itch.io

I think this might be because some people will vote on themes that sound interesting in general, but don't feel like using them in their work and would rather see someone else do it. I think I voted for Enemies with Benefits because it sounds like a great idea, but also I had no plans of choosing it for myself. 

I was working with my universe in which I already established a pretty strong symbolism with cornflowers so it was just the best choice for me since I didn't have to think about it a whole lot. Just pop that idea into the microwave and it's ready to eat.

Also, stats on theme usage because I just. Like to gather numbers ig??? I might be very wrong though, I am so bad at counting.

Enemies with Benefits 5

Flower Symbolism 11

Doomed by the Narrative 8

Trapped with Someone 8

Forbidden Romance 6,5 (since Dahlia had "a tiny bit of forbidden romance", I count it as "a tiny bit", which I decided is 0,5. Haven't played yet. It could be closer to 0,25... who knows! not me.)

Conclusion: I have to tell my friend who suggested Flower Symbolism that their theme fucking slaps

Jesus godsblessed Christ. I jumped into this jam right after i won't finish this game and I swear to gods that I will never do 2 releases in such quick succession. I slept for 8 hours total this weekend and consumed criminal amounts of caffeine. I still don't know if my script is coherent to anyone who didn't play my previous games, I'm not sure if I incorporated both themes correctly and I'm pretty much sure I fucked up volume when it comes to music. But I'm happy! A lot of stuff happened to me this week and the fact that I could make art, write, do music and release it at all is just wonderful. I love the challenge of having 36 hours to do it all, even though it's not my first rodeo of this kind (see, Shibboleth lol). Also I find it kind of funny that my first Velox game was about actively killing Pharmakon and the second was about essentially watching Heartling die, since Pharmakon and Heartling are sort of 2 sides of the same coin in lore... and they die by the same blade, in the end. I have a strange, subconscious tradition of holding onto a theme for certain jams (Pride-Shibboleth duology for O2A2, Blythe's gender woes for Trans Rep Jam...).

Anyway. I loved the fact that we had to incorporate 2 themes! This allows for a wide range of combos and interpretations (and I know the person who suggested Flower Symbolism! they're pretty happy that their suggested theme is so loved). I can't wait to see what everyone else did and how they blended their 2 themes together. Also, please y'all, drink some water, get some rest, eat a fruit maybe. Y'all did it. Hope you're fine. See you at next Velox, if you want to be there! I certainly do.

Hi! no worries! It's kinda my job to make sure my things are playable. If anything, I'm happy you can download it!

I didn't restrict anything (I don't even know if I have an option to do so) so perhaps it is your PC's fault. I'm not entirely sure what I can do about it; I'll try to look into it and see if there's something that can be done from my side. If you don't mind me asking, do you have an Android phone? I plan to release this story for Android sometime soon, so perhaps you could experience it this way when I do so?

Hi hi! I'm out of the game jam trenches so I can answer. I don't know what may cause this because I can download it just fine. Have you tried clicking the "downloads not starting?" text that's to the right side from the downloads themselves? There should be an option to enable alternative download mode and this generally should help. It's hard to see this option if you have itch's dark mode on, unfortunately.

Hi! I'm a bit busy right now so I might not get back to you really fast, but where does it happen? Do you press download here on the main page or download on the later page after the Pay What You Want prompt? (I know I was somewhat confused by that back in the day too ngl so I need to make sure)

Hi henlo! Thanks for playing. I don't have a lot to say, but I still want to reply. I am really moved by how this comment section managed to gather so many people who are still standing here. I am really glad that everyone is here to share their experiences and show that you can struggle, and yet still stay. And I won't deny, reading this comment and thinking about it really brings a tear to my eye. Thank you for that. I hope all goes well for you.

Hi! Thank you for playing. 

I went to a school that was sometimes called "suicide school" due to two students who took their lives somewhere in early 2000s. Everyone I knew there coped with their declining mental health by joking about death and related topics, and so did I. We just do what we have to do to cope sometimes, and I understand that.

I'd rather avoid giving any advice; I'm just some guy on the internet, not a mental health professional, and everyone is different. What I know is that going on is hard, but it does get better eventually. You'll finish your games, I believe in it.

