I've never really felt compelled to write a review for any game, so this will be a first! I absolutely loved it and adored both characters and the voice acting. The script was a delight too, I really enjoyed the writing and all it had to offer. I had originally seen ManlyBadassHero play the game a while back, but I could not help but buy the game and try it out for myself since I'm a huge yandere fan haha. I will say that I very much enjoyed Castor's voice lines, his voice is so sweet! I adore his adorable demeanor. I also loved how the MC actually had a personality and some spine to them compared to some MCs from other visual novels and otomes that I've played, it was refreshing.
I can't wait to see any future developments to the game, I'm really excited to see what else is in store. I also played a few of your other games afterwards and really enjoyed them as well. Thank you for making this and I'm glad to have supported you through my purchase. :)
Aww, well I'm honoured and so glad that you did :3 It always lifts my spirits to hear when anyone's enjoyed my stuff, so thank you very much for supporting the project + taking the time to type up some of your thoughts! I really appreciate it ^-^
Providing I can pull it off without ruining anything, MC should have even more personality in the next update because I'm attempting to implement a sort of personality system in order to give players more control over how MC reacts to everything :3 I know what you mean though cos I adore yandere characters, buuuut I can't stand it when you have a yandere LI (or any kinda LI really) + a doormat MC who just lets the LI walk all over them without putting up any sort of resistance x3 It frustrates the hell outta me, haha.
I'm super excited for you to see the big update I'm working on cos I've made so many tweaks already. Everything looks soooo much better aesthetically now + runs smoother. And then, of course, there's the new content! I'm only about 1/3rd of the way through revamping the existing content though, so I'm aiming for roughly the end of spring to get the update out since I reckon it'll take me the rest of March to finish the revamp, then another month or 2 to actually add the new content in >.<
I'm glad to hear you enjoyed some of my other projects too :D If you haven't already played it, I highly recommend Limbo Line cos I feel like that's my most polished project so far :3 The team worked their asses off and I feel like we managed to create a hell of a lot of content for a 1-month jam, haha. It may not be a romance game, but there's still a character with yandere traits in there :P
I honestly hadn't expected much out of this going in as I almost always expect visual novels to be very short as they are often made for game jams, but this was absolutely wonderful!
The voice acting is excellent and I'm really into the script which was extremely well written. The story itself was much longer in each version than I had expected it to, especially being fully voice acted. I found that the sinister route felt a little bit longer than the sweet route but that makes sense (good ole crazy yandere).
I'm super excited to see you continue to develop the game further. And if anyone is considering playing it, do it. Of course, you can ask the dev for a free copy or claim a community version but I think the game is already well worth the two-dollar asking price if you can spare the money, especially since it lends to its further development.
Thank you so much for supporting the game + taking the time to write such a sweet comment! I really appreciate it :3
Certainly can't blame ya for not expecting much going in because it's totally true that many VNs are short cos they're made during game jams, haha. That was exactly the case with this x3 I had an idea for the project as a whole, but I knew I wouldn't be able to actually get much playable content finished in the space of a month that the jam was running for, so I just had to try and think of a decent cut-off point for the game to work as a standalone piece for the jam :3 It certainly didn't help that I'd just switched engines as well, and had to try and learn how the heck to use the new stuff during the jam. Which is why it comes off a tad clunky. My code is messy >.< I'm fixing it all up though now that I'm actively working on the project again, haha.
The sinister route is definitely longer than the sweet route in the game's current state, yeah. I'm hoping to change that as part of the next update though to even the paths out a bit more because the endings in the current version of the game aren't going to be endings in the completed version. That was just where I had to cut it off for the jam. In reality, they're more like the very beginning of the player's path with that character. So I'm hoping I can manage to balance out the lengths of each path once they've split :3
Not only will the overall look of the game be slightly altered once I get the next big update out, but I'm also adding more choices and content to the section of story that's currently available + adding brand new story content for Castor/ia, and introducing the next character :D I really hope you'll continue to enjoy the game as it progresses ^-^
i was browsing through the website when i saw this game. it looks completely interesting and is my complete type of game! it has everything that i want and the devastating part is that i missed the change to get it for freeTvT i'm really sorry but can i still have the free version?
You're welcome to have a key if you wanna drop me an email to: melancholicmarionette@gmail.com
You don't need to write anything, just put your username in the subject and I'll know it's you :3
The $2 isn't really a purchase anyhow, it's just to help support the game's development so that I can continue to have voice acting + be able to afford CGs as well. Cos I don't have the money to fund the game myself x3
Just so you know though, I'm working on a big update at the moment that not only adds new content, it revamps everything available in the current demo, so anyone wanting to keep playing once the update is out will have to start over from the beginning cos too much has been changed for old saves to function in the new update once it's out :3
I bought the game and was able to open it on Mac, but I've been stuck on the loading screen for about 8 mins now and was wondering if this was normal or if there's a problem?^^
Hey hey! Thanks so much for supporting the game's development :3
It's definitely not normal >.< The available content in the game right now is more just like a demo, so nothing should take particularly long to load.
Is it stuck before it even gets to the title screen? Because you could try the black screen bug fix version to see if that helps cos there's an issue with some computers on both windows and mac where they just black screen instead of playing the video background on the title screen.
If that doesn't help though, I'm not going to be able to even attempt to fix it at the moment because I'm actively working on the game with a huge update that I hope to release for roughly the end of spring, and because I'm actively tweaking and adding to all the code, I wouldn't be able to export a working version for any system right now because I've made a lot of changes >.< Once the update is out, saves from the current version will be rendered unusable because I've basically rebuilt everything and made a lot of changes so far.
I've actually already completely revamped the title screen. Since I couldn't find the reason why some computers can't load the video background and some can, I've just removed the video background altogether and replaced it with a series of animations built into the game. So not only does it look much fancier, it should technically work for everyone :3 So there's a chance that it'll work fine for you once I release the new update, but because I'm adding new story content and characters, among revamping all of the existing content, it's not something I can do very quickly, unfortunately >.<
If the black screen bug fix doesn't do anything to help you, and if it still won't load up once I've got the big update out, I'll need to send you a development build and ask for you to send me the error logs so that I can try and figure out what's going on. But please feel free to contact itch.io if you want to get your money back because it sucks if it won't work at all for you :(
Sorry I can't be more helpful immediately though >.< I don't have a mac myself or know anybody who does to be able to test mac builds, so I have no way of knowing what could be wrong with mac versions unless people tell me. And even then, it's difficult for me to fix things without knowing what's causing them >.<
I'd absolutely love to have the game on Steam at some point, yeah :3 But the $100 fee to put a game on there is a killer >.< And I wouldn't wanna put it on there until there's more content because it's more just like a demo at the moment, and I read that you only really get 1 shot at promoting a new release on Steam, so you need to make the most of it.
So yeah, the plan is to have it on Steam one day, but it won't be any time soon :( I'm just a solo dev so development is pretty slow even though I work like crazy on my projects, haha. Once I've managed to get a few updates out with more characters, I'll start looking into getting it on Steam more :3
In the meantime, you're welcome to drop me an email to: melancholicmarionette@gmail.com
And if you just put your username in the subject, I can send you a key for here so that you can check out the demo :3
I'm actively working on an update right now though, and a lot is gonna change. So once the update is out, any saves from the old version will be useless because I'm not just adding more story content + a new character in the update, I'm also adding things like choosing your player name, pronouns, personality system, and more choices within the existing content for Castor/ia :3
Your game really looks amazing so I'm totally looking forward for the news updates! And hopefully someday seeing it on Steam and get the love it deserves <3
I definitly would love to check out the demo ( ◜‿◝ )♡
I like the plot ^ - ^ im into stories like this *cough* I also like the character design both of the LI and so their V.A. ฅ'ω'ฅ Im just not used at playing with unity, especially if I want to save when there's a choice (｡ŏ_ŏ) I cant save it (;´д｀)ゞ but that's alright. That doesn't stop me from enjoying the game hehe
There's a lot more to come :3 I'm working on the update right now, and it's gonna mean anyone who wants to play will have to redownload + start over from the beginning because not only am I adding more story content & characters, I'm also making loooots of tweaks to the UI & overall appearance of the game + adding things at the start like the ability to name MC and pick pronouns (and more choices in general when it comes to interacting with the characters) so trying to continue from a current save would just break things in the new version when it's out x3
Speaking of saving, I don't know if you're using a normal mouse or like a trackpad on a laptop, but you should be able to use the scroll wheel to rewind when you come across a choice, so that you can make a save before picking a choice option :3 You can't rewind once you've clicked on a choice though.
In the new update, I'm going to add more keyboard shortcuts so that people can open menus using their keyboards cos I didn't know how to do that sorta thing back when I first made this since I was only just starting to learn how Unity works >.< and I know using mouse buttons on a laptop is super awkward x3
Gambatte for making an update (๑ÒωÓ๑) 9 yes, I also noticed about saving before the choice xD I end up doing it from the beginning and some skips :3 thank you for the tip ♡ฅ(ᐤˊ꒳ฅˋᐤ♪)
It's okay, the $2 is only a donation to help fund the project's development anyhow rather than a purchase price :3 Just drop me an email to: melancholicmarionette@gmail.com
You don't need to say anything. Just put your username in the subject and I'll know it's you. Then I can reply with the download key :3
You're still welcome to have a key :3 Drop me an email if you like: melancholicmarionette@gmail.com
You don't have to write anything in the email. Just put your username in the subject and I'll know it's you ^-^ You might be better off waiting until I have the next update out to play though cos I'm making a lot of changes to the existing content as well as adding lots of new stuff, so when the update is out (I'm aiming for the end of spring, but ya never know what could go wrong, haha) I'm gonna recommend people start again from the beginning :3
I was able to get the community copy and Oh My God. This did not disappoint ( ˙▿˙ ) The full version was very interesting (￢‿￢ ) Both characters are certainly adorable! I do like to think they were from the same developer but different games, kinda like Solipsism Reigns ( ‾́ ◡ ‾́ ) I really love the ASMR style and hope to see more of it soon! ( ´ ω ` )
Yeeeeah, I don't really know what came over me when I wrote some of that stuff xD I think I'd probably been listening to some saucy Japanese drama CDs, haha. Back when I was cutting the VA lines, my headphone cable came out, and my friend who I was staying with at the time heard a couple of those 'interesting' lines, and he was like, WTF?! But you're asexual!! And I was like, yeah, but I can still try to write some low-key steamy stuff, can't I? x3 He was just so shocked it was hilarious.
I'm glad you enjoyed it anyhow ^-^ I'm actively working on the next update now, hoping to have it out by the end of spring, but things might not go according to plan >.< There's just a ridiculous amount of work to do cos I need to tweak all the UI + pretty much rewrite all the existing code because it's awful x3 Back when I made it, I'd only just got the new engine, so I didn't know what I was doing and kinda had to learn fast before the jam was over! Which = really messy code that I can't work with going forward cos it's just impractical, haha. At least it shows I've improved over time though I guess x3
Sorry to hear that >.< Unfortunately, I don't own a mac or know anyone who does, so I can never test mac builds properly :( Which makes fixing bugs on mac extremely difficult.
Is it that the button to access the save menu isn't there? Or does it not show the save/load screen when pressed? Or something else? :o
Either way, what's currently available of the game is pretty much like a short demo, so you should be able to experience all of the content without needing to access the save/load system provided there aren't any other bugs in the way preventing you from proceeding with the story.
I'm actually working on the next update at the moment, and my code from back when this initial episode was released is pretty awful! I'm going to have to rewrite most of it I reckon because it's just so messy and impractical to work with going forward with the new content.
I'm also changing a lot of the UI and stuff while editing the old code before I get into adding the new content. So it's possible the issue will be resolved once I have the new update out. I can't put an exact time on when that will be though cos there's a hell of a lot of work to be done since I've essentially gotta remake what's already released + add a brand new character and other stuff. I'm aiming for the end of spring, but things might not go according to plan.
I'm also hoping to not need to have black screen fix builds in the future because I'm not gonna bother having the video background title screen going forward since it causes issues with some people's computers. It'll be easier just to have 1 build with a static title screen background rather than exporting 1 with video + 1 with a regular png file.
Please still let me know in more detail what it is that's preventing you from accessing the saves though, and I'll try and look into it to see if I can fix it for the next update :3
Hmm, that's definitely a very strange bug then >.< I'm not sure what on earth would cause something like that cos I don't understand how it would occur in the mac version when it doesn't in windows :( I think to get to the root of it, I'd have to send you a development build version of the game and get you to send me log files so I can have a look through and see if I can figure out what's happening there!
The problem is, I can't actually send a dev build because I've been actively adding to and tweaking the old code >.< I imagine it'd just come up with a whole bunch of other errors since it's a work in progress and a bit of a mess right now :( That's if it even functions at all in its current state.
So I'm sorry about that :( If I hadn't started working on it all again and changing stuff in the last few days, I would've been able to send you a dev build and just try to fix the issue for you by looking at the logs and then quickly exporting a new mac build.
I'm changing the save/load UI in the next update, so with any luck, whatever was causing the issue will be fixed, but if not, I'll have to send you a dev build once the new update is out so I can get to the bottom of it.
ok i think i found the problem: the custom cursor (on mac at least) always appears on the bottom right corner of the mouse, so when i think i'm clicking something, macos thinks that im clicking on the top left of the cursor.
maybe thats the reason i couldnt access my save. sorry for getting you into this.
Ahh, right! Thanks so much for letting me know because if nobody ever told me stuff like this, I'd have no idea, haha. Now I know, I can change the cursor for the mac exports in the future :3 I'm probably going to design a different custom cursor anyhow, so maybe the new one will work better on mac. If not though, there's always the option to just leave that out of the mac version if it causes problems. I guess I can try to do some research as well into how cursors work and look on mac cos I'm clueless when it comes to anything mac-related >.<
Dont apologise anyhow cos that's really useful to know :3
I'm still working away on the update, almost finished with UI overhaul :D A lot is going to change though, not just in terms of content, but I'm adding things that I didn't have time to before, like a personality system that will give decisions more weight. Anyone who wants to play when the update is out will need to redownload the game and start over from the beginning because too much will have changed to make it possible to continue from an old save. There's a whole bunch of options at the beginning now to choose MC's name and pick pronouns and stuff as well :3
We need more otome yandere games, and yours are just too good. I pledged $5 (I wish I could do more, but I'm a college student out of a job for now), in hopes to support you <3
That makes me super happy to hear that you think they're decent ^-^ And thank you for the support! Honestly, everything helps more than I can even put into words! I'm not even a student... I'm just plain old out of a job xD But I treat my projects as though they are my job, even though they're also my hobby :3 Thanks again + good luck with college!
