A downloadable sinister situation for Windows, macOS, and Linux

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Awakening in a dank space, suffocated by your surroundings, one question burns bright in your mind above all others.

Where am I?

That first thought enters your mind as you open your eyes only to witness all-encompassing darkness.

What's going on?

Another question follows when you realise you're restrained.

And so you wriggle desperately, attempting to escape your confinement, when a voice rings out, shattering the deathly silence.

"Patience, my dearest. It's still too soon."

You don't know who you are or how it even happened, but you have fallen prey to this person.


The Hostage was created under various restrictions & limitations for O2A2 Jam 2023 + Major Jam 6: Life 2023. As such, there are 2 different main versions, the O2A2 Jam version, and the Director's Cut version.

!!! Recommended version for most players !!!
[ Director's Cut ]


O2A2 version features

  • 1000 words (including 3 choices & 3 endings)
  • 1 original BGM track
  • 1 sprite
  • 1 background
  • 1 SFX
  • 1 voice actor (masculine)

Director's Cut version features

  • Slightly extended word count with 1 extra ending
  • 4 choices & 4 endings
  • Extended OST
    (with an additional 5 variations/arrangements for a total of 6 tracks)
  • 2 sprites (choose your captor)
  • Additional backgrounds for some endings
  • More SFX
  • 2 voice actors
    (choose between a masculine or feminine voice for your captor)
  • An unlockable extras section

Whichever version you play, it takes roughly 15-20 minutes to reach an ending if you listen to all the voice acting.

Wondering where the video versions went? Read this post here.

Warnings/Triggers

Flashing/Shaking Images
Confinement
Disturbing Language/Behaviour

Click the dropdown below for more detailed warnings/triggers including spoilers.

CONTENT WARNING [Off-Screen/Discussed] Attempted Murder, Branding, Captivity/Confinement, Death, Demons, Depersonalisation, Genocide, Hostage Situation, Imprisonment, Kidnapping, Loss of Autonomy, Murder. [On-Screen/Graphic] Depersonalisation, Derealisation, Hallucinations. [Mentioned] Asphxia, Massacres/Mass Murder, Mind Control. [Theme] Abuse (psychological abuse), Amnesia/Memory Loss, Captivity/Confinement, Depersonalisation, Derealisation, Hostage Situation, Imprisonment, Kidnapping, Loss of Autonomy.


Help & Support

Need help opening the game on Mac? Take a look at this post here.

Found a bug that needs squashing? Please report it here with as much detail as possible, and I'll do my best to fix what I can.

If you need a guide to reach all the endings, I wrote up a brief one here :3

Credits

Written & Created by Melancholy Marionette
OST - Melancholy Marionette
Masculine CV - Philip Kraaijenhof
Feminine CV - Emilie Brewer - Twitter/X
(for a full list of credits including edited assets, please see the text document in the game folder)





Download

Download NowName your own price

Click download now to get access to the following files:

The Hostage - Director's Cut - Windows 237 MB
The Hostage - O2A2 Jam Version - Windows 59 MB
The Hostage - Director's Cut - Mac 240 MB
The Hostage - O2A2 Jam Version - Mac 62 MB
The Hostage - Director's Cut - Linux 242 MB
The Hostage - O2A2 Version - Linux 64 MB
The Hostage OST 259 MB
if you pay $5 USD or more

Development log

Comments

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Viewing most recent comments 1 to 40 of 48 · Next page · Last page
(+2)

Hi from Spain! (and sorry for my english) I don't know how to put the words to say how AWESOME was this game for me ;; I LOVE IT, no, rlly, the concept, the story, the art, the ost and the va's voices, is all just perfect. All of u did an amazing job and it shows <3 I just have a question, where can I listen the ost? Bc I loved the music a lot but I can't find anywhere to listen to it :'(

(+1)

NVM I found ur youtube channel hahah ^^' <3

(+1)

And no worries, haha. I’m not very good at making it easy to find my stuff x3 I should probably put a link on the main game page or something!

