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The use of the stuffed animal of a tardigrade as a kind of limited health pickup that turns off your ability to fight makes picking one up an active decision while playing. Do you have the space to try and use it now while there are no enemies around? Or do you grab it while in the middle of a firefight and hope it gives you just enough time to stave off a game over? Cute game!

The phone call and the werewolf howl were great sound additions to the game, felt like they were used well. I loved the comic book art style as that helped the game to stand out. Having a non-binary choice option at the start was just nice to see, so thank you for that! I, too, have no idea how baseball works and could sympathize with Blink quite a lot in that one scene. Neat story and sets up the world well. Even with this being the second episode I felt like I was able to follow along and understand what was happening. Having the option to play the first episode in the main menu is also a great feature for those players who want to start from the beginning. A small detail, but having the main menu's save images be labeled as photographs from an unknown photographer was a cool touch. 

This was really cute! The music was bumping, the wolf was cute, and the dialog felt natural for a date. I loved the themes of being able to be one's true self at night. Has a strong "queer people night life" kind of vibe that resonated with me. I also enjoyed all the choices and how you could mess up. Gave it a nice sense of dating realism. Looking forward to future updates!

I unfortunately can't run the game on my computer, but that's because I have quite an old laptop and the video drivers are too old. Thankfully, I was able to tune into the showcase stream and saw the presentation of the game and there's a lot of potential here. I think the idea of the pounce move that pushes Sean forward at an angle is a neat bit of movement tech that could be expanded out for later development. 

Very much enjoyed this read! The use of being a werewolf as a way to explain living with a disability was really cool. I especially liked that each of the characters in Anya's pack experience the symptoms of their lycanthropy differently and that leads to needing different kinds of disability aids or experiences in their day to day life. I could see this getting expanded out into vignettes where the point of view character spends more time with each of the members of the pack as they try to adjust to their new life as a werewolf. 

This is all great news! Very much looking forward to the merch. Made sure to nominate for the Ursa Major as well!

Very cool collection! Here's a rundown on some of my thoughts for each of the games. Keep up the amazingly creative work!

Buried Flower: You know I love me a good Twine game and I was delighted at the way a single choice persisting throughout the full playthrough was able to add a creeping tension until the final scene when I felt that final line rubberband snap me back. 

Labyrinths: I think looking back, this was the game that scared me the most. The way in which it is structured hints at the chaos of a mind that sounds close enough to insecurities I could see myself trapped in if I could walk through endless dreams of the past. 

The Aleph Hustle: I loved all the unexplained techno babble in this story. It felt the most cyberpunk out of the bunch just from the context clues I could make out. Even so, I felt like I could follow along with the general idea of what was being explored even without the full definitions of the words. I remember specifically freaking out about the text file and thinking that if I wrote something in it, something would happen. Safe to say I was fully immersed if I wrote “I am you and you are me. Free me from this prison.”

Make Like a Tree: The game that got me to laugh the most. I was blown away by how the beginning of the game felt like it was going in one direction and then when the second half kicks in, it goes into overdrive. Triangle Man is just a cool sprite as well. 

Another reverie: Another of the games that affected me deeply while playing. I’ve been on a kick of writing scenes that include sunsets for years now, subconsciously mind you, but I felt right at home in this deeply intimate discussion between two friends having to leave their imagined fantasy. Reality can be just as good, but you’ve gotta work for it. That work is easier with folks to help ya and this game’s dialogue is gonna stick with me for a while for sure. 

Wet Cemetery: I love the style of this game and the way I can feel the strain of the voiced characters through the descriptions of the rooms as you move through them. There’s hope between the old memories of past lovers and the present terror of taking care of your chronic illness. A future that is uncertain, but possible. I’m glad that was able to be shared. 

Wellness Related Time: I’m gonna be honest and say that this was probably my favorite game out of the bunch. The way that it pops off when the first spell is cast is incredibly hype. I’m also a sucker for unique magic systems and the way in which the dev brought in the flower theme was really cool. The little title card when a new flower was introduced having their latin name in smaller text underneath was such a cool touch. The use of sound effects and images really helps the story to pop as well. It’s pretty rare that a visual novel has hooked me so thoroughly with wanting to see what happens next like this one did. There was a specific moment where I was hooting and hollering and that’s always going to be something I’m excited to experience.

Pangea’s Error: I’m a big fan of Sraëka’s games already so I went into this game with a little background on the kinds of games they tend to make. Once I figured out the conceit of how to move around the map, I was fully in. I spent a good chunk of time playing this one just exploring the world and looking for cool new swords. The fact that I was able to use the color of the houses to help me keep track of where I had been and explore further is a testament to how well the map comes together. I’m notoriously bad at being able to find my way around when traveling IRL so having various natural landmarks to help me move around was a big help. I don’t know if I found the ending, but I don’t think that would have been the point. The journey across the land was the story I ended up telling and when I stopped at the castle that branched in 4 directions, I felt accomplished with my collection of 7 swords and the tales they were attached to. Now I’d be a part of the swords journey as well. Would the next wielder know of my journey? Hard to say, really. Also, all the names of the swords were amazing.  

One last note is that the full download includes director’s commentary from the devs for each of the games and that was a huge part of elevating the experience for me. It was a nice treat for me to read the commentary after I played the game and compare and contrast what I took away from playing versus what they may have intended when designing.

Ahhh, this was adorable! I'm actually really interested in trying to make something with this engine since it seems tailor made for good goofs. 