Hey! I came here to see more of your games since I've just been absolutely obsessed with Yandere Heaven and Love in Lockdown!! It's been such a long time since I saw such good yandere games, I just couldn't stop playing until I read everything. I wish I could support you, but unfortunately I'm broke...So I figured rating and commenting would be the best way to support for now ^^' Keep up the good work, I really look forward to seeing more from you!!
That's so cool! I'm really glad you ended up enjoying my other stuff :3 Thanks so much for playing ^-^ I have mixed feelings about Love in Lockdown cos that just didn't come out how I wanted it to at all x3 haha. I really struggled with the writing, and a big part of me wanted to give up and not even bother turning it into a game because I was so unhappy with my story draft for it >.< I decided to just make it anyways because I'd already entered the jam and didn't want to back out. But yeah, I'm not particularly proud of that one x3 So it makes me super happy to know you managed to extract some enjoyment from it despite my personal feelings on it!
Honestly, any kind of support means the world to me ^-^ So yeah, ratings + comments is a huuuuge help. Donations may help me continue developing games when it comes to being able to afford to pay people for their time and talent, but kind words are just as valuable! So I really appreciate it :3
You're welcome to gave a key for DD if you wanna let me know the best place to send it! OR, if you wanna hold on for a little while, I'm making everything free to download on here for like 24 hours or something soon to celebrate the end of yandere jam :3 I just can't do it right now cos I'm on my phone >.< and messing with settings on itch is just really fiddly on mobile, haha. So I can't put the sale thingy on until I'm actually on my PC either later today or tomorrow!
I think all the free copies are out for now, so I think I can wait! I'm currently playing Solipsism Reigns. I'm really loving every game of yours I've tried!! Thank you so much for considering your broke fans haha, I've never seen anyone like you before! I'll do my best to keep on supporting you the way I can!! And honestly, I hope you like Love in Lockdown a little more because it's seriously so good!! I hope you're doing well dear creator ^^
SR is a pretty long one, but also my oldest game, because yes, I was a little bit insane and decided to make a full-length VN for my first project x3 It ended up taking years, haha. I really should have started out with something smaller!
You'll probably notice that it's a lot more clunky than Yandere Heaven and LiL as well, not just because it was the first game I made, but also because it was made in the old engine I was using, which wasn't great, but it was all I knew how to use at the time >.< I think the new engine I'm using nowadays makes stuff turn out a lot smoother!
Well, I'm perma-broke myself soooo, I know the feeling x3 I can pretty much only afford new games by trading in old ones, and that usually means giving up 3 or more just to get 1, haha. So I'll always try to make my stuff available to as many people as possible :3
I guess I was probably too harsh on myself about LiL >.< I'm just glad that you were able to enjoy it! Because knowing that certainly makes me feel less like beating myself up over it every time I see it on my page, haha.
I've just been fixing bugs on Yandere Heaven + starting to try and get my DD project files updated to a newer version of Nani and Unity cos they're pretty out of date now. The problem is, when my stuff is so old that it's missed multiple updates, things always end up breaking when I try to update it all, haha. So I'm probably gonna have to spend a while just fixing all the files!
I'm currently exporting the bug fix builds for Yandere Heaven for upload tonight though, and once they're all up, I'll activate the free copies of DD :3 Unless something goes wrong, I should have it done by midnight my time (GMT), but I can always shoot you a quick reply here to let you know when it's live anyhow :3
No problem dear creator!! It's great hearing you've been working so hard, I hope you've been taking care of yourself :D I hope you get more recognition!!
Yeah, it finished at midnight my time x3 But no worries, you're welcome to drop me an email! You don't even have to write anything. Just put your username in the subject line so I know who it is :3 melancholicmarionette@gmail.com
Hey hey! Thanks so much for your interest in the project :3
I made a little post a while back that sort of briefly answers your question, so I'm gonna be a bit lazy and link that since I'm away from home at the moment and can't type very fast on my phone x3 haha.
I did give a more in depth answer in a comment a long time ago, but I'm not entirely sure where abouts that is to go and quote it/copy my answer >.<
The short answer though, is that (hopefully) this will be a commercial game once it's eventually finished. I don't know what sorta price it will be, but it'll have a lot of content. The current $2 price on here is pretty much just a donation to help support the game's development rather than an actual purchase. However, I'll always endeavour to make my games available to anyone who can't afford to support with money + make sure to take into consideration any donations as a discount towards the eventual final release price :3
Came across this game on explore and while i cant afford it i found manly's video on it and im in love with Castoria + voice acting!! wish this game came onto my radar earlier, love your work :))
Thanks for taking the time to write such kind words :3 I really appreciate it! Yeah, I owe Manly a hell of a lot cos if not for him featuring DD, not many people would know the project even exists still since I suck at social media x3 haha.
You're welcome to gave a key anyhow if ya let me know the best place to send it! OR, if you don't mind hanging on a little bit, I'm gonna make everything free to download for like 48 hours or something to celebrate the end of yandere jam :3 I just can't make the changes until I get on my PC either later today or tomorrow cos itch is too hard to fiddle with on mobile, haha.
I'm looking forward to having more time to myself this year to work on DD's development anyhow :3
Hello, dear author! I just played your game, and I'm already a fan of it! Love the character designs, Castoria is so cute hehe. And the music is pretty good, too. I wish you all the best for the next chapter!
Thanks so much for playing + for taking the time to write such a lovely comment ^-^ I really appreciate it! I shall be working as much as possible on the next chapter this month :D So I'll definitely be needing that luck, haha.
I finally got to play this game and what can I say, I.AM.SOLD!!! Castor is such a bae, I can't hate him no matter how I convince myself that he's unstable and dangerous and he might end up killing me lol guess that's my type. VA is superb, art is flawless, story telling is amazing. The author is too kind beyond words. I am looking forward to play your future games, Melancholy Marionette! - Sayaka
I'm glad you ended up enjoying it ^-^ Hehe, yeah, he's kinda adorable and terrifying at the same time x3 Don't tell any of my other characters cos if they ever become sentient, they'll probably murder me, but I think Castor might end up becoming my favourite yandere that I've created, haha.
I'll be working as much as I can on DD's next update throughout this month, and I'm planning for it to include more Castor/ia content along with introducing another character :3 So hopefully, you'll still like him once you've been able to spend more time with him x3
came here from manly, made an account just to say bravo! very well-made looking game! can't play it myself, but I have high hopes for your future with it!
Aww, that's so sweet of you! Thank you :3 I've learned a lot since I released what little is there of the game so far, so when I eventually release the next update which will add another character to the roster along with more content for Castor/ia, I'm also going to have gone over everything that's already there from the old jam submission and tweak a lot of stuff to make it smoother and fancier :3 Cos while I was working on Limbo Line, I learned a lot more about stuff like adding SFX to UI and such, haha.
Can you not play it cos you don't have a system that will run it? :o Or do you just need a key? Cos if you need a key, I can give you one :3
It should end up being a fairly long game once all the planned content is released for it, but it's gonna be a pretty long journey to get there x3
Awesome stuff :D I really appreciate you mentioning it to people cos I am totally abysmal at promoting my stuff cos of my anxiety >.< haha.
Sadly, development is gonna be relatively slow since I'm pretty much working on the project solo (aside from the voice acting, of course :3), but once February is over, it'll be my full-time focus ^-^ I just don't have much free time this February, so rather than trying to get back into working on the next DD update, I figured I'd be better off whipping up something short for itch's first ever Yandere Jam to get me used to working on stuff again after I had a couple of months' break from project stuff cos of my poopy mental health x3 Plus, I mean, it's a Yandere Jam, and yandere is my jam xD How could I not submit something!
With any luck though, once I'm able to dedicate most of my time to DD, I'll be able to get stuck in and make some good progress throughout March and onwards :3 Most of the content for the next update is already written, I just need to tidy it up, finish it off, and get to coding it all in.
And sure, I guess dropping me an email to: melancholicmarionette@gmail.com is the easiest way! Don't worry about writing anything in the email cos if you just put your username from here in the subject line then I'll know it's you anyways :3
So glad you ended up enjoying it :3 There's lots more to come, but it's gonna take me a while to make it x3 Which is why I'm gonna do it episodically or it'll be forever until the full game is out >.< I'm quite busy this month and trying to make a submission for itch's first ever yandere jam in the few days I have in February to work on something short. As soon as it hits March, I'll be working solely on getting the next episode of DD released :3
I'd like to have it on Steam eventually, but the $100 fee to add a game there is kind of a killer >.< especially when I don't really have the means to promote my stuff. I will get it on there someday though!
In the meantime, you're welcome to have a key if you wanna let me know where to send it :3
Go for it :3 You don't even need to write anything. If you just put your username from here and DD in the subject line then I'll know it's you :D Just send it to melancholicmarionette@gmail.com
Just so you know though, I'm heading to bed for the night, so I probably won't get back to you with a key until I get on my PC tomorrow :3
Hey hey! If it was in the last few days, I've been away from home with little to no internet access x3 My best friend organised a few days away for us as a birthday celebration. I only just got back today, but we live pretty far away from each other, so I'm shattered from all the travel. I'll be back on my PC tomorrow though, so I can check my email and drop you a key then :3 It's just very difficult to do it on my phone cos itch's site is so fiddly on mobile >.<
hello, thought i'd let you know i shot you an email a few days ago, i wanna play this game myself but i can't afford it. (Sorry if you're busy and i come off as annoying, i just really want to play the game, whenever you can, send me an email back)
No worries! I wasn't on my PC yesterday cos it was my birthday but if you hadn't of written this comment, I would never have known you emailed me, as for some reason, your message went into my spam folder rather than my inbox, and I never check the spam >.< I managed to find it though after reading this :3 I've sent you a reply with a key anyhow!
I really loved the game and definitely would love to see more Castoria in the future. While I would not call the characters yandere per se, I kinda have a soft spot for yandere yuri with a sweet ending so I appreciated the gender neutral language for the player with a subtle hint that the character is female. I normally don't comment on them, or think they're well written in games, but I thought the sex scene in the full version was very well written too.
I feel sorry for Castoria (and Castor) as they're kind people with sentience and an obsessive love forced on them. In some ways, they're the victims though the protagonist had no way of knowing what she created when she made that wish. I guess my hope for them would be that they learn to become more rounded and independent people over time but remain with the protagonist.
Thank you. I paid above the minimum price and don't regret. I will look at your other VNs too.
To note, Manly lead me to your work (he got me hooked on VNs in the first place).
I'm not sure if you're the same person I've spoken to on Ko-fi or not (since the username is the same, haha), but regardless, I didn't wanna just leave your comment unanswered! x3
Regarding the gender-neutral language, that was what I originally intended to run with throughout the entire game so that players can sort of decide for themselves whatever they would prefer the characters to be. However, it did make writing the more risque scene pretty difficult, and I'm not entirely sure I possess the ability to continue writing scenes like that without referencing gender at all. So that alongside a number of players preferring more gender-specific language has lead me to think about perhaps just giving the player a choice of pronouns for their MC instead for future updates. Maybe it's the sort of thing I should be running a poll on, I don't know >.<
What I do know is that I don't really think about gender when I write for characters. Maybe my brain is weird or something, but I just don't really see gender when I'm writing. To me, all the characters could be any and all genders x3 So I like to give the player some form of choice.
I'm super glad that you thought that particular scene was well-written too because it's very much outside of my comfort zone xD I wanted to give it a go because I knew I wanted it to be a part of Castor/ia's character. But I myself am asexual, so it was a bit of an awkward one, haha. Editing the voice acting for that scene was uh, interesting! It was kind of like some strange form of embarrassing hell xD
I certainly hope I can show Castor/ia's growth (or escalation into further madness, depending on the player's choices xD) in a satisfying way as their story unfolds :3
I think the gender neutral language is fine without having to add additional choice for specific pronouns but others may disagree. I guess it's a cost/benefit analysis of the extra time put into being able to choose pronouns but if it's easier for you to write modifications of scenes based on pronoun selection that's a reasonable adjustment, I'd just hope neutral pronouns would also remain an option as that would be my personal preference (I prefer to play AFAB non-binary people).
On the issue of the sex scene, maybe the asexuality gave you a more objective look. I was playing a different yandere LI VN recently, and the sex scenes in the sequel made me feel more uncomfortable, first because the author added a visual component which came out of the blue and just made me feel like clicking through the scene faster (I was expecting a before and after like in the first game) and secondly the writing wasn't great but I don't want to criticise too much as I otherwise enjoyed her games. That's before even getting into the issues triple A games have with using sex scenes. I think part of it was Castoria's voice actor was very good at making the lines sound genuine.
The character development is just my personal hopes. I have to put the appeal of yandere and yandere-like characters in the context of abuse I've suffered growing up and in a previous relationship and what that says about me so I think my hope they get a good ending is just a personal psychological need. A yandere-like person irl in a relationship who doesn't grow beyond that is going to end up in an abusive or co-dependent relationship unless their partner is very careful based on the experiences of real people with similar personality disorders (most yandere characters would be a mixture of DSM-5 clusters B and C). I've never seen it explored, usually the yandere ends up the abuser, but I could see a yandere character ending up the victim of abuse because they would be easy to manipulate emotionally.
You're welcome, you've earned the support. I'll continue to support in the future too.
Yeah, I owe Manly a lot cos if he hadn't played this, hardly anyone would know about it still because I totally suck at social media and trying to get my games out there >.< haha.
That's awesome to hear ^-^ I've been inactive for the last couple of months for personal reasons, but I'm back and working on my projects again, so, hopefully, the next episode of DD shouldn't be toooo far away since the writing is almost finished now.
I would certainly love to have it on mobile if I can manage it, yeah :D I only tried exporting one of my games for mobile back when I was using Tyranobuilder, and it just failed completely even though I was following a guide >.< I'm kind of hoping that exporting for Android and IOS from Unity will be an easier process, but I've yet to actually try it!
But yeah, I'm hoping to eventually have my games playable on mobile + Switch as well as PC :3
I'm glad you had fun with it :3 It's been slow going on the dev front due to a lot of issues in my personal life >.< but I'm back now and actively working on my projects again, so with any luck, I should be able to get the next episode out before the end of spring or something :3 Thanks so much for checking it out!