Hi hi! First of all, I'm glad you're here. And yeah, I can relate to all of the thoughts you talk about here. You wish it was easy but also you keep thinking about all the things that can go wrong and all of that. And finding a reason to go on, no matter how small, is a really good thing. That's how I'm still there.

Never be sorry for opening up. Thank you for being here, hope you take care too.

Hi hi Chim! Thank you for playing this game. Honestly, I'm glad you're showing a perspective of someone who had a bit different reaction to it all. I guess that validates my view of art: it's going to provoke different reactions in different people. And the comment about loopholes and finding different perspectives is so real. You don't really want to die, just... have a solution. And I'm glad you didn't give in, just like I'm glad I didn't give in. I wish I didn't have the experience necessary to make this game in the first place, but I do have it, and I guess that was the best way to use it, if that's the right word. Thank you for this comment.

Hi hi! Thank you so much for playing and sorry for making you sad (and before you say that I shouldn't be sorry, well, I'm gonna be anyway lmao). And to be honest, before I became aware of my own transness and my goal became "I don't want to die under a name that doesn't belong to me", the "funerals are too expensive" thing was my main motivation LMAO. And yeah! The reason might seem a little weird in retrospective, but in the end, if it works, it works. And that's the most important. I'm also glad we survived, and best wishes to you as well.

Hi! Thank you for playing. It's a very short comment, but it's a quote that is now seared into my brain. I think I'll write it down somewhere, actually. Thank you very much for it.

Hi! Thank you for playing. I think what you're saying here is pretty important. It's very easy to dismiss the love and care we get from others - it was easy for me, for sure - but you can never dismiss the love and care you give yourself. This is still a big part of my life as of now: the idea that I have to be able to love and forgive myself, and treat myself just like I'd treat someone else. Do I always do that? No, but it's a part of the process, I guess. It's a long road, but you need to begin somewhere. Thank you for this comment. Hope you're treating yourself well too.

Hi henlo! Alex I'm gonna hug you so hard if we ever meet. Thank you for playing.

Hi! Thank you for playing. I don't know what you're going through (and it's valid to not tell), but I hope you'll end up being fine. I'm glad I could make you feel a little bit less alone in all of this. And I hope you're also taking care of yourself.

Hi hi! Thank you for playing this game. It wasn't easy to open up like this and I still feel a little weird with the fact that I ended up doing it, but seeing comments such as this one reassures me that it was the right decision. Thank you for it, and I hope you stay safe too.

Hi hi Chatter! Thanks for playing this game and thank you for such a long comment. My reply won't be that long. I'll just say that I do trust you to handle such themes correctly, based on your work I've seen so far. If you'll want someone to take a look at that future project, let me know; I'll be more than happy to help out on that side of things. Again, thank you for playing. It means a lot.

ah okay then, I think it's not clear enough in the text... you should, like, say he's not important or something, it's easy to miss /j

idk guys I think he might be important or something?

WHY AM I BEING CALLED OUT

I don't know what to say because I'm still recovering. Gidget my beloved. GIDGET MY BELOVED. It's been a while since I could romance a character who made me feel all of this soft fuzzy warm stuff. Got me giggling kicking my feet. If you even care. I should probably write a coherent, proper review, but good gods, I am incapable. Just........ gestures vaguely Gidget. 13/13 I would lose my shoe again.

honestly it's such a relief to see people tell me that I did the theme right because it was my greatest anxiety 💀 everything else is something I'm still a beginner at so I accept that I'm not going to be amazing at it but if the writing sucked it'd be so over for me

I'm here just to say that I was deathly terrified of ranked jams and this one helped me not think about it like it was Last Judgement, thanks for that

I'M CRYING OVER THAT MEME

A really interesting, soft story tackling societal expectations. Everyone in the cast is extremely huggable and in some cases, also relatable. If you're in the comments trying to find out if it's worth your time, it is, especially if you enjoy your aroaces (I sure as hell do!). Can't wait for more to come <3

I don't know how else to summarize this game other than to say that I can feel the aftertaste of blood in my mouth after finishing it. My mind's eye is blind but all of my other mind senses are working overtime and boy oh boy, did they work here. I think I'm a little sick actually, and I mean it in the best possible way.

