know how this plot twist is gonna be handled. Although, according to the game's description, Elias is not a LI in the game so(according to my understanding, nothing confirmed, i believe, but i didnt see much of the authors Tumblr though), welp 


And, I think him being alive is especially hutful  in Athiels route, argh. Im very invested.

My theory is that the game wont make Elias a LI even if his memory is back. Perhaps his memory is never coming back either.  And we'll have to learn to accept that as a character growth point in the story.

Progress at your own pace! Glad you're taking the time to solve/deal with your struggles. I'll definitely keep an eye out for any future updates ! Even if it takes a while, the IF plot\concept is already very promising. :)

Excited. ^-^

It's okay, we look forward to the next episode! Take your time. <3

Happy with the results! Excited to see more content in the future. <3

It looks very promising so far! I'll keep an eye on this IF in the future updates.

Let's gooo! <3

The Spring part is just a demo.

Nice info in the FAQ, hope the game's Kickstarter succeeds. <3

Paid game, but you can get the game key in some Tiers from the Kickstarter.

This VN is sooo well-made and interesting(the variations, UI and partial voice acting!). I hope it gets fully funded when the Kickstarter launches. <3

That's a very realistic plan that takes into account the broad scope of the game. Your transparency is admirable. I hope the game gets funded without any issues; this visual novel has a lot of potential!

Keep up the great work, devs. :D

I'm amazed by how natural the characters felt (and I love the game mechanics and seasonal personalities—Fall is my go-to!). The progress in our small group of friends' relationships is so nice. This VN has great potential; I can’t wait for Kickstarter!

Obs: Percy is hilariously nice. :D

So happy you've created a Tumblr account! There are a lot of amazing IF blogs there. I'm looking forward to the update. :)

Keep up the good work! <3 Gracias. ^^

Looks very promising!! I'll definitely give it a go! Very nice it has a Spanish version :3

Also, the lack of AI use is refreshing!

I'm surprised with how much I liked it! The emotional moments are well written, and I'm curious for what's to come.

Wow! I'm lucky I got to know about this continuation, looks promising!

Oooo I'm curious, keep writing on your own pace, and thank you for the bug fixes! You're great! <3

Excited!

You're doing great! Keep up with the amazing work, thank you! ^^

The art style is so good!

Surprisingly a very thoughtful and endearing story, I've found a while ago, but it's always nice to revisit it.

Would love if that was possible as well, I have the same issue. 😢

Those BGs are so beautiful, this game is definitely gonna be awesome!
We'll wait as long as it takes, don't worry!

Almost there! Can't wait ^-^

Yes! I've been waiting for this. 😁