Hello i think your game is amazing, i actually can't think of any complaints, it was so well done i was wanting more by the end. Maybe in the future you can bring Cana(i think I'm remembering that correctly, hopefully lol) the best friend into the scene to create drama, external conflicts could be a way to make the good route have some intensity, but whatever you do I'm sure it'll be awesome, like your other games. oh btw just one more thing i swear, did you do all the writing? Because I'm super impressed, i thought it was top notch, you deserve an award. anyways cheers! Happy holidays! Looking forward to whatever you create :)
Hey hey! Thank you for playing through the game and taking the time to comment :3 I really appreciate it!
*Whispers* I see you're very perceptive with remembering Cana, hehe. I probably shouldn't say this because it's kinda spoilers at this moment in time, but Cana is actually the next character who will be introduced and I've already half-written their introductory episode! I won't say too much, but Cana and Castor/ia will definitely get to meet depending on the player's choices :D But ssshh, that's supposed to be a secret for now xD I just hope not many people read my reply to your comment, haha. *Stops whispering*
I do indeed do all the writing, yeah :3 I'm so glad you think it's decent! I'm always very self-conscious about it, especially when I'm working in a team like I did for A9 and Limbo Line, because I tend to worry that my writing will be what lets everything down when everyone else has done such amazing work with art and voice acting! >.< I don't have any proper qualifications when it comes to creative writing aside from my English GCSE from secondary school x3
Thanks for your support ^-^ Hope you have some happy holidays yourself and a super duper new year!
well thank you for making it i had tons of fun it was awesome. *Cough cough* spoilers? What spoilers? I don't see any *whispers* ok i think we're clear, keep going XD that sounds so cool, but also oh boy does that sounds like ticking time bomb, my boy mc is in for one helluva ride especially if he chose the sinister route this drama sounds juicy! Hehe let's go *cough cough stops whispering* anyways, i more than think ur writing is decent, it's spectacular, no where did i get taken back by the dialogue, it never seemed out of place or artificial, it seemed like what an actual gacha game yandere and a normal admittedly tactless mc would say to each other, hell, the fights even felt like they were already an
old married couples lol, it felt very very realistic, and honestly fresh, i so appreciate an mc who has his own feelings, and that there's gonna be problems and fights, it was super entertaining and refreshing, and it flowed naturally, so i can be invested and stay in the flow, definitely some top notch writing, honestly having a piece of paper to say you qualify as a writer is overrated when you've proved your skills over and over again in each game you make, just write what you want to write and read it over and over to tidy it up, if you think it's something you'd read and enjoy than you're done, you can't please everyone because everyone likes different styles so write it for you and watch as you will get more and more appreciation for it. Have a holly jolly Christmas and have a happy new year!
So I stumbled upon this gorgeous game while I was scrolling through itch.io. I recently bought a new laptop so trying out every type of games and I'm huge fan of dating Sims lol. I always play on phone but I wanted to experience on laptop so bought this game. This is simply gorgeous I'm a huge fan of Castor now! Finished both of his routes. I am so sad this gorgeous game isn't famous yet! I really liked it that want to open a fanpage only for Castor. I'm a huge Simp of him now. And not to mention the sound effects, visuals, the voice acting! 😍. I'm waiting for its update!! I want to play it more.
I might actually open a page for him and write fanfics everyday. Sorry if I'm being creepy but I've played several other Similar games and I forgot them but I can't forget about this!! This is beautiful!! Is it possible to release it on phones? Then I would've shared it with everyone! I know it's hard but thank you so much for this. I shouldn't drag this so good luck with improving This game more I'm with youuu!!❤️❤️. I might draw Castor now cuz he is so cute UwU.
I kinda want it to grow like Obey me, Mystic Messenger etc.
Sorry my reply is so slow >.< I'm a bit overwhelmed with everything at the moment and a lot of stuff going on in my personal life. I really appreciate you taking the time to leave such a kind comment though :3
I'm glad you enjoyed your time with Castor :D There will be plenty more content for him to come in the future + lots of other characters too. It's just going to take me a while to make it all, haha.
If you do end up opening a fan page for Castor, I'd love to see it :3 And I'm sure Castor very much adores having anyone simp for him :D It's not creepy at all anyways! I get really hyped about the stuff I'm passionate about too :3
I do hope to be able to release it on mobile at some point when it's a bit more polished, yeah! I'm not sure how it will go because I haven't tried mobile export with Unity yet. I tried to test it back when I was using Tyranobuilder engine, but it didn't work at all and I was just very confused xD Hopefully, it will go better when I attempt it with Unity, haha. I think a lot of tweaking of the UI will be required though so that it doesn't go all weird on mobile.
It sure would be amazing if the game somehow grew to that level of fame, haha. I doubt it'll ever happen, but I can dream x3 I'd really love to be able to earn a living making VNs someday, even though it's something which is apparently super hard to do :( It might be my only shot at supporting myself because my therapist thinks I'm basically screwed at life because of my autism if I can't manage to make a living out of my games, haha.
Sure! Take your time developing! and take a rest too. I'm sure it will grow more because talents don't stay hidden. I'll always keep giving my support to this game❤️❤️. I can't leave castor behind lol
Just finished playing your game with Castoria. I just have to say I honestly loved it! I was highly impressed with the voice acting and how you did the sprites for the characters. The writing was really good. I also enjoyed how Castoria and the Protag both had interesting personalities. As others have said in the comments, the Protag not being in a blank state and a bit sassy was rather fun plus refreshing to see.
I played the full game and wasn't expecting that final scene at the end. But it turned out to be rather lovely with its resolution. I haven't played the Sinister "route" (would it be called a route?) yet, but the Sweet "route" has me wanting some more! I know you are a rather busy person, but do you have an estimate of when is the next release? If not that's okay! Just keep doing the great work you are doing here! You have definitely made a fan out of me! :D
P.S. Also looking forward, Solipsism Reigns BxG Version whenever it comes out.
Thanks so much for supporting the project and leaving a comment! It's much appreciated ^-^ Glad you enjoyed your time with Castoria even if there's not all that much content there yet!
I've become a little bit obsessed with having a crazy amount of expression changes for sprites in my VNs, haha. I think because I wish I could use Live2D but don't possess the skills, so instead, I try my best to use lots of expression changes and other forms of movement to make scenes look more animated.
I guess once the game is more complete, you could consider the sweet and sinister options to be routes, yeah :3 Cos the 'endings' from the current version are actually more like the end of Castor/ia's 1st episode going by my outline. So in a more completed version, it's more like you're sort of locked in to the sweet or sinister route at that point. Though, there will also be more that goes towards deciding which route you end up on eventually because there will be more choices to make.
My plan was to have an update out in time for Christmas this year that introduces the next character while also adding more content for Castor/ia since it will have been a full year since I released the first part for the jam. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to manage that after all >.< I'm still in the writing stage for the next part, and struggling to concentrate on it. I've got a lot going on in my personal life at the moment, and my routine has kinda gone out of the window :( I've had a lot of appointments to be up early for, which means lots of early nights to bed. The problem is, almost everything I've written has been done so during the night! I don't know why, but I can just focus a lot better on writing when I do it during the night, and I'm not getting the opportunity to do that at the moment >.<
It doesn't help that I haven't worked on the project in such a long time because I was working on a few other jam projects throughout the year. DD is my main focus now though :3 Even if I can't get the next part out in time for Christmas, it should at least end up being sometime in winter or early spring, even if it's 2022 rather than 2021.
And there certainly shouldn't be any more year-long gaps in between updates unless things go very wrong in my life! Haha.
The BxG version of SR is a looooong way off though >.<
Thank you so much for your kind words and your support :3
Sorry, for the very late reply! I didn't realize I got a response from you. Curse you spam! That aside, I did notice the expression changes you have in the game and it was very impressive. It is a lot of work but makes the characters more "real". Still good to hear that sweet and sinister will be their "own" routes.
I hope you have been getting better and life is treating you well. Looking forward to the next update no matter when it comes out. Take care of yourself and stay strong!
No worries! Most of my replies have been super duper late recently anyways because I'm just kinda overwhelmed at the moment and shutting down >.< haha.
Take care yourself and I hope you get to have some happy holidays and a wonderful new year ^-^
HI i dont have much constructive to say other than i really really love this project <3 ive replayed it more times than id like to admit....
the way the yandere sides of castor/ia reveal themselves and how the mc isnt just a blank piece of wood but has an actual backbone, especially the mean stuff they say to castor/ia! i know the art isnt yours but i adore how it looks, you picked perfectly! i wish you luck on your future projects and will be supporting you all the way <3
I really appreciate any and all comments on my projects, so thank you very much for playing what's there of the game so far and taking the time to comment :3 I'm so glad you've enjoyed it so far even though there's not much there yet.
I'm happy you like the MC cos they seem to be a bit like marmite xD People either love it or hate it, haha. I just wanted the story to have a protagonist with a bit more sass because they're gonna end up in a lot of dangerous situations, and I don't want them to be the type of MC that just rolls over and lets bad stuff happen to them cos I've played too many VNs with passive protagonists and it annoys me as a player x3 I do plan on adding more options in future updates though, so that the player has a bit more control over how MC reacts because I also understand how frustrating it is to have an MC act in a way that's really opposed to how you want them to.
I'm glad you like the sprites too cos even though I didn't draw them, I did spend a hell of a lot of time on the colours and creating additional expressions for them that didn't come as standard :3
I had hoped to get the next episode of DD out in time for Christmas, but I don't think that's going to happen because I planned for it to both introduce a new character and add to Castor/ia's content, and a lot of life stuff is going on with me right now so I haven't been able to be as productive as I would like >.<
Thanks for your interest in the project :3 The page isn't particularly tidy at the moment and some of the comments where I answered similar questions to this have been buried >.< haha. I'll have to try and organise the page better when I next update the game!
I'll give you the short(ish) answer, and then I'll also be somewhat lazy and give you the super long answer copy/pasted from something I wrote previously :3
So the short answer is that the game is nowhere near complete right now. What's available is more like a little taster episode for one of many characters :3 I made it during a jam that lasted 1 month, so there's not a huuuuge amount of content there yet. My plan is to have around 10 characters for the full version of the game, with about 3 episodes each. So you could call what's currently released Castor/ia's episode 1 I guess. I'm currently in the process of writing the next character's episode 1 + some additional content for Castor/ia.
The $2 is basically a donation to help fund the project because I have no funding outside of that to pay voice actors, and while I can continue developing the game without putting any money into it if the rest of it goes unvoiced, I feel like voice acting is an important part of the project since it was originally supposed to be an audio drama. I write the scripts in a way that suits voiced better than non-voiced.
Aaaand here's the extra long version if you want it xD
Right now, the project is in a place where I don't even know what an acceptable price would be to charge for the game once it's eventually finished because I don't have experience with releasing commercial games. I kind of never imagined I would ever have the funding available to me to make something to commercial standards. What I do know going by my outlines, drafts, and the like, is that there will be quite a large amount of content by the time the entire thing is finished. Definitely more than $2 worth of content by a long shot.
If you do decide to get Winter Wish, it's more like a donation towards funding the development of the project than a purchase, but I don't think there's any way for me to show it as such here on itch >.< Because WW is quite short and essentially acts as the introductory episode to one character of many.
The biggest challenge in DD's overall development is that it's a project which is pretty reliant on voice acting. Without the VA, it wouldn't have the same flavour I don't think. But VA isn't cheap. For example, after speaking to my friend Anthony (the voice director for Winter Wish) he informed me that to get Castor & Castoria's next episode fully voiced will cost around $800. And me being unemployed means that the only way I can afford to pay the VAs is through supporters donating funds towards the project.
Right now, I'm quite unsure what the best way to proceed is because it's going to cost a lot of money to get each episode for each set of characters voiced. Which means probably asking for some form of money per episode. At the same time, I don't want to piss anyone off who has already donated towards the project >.< because I really appreciate the support and I don't want anyone to feel like their money is being wasted or anything like that.
The other option, of course, is attempting to run a Kickstarter at some point! However, I'm not really sure if enough people would back it when it requires quite a bit of funding. My social anxiety also means I suck at social media and promotion, which isn't exactly a great start to a KS campaign >.< Especially not when the game isn't yet close to completion. So it's a tough situation really.
One of the main reasons I didn't keep working on DD after the jam is because I figured I would never be able to afford to expand it the way I'd like to in a million years because I don't have the money. So I kept it as a side project to work on and continued developing my main project (Clarity in Qualia.) Unfortunately, CiQ hit a brick wall in that I was hoping to run a KS for that in order to fund VA and a CG artist, but there was very little interest in the game when we posted character intro videos on YouTube and stuff. And it's a shame because that one is fully written and if I were to work on just that, I could have the game finished before the end of the year. But I don't know what to do with CiQ when it seems like there aren't many people interested in playing it. So now that I've finished the last couple of jams I wanted to participate in this year (otome jam + Spooktober VN jam) DD is my main project focus.
I'm so sorry for rambling anyhow >.<
What I will say though, is that I hope to always be able to offer free copies of my stuff to anyone who can't afford to support with money because I have been in that position all my life and I know how much it sucks.
TLDR
The $2 for DD Winter Wish is more like a donation towards funding the full game than an actual purchase.
I don't know what the full price of the game will be once it's eventually completed, but anyone who has helped with funding will get a discount off of the full game based on what they donated. And hopefully, some sort of extra goodies as well because I'd like to be able to give some kind of extra thank you to those who have supported the development of the game :3
Character intro episodes will likely be released episodically for now based on what I can afford to pay VAs for their work. But if it gets to the point that a Kickstarter might be viable to complete the entire project, I may attempt that. If successful, I'll then just be able to work on completing the remainder of the game in one chunk.
I will always try to offer free copies of my games for those who cannot afford to support with money for whatever reason.
(I realise that getting funding from various methods could potentially end up quite messy when it comes to issuing discounts and rewards in the end, but I'm not sure how else to deal with funding development right now. I'm willing to go over all donations from all sources manually in order to make sure no one is left out come the full release of the project.)
I'm not 100% sure what options itch.io offers because I have my account set for them to just handle all of that on my behalf because I wouldn't have a clue what to do >.< haha.
Well,that was a fun game.The story is pretty cool and the voice acting is marvelous,splendid.Im really impressed with your hardwork.
I reached both ending and both of them are satisfying.At first,i was hoping that there is more ending need to be discovered.Hahaha.and as the results,it only have 2 ending which is good actually.The safe version is kinda calming and heart melting,i must say XD.And the second is very intense.Hahahah.
