Your Save and Load symbols are mixed up. Not a bit problem, but it feels kinda backwards to use them.
I'm a little sad you can't just refuse to take the job. (Don't get me wrong; It's a clear part of the game, but I like to have the choice to say no, even if the consequences for doing so is terrible. I'm stubborn that way. Being forced into things is not something I tolerate, not even under threat. I much prefer to be given a choice. Even if that choice is between 'work for us' or 'suffer eternal torture in Hell'. Which, hey! would add another ending option. xD )
Edit: There seem to be a choice for it a bit later, but I don't see why you can't try to refuse from the start....
I really hope there is a very logical reason connected to the plot for why you can't choose your own name... >_>
I don't get why people find it so upsetting to hear someone breath heavy over a phone when they don't even know or care who you are. It's not exactly dangerous. Or particularly annoying. Plus, the alternative is listening to people's sob-stories, which you're stuck with, so... might even be the less annoying calls, really.
(I mean, as long as you're not invested in your job. And being forced to work in any place is not a method to ensure work loyalty. At least not in my book. Perhaps a nicer person than me would care more about it.)
I do wish the MC wasn't so oversensitive about things. But I suppose if he wasn't he wouldn't be there in the first place. So it's not meat to be criticizing, because it fits the story... it's just that do-gooders annoy me, especially if I play them. >_> ....I'd make a much better villain than a hero or even anti-hero. And defiantly do not make a good worker at a call help center. lol
That's okay. I'll go to Hell in the end and meet the Devil and try and convince him to hire me instead. ^_^
Not sure why you can't direct the vampire to vampire feteshists, but alright... Still got a fun choice. ^_^ ...probably gonna get another call from the now angry vampire tho. >_>; I'd much prefer manipulating him into accepting it, rather than try to trick him. The effect lasts longer.
I do like this game tho. (In part because they let me abuse my powers horribly. lol Happy endings all around! ...I mean, save for Mallory... that turned out to be not what I thought... *sigh* I expected a more yandere-esque experience, not....that. But hey! Live and learn. Or die and learn...either way.... The rest turned out well tho.)
I DO love the Limbo-verse. I've seen other games in this setting.
And it's hard to deny that an office job with no chance of promotion is most definatly Limbo... or Hell. Actually, it sounds like Hell. I think Limbo is more like not having a job at all...or entertainment... and having all the food you want but it's all just gruel for every meal. ...no wonder Limbo is a part of Hell. >_>;
Weeell, that sucks x3 If the save and load symbols are mixed up on this one, you can blame the UI artist for that cos I just used UI from a Japanese UI art pack for most of the UI in this and applied them by whatever they were labelled as >.< Now I wonder if they were labelled incorrectly or if they tend to be the other way around in Japan or something xD It's not something I've paid much attention to cos usually, the buttons in VNs have the words on rather than symbols, haha. (And Lazy Polar Bear drew the UI for the phone and the PC :3)
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You can technically avoid going to Limbo completely by choosing the option to go home right at the start instead of jumping, but yeah, the option to refuse the job doesn't come until later as you found out x3
I'm the same way, haha. I don't do taking orders. The exception is, if I respect someone, I'm happy to help, but I'm not good with being forced into stuff. The more I'm pushed, the more resistance I'll put up xD
The main reason you can't pick a name for MC in this one is cos their name doesn't matter once they reach Limbo. No one cares what MC's name is, so they will just call em whatever the heck they want to >.< Rude, I know! But that's just how it is, haha. At least Nine is a gender-neutral name I guess x3
Phone breathing generally irritates the heck outta me, ooooor, I find it hot… depends on who's doing the breathing xD
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I know what ya mean cos we all have our preferred types of MCs to play :3
I know I personally tend to get really pissed off playing as most otome heroines cos the majority of em are irritatingly innocent and naive >.<
Out of all the MC's I've written, Loni in Lovestarved is probably the closest to the types of characters I'd prefer to play as cos Loni has a dark side and a lot of fight in her depending on player choices x3 I don't think it shows much in the demo, but she has some pretty fucked up moments later on in the game if on certain story branches. You can still play her as kinda innocent, but I prefer how she is if the player explores her dark side more :P
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I don't know exactly which endings you've found, but I guess you must've got bad end 02 by default if you saw the vampire call cos, if I'm remembering correctly, answering that call leads to an unavoidable bad ending x3 But if you don't answer, the main story keeps going :3
There is 1 ending in particular that is yandere-esque, but you've gotta meet a few different conditions I think to get that ending. I can't remember how off of the top of my head though cos it's been a while since I made this one >.<
I just checked the walkthrough guide though, and it looks like it's bad ending 04 which has the somewhat yandere vibes. You have to make it all the way to the final day while avoiding some of the other bad endings earlier on in the story, and then pick the ‘Go Home’ choice when asked.
There's a hidden extra ending AFTER bad end 04 as well depending on how you treated Niard, haha.
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Both Nine from Limbo Line and Loni from Lovestarved are stuck in Limbo, but like, different sectors of Limbo. Tbh, I think I would prefer to be in the neon dump that Loni's stuck in than trapped in the offices like Nine xD
Where Loni is might be kinda grim, but I couldn't do the whole call centre thing, and the lights in the offices are waaaay too bright for me >.< It'd drive me insane!
So glad you wound up having fun with this one anyhow :3
Don't feel as though you have to answer this, but did you happen to find any of the hidden numbers to call on the phone or the ARG side quest related to some of the stuff on the PC? :o
I know there's a lot that would be easy to miss since you're limited with what you can do on your break times in-game x3 I can't even remember how you find all the hidden numbers and side quests and stuff without checking the guide >.< I had sooo much fun making the side quest with the alternate reality game elements though, even if it is pretty basic!
I've wanted to include more stuff like that in other projects, but it just doesn't really fit in most of the stuff I've made or I haven't had the time in a jam timeframe to put in all the extra work of including something like it :(
Ah, I see. Well, at least now you are aware of it. And knowing about a problem is the first step to solving it.
