itch.io

gahh i was really drawn into this story and wanted to see how things would pan out for these characters! i think the motif of "seams" works well both in the sense of a gore fetish/intrusive nightmares about being exposed as well as being a means of getting at how the "seams" of care these characters are willing to extend toward each other are slowly coming undone. i loved the characterization and the music was great too. looking forward to the full story!

one of the main things that sticks with me is that there is no "salvation" for mary. she admires mary of nazareth for her purity and desperately longs to be free of the sin the church taught her is inherited at birth. she wants to believe she's no longer like the other puppygirls, barking and crawling around on the floor, but all of them believe in a promise of freedom from this sin. as long as she stays in the church, believes it can be "saved" by writing her theses, she's dehumanizing herself because she always feels the need to prove herself in a struggle against her "sin". she cannot meaningfully connect with others like the outsider because to see them as human through any difference or conflict will trigger these insecurities the dogma encourages. and as long as she lets these insecurities go unaddressed, she will continue to live in an exclusionary environment that is ensuring people like her, and like the outsider, continue to grow up in a world that is alienating and isolating. the scene of her leaving the church in the epilogue is perhaps what she might have feared most: that there is no congratulations waiting for her, for doing what she likely knew was right all along, only rightful criticism for her failing to do it sooner. but she's abandoned the notion that she needs to be "saved", and with that perhaps she can finally look at the ways she moves in the world with clear eyes.

thank you for sharing your story!

very accurate to the experience of a desk job. the only reason i survive is because i talk to and read posts from gay people on my phone

truly we toil for pokemon

i really appreciated the contrast between xelia's dialogue in the basement versus her internal narration/exchanges with friends. it points to the reading that her monologues aren't only for the power but also as a means of hyping herself up; at the end of the day she is another scared pup. also really enjoyed the musical callbacks to loner dog in the scenes with argo (the track titled, "the bitter part out loud")

bug is real and she's me. 

very much appreciate this one - it is always relieving to find evidence that you're not the only one with this kind of experience haha. thank you! <3

it's taken me several weeks to gather my thoughts on this game. after my first hour or so of playtime, i was pretty convinced that i would get filtered by this game and that it straight up was not meant for me, but i ended up drastically wrong in that assessment.

i think that, in writing this kind of story, its easier to tend toward one of two extremes: either of making its characters legible, explaining away or excusing all of their worst qualities in a kind of falsely reassuring way, or on the other hand, just veering totally off the nihilism cliff and saying that nothing matters because everything is hopeless and nothing better is possible. 

i found that this story somehow rejects both of these frames. dancing between them, the characters arent made to justify themselves for who they are, yet theyre still made to be accountable for their actions because eachother are all they have; theyre allowed to just be human. seeing this portrayed so sincerely opened up a lot of space for me to look honestly at myself and not be so afraid of what i might find. this is really a huge relief especially when it feels like everything else in life is telling you to go in the opposite direction. wherever im headed, your art at least shows that its possible to come out the other side. thank you for sharing it. <3 

lovely lovely! this game feels... timely

wonderful. wonderful wonderful wonderful lecture, thank you so much for sharing it publicly. I especially appreciate the resources provided at the end. this is very helpful to me for navigating our current wave of sex-negativity that seems to be gripping the culture. as someone from a younger generation the kinds of repression that were more prevalent during the bush years were definitely still felt downstream even while coming of age into a more information-dense culture in the early 2010s. it saddens me to think that we're vulnerable to return to that time again, but i would like to do what i can to prevent it. appreciate your perspective <3

love love love! nat and bethany are very cute and its affirming to see characters like them that feel true to my own life in a game <3

despite being trans and gay, i feel like this game may not be for me. but even so i wanted to say i really like the world design and setting, it has that kind of half-real quality that worms into my imagination in the best way. i admire you making something that so clearly resonates with a lot of people. if i do end up playing more of it i will be sure to comment and leave more of my thoughts <3

i find myself completely drawn in by this style of world building you're able to pull off. I feel like im being rattled around until i clip out of bounds into the gap between reality and fantasy, where the two meet and are - inevitably - just as real as the other. another wonderful VN, thank you!

Thank you for making this! Games like these inspire me to make games of my own someday <3

ahhh this game made me feel so warm and giddy and happy <3 <3 thank you for sharing! will be playing chapter 2 and chapter 3 when it comes out :)

This was an incredible little game, I loved it a lot. I was especially enamored by the way it depicted the charming sincerity of early internet culture in a way that stayed wholesome and earnest. This quality is weaved beautifully throughout the story, its themes, its characters, and even the UI design itself.

It made me think a lot about internet culture today, and how as we've shifted away from these cute, intimate communities and towards more centralized, corporate spaces, there has been a simultaneous push to drench any genuine feeling in a heavy veil of irony whenever expressed online. This kinda worries me sometimes, I wonder if today's generation of kiddos on the web will be worse off for being immersed in a culture that's so cynical.

But then again, early internet culture certainly had its uglier parts, and there are sweet little havens on today's internet, too - largely exemplified by your beautiful work. It really helped me out a lot and I can't thank you enough!