Last but not least,thank you for making this masterpiece art.Cant wait to wait more from you.You've done me proud,dev!Keep up the good work!!
Oh yeah,one more thing,i let my friend play ur game and this his comment:
"Well I'm not going to comment on every part though XD, but the charac-err I mean Castoria is looking gud👉👉 ,ahaha. The voice actor are well done, full of emotion, very "menjiwai".
Glad you enjoyed it :3 I'm very excited to bring the rest of the game to life! I just wish I could clone myself to make it happen faster, haha. There certainly will be more endings eventually :D Where it cuts off at the moment will be like the end of episode 1 for Castor/ia, and they will probably have about 3 episodes.
Hehe, and I Googled menjiwai so I think I understand :D
I want to praise your wonderful work once again! You have created something interesting, and I am impressed with your abilities! You can see how much effort has been invested, and most importantly, it was worth it!
I got a happy ending, and it was nice. Even though the story is short, I felt its completeness. This is perhaps one of the most important factors for calming the mind after completing something.
The way you wrote the text and set up the emotions, ah, during the passage I physically felt good. And then, when I went to bed after reading the novel, moments from the novel still echoed in my head.
I liked the scenes of proximity (both intimate and not so intimate), I was able to catch the empathy of the heroine, and everything that was happening resonated in me. Oh yeah, it was funny when I was playing a game where I was playing a game where a character was saying I should sleep, not play with him. Incredibly high level of care! And such involvement. Awww.
I am delighted with how smoothly you have written everything, both from the point of view of code and from the point of view of graphical moments.
And I want to emphasize once again how great it is that you gave the opportunity to choose a character! I am glad that I can choose a girl or a guy depending on who my heart desires right now.
I like it, thank you for creating this novel. The work is really amazing, I hope that you will continue to enjoy your hobby! It was music for my soul, eyes and ears.
Aww, thank you so much for your kind words and support ^-^ It means a lot! Yeah, I was pretty torn because I wanted to include more, but it wasn't a very long game jam that I originally made it for, so I figured that even though I have a longer story to tell, I needed to try and make it feel like it was a complete story in itself for the purposes of the jam.
As I continue to develop the game, I hope to be able to keep the option to choose which version of each character you want to interact with, along with giving the player some pronoun options for MC as well :3
Woah,such a nice game.I love how the game turn from normal to horror.Remind me to ddlc lol.What a traumatizing game.Well,i try to buy this game,but the payment method is kinda hard because i dont have credit card :/.I really want to play it.Is there any other way to purchase it?If u have it,that would be great.So i read about the Free Community Copy.What does that means?U know,just to make sure so i dont misunderstood it.Anyway.If u read and reply this comment, thanks.You are very good at making this masterpiece,keep it up.I hope u make a similar game just like this in the future.It's so goddamn good.I wish u will be a successful developer and gain a lot of money from it.Sorry for my bad English,still learning it :/.Oh one one more thing,why don't u post it on steam?It just my idea :D(Greetings from Malaysia)
Right now, itch.io and ko-fi are the only ways to support me, well, and Patreon too but that's different with it being more like a subscription thing. I'd absolutely love to have this and my other projects on Steam someday :3 It's just a bit too expensive right now because the last time I checked, they charge $100 for each game you want to have on there >.< and since I never have much money + this project is nowhere near completed, I'm just not at a point yet where I can afford to put it on there, sadly.
You're welcome to have a key to download what there is of the game so far anyhow :3 Just let me know where the best place to send it is.
Thank you for your interest in the game and your kind words :3 I sure would love to be a successful dev someday, haha. My therapist even said that there's probably not much point in me trying to pursue anything else because my mental health puts me at such a big disadvantage when it comes to 'normal' jobs!
And no need to apologise for your English :D It's good! I can easily understand everything you typed :3
PS. Love the username :D My brother quotes that a lot, haha.
Hopefully u can sell ur game on steam someday :D.Lol ur brother is a memer too?XD.Thanks for liking my username lol.Btw for real?You're going to send a key?Bruh u are too kind,i wish i can repay ur kindness :).U can send it on my Email
pls dont ask why i have too much account,i use it for gaming :/
Anyway,thanks again for making a great game and make my day a lot of better.Recently i through a bad time :/.
last but not least,dont apologize how slow your reply is.I understand how busy you are right now,hahahaha.anywayThanks again :D.Stay safe!
Good day! While browsing the Internet in search of visual novels about yandere, I was brought to your abode. I saw how you edited the sprites, making them unique. It is also very impressive that you have called voice actors, and also the possibility of choosing the gender of our love interest! I admire and really want to support your creativity, but my electronic card is not supported. So I feel a little guilty in front of you, but I really want to play. So I would like to ask, are you still sharing the keys of your game? Even if not, thank you for taking the time to read the text! You have wonderful ideas and wonderful implementation, it's cool that creating wonderful things makes you feel better! With love, from me.
Hey hey! Yeah, I certainly have a soft spot for yandere types, haha. Unfortunately, you're not the first person who can't use their preferred payment method through it, which is a shame. I didn't even realise until recently that they didn't accept certain types of payments and stuff.
You're welcome to have a key anyhow :3 Just let me know where the best place to send it is!
Thanks for all your kind words and for your interest in the project :3
Thanks for the answer! Perhaps a good solution would be kiwi, despite the commission, this wallet is easier to get than the others required for payment. It may be worth considering other options. The work should be evaluated, because even if you create a project only on the strength of your love, it would be nice to get a monetary reward for it.
I really understand your passion for yandere, huh, it's really nice for me to find like-minded people, and even more so to communicate with content creators. I feel like I'm talking to a star, so I'm very happy~
You can give me your blessing
Once again, I am very grateful that you are ready to share your creation!
You not only love them (they love you too), but also find an outlet in them, your quiet place. It's wonderful when hobbies help to alleviate mental problems at least a little.
I sincerely hope that your therapist helps you, and that content creation also helps you!
Thanks you! I am immensely grateful that you gave me the love I am looking for! I'm going to give some of my love to the beautiful creations that you created!
I'm glad you enjoyed it :D And your wish will come true because it will be longer at some point :3 The game is still in early development ^-^ So not only will Castor and Castoria have longer stories (what is available now is just their episode 1) there will also be other characters in the future too! It's just going to take me a while to make it all since I have a lot of content planned and I'm working alone, haha.
Sorry my reply is so slow >.< I'm busy irl for most of October, so I haven't been on my PC that much recently >.< Anyways, you're welcome to have a key if you wanna let me know where the best place to send it is :3
Are you the artist of the character sprites or did you hire someone to make some custom ones for your game? If yes, then I think someone ripped your Castoria sprite (and did some edits to it) from your game and used it for their own game they are about to release on Steam:
Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know about that :3 I really appreciate it!
In this instance, that person hasn't done anything wrong because I'm not the original artist for the sprites. They come from an asset pack sold by a Japanese artist called sasAichi, and once you've purchased the pack, you're allowed to do whatever you like with the sprites.
What this person has done is just take the original sprite directly from the asset pack and use it without making any edits to the original version. Whereas I always like to edit any assets I've purchased where possible, just so that they don't end up looking exactly like other people's if they get used in other projects x3
I just used GIMP to edit all of the colours to something different and more fitting with my project :3
This is a little VS thing I made a while back when someone on Twitter asked me about the sprites and the artist who created them. It just shows the difference between my edits and the original unedited version. It's great that you picked up on that and took the time to comment though because if it were theft of some sort, I think any dev out there would really appreciate being alerted to it in order to try and do something about it. Thank you again :3
Thanks for letting me know that it was an asset pack, because you never know.
I haven't reported the game or the dev in case you are wondering. That's why I asked you in the first just to make sure and to let you know. It's just that art/asset theft isn't so uncommon amongst indie dev crowd. Saw this happen often enough when Steam Greenlight was a thing. So I'm always supper sceptical.
Anyway, thank you for the detailed answer. Hope you have a good day, dear dev.
Yeah, it's better to be safe. It would absolutely suck to find out someone else was profiting from your hard work >.< I'd be pretty devastated if it happened to me, so absolutely appreciate any heads up :3
That sucks that it's something that happened often with Steam Greenlight >.<
It's not quite the same thing, but I've occasionally come across commercial games on Steam where I recognise the sprite assets because they're ones I've downloaded myself, and realised, hang on a minute... the terms of use for those assets state that they're for personal/free use only, and commercial use is prohibited >.< I'm guessing the devs think that because the assets are from Japanese artists, they'll never find out, so they can do whatever they like.
The first time this happened, I contacted Steam about it, but they weren't interested in what I had to say, even though I provided direct links to the assets and their terms of use >.< So I just gave up!
Hi, sorry to bother you.(⌒_⌒;) I really want to play your game, but for some reason I can't buy it. I tried to buy it twice, but nothing happens after entering the card details. Do I have to wait, or does this system simply not support bank cards of my country? ((Greetings from Russia(￣ω￣)/) Is there any other way to purchase this visual novel? ଘ(੭ˊ꒳ˋ)੭✧
Hey hey! No worries :3 Thanks for checking out the game and for trying to support the project ^-^
Hmm, I'm not 100% sure how the payment system works on itch >.< I know that one or two people before have said that they've had problems with payment methods though! You're welcome to try on ko-fi instead: https://ko-fi.com/melancholymarionette
But either way, I can send you a download key if you let me know where the best place to send it would be :3
Thank you for responding. But it looks like Coffee is not an option: on it, the minimum donation amount exceeds what I can give ( ლ(¯ロ¯"ლ)
I am very grateful to you for your responsiveness, thank you for sharing your creativity even selflessly! I hope sooner or later I will be able to repay you
I would love to buy this game but where I lived don't use any currency that is avalable in itch.io.So are you going to upload this on Steam If yes, I will be sure to buy this game.If No then it's okay I understand.Well It looks like I am demanding or something ,But I am not😅
I would love to be able to put the game on Steam at some point for sure :3 But that's quite a long way off, unfortunately >.< Cos the game is nowhere near finished. The £100 fee for adding a game to Steam doesn't help! If not for that, I would have all my games on there, but I just can't afford that kinda money >.<
You're welcome to have a key for itch though if you wanna let me know where is best to send it to :3
Hey! Well, for DD specifically it's currently going nowhere just because I'm focusing 100% on Spooktober VN Jam x3 And for me personally, I'm exhausted xD I don't work very healthily when it comes to game jams, so I've been doing 15+ hour days this last week or two in an effort to try and get everything for the Spooktober Jam project finished in time for the October 1st deadline >.<
I was hoping to get a little more writing done for DD before the jam began in September, alongside releasing the BxG version of Apartment No.9 before the end of August. I managed to get A9 out, but I didn't get any solid writing done on DD. I managed to expand on some of the route outlines, but that was about it.
August was just a crappy month for me in general though because I got a new diagnosis of bipolar and was put on this new medication that had horrendous side effects for the first couple of weeks >.< I felt more physically ill than any time in my life where I've actually had a cold or food poisoning and stuff. My therapist did warn me it would be a rough ride xD She said she could start me on a half dose where the side effects would be a little less intense, but that it would take more time to get past them because of having to slowly move to the higher dose. She said if I was willing to put up with the higher dose right away, the worst of it should be gone within a month.
I was starting to get pretty worried that the side effects were gonna stop me from even trying to make something for Spooktober Jam, but thankfully, the worst of it did subside in time for me to start concepting with my friend!
Since the jam began at the start of September, that's all I've been working on. With how crappy my self-confidence is, it's not often that I'm able to feel genuinely proud of the stuff I've made, but with this project for Spooktober, I can honestly say I'm proud of it :3 I'm working with a small team of friends and I think it's probably going to be my coolest project yet in terms of how beautiful it looks with my friends' combined art + also with the features I've managed to include. It's the most complicated thing I've coded yet and I've learned a lot!
That'll be out for free this Friday, and then I'm going to slow down my work pace for October because I want to play the other games submitted to the jam, but when I am working, DD will be the primary focus :3
I just saw Manly's video, and it was great, The game is great, the voice acting, the story, the characters, overall this is a great game, This game should get more attention😀😁.
Sadly tho, cant afford to get the game, my family is having a hard time at work and i am just here sitting...Although this game is really great(sorry i always said "game")
Aww, I'm glad you think so ^-^ There's still a looooot of work to be done on it before it's complete, so what was in Manly's video is just a tiny snippet of what's to come :3
Sorry to hear about the situation with your family >.< I never have any money, so I know how much it sucks! You're welcome to have a key if you let me know the best place to send it to you :3
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I've never really felt compelled to write a review for any game, so this will be a first! I absolutely loved it and adored both characters and the voice acting. The script was a delight too, I really enjoyed the writing and all it had to offer. I had originally seen ManlyBadassHero play the game a while back, but I could not help but buy the game and try it out for myself since I'm a huge yandere fan haha. I will say that I very much enjoyed Castor's voice lines, his voice is so sweet! I adore his adorable demeanor. I also loved how the MC actually had a personality and some spine to them compared to some MCs from other visual novels and otomes that I've played, it was refreshing.
I can't wait to see any future developments to the game, I'm really excited to see what else is in store. I also played a few of your other games afterwards and really enjoyed them as well. Thank you for making this and I'm glad to have supported you through my purchase. :)
Aww, well I'm honoured and so glad that you did :3 It always lifts my spirits to hear when anyone's enjoyed my stuff, so thank you very much for supporting the project + taking the time to type up some of your thoughts! I really appreciate it ^-^
Providing I can pull it off without ruining anything, MC should have even more personality in the next update because I'm attempting to implement a sort of personality system in order to give players more control over how MC reacts to everything :3 I know what you mean though cos I adore yandere characters, buuuut I can't stand it when you have a yandere LI (or any kinda LI really) + a doormat MC who just lets the LI walk all over them without putting up any sort of resistance x3 It frustrates the hell outta me, haha.
I'm super excited for you to see the big update I'm working on cos I've made so many tweaks already. Everything looks soooo much better aesthetically now + runs smoother. And then, of course, there's the new content! I'm only about 1/3rd of the way through revamping the existing content though, so I'm aiming for roughly the end of spring to get the update out since I reckon it'll take me the rest of March to finish the revamp, then another month or 2 to actually add the new content in >.<
I'm glad to hear you enjoyed some of my other projects too :D If you haven't already played it, I highly recommend Limbo Line cos I feel like that's my most polished project so far :3 The team worked their asses off and I feel like we managed to create a hell of a lot of content for a 1-month jam, haha. It may not be a romance game, but there's still a character with yandere traits in there :P
Thank you again :3
I honestly hadn't expected much out of this going in as I almost always expect visual novels to be very short as they are often made for game jams, but this was absolutely wonderful!
