Love this game! Played with my friends the other night. Big ups for the design!
The Paladxn (he/they)
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Such a tremendously effective, and affecting, piece of art. Thank you for sharing this with us! (If you're a reader on the fence about jumping in I recommend it: spend the couple minutes, it's well worth it.)
I loved the part about 'fleeing the sultry summer heat / and my prying gaze.' It was so poignant to me, that you brought in the theme of observation and how it affects the subject, and using that as a concept to underline the interconnectedness. There's that 'ludo-narrative resonance' I love so very much to see! To observe an observer in the midst of observing: bringing the reader literally into the seat where they themselves, as a being, can resonate on a meta-textual level and feel, themselves, interconnected with the story. In that way, I felt inspired to regard my own interconnectedness with the world around me, as a person engaging with the art: such a thing is the definition of effective art. Masterful!
My favorite part, however, was in dusk/autumn. In my playthrough, it was the final part, so it felt meaningful to me personally as a reader/player to read: 'life remade itself, sculpting its own form like clay.' On a subjective level, it reminded me of my own individual growth journey, and that I had a right to feel included amidst the threads of the great tapestry of nature.
(I also just realized it's mirrored in your season-choice of autumn, alluding to change, both corporately and individually, in nature and the beings that are, for better or worse, part of it, shaping and creating and changing it by the very nature of *being* it, as in that sense it interacts with itself. In that lens, speaking as a very neurodivergent person, any sort of difference from the norm really is shucked of stigma, isn't it? Seems silly to feel ashamed of the natural deviations of an always-changing, interconnected nature, or pressure to alter our 'clay' to match the imaginations of beings that are not us. These are some of the thoughts I'm taking away from the experience of engaging with Mandala.)
Again, well done, and I look forward to your next release!