i loved this! it was really well done. looking forward to the updates, i can tell a lot of love was put into this.
i love the idea of it not exactly being Scary:tm:, but instead playing with the element of anxiety and overstimulation for its inducement of fear. super unique!
the colours were so tasty too, and they work well for the setting. the dithering was also a fun way to do backgrounds. i loved that it shifted every few seconds too, it's subtle, but it adds so much!
tarot is so fun to explore, especially in a setting like this. i loved the way the readings were described. spot on and well-informed. and of course, haunting! great choice of cards for this.
it's great when things are otherworldly but not to the point of it seeming outlandish to apply the meaning to real life. zoomorphism has a very special feeling of bordering on reality and supernatural topics. it's the kind of feeling i get when i go on a ghost tour. but aside from that, it's about the themes of displacement and change that really stick out to me... it raises such interesting food for thought. the sense of belonging should be something one discovers on their own. the sense of self, is something only you can decide for yourself. being forced to change will backfire. but sometimes change still happens whether we want it to or not (due to disasters/accidents/etc). change isn't always good. and sometimes it means that the things we love will be left behind and buried in the past. the writing nails the handling of change and what it means (both the good and bad aspect, with a leaning towards the bad/forced). it doesn't feel forced upon the reader either.
anyway. 10/10 superb work everyone! thank you for sharing this with the world. it took me about 15 minutes to read, which isn't bad at all and i feel that update you've spoken of will hit the sweet spot, so to speak.
thank you so much for enjoying our game! I was really inspired by "a midsummer night's dream" when conceptualising, and the ideas of forced "transformation" and nothing being as it seems. the protagonist also dehumanises everyone around them, whether out of stress or predjudice... they're definitely a very unreliable narrator and they were super fun to write!
i hope that you enjoy the final chapter when it releases!
This game was so cool! The teal-pink dithered aesthetic is beautiful, andstunning illustrations - so much personality, backgrounds felt kind of somber and melancholic,scratched my brain just right. limited palettes can be tricky I think because there's a risk of sprites disappearing into the backgrounds, I likedthe presentation here a lot. &I feel like it was a great pair to thefever-dreamliketone of the writing. wasbeautiful in the literary way too, I enjoyed reading many of the descriptions (like 'feathers fletch from foiled sheaths'). andI LOVE Sol's design, I wish I had an extroverted friend like them lol!
one interesting thing that really stood out to me was justhow unrelentingly*rich* the worldly descriptions were and how MC's livedexperience is so tightly (andfearfully, maybedesperately) embodied in their physical sensory experience because they're afraid to lose themselves. and thatthis is despite a deep-seated yearning for authentic connection with others and searching for it, and not finding it, and not knowing what it is or what itshouldfeel like, even in a hugecrowd fullof sticky lovers and warm bodies that are waving something they claim is shaped like it -or evenperformingwhattheythink it should be shaped like (thinking ab the mask motifs) - in MC's face. I think a lot of people would resonate with the themes of alienation and belonging here, and how much MC strugglesto connect to both themselves and others, how they cling to the safety of what is familiar and yetultimately unfulfilling because the devil they know looks better than the devil they don't.
also. whenI first sawgood ole mr tower I was like 'oh hell no lmao GO BACK GO BACK' and tried the other options hoping for different cards, LOL, but then I was like 'damn that's aperfect choicetho', same with the others. hell yeah!
loved this. storm of talent, really unique game. 10/10 would get overstimmied at the sad apocalyptic queer rave again
one veryminor note, and this might be intentional - I imagine it was intentional with the text speed - the preferencesliders seem to belocked on the macOS version, I couldn't adjust the auto-fwd time or any ofthe volume sliders. justfyi
this is such a kind comment, thank you so much! I'm really glad to hear that you enjoyed it :)
I think for the setting and how it relates to the story, a big theme that I set out wanting to write about was displacement, assimilation, and climate refugees - a world where collapse happens slowly, and society evolves selective resilient traits (like collectivism) to preserve itself. but i think that a lot of the feelings contained are very universal, as you've said. I also wanted to draw on concepts of death and reincarnation/ finding life again after crisis. If you're at all a cautious, or a paranoid person, or if you at all want to preserve the bits of yourself that make you You... it can be so hard. The game is actually to be updated with an extra scene and a branched ending that "completes" the arc of the story (as well as more Sol moments), so please look out for that! (I hope that we can stick the landing) :D
Ohh thank you for the insight, I definitely see it - I remember the collectivism thread being strong too, like in certain descriptions of the crowd being insect-like(?) as if they were part of a hive, and how palpable MC's grief was adjusting to their new environment. Looking forward to the future release, it's gonna be great!
i just played and i gotta say the atmosphere and the world the characters live in is very interesting and kept me on edge, wanting to read more. nice work!
Hi! Thank you, it means a lot to hear that :-). We've added some additional story content, including two (abbreviated) endings, and will be pushing a few more updates when the jam games are unlocked! I'd love to hear what you think if you get a chance to take another look.
