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beegswaz · 10 months

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The beegswaz/RAD1OSILENC3 @kingshovelbug Game Recs Post! Featuring my subpar image designing as seen Above!!

Everything will be Under the cut so I'm not blowing up someones dash with a Text post the length of that One colours of the sky post!!!

CWs will consist of anything that isnt Jumpscares or violence or blood beclaws those are Pretty standard in some of these Games

Hollow Knight

Steam Link | No CWs I can think of? Though, flashing lights Warning for some attacks! I know it was initially suggested en-mass but it's SUCH A SILLY GAME!! GENUINELY SO FUN! I'm no good at most metrovanias and such but I have a blast every time I Play this game :D It's so pretty AND 4! FREE! DLCS!!! And A fanmade one that's Unironically so good! (Pale Court!! It's so good I love what it adds <3)

2. Phasmophobia

Steam Link | No CWs outside of a General feeling of dread :3 And also some flashing lights! I suggested this on stream today when Everyone was discussing horror games but I genuinely have So much fun while playing this with Friends!! Solo runs are also fun but I am too scared to Do solos :( Could also be fun to do subscriber games if You wanna do more sub interactions!

3. ___ of the Killer

Gamejolt Link | No CWs beclaws all of the games in the Series are light-hearted, but just to be Safe there is some mentions of Stalkers and Cults! I love the __ of the Killer series so much!! They're so fun and I played them a Ton on discord streams in the Past! I love the style of them All so much and they Aren't too long of games, so you Can always make a pseudo Marathon out of them! Good games :)

4. The Bunny Graveyard

Steam Link | Flashing lights! Fun game! It's only a demo right Now but its enjoyable! I don't remember how Long the demo is, but you can always play it with Some other short games to make a decently length Stream! Also: very cute style :3

5. Escaped Chasm/Dwellers Empty Path

Itch.io Link | Itch.io Link | First game warns of high-pitched Tones and flashing lights! Second game doesn't warn of Anything :] TEMMIE GAMES!! First one is only around 15-20 Minutes unless you try and Get all endings, second game is About 1-2 hours! They're in the Same universe and would best be played one after the Other :] Escaped Chasm reminds me a Lot of the opening of OneShot, and Dweller's Empty Path is just generally delightful to play! Cute games

6. Rain World

Steam Link | I.... I think minor Flashing lights? Hollow Knight but if it was Harder and more miserable to complete!! Adorable protagonist and beautiful Scenery!! I've only played... a Little bit of Rain World actually, but it's fun! If not difficult!!

7. Inscryption

Steam Link | Bright/Flashing Lights if I remember Correctly? And also it's listed As a psychological Horror Imagine if you had a Deck of pokemon cards but like maybe one of them is Alive and also you can make one Entirely unkillable and get its stats up to 1000+ attack for the vine! And then add a 2d game and Also bosses that are all kind of Assholes!! Excluding Grimora she's a delight :D It's such a fun game with so much lore and a robot whos entire thing is Insulting you at Every turn!

8. Hi-Fi RUSH

Steam Link | Bright/Flashing lights! Only game to fill the void in my Heart that Jet Set Radio left </3 (Not really, I can just go play JSR whenever I want LOL) ITS SO FUN!!! This game is so silly like Actually, I adore the style and the Characters and the Music :heart: My friend has been streaming this game to me and I just Adoreeee it

9. Cry of Fear

Steam Link | Flashing Lights, general disturbing enemy Design, I believe mentions of Suicide? This game actually made me really scared(? Uncomfortable?) both When I played it and When I was watching a Stream of it?? It's so good but god damn dude. I'm really only throwing this on here Beclaws I enjoy its atmosphere and the horror Aspect of it

10. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

Steam Link | No CWs(?) Coming out August 18th, I lied when I said that Hi-Fi filled the hole that JSR/JSRF Left in me!! This game is the real void-filler! It's directly inspired by Jet Set in both design, music, and gameplay (WHICH IS DELIGHTFUL!!!! if sega wont do anything with jet set, then the Fans will!!) it just OOZES style and I think itd be fun to Play on stream when its out!!

END OF THE LIST!! BECLAWS IM TIRED ITS 12 AM HERE!!! Other games not listed but I think you should play: Ib, Pocket Mirror, A Hat in Time, Neon White, Slime Rancher, Subway Midnight, No Straight Roads, Angels of Death, The Witches House, Hello Charlotte, IMSCARED, Spookys Jumpscare Mansion, The Bluehills County Collection (Parsnip, The Testimony of Trixie Glimmer Smith, Three Lesbians in a Barrow)

#SORRY THIS TOOK SOOO LONG TO FINISH BTW. I WAS DRAWING THE COVER IMAGE AND THEN I WAS DISTRACTED WATCHING STREAM #AND VOTING FOR THE NAME AIRFRYER #if you Play any of these ill consider my life goal Complete

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heartsyncproductions · 4 months

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Hello hello, welcome to a look back at 2023 as well as a contemplation of 2024! Throwing the graphic together made me realize I released a lot more things then I thought I did (as well as do a lot of creative work privately since I really only share a fraction of what I make). At the same time, 2023 was pretty weird creatively, so let's talk about it!

First off, I thought I'd share some stats because I grew a lot this year if we're only talking about numbers. I wasn't really expecting it at all since I admittedly do zero marketing most days but here's some stats:

Memory Ghosts hit 100 downloads this year

PRETTYBOY Inc. is Hiring! ended the year at around 1.3k+ plays

Burning Academia [demo] ended the year at 7.2k+ plays

Disruptive Compassion hit 200+ plays (and it was only released in mid December)

Hit exactly 500 followers on my itch.io account

I don't really talk about my writing, but I did make my novella What the Trees Stole available outside of itch.io, and I released a short story collection We are Connected this year as well! In regards to my webnovel, I took a break from volume two to do edits on volume one and I'm hoping to have those done to release the first volume on itch as well as other places that allow you to have a novel available for free.

Anyways, just looking at the numbers I hit so much more growth then I was ever expecting. Anything that hit 100 feels like a win to me, and the way two of the games I released blew past that is wild. With that being said, I felt completely disconnected from most of what I made this year.

I lamented about this briefly when I wrote my post mortem for Disruptive Compassion, but DC felt like the monument to the feeling that a lot of what I made creatively I felt disconnected from. I was working 50 to 60 hour work weeks for the first half of the year (hooray healthcare), and I think I spent the rest of the year burnt out from it. 2023 was also hard in a lot of personal ways, so maybe all of that contributed to me not feeling close to anything I made creatively.

It isn't that I didn't like what I made, it just felt like someone else made it. In my DC post I said it was like being an observer looking at something through a glass screen instead of being it's creator, and that's really the only way I know how to describe it. It also makes it hard to celebrate any of the ways I've improved (especially how much I've improved in regards to my games), because it doesn't feel like I improved because nothing feels like my work. It's been really weird looking at pieces I've made and not seeing any of me in it, somehow.

Again, it's probably just what happens when you have a bad year. But as someone who's been into story telling since forever, it's not really a feeling I'm used to.