Yeah... I really prefer people trying to manipulate me over forcing me. ^_^ I'm very hard to manipulate, and I value the skill, so I'm more likely to admire them for managing than being pissed off about it. lol
I see the logic about them assigning you a number I guess.
Haha. Well, maybe it's me overreading Marquis de Sade, but sexual things doesn't bother me at all. I saw a guy flashing me and some other guy in an ally once, and the only reaction I had was to hold back a surprised laughter. (I didn't want to discourage the poor guy. I'm sure that took a lot of courage, but lol )
I TOTALLY agree with you about otome heroines!
I have to admit my favorite Heroine would be someone like Juliette in the book by the same name by de Sade. Maybe they start out innocent, but they aren't held down by moral restraints and worry so much, and quickly becomes a villain when given the chance. That kind of thing. It just resonates more with me because that's how I am.
It's too bad that you can't choose the personality of your mc yourself. But I realize the coding for two or three different personality types might be hell. (Or the writing might be.)
I love writing myself, but depending on word count, I can imagine it would be tricky. My current stories only have 5000 words per chapter (well, some have 10k), and while I CAN write that in a day, I rarely do. It would be a lot of work for a full game, what with all the non-writing tasks in addition and all, I imagine.
It's too bad, cuz I kinda liked the suicidal caller. lol (Which is the only reason I was nice to him. Pretty sure I talked a few people -into- suicide. xD I really should never work at a help-line. It would be....unhealthy for the general population.)
I think I ignored mostly everyone else. I tend to laser-focus on the person I like, and ignore anyone I don't like. And by and large there are not many people I like. Both in games and in real life. (Tho I like more people in games than in real life.)
I didn't find anything at all I think. lol I decided to rebel against everything and see if I could wait it out like a prison sentence, while screwing them over as much as possible. As I said: I am -not- a good person to try and force into things. And I am vengeful as all Hell too. In the rare cases someone manage to piss me off.
But it's on my to-do list. I placed the game on the back-burner to try and solve the mystery in my next play-through. I noticed a folder and figured out the code, but didn't bother to input it, I think.
I had a lot of fun giving people terrible advice tho. ^_^ (I count my successes the same way a demon does I think. lol)
Mh... I think it's really nice that your side quests is just that: SIDE quests. I normally dislike puzzle games of all types. But if they are optional, I don't mind them so much since they can be skipped or solved as you please.
And it's always nice to be able to do the first play-trough with the uninterrupted story. Then you can solve puzzles or investigate things when you come back to the game later.
It gives the game a replayable effect which is nice.
(Which is one benefit of multiple endings as well, especially if it changes the story and not just the ending; It makes it more fun to return to the game again and again. And you will be more happy to invest in a game that you can return to again and again and still see something new.)
Have you played games like Seraphim Slum?
I think the coding is probably pretty advanced (tho I am guessing here), but the type of games that changes with each play-trough is very interesting.
They can be frustrating as all Hell, because you can't really save even if there is a save option, since the game keep changing... but it can also be fun when done right --provided there is a reset button once you reach the very end of the game. (Or a file you can delete to reset it, like Doki Doki Litterature Club has.)
I figured as someone who loves game creation and wants to improve, you might find this interesting. ^_^
<3 Thank you so much! Not that I can take all the credit personally there since we made it as a team, but still, I’m sure if any of the others see your comment they will be stoked too :3
And just thank you in general for checking out this particular game! Hardly anyone plays it, but I still consider it to be probably the most fun thing I’ve made x3 I always wish it had a bit more love, so whenever someone does actually play it and takes the time to comment, it really means a lot ^-^
This is killing me I've searched through all the comments and linked videos for this demon code and I still don't get it this is pretty much the only part I haven't gotten. I unlocked the SSL account and found the phone number 135 but then I couldn't figure out the password I listened to the voice attachment and it kept saying nine repeatedly so I entered NINE and Nine and nine and 9 but that wasn't it. This is probably a super simple puzzle and it's just flying completely over my head :/ Do the geese have something to do with it?
Oh, man, I wish the geese had something to do with it x3 I think I remember what it is, so I'll put it below spoilers :3 Thanks so much for checking out the game and taking the time to complete the random side stuff like this <3
SPOILERS
It sounds like you pretty much did most of the steps. I know you said you listened to the audio clip, so I don't know if you will have also done this, but as far as I can remember, you need to download the audio clip and reverse it to hear the true message.
BUT... to be honest, even if you do that, it's still somewhat difficult to hear the password being spelled out >.< It's probably a pain in the butt to sit and listen to, and it makes the tiniest bit more sense if it's a word heard before in a bonus section of a couple of my other games. Just in case you wanted to try and get it yourself, I'll put it a little below.
Hoping my memory isn't betraying me here since it's a long time ago that I made this game, but I think it's:
Anathema
I can't remember if it needed to be typed exactly like that or with all caps/all lowercase or anything like that though >.<
Hehe :3 I kinda just needed a really quick and cheeky anagram at the time, and that’s what stuck x3 Sometimes I spend waaaay too long agonising over names >.<
Yay, you gave Niard a compliment :D Niard would be very happy with that, hehe x3
Hmm, it's been such a long time since I worked on this that I can't remember off the top of my head exactly which CG that would be >.< I'm wondering if it's one of the ones I thought I had fixed in an old update but isn't fixed after all T_T Cos there were 2 CGs in particular where a tiny error in my code meant that once you unlocked one of them, you couldn't unlock the other. I could have sworn I managed to fix it, but it's probably still awkward to actually unlock both if you don't happen to have a save in a handy place :(
I think there's also a CG tied to a side quest which involves investigating elements outside of the game itself, so it could be that one! It's a side quest sorta thing related to Maddie's story, but I don't know if the ARG aspects of it still work because part of it used a Twitter account, which may well have been deleted due to inactivity >.< I can't actually remember the password or anything to check if it's still up xD
Maybe you will have found that last CG by now, but if not, feel free to post a screenshot of your gallery because then I should be able to determine which one it is that's missing and possibly how to get it if I can remember, haha. If you do decide to do that, maybe put a spoilers heading or something in case the thumbnails for the CGs spoil anything x3
Heyaa! your game is super cool! the image below is the last part of the gallery :> the first two were already filled so i guess what im missing rn is cg 34? Thank you so much for this!!!
