itch.io

this comment felt like a warm hug. absolutely ecstatic that you binged it, i firmly believe that this is the way to play parfum nostalgique. when people tell me they’re going to play it i get real close and say shit like, “you need to close your curtains. you need to shut off the lights. you need to get a candle. you need a tray with tea and cookies. in your room, get in bed. or at LEAST have a whole sleeve of ritz crackers.” thank you for engaging with this deeply personal project that i love very much.

also, thank you for the website ad. your game looks sick as hell and i’m going to eat it. i’m a simple man, i see watercolor and paper texture, and i steep in it like i’m in a hot tub. looking forward to playing it!

tysm!!! i’m so glad the photos help, i was really proud of my setup and i was like, “man this is so cool, if i knew this is what my games were gonna look like when i was a kid just messing around in rpgmaker, i would have freaked out.” so i hope i can inspire many people with it 🥺 <3

thank you for your comment!!! i really hope your game dev friends find some use for this zine <3

i’m so glad it helped!!! yeah, before i really got into physical copies, i was getting ready to purchase a ton of usbs and individually laser engrave them in a machine???? looking back i was kind of insane for that. oh well, i’ll probably try it again one day. hope you get some absolutely sick physical copies!

ABSOLUTELY no problem!! i hope you can get your stuff in some physical spaces!!!

thank you!!!! i’ve been working on the sequel to this zine for almost a month now, and it’s been so much work. i took a break today and wanted to tell you that it was so nice to see your comment and that it really encourages me to know this inspires people at a time where i am tired from working on more stuff about bringing digital games to physical spaces. it genuinely really keeps me going TToTT

oh hell yeah

i must tell you. yesterday i had a little too much caffeine, and it made me stay up a little bit at night, and someone had just streamed parfum and i had watched it, so i was feeling very anxious and critical of my own work. just like, “oh my god, i spent so much time on this thing, what if everyone notices all the tiny flaws i notice in it?” this is a pretty normal thing that artists/ solo devs/ general creatives go through, but it was my first time feeling like this in a while, because i am normally much kinder to myself than that, and it scared me!

but then i woke up to this comment and ohhhhhhh my god. thank you!! i was able to let out such a deep breath. it was like “you stupid idiot, people love this thing!!!”

parfum nostalgique has thankfully gotten a lot of compliments, but i rarely get people who actually take the time to tell me specific parts they like. when you make a project all by yourself (for the most part! couldn’t have done this without my wonderful voice actors) and you have to look at every little part of it for entirely too long, the whole thing starts to feel like it’s boring, and you just gotta kinda tell yourself “okay, i’m gonna trust that it’s just gonna be good to everyone else,” and forge ahead. so thank you!!!!!! most creators usually get a “this game is really pretty” or a “that was really good” or something, and while that rocks, god it means so much when someone expresses that they like the specific small things. now whenever i come across the parts you liked, i know i will smile and be like “:) someone really liked that part.”

also, whenever anyone really notices donna i’m like YESSSSS! because she sincerely has become so dear to me. writing her character was like wrestling a gator sometimes because i didn’t want to write someone who was straight up just always wrong or evil all the time. i wanted to write like… someone’s weird messed up mom who genuinely believes she’s correct and has conviction about it. i also wanted her to make val look a little bad. val was looking a little too hot after act 1, and i needed to remind everyone that he’s just an old divorcee. an old man eatin’ tiramisu from a can. ALSO also, i’m glad you could see relevance to themes in your life in this thing. i hear this a lot from people and it’s my favorite thing. i know when something connects with me on that level, i’m more likely to enjoy it and see it through to the end, so i tried to make a game like that. it’s great when something’s just a cool story, but i wanted conversations between characters to feel like conversations i’d had with people/ conversations that have been had…somewhere! before! it’s something i’m glad i was able to execute.