Moving away from that so I don't end up ranting for a million years, let's talk goals. I'm going to be honest, I didn't do a lot of what I set out to do LOL. Things I did do, to a degree:

Game Jams: I did Otome Jam (Spring Boy, though I have plans to overhaul it, more on that later), Velox Fabula (PRETTYBOY Inc. is Hiring!), and Velox Turbo (Disruptive Compassion)

Connect with the Community: I think my goal for this was a lot lower then the average persons. I have pretty severe paranoia, stemming from a long time battle with a Specific Mental Illness I don't feel like naming since it's so stigmatized aha. Because of this, I really just wanted to convince my brain that commenting on a post that I enjoyed someone's work isn't weird, or to exist a little more on social media and not exist in the perpetual hell that is assuming the minute I do I will be stalked and doxxed or something. This is also why Discord is the Worst Space in the world for me, because it's impossible to observe it from the outside and deem it safe. You just...join and have to see for yourself which makes it completely inaccessible to my brain. With that being said: I think I did ok! I think doing the Velox Jams really helped with this and even if it was just a little, I managed to leave comments and talk a little about things I enjoyed this year. It might seem like the bare minimum to others, but it felt like some pretty solid steps to me.

Release another game: I released two short, finished ones and two demos! This was a lot more then I was expecting, and I'm pretty happy with it.

Aaaand I'm pretty sure that's all I did that was on the list. Putting it like this, I did a lot more then I thought I did. So much of 2023 was feeling like I was in a rut, that I'm glad it wasn't actually true. With that, leaves the last part of this post: 2024 goals.

Rework Spring Boy: I was going to start this sooner, but unfortunately, I can be easily distracted. Fortunately, in my break I made two short games that taught me a lot about game design and writing that I can take and apply to this! I'm excited for my plans for this game!

Released up to chapter 4 of Burning Academia: I never talked about this here because I thought having my 17+ IF with my 13+ games and writing felt...weird lol. Anyways, I started a Twine IF called Burning Academia (@burning-academia-if is the blog for it if you're interested) which was supposed to just be me trying out Twine. However, I have had a lot of fun writing it so far! Only the prologue is out and chapter 1 should be out late January! I'm hoping to have up to chapter 4 out by the end of the year.

Velox Formido: 36 hours, 2 themes, one game. I'm ready to suffer-

Community Connection: Continue working on talking about the things I like more while interacting with more people in the community! I also realized this year during Velox Turbo I'd like to work in a team some time, but that's more something I'm using 2024 to work towards so I can do something like that in 2025!

Writing: I don't talk about my writing anywhere near as much as I should consider I'm a thousand percent more a writer then a game dev lol. I'm hoping to edit and release volume one of my webnovel How to Bury Fairytales and finish the online first draft of volume two. I also want to finish and publish my dark fantasy/asexual love story novella 'Mercy Dreams' this year as well!

I should probably add a 'try to actually market this year' goal as well, but I know myself. It's not going to happen lmfaO. Anyways! If you read all of this thank you! These are always more of a list for myself then anything, but I do hope anyone here has enjoyed what I've made this year, and honestly thank you to everyone who has played my games or gave me a follow!

Hopefully 2024 I start to feel connected to my work again, and may I continue to grow and improve creatively!

#happy new year #year in review #indie otome #visual novel #twine #interactive fiction #yearly goals #2024 goals #also didn't mention it but tbh PRETTYBOY Inc. was my beloved this year and for a game I made only to learn how to code GUI that's wild

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splashink-games · 7 months

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A Note On... The Art of Writing Letters

Every Letter is a short narrative game by @avioletfairy! Take on the unique job of writing letters for others!

Okay so I love the concept of this game. I was getting Violet Evergarden vibes from it because of the description on Steam, but only got confirmation just now (as I'm writing this) after checking the game out on itch.io.

As a writer, the idea of writing other's letters is super interesting to me. Because I'm never going to fully encapsulate the feelings of another person perfectly. While getting it mostly right is okay because the intention would be the same, unless the writer (in this case me) understands the sender and the reader, the words won't contain the sender in their entirety.

And that's one of the reasons I like the game (also its inspiration in Violet Evergarden) because the words in these letters have a lot of emotion and intent from the sender.

I had a lot of fun with this game! Especially when I was:

1) doing all the letters for the first time. I really took my time with all of them and tried to write meaningful letters. Except the joke one from Rin. I could not find a way to write a joke.

The game feels like a really good way to practice writing for prompts, which I find really cool. If more was added to the game, or we could add our own, I'd probably end up spending a lot of time in the office...

2) trying to find all the different writing tasks. I'm still at 18/19 because I don't know if there's a 19th one??

But aside from that! I didn't think I'd find it fun to do the prompts again because I'd just done them like 5 minutes before. But! For some of them, I'd find ways to change the meaning of the letter while technically keeping the meaning the same.

The one I'm thinking about specifically is the one about the friends fighting for 5 months and the sender wants to meet with the recipient to apologize (without you, the writer, apologizing for them)! After probably 10 times doing it, my letter devolved into something like "You. Me. 10AM. IHOP. Be there or else!!" and it sounds more like a threat or a challenge than trying to meet for an apology.

For others, I'd try to get the shortest response or find a different way of saying the same thing and I found it to be really fun.

Every Letter is a cool game about writing letters! Short and sweet and definitely encourages that creative side of your brain.

As always,

Enjoy gaming!

#ink reviews #game review #video games #gaming #a note on...#Every Letter

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wisteriasakana · 11 months

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Red Riding Hood and the Little Bad Wolf DEMO is out!

Red Riding Hood and the Little Bad Wolf, as the name may suggest, is a little game inspired by the tale of Little Red Riding Hood in its various versions, from Perrault to Grimms, from Calvino to not-so-dressed ladies at the mercy of fierce giant-pawed wolves.

Or something like that.

«A young man with a red hood wants to visit his grandmother who lives on the other side of the forest.

A young wolf girl wants to eat a young human and the best way to do it is to lure them deep into the woods.

The young man with the red hood asks for a guide and the young wolf girl volunteers. If only the young man with the red hood wasn't so suspicious...»

Coordinates:

🌿 Available on Itch.io (Click me! Click me!) 🌿 In English and Italian 🌿 30 minutes up to 1 hour of playtime between walking simulator, exploration, absurd puzzles and even more absurd game overs 🌿 Major warnings for the demo: alcohol, stupid references to cannibalism, light sexual references, mild language in few scenes [Full warning list on the Itch.io page or on its Tumblr tab]

Features:

🥧 Original artworks so beautiful you have no idea no really you have not 🥧 Puzzles that go against the most basic laws of physics 🥧 A Big Red Riding Hood and a Little Bad Wolf Girl 🥧 A lot of trees, flowers, wine and focacce 🥧 Complete version will features 4 endings, mainly inspired by the various versions of Little Red Riding Hood but a little less gore (?) - This is the demo’s feature list but I wanted to say it anyway

🍃 Please note that this is the demo. The complete version may have some differences.