Hmm, okay, I think I do know which one it is that's missing! I just can't remember exactly what the unlock conditions are without looking at the game files, haha >.<
Unfortunately, my main PC is broken atm, but I do have the project files on a portable hard drive I think, so when I get a chance later, I'll plug it into the potato laptop and take a look! :3
I would do it now, but I'm typing on my phone and just about to head out with my pops for a walk >.< As soon as I've had a look though, I'll let you know what I find :3
I’m sorry it’s taken me longer than I said to look into this >.< I ended up with a migraine for most of the weekend, so I didn’t actually make it onto the laptop to look at anything. I’m feeling better now though, so I’ve just had a poke through the files! :3
I’m so glad you like Bitter/Sweet too ^-^ Blythe will always have an extra special place in my heart with that game being more personal than most of what I’ve made x3 If you happen to like the voice of the Blue Blythe, the same VA plays a main character in The Graveyard Shift too (the protagonist if you pick Shearsmith to be male!) :D
Anyways, regarding that last CG, if it was number 34, I looked at the code, and it says that the unlock condition is related to the support video call with Reiko the werewolf! The call with Reiko yields 3 different CGs depending on your choices with her :3
The choice that unlocks that last CG is if you simply listen to Reiko during the call, rather than attempting to provide any sort of advice. Helpful/Harmful advice unlocks the other 2 chibi CGs related to Reiko. Just listening unlocks Reiko’s special CG.
That means so muuuuuch <3 especially considering you’re pretty much playing all of my least-played games, haha.
This one is still the project I personally feel is the one I’m most proud of even if hardly anyone looks at/downloads it x3 It was such a blast to work on and the whole team was so amazing I wish I could’ve worked with everyone forever!
I’m actually hoping to make a spinoff story set in the same universe but with a totally different MC and outside of SSL for this year’s otome/josei jam. Well, I had hoped it was gonna be for the 2nd yanjam/stained red, but I don’t think I’m gonna have time to make it for that >.< at least not without absolutely destroying myself in the process xD So it makes sense to shuffle my schedule a little bit to push back working on CiQ until June so I can try and make the spinoff for otome/josei jam.
You’re so sweet ^-^ Kofi is always better just because they don’t deduct anything over there so folks get 100% of what you send. Whereas on itch, they don’t take anything themselves if you choose that, but they do have to deduct US tax, and since I’m not a US taxpayer, they set the threshold at the max of 20%. Which means any donations via itch always lose 20% of what’s sent >.<
Please don’t feel as though you have to send something though cos you’ve already supported me before, which I massively appreciate <3
Thanks so much for checking out this one too + for your support in general :3
Ohh good to know about itch, 20% is a lot :0 I usually try to buy kofi for creators if they have it, but wasn't sure how much difference it makes.
If you ever make a spinoff, I'll check it out for sure.
Also, dw about money, I'm in a privileged enough position to support others so Imma do it while I can 🫶 Plus tbf, if I could, I'd sponsor the whole game creation because it feels like whatever you do, I'm THE target audience. Like I couldn't ask for more if I commissioned it, and it all lives in my head rent-free.
Yeah, I think if you can submit like a tax code or something, then you don’t necessarily have to have 20% taken away in US tax, but because I’m considered too poor to pay tax in the UK, I don’t have anything like that to submit to itch as I've never been given one, so they have no choice but to take the maximum of 20% so they’re covered legally or something >.<
It helps that Ko-Fi is a UK company I think :3 And they basically tell you that taxes and stuff are your own responsibility so if you’re selling stuff on there, you need to keep on top of it yourself.
As far as I’m aware though after having spoken to an advisor on stuff like that a couple of years ago, because I’m receiving donations rather than selling things for an income, and because I don’t receive an amount in donations that breaches a certain figure, I don’t have to think about any of that sort of thing, and a good job too cos I wouldn’t have the clue wtf I was doing x3
Well, it’s very kind of you to consider supporting creators cos a lot of people probably still wouldn’t choose to even if they were in a position to do so :3
I’m actually just about to make a post over on Ko-Fi and set a brand new funding goal since the current one was just reached today! ^-^
And man, that means so much to me I don’t even have the words x3 I guess we have pretty similar tastes, haha. Somehow, I still haven’t managed to make the ultimate yandere that always lurks somewhere in the back of my mind just out of reach xD but maybe I’ll get there someday!
I truly have no words; well, I do,as soon you will here me absolutely yap my praises. But this truly feels like something I ought to have paid to play. The art and voice acting is of professional quality, and fits the aesthetics of the game so well. And dont EVEN get me started on the OST; what absolute BANGERS. As for the story, it is extemely unique and nothing like anything I have ever experienced before; a welcome deviation to be sure! While this may have just been me being a bit blind to obvious hints in retrospect, the twist really did catch me offguard. I guess I really fit into 9's shoes, with my line of thinking; I was CONVINCED it would be the masked person!(terrible at remembering names). Quite sure I didn't get all the endings but I want to write this in the spur of the moment, so take this with a grain of salt; GOD I loved the silly little robot administrator! The Silly! So precious, spend the entirerty of my first playthrough hanging out with him, while most would've done this to find out more about Maddie, I just wanted to spend time with the goober!
Aaaaa x3 Well, I don’t have the words to thank you enough for checking out the game and then leaving such a lovely comment <3 I'm so glad you had fun with it! :D
I still feel deep down like this is probably the best project out of everything I’ve managed to make so far, and I’m soooo proud of the jam team, but it will never stop annoying me that this is one of my least played games, haha.