I had a lot of fun making the music :D I’m hoping to make an OST with similar vibes for a different game jam project this year :3

(+1)

Hi hi! You don’t need to apologise :3 Your English is far better than my Spanish because I have never been taught any Spanish at all T_T When I was at school, we only had 1 option for learning a foreign language (French) and the teacher didn’t turn up most of the time! x3

I have tried to learn other languages using apps, but I never seem to get very far until it makes you pay to keep going, and then I have to stop >.<

Anyways, I’m so glad you had fun with the game :D It was a bit experimental since the jam was such a short one with many limitations, but that was part of the fun :3

It makes me really happy that you enjoyed the OST too :3

Thanks so much for playing and for leaving such a lovely comment!

Don't worry! Spanish is a bit difficult to learn by urself! Im a native and I don't know many of the conjugations (if someone ask for them) hahah. I loved this game and can't wait to play the next one ure gonna do for this year jams!! (Or next years!) <3 Oh I also loved the way u made the title screen it moves and all idk It's very cool rlly (also the creepy aesthetic was amazing) Thanks for replying to my comment!!

(4 edits)

as soon as i heard the girl voice… mommy? sorry. mommy? sorry.

i’m still not fully through it, though. so excited to cover all the plot holes!!!

(+2)

Cheers for checking out the lil game! I'm sorry I don't really know how to reply properly cos if I'm being honest, I don't really understand x3

Maybe it's cos I’m a hermit and I don’t tend to get references, haha. + autism = I generally don't get stuff unless it's super clear >.<

With the story only being around 1000 words, I'm not sure there's enough of a plot there for it to be possible to have much in the way of holes xD especially when one particular ending explains everything >.< even the use of certain cheesy dialogue lines x3

Thanks for playing anyhow :3

(+1)

haha ofc!!! i know the autism struggle, diagnosed myself. it’s a beautiful game with beautiful themes and two beautiful characters! when i tell you i screamed from joy when i realised the long flowy hair was the guy. long haired men >>>>>>>>>

I would give you a high five for autism but I’m still struggling to accept it as something to celebrate, haha. It feels more like a curse to me T_T

Hehe, long hair is pretty x3 Ukyo from Amnesia was one of my first VN loves, haha. 

Thank you again for playing & for your kind words ^-^

(+6)

not even gonna lie the male voice actor has a GRIP on me his voice was so perfect for this 10/10

(+5)

Hehe, happy to hear it :D He absolutely smashed the role and then some, haha. If you happen to be a fan of his voice, he also played a main character in my Spooktober Jam game, Tunnel Vision and did an epic job with that character too x3

Thanks for checking this one out and leaving such a nice comment! :3

(1 edit) (+2)

It's funny how life goes. I don't know... The last time I downloaded this kind of game, I got scared asf, but also had SO MUCH FUN!! So... should I download this..? Bitch yea, absolutely. :D

(+1)

To be fair, being scared is pretty fun :D I’m a total adrenaline junkie when it comes to stuff like that x3 The silly thing is, I can go to scare attractions not jump once, same with horror movies, but video games really get me for some reason >.<

Aaaaanyways, I guess this one isn’t all that scary really x3 The page makes it look a lot worse than it is, haha. I hope you ended up having fun with it anyhow :3

(+3)

RAH I CAN'T CHOOSE BETWEEN THE ENDINGS. ONE OF THEM IS SO INTRESTING AND THE OTHER IS ADORABLE!!!! AMAZING GAME AGAIN, THANK YOU!!!

(+2)

Glad you had fun with it :D Thank you so much for checking this one out and for leaving such a nice comment! :3

(4 edits) (+2)

SJSJOFJSOAJFOSFODMSIMI AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA PHILIP😭💞🫶AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA😭 🔥🔥🔥🔥

(i cannot handle loving a character i will not see again, which is why i refuse to delete the game🧍)


edit: HI HELLO MARI-CHAN!!! I JUTS WANNA SAY I LOVE YOUR GAMES SO MUCH NO KIDDING😭😭

another edit: im both in confusion and absolute bewilderment after getting the endings

Deleted 102 days ago
(4 edits) (+4)

i love your games so much its unbelievable (but platonical)

HOPE YOU TAKE CARE OF YOURSELFF PLEASEEEE

LOVE YOU XOXO (PLATONICALLY THIS IS MY WAY OF SAYING I CARE FOR YOU AND HOPE YOU TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF😭😭)


silly silly game (except its fr silly)

You’re such a sweetheart!! Thank you ^-^

Don’t worry, I know what you mean cos I have had more platonic love in my life than I’ve ever had romantic love, haha.