while parfum tends to be different from a lot of visual novels, i hope it encourages you to check out other ones, because oh my god. there is so much love in these things. they’re not very profitable but take a ton of work and skill to make, which means a lot of people making them are doing it just because they sincerely love the craft. absolutely lovely crowd of people. there’s such a huge range of visual novels to play that i don’t even seek them out, i just end up playing them because i stumble upon them just from how cool they look. i hope you enjoy many more!

anyway, thank you for taking the time to leave this lovely comment, i’m so glad you loved it and i will remember it whenever i need a boost :) may you be reincarnated as a lotus flower or some other peaceful creature that dwells in a place where the stars are especially beautiful at night.

will do, thanks so much!! i’ve also added your zette templates linked on this page, because i think it will help a lot of people who want to make their own physical copies.

that would be awesome! absolutely no objections! i’m actually starting to sell physical indie games from different creators at markets. i’m slowly building up my library of creators behind the scenes. it’s really awesome to see other people doing that too! and by “really awesome,” i mean, i’m kind of looking at my screen with huge, pathetic eyes because i am so happy there are people doing this!! i hope there will be many, many of us in the future!

i have a site where i am gathering lists of websites that help support indie creators and resources, also slowly but surely (https://priro.pro/indiehaven). can i link to the zette shop there to spread awareness of it? i think people would really love to see it there!

ok! build’s up if you want to try and re-download it!

I’m gonna try and export a new one for you! chances are, if you’re having this issue, other people are too. you can also play it on steam if it doesn’t work here, but i’ll export a new version of the file for here, and let you know when it’s up shortly! thanks for letting me know!

I am!! I actually have a list I’m working on for my site where I’m compiling all different artists who have their work hosted on their own websites outside of itch.io due to all the censorship going on. Can I add your site to the list? I think people who frequent my site would enjoy your work a lot!

np!!! i hope you make some cool physical copies (and if you do i want to see!!!!)

re-uploaded if you want to try again!

this was a coincidence! so, dorian’s appearance was inspired by oscar francois de jaryjayes and robert plant. val’s appearance was inspired by oscar francois de jarjayes and robert plant. i found from eroica with love when i was about… 20? 21? and my first thought was, “oh my god… is that val???” throughout the end of parfum’s development, i started reading a lot more eroica, because i was starting to miss val, as i wouldn’t be writing him anymore. it’s been a comfort manga for a long time for me. to me, dorian is like… who val would cast himself as in a silly movie. and i’m mr. james. a tiny man who yells at him to stop spending so much of their money. i think if val and dorian met, they’d have a good time, but then, if dorian kept trying to call him, or if val saw him at the grocery store, he’d duck into a corner like “i need to get out of this place.”

also, only cool people read that manga, so only cool people ever make the comparison between the two of them, so congrats on being a part of the cool people club. i always know someone’s gonna have a good time with parfum when they go “oh he looks like dorian red gloria,” because i know then that they have refined tastes.

don’t worry about it! some people get this error, some don’t, so i’m going to re-export and re-upload it. you can also play this on steam for free!

YEAHHH!!! I KNOW MY TARGET AUDIENCE!!

and thank YOU from the bottom of my heart for your support ♥️ i’ll post more about the new project soon!! people have really been hyping me up for it.

he’s so hot too. he’s like. silly hot but god i love him. i’ll post about him on bsky he is sooooo silly. i am determined to make him an asshole but not a hateable asshole. i love him. i love him

VERY big compliment, the vibes are definitely there when you play it. i revisited princess jellyfish while this game was in development and remember looking at it like, “wow… this is kinda what my game is giving…” and felt such fondness because i have always loved it.

it’s okay, because you can be here for the many, many more games I will make! I’m so glad you liked it. every time i hear that this made someone cry, i get really happy, but it makes me even happier to know you were so hooked on reading this. i’ve always coveted the idea of “a book that you won’t be able to put down.” it’s something i think takes a lot of skill to make and to know i’ve achieved that for someone feels really nice. also, always glad to know my intermissions were appreciated!! they are my favorite parts, especially anything with kenny. menace did an incredible job with him and i truly think it wouldn’t be the same without him.