It honestly means a lot that you think it’s of commercial game standard :3 I poured my heart and soul into it, and I know everyone on the jam team who worked on it did too. With my low self-esteem, I often doubt that the things I’ve done are any good until people tell me otherwise, and as I’ve recently learned while attending a post-ASD diagnosis support group, autistic people like me are often unpaid or underpaid for what they do because of lacking the social skills to ‘make it’ >.<
It means the world as well that you like the OST! I think Limbo Line’s music was the second OST I ever worked on, so I was still in the process of learning as I tried to create tracks, but I tried my best at the time, haha. One day, I will actually get around to uploading my missing OSTs to YouTube!
There are a fair few endings and little hidden side stories and stuff all over the place in this one, haha. I’m not sure how long it would take to find everything, but it definitely requires multiple playthroughs picking different options at break times and stuff :D
That’s so cool that you had fun with Admin Acheros :D I don’t think he gets that many shoutouts compared to some of the other characters, but I agree, he’s definitely precious, hehe.
Thank you so much for playing & for all your kind words <3
Aww, sorry about that x3 Tbh, it would've been a lot of fun to make a dating sim spinoff of this! Heck, LPB and I wanted to make something set in the same universe with the same cast of characters and have them as romance options, but we've just never gotten around to it cos we're always busy with other projects and such, haha.
So glad you had fun with it though! Thanks so much for playing & hope you have happy holidays :3
Sadly, I just don’t have the time, and I don’t think LPB does either :( I’ve got other project commitments to attend to (finishing Clarity in Qualia, Darling Duality, Bitter/Sweet, Yandere Heaven fangame, and making more progress with the Masked Marionette) >.< And all that is gonna take me at least 2-3 years I reckon, possibly more. Would be handy to be able to pause time so I could work on more stuff cos there's never enough time in the world x3
Woo! ^-^ Lemme know if you happen to find any really bad bugs, haha. I’m gonna try and export fresh builds of this in a few months cos I know some small things need tweaking and I need to lock resolution on it to stop UI scaling issues going on when it’s not played 1920x1080 16:9 >.<
Working on a concept for a spinoff of this atm with Lazy Polar Bear :D so I wanted to make sure the original version works as well as it can in case anyone ends up playing the spinoff and then decides to check out this one after x3
I had wonderful time in this game and i think YOU my friend deserved a nice golden star pin and for whole crew 10/10 for there work. 1 detail: I dont understand what happened after two last choices because of same cloaks of 2. (trying to be vague for sake of others who didnt played yet) Its looked like crutch if you ask me but i didnt get all endings so i dunno maybe somewhere it explained already. (I absolutely love 669 voice its beautiful)
Aww, thanks so much for checking out this one and for all your kind words! It really means a lot ^-^ We certainly worked our butts off on this one, haha. There’s no way on earth we could’ve done it without such a wonderful team.
Hmm, did you go throughthe walkthrough? If that’s no help, you’re welcome to drop me a message any time and I’ll do my best to help if I can :3
And Niard loves you too :P as long as you give them plenty of compliments x3
Probably one of the most awkward effects I’ve ever done on a voice actor’s recordings, haha. I can’t even remember everything I did at this point, but it was a lot. The VA was incredible though :3 No number of fancy FX would’ve worked if it hadn’t been for the brilliant voice work recorded in the first place :D
this is incredible!! the overarching mystery was engaging, I love the premise (inside no9 inspo is 10/10 taste) and all the charas were so fun. nine grew on me so much over time and tava is just the best ever, they were my favorites so fast lol. thank you for sharing!
Thanks so much for checking it out and taking the time to type up such a kind comment <3 It never fails to make me mega happy whenever I see someone has played and enjoyed this one since it’s still my personal favourite, but one of my least-played projects x3
Also, *high five* for the Inside No.9 love ^-^ Interesting about Tava too! I was worried that they would wind up becoming the most unloved in the cast, haha. I don't know why, but I thought folks might like Nyari best, but then I read some stuff where people had said she's too bitchy and two-faced so they don't like her much xD
What system are you playing on, and in what resolution? :o It was designed to be played 1920x1080 16:9, so, unfortunately, if played in anything else, some of the UI can get a bit screwy :( Sadly, it rarely seems to scale properly to accommodate other resolutions, which is why I decided to lock it to 16:9 only in my most recent release and have black bars for others instead. Annoyingly, it still doesn't help with square resolutions entirely >.<
i had my suspicions but it took me until the old woman calling about the dead cat for me to realize this is literally the inside no9 episode cold comfort lmao
*High five* for getting that :3 Even if you hadn't, I think I did name the episode in the credits doc, haha. It's not the only Inside No.9 VN adaptation I've done either! Though it is the most elaborate one since this one has a heck of a lot of differences to the original.
Really wanted to go off in a lot of different directions with this one and build a different world while still incorporating the original story and ending from that episode ^-^ And none of it would've been possible without the awesome team I got to work with! I just thought it would be a really fun episode to build off of and I loved the way the story was told on the CCTV feeds.
Apartment No.9 is an adaptation of the ep Tom and Gerri. And The Graveyard Shift is an adaptation of the ep The Stakeout :D Tbh I'd love to do adaptations of all the eps, but that would take a ridiculous amount of time >.< even if I didn't add extra choices, paths, endings, characters, or settings and just went for a kinetic version following the episode scripts without deviation, that'd still take forever with how many episodes there are now T_T I will probably do at least a few more though over time!
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I came to play this game after completing the Lovestarved demo! Thanks again for making a wonderful VN, I thoroughly enjoyed my time:)
Your Save and Load symbols are mixed up.
Not a bit problem, but it feels kinda backwards to use them.
I'm a little sad you can't just refuse to take the job.
(Don't get me wrong; It's a clear part of the game, but I like to have the choice to say no, even if the consequences for doing so is terrible. I'm stubborn that way. Being forced into things is not something I tolerate, not even under threat.
I much prefer to be given a choice. Even if that choice is between 'work for us' or 'suffer eternal torture in Hell'.
Which, hey! would add another ending option. xD )
Edit: There seem to be a choice for it a bit later, but I don't see why you can't try to refuse from the start....