I’m trying my best to take care of myself :3 It doesn’t always go according to plan, but still trying x3 I hope you’re taking care of yourself too and making sure to get plenty of rest and have time for yourself to do the things you love!!

Hehe, yeeeeah, it’s definitely silly :P 

Hope 2024 is going great for you so far :3

(+1)

Hehe, Philip is an incredible voice actor :D I’m very lucky to have had the opportunity to work with him on a couple of different projects :3 I don’t know if you’ve played Tunnel Vision or not yet, but he voices a main character in that too ;P

Aww, you’re so sweet x3 Well, I’m really glad that you like my stuff and thank you very much for playing my games <3 I think I remember you commenting on Yandere Heaven a while ago actually!

To be fair, confusion and bewilderment at the various endings in this is a very understandable reaction, haha.

(+1)

well the game are very mystery and nice history have more route in update i guess  

The director's cut is actually the full version of the game x3 It was supposed to be short because it was made for a game jam where the idea is to make a short game in 1 week with lots of restrictions (like 1000 words limit, 1 BGM track, 1 character, etc.) So there won't be any updates to this particular project.

Thanks so much for checking it out! Happy holidays :3

(+1)

Loved it!

Glad to hear it! Thank you so much for checking it out ^-^ Also, loving the name, haha. The only thing that could possibly be better than a crafty sheep... is a crafty goat x3

Hope you get to have happy holidays! :3

(+2)

🤍GREAT GAME!🖤

(+1)

<3 <3 <3 Thanks so much for playing it & happy holidays!! ^-^

(+2)

This was tooo good. 10/10 for the sound track and visuals!

(+2)

That’s great to hear! :D So glad you enjoyed it :3 Thanks for playing!

(+1)

This was really fun and interesting! Was interesting figuring out what happened in the story till multiple endings pieced it together, but it was fun voice acting and how the dynamic changed and the characters really had strong personalities!

I think my game was broken because only like two options in the main menu worked and there didn't seem a reason for it to be locked, though it was fun the first time it happened and the voice tells the player to not do so. Also I felt like that the story took too long keeping the dynamic and the truth of the plot twist about the demon being in the character; I feel like it could have been suggested a bit more.

That being said, it was really fun to play through and go through the options and finishing the story

Sorry my reply is so horrendously late >.< I've been really struggling with everything lately, so I'm badly behind :(

Thanks so much for checking out the game! Really glad you had fun with it :3

Oh, don't worry, it wasn't broken, that was intentional, haha. It was a bit of an experimental concept in general cos it was made for a jam with heavy restrictions (1000 words limit, 1 BGM track, 1 character etc.) and you had to make it within 1 week.

There were cheeky ways you were allowed to bend certain rules though, and one of them was that you were allowed to repeat blocks of text via looping back to them using code (and not have it count towards the 1000 words limit), and so that gave me the idea to basically chop up the script so that it formed different sentences rearranged in different ways while drip-feeding new lines each round - Then have the full script play out in its intended order in the final round.

I did think it would probably come across as somewhat tedious, haha. But I wanted to give it a go and see how far you could push the restrictions of the jam for the fun of it x3 So yeah, I can totally see why you would say that! I can imagine it gets kinda annoying and probably also confusing at times, haha.

But yeah, had this been a normal game made outside of the jam restrictions, I definitely would've done things differently x3

I'm glad you had fun with it despite that though! :3 Hope you get to have happy holidays!

(+2)

Is this game supposed to send me back to the menu when I get to the end of a conversation? I wasn't sure what happened so I went to Extras and it had another conversation. But then after that going to extras went through the original conversation so I exited after saving.
I can see someone mentioned multiple endings here but it wasn't clear what happened when I got sent to the menu; is that part of the game?

For reference, I downloaded the Directors cut for Windows. It's labelled Potato version or something in the files, which is funny because my computer took like 10 minutes to extract the game even though I have super fast internet (apparently). Certainly felt like a potato in the moment. XD

(+1)

Outside of that, I love the guys voice and the music. His art is very cute too, love my baddies with long hair, nom nom.
I also like emotionally complicated relationships like they seem to have so looking forward to playing more.

(+1)

Glad you've been enjoying it so far :3 You'll know when you actually reach an ending cos the game will tell you that you've got X end. Until then, unfortunately, you will have to keep getting sent back and drip fed additions to the dialogue x3 It's more noticeable with fem voice because a lot of the repeating lines have different voice delivery! 