The voice acting is excellent and I'm really into the script which was extremely well written. The story itself was much longer in each version than I had expected it to, especially being fully voice acted. I found that the sinister route felt a little bit longer than the sweet route but that makes sense (good ole crazy yandere).
I'm super excited to see you continue to develop the game further. And if anyone is considering playing it, do it. Of course, you can ask the dev for a free copy or claim a community version but I think the game is already well worth the two-dollar asking price if you can spare the money, especially since it lends to its further development.
Thank you so much for supporting the game + taking the time to write such a sweet comment! I really appreciate it :3
Certainly can't blame ya for not expecting much going in because it's totally true that many VNs are short cos they're made during game jams, haha. That was exactly the case with this x3 I had an idea for the project as a whole, but I knew I wouldn't be able to actually get much playable content finished in the space of a month that the jam was running for, so I just had to try and think of a decent cut-off point for the game to work as a standalone piece for the jam :3 It certainly didn't help that I'd just switched engines as well, and had to try and learn how the heck to use the new stuff during the jam. Which is why it comes off a tad clunky. My code is messy >.< I'm fixing it all up though now that I'm actively working on the project again, haha.
The sinister route is definitely longer than the sweet route in the game's current state, yeah. I'm hoping to change that as part of the next update though to even the paths out a bit more because the endings in the current version of the game aren't going to be endings in the completed version. That was just where I had to cut it off for the jam. In reality, they're more like the very beginning of the player's path with that character. So I'm hoping I can manage to balance out the lengths of each path once they've split :3
Not only will the overall look of the game be slightly altered once I get the next big update out, but I'm also adding more choices and content to the section of story that's currently available + adding brand new story content for Castor/ia, and introducing the next character :D I really hope you'll continue to enjoy the game as it progresses ^-^
i was browsing through the website when i saw this game. it looks completely interesting and is my complete type of game! it has everything that i want and the devastating part is that i missed the change to get it for freeTvT i'm really sorry but can i still have the free version?
You're welcome to have a key if you wanna drop me an email to: melancholicmarionette@gmail.com
You don't need to write anything, just put your username in the subject and I'll know it's you :3
The $2 isn't really a purchase anyhow, it's just to help support the game's development so that I can continue to have voice acting + be able to afford CGs as well. Cos I don't have the money to fund the game myself x3
Just so you know though, I'm working on a big update at the moment that not only adds new content, it revamps everything available in the current demo, so anyone wanting to keep playing once the update is out will have to start over from the beginning cos too much has been changed for old saves to function in the new update once it's out :3
thank you! i already sent an email to you ❤️
I bought the game and was able to open it on Mac, but I've been stuck on the loading screen for about 8 mins now and was wondering if this was normal or if there's a problem?^^
Hey hey! Thanks so much for supporting the game's development :3
It's definitely not normal >.< The available content in the game right now is more just like a demo, so nothing should take particularly long to load.
Is it stuck before it even gets to the title screen? Because you could try the black screen bug fix version to see if that helps cos there's an issue with some computers on both windows and mac where they just black screen instead of playing the video background on the title screen.
If that doesn't help though, I'm not going to be able to even attempt to fix it at the moment because I'm actively working on the game with a huge update that I hope to release for roughly the end of spring, and because I'm actively tweaking and adding to all the code, I wouldn't be able to export a working version for any system right now because I've made a lot of changes >.< Once the update is out, saves from the current version will be rendered unusable because I've basically rebuilt everything and made a lot of changes so far.
I've actually already completely revamped the title screen. Since I couldn't find the reason why some computers can't load the video background and some can, I've just removed the video background altogether and replaced it with a series of animations built into the game. So not only does it look much fancier, it should technically work for everyone :3 So there's a chance that it'll work fine for you once I release the new update, but because I'm adding new story content and characters, among revamping all of the existing content, it's not something I can do very quickly, unfortunately >.<
If the black screen bug fix doesn't do anything to help you, and if it still won't load up once I've got the big update out, I'll need to send you a development build and ask for you to send me the error logs so that I can try and figure out what's going on. But please feel free to contact itch.io if you want to get your money back because it sucks if it won't work at all for you :(
Sorry I can't be more helpful immediately though >.< I don't have a mac myself or know anybody who does to be able to test mac builds, so I have no way of knowing what could be wrong with mac versions unless people tell me. And even then, it's difficult for me to fix things without knowing what's causing them >.<
Do you have plans to put yout game on Steam? I would love to buy it! Sadly itchio won't allow me to use my RUT account (Credit card here in Chile)
So I was wondering if you have plans for it (＾∇＾) I'm really looking forward to it
I'd absolutely love to have the game on Steam at some point, yeah :3 But the $100 fee to put a game on there is a killer >.< And I wouldn't wanna put it on there until there's more content because it's more just like a demo at the moment, and I read that you only really get 1 shot at promoting a new release on Steam, so you need to make the most of it.
So yeah, the plan is to have it on Steam one day, but it won't be any time soon :( I'm just a solo dev so development is pretty slow even though I work like crazy on my projects, haha. Once I've managed to get a few updates out with more characters, I'll start looking into getting it on Steam more :3
In the meantime, you're welcome to drop me an email to: melancholicmarionette@gmail.com
And if you just put your username in the subject, I can send you a key for here so that you can check out the demo :3
I'm actively working on an update right now though, and a lot is gonna change. So once the update is out, any saves from the old version will be useless because I'm not just adding more story content + a new character in the update, I'm also adding things like choosing your player name, pronouns, personality system, and more choices within the existing content for Castor/ia :3
Wow that's pretty crazy O.O
Your game really looks amazing so I'm totally looking forward for the news updates! And hopefully someday seeing it on Steam and get the love it deserves <3
I definitly would love to check out the demo ( ◜‿◝ )♡
I like the plot ^ - ^ im into stories like this *cough* I also like the character design both of the LI and so their V.A. ฅ'ω'ฅ Im just not used at playing with unity, especially if I want to save when there's a choice (｡ŏ_ŏ) I cant save it (;´д｀)ゞ but that's alright. That doesn't stop me from enjoying the game hehe
There's a lot more to come :3 I'm working on the update right now, and it's gonna mean anyone who wants to play will have to redownload + start over from the beginning because not only am I adding more story content & characters, I'm also making loooots of tweaks to the UI & overall appearance of the game + adding things at the start like the ability to name MC and pick pronouns (and more choices in general when it comes to interacting with the characters) so trying to continue from a current save would just break things in the new version when it's out x3
Speaking of saving, I don't know if you're using a normal mouse or like a trackpad on a laptop, but you should be able to use the scroll wheel to rewind when you come across a choice, so that you can make a save before picking a choice option :3 You can't rewind once you've clicked on a choice though.
In the new update, I'm going to add more keyboard shortcuts so that people can open menus using their keyboards cos I didn't know how to do that sorta thing back when I first made this since I was only just starting to learn how Unity works >.< and I know using mouse buttons on a laptop is super awkward x3
Thanks for taking the time to play + comment ^-^
Gambatte for making an update (๑ÒωÓ๑) 9 yes, I also noticed about saving before the choice xD I end up doing it from the beginning and some skips :3 thank you for the tip ♡ฅ(ᐤˊ꒳ฅˋᐤ♪)
Hi, the game looks so cool and its totally my type, but i cant pay it, can i have the free version?(sorry for my english im from Argentina)
It's okay, the $2 is only a donation to help fund the project's development anyhow rather than a purchase price :3 Just drop me an email to: melancholicmarionette@gmail.com
You don't need to say anything. Just put your username in the subject and I'll know it's you. Then I can reply with the download key :3
Wait did I just waste the chance to get free version????????????? Noooooooooooooooooo!
*sob* After waiting for so long lol *sob*
You're still welcome to have a key :3 Drop me an email if you like: melancholicmarionette@gmail.com
You don't have to write anything in the email. Just put your username in the subject and I'll know it's you ^-^ You might be better off waiting until I have the next update out to play though cos I'm making a lot of changes to the existing content as well as adding lots of new stuff, so when the update is out (I'm aiming for the end of spring, but ya never know what could go wrong, haha) I'm gonna recommend people start again from the beginning :3
Woahhhhhh Thank you!!!
I was able to get the community copy and Oh My God. This did not disappoint ( ˙▿˙ ) The full version was very interesting (￢‿￢ ) Both characters are certainly adorable! I do like to think they were from the same developer but different games, kinda like Solipsism Reigns ( ‾́ ◡ ‾́ ) I really love the ASMR style and hope to see more of it soon! ( ´ ω ` )
Yeeeeah, I don't really know what came over me when I wrote some of that stuff xD I think I'd probably been listening to some saucy Japanese drama CDs, haha. Back when I was cutting the VA lines, my headphone cable came out, and my friend who I was staying with at the time heard a couple of those 'interesting' lines, and he was like, WTF?! But you're asexual!! And I was like, yeah, but I can still try to write some low-key steamy stuff, can't I? x3 He was just so shocked it was hilarious.
I'm glad you enjoyed it anyhow ^-^ I'm actively working on the next update now, hoping to have it out by the end of spring, but things might not go according to plan >.< There's just a ridiculous amount of work to do cos I need to tweak all the UI + pretty much rewrite all the existing code because it's awful x3 Back when I made it, I'd only just got the new engine, so I didn't know what I was doing and kinda had to learn fast before the jam was over! Which = really messy code that I can't work with going forward cos it's just impractical, haha. At least it shows I've improved over time though I guess x3
can't access saves in mac version (Possible Black Screen Fix (Mac))
Sorry to hear that >.< Unfortunately, I don't own a mac or know anyone who does, so I can never test mac builds properly :( Which makes fixing bugs on mac extremely difficult.
Is it that the button to access the save menu isn't there? Or does it not show the save/load screen when pressed? Or something else? :o
Either way, what's currently available of the game is pretty much like a short demo, so you should be able to experience all of the content without needing to access the save/load system provided there aren't any other bugs in the way preventing you from proceeding with the story.
I'm actually working on the next update at the moment, and my code from back when this initial episode was released is pretty awful! I'm going to have to rewrite most of it I reckon because it's just so messy and impractical to work with going forward with the new content.
I'm also changing a lot of the UI and stuff while editing the old code before I get into adding the new content. So it's possible the issue will be resolved once I have the new update out. I can't put an exact time on when that will be though cos there's a hell of a lot of work to be done since I've essentially gotta remake what's already released + add a brand new character and other stuff. I'm aiming for the end of spring, but things might not go according to plan.
I'm also hoping to not need to have black screen fix builds in the future because I'm not gonna bother having the video background title screen going forward since it causes issues with some people's computers. It'll be easier just to have 1 build with a static title screen background rather than exporting 1 with video + 1 with a regular png file.
Please still let me know in more detail what it is that's preventing you from accessing the saves though, and I'll try and look into it to see if I can fix it for the next update :3
alright. i can access the save/load menu, but i cant seem to click on the save.
Hmm, that's definitely a very strange bug then >.< I'm not sure what on earth would cause something like that cos I don't understand how it would occur in the mac version when it doesn't in windows :( I think to get to the root of it, I'd have to send you a development build version of the game and get you to send me log files so I can have a look through and see if I can figure out what's happening there!
The problem is, I can't actually send a dev build because I've been actively adding to and tweaking the old code >.< I imagine it'd just come up with a whole bunch of other errors since it's a work in progress and a bit of a mess right now :( That's if it even functions at all in its current state.
So I'm sorry about that :( If I hadn't started working on it all again and changing stuff in the last few days, I would've been able to send you a dev build and just try to fix the issue for you by looking at the logs and then quickly exporting a new mac build.
I'm changing the save/load UI in the next update, so with any luck, whatever was causing the issue will be fixed, but if not, I'll have to send you a dev build once the new update is out so I can get to the bottom of it.
alright, i understand. take your time.
ok i think i found the problem:
the custom cursor (on mac at least) always appears on the bottom right corner of the mouse, so when i think i'm clicking something, macos thinks that im clicking on the top left of the cursor.
maybe thats the reason i couldnt access my save. sorry for getting you into this.
anyway the game is actually pretty cool
Ahh, right! Thanks so much for letting me know because if nobody ever told me stuff like this, I'd have no idea, haha. Now I know, I can change the cursor for the mac exports in the future :3 I'm probably going to design a different custom cursor anyhow, so maybe the new one will work better on mac. If not though, there's always the option to just leave that out of the mac version if it causes problems. I guess I can try to do some research as well into how cursors work and look on mac cos I'm clueless when it comes to anything mac-related >.<
Dont apologise anyhow cos that's really useful to know :3
I'm still working away on the update, almost finished with UI overhaul :D A lot is going to change though, not just in terms of content, but I'm adding things that I didn't have time to before, like a personality system that will give decisions more weight. Anyone who wants to play when the update is out will need to redownload the game and start over from the beginning because too much will have changed to make it possible to continue from an old save. There's a whole bunch of options at the beginning now to choose MC's name and pick pronouns and stuff as well :3
We need more otome yandere games, and yours are just too good. I pledged $5 (I wish I could do more, but I'm a college student out of a job for now), in hopes to support you <3
That makes me super happy to hear that you think they're decent ^-^ And thank you for the support! Honestly, everything helps more than I can even put into words! I'm not even a student... I'm just plain old out of a job xD But I treat my projects as though they are my job, even though they're also my hobby :3 Thanks again + good luck with college!
Hey! I came here to see more of your games since I've just been absolutely obsessed with Yandere Heaven and Love in Lockdown!! It's been such a long time since I saw such good yandere games, I just couldn't stop playing until I read everything. I wish I could support you, but unfortunately I'm broke...So I figured rating and commenting would be the best way to support for now ^^' Keep up the good work, I really look forward to seeing more from you!!
That's so cool! I'm really glad you ended up enjoying my other stuff :3 Thanks so much for playing ^-^ I have mixed feelings about Love in Lockdown cos that just didn't come out how I wanted it to at all x3 haha. I really struggled with the writing, and a big part of me wanted to give up and not even bother turning it into a game because I was so unhappy with my story draft for it >.< I decided to just make it anyways because I'd already entered the jam and didn't want to back out. But yeah, I'm not particularly proud of that one x3 So it makes me super happy to know you managed to extract some enjoyment from it despite my personal feelings on it!