I really hope there is a very logical reason connected to the plot for why you can't choose your own name... >_>
I don't get why people find it so upsetting to hear someone breath heavy over a phone when they don't even know or care who you are. It's not exactly dangerous. Or particularly annoying.
Plus, the alternative is listening to people's sob-stories, which you're stuck with, so... might even be the less annoying calls, really.
(I mean, as long as you're not invested in your job.
And being forced to work in any place is not a method to ensure work loyalty. At least not in my book.
Perhaps a nicer person than me would care more about it.)
I do wish the MC wasn't so oversensitive about things.
But I suppose if he wasn't he wouldn't be there in the first place. So it's not meat to be criticizing, because it fits the story... it's just that do-gooders annoy me, especially if I play them. >_>
....I'd make a much better villain than a hero or even anti-hero.
And defiantly do not make a good worker at a call help center. lol
That's okay. I'll go to Hell in the end and meet the Devil and try and convince him to hire me instead. ^_^
Not sure why you can't direct the vampire to vampire feteshists, but alright... Still got a fun choice. ^_^
...probably gonna get another call from the now angry vampire tho. >_>;
I'd much prefer manipulating him into accepting it, rather than try to trick him. The effect lasts longer.
I do like this game tho.
(In part because they let me abuse my powers horribly. lol
Happy endings all around! ...I mean, save for Mallory... that turned out to be not what I thought... *sigh* I expected a more yandere-esque experience, not....that.
But hey! Live and learn.
Or die and learn...either way.... The rest turned out well tho.)
I DO love the Limbo-verse. I've seen other games in this setting.
And it's hard to deny that an office job with no chance of promotion is most definatly Limbo... or Hell. Actually, it sounds like Hell.
I think Limbo is more like not having a job at all...or entertainment... and having all the food you want but it's all just gruel for every meal.
...no wonder Limbo is a part of Hell. >_>;
Point is: I like this game. ^_^
Weeell, that sucks x3 If the save and load symbols are mixed up on this one, you can blame the UI artist for that cos I just used UI from a Japanese UI art pack for most of the UI in this and applied them by whatever they were labelled as >.< Now I wonder if they were labelled incorrectly or if they tend to be the other way around in Japan or something xD It's not something I've paid much attention to cos usually, the buttons in VNs have the words on rather than symbols, haha. (And Lazy Polar Bear drew the UI for the phone and the PC :3)
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You can technically avoid going to Limbo completely by choosing the option to go home right at the start instead of jumping, but yeah, the option to refuse the job doesn't come until later as you found out x3
I'm the same way, haha. I don't do taking orders. The exception is, if I respect someone, I'm happy to help, but I'm not good with being forced into stuff. The more I'm pushed, the more resistance I'll put up xD
The main reason you can't pick a name for MC in this one is cos their name doesn't matter once they reach Limbo. No one cares what MC's name is, so they will just call em whatever the heck they want to >.< Rude, I know! But that's just how it is, haha. At least Nine is a gender-neutral name I guess x3
Phone breathing generally irritates the heck outta me, ooooor, I find it hot… depends on who's doing the breathing xD
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I know what ya mean cos we all have our preferred types of MCs to play :3
I know I personally tend to get really pissed off playing as most otome heroines cos the majority of em are irritatingly innocent and naive >.<
Out of all the MC's I've written, Loni in Lovestarved is probably the closest to the types of characters I'd prefer to play as cos Loni has a dark side and a lot of fight in her depending on player choices x3 I don't think it shows much in the demo, but she has some pretty fucked up moments later on in the game if on certain story branches. You can still play her as kinda innocent, but I prefer how she is if the player explores her dark side more :P
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I don't know exactly which endings you've found, but I guess you must've got bad end 02 by default if you saw the vampire call cos, if I'm remembering correctly, answering that call leads to an unavoidable bad ending x3 But if you don't answer, the main story keeps going :3
There is 1 ending in particular that is yandere-esque, but you've gotta meet a few different conditions I think to get that ending. I can't remember how off of the top of my head though cos it's been a while since I made this one >.<
I just checked the walkthrough guide though, and it looks like it's bad ending 04 which has the somewhat yandere vibes. You have to make it all the way to the final day while avoiding some of the other bad endings earlier on in the story, and then pick the ‘Go Home’ choice when asked.
There's a hidden extra ending AFTER bad end 04 as well depending on how you treated Niard, haha.
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Both Nine from Limbo Line and Loni from Lovestarved are stuck in Limbo, but like, different sectors of Limbo. Tbh, I think I would prefer to be in the neon dump that Loni's stuck in than trapped in the offices like Nine xD
Where Loni is might be kinda grim, but I couldn't do the whole call centre thing, and the lights in the offices are waaaay too bright for me >.< It'd drive me insane!
So glad you wound up having fun with this one anyhow :3
Don't feel as though you have to answer this, but did you happen to find any of the hidden numbers to call on the phone or the ARG side quest related to some of the stuff on the PC? :o
I know there's a lot that would be easy to miss since you're limited with what you can do on your break times in-game x3 I can't even remember how you find all the hidden numbers and side quests and stuff without checking the guide >.< I had sooo much fun making the side quest with the alternate reality game elements though, even if it is pretty basic!
I've wanted to include more stuff like that in other projects, but it just doesn't really fit in most of the stuff I've made or I haven't had the time in a jam timeframe to put in all the extra work of including something like it :(
Thanks again for playing this one too :3
Ah, I see.
Well, at least now you are aware of it.
And knowing about a problem is the first step to solving it.
Yeah... I really prefer people trying to manipulate me over forcing me. ^_^
I'm very hard to manipulate, and I value the skill, so I'm more likely to admire them for managing than being pissed off about it. lol
I see the logic about them assigning you a number I guess.
Haha.
Well, maybe it's me overreading Marquis de Sade, but sexual things doesn't bother me at all.
I saw a guy flashing me and some other guy in an ally once, and the only reaction I had was to hold back a surprised laughter.
(I didn't want to discourage the poor guy. I'm sure that took a lot of courage, but lol )
I TOTALLY agree with you about otome heroines!