It was an experimental concept because of the limitations of the jam, haha. They basically said that if you repeat blocks of text by recalling them through code, they won't count towards the 1000 word limit of the jam. After writing the script, I realised that you could rearrange many of the lines and they still made sense in different sentences/order, so each time you start over after being kicked to the menu, you're basically getting a different version of the script, and even if a lot of lines are the same, they'll mostly be in a different order, and there will always be a few that are completely new :3 


I did wonder if people might make the assumption it was repeating in its entirety (even though it isn't at any point x3) and whether that would make it more intriguing as they question their memory, or if it might just become tedious! >.<


From what feedback I've had so far, some people love it, and some people hate it xD


One person who streamed it actually assumed the entire game was over upon getting sent back to the title screen for the first time, and proceeded to tab out and close the game without clicking on the menu to find that something was amiss T_T haha.


xD Sounds like the file gave you the potato curse! It's named that cos the original non-potato versions used video sprites & backgrounds, and I made a potato version that has static sprites instead cos my own potato laptop couldn't handle the video files when I tried it on there x3 In the end though, there were too many issues with the video sprites causing freeze ups, so I just removed those video versions entirely! 

Lol that's funny about the person streaming it. I bet the chat were screaming at them.

Lol I have memory issues so I question my memory a lot, maybe that's why I tried out the second run then saved and eyed my computer suspiciously. XD 

Yes, curse of the potato hostage. I predict the ending is him taking off a blindfold and showing you a mirror and you're just a blushing potato. I'm right, aren't I?

(1 edit) (+1)

Oh, and I should've said, if you like the masc voice, you can hear the same VA in the spooktober jam project we teamed up on and released last weekend, the one called Tunnel Vision. Philip also plays a main character in that and does a smashing job of it :D Well, Emilie who plays the fem voice in this is also in Tunnel Vision too!

Ohh yeah I'll check that out too, thank you :D

(+2)

I've been meaning to play this one ever since it came out and im so glad that i finally got around to it. I had a great time with it and alot of fun getting all the endings. I really liked the bloopers and rambles in the extras section its always fun to hear you talk about the development process and stuff. 

(+2)

Woo! So glad you enjoyed it ^-^ Thanks for playing it! Hehe, I’m such a sucker for bloopers, I honestly wish everything came with bloopers xD I find my rambles so cringy x3 but as long as at least 1 person gets something out of em, I’ll keep recording em, haha.

(+1)

HI!! this is awesome, as always, but i really want to compliment the soundtrack again. your games are awesome narratively/mechanically/artistically but the soundtracks are equally impressive imo and i wish they got more attention.

bittersweet blythe's tracks are on my "repeat for 3 days straight" playlist rotation and i listen to them doing everything from making dinner to reading to just vibing. the hostage ost's is just as good and a super interesting evolution. i especially love the guitar and vocals that creep in the lullaby mix and the catchy vocal hook and synth in popcorn mix. i love how grungy and cinematic some tracks are while others have super funky beats and wall of sound layers. vocal picks are incredible, as always, and i love your stereo mixes <3333


WAH BA BADUH WAH BA BADAYA club banger forever stuck in my head, ty xo 

So glad you think so! Thanks so much for playing this one as well <3 And that means a heck of a lot regarding the soundtrack! I don’t really get all that much feedback on my original soundtracks compared to other aspects of my projects, but attempting to make them brings me so much joy, haha. I’d like to hope I’ve improved since I started trying to work on music!

Actually, I’ve made a complete OST for the spooktober jam project I’ve been working on throughout September, and I feel genuinely proud of it, haha. I reckon it might be my most cohesive one so far in the sense that it sounds like a proper score or something rather than just a bunch of random tracks thrown together! I tried to link a lot of the tracks together with repeating motifs and stuff like I did with the one for The Hostage, but I feel like it comes across better in this Spooktober project with it being a longer game that required more tracks :3

That’s nuts to me that you’d have the Bitter/Sweet tracks playing like that, but I’m extremely honoured ^-^ Your comment as a whole almost brought me to tears of joy x3 I just really love trying to make soundtracks, haha, so it means a lot that you’d think so highly of them <3 I love it so much that I kind of wish I could do it as a job or something, haha. I’m also kind of exhausted from taking on so much work for spooktober jam, and was thinking that maybe next year, rather than leading a project, I might just try and join a team as a composer instead! I dunno if anyone would want me though, haha.