I've been working on this game since 2019, it's time to release! ... At least the demo, that's it. I think the total length of the game will be about two or three hours. Meanwhile, here are the first thirty minutes/one hour.

It's a silly and unpretentious little fantasy game, but I hope you enjoy it!

#red riding hood and the little bad wolf #rpg maker game #rpg maker vx ace #demo release #game dev #devblog #RPG Maker

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bird-214 · 8 months

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I'm sick and bored, so let's play a bunch of free random itch.io games that caught my attention and see what I think of them. Underneath is gonna be my opinions about said games right as I'm done with them. Put under a read more for your convenience.

The Life Of Plastic Bag: Very cute and simple platformer game that you can play directly in your browser. Kind of made me nostalgic for flash platform games (which speaking off I swear one of the sound effect the devs used was part of the sue games... you know the ones) Nothing too tough, but nothing too overtly simple either! Each level brought in a new mechanic and build up on existing ones, despite how short it was it's clearly a finely designed little thing. While the art style is cute there are moments where it really lacked contrast and made me struggle to notice like, important stuff I needed to continue the level. Still a good experience though, it's only like 30 minutes at most. A good time.

How Fish Is Made: I have a lot of thoughts about this one. Definitely weird as hell but I fucking loved it. There's an expansion but I don't have the brains to play it right now I need to get to it. You play as a sardine going through some weird vaguely eldritch/fleshy conveyor belt and have one simple decision to make. Do you go up or down? And that's pretty much as far I can really explain because I mean. There's not really anything else to say? It's creepy and kind of existential and I think it's about the after life but also the fake idea of free choices in a video game and also at one point there's a tongue-eating louse that gives a musical performance that's honestly a banger. You should play it.

The open house: ... well that's another weird one I probably shouldn't be playing horror games while I'm sick and it's late. It was certainly a cool experience though. Basically a virtual open house visit and then you notice... odd things in the house and then shit gets really fucking weird. At first I thought "heh I prefered when it was only subtle horror in the details" (I say as if I wasn't shitting my pants) but then they got EVEN weirder with it and that really hooked me in honestly. There's also a few moments of genuine humor that I quite enjoyed. Also waiiit I just checked the creator's itch.io page and they also made the ARD demo that one also really freaked me out, I need to check more of their stuff out clearly.

And that's gonna be all for me for tonight. I'll rb this post with the other free itch.io games I'll play later probably.

#bird.txt #bird.rec #truly a gamer moment <- im sick pls don't bully me for saying that #indie games #itch.io #love that platform no matter how much people make fun of it #like idk man how about you play a weird little 30 minutes free game. then maybe you'll calm down loser

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always--and--never · 1 year

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Devlog #8: The Watcher

I made a new game! It's a short point-and-click game about a knight trying to make up a story at the last minute (wink wink), and it was made for the 2023 4th Wall Broken Game Jam. You can play it here, at my itch.io page. It's currently available to play in desktop browsers (HTML5) and downloadable (Windows).

More about the game's development (including some spoilers) after the break!

This game jam had a more lenient time frame (2 months starting from January 1st), so I started with a more ambitious version of the same idea that ended up becoming The Watcher: I wanted a more action-focused game, also focused on a knight living in a kingdom with a king / god figure obsessed with storytelling. In that original vision you had a three-hit combo, a shield and a lock-on on enemies. I did this in part because I thought it would be cool, but in a bigger part because I've been feeling pressured to make more... gamey games, with more interaction other than moving around and reading text.

The control scheme was very much inspired by 3D Zelda games, and throughout January I was able to get a player controller that felt really solid and the animations flowed well between hits, shielding, running and jumping. However, then I would have to work on a couple basic enemies to fight against and all that doing so implies (enemy AI, attacking and reacting to attacks, patrol movement, a long etcetera); I was punching way above my weight and I had noticed but didn't immediately make any decisons about it (apart from thinking about dropping the whole thing and not submitting anything). Anyways, here's a quick look at the original prototype:

In early February my attention shifted towards another game jam (an in-person one that I attend yearly) and personal stuff: a professional setback that mad me feel pretty bad, I got sick, I went camping while sick and had lots of fun. By mid February The Watcher had not been developed any further, and despite being sure that there was no chance to make the action-adventure game I had originally envisioned, I didn't really have a plan yet.

I was getting bitter because of having used so much time working on a game only because I felt insecure about my style of work and not because I really wanted to, so I decided to just drop the whole thing and start (almost) from scratch: I kept the base concept, turned it into a point-and-click game with mostly fixed camera angles, and added a lot of story elements related to how I'd been feeling lately: disconformity with my work, the cost of being true to myself, negative thoughts about how some people evaluate stories, and my own future as a game developer. I was getting bitter and cynical and I really didn't want to feel like that, but as I worked on a game that I was actually liking and enjoying to work on, the feeling of hope started coming back. I worked really well considering how little time I had left, and even had time to learn some new tricks while doing so, like lightmapping and occlusion culling. I wrote a lot of new code for my ever growing collection of reusable scripts and prefabs that I'm using to save time in each project. Also, working with camera switching and specific camera angles let me set a mood for every room and space in the game which was really fun, and something I'd been wanting do to for while.

The Watcher is the most personal game I've made in quite some time, which is saying a lot considering how personal all the stuff I make usually is. This is probably the first time I've felt peace (and not just tired relief) after finishing a game, and with a bit more time I could have added more of the ideas I had for this new version and it would have been even better. I wouldn't say it's a masterpiece or anything similar, but I'm at peace with what it is and I'm glad with the reception it's been having so far! I always feel like a hack after releasing something so it's been nice to have positive feedback, especially concerning my writing which I also think is still pretty bad... but maybe it's getting better (?) :)

Anyways, here's the latest step in my gamedev journey and despite its simplicity and rushed development, I'm satisfied and also excitedly looking forward to the next step!

#devlog #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #indie games #game jam #point and click

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dashawfrostart · 14 days

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This *Past* Week In "Time & Again" #16: Preps For Something Big (And Unknown)

In regard to "Time & Again", the last week was... rather odd. One might possibly say it was somewhat uneventful, but that's not really true. In fact, it was SO EVENTFUL that I'm a little agitated right now. Or maybe "agitated" is not the right word. The writer/editor in me, sadly and to my shame, is failing to put it properly into words now to make it descriptive enough.

The most important thing is that little stuff here and there in Chapter 5 has been improved, altered (where needed) and fixed. So now it looks even better. For example, I recoloured a whole set of speech bubbles in Inkscape to make certain that the readers understand it easier to whom the certain lines belong to. As I worked on that particular improvement, I learnt a new trick yet again. I really like it how the newer interface in the latest versions of Inkscape works comparing to, say, that from the version 0.92 that I used when I only started to learn vector software. It makes everything much easier and allows to swap certain things in a matter of a few clicks (but also including a few minutes of swearing because I didn't realize that I was hitting the wrong buttons to begin with - that's how it sometimes goes for me 😅… but dis ok, everybody is learning, right?!). That goes for swapping gradients on the go, as well. I learnt that one can just import another SVG file that had extra gradients into another one to make extra pre-made gradients available in the list for an easy colour swap - and I needed that because I had to use the exact same colours for certain speech bubbles. I could've used a colour picker, of course, to take the colours from an already complete page... but I'd say swapping the gradient colours from a dropdown list is easier and hassle-free. I like that.