this makes me so happy to hear!! these physical copies were really cheap to make, and most computers only have USB ports, so as much as it would have been cool to give it the CD treatment, I knew that USB cards would be more accessible. i love how they came out, i love being able to hold what i made in my hands so much that any creators who ask about how i did it, i make sure to tell them all about it. i want to see these little USB cards for every game possible!! i love physical copies, and i’m so glad you do too.

bellissima. i take abram, i kiss him on his beautiful face. i take pietro, i dab him with a dry towel (he is a very wet cat). i take valeria and i go for tea and whatever

forget the beach that makes you old. i wanna go to the lake that makes you trans. at least that’s how i take this. you go to the lake and you violently drown the perfect pretty girl everyone admires and then you’ll never be her again, and your aunts and uncles who never made that much of an effort anyway are standing around sobbing their eyes out like, “she was such a pretty girl! such a beautiful and lovely girl! why did she have to go!” and when you’re having kind of a rough day and the dysphoria creeps in, for a second you’re like, “damn maybe i should’ve stayed a chick.” so you go to the lake where you drowned that girl and you’re like “hey how you doin.” and the hand is sticking up out of the lake, and it’s beckoning you with its siren song, trying to convince you that you’re one of the same, but buddy, you go in that lake? you’re done for. you’re going the way of the deadname. so you gotta give that hand a good look and go. mm. didn’t they pull your body out of this lake already? you’re not here, you’re in the ground. you’re cremated or something. you’re obliterated. there’s no getting you back, girl, shut up and stop calling me! and she won’t shut up for a while, but eventually, your hands start to look different, because hrt is magic, and i know i’m definitely looking at that hand sticking out of the lake next to my increasingly much more defined and veiny masculine hands, and going, “nope, not my hand. not me, baby. sorry, girl. you got the wrong guy.”

anyway, love this and love you.

i saw this when i woke up this morning and had to screenshot it and send it to my parents, because all they’ve seen of my visual novel is like… pictures i draw of val in a thong, and they think that’s what it’s about. i’m always like “no, no, it has a plot” and they’re like “yeah, whatever. you can’t fool us.”

this is my way of saying i am very touched, especially hearing that you were putting off the ending because you didn’t want it to end. i felt similarly when i was finishing making this thing, because i just couldn’t bear to let these characters go. you’ll definitely see more in the future, because my love for this project has no end. thank you, in the most sincere way i can muster, for your support.

thank you so much for reading!!! <3

one time i was at a bookstore with kenny’s voice actor and i was complaining that a book on vintage perfumes didn’t have shalimar in it, and i started going off about how important it was to me, and he goes. “wow so i guess you could say… you’re really… nostalgic… for that perfume…” and i let out the biggest sigh of my life.

a secret: being able to differentiate between scents is overrated. i love just sniffing something and saying “yes” or “no.” we are all just humans. we were born to sniff.

if you like water scents, shi by alfred sung is pretty affordable nowadays. it’s supposed to legitimately be the “scent of water.” it’s a cool androgynous scent that i blind bought simply because i heard it was good and it was like 10 bucks at marshall’s. i did not appreciate it as much when i first got it, and i think i even regretted it a little bit, but now i really like it.

whenever i think of Basic Man Scent, i think of Dior Sauvage, but i would never recommend that to you, because i don’t hate you and i don’t want you to hate yourself. it’s just such an Asshole Guy fragrance. one time my mom had a sample of it and it fell in our toaster and ruined it, and also ruined my toaster waffle. i told her, “i told you to get that shit out of our fucking house, it’s evil.” my personal recommendations for Basic Man scents: jean paul gaultier le male (which is actually what val’s outfit is based off of. completely forgot to mention that) acqua di gio (my mom wears this she likes to smell like a dude) drakkar noir (super cheap but smells awesome and you can use it every day without feeling like you’re wasting it)

also if you want “marshmallow but for men” that’s mugler a*men. one of my absolute favorites. and another cheap honorable mention for Basic Man is a body spray my dad used to wear when i was a kid that’s still being made today from a company called Bod Man. it’s called “Really Ripped Abs.” I wish i was lying, i can’t look at this thing without giggling.