Hehe, believe me, I couldn’t get that damn wah ba baduh outta my head xD I both loathe and love it at the same time! It felt like a perfect fit for the scene though x3 I’ve made 2 vocal tracks for the spooktober project that aren’t as catchy as that one, but hopefully still decent! It’s an opening and ending theme, and I actually like them more than any of the other vocal tracks I’ve made so far! I also made a track that was ridiculously fun to work on, but when I played it to my brother, his only comment was, why does it sound like the Pirates of the Caribbean have gone to an EDM rave? xD It fits the scene though, damn it x3 Hoping to release the project later today anyhow!

But yeah, thank you for all your kind words! It really means a lot :3

(+1)

Hello!

Well, as usual, here are the spoilers so don't read if you haven't played :)

/!\ SPOILERS /!\


















































I play with the masculine voice, and what a voice this was! My! :o again, friend, you're really can find a good voice actor!

Oh damn, it's really surprise when you need to play with the menu to continue to; well; play lol you're surprise me always :o.

The antagonist character I find hard to pin down, as our character says, he doesn't make sense! but he's very interesting :)

The fact the story begin to make sense little by little bits, it's really a great idea!

And for one of the endings: wait, what XD one of the endings, it's really the roleplay of two lovers? haha if i understand well, you're a genius lol

I have listen to the extras too! :p And well, Jeritza? ;) It for that the character design (and the way of thinking and talking, deep voice etc) make sense! ...that mean you finished FE3H too! I'm glad! ;o; we need to talk about that :D!

Oh, and tbh, i was afraid you will make a screamer lol (you need to thank that to MADiSON, i, again, watched a stream on twitch of the game ;_;)

Anyway, thanks for the game ! <3 It's way a good game Melancholy!

Why, hello again! Fancy seeing you here :P Thanks so much for playing this one too! ^-^

Hehe, weeeeeeeeeeeeeell, if you liked Philip’s epic voice acting… guess what… you can hear him again as the masculine voice for Rhime in my Spooktober jam project that I’m hoping to release later today :D In fact, Emilie is in there too playing feminine Rhime :P They were both so brilliant to work with on The Hostage that I asked them both if they would be up for joining a team for Spooktober ^-^

And yeah, I did FINALLY finish FE3H, haha. Well, I didn’t do the church route yet still, but from what I understand, it’s pretty similar to Golden Deer, so I’m hopefully not missing out on too much overall! I absolutely loved it <3 Now I need to play the warriors version + engage! As much as I loved Jeritza though, I still ended up finding Hubert more attractive xD If only he wasn’t so obsessed with Edel, haha.

(1 edit) (+1)

Hehe ;), well you're welcome ! <3

:o i see! i will see when i will play it then ! :)

YES <3 i'm so happy you finish it! Well, yes and no, the end is different if i remember well🤔 and some parts of the story tho, if you have time play it ! :)

I need to play the warriors version tho, engage idk, i need a more dark fire emblem like this one and genealogy of the holy war. (he never appeared in English, but the story seems so good and dark <3)

Haha, yes, i love Hubert too! I need to do a new replay of the game for romancing him huhu <3

(+2)

This was a phenomenal experience! I've never felt actually trapped by a game before!! And the special ending deserves an award!

(+1)

Waaaaah! Thank youuu <3 I haven’t had a chance to watch your video yet cos I’ve been laser-focused on Spooktober Jam and hope to release the project for that later today, but I will absolutely be watching it as soon as I can cos you’re just pure awesome ^-^

So glad you enjoyed this one anyhow!

(+1)

OOOHHH you're making a spooky game?! I can't wait to see it! (i can actually wait, a great game is never rushed) I hope you enjoy the video, I really enjoyed the excellent and spooky voice acting!

(+1)

We did iiiiiit ^-^ https://melancholy-marionette.itch.io/tunnel-vision

We kind of had no choice but to rush cos the jam was only a 1 month long one and it ends today x3 But, with any luck, the bugs are squashed and the polish is shiny, haha. 

Actually, both Philip and Emilie who voiced in the Hostage are in this new one too :3 They were such a joy to work with, and with Spooktober Jam so close to when O2A2 finished, I just asked em if they'd be interested in teaming up for that too :D They're both phenomenal again! 