Honestly, any kind of support means the world to me ^-^ So yeah, ratings + comments is a huuuuge help. Donations may help me continue developing games when it comes to being able to afford to pay people for their time and talent, but kind words are just as valuable! So I really appreciate it :3
You're welcome to gave a key for DD if you wanna let me know the best place to send it! OR, if you wanna hold on for a little while, I'm making everything free to download on here for like 24 hours or something soon to celebrate the end of yandere jam :3 I just can't do it right now cos I'm on my phone >.< and messing with settings on itch is just really fiddly on mobile, haha. So I can't put the sale thingy on until I'm actually on my PC either later today or tomorrow!
Thank you for your support :3
I think all the free copies are out for now, so I think I can wait! I'm currently playing Solipsism Reigns. I'm really loving every game of yours I've tried!! Thank you so much for considering your broke fans haha, I've never seen anyone like you before! I'll do my best to keep on supporting you the way I can!! And honestly, I hope you like Love in Lockdown a little more because it's seriously so good!! I hope you're doing well dear creator ^^
SR is a pretty long one, but also my oldest game, because yes, I was a little bit insane and decided to make a full-length VN for my first project x3 It ended up taking years, haha. I really should have started out with something smaller!
You'll probably notice that it's a lot more clunky than Yandere Heaven and LiL as well, not just because it was the first game I made, but also because it was made in the old engine I was using, which wasn't great, but it was all I knew how to use at the time >.< I think the new engine I'm using nowadays makes stuff turn out a lot smoother!
Well, I'm perma-broke myself soooo, I know the feeling x3 I can pretty much only afford new games by trading in old ones, and that usually means giving up 3 or more just to get 1, haha. So I'll always try to make my stuff available to as many people as possible :3
I guess I was probably too harsh on myself about LiL >.< I'm just glad that you were able to enjoy it! Because knowing that certainly makes me feel less like beating myself up over it every time I see it on my page, haha.
I've just been fixing bugs on Yandere Heaven + starting to try and get my DD project files updated to a newer version of Nani and Unity cos they're pretty out of date now. The problem is, when my stuff is so old that it's missed multiple updates, things always end up breaking when I try to update it all, haha. So I'm probably gonna have to spend a while just fixing all the files!
I'm currently exporting the bug fix builds for Yandere Heaven for upload tonight though, and once they're all up, I'll activate the free copies of DD :3 Unless something goes wrong, I should have it done by midnight my time (GMT), but I can always shoot you a quick reply here to let you know when it's live anyhow :3
Thanks again for all your kind words!
No problem dear creator!! It's great hearing you've been working so hard, I hope you've been taking care of yourself :D I hope you get more recognition!!
Aaaand, it should be working now if I've done everything correctly to set it to free download for a limited time :3
AAAAA did I miss it?!?! D: It's not free for me
I'm so sorry but would you mind if I just contacted you? I couldn't access my laptop yesterday D:
Yeah, it finished at midnight my time x3 But no worries, you're welcome to drop me an email! You don't even have to write anything. Just put your username in the subject line so I know who it is :3
melancholicmarionette@gmail.com
Hello, I was curious, if we buy the full version for 2$, does that include the future episodes if ever, or are they separate payment? Thanks
Hey hey! Thanks so much for your interest in the project :3
I made a little post a while back that sort of briefly answers your question, so I'm gonna be a bit lazy and link that since I'm away from home at the moment and can't type very fast on my phone x3 haha.
https://melancholy-marionette.itch.io/darling-duality-winter-wish/devlog/271784/...
I did give a more in depth answer in a comment a long time ago, but I'm not entirely sure where abouts that is to go and quote it/copy my answer >.<
The short answer though, is that (hopefully) this will be a commercial game once it's eventually finished. I don't know what sorta price it will be, but it'll have a lot of content. The current $2 price on here is pretty much just a donation to help support the game's development rather than an actual purchase. However, I'll always endeavour to make my games available to anyone who can't afford to support with money + make sure to take into consideration any donations as a discount towards the eventual final release price :3
Came across this game on explore and while i cant afford it i found manly's video on it and im in love with Castoria + voice acting!! wish this game came onto my radar earlier, love your work :))
Thanks for taking the time to write such kind words :3 I really appreciate it! Yeah, I owe Manly a hell of a lot cos if not for him featuring DD, not many people would know the project even exists still since I suck at social media x3 haha.
You're welcome to gave a key anyhow if ya let me know the best place to send it! OR, if you don't mind hanging on a little bit, I'm gonna make everything free to download for like 48 hours or something to celebrate the end of yandere jam :3 I just can't make the changes until I get on my PC either later today or tomorrow cos itch is too hard to fiddle with on mobile, haha.
I'm looking forward to having more time to myself this year to work on DD's development anyhow :3
You are the sweetest person for giving this game out for free, its downloading now :) thank you so much and i'm so excited to play!!
Hello, dear author! I just played your game, and I'm already a fan of it! Love the character designs, Castoria is so cute hehe. And the music is pretty good, too. I wish you all the best for the next chapter!
Thanks so much for playing + for taking the time to write such a lovely comment ^-^ I really appreciate it! I shall be working as much as possible on the next chapter this month :D So I'll definitely be needing that luck, haha.
I finally got to play this game and what can I say, I.AM.SOLD!!! Castor is such a bae, I can't hate him no matter how I convince myself that he's unstable and dangerous and he might end up killing me lol guess that's my type. VA is superb, art is flawless, story telling is amazing. The author is too kind beyond words. I am looking forward to play your future games, Melancholy Marionette! - Sayaka
I'm glad you ended up enjoying it ^-^ Hehe, yeah, he's kinda adorable and terrifying at the same time x3 Don't tell any of my other characters cos if they ever become sentient, they'll probably murder me, but I think Castor might end up becoming my favourite yandere that I've created, haha.
I'll be working as much as I can on DD's next update throughout this month, and I'm planning for it to include more Castor/ia content along with introducing another character :3 So hopefully, you'll still like him once you've been able to spend more time with him x3
came here from manly, made an account just to say bravo! very well-made looking game! can't play it myself, but I have high hopes for your future with it!
Aww, that's so sweet of you! Thank you :3 I've learned a lot since I released what little is there of the game so far, so when I eventually release the next update which will add another character to the roster along with more content for Castor/ia, I'm also going to have gone over everything that's already there from the old jam submission and tweak a lot of stuff to make it smoother and fancier :3 Cos while I was working on Limbo Line, I learned a lot more about stuff like adding SFX to UI and such, haha.
Can you not play it cos you don't have a system that will run it? :o Or do you just need a key? Cos if you need a key, I can give you one :3
It should end up being a fairly long game once all the planned content is released for it, but it's gonna be a pretty long journey to get there x3
Believe me when I say I'll be staying updated as best I can, and I already told a few of my friends who like vns about this game!
I would be thankful for a key though, would I need to email you?
Awesome stuff :D I really appreciate you mentioning it to people cos I am totally abysmal at promoting my stuff cos of my anxiety >.< haha.
Sadly, development is gonna be relatively slow since I'm pretty much working on the project solo (aside from the voice acting, of course :3), but once February is over, it'll be my full-time focus ^-^ I just don't have much free time this February, so rather than trying to get back into working on the next DD update, I figured I'd be better off whipping up something short for itch's first ever Yandere Jam to get me used to working on stuff again after I had a couple of months' break from project stuff cos of my poopy mental health x3 Plus, I mean, it's a Yandere Jam, and yandere is my jam xD How could I not submit something!
With any luck though, once I'm able to dedicate most of my time to DD, I'll be able to get stuck in and make some good progress throughout March and onwards :3 Most of the content for the next update is already written, I just need to tidy it up, finish it off, and get to coding it all in.
And sure, I guess dropping me an email to: melancholicmarionette@gmail.com is the easiest way! Don't worry about writing anything in the email cos if you just put your username from here in the subject line then I'll know it's you anyways :3
holy moly this is so well made- i had so much fun with this - that im really looking forward to more-
I wish u the best on this and ur other projects - i cant wait for more honestly but no pressure really
again thanks for the key
So glad you ended up enjoying it :3 There's lots more to come, but it's gonna take me a while to make it x3 Which is why I'm gonna do it episodically or it'll be forever until the full game is out >.< I'm quite busy this month and trying to make a submission for itch's first ever yandere jam in the few days I have in February to work on something short. As soon as it hits March, I'll be working solely on getting the next episode of DD released :3
wish u the best!! stay healthy and take care of urself
i wish this game was on steam so i could buy it ;__; cause i cant on itchio
I'd like to have it on Steam eventually, but the $100 fee to add a game there is kind of a killer >.< especially when I don't really have the means to promote my stuff. I will get it on there someday though!
In the meantime, you're welcome to have a key if you wanna let me know where to send it :3
i would love to have a key - should i perhaps sent u an email? and ask
Go for it :3 You don't even need to write anything. If you just put your username from here and DD in the subject line then I'll know it's you :D Just send it to melancholicmarionette@gmail.com
Just so you know though, I'm heading to bed for the night, so I probably won't get back to you with a key until I get on my PC tomorrow :3
Hey hey! If it was in the last few days, I've been away from home with little to no internet access x3 My best friend organised a few days away for us as a birthday celebration. I only just got back today, but we live pretty far away from each other, so I'm shattered from all the travel. I'll be back on my PC tomorrow though, so I can check my email and drop you a key then :3 It's just very difficult to do it on my phone cos itch's site is so fiddly on mobile >.<
dw take ur time - wish ya a good night
hello, thought i'd let you know i shot you an email a few days ago, i wanna play this game myself but i can't afford it. (Sorry if you're busy and i come off as annoying, i just really want to play the game, whenever you can, send me an email back)
My mail: tynatyn66@gmail.com
No worries! I wasn't on my PC yesterday cos it was my birthday but if you hadn't of written this comment, I would never have known you emailed me, as for some reason, your message went into my spam folder rather than my inbox, and I never check the spam >.< I managed to find it though after reading this :3 I've sent you a reply with a key anyhow!
I really loved the game and definitely would love to see more Castoria in the future. While I would not call the characters yandere per se, I kinda have a soft spot for yandere yuri with a sweet ending so I appreciated the gender neutral language for the player with a subtle hint that the character is female. I normally don't comment on them, or think they're well written in games, but I thought the sex scene in the full version was very well written too.
I feel sorry for Castoria (and Castor) as they're kind people with sentience and an obsessive love forced on them. In some ways, they're the victims though the protagonist had no way of knowing what she created when she made that wish. I guess my hope for them would be that they learn to become more rounded and independent people over time but remain with the protagonist.
Thank you. I paid above the minimum price and don't regret. I will look at your other VNs too.
To note, Manly lead me to your work (he got me hooked on VNs in the first place).
I'm not sure if you're the same person I've spoken to on Ko-fi or not (since the username is the same, haha), but regardless, I didn't wanna just leave your comment unanswered! x3
Regarding the gender-neutral language, that was what I originally intended to run with throughout the entire game so that players can sort of decide for themselves whatever they would prefer the characters to be. However, it did make writing the more risque scene pretty difficult, and I'm not entirely sure I possess the ability to continue writing scenes like that without referencing gender at all. So that alongside a number of players preferring more gender-specific language has lead me to think about perhaps just giving the player a choice of pronouns for their MC instead for future updates. Maybe it's the sort of thing I should be running a poll on, I don't know >.<
What I do know is that I don't really think about gender when I write for characters. Maybe my brain is weird or something, but I just don't really see gender when I'm writing. To me, all the characters could be any and all genders x3 So I like to give the player some form of choice.
I'm super glad that you thought that particular scene was well-written too because it's very much outside of my comfort zone xD I wanted to give it a go because I knew I wanted it to be a part of Castor/ia's character. But I myself am asexual, so it was a bit of an awkward one, haha. Editing the voice acting for that scene was uh, interesting! It was kind of like some strange form of embarrassing hell xD
I certainly hope I can show Castor/ia's growth (or escalation into further madness, depending on the player's choices xD) in a satisfying way as their story unfolds :3
Thank you so much for the support :3
Yeah, I'm the same person. :)
I think the gender neutral language is fine without having to add additional choice for specific pronouns but others may disagree. I guess it's a cost/benefit analysis of the extra time put into being able to choose pronouns but if it's easier for you to write modifications of scenes based on pronoun selection that's a reasonable adjustment, I'd just hope neutral pronouns would also remain an option as that would be my personal preference (I prefer to play AFAB non-binary people).
On the issue of the sex scene, maybe the asexuality gave you a more objective look. I was playing a different yandere LI VN recently, and the sex scenes in the sequel made me feel more uncomfortable, first because the author added a visual component which came out of the blue and just made me feel like clicking through the scene faster (I was expecting a before and after like in the first game) and secondly the writing wasn't great but I don't want to criticise too much as I otherwise enjoyed her games. That's before even getting into the issues triple A games have with using sex scenes. I think part of it was Castoria's voice actor was very good at making the lines sound genuine.
The character development is just my personal hopes. I have to put the appeal of yandere and yandere-like characters in the context of abuse I've suffered growing up and in a previous relationship and what that says about me so I think my hope they get a good ending is just a personal psychological need. A yandere-like person irl in a relationship who doesn't grow beyond that is going to end up in an abusive or co-dependent relationship unless their partner is very careful based on the experiences of real people with similar personality disorders (most yandere characters would be a mixture of DSM-5 clusters B and C). I've never seen it explored, usually the yandere ends up the abuser, but I could see a yandere character ending up the victim of abuse because they would be easy to manipulate emotionally.
You're welcome, you've earned the support. I'll continue to support in the future too.
i am here because of manly but all i have to say is nice shoutout lol
Yeah, I owe Manly a lot cos if he hadn't played this, hardly anyone would know about it still because I totally suck at social media and trying to get my games out there >.< haha.
I loved the game, it was so sweet! I'm not sure if you've said already or not but do you have any plans to have it available for mobile?
That's awesome to hear ^-^ I've been inactive for the last couple of months for personal reasons, but I'm back and working on my projects again, so, hopefully, the next episode of DD shouldn't be toooo far away since the writing is almost finished now.
I would certainly love to have it on mobile if I can manage it, yeah :D I only tried exporting one of my games for mobile back when I was using Tyranobuilder, and it just failed completely even though I was following a guide >.< I'm kind of hoping that exporting for Android and IOS from Unity will be an easier process, but I've yet to actually try it!
But yeah, I'm hoping to eventually have my games playable on mobile + Switch as well as PC :3
Ah, sounds good. Thank you for the reply and take care ok?