I went to rate the game and realized that I had rated it for the original jam edition already! It's a 5/5 for me, not only because I am a sucker for gay cowboys, though I must admit that is a factor. I love the game that the team has made here and really enjoyed my stay in Clemency. It's hard to quantify exactly what makes me so enamored with the game, but I think it comes down to the level of earnestness in its construction. There is a spark of vulnerability at the core of Lookouts, that shines through and resonates. Perhaps it is a shared feeling of being queer in a harsh world, forced to become the person that can survive, but not the person you want to be. I was gripped by the writing and ended up playing the whole game in a single session because I wanted to see how it all played out so desperately. The story makes excellent use of the characters as animals in the plot and I never felt like they were just humans that just so happened to be furries. There are some amazing lines of dialogue that had me tearing up and I always appreciate when a story can do that for me. The character designs are of course, top notch, and the visual style immediately draws the player into the world. It's very distinct and conveys just enough detail. The heavy use of black allows the player to fill in the gaps with their own imagination and helps the characters *pop* in the foreground. The music is decidedly western, but in a weirdly nostalgic way for me. Like if I tried to remember hard enough it wouldn't be out of place in a spaghetti western from movie marathons on Sundays with my Dad. Those are fond memories and that the music can evoke that in me is a testament to how well it fits the game. The trans masc representation is wonderful and both Robin and Joseph are such fun characters to hear banter back and forth. The message that queer life is often messy and complicated, with no real idea of where we might be going next, but I want to experience it with you is so damn poignant. That you can fight like hell for that little slice of heaven and live your life, truthfully as you are. Free from your past and hoping for the future. And maybe, if you're lucky, you can grant a little clemency to those whom you meet on the trail.   

Incredibly hype to play through the new story! Really looking forward to the release!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed.

Glad you enjoyed!

Yay! I'm really excited to see where the story goes. Congrats on graduating and looking forward to the full release!

I can confirm that pressing escape brings up the menu with the save/close options does work. For me, the arrow key issue is that the character is always moving left. I can momentarily stop them by holding down the right arrow, but when I let go they start going left again. I can use the up/down arrows as intended. Let me know if I can provide any other info! I'm running the game on a Windows 10 machine if that helps the debug process. 

*Update*

Plugging in an Xbox 360 controller has fixed movement for me. I know that's not available for everybody but more data for fixes!

I love this idea!

Very enjoyable game! These fights are no joke. After the first few battles I started to get into a rhythm of how to distribute my NU among the party members better and the game clicked a lot more for me then. Certainly the most I've thought about my turn in an RPG in a long time, since there's always something at stake for making the wrong decision. 

Ahh, this is super exciting! I showed the game to my trans masc friend and he loved it. Really excited for whatever comes next. 

Awww, very cute!

Aww thank you! Glad you got it working!

I haven't been as of late but I would love to get back to it in some capacity. What would you need to be able to play it? 

A good possum indeed! Really lovely concept!

Aww thank you! Glad you enjoyed it

Really interesting concept for a tabletop game! I had heard of One Page RPG's before but hadn't ever sought one out until now. The mechanics are a lot more approachable when they're laid out in simplified terms like this and I'm excited to try and run this in the future. Happy treasure hunting!

I am much too tired to count proper paces right now but this game is super duper charming and I loved the idea that you ran with!

This was a really neat experience! I loved the cozy atmosphere of just walking around the drive-in and talking to folks. Plus I noticed some of the cool Unity tricks you used in this and it got me thinking about using lighting in different ways. 

This was a really interesting combination of genres! Love the tamagotchi inspired graphics and gameplay loop. 

I loved playing through this! The art style was great and really leant itself to the small town atmosphere. The story was paced out well and the interactions between the characters enjoyable. The inclusion of little details like the FIDO objective book and the magnifying glass over important interactables helped to keep me on track. Would love to hear more about the process for how your team worked on this game for the jam! 

Yeah that was one of the more macabre paths in the story. 

Love the model and the animations for the dancing! Had a hard time making sense of the card mechanics but I eventually got the hang of it. 

Really enjoyed this! At one point I forgot I was playing on my laptop and thought I was on an old windows 95 desktop. The low-hum in the background of the game really sells the environment. 

This was really neat! Really loved the backgrounds you made for this, the highway into the distance was especially cool!

Very interesting character creator and space to play in! 

Loved it! The animations and the character sprites for the enemies and players are both very well done. The movement was responsive and the shooting had some nice impact to it. I also liked the inclusion of small mechanics that added to the experience like the shield slowing your descent when you use it midair. One of the things that I think could be improved is the way that you communicate the different power-ups to the player before they pick them up. It might have been the franticness of playing the level for the first time, but I had trouble telling which power-up I was picking up after shooting down the pinata enemies. Overall a solid run and gun! Will be looking forward to future updates and the full game!

This was really fun! I really enjoyed the art direction and how each attack felt like it had weight and impact when hitting enemies. One of the bugs I ran into was that during the final fight, right before the Boss starts attacking I could attack the boss before the fight started proper. I kinda like it though! After losing to him the first time, I came back and impaled him to start the fight off and that gave me a huge confidence boost! Some of the actions relying on having to press jump and a direction may not read well to some other players. Like for instance, needing to press down+jump to go through platforms or Jump+up to flip switches. All in all though, I had fun and can see this being something I pick up once development finishes!

Very cute! I'll be keeping an eye on the project for further updates. 

An Actual Review of Shammy Game: It's good, would smash games as owl again. Very accurate representation of videos!

Really neat game! Very tranquil and peaceful. Had a lot of fun going through and reloading the messages to see what would be generated. 

Very lovely game! I really enjoyed the puzzles throughout as they all seemed to make good use of the transformation mechanic. 

Thanks for the patch! Very interesting premise for the game. I really enjoyed the visuals and sound effects used to represent the glitching enemies.