Now I'm just in paranoid recovery mode x3 Wanting more sleep, but also terrified I uploaded the wrong builds or there is a nasty bug I didn't manage to catch or something T_T 

But at least it's spooky season now \^-^/

(+1)

I'm sure it's fine! I hope you get some rest! Happy Spooky Season♫♪

(+1)

A very merry spooky season to you tooooo! ^-^

(+1)

I haven't been able to stop thinking about this game since I finished it-the atmosphere is phenomenal, the voice work is well done, the endings.... It's rare that I go back and listen to OSTs also, but I love the main track in this one that much.

Seriously, thank you for making this, Marionette!

(+1)

Aww, that means a lot <3 I’m such a sucker for atmosphere in stuff, so it makes me a very happy bunny to hear that I managed to make a decent one for this :3 Especially when it was under such restrictive circumstances, haha. I was really worried the whole thing would wind up coming off as kinda empty and hollow with all the restrictions and such!

And I’m so glad you like the soundtrack too ^-^ It was sooo much fun to make!

Thank YOU for playing it and taking the time to write up such a kind comment :3

(+1)

me during the game: I can fix her!

me at the end: wow cute roleplay <3

Hehe :3

(+1)

My gosh, I did not expect how absolutely trippy this visual novel was. I was curious about the choice of having to continuously go back to the Extra section to continue the story but it was really creative, not only that but I enjoyed how each time we woke up in different times the dialouge would be continuously reused but added more context, it was such a trippy moment that I began doubting myself over what was happening.

Not only that, but I also was interested as the more we wake up, the more MC's personality became defined, because at first it was just a regular modern reaction but nearing the end MC's personality began to match with the LI's personality making them on the same wavelength. It was also intriguing to see how hate and love can  be intertwined so deeply with the LI and how this obsessive need to forever be locked together in a dangerous situation was. It reminds me of Ouroboros, MC and the LI's need to forever be locked in this battle.

Especially when the LI makes it a point to define how MC is their demon, which I thought it meant that MC could have been born of LI's human desires but then I realized that it could also be that LI is just being possessive over MC.

The voice actors did amazing! Granted, I've only listened so far to the male LI (who, man, made my heart beat so fast) but when I heard a snippet of the female LI's voice, my knees buckled. Women--

I got the hide and seek ending, honestly, that mixed media and scenario accompanied with the music??? *chef's kiss* I'm so looking forward to uncover everything else and the mystery of the plot kept pushing me to want more. Amazing work to everyone involved!!!

(+1)

Woo! I love that you describe it as trippy, hehe. Tbh, a lot of the weird mechanics and stuff were just me experimenting with how far I could push the limitations and cheeky exceptions within the jam rules, haha.

I did kinda wonder if the sections of repeated dialogue would become tedious >.< But I wanted to try it out cos the rules stated you could repeat blocks of text via code and they wouldn’t count towards the total word limit. When I finished the script, I realised it was sort of possible to chop up a lot of the dialogue an rearrange it while still having it make some kind of sense xD So I thought, screw it, let’s see if we can do something with this, haha.

I know some people have said they found it quite irritating, and I can’t say I blame them xD But I’m glad that other, like yourself, found it interesting in some way :3

It was certainly an honour to get to work with such talented voice actors! They were so brilliant to work with that I asked them both if they would team up with me for spooktober jam this month :D So both of them are voice the masculine and feminine voice options for one of the characters in my spooktober game that I hope to release later today ^-^ They’re both doing different sorts of voices, so it’s pretty fun to hear how versatile they are!

I’m a happy bunny to get a chef’s kiss, haha. That means a lot! I hope you ended up having fun with the other endings too ^-^ Thanks so much for playing!

(1 edit) (+1)

this game was magnificient i loved the voice acting,the background music and especially that extra ending<333

So glad you liked it! Thank you so much for taking the time to check it out and leave such a sweet comment <3

(+1)

Had fun here.

The Ost I thought was really good here

The Voice Acting was top notch

Love the creepy vibes 

Nothing negative I can really give it

Honestly from trying some of these Jam games I say this.

THIS GAME'S GOT THE JAM.