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I´m simping for Castor so much haha. I loved your game, I definitely can´t wait for more! :)
I'm glad you had fun with it :3 It's been slow going on the dev front due to a lot of issues in my personal life >.< but I'm back now and actively working on my projects again, so with any luck, I should be able to get the next episode out before the end of spring or something :3 Thanks so much for checking it out!
Hello i think your game is amazing, i actually can't think of any complaints, it was so well done i was wanting more by the end. Maybe in the future you can bring Cana(i think I'm remembering that correctly, hopefully lol) the best friend into the scene to create drama, external conflicts could be a way to make the good route have some intensity, but whatever you do I'm sure it'll be awesome, like your other games. oh btw just one more thing i swear, did you do all the writing? Because I'm super impressed, i thought it was top notch, you deserve an award. anyways cheers! Happy holidays! Looking forward to whatever you create :)
Hey hey! Thank you for playing through the game and taking the time to comment :3 I really appreciate it!
*Whispers* I see you're very perceptive with remembering Cana, hehe. I probably shouldn't say this because it's kinda spoilers at this moment in time, but Cana is actually the next character who will be introduced and I've already half-written their introductory episode! I won't say too much, but Cana and Castor/ia will definitely get to meet depending on the player's choices :D But ssshh, that's supposed to be a secret for now xD I just hope not many people read my reply to your comment, haha. *Stops whispering*
I do indeed do all the writing, yeah :3 I'm so glad you think it's decent! I'm always very self-conscious about it, especially when I'm working in a team like I did for A9 and Limbo Line, because I tend to worry that my writing will be what lets everything down when everyone else has done such amazing work with art and voice acting! >.< I don't have any proper qualifications when it comes to creative writing aside from my English GCSE from secondary school x3
Thanks for your support ^-^ Hope you have some happy holidays yourself and a super duper new year!
well thank you for making it i had tons of fun it was awesome. *Cough cough* spoilers? What spoilers? I don't see any *whispers* ok i think we're clear, keep going XD that sounds so cool, but also oh boy does that sounds like ticking time bomb, my boy mc is in for one helluva ride especially if he chose the sinister route this drama sounds juicy! Hehe let's go *cough cough stops whispering* anyways, i more than think ur writing is decent, it's spectacular, no where did i get taken back by the dialogue, it never seemed out of place or artificial, it seemed like what an actual gacha game yandere and a normal admittedly tactless mc would say to each other, hell, the fights even felt like they were already an
old married couples lol, it felt very very realistic, and honestly fresh, i so appreciate an mc who has his own feelings, and that there's gonna be problems and fights, it was super entertaining and refreshing, and it flowed naturally, so i can be invested and stay in the flow, definitely some top notch writing, honestly having a piece of paper to say you qualify as a writer is overrated when you've proved your skills over and over again in each game you make, just write what you want to write and read it over and over to tidy it up, if you think it's something you'd read and enjoy than you're done, you can't please everyone because everyone likes different styles so write it for you and watch as you will get more and more appreciation for it. Have a holly jolly Christmas and have a happy new year!
This is gonna be a long comment
So I stumbled upon this gorgeous game while I was scrolling through itch.io. I recently bought a new laptop so trying out every type of games and I'm huge fan of dating Sims lol. I always play on phone but I wanted to experience on laptop so bought this game. This is simply gorgeous I'm a huge fan of Castor now! Finished both of his routes. I am so sad this gorgeous game isn't famous yet! I really liked it that want to open a fanpage only for Castor. I'm a huge Simp of him now. And not to mention the sound effects, visuals, the voice acting! 😍. I'm waiting for its update!! I want to play it more.
I might actually open a page for him and write fanfics everyday. Sorry if I'm being creepy but I've played several other Similar games and I forgot them but I can't forget about this!! This is beautiful!! Is it possible to release it on phones? Then I would've shared it with everyone! I know it's hard but thank you so much for this. I shouldn't drag this so good luck with improving This game more I'm with youuu!!❤️❤️. I might draw Castor now cuz he is so cute UwU.
I kinda want it to grow like Obey me, Mystic Messenger etc.
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Sorry my reply is so slow >.< I'm a bit overwhelmed with everything at the moment and a lot of stuff going on in my personal life. I really appreciate you taking the time to leave such a kind comment though :3
I'm glad you enjoyed your time with Castor :D There will be plenty more content for him to come in the future + lots of other characters too. It's just going to take me a while to make it all, haha.
If you do end up opening a fan page for Castor, I'd love to see it :3 And I'm sure Castor very much adores having anyone simp for him :D It's not creepy at all anyways! I get really hyped about the stuff I'm passionate about too :3
I do hope to be able to release it on mobile at some point when it's a bit more polished, yeah! I'm not sure how it will go because I haven't tried mobile export with Unity yet. I tried to test it back when I was using Tyranobuilder engine, but it didn't work at all and I was just very confused xD Hopefully, it will go better when I attempt it with Unity, haha. I think a lot of tweaking of the UI will be required though so that it doesn't go all weird on mobile.
It sure would be amazing if the game somehow grew to that level of fame, haha. I doubt it'll ever happen, but I can dream x3 I'd really love to be able to earn a living making VNs someday, even though it's something which is apparently super hard to do :( It might be my only shot at supporting myself because my therapist thinks I'm basically screwed at life because of my autism if I can't manage to make a living out of my games, haha.
Thank you so much for the support ^-^
Sure! Take your time developing! and take a rest too. I'm sure it will grow more because talents don't stay hidden. I'll always keep giving my support to this game❤️❤️. I can't leave castor behind lol
I'm excited for future updates though ( /^ω^)/♪♪
Hello,
Just finished playing your game with Castoria. I just have to say I honestly loved it! I was highly impressed with the voice acting and how you did the sprites for the characters. The writing was really good. I also enjoyed how Castoria and the Protag both had interesting personalities. As others have said in the comments, the Protag not being in a blank state and a bit sassy was rather fun plus refreshing to see.
I played the full game and wasn't expecting that final scene at the end. But it turned out to be rather lovely with its resolution. I haven't played the Sinister "route" (would it be called a route?) yet, but the Sweet "route" has me wanting some more! I know you are a rather busy person, but do you have an estimate of when is the next release? If not that's okay! Just keep doing the great work you are doing here! You have definitely made a fan out of me! :D
P.S. Also looking forward, Solipsism Reigns BxG Version whenever it comes out.
Thanks so much for supporting the project and leaving a comment! It's much appreciated ^-^ Glad you enjoyed your time with Castoria even if there's not all that much content there yet!
I've become a little bit obsessed with having a crazy amount of expression changes for sprites in my VNs, haha. I think because I wish I could use Live2D but don't possess the skills, so instead, I try my best to use lots of expression changes and other forms of movement to make scenes look more animated.
I guess once the game is more complete, you could consider the sweet and sinister options to be routes, yeah :3 Cos the 'endings' from the current version are actually more like the end of Castor/ia's 1st episode going by my outline. So in a more completed version, it's more like you're sort of locked in to the sweet or sinister route at that point. Though, there will also be more that goes towards deciding which route you end up on eventually because there will be more choices to make.
My plan was to have an update out in time for Christmas this year that introduces the next character while also adding more content for Castor/ia since it will have been a full year since I released the first part for the jam. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to manage that after all >.< I'm still in the writing stage for the next part, and struggling to concentrate on it. I've got a lot going on in my personal life at the moment, and my routine has kinda gone out of the window :( I've had a lot of appointments to be up early for, which means lots of early nights to bed. The problem is, almost everything I've written has been done so during the night! I don't know why, but I can just focus a lot better on writing when I do it during the night, and I'm not getting the opportunity to do that at the moment >.<
It doesn't help that I haven't worked on the project in such a long time because I was working on a few other jam projects throughout the year. DD is my main focus now though :3 Even if I can't get the next part out in time for Christmas, it should at least end up being sometime in winter or early spring, even if it's 2022 rather than 2021.
And there certainly shouldn't be any more year-long gaps in between updates unless things go very wrong in my life! Haha.
The BxG version of SR is a looooong way off though >.<
Thank you so much for your kind words and your support :3
Sorry, for the very late reply! I didn't realize I got a response from you. Curse you spam! That aside, I did notice the expression changes you have in the game and it was very impressive. It is a lot of work but makes the characters more "real". Still good to hear that sweet and sinister will be their "own" routes.
I hope you have been getting better and life is treating you well. Looking forward to the next update no matter when it comes out. Take care of yourself and stay strong!
No worries! Most of my replies have been super duper late recently anyways because I'm just kinda overwhelmed at the moment and shutting down >.< haha.
Take care yourself and I hope you get to have some happy holidays and a wonderful new year ^-^
HI i dont have much constructive to say other than i really really love this project <3 ive replayed it more times than id like to admit....
the way the yandere sides of castor/ia reveal themselves and how the mc isnt just a blank piece of wood but has an actual backbone, especially the mean stuff they say to castor/ia! i know the art isnt yours but i adore how it looks, you picked perfectly! i wish you luck on your future projects and will be supporting you all the way <3
I really appreciate any and all comments on my projects, so thank you very much for playing what's there of the game so far and taking the time to comment :3 I'm so glad you've enjoyed it so far even though there's not much there yet.
I'm happy you like the MC cos they seem to be a bit like marmite xD People either love it or hate it, haha. I just wanted the story to have a protagonist with a bit more sass because they're gonna end up in a lot of dangerous situations, and I don't want them to be the type of MC that just rolls over and lets bad stuff happen to them cos I've played too many VNs with passive protagonists and it annoys me as a player x3 I do plan on adding more options in future updates though, so that the player has a bit more control over how MC reacts because I also understand how frustrating it is to have an MC act in a way that's really opposed to how you want them to.
I'm glad you like the sprites too cos even though I didn't draw them, I did spend a hell of a lot of time on the colours and creating additional expressions for them that didn't come as standard :3
I had hoped to get the next episode of DD out in time for Christmas, but I don't think that's going to happen because I planned for it to both introduce a new character and add to Castor/ia's content, and a lot of life stuff is going on with me right now so I haven't been able to be as productive as I would like >.<
Thank you so much for the support :3
Will there be a full version or is this the complete game?
Thanks for your interest in the project :3 The page isn't particularly tidy at the moment and some of the comments where I answered similar questions to this have been buried >.< haha. I'll have to try and organise the page better when I next update the game!
I'll give you the short(ish) answer, and then I'll also be somewhat lazy and give you the super long answer copy/pasted from something I wrote previously :3
So the short answer is that the game is nowhere near complete right now. What's available is more like a little taster episode for one of many characters :3 I made it during a jam that lasted 1 month, so there's not a huuuuge amount of content there yet. My plan is to have around 10 characters for the full version of the game, with about 3 episodes each. So you could call what's currently released Castor/ia's episode 1 I guess. I'm currently in the process of writing the next character's episode 1 + some additional content for Castor/ia.
The $2 is basically a donation to help fund the project because I have no funding outside of that to pay voice actors, and while I can continue developing the game without putting any money into it if the rest of it goes unvoiced, I feel like voice acting is an important part of the project since it was originally supposed to be an audio drama. I write the scripts in a way that suits voiced better than non-voiced.
Aaaand here's the extra long version if you want it xD
Right now, the project is in a place where I don't even know what an acceptable price would be to charge for the game once it's eventually finished because I don't have experience with releasing commercial games. I kind of never imagined I would ever have the funding available to me to make something to commercial standards. What I do know going by my outlines, drafts, and the like, is that there will be quite a large amount of content by the time the entire thing is finished. Definitely more than $2 worth of content by a long shot.
If you do decide to get Winter Wish, it's more like a donation towards funding the development of the project than a purchase, but I don't think there's any way for me to show it as such here on itch >.< Because WW is quite short and essentially acts as the introductory episode to one character of many.
The biggest challenge in DD's overall development is that it's a project which is pretty reliant on voice acting. Without the VA, it wouldn't have the same flavour I don't think. But VA isn't cheap. For example, after speaking to my friend Anthony (the voice director for Winter Wish) he informed me that to get Castor & Castoria's next episode fully voiced will cost around $800. And me being unemployed means that the only way I can afford to pay the VAs is through supporters donating funds towards the project.
Right now, I'm quite unsure what the best way to proceed is because it's going to cost a lot of money to get each episode for each set of characters voiced. Which means probably asking for some form of money per episode. At the same time, I don't want to piss anyone off who has already donated towards the project >.< because I really appreciate the support and I don't want anyone to feel like their money is being wasted or anything like that.
The other option, of course, is attempting to run a Kickstarter at some point! However, I'm not really sure if enough people would back it when it requires quite a bit of funding. My social anxiety also means I suck at social media and promotion, which isn't exactly a great start to a KS campaign >.< Especially not when the game isn't yet close to completion. So it's a tough situation really.
One of the main reasons I didn't keep working on DD after the jam is because I figured I would never be able to afford to expand it the way I'd like to in a million years because I don't have the money. So I kept it as a side project to work on and continued developing my main project (Clarity in Qualia.) Unfortunately, CiQ hit a brick wall in that I was hoping to run a KS for that in order to fund VA and a CG artist, but there was very little interest in the game when we posted character intro videos on YouTube and stuff. And it's a shame because that one is fully written and if I were to work on just that, I could have the game finished before the end of the year. But I don't know what to do with CiQ when it seems like there aren't many people interested in playing it. So now that I've finished the last couple of jams I wanted to participate in this year (otome jam + Spooktober VN jam) DD is my main project focus.
I'm so sorry for rambling anyhow >.<
What I will say though, is that I hope to always be able to offer free copies of my stuff to anyone who can't afford to support with money because I have been in that position all my life and I know how much it sucks.
TLDR
(I realise that getting funding from various methods could potentially end up quite messy when it comes to issuing discounts and rewards in the end, but I'm not sure how else to deal with funding development right now. I'm willing to go over all donations from all sources manually in order to make sure no one is left out come the full release of the project.)
Thank you for the reply, but may I also know if you happen to accept through gcash or any other services besides what is offered here?
I'm not 100% sure what options itch.io offers because I have my account set for them to just handle all of that on my behalf because I wouldn't have a clue what to do >.< haha.
I have a Ko-fi account and a Patreon as well if they're any help at all :3 The links are on my dev page here: https://melancholy-marionette.itch.io/
I don't think I've heard of gcash before but I can look into it :3 Sorry, I'm not very clued up on that sort of thing >.< haha.