if i may recommend some scents for your characters…. eunice- mon guerlain sydney- all of the above basic man scents susan- genuinely the superior Old Lady smell is shalimar i would buy her that leon- pinrose pinrose. i’m so biased i love that fucking thing

anyway, there i go running my mouth. if you see any of these in stores, give them a sniff. it’s fun to sniff

thank you!! yeah i was like “no, i can’t let this perfume be ruined… i was supposed to pass this down to my children like my mom passed down to me… but i’m not having any children…” yeah, not any REAL children, but I DO have this vampire, and he is very much like an old woman to me. he is such a grandma to me. so he’s my grandma now. and also my child. apparently. either way, those are the two eligible candidates for a signature scent of shalimar.

i love when people who aren’t into perfumes have one that a relative gave them that they’ve just kind of stuck with. perfumes don’t really expire, and i think that’s such a beautiful thing, because it allows us to bond with scents for a long time. it allows them to truly exist alongside us and become special objects. sometimes people just kinda throw perfume at people as a gift, but they never really know how long it’s gonna be sitting on our dresser or what our relationship to it is gonna be. it’s just like… “here, take this new smell.”

i absolutely love that you have found a way to love different scents despite the headaches, but also, it is so funny to me that one of your scents of choice is tuberose overdose. that is like, the number one headache giver scent to lots of people, but i am personally also a fan of it. sooo many people complain that tuberose in general gives them headaches!!! I am a tuberose lover. actually, i’m so much of a tuberose lover that i’m a little weird about it. tuberose is a very love-it-or-hate-it scent, and there’s so many people who don’t like it, and i sincerely think that it says a lot about a person what they think about tuberose. i always know i’m not gonna gel with someone if they complain about not liking tuberose, especially if they say it’s “too feminine” or something, i don’t know. i don’t actually judge people by their opinions on tuberose, but i do know that historically, i have gotten along better with people who either really like tuberose, or can at least appreciate what it’s got going on. it has attitude.

i looked up all the scents you have listed in this comment on fragrantica so i could mentally picture them. there are some incredible notes in here. what fun taste you have! i also have a soft spot for dior j’adore, because i like to make pressed flower bookmarks and once bought little plastic flower preservers that were shaped like the dior j’adore bottle. I ended up with so many of them that they are all over my house.

always lovely to read your comments :) if you ever want to check out any new scents that are kind of affordable and simple and not too offensive, but still offer something a little bit different, i reccommend checking out jeanne en provence fragrances. i have un matin dans la roseraie, and it’s kind of a basic floral, but in my experience, the scents by this company are just really likeable and fun to explore!

i loved reading this. my brain is broken because i have like 647337 responsibilities today so when it comes to making further comments i will explode if i attempt it. but the memes really make this experience. i loved reading this. it did make me giggle. i love this

coming soon… parfum nostalgique light sticks… nancy shaped ☺️

the thing about her telling a story in a way that feels like she’s just “catching someone up” is really interesting because that’s a lot like how tiktok influencers tell stories of their lives while doing makeup, or how they relay stories in general. it’s this short form that’s supposed to keep your attention. i think that a character just kinda Talking Like That is really useful for characterization.