I have to admit my favorite Heroine would be someone like Juliette in the book by the same name by de Sade.
Maybe they start out innocent, but they aren't held down by moral restraints and worry so much, and quickly becomes a villain when given the chance. That kind of thing.
It just resonates more with me because that's how I am.
It's too bad that you can't choose the personality of your mc yourself.
But I realize the coding for two or three different personality types might be hell.
(Or the writing might be.)
I love writing myself, but depending on word count, I can imagine it would be tricky.
My current stories only have 5000 words per chapter (well, some have 10k), and while I CAN write that in a day, I rarely do.
It would be a lot of work for a full game, what with all the non-writing tasks in addition and all, I imagine.
It's too bad, cuz I kinda liked the suicidal caller. lol
(Which is the only reason I was nice to him. Pretty sure I talked a few people -into- suicide. xD
I really should never work at a help-line. It would be....unhealthy for the general population.)
I think I ignored mostly everyone else.
I tend to laser-focus on the person I like, and ignore anyone I don't like.
And by and large there are not many people I like. Both in games and in real life.
(Tho I like more people in games than in real life.)
I didn't find anything at all I think. lol
I decided to rebel against everything and see if I could wait it out like a prison sentence, while screwing them over as much as possible.
As I said: I am -not- a good person to try and force into things.
And I am vengeful as all Hell too. In the rare cases someone manage to piss me off.
But it's on my to-do list.
I placed the game on the back-burner to try and solve the mystery in my next play-through.
I noticed a folder and figured out the code, but didn't bother to input it, I think.
I had a lot of fun giving people terrible advice tho. ^_^
(I count my successes the same way a demon does I think. lol)
Mh... I think it's really nice that your side quests is just that: SIDE quests.
I normally dislike puzzle games of all types. But if they are optional, I don't mind them so much since they can be skipped or solved as you please.
And it's always nice to be able to do the first play-trough with the uninterrupted story.
Then you can solve puzzles or investigate things when you come back to the game later.
It gives the game a replayable effect which is nice.
(Which is one benefit of multiple endings as well, especially if it changes the story and not just the ending; It makes it more fun to return to the game again and again. And you will be more happy to invest in a game that you can return to again and again and still see something new.)
Have you played games like Seraphim Slum?
I think the coding is probably pretty advanced (tho I am guessing here), but the type of games that changes with each play-trough is very interesting.
They can be frustrating as all Hell, because you can't really save even if there is a save option, since the game keep changing... but it can also be fun when done right --provided there is a reset button once you reach the very end of the game. (Or a file you can delete to reset it, like Doki Doki Litterature Club has.)
I figured as someone who loves game creation and wants to improve, you might find this interesting. ^_^
Wow, your writing, story, programming, art, voice acting is amazing. Bravo!
<3 Thank you so much! Not that I can take all the credit personally there since we made it as a team, but still, I’m sure if any of the others see your comment they will be stoked too :3
And just thank you in general for checking out this particular game! Hardly anyone plays it, but I still consider it to be probably the most fun thing I’ve made x3 I always wish it had a bit more love, so whenever someone does actually play it and takes the time to comment, it really means a lot ^-^
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
This is killing me I've searched through all the comments and linked videos for this demon code and I still don't get it this is pretty much the only part I haven't gotten. I unlocked the SSL account and found the phone number
135but then I couldn't figure out the password I listened to the voice attachment and it kept saying nine repeatedly so I entered NINE and Nine and nine and 9 but that wasn't it. This is probably a super simple puzzle and it's just flying completely over my head :/ Do the geese have something to do with it?Oh, man, I wish the geese had something to do with it x3 I think I remember what it is, so I'll put it below spoilers :3 Thanks so much for checking out the game and taking the time to complete the random side stuff like this <3
SPOILERS
It sounds like you pretty much did most of the steps. I know you said you listened to the audio clip, so I don't know if you will have also done this, but as far as I can remember, you need to download the audio clip and reverse it to hear the true message.
BUT... to be honest, even if you do that, it's still somewhat difficult to hear the password being spelled out >.< It's probably a pain in the butt to sit and listen to, and it makes the tiniest bit more sense if it's a word heard before in a bonus section of a couple of my other games. Just in case you wanted to try and get it yourself, I'll put it a little below.
Hoping my memory isn't betraying me here since it's a long time ago that I made this game, but I think it's:
Anathema
I can't remember if it needed to be typed exactly like that or with all caps/all lowercase or anything like that though >.<
kiol sounds like i name i would come up with lmao
Hehe :3 I kinda just needed a really quick and cheeky anagram at the time, and that’s what stuck x3 Sometimes I spend waaaay too long agonising over names >.<
i also cant come up with names
used to be good at it though, dont know how the fuck im bad at this shit now
Kiol's male voice got me on chokehold and niard's voice is lovely <333 and i can't seem to get the last cg?? i think i missed something Tv
Yay, you gave Niard a compliment :D Niard would be very happy with that, hehe x3
Hmm, it's been such a long time since I worked on this that I can't remember off the top of my head exactly which CG that would be >.< I'm wondering if it's one of the ones I thought I had fixed in an old update but isn't fixed after all T_T Cos there were 2 CGs in particular where a tiny error in my code meant that once you unlocked one of them, you couldn't unlock the other. I could have sworn I managed to fix it, but it's probably still awkward to actually unlock both if you don't happen to have a save in a handy place :(
I think there's also a CG tied to a side quest which involves investigating elements outside of the game itself, so it could be that one! It's a side quest sorta thing related to Maddie's story, but I don't know if the ARG aspects of it still work because part of it used a Twitter account, which may well have been deleted due to inactivity >.< I can't actually remember the password or anything to check if it's still up xD
Maybe you will have found that last CG by now, but if not, feel free to post a screenshot of your gallery because then I should be able to determine which one it is that's missing and possibly how to get it if I can remember, haha. If you do decide to do that, maybe put a spoilers heading or something in case the thumbnails for the CGs spoil anything x3
Thanks so much for playing the game!! :3
Heyaa! your game is super cool! the image below is the last part of the gallery :> the first two were already filled so i guess what im missing rn is cg 34? Thank you so much for this!!!