Well,that was a fun game.The story is pretty cool and the voice acting is marvelous,splendid.Im really impressed with your hardwork.
I reached both ending and both of them are satisfying.At first,i was hoping that there is more ending need to be discovered.Hahaha.and as the results,it only have 2 ending which is good actually.The safe version is kinda calming and heart melting,i must say XD.And the second is very intense.Hahahah.
Last but not least,thank you for making this masterpiece art.Cant wait to wait more from you.You've done me proud,dev!Keep up the good work!!
Oh yeah,one more thing,i let my friend play ur game and this his comment:
"Well I'm not going to comment on every part though XD, but the charac-err I mean Castoria is looking gud👉👉 ,ahaha. The voice actor are well done, full of emotion, very "menjiwai".
Hope you can understand the last part :D
Thanks again!!
PS:Love ur character, especially Castoria lol.
Glad you enjoyed it :3 I'm very excited to bring the rest of the game to life! I just wish I could clone myself to make it happen faster, haha. There certainly will be more endings eventually :D Where it cuts off at the moment will be like the end of episode 1 for Castor/ia, and they will probably have about 3 episodes.
Hehe, and I Googled menjiwai so I think I understand :D
Thanks for all of your kind words :3
I want to praise your wonderful work once again! You have created something interesting, and I am impressed with your abilities! You can see how much effort has been invested, and most importantly, it was worth it!
I got a happy ending, and it was nice. Even though the story is short, I felt its completeness. This is perhaps one of the most important factors for calming the mind after completing something.
The way you wrote the text and set up the emotions, ah, during the passage I physically felt good. And then, when I went to bed after reading the novel, moments from the novel still echoed in my head.
I liked the scenes of proximity (both intimate and not so intimate), I was able to catch the empathy of the heroine, and everything that was happening resonated in me. Oh yeah, it was funny when I was playing a game where I was playing a game where a character was saying I should sleep, not play with him. Incredibly high level of care! And such involvement. Awww.
I am delighted with how smoothly you have written everything, both from the point of view of code and from the point of view of graphical moments.
And I want to emphasize once again how great it is that you gave the opportunity to choose a character! I am glad that I can choose a girl or a guy depending on who my heart desires right now.
I like it, thank you for creating this novel. The work is really amazing, I hope that you will continue to enjoy your hobby! It was music for my soul, eyes and ears.
Aww, thank you so much for your kind words and support ^-^ It means a lot! Yeah, I was pretty torn because I wanted to include more, but it wasn't a very long game jam that I originally made it for, so I figured that even though I have a longer story to tell, I needed to try and make it feel like it was a complete story in itself for the purposes of the jam.
As I continue to develop the game, I hope to be able to keep the option to choose which version of each character you want to interact with, along with giving the player some pronoun options for MC as well :3
It makes me happy that you enjoyed it so much <3
Woah,such a nice game.I love how the game turn from normal to horror.Remind me to ddlc lol.What a traumatizing game.Well,i try to buy this game,but the payment method is kinda hard because i dont have credit card :/.I really want to play it.Is there any other way to purchase it?If u have it,that would be great.So i read about the Free Community Copy.What does that means?U know,just to make sure so i dont misunderstood it.Anyway.If u read and reply this comment, thanks.You are very good at making this masterpiece,keep it up.I hope u make a similar game just like this in the future.It's so goddamn good.I wish u will be a successful developer and gain a lot of money from it.Sorry for my bad English,still learning it :/.Oh one one more thing,why don't u post it on steam?It just my idea :D(Greetings from Malaysia)
Right now, itch.io and ko-fi are the only ways to support me, well, and Patreon too but that's different with it being more like a subscription thing. I'd absolutely love to have this and my other projects on Steam someday :3 It's just a bit too expensive right now because the last time I checked, they charge $100 for each game you want to have on there >.< and since I never have much money + this project is nowhere near completed, I'm just not at a point yet where I can afford to put it on there, sadly.
You're welcome to have a key to download what there is of the game so far anyhow :3 Just let me know where the best place to send it is.
Thank you for your interest in the game and your kind words :3 I sure would love to be a successful dev someday, haha. My therapist even said that there's probably not much point in me trying to pursue anything else because my mental health puts me at such a big disadvantage when it comes to 'normal' jobs!
And no need to apologise for your English :D It's good! I can easily understand everything you typed :3
PS. Love the username :D My brother quotes that a lot, haha.
Hopefully u can sell ur game on steam someday :D.Lol ur brother is a memer too?XD.Thanks for liking my username lol.Btw for real?You're going to send a key?Bruh u are too kind,i wish i can repay ur kindness :).U can send it on my Email
pls dont ask why i have too much account,i use it for gaming :/
Anyway,thanks again for making a great game and make my day a lot of better.Recently i through a bad time :/.
last but not least,dont apologize how slow your reply is.I understand how busy you are right now,hahahaha.anywayThanks again :D.Stay safe!
Well, our whole family wind up using a lot of movie quotes in our daily lives, haha.
I just sent the key to the first address that you listed :3 So feel free to delete your emails now by editing your comment if you like!
That sucks you've not had such a good time recently :( I hope that better times are ahead for you and that you're okay.
You stay safe too and have a happy week :3
Thanks mate!
Good day! While browsing the Internet in search of visual novels about yandere, I was brought to your abode. I saw how you edited the sprites, making them unique. It is also very impressive that you have called voice actors, and also the possibility of choosing the gender of our love interest! I admire and really want to support your creativity, but my electronic card is not supported. So I feel a little guilty in front of you, but I really want to play. So I would like to ask, are you still sharing the keys of your game? Even if not, thank you for taking the time to read the text! You have wonderful ideas and wonderful implementation, it's cool that creating wonderful things makes you feel better! With love, from me.
Hey hey! Yeah, I certainly have a soft spot for yandere types, haha. Unfortunately, you're not the first person who can't use their preferred payment method through it, which is a shame. I didn't even realise until recently that they didn't accept certain types of payments and stuff.
You're welcome to have a key anyhow :3 Just let me know where the best place to send it is!
Thanks for all your kind words and for your interest in the project :3
Thanks for the answer! Perhaps a good solution would be kiwi, despite the commission, this wallet is easier to get than the others required for payment. It may be worth considering other options. The work should be evaluated, because even if you create a project only on the strength of your love, it would be nice to get a monetary reward for it.
I really understand your passion for yandere, huh, it's really nice for me to find like-minded people, and even more so to communicate with content creators. I feel like I'm talking to a star, so I'm very happy~
You can give me your blessing
Once again, I am very grateful that you are ready to share your creation!
I'll have to look into that then :3
Hehe, yeah, I'm pretty much just a crazy lady who likes crazy characters :D
I just sent the key, so feel free to edit your comment to remove your email :3
You not only love them (they love you too), but also find an outlet in them, your quiet place. It's wonderful when hobbies help to alleviate mental problems at least a little.
I sincerely hope that your therapist helps you, and that content creation also helps you!
Thanks you! I am immensely grateful that you gave me the love I am looking for! I'm going to give some of my love to the beautiful creations that you created!
That was really fun! wish it was longer, Castor was scary but I dug it lol, hope you make similar games like this in the future!
I'm glad you enjoyed it :D And your wish will come true because it will be longer at some point :3 The game is still in early development ^-^ So not only will Castor and Castoria have longer stories (what is available now is just their episode 1) there will also be other characters in the future too! It's just going to take me a while to make it all since I have a lot of content planned and I'm working alone, haha.
Thanks so much for the support :3
shoot i cant afford it :(
I wish had a dollars money
This is actually a good VN :((
Sorry my reply is so slow >.< I'm busy irl for most of October, so I haven't been on my PC that much recently >.< Anyways, you're welcome to have a key if you wanna let me know where the best place to send it is :3
Heya!
Are you the artist of the character sprites or did you hire someone to make some custom ones for your game? If yes, then I think someone ripped your Castoria sprite (and did some edits to it) from your game and used it for their own game they are about to release on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1712900/Other_peoples_fiancee_became_my_woman...
Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know about that :3 I really appreciate it!
In this instance, that person hasn't done anything wrong because I'm not the original artist for the sprites. They come from an asset pack sold by a Japanese artist called sasAichi, and once you've purchased the pack, you're allowed to do whatever you like with the sprites.
What this person has done is just take the original sprite directly from the asset pack and use it without making any edits to the original version. Whereas I always like to edit any assets I've purchased where possible, just so that they don't end up looking exactly like other people's if they get used in other projects x3
I just used GIMP to edit all of the colours to something different and more fitting with my project :3
This is a little VS thing I made a while back when someone on Twitter asked me about the sprites and the artist who created them. It just shows the difference between my edits and the original unedited version. It's great that you picked up on that and took the time to comment though because if it were theft of some sort, I think any dev out there would really appreciate being alerted to it in order to try and do something about it. Thank you again :3
Thanks for letting me know that it was an asset pack, because you never know.
I haven't reported the game or the dev in case you are wondering. That's why I asked you in the first just to make sure and to let you know. It's just that art/asset theft isn't so uncommon amongst indie dev crowd. Saw this happen often enough when Steam Greenlight was a thing. So I'm always supper sceptical.
Anyway, thank you for the detailed answer. Hope you have a good day, dear dev.
Yeah, it's better to be safe. It would absolutely suck to find out someone else was profiting from your hard work >.< I'd be pretty devastated if it happened to me, so absolutely appreciate any heads up :3
That sucks that it's something that happened often with Steam Greenlight >.<
It's not quite the same thing, but I've occasionally come across commercial games on Steam where I recognise the sprite assets because they're ones I've downloaded myself, and realised, hang on a minute... the terms of use for those assets state that they're for personal/free use only, and commercial use is prohibited >.< I'm guessing the devs think that because the assets are from Japanese artists, they'll never find out, so they can do whatever they like.
The first time this happened, I contacted Steam about it, but they weren't interested in what I had to say, even though I provided direct links to the assets and their terms of use >.< So I just gave up!
Hope you have a brilliant day too :3
Hi, sorry to bother you.(⌒_⌒;) I really want to play your game, but for some reason I can't buy it. I tried to buy it twice, but nothing happens after entering the card details. Do I have to wait, or does this system simply not support bank cards of my country? ((Greetings from Russia(￣ω￣)/) Is there any other way to purchase this visual novel? ଘ(੭ˊ꒳ˋ)੭✧
Hey hey! No worries :3 Thanks for checking out the game and for trying to support the project ^-^
Hmm, I'm not 100% sure how the payment system works on itch >.< I know that one or two people before have said that they've had problems with payment methods though! You're welcome to try on ko-fi instead: https://ko-fi.com/melancholymarionette
But either way, I can send you a download key if you let me know where the best place to send it would be :3
Hope you are having a good day!
ヽ(°〇°)ﾉ
Thank you for responding. But it looks likeCoffeeis not an option: on it, the minimum donation amount exceeds what I can give ( ლ(¯ロ¯"ლ)I am very grateful to you for your responsiveness, thank you for sharing your creativity even selflessly! I hope sooner or later I will be able to repay you
( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡
ヽ(>∀<☆)ノ
__φ(．．) My mail: olga20151977@gmail.com
Sorry about my super slow reply >.< I just sent the key now :3
I would love to buy this game but where I lived don't use any currency that is avalable in itch.io.So are you going to upload this on Steam If yes, I will be sure to buy this game.If No then it's okay I understand.Well It looks like I am demanding or something ,But I am not😅
I would love to be able to put the game on Steam at some point for sure :3 But that's quite a long way off, unfortunately >.< Cos the game is nowhere near finished. The £100 fee for adding a game to Steam doesn't help! If not for that, I would have all my games on there, but I just can't afford that kinda money >.<
You're welcome to have a key for itch though if you wanna let me know where is best to send it to :3
It's Okay I understand:3 Just don't over work yourself stay safe ;)
hows it going?
Hey! Well, for DD specifically it's currently going nowhere just because I'm focusing 100% on Spooktober VN Jam x3 And for me personally, I'm exhausted xD I don't work very healthily when it comes to game jams, so I've been doing 15+ hour days this last week or two in an effort to try and get everything for the Spooktober Jam project finished in time for the October 1st deadline >.<
I was hoping to get a little more writing done for DD before the jam began in September, alongside releasing the BxG version of Apartment No.9 before the end of August. I managed to get A9 out, but I didn't get any solid writing done on DD. I managed to expand on some of the route outlines, but that was about it.
August was just a crappy month for me in general though because I got a new diagnosis of bipolar and was put on this new medication that had horrendous side effects for the first couple of weeks >.< I felt more physically ill than any time in my life where I've actually had a cold or food poisoning and stuff. My therapist did warn me it would be a rough ride xD She said she could start me on a half dose where the side effects would be a little less intense, but that it would take more time to get past them because of having to slowly move to the higher dose. She said if I was willing to put up with the higher dose right away, the worst of it should be gone within a month.
I was starting to get pretty worried that the side effects were gonna stop me from even trying to make something for Spooktober Jam, but thankfully, the worst of it did subside in time for me to start concepting with my friend!
Since the jam began at the start of September, that's all I've been working on. With how crappy my self-confidence is, it's not often that I'm able to feel genuinely proud of the stuff I've made, but with this project for Spooktober, I can honestly say I'm proud of it :3 I'm working with a small team of friends and I think it's probably going to be my coolest project yet in terms of how beautiful it looks with my friends' combined art + also with the features I've managed to include. It's the most complicated thing I've coded yet and I've learned a lot!
That'll be out for free this Friday, and then I'm going to slow down my work pace for October because I want to play the other games submitted to the jam, but when I am working, DD will be the primary focus :3
I just saw Manly's video, and it was great, The game is great, the voice acting, the story, the characters, overall this is a great game, This game should get more attention😀😁.
Sadly tho, cant afford to get the game, my family is having a hard time at work and i am just here sitting...Although this game is really great(sorry i always said "game")
Aww, I'm glad you think so ^-^ There's still a looooot of work to be done on it before it's complete, so what was in Manly's video is just a tiny snippet of what's to come :3
Sorry to hear about the situation with your family >.< I never have any money, so I know how much it sucks! You're welcome to have a key if you let me know the best place to send it to you :3
Hey again, Sorry for the Late Reply.
I had some problems on life, i had dengue recently.
You can sent it on my gmail😊
dxmatter0@gmail.com
Thank you so much in Advance i cant wait to play this😁
Again sorry for the late reply
No worries! I hope you're okay now :3 I've just sent the key to your email so feel free to edit the comment to remove your address if you want!
Have an awesome week :3