Best game I'd played from the Jam 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sorry I’m so slow to reply >.< Just been super-focused on Spooktober Jam this month x3 It wasn’t the wisest idea to do O2A2 and then go straight into prep for Spooktober without a break, but there ya go xD Hoping to release the project later today though, so the main thing is we made it :D 

Thanks so much for playing this one too! ^-^ Really glad you had fun with it and it means a lot that you like the OST! Working with the voice actors on this one was so great that I asked them both if they wanted to team up for Spooktober as well, and we did, hehe.

Hooray for jam :P

Thanks for always being so awesome <3

(+1)

Really enjoyed It, Made a Part two And Will play it again

(+1)

Sorry for my slow reply >.< I’ve been laser-focused on spooktober jam this month, so I’ve fallen really far behind on my replies in general 🙁

Thanks so much for playing it! And I’m really glad you had fun with it :3

Your welcome, now im looking forward to the next project

(1 edit) (+1)

My personal favourite has to be the Hide&Seek ending - the scenario of bodily posession is rare to find in similar yandere-vibe projects. It fills this obscure niche I didn't know I've been interested in exploring more, even in my own writing. This is like a breath of fresh air for my understimulated imagination. I've fallen victim to hyperfocus when working on my manuscripts as well, so I can fully understand where you're coming from, making a separate Director's Cut version XD. Good luck with your other projects!

P.S. the music box is full of bangers, as always <3

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Yay! That’s my personal favourite too x3 And very interesting that it’s a rare thing to find :o Tbh, I would like to explore it more at some point! And I’d gladly read anything you wrote that explored it too cos it’s a fun one to deal with, haha.

Sorry I’m so slow to reply btw, I have kind of been doing the ol’ hyperfocus for Spooktober Jam this month x3 I even named the project Tunnel Vision xD Did it for a number of reasons, but partly cos bits of it represent my inability to approach jams in a healthy manner, haha.

Glad you think so about the music! I’ve also done a full original soundtrack for the spooktober project that I’ll hopefully be able to release later today, and the soundtrack for it was probably the most fun I’ve had yet making an ost ^-^ I pretty much poured my entire soul into it, haha.

Thanks for your kindness and awesomeness in general <3

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Yeah, I have the main theme of DD set as one of my ringtones. Nice and atmospheric. There are so many people here, in the comment section - and following your works, in general. So it would probably be impossible to answer all of them, at some point. But hey, it's not a bad thing, as long as more people come here to appreshiate your works! We'll still be supporting you from the sidelines (੭ˊᵕˋ)੭

:o That's so cool!! <3 

I still try and answer everything even though it can sometimes take me a while and my brother thinks I'm a total idiot for doing so xD It would feel wrong not to though >.<

And aww, that's so sweet of you to say ^-^ I hope you get to have the most awesome spoopy season!!

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Im curious about the background music 

You can listen to the soundtrack on YouTube now if you want to :3

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HONESTLY ITS SO CONFUSING BO SO GOOD 

THE VOICE IS BEAUTIFUL 

I KINDA GOT SCARED WHILE PLAYING XD

x3 well, I’m glad you had fun with it ^-^ Thanks for checking it out!

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Aww, well, hopefully, it managed to meet your expectations! x3

Really glad you like the voice acting :3 Both VAs are sensational in this ^-^

Hope you have fun with it <3

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I love the game, and the voice acting is excellent too!! I do think adding a resolution setting would be helpful, though.

Glad you enjoyed the game and thanks so much for playing <3

I used to include resolution options in my projects, but I stopped for the most recent couple of releases just because no matter what I did, the UI always seemed to be messed up one way or another in any other resolution than the one I designed it in :( haha. Which is weird because there’s a setting that’s supposed to make it auto-scale. That did sort of work in some ways, but never perfectly, so I figured it was better to just force one resolution than have options where it’s messed up >.< The problem is, I’m not a coder, so I don’t know how to fix these things T_T haha.

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DAMN MELANCHOLY YOU PUSHING OUT GAMES LEFT AND RIGHT😭😭

spoilers weeewooo

amazing as always! could not have predicted troll ending for the life of me lmao. ost's were all bangers as always~ it was also really creative to layer them! please stop making yourself do so much for a 10-day jam good lord 😭😭

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xD Well, I’m trying my best, haha. I always end up feeling like I’m really behind on things though and never doing enough x3

Hehe, I had to do it! Glad you enjoyed it ^-^ And super happy to hear you like the OST as well!!