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i loved this! it was really well done. looking forward to the updates, i can tell a lot of love was put into this.
i love the idea of it not exactly being Scary:tm:, but instead playing with the element of anxiety and overstimulation for its inducement of fear. super unique!
the colours were so tasty too, and they work well for the setting. the dithering was also a fun way to do backgrounds. i loved that it shifted every few seconds too, it's subtle, but it adds so much!
tarot is so fun to explore, especially in a setting like this. i loved the way the readings were described. spot on and well-informed. and of course, haunting! great choice of cards for this.
it's great when things are otherworldly but not to the point of it seeming outlandish to apply the meaning to real life. zoomorphism has a very special feeling of bordering on reality and supernatural topics. it's the kind of feeling i get when i go on a ghost tour.
but aside from that, it's about the themes of displacement and change that really stick out to me... it raises such interesting food for thought. the sense of belonging should be something one discovers on their own. the sense of self, is something only you can decide for yourself. being forced to change will backfire. but sometimes change still happens whether we want it to or not (due to disasters/accidents/etc). change isn't always good. and sometimes it means that the things we love will be left behind and buried in the past.
the writing nails the handling of change and what it means (both the good and bad aspect, with a leaning towards the bad/forced). it doesn't feel forced upon the reader either.
anyway. 10/10 superb work everyone! thank you for sharing this with the world. it took me about 15 minutes to read, which isn't bad at all and i feel that update you've spoken of will hit the sweet spot, so to speak.
thank you so much for enjoying our game! I was really inspired by "a midsummer night's dream" when conceptualising, and the ideas of forced "transformation" and nothing being as it seems.
the protagonist also dehumanises everyone around them, whether out of stress or predjudice... they're definitely a very unreliable narrator and they were super fun to write!
i hope that you enjoy the final chapter when it releases!
*spoilers
This game was so cool! The teal-pink dithered aesthetic is beautiful, and stunning illustrations - so much personality, backgrounds felt kind of somber and melancholic, scratched my brain just right. limited palettes can be tricky I think because there's a risk of sprites disappearing into the backgrounds, I liked the presentation here a lot. &I feel like it was a great pair to the fever-dreamlike tone of the writing. was beautiful in the literary way too, I enjoyed reading many of the descriptions (like 'feathers fletch from foiled sheaths'). and I LOVE Sol's design, I wish I had an extroverted friend like them lol!
one interesting thing that really stood out to me was just how unrelentingly *rich* the worldly descriptions were and how MC's lived experience is so tightly (and fearfully, maybe desperately) embodied in their physical sensory experience because they're afraid to lose themselves. and that this is despite a deep-seated yearning for authentic connection with others and searching for it, and not finding it, and not knowing what it is or what it should feel like, even in a huge crowd full of sticky lovers and warm bodies that are waving something they claim is shaped like it - or even performing what they think it should be shaped like (thinking ab the mask motifs) - in MC's face. I think a lot of people would resonate with the themes of alienation and belonging here, and how much MC struggles to connect to both themselves and others, how they cling to the safety of what is familiar and yet ultimately unfulfilling because the devil they know looks better than the devil they don't.
also. when I first saw good ole mr tower I was like 'oh hell no lmao GO BACK GO BACK' and tried the other options hoping for different cards, LOL, but then I was like 'damn that's a perfect choice tho', same with the others. hell yeah!
loved this. storm of talent, really unique game. 10/10 would get overstimmied at the sad apocalyptic queer rave again
one very minor note, and this might be intentional - I imagine it was intentional with the text speed - the preference sliders seem to be locked on the macOS version, I couldn't adjust the auto-fwd time or any of the volume sliders. just fyi
this is such a kind comment, thank you so much! I'm really glad to hear that you enjoyed it :)
I think for the setting and how it relates to the story, a big theme that I set out wanting to write about was displacement, assimilation, and climate refugees - a world where collapse happens slowly, and society evolves selective resilient traits (like collectivism) to preserve itself. but i think that a lot of the feelings contained are very universal, as you've said. I also wanted to draw on concepts of death and reincarnation/ finding life again after crisis. If you're at all a cautious, or a paranoid person, or if you at all want to preserve the bits of yourself that make you You... it can be so hard.
The game is actually to be updated with an extra scene and a branched ending that "completes" the arc of the story (as well as more Sol moments), so please look out for that! (I hope that we can stick the landing) :D
Ohh thank you for the insight, I definitely see it - I remember the collectivism thread being strong too, like in certain descriptions of the crowd being insect-like(?) as if they were part of a hive, and how palpable MC's grief was adjusting to their new environment. Looking forward to the future release, it's gonna be great!
i just played and i gotta say the atmosphere and the world the characters live in is very interesting and kept me on edge, wanting to read more. nice work!
thank you!!!! I can't wait to try out your game, it looked super cool in the early submission stream :)
love the artstyle and the character design
perfectly captured the anxiety i feel at a function lol
looking forward to more
(can't tell if the slightly misaligned music looping in the main room is on purpose or not - either way i feel it kinda adds to the unnerving vibe)
thank you so much!! we will sort out the music stuff with our patch soon :)
Very cool atmosphere and visuals, really enjoyed it :)
But pretty short at the moment (im craving for more ;-; )
Hi! Thank you, it means a lot to hear that :-). We've added some additional story content, including two (abbreviated) endings, and will be pushing a few more updates when the jam games are unlocked! I'd love to hear what you think if you get a chance to take another look.
(Sorry for the late reply -- we were busy beavering away for the submission deadline~)