(those two pictures above are the examples of what I did, taken from one page: those are the straight exports of the speech bubbles from Inkscape. To the left, that's an old version, and to the right that's an updated new version as it is going to appear in the final release)

I also checked all the text again to make sure that I never missed anything that needed to be italicized (further reading on how I improved my font and created an italic version of it is in my previous post). Fonts are important in my story. Whenever something is highlighted in the text, be it through the formatting or via additional decorative effects - that MEANS certain something. The change of the font itself is also significant. Little details like that make me happy, and I love to see how meticulous the other artists can be when it comes to the little details like that. In my opinion, in art every little detail has a certain meaning, has an impact on the story and/or how it's perceived by the readers. So, in short, everything is important. It might be a hint of sorts, after all.

I even mused ahead, and not only I took extra notes on important monologues/dialogues for Chapter 6 that I'll start working on later this year (approximately in summer), but I also brainstormed the whole idea of "Time & Again" all over and came up with the certain concepts for the very distant story elements, even in regard to Chapter 8. I got ways to go, but it's never wrong to fantasize and refine what you've already had in your mind for the future 😉.

I am patiently waiting, enjoying my nice cup of Earl Grey tea in my apartment on this snowstormy day (yep, we are suddenly snow buried), as my editor gives the chapter a second read for further refinement. I'm very content about how it's going.

And I'm slowly setting up a page for Chapter 5 on my Itch.io - I'm gradually, resolutely getting there.

That's practically all I've done for the story itself within the last 7 days or so.

Majority of my incredible effort lately has been put into something else though.

And here's some important news: I've been trying to prepare for the two grand adventures that potentially await me in May. But - funny how it often happens this way in life, innit? - realistically speaking, only one of these adventures is going to take place in my life, for they are mutually exclusive. There is simply no way to combine them. It's either/or - no options in between. Therefore, knowing in advance that I put double the effort, only half of which will potentially pay off, it makes my life right now pretty fun, no doubt about it. But this is something that absolutely has to be done.

One of those endeavours is artistic - and another one has a great life importance to me. The artistic one though requires A LOT of preparation and a certain financial investment, too. Unfortunately, where it all stands right now, due to the time limitations, I am terribly restricted in my options. This is why I'm virtually trying to do a tribal dance with a tambourine in my right hand, twirling around the dining table, singing incomprehensible impromptu songs in all the languages I remotely speak in (hopefully not futile) attempts to draw a certain positive outcome closer to me. And trust me on that: this is not an easy task. I foresee myself looking like a sun-dried prune once the hassle is over.

You know, in videogames, I view RNG as some kind of a nuisance. It might be nice at times, but, being a fan of games where I have full control over everything I do, I cannot appreciate RNG very much. I like to be responsible about my own actions, and I want to know when I screw up or succeed, so that I could make adjustments to my actions accordingly. All this "RNG a.k.a. gambling, bro!" makes me cringe. In cases like that, I always feel like AI just hates me, LOL. Never have I been very lucky in small life events either... well, except for that one time, or maybe two at best. Well, if interpreting having blue jays at my balcony feeder as "a lucky event", then I'd say three. Yup.

Closer to May, aside from Chapter 5 release, hopefully! - I will make an announcement about if I rolled 20 for realsies and what The Real Life RNG is gonna present me - because the choice between the two possible routes does not depend on me. So we'll have to go from that. It's also fair to mention one of these routes potentially leads to me going radio silent (blog silent?.. internet silent?..) for a month. Which means no updates on the state of "Time & Again" for a while.

But enough of babbling for now, otherwise I turn into Edgar - who babbles all the time (according to Lothar anyway). That was another one not-really-to-the-point post. I had plenty of those many years ago 😁

See you soon! 👋

#TimeAndAgainbyDWF #Inkscape #This Week In Time And Again #graphic novel #plans

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was-it-really-worth-it · 2 months

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Game 255 - Starseed Pilgrim by droqen

I picked up this game through the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. I chose to donate 10 dollars, and I found about 153 games in the bundle that I was actually interested in. So, the consideration for this game will be if it was worth the 7 cents (rounded up) that I paid for it and the hours that I played it for. The bundle has since ended, but I still encourage you to make a donation to the organizations listed here.

What did I think it was at first? Space exploration game? Growing game?

How was the character creator? There isn't one, you're just a little guy.

How was the game? As far as I can tell, the game is based around using blocks and growing them to explore? The whole tutorial and direction set is told through cryptic text.

You can jump and plant blocks to grow them in unpredictable patterns. At some point, the screen inverts and you hear a big scary noise, then you have to restart.

What did I not love? The game doesn't give you any baseline on what your goals and desires are? There's no way to know how to get the key in the first section - you can't win, you can only lose repeatedly. The limited research I did online didn't turn up anything either. I can enjoy experimental games that expect the player to find direction, but if you've got complex mechanics you need to teach them to me at least a little. Otherwise I won't know how to get to the good stuff!

At 15 minutes and 7 cents, was it really worth it? I can dig pretentious games! I've really liked some obscure indie games? This...was not one of them.

#itch.io racial justice bundle #c reviews #gaming #starseed pilgrim #droqen

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ixcaliber · 11 months

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May

Oh fuck oh god it’s Zelda month

1. Search All - Foxes

I have been enjoying playing chill find all the hidden objects type games recently so I couldn’t resist getting this one filled with foxies to find.

So this is a single scene with roughly 100 foxies hidden in it. It took about 10 minutes or so to find all of the foxes. This game was on a big discount but regularly costs more than the I Commissioned Some Bees series regularly does, and those games offer 10 full scenes.

What I will say in this game’s favour is that a) the scene is really good. It has a nice black and white sketchy aesthetic. I like the busy streets, i like the way the perspective curves. it’s a very pleasant scene to search through. and b) the foxes are part of the scene and don’t disappear when found. In Bees for example, and also A Building Full of Cats, the scenes feel like complete works that then have the findable objects overlaid onto them and then the bees or cats disappear when you find them. Here the foxes are highlighted red but they remain as they are an intrinsic part of the scene.

Having said that this game and the others in its series just don’t offer as much value as other hidden object games.

Once I’d found all the foxes ten achievements all popped at once and I was suddenly put in mind of those weird low effort achievement spam games that exist for some reason. It was this weird vibe that led me to discover the other games in this series such as Search All - Adult where you find all the hidden dicks and Search All - Bitcoin where you find all the shitty memes. So yeah this game is trash or at the very least adjacent to trash, so close to the trash pile that I feel a little unclean for having played and enjoyed it.

2. Oneiros

I’m pretty sure only I remember Only If - a semi-fascinating disaster of a video game where an irritating teen boy protagonist navigates an absolutely incoherent world while being shouted at by an equally irritating mobster dad antagonist. This game isn’t a one to one comparison - there’s no foul mouthed mobster dad to constantly call you an idiot, though there is a bird that has very similar energy in one of the levels - but it is surprisingly close.

