itch.io

This game is so sweet! It has a beautiful message and the artwork is adorable, thank you for submitting to Blossom VN Jam and congratulations on being the first entry!

Hey Devs!

Do you enjoy creating visual novels, kinetic novels, or story-focused games?

Interested in a more casual jam experience?

Check out Blossom VN Jam 2024! It’s a spring-themed game jam that will be running from April 1^st-May 15^th.

So, what does a "Spring" theme even mean? It's up to you, but we have some concepts and suggestions to help get you started. 

Please keep in mind that you are not limited to these!

CONCEPTS + IDEAS:

• Cottagecore Aesthetics
• Healing, Rebirth, and Personal Growth
• Nature (i.e. Butterflies, Flowers, Rabbits)
• Budding Romance
• Farming
• Easter/Spring Equinox
• Anything that makes you think of spring!

Blossom Jam is a comfort jam, we want you to take your time and enjoy developing your submissions.  

There are no judges, prizes, or rankings!

Our rules and guidelines are minimal, but please review them on our jam page before submitting.

Absolutely! As long as you're using the assets within their licensing agreement there is no problem :) Thanks for the great question.

Yes! As long as your submission adheres to the rules of both jams, you're welcome to submit to both :)

Welcome to the Blossom VN Jam community! 

My name is Sam (she/her), and I am the host of Blossom VN Jam 2024. 

If you have any questions, just ask away! I'm happy to help however I can. 

Please don’t hesitate to join the conversation, start your own topics, and begin recruiting teammates.

Don't forget to use #BlossomVNJam, I will do my best to like/share all related posts on Twitter/X.

Thank you for sharing your playthrough!

Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the game you've mentioned and am not associated with it in any way. Sorry that I couldn't be more helpful!

If your project isn't quite ready, but you participated in development during the jam, you're welcome to submit your game pages and update the projects by adding demos/games after the submission period has ended!

Thank you all for participating in the first edition of Blossom VN Jam :)

That is fine :) thank you for participating!

Thank you for reaching out! I am okay with you creating a fan translation and you can share it via your own itch.io account or any website that you'd prefer :)

Unfortunately, I cannot provide any assistance with this process and you'd have to do the work/programming on your own. If you do end up making the translation please let me know, I will share it on my social media.

Thank you again, I'm so glad that you understand how special the game is to me and I wish you the best!

https://tidalblossoms.itch.io/starlight-shores

I will ask the artist and get back to you :)

That's fine!

Absolutely! You are more than welcome to join Blossom Jam :)

Hi, thank you for your question! The short answer is yes, but there are rules. 

It's fine as long as you're not violating any copyright laws. For example; if you don't own the IP, don't steal assets from the source material.

Thank you for leaving such a thoughtful comment, it was fun to read! Many of your insights matched my intentions with this story :) 

Reflection is a submission to the O2A2 game jam, which has very stricit limits of using only one asset for every part of the game. It's intentionally short and open to interpretation by the player.

That being said, I'm developing an expanded version which I hope to launch this year :)

Thank you for the great question! Although I plan to play every submission, I won’t be streaming and there’s no official judging or anything.

Everyone can play submissions (some may be adult-only/nsfw) and I’m sure many creators would love to see their projects streamed.

Welcome to the Blossom VN Jam community! 

My name is Sam (she/her), and I am the creator/host of Blossom VN Jam 2023. 

If you have any questions, just ask away! I'm happy to help however I can. 

Please don’t hesitate to join the conversation, start your own topics, and begin recruiting teammates.

Thank you for playing! We're hoping to develop this into a finished project, but right now we're waiting to see how the demo is received and what we can improve on :)

Thank you so much for playing Whispers, I hope you enjoyed! Happy New Year :)

Thank you so much! Our team is lucky to have many talented artists 😊💕

Honestly, it's not the style of visual novel I'm interested in making at the moment. I'm focusing on shorter, free, and story rich projects for the time being!

There is currently only one ending, but that may change in future updates.

To play again, you just need to quit and relaunch :)

Thanks for playing!

-Sam

Thank you so much for this review and your feedback! It is very appreciated.

Due to the rules of the game jam, we weren't allowed to have any image changes aside from expressions, the scene itself could not change during gameplay or we'd be breaking the rules.