Yeeeah, I think if I do O2A2 again next year I might try to calm down, haha. I always push too hard during jams and then end up feeling like I need a holiday x3 It's hard to control myself at the time though cos most of the time, when a jam starts, I just get really hyper xD

Thank you for all your kind words <3

Its alright to take a breaks! your works always feel so well thought out and gameplay is always smooth, your doing more than enough. im sure everybody appreciates the hard work you put in all your games. 

its okay if you get hyper during jams, thats understandable. everythings so new and exciting it can get hard to do so little 😭just remember to take a long break after, so you dont get burnt out!

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Another very cute game!! Love your content as always!! 

Aww, thank you so much for being so sweet and for playing this one too <3

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i loved this game as always your games are the best!!,honestly at firts i was really scared because of the main menu, the creepy face :O, it give me chills, then the voices, the characters!! amaizing games as always, i really really love the stuff you make, you are the best :D

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BANANA

a little question, but, does this has anything to do with unkown from solipsism realms? the relationship portrait of the main character and the host seemed like the relationship between anathema and unkown or at least it reminded me of him, the way he talked, and act towards the player!! sorry if its a silly question!! 

by the way, the extra ending was so funny :D, it made me laugh a lot, i didnt expect that twist honestly hahaha, love your games a lot, take care Mari!! (if i can call you that, if not im sorry ;_;) 

by the way i love your rambles <3( sorry if i make you uncomfortable, please tell me and i will never do it again ;_;)

<3 Thanks for checking this one out too + for all your kind words ^-^

Yeeeeah, this one looks a lot scarier than it actually is x3 haha. I mean, I guess it’s still pretty creepy, but it’s not like scary horror filled with jumpscares or gore, just the usual psychological stuff I like to do :3 

To answer your question, (which isn’t a silly one at all btw cos I can totally see some similarities!) this is completely unrelated to any of my other projects, including SR :3 The character in this was mainly inspired by me playing Fire Emblem Three Houses, loving Jeritza, but wishing there was more content for him x3 So I just wanted to make something with a character that was inspired by Jeritza pretty much :3 while hopefully still having them come across as their own character.

Glad you liked that extra ending too :D It was a lot of fun to make, haha. 

You’re more than welcome to call me that if you want to :3 I don’t mind at all! In fact, a few people already do call me that, so it’s all good :D 

And you have nothing to worry about cos you don’t make me uncomfortable at all :3 It’s just really nice to hear that you’ve had fun with my projects ^-^ It really does mean a lot to me that anyone even plays them in the first place, and it’s even more appreciated when anyone takes the time to type out a lovely comment <3

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I want to start this review by saying this game is an instant 10/10, I played a few of your games already and they all are pretty good and fairly different but I wasn't expecting THIS.

Been having a great time with O2A2 games so far and how creative people get, and even tho I played the DX potato version I have to say you really milked those limitations.

The spooky main menu and all around redness combined with a creepy and yet alluring (and talented of course) voice made very easy for me to have a great time while trying to piece the story together, the multiple loops throw me out for a while but I love when games play with me as much as I play them.

Last but definitely and absolutely not least, THAT ending, you know which one YEAH THAT ONE is the absolute best ending I have ever experienced, it made my brain kickflip 180 and fulfilled all my dreams, in my mind is canon and will live inside it forever.

Finally, I really appreciate the extras, it is really nice to hear directly from developers about how it is working on game jams and coming with ideas for games, I wish more devs included a section like that.


Keep up the good work!

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Aww, that’s so sweet of you <3 Haha, well, I always appreciate you playing my stuff, and it’s even nicer to hear that this one was unexpected :D 

I still need to play more O2A2 games myself cos there are soooo many that look amazing!!

Hehe, yeah, I didn’t know if maybe chopping up the script, rearranging it, and trying to drip-feed it in different orders while withholding some of the lines until the final stages of the game was gonna result in something that was maybe too repetitive or just read strangely >.< but I figured, screw it, I’ll give it a go and just see how it turns out xD If it hadn’t been for seeing that it was within the rules to reuse lines provided you did so through code rather than writing them again, I doubt I would have even thought to do it in the first place! That’s why I’ve wanted to participate in O2A2 for years, cos the limitations really get your brain going on what you might be able to get done with all those restrictions in place, haha.

I feel like despite