Its closest to an escape the room kind of puzzle game. You spend most of your time searching for keys, passcode fragments or components to rebuild your car, and occasionally sometimes you just get dragged into sections where you wander around an ugly abstract maze or brought to an empty void to do some gravity changing based platforming for a little bit. All while listening to the irritating and unrelenting commentary of the protagonist whose voice seems engineered to present maximum self satisfied douche vibes.

Given the name and how this game describes itself as surreal it’s kind of surprising that the environments you encounter are 1) movie theatre 2) your own bedroom 3) maze with ugly patterns on the walls 4) empty blue void 5) the outside of your house but its on a floating island 6) the same movie theatre as earlier but with a harsher polygonal filter over everything. Every environment is either so mundane or so abstract as to be uninteresting, except maybe the house on the floating island but even that sort of comes across as an easy way to stop from having to render a surrounding neighborhood rather than an interesting location.

3. Two Girls Make A Game

It wouldn’t be one of my monthly lists without an npckc game on here somewhere. This one is a short visual novel about a developer and an artist working together to try to make a game for a game jam. Its cute and wholesome with a couple of different endings based on your actions throughout.

I love and relate to the character of Shiro, a girl who is shy and reserved in person but bubbly and expressive online. I loved to see her and Ella’s growing friendship.

4. Autumn Wish

I think I got this one from the Trans Witches are Witches itch.io bundle. The art style is a little rough, but the characters are fun and the main mechanic of the game is interesting.

The game is played with mouse and keyboard, the keyboard for movement and interaction with objects, the mouse how you cast spells. When you go to cast a spell the screen is split into nine squares and you click in each of the squares to form a rune, then position your mouse in the direction you want to cast and right click to cast.

This game is really short. In the intended path there’s only like a couple of fights before your done. It’s apparently like a demo/proof of concept for a main game that I would love to see.

There is however a side area you can go to and fight a secret boss, which is a genuinely really neat fight. Part of what makes me really excited for this to be a full game is the way this fight plays with the mechanics a little. There’s one attack this boss can do where the background music warps for a second and then any points you have drawn on your rune grid become projectiles and start falling down the screen. I love this willigness to play with the mechanics and how its already present in such a small slice of game. It makes me really excited to see what the full game would be like.

Also the girls are gay.

5. The Case of the Golden Idol - The Spider of Lanka

A pretty good little DLC for Case of the Golden Idol. It has three new cases to solve and the quality sort of varies from case to case.

The first case - The Overly Enthusiastic Card Game Tournament in the Yellow Lily - is a pretty good reintroduction. The only thing I’d say against it is that one of the aspects it wants you to solve is the relative values of the cards used in the card game featured in the scene.

What its actually asking for is actually fairly easy to get. I worked it out from looking at just one of the three card games you can examine. I misread the prompt in the solving screen and tried to put them in lowest value to highest value instead of highest value to lowest value which is what it wanted. This led me to thinking I’d gotten it wrong somehow and I subsequently spent ages further examining the scene in growing bewilderment, before eventually realizing my mistake.

That’s my mistake though, the thing I’d criticize about the case is that I sort of wish the game was asking me for the exact values of each of the cards - something that would require me to examine all of the available evidence before I could give an answer. Otherwise good first case.

The second case - The Unfortunate Accident at the Raja’s Court - is a great case. A very complex situation which requires some digging before you even begin to understand what was supposed to be happening here, nevermind how it went wrong and why. Loved this one.

The third case - In The Web of the Spider - is the weakest. It acts as like a final exam of the events of the DLC, similar to how the last case of the main game requires more detailed knowledge of the full narrative, except on a much smaller scale. I’m not opposed to that, but this case felt a little disjointed, half an actual case in its own right that isn’t fleshed out as much as it could have been (there was a whole map most of which isn’t really important to the case itself), and half a recap case that doesn’t have a lot to recap. I feel like I would have been much happier if this one was split into two full cases. It could have given both halves room to breathe and feel complete.

The narrative is strong, with a clever connection to the main game that becomes more obvious the longer you play and the more you unravel. A good DLC. I’m just happy to have more Golden Idol to play.

6. Every Letter

Made by Violet Fairy - the dev who made the previously mentioned Autumn Wish - this game is inspired by Violet Evergarden, an anime where an ex-soldier lady starts working as essentially a scribe, writing letters for those who cannot write or are looking for help expressing themselves.

In this game you play that role. You are given a selection of different prompts from which you can try to write a letter. Some of them are very straightforward and matter of fact, some of them are more emotional and subjective in what they want you to write. Then you write that letter.

You’re writing on a typewriter so you can’t erase and the game doesn’t give you the option to start again. It assures you that if you misspell something it’ll be caught by a copy editor or something and it’ll be fine. You aren’t graded in any way for your work. Obviously the game doesn’t really have the capability to read your letter and determine if you adequately expressed the inner feelings of the sender. The joy is in the act itself, in trying to express one girl’s love and appreciation for her penpal friend, or the bittersweet joy of one lady writing to her deceased father telling him her new name and how her life is changing.

The game is kind of beautiful and I did tear up at the final letter request (it’s a fairly short experience. you write four letters total in a playthrough, though there are a decent selection to choose from).

7. What’s Wrong With The Girl’s Staircase

Another game from the Trans Witches Are Witches itch.io bundle. Really short visual novel which takes a really kind of dubious concept from the Awful Wizard Franchise and examines it with a trans positive lens. Cute character designs. Neat little experience.

8. Therapy With Dr. Albert Krueger

A little game where you have a Dream Therapy session with the titular Albert Krueger - sort of like if Freddy Krueger was a therapist and aspired to become a tumblr sexyman. Tonally it is really straddling the line between comedy and horror, though skewed a little more towards comedy and sometimes using over the top horror elements for a comedic effect... I think.

The game consists of multiple different therapies from solving math problems (i don’t remember how this is supposed to be a therapy) to trust exercises and rorschach tests. How well you do on these therapies determines your ending and the game does reward replays to see the different endings, with some dialogue changing each new playthrough. Not as much as I’d like but enough to be engaging.

9. Cats Are Liquid: A Light In The Shadows

I don’t know why a fairly uninspired minimalist 2d platformer about a cat that can change states of matter is about how depressing it would be to be stuck in a fairly uninspired 2d platformer.

It plays fine, though early on it gives you the ability to float which when used properly negates many of the platforming challenges the game actually presents to you. Its just that the narrative is really jarring and offputting.

10. Kirby and the Forgotten Land

(I talk a little spoilers at the end of this one, just in case you’re wanting to avoid any late game discussion feel free to skip past)

Love a good little 3d platformer. Not a problem with this game specifically but playing this I really became cognizant of how much I prefer 3d platformers that have open worlds instead of individual levels.