Reflection is part of the "only one of any asset jam" so we had to think outside the box!

We will definitely be updating and adding more cinematic transitions and creating a unique entity in the future :)

Again, thank you so much, watching your video was very fun.

-Sam

Hi there! I’m so glad you enjoyed Tidal Blossoms 😊

Unfortunately, it’s not the style of game that I intend to make anymore.

If you’re interested, Starlight Shores is a finished game that takes place in the same town/cottage! My other project Graveyard Girls features a more serious tone, but it’s in the same universe and 100% free.

Hello again,

I believe the issue has to do with the .ico (desktop icon) files on Windows 7.

If you go into the game directory and remove the .ico files, the game may generate an error report but should otherwise run smoothly.

Apologies for the delayed response, I hope this helps

These are the kinds of comments that make me so happy for our entire spooktober team. Thank you for leaving such a detailed write-up on your experience, and thank you for giving Graveyard Girls a chance!

Apologies for not responding to this lovely comment sooner, thank you for leaving such a personal message. 

When I made this game, I hoped the story would connect with those who had experienced such intense loss in their lives. Sending you positive thoughts.

Thank you, I really appreciate it.

Unfortunately, I never received any tax forms for my 2021 payouts. 

I tried reaching out to support on March 2nd and still haven't heard back. I tried checking my spam and junk folders, but I didn't find anything.

I am a foreign seller, so I'm not sure if that changes the dates of when tax info should be sent out. 

Does anyone know if I should've received the forms by now?

Hi! I'm sorry to hear that you've encounter this problem. Do you have Discord? It would be easier for me to help resolve the issue through there.

Here's a link to the Starlight Shores community Discord:

https://discord.com/invite/6X2DECj

https://tidalblossoms.itch.io/starlight-shores

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this, it is truly appreciated. You are correct, this game is made from personal experiences with grief.

On the technical issue, I'm having trouble figuring out what the background noise you've mentioned is. I had a listen and couldn't locate anything amiss. Could you describe it or reach out on our Discord? You'll find it listed on our Linktree here :)

Thanks! I will look into this as soon as possible :)

Hi there!

The answer to this question isn't a perfect one, and I apologize if it is unclear.

Will, the main character, harbours romantic feelings for his friend Theo and can be romantic with other characters as well.

However, there is a very special and what I would consider "canon" route which leaves you in a platonic place with your previous love interests.

It is important that I warn you that this story is open about romantic and sexual relationships and depicts what it's like the be a young adult who is exploring the world of interpersonal relationships for the first time.

There is a long drinking game where characters speak about their relationships, sexualities, insecurities, and curiosities with their friends.

In the end, it is possible to finish things in a platonic way during several routes, but the themes that precede those endings could very well be uncomfy for aro/ace individuals.

The demo is a great example of what I mean about the discussion of sexual and romantic themes.

I'd love to send you a guide on how to achieve platonic endings privately if you do end up playing to prevent a negative experience!

We have a discord that is linked on this page, you can reach me there for a guide :)

There are also some in-depth reviews about the variety of endings, but they have a lot of story details, so I can send them if you don't mind spoilers.

Even if you don't end up finding Starlight Shores is right for you, I encourage you to keep exploring the indie visual novel community. 

I'm certain there's a game you'll enjoy :)

I hope this helps!

-Sam

Are you referring to your experience playing the demo, or do you own the full game? 

I ask because this issue was addressed in the most recent update to the full game! :)

Thank you so much for this wonderful comment, it's really encouraging. Honestly, I put a lot of thought into removing the typical bad-ending trope because of how specific and emotional this content was. I'm overjoyed that you noticed and also liked the change in direction! You're absolutely correct, there's no "proper" way to grieve and every path is different. That's why I didn't want to punish players for having boundaries, it wouldn't be fair and sends a bad message.

These graphics were super nostalgic, I love the 90's setting :) The horror elements definitely made me jumpy, but I did struggle to figure out how to use the planchette in my first playthrough.

The artwork in this project is beautiful! The setting/atmosphere gave me Dragon's Dogma vibes, which is super cool. Writing and music were both 10/10 :) Also particularly enjoyed the voice acting of Anari, really fit her character.