I'd love to write a cohesive comment but I'm not quite sure if I can. It was a beautiful experience. Going from the supernatural, odd occurrences to the pure catharsis of finally liberating yourself from the grasp of an abusive relationship hits HARD. "And then I'm going to live" literally made me cry. I don't know what else to say. I need to get the two remaining endings. VERY good job, this game will live in my head rent free for a long while.

I wish I could explain the feeling I get when I read it all. It's been a couple of times already and every single time, I make sure to click every term, to immerse my soul in the poetry of it all. It feels like staying in a place where you can finally be safe after enduring pain. Like being able to breathe fresh air after a long time of choking on dust. I'll be rereading it many more times, I think, and I look forward to those times.

I realized I never commented and we all love writing and reading comments, so, here we go.

Once again, we find ourselves young and tragically dead (certified storytelling classic!). Great news! We go straight to Heaven. Bad news! Heaven is something you have to work hard for. So, we get temporarily demoted to Purgatory in order to find out what's wrong there. And what's wrong? Only God knows! Except, she doesn't. Oh no! Disaster!

I first experienced this game while being on massive amount of caffeine and inappropriate amount of sleep. I should've been drowsy and uninterested for all the hours I spent playing, but the story just... sucked me in. How could I be sleepy when all of this is happening? I am a Purgatoryverse enjoyer and I knew, somewhat vaguely, the quality I could expect from this game, but all of my expectations were not only met, but also exceeded, and by a lot. I won't spoiler anything, but gods know I was gasping when the big plot twist came at the end of act 1, and there were more moments (and characters!) which grabbed my little soul and didn't want to let go. Part of me was scared, irrationally, that we'll just get a reskin of Pitstop in Purgatory, but this certainly isn't the case. We're served a whole new meal here, and I will be rating it 5* in the app. 

I don't know how much I have to say but I'll say what I have to say anyway.

I absolutely love the "casual poetry" writing style that you have. It's really adding to the feeling that UTS could be a fairy tale from another world, it really feels like something I could read in one of the weird old fairy tale compilations I used to read when I was a child. The characters are extremely huggable (this is a high compliment btw), ESPECIALLY Dulari, I will protect her at all costs I don't care. ALSO. Big shoutout to platonic love here, I love it when that happens, we need more of it.

Not to mention, gods, the story did make me cry at one point (you know which one), and even outside of that point, it was emotionally engaging all the way through, so I didn't even have trouble with my terrible attention span (which is rare these days). It's landing on my Certified Classics list. Thank you for the experience.

Now that was a really soft experience 💖 I absolutely adored the little dynamic that Serena and Anne have, I keep on smiling even after finishing the game. They're both so huggable, gods. So, so huggable.

Congratulations on the milestone <3

Phaedra impact......

The poison is there and it's coursing in Alex's poor little man-attracted veins and holy shit. Holy shit it hurts. I don't know how to explain it but this game made me feel a little... hollow? Like, gods, the way things are, the feeling that is there, that sweet taste of what is killing you, aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

rating it aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAA out of 5*

I love the surreal quality that your games (the whole two that I played, at least...) seem to possess. It feels like a trip into something way deeper and way weirder than you expect... like falling down a well, if that's what you'd rather prefer. And I love it, I love the weird demons and the surreality of it all and the visuals and the animations... I don't know what else to say.

LET'S GOOOOOOOOO I HAVE THE DATE NOTED DOWN IN MY CALENDAR LET'S GO 

also I'm sure nobody's mad at you for making Act 5, Part 1/2. I think nobody would even be mad if you made Act 5, Part 1/2.5a v. 0.1 or whatever. 

Ow ow ow. Pain is real. Pain is so real.

If I didn't observe your journey, I don't think I'd say it's your first game ever! It looks really good!

When it comes to the plot... oh gods ow ow ow. It feels like holding snow in your bare hand and waiting for it to melt away, and it hurts your hand but you hold it still, then you have to deal with the pain that it left behind. I don't know if there's a better way to describe it. Good job, Butter, I'll be here for more <3