Like with this game I’d start up the game, play a level, look at any objectives that I missed (I wish the game would just show you all missing objectives after your first completion instead of one at a time) and then replay to complete those objectives and then by that point i’d be like ‘well that was fun, that seems like enough for today’ but the game has so many levels. It is a big game. Its just the discrete level structure keeps providing exit points and my adhd brain is desperate to take them even though I enjoy playing the game and want to keep playing it.

Its good though. I loved the big copy abilities, especially driving kirby around as a car. I love the variety of levels and the modern/post apocalyptic aesthetic of the world. I love the creepy obsessive atmosphere when you enter the den of the boss in the desert, and then the reveal of Sillydillo as an enemy. I love the scene where King Dedede sacrifices himself to hold them back. I love the tone and aesthetic of the final area. I love the ultimate conclusion of the game; the final confrontation between Ultimate Lifeform and Angry Truck.

11. The World Begins With You

This is a 3d game that has sort of the same vibes as like... I want to say like Inside or Limbo or one of the games like that, but it isn’t really trying to kill you as much as one of those games. You’re exploring a linear area with a beautiful aesthetic and sometimes solving a minor puzzle. Maybe more like Journey, except I personally didn’t like Journey and thats a discussion for a different time. Something like that though, maybe.

It’s neat. It is a beautiful little world, with a sense of world, a sense of there being something greater to this place that we never quite see.

The only major negative is there’s a part where you get on a little boat. The boat moves slowly and passes a couple of dangers. You need to position yourself to be safe or instantly die and restart the section. It’s not the most difficult but each of the dangers caught me by surprise the first time and then as I continued to replay the section, the little wait at the beginning started to irritate me and I got more prone to making mistakes and I was stuck repeating this section more times than I would have liked.

I appreciate it doesn’t checkpoint you on the moving boat and the boat isn’t so fast you can’t easily switch positions but my brain sure did interact badly with this part of the game.

12. Size Matters

Size Matters is a randomly generated puzzle game where you are shrinking and you need to make an antidote to stop yourself before you get too small and then die or something. This game isn’t about narrative. It’s about presenting one scenario to you with multiple adjustable levels of difficulty and letting you mess around with it.

The challenge isn’t knowing what to do. Every level you need to find the chemicals and the notebooks that tell what to do with the chemicals in order to produce the antidote parts.The challenge comes from how much you are shrinking, how quickly and how much that will impact your ability to move around and mix the antidote. It can be quite tricky especially on higher difficulties.

Its a silly little diversion. Its short length, repeatable challenge and escalating difficulties sort of give it the vibe of being a party game, except it doesn’t really have any functionality to play with other people. And though it has some replay value I can’t see myself wanting to engage with it past the preset scenarios it presents.

13. To The Wolves

A little twine based interactive narrative from the Trans Witches Are Witches itch.io bundle. An interesting little narrative where you play as a villager chosen to become a sacrifice for the good of your village. You flee and disappear into the woods, surviving in spite of your designated fate and choosing what you want to become now.

14. The Cottage, The Witch and the Wordle

A little single page solo TTRPG from the Trans Witches Are Witches bundle. It’s a cozy little worldbuilding exercise where you are a witch that can conjure your dream cottage, all you need to do is work out the magic word.

You play a game of wordle (i prefer to play via septle nowadays) and work out your score based on how well you did and then build your dream cottage from a whole listing of furnishings and features.

It’s a very simple little experience with no real payoff save for the enjoyment of imagining your own cozy cottage. At first I thought that the wordle as a little gimmicky and it is, but also its a neat alternate to rolling dice for a game like this.

15. Hook

Hook is a minimalist puzzle game where your goal is to remove all the hooks from each level. Each one might lie on top of, or hook onto another one so its a game all about carefully examining the level and working out which are safe to remove and when. Of course as it progresses there are more little ideas added in to increase the complication of this process. You’ve played this type of game before, you know how this works.

It’s neat. It’s all fairly intuitive and it introduces those new elements or changes the way each level is presented often enough that it remains engaging.

16. Wizard School Woes

A short little visual novel from the Trans Witches are Witches itch.io bundle. Made by Jane Titor (of The Light at the End of the Ocean). It’s fine.

It’s about helping this wizard boy, Ambrosius, with a magical ritual that he’s struggling to get to work properly. It’s a pretty simple little story and it’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with it I just didn’t connect strongly because I’m gay and there’s no girls to latch onto.

17. Sackboy: A Big Adventure

Fun competent little platformer. It really does retain the feel of a LittleBigPlanet game, with all the options to dress up your character, some repeated elements and ideas and the overall structure of the game and the variety of the levels.

And the 2 player levels that lock me out of getting 100% completion.

The characters you meet along the way are fun. I really like Scarlet, this boisterous older lady who used to be a ‘knitted knight’. I also really like N.A.O.M.I. an AI for the future place that you go to who has this cool glam rock kind of aesthetic. She has the best level in the game (One Track Mind), a level where she’s being infected with a virus by Vex, the game’s villain (who is also pretty fun), and as you make your way through the level a version of Toxic by Britney Spears plays. Maybe even a better use of the song than that one episode of Doctor Who.

I wish there was some kind of option that would allow me to change the name of the main character. You can dress your ‘sackboy’ however you like and like self expression is a big part of the franchise. And I know sackboy is the name of the character and the name of the game and like a whole brand name or whatever it would just be nice to have the option to be Sackgirl or Sackling or something. Just as a consideration to those of us who are not comfy being referred to as a boy.

18. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

I didn’t finish it yet.

#no actual discussion of zelda in this one #a bunch of games from the trans witches are witches itchio bundle though

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scienceofinteractivedigitalmedia · 1 year

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Enjoying and developing Visual Novels with the Web

I likes me a visual novel. A visual novel differs from a traditional novel by being semi-interactive software that is presented with a lot more imagery. My favourite series is the Phoenix Wright Series pictured above, but these are titles developed by big studios and released on expensive hardware, and the gaps between releases are years long. Are there any web based alternatives? Do they all come free or is there a market for this medium? Is there a big indie scene. Let's explore.

The most famous recent example of a visual novel has to be "Doki Doki Literature Club!"

Despite running on the open source "Ren'Py" Python Visual Novel Engine that allows for web deployment, it is only available as a downloadable app. It is still worth a look though, and is available for free. On the surface it appears to be one of those creepy 'dating sim' visual novels, but this is merely subversion; a theme popular in indie games in the mid 2010's, as their indie nature allowed them to present as one thing while in fact being something totally different; like the series "Five Nights at Freddies", which I talked about on this blog before. It's worth checking out. (https://teamsalvato.itch.io/ddlc/)

The best new title I discovered while writing this blog post was-

This was a really polished title. Great art direction, character design, and character animation, 30 minute run time, and interestingly, displayed in a vertical orientation for smartphone use. A few months ago I wrote an essay about digital methods for the cognitive behavioural therapy of panic and anxiety disorders (https://medium.com/@fullstackcreative/digital-methods-for-the-cognitive-behavioural-therapy-of-panic-and-anxiety-disorders-344c5012d357) and while this title is not psychoeducational per se, it is a fantastic example that I missed during my research for that.