SPOILERS BELOW ---------------------------
I'm glad you like it ^-^
Hmm, okay, I think I do know which one it is that's missing! I just can't remember exactly what the unlock conditions are without looking at the game files, haha >.<
Unfortunately, my main PC is broken atm, but I do have the project files on a portable hard drive I think, so when I get a chance later, I'll plug it into the potato laptop and take a look! :3
I would do it now, but I'm typing on my phone and just about to head out with my pops for a walk >.< As soon as I've had a look though, I'll let you know what I find :3
Hope you get to have a great weekend!!
Thank you so much!! your games are so addicting i literally just replayed bitter/sweet blythe cuz i missed the two blythe's voice so much 😭🫶
I’m sorry it’s taken me longer than I said to look into this >.< I ended up with a migraine for most of the weekend, so I didn’t actually make it onto the laptop to look at anything. I’m feeling better now though, so I’ve just had a poke through the files! :3
I’m so glad you like Bitter/Sweet too ^-^ Blythe will always have an extra special place in my heart with that game being more personal than most of what I’ve made x3 If you happen to like the voice of the Blue Blythe, the same VA plays a main character in The Graveyard Shift too (the protagonist if you pick Shearsmith to be male!) :D
Anyways, regarding that last CG, if it was number 34, I looked at the code, and it says that the unlock condition is related to the support video call with Reiko the werewolf! The call with Reiko yields 3 different CGs depending on your choices with her :3
The choice that unlocks that last CG is if you simply listen to Reiko during the call, rather than attempting to provide any sort of advice. Helpful/Harmful advice unlocks the other 2 chibi CGs related to Reiko. Just listening unlocks Reiko’s special CG.
Hopefully, that helps :3
Your games never miss I swearrr
Great story, characters and art. VA, UI and OST are all superb as usual. Everything comes together so well 💚
The whole team did great!
Would you prefer payment here or on kofi? I can do whichever
That means so muuuuuch <3 especially considering you’re pretty much playing all of my least-played games, haha.
This one is still the project I personally feel is the one I’m most proud of even if hardly anyone looks at/downloads it x3 It was such a blast to work on and the whole team was so amazing I wish I could’ve worked with everyone forever!
I’m actually hoping to make a spinoff story set in the same universe but with a totally different MC and outside of SSL for this year’s otome/josei jam. Well, I had hoped it was gonna be for the 2nd yanjam/stained red, but I don’t think I’m gonna have time to make it for that >.< at least not without absolutely destroying myself in the process xD So it makes sense to shuffle my schedule a little bit to push back working on CiQ until June so I can try and make the spinoff for otome/josei jam.
You’re so sweet ^-^ Kofi is always better just because they don’t deduct anything over there so folks get 100% of what you send. Whereas on itch, they don’t take anything themselves if you choose that, but they do have to deduct US tax, and since I’m not a US taxpayer, they set the threshold at the max of 20%. Which means any donations via itch always lose 20% of what’s sent >.<
Please don’t feel as though you have to send something though cos you’ve already supported me before, which I massively appreciate <3
Thanks so much for checking out this one too + for your support in general :3
Ohh good to know about itch, 20% is a lot :0 I usually try to buy kofi for creators if they have it, but wasn't sure how much difference it makes.
If you ever make a spinoff, I'll check it out for sure.
Also, dw about money, I'm in a privileged enough position to support others so Imma do it while I can 🫶 Plus tbf, if I could, I'd sponsor the whole game creation because it feels like whatever you do, I'm THE target audience. Like I couldn't ask for more if I commissioned it, and it all lives in my head rent-free.
Yeah, I think if you can submit like a tax code or something, then you don’t necessarily have to have 20% taken away in US tax, but because I’m considered too poor to pay tax in the UK, I don’t have anything like that to submit to itch as I've never been given one, so they have no choice but to take the maximum of 20% so they’re covered legally or something >.<
It helps that Ko-Fi is a UK company I think :3 And they basically tell you that taxes and stuff are your own responsibility so if you’re selling stuff on there, you need to keep on top of it yourself.
As far as I’m aware though after having spoken to an advisor on stuff like that a couple of years ago, because I’m receiving donations rather than selling things for an income, and because I don’t receive an amount in donations that breaches a certain figure, I don’t have to think about any of that sort of thing, and a good job too cos I wouldn’t have the clue wtf I was doing x3
Well, it’s very kind of you to consider supporting creators cos a lot of people probably still wouldn’t choose to even if they were in a position to do so :3
I’m actually just about to make a post over on Ko-Fi and set a brand new funding goal since the current one was just reached today! ^-^
And man, that means so much to me I don’t even have the words x3 I guess we have pretty similar tastes, haha. Somehow, I still haven’t managed to make the ultimate yandere that always lurks somewhere in the back of my mind just out of reach xD but maybe I’ll get there someday!
I truly have no words; well, I do,as soon you will here me absolutely yap my praises. But this truly feels like something I ought to have paid to play. The art and voice acting is of professional quality, and fits the aesthetics of the game so well. And dont EVEN get me started on the OST; what absolute BANGERS. As for the story, it is extemely unique and nothing like anything I have ever experienced before; a welcome deviation to be sure! While this may have just been me being a bit blind to obvious hints in retrospect, the twist really did catch me offguard. I guess I really fit into 9's shoes, with my line of thinking; I was CONVINCED it would be the masked person!(terrible at remembering names). Quite sure I didn't get all the endings but I want to write this in the spur of the moment, so take this with a grain of salt; GOD I loved the silly little robot administrator! The Silly! So precious, spend the entirerty of my first playthrough hanging out with him, while most would've done this to find out more about Maddie, I just wanted to spend time with the goober!
Aaaaa x3 Well, I don’t have the words to thank you enough for checking out the game and then leaving such a lovely comment <3 I'm so glad you had fun with it! :D
I still feel deep down like this is probably the best project out of everything I’ve managed to make so far, and I’m soooo proud of the jam team, but it will never stop annoying me that this is one of my least played games, haha.