1. it reflects who she is and how that kind of culture and mindset affects everything, not just what goes on online and
2. the reason why this style of speaking is so popular on different social media platforms is because the ease of digesting it paired with a very clear and distinct influencer voice and personality helps people form parasocial attachments to the speaker.

what i’m trying to say is that it actually makes her more realistic and endearing to people reading her, especially because a PERSON like tiffany and a CHARACTER like tiffany are going to have different responses.

like, i’m a big fan of characters who are a bit vapid, because you get to see into their lives in the stories they’re in. sometimes, it’ll be a story of “my parents are rich and neglect my emotional needs and throw money at me instead,” or “there’s nothing good about me except my money/looks and i have rock-bottom self esteem,” and empathizing with them is much easier because they’re not real. but with real people… dude, rich people have SLAVES and shit. rich people will have clothing lines made in sweatshops and then go “oops haha didn’t know that was unethical.”

anyway really liked that part.

thank you for your wonderful comments. you really made me smile today!!

it is 10 at night… i have taken the gummy that helps me calm my nerves and sleep… i curl up in my bed after a long day of working on physical copy pr packages… i wrap myself up in blankets… i check itch.io on my laptop.

“ah. another lovely reply from ha neul.”

i smile warmly, for i have been seen and appreciated by another human being on this planet, and in turn, i see and appreciate you

i go to sleep peacefully, looking like this

I think we all have that One Little Piece of anne rice we like, because she really is everywhere. like, i remember my friend showing me the movie when i was in college, and i cherish that memory, because the only thing i remember about it is that lestat bit some lady in the boob and i thought it was so funny that i almost fell off the couch. now, when people eagerly ask me if i’m into IWTV, i’m like, “is that that movie where the vampire bites a lady in the boob” xD

i’m glad you like my ideas, being an adult is awesome because your 3 ft tall barbies can be 6ft tall scandinavian men who still very much look like barbie. my friends and i are always calling our characters our dolls who we “smush together.”

always lovely to read your comments 😊 ❤️

oniisama e. blonde evil teenager who looks 30

reading this really makes me want to keep writing devlogs regularly. thank you for telling me how much you enjoyed it! when you have your special journey, it will be an honor to witness it. whatever project captures your heart and takes you for a ride will be wonderful simply because it will be full of love. no matter how tough it is out there, the joy of creation is what makes life worth living.

ANYWAY SORRY FOR HOW LONG THAT REPLY WAS LMAO i just thoroughly enjoy your thoughts on my work and i appreciate you So so much.

you know how I was like, “I put Parf on r/vampires and they hated it?” For a while, I would post there for my own entertainment, because it was rife with dumbasses. Like, one of them assumed that Kenny faked his sight disability to “lure in prey,” and when I told them he didn’t, they said “ohh okay. so he makes people pity him and then lures them in” and it was SO weird and ableist.

but what got me to stop posting there, what got me to stop being entertained by that place, was when i explained val’s stance on vampirism and immortality, and i got GANGED UP ON. they found it incredibly bizarre that val thinks about death and dying on a daily basis and they were like, “that’s a sign of major mental instability, and he needs help.” lol. wow i so did not realize that 🙄. someone even called him the most depressing vampire character they’d ever heard of. this really puzzled me because honestly, i think val is as optimistic as he can be in his situation, his relationship to death is realistic for his own perspective on mortality, and most importantly, a character who is still worth engaging with. they were insistent that the way i wrote val was harmful, and that made him a badly made character who they were unwilling to approach with good faith. I was like, where even AM i right now? aren’t you people reading shit by like, anne rice, one of the most mentally unstable authors i have ever come across? and it’s not like there is a shortage of mentally unwell vampires. it made me think about how people insist that chronically ill people have an upbeat and happy demeanor all the time, and don’t show signs of mental turmoil. immortality is somewhat of an illness to me, and i wanted to frame it as such. immortality can be framed in many interesting ways, but anyone who fully understands the ramifications of it and appears to be mentally stable… really couldn’t exist to me, realistically. if people want to explore immortality in a way that is realistic there has to be acknowledgement of how much this world and our brains are not made for forever.