Depression Quest is a little different but is still worth a mention, and also about mental health.

Technically it's more of a 'choose your own adventure' title, but this one does run in a web browser, and can be played for free (http://www.depressionquest.com/)

Here are the best web platforms I found for free Visual Novels-

The web also allows access to a number of Visual Novel development tools, a number of which are free and open source. The two most famous examples would be Twine (http://twinery.org/) and the afformentioned Ren'Py (https://www.renpy.org/). Other free options are Tuesday (https://kirill-live.itch.io/tuesday-js), Novelty(http://www.visualnovelty.com/index.html) and CloudNovel (https://cloudnovel.net/). Steam offers many paid apps and content packs as well (https://store.steampowered.com/search/?term=visual+novel+maker+studio&supportedlang=english&ndl=1).

So regardless of whether you want to experience or develop visual novels, there are a range of options available.

#visual novel #renpy visual novel #doki doki literature club

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mousetrap-if · 2 years

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Mousetrap is now live on itch.io!

Well folks, it happened. Mousetrap was submitted last night to @interact-if's 2022 ranked game jam and is available to play on itch.io. The game is still a work in progress and, at this point, only a demo for the full story. Hope you enjoy it!

Click Here to Play

You're one of the many overworked interns working at Whimsey World. When it was announced that Imogen, a category three hurricane, would soon hit Orlando, Florida, your employers asked for volunteers to remain in the parks during the storm, promising triple pay for at least 24 hours. You and your friend seized the opportunity. After all, Whimsey wouldn't ask its cast members to stay behind if it was potentially dangerous.

That's what you assumed before you were knocked unconscious. Before you woke up in a costume chained to your friend and three strangers. Before Dickey the Rat informed you and your "team" that you get $250,000 for each person you kill. Before the neurotoxins pumping through the park's air system began to loosen your grip on reality. Before nightmares and the real world bled into a horrifying, broken fantasy you can't wake up from.

If you survive the storm (and the things lurking within it), you'll win riches beyond your wildest dreams. But how far are you willing to go? How committed are you to pleasing your guests and satisfying your spectators? The Show will go on. It will always go on. But what role will you play in it?

Twine Word Count: 53,625 with code (maybe like 48-50k without? idk, I write with code so I don't know how to estimate that)

Average Playthrough: 30 minutes (around 12-15k words)

And, is the game finished? Oh, no! Definitely not. This is far from the full story or the finished product (there are literally debug links that I forgot to take out in the very first passage).

Lots of content and features will be coming out in the near future alongside the patching that needs to take place. Details below.

The next update will hopefully be on March 5th (though I'm a university student dealing with midterms so that may change). Further updates will be announced on the Mousetrap blog (linked here).

Truly, from the bottom of my heart. I greatly appreciate all of the interest, support, and feedback that I've received on this project and others. If you're enjoying Mousetrap so far, please consider rating the game or leaving a comment on itch.io, reblogging this post, or sharing the game with a friend (or enemy, coworker, acquaintance, pet, stranger, distant cousin, really anyone/thing who you think might like it).

To read about some of my other projects, check out my personal game dev blog @gamesbyalbie or my project-specific blogs like @hadeskitchen or @zorlok-if.

(PS: The original extremely sleep-deprived version of this post has been preserved under the cut for posterity's sake)

Have a Magical Day!

ORIGINAL POST:

Well, I'm mentally and physically exhausted (literally falling asleep as I'm writing this so, this may be a little loopy too). BUT, Mousetrap was submitted to the game jam and is now live on the Itch.io store.

This is not the finished game (like there are debug links on the very first passage that I forgot to turn off, but I'll be updating this with plenty of fixes and a lot more content as soon as I'm allowed to).

Total word count (with code since I write with code) is over 53k words. Average playtime is about a half hour. For a game that I've conceived and written in just one already busy month, I'm pretty happy with that. (except for the debug links, those are bugging the shit out of me)

BONUS - in case you wanted to know what stress looks like:

Also, color me curious, if you want to and have the time to do so, let me know what choices you made (dream, relationships, role, route, etc.).

Tomorrow I'll be returning to Tumblr and catching up on everything I've missed. Have a great [insert your time here]! I'm falling asleep

asdlkfja kjd

( ^ imagine that was my head hitting the keyboard, that's what it feels like I'm about to do)

Okay, I'm going to sleep.

#mousetrap #mousetrap demo #interactive fiction #interactif game jam #horror #twine game #update #develpoment

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heroineimages · 2 years

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Yuri Recommendations on Itch

A reader just asked for recommendations for #yuri games on Itch.io, and since my list got kind of big, I decided to respond in a post for any of my readers who’re interested.

I'm currently playing Who is the Red Queen? an Alice in Wonderland VN that's creepy and morbid but also quite charming. If visual novels are your thing, I really enjoyed Blossoms Bloom Brightest is a sweet sci-fi adventure with a couple romance options. Heart of the Woods is a beautiful story of three girls and a ghost---one of whom is transgender and voiced by a trans voice actress. Highway Blossoms is a fun road-trip and treasure hunt that I’ve reviewed before. England Exchange is playable as male or female with four male and four female romance options, six of which are bi. Lost Girl is cute and pretty, but also kind of needed an editor. Stranded Hearts is also a survival sim that I enjoyed but never really got the hang of the mechanics of.

If RPGs are more your thing, Corruption of Laetitia is my favorite, about a fallen paladin betrayed by her allies. Dreams of an Exile is more of a puzzle game and one that I’m not good at, but that I’ve enjoyed all the same. Serment; Contract with a Devil is a cute and quirky demo, though the full version is Steam-only. Knight Bewitched is a terrific story of a knight who falls for the witch she’s sent to kill (and which I literally found out two minutes ago has a sequel!). And lastly but not leastly, Luxaren Allure features a knight on a quest to rescue her girlfriend who’s been possessed by a demonic suit of armor.

Anyway, these are just some of the ones I can think of off the top of my head. If anyone else has recommendations, feel free to chime in!

#yuri #video games #recommendations

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rayne-storm · 3 years

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AUgust 6 - Gaming

Title: MOON QUEEN

Fandom: Hyperdrive

As always, Hyperdrive belongs to my beautiful and talented BFF @rad-infiniitum / @starburnedfarrago

This was just super fun to write, and although the logistics as presented are just absolutely whack, I hope you enjoy!!

She smiled as she hit the buttons with routine familiarity, starting her stream. She smiled gently as she addressed her followers and her little intro video played.

There was her channel name: STELLA-PY , and the letters rearranged themselves to some bubbly synth music to: LETS-PLAY and faded out to reveal the title card for the game that she was tackling today.

"Good afternoon, guys! It's me, Stella-Py!"

"Py" in this case was pronounced "Pie," and the comments she had received about the similarity mixed with her heavier frame were old news long ago. She kept herself in a small frame at the corner of the video, just because she knew she tended to make silly faces playing spookier games, and if anyone really got a sense of her size from that, she applauded their eye for detail. Any hate got pretty quickly removed from the chat thanks to a friend who maintained it, and her lovely (if few) fans.