It honestly means a lot that you think it’s of commercial game standard :3 I poured my heart and soul into it, and I know everyone on the jam team who worked on it did too. With my low self-esteem, I often doubt that the things I’ve done are any good until people tell me otherwise, and as I’ve recently learned while attending a post-ASD diagnosis support group, autistic people like me are often unpaid or underpaid for what they do because of lacking the social skills to ‘make it’ >.<
It means the world as well that you like the OST! I think Limbo Line’s music was the second OST I ever worked on, so I was still in the process of learning as I tried to create tracks, but I tried my best at the time, haha. One day, I will actually get around to uploading my missing OSTs to YouTube!
There are a fair few endings and little hidden side stories and stuff all over the place in this one, haha. I’m not sure how long it would take to find everything, but it definitely requires multiple playthroughs picking different options at break times and stuff :D
That’s so cool that you had fun with Admin Acheros :D I don’t think he gets that many shoutouts compared to some of the other characters, but I agree, he’s definitely precious, hehe.
Thank you so much for playing & for all your kind words <3
The game was absolutely cool but too bad I didn't get to date Tava as I wanted :P
Aww, sorry about that x3 Tbh, it would've been a lot of fun to make a dating sim spinoff of this! Heck, LPB and I wanted to make something set in the same universe with the same cast of characters and have them as romance options, but we've just never gotten around to it cos we're always busy with other projects and such, haha.
So glad you had fun with it though! Thanks so much for playing & hope you have happy holidays :3
Perhaps you could start now?
Sadly, I just don’t have the time, and I don’t think LPB does either :( I’ve got other project commitments to attend to (finishing Clarity in Qualia, Darling Duality, Bitter/Sweet, Yandere Heaven fangame, and making more progress with the Masked Marionette) >.< And all that is gonna take me at least 2-3 years I reckon, possibly more. Would be handy to be able to pause time so I could work on more stuff cos there's never enough time in the world x3
Hope 2024 is going well for you so far!
I haven't played this one yet but soon I will !!
Noice :D Hope you end up having fun with it whenever you do :3
I came back to this after a while... ahhh I'm going to start it now hehe :3
Woo! ^-^ Lemme know if you happen to find any really bad bugs, haha. I’m gonna try and export fresh builds of this in a few months cos I know some small things need tweaking and I need to lock resolution on it to stop UI scaling issues going on when it’s not played 1920x1080 16:9 >.<
Working on a concept for a spinoff of this atm with Lazy Polar Bear :D so I wanted to make sure the original version works as well as it can in case anyone ends up playing the spinoff and then decides to check out this one after x3
I had wonderful time in this game and i think YOU my friend deserved a nice golden star pin and for whole crew 10/10 for there work.
1 detail: I dont understand what happened after two last choices because of same cloaks of 2.
(trying to be vague for sake of others who didnt played yet)
Its looked like crutch if you ask me but i didnt get all endings so i dunno maybe somewhere it explained already.
(I absolutely love 669 voice its beautiful)
Aww, thanks so much for checking out this one and for all your kind words! It really means a lot ^-^ We certainly worked our butts off on this one, haha. There’s no way on earth we could’ve done it without such a wonderful team.
Hmm, did you go through the walkthrough? If that’s no help, you’re welcome to drop me a message any time and I’ll do my best to help if I can :3
i love niard their voice is so lovely i'm simping
And Niard loves you too :P as long as you give them plenty of compliments x3
Probably one of the most awkward effects I’ve ever done on a voice actor’s recordings, haha. I can’t even remember everything I did at this point, but it was a lot. The VA was incredible though :3 No number of fancy FX would’ve worked if it hadn’t been for the brilliant voice work recorded in the first place :D
this is incredible!! the overarching mystery was engaging, I love the premise (inside no9 inspo is 10/10 taste) and all the charas were so fun. nine grew on me so much over time and tava is just the best ever, they were my favorites so fast lol. thank you for sharing!
Thanks so much for checking it out and taking the time to type up such a kind comment <3 It never fails to make me mega happy whenever I see someone has played and enjoyed this one since it’s still my personal favourite, but one of my least-played projects x3
Also, *high five* for the Inside No.9 love ^-^ Interesting about Tava too! I was worried that they would wind up becoming the most unloved in the cast, haha. I don't know why, but I thought folks might like Nyari best, but then I read some stuff where people had said she's too bitchy and two-faced so they don't like her much xD
Hey just wanted to say that the text goes sometimes off screen
What system are you playing on, and in what resolution? :o It was designed to be played 1920x1080 16:9, so, unfortunately, if played in anything else, some of the UI can get a bit screwy :( Sadly, it rarely seems to scale properly to accommodate other resolutions, which is why I decided to lock it to 16:9 only in my most recent release and have black bars for others instead. Annoyingly, it still doesn't help with square resolutions entirely >.<
i had my suspicions but it took me until the old woman calling about the dead cat for me to realize this is literally the inside no9 episode cold comfort lmao
*High five* for getting that :3 Even if you hadn't, I think I did name the episode in the credits doc, haha. It's not the only Inside No.9 VN adaptation I've done either! Though it is the most elaborate one since this one has a heck of a lot of differences to the original.
Really wanted to go off in a lot of different directions with this one and build a different world while still incorporating the original story and ending from that episode ^-^ And none of it would've been possible without the awesome team I got to work with! I just thought it would be a really fun episode to build off of and I loved the way the story was told on the CCTV feeds.
Apartment No.9 is an adaptation of the ep Tom and Gerri. And The Graveyard Shift is an adaptation of the ep The Stakeout :D Tbh I'd love to do adaptations of all the eps, but that would take a ridiculous amount of time >.< even if I didn't add extra choices, paths, endings, characters, or settings and just went for a kinetic version following the episode scripts without deviation, that'd still take forever with how many episodes there are now T_T I will probably do at least a few more though over time!