"Today, we're doing something new and short, while I recover from the awful, awful fetus monster. This is one you guys have been telling me to try!"

She pulled up the application on her computer, and a solid wall of blue illuminated her screen. From the wall, white letters in a vintage font appeared one by one to reveal:

"QUEST FOR THE MOON QUEEN"

Stella smiled and let the elegant chiptunes that came after the letter play for a moment before starting to speak again.

"That's right, folks! Quest For The Moon Queen was published seven years ago to itch.io by an anonymous, indie developer that only called themself 'BL00 SCR33N.' It's remained relatively obscure since then, which is a shame because it looks so cute! From what I've seen, this is an adventure game where the player is this adorable little knight, trying to rescue and woo the titular Moon Queen. I'm super excited to get into it, and please make sure to put asterisks before any spoilers to hide them!"

She paused to let the chat catch up, answering a couple of questions about her day, how the baby cow was doing, and when she would do a baby cow reveal (the poll for the baby cow name was still going, Moomin being the leader by far). The chat satisfied, she hit ENTER on her keyboard, and the screen slowly darkened.

First came a little tutorial.

There was a little blue knight in front of a white screen, and little floating text walked the player through the various movements they could do. It was relatively simple, arrow keys to move, space to jump, and a couple of keys or mouse clicks to shoot a little spark.

After the tutorial came an adorable side-scrolling adventure where the little blue knight jumped over hurdles and shot sparks at bees and little black boomerang-like shapes.

Three levels of slightly increasing difficulty later, there was a boss fight.

The boss was labeled "THE DICTATOR" and a chiptune-version of ABBA's "Voulez-Vous?" played. The knight grew a little taller, and was faced suddenly by a giant black tarantula with a hundred glowing red eyes.

The sparks were ineffective, and Stella began to panic when she noticed a small sword icon. Interacting with that froze the boss and brought up an option screen:

"CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON"

MY STRENGTH

MY SPIRIT

Well, wasn't that unique?? Stella immediately chose to fight with "SPIRIT" and the scene dissolved into a cute little cutscene.

The little knight stood before THE DICTATOR, trembling only slightly in the presence of the fierce enemy.

"I must go!" The knight proclaimed in chiming little chirps

"But why?? You have served me loyally all this time!"

"I must find my own path, and you must care for your fallen kingdom."

The scene dissolved again, and the spider rolled over, defeated.

Stella felt there was more to the story, but could only really comment on how sweet that was.

"This is such a cute little game! You guys are the best, and if anyone has any idea how to get in contact with the person who developed this, please let them know that I love it so much!!"

The next levels were water-themed (of course), leading up to a new boss fight:

THE EXILE.

This boss was a massive squid, with pink tendrils that acted as hair. The blue Knight's sparks again were ineffective, and again Stella was presented a choice:

THE EXILE HAS REPLACED YOU. CHOOSE YOUR REACTION:

COMPASSION

CRUELTY

Stella again went for the softer route, and again, the screen dissolved.

Surprisingly, the squid-like creature shrunk to being smaller even than the Blue Knight.

"I am afraid, Knight."

"Why are you afraid? You have everything you could ever want, now."

"Because I am so small, and this world is so big."

The knight knelt and gently hugged the little creature.

"Take heart, EXILE, for there are many large things, but there is only one of you. Develop your skills, grow your talents, and the world will bend for you."

The EXILE bobbed happily, nodding.

"Thank you Knight! Good luck on your journey!!"

The EXILE swam away, and the Knight progressed.

So it went, with such bosses as:

THE CORINTHIAN, an eagle dressed like a glam-rocker, who the Knight could either PLUCK or APPLAUD. Applause led to the Knight clapping and giving the creature a CD to sing along to.

a giant troll THE BEAST that offered a stealth option to SNEAK around or SLAY.

THE PRETENDER, a shadowy silhouette of a woman, and the Knight could choose KILL or KINDNESS. Kindness led to the Knight patting the shadow on the back, and with each little pat more of the sprite filled in until the shadow became a dark-skinned woman in a space suit.

Finally, about two hours of play later, the knight was jumping on clouds and was faced with the final boss:

THE DEMON.

This boss was a massive metal insectoid, and Stella waited for the choice to appear, but a minute of waiting led to her health being knocked down halfway, and a message popping up:

NOT EVERY BATTLE HAS A SOLUTION. DRAW YOUR SWORD AND FIGHT.

That felt… wrong.

The chat was exploding to fight back as the monster hit the Knight, but she just couldn't.

Tears in her eyes, she removed her hands from the keyboard.

The health bar was knocked down to zero.

NOT EVERY BATTLE CAN BE WON the screen proclaimed, as it began to fade.

Suddenly, a shower of pink and green lights fluttered down.

The chat began to go crazy. This, it seemed, had never been discovered before. Everyone always fought the monster, and gained a trite little victory screen, the little Blue Knight doing a little dance.

This was something completely new.

NOT EVERY BATTLE CAN BE WON.

BUT SOMETIMES LOSING YOURSELF ALLOWS ANOTHER TO LIVE.

The metal shell of the boss began to melt, and out floated a beautiful woman, pale-skinned with pink and green hair, and nearly translucent green wings that shimmered and glowed.

She floated down to the body of the little fallen Knight and kissed his head. The knight slowly stood.

"Thank you, Blue Knight, for your compassion. Thank you for setting me free. You do not have to hide yourself any longer."

The armor melted away from the knight, and an adorable little creature with blue skin, long ears, and yellow eyes remained.

The descriptions of the characters changed. The Blue Knight became THE REGRETFUL SOUL, and what once was THE DEMON became…

THE MOON QUEEN.

"Thank you, my lady," the REGRETFUL SOUL chirped, and they took each other's hands.

The MOON QUEEN scooped up the little creature, and began to fly up the screen with him. As they reached the top, they turned and faced the screen.

THANK YOU, PLAYER, FOR ABSOLVING OUR GUILT AND SETTING US FREE.

The screen faded to black, and Stella initially thought it had completely ended. She was about to exit out of the program (still sobbing), when a little message slowly flowed up from the bottom:

TO LUNA.

I LOVE YOU.

-NEIL

Stella couldn't help crying harder, and blubbered out her closing spiel. The chat still kept going absolutely crazy, some claiming that this was a hacked copy of the game, or that they totally knew about the secret ending. Suddenly a new kind of message began exploding:

The game was gone.

It wasn't on itch.io, or any other site that the chat could find.

What in the world…?

Stella figured that she would deal with the implications of that later, saying goodbye and logging out of her stream.

She gave herself a few more minutes to cry before she heard the soft ping of a new email.

She sighed and opened it, ready to be assaulted by some kind of anger (per usual when she streamed), and was surprised to see the sender was going by "BL00 SCR33N."

She opened the message, and it simply read:

"You saved the knight and the Moon Queen. Congratulations. Want to meet up?"

After that was a phone number.

This was a terrible idea.

She called.

#au gust 2021 #rayne writes #my writing #fanfic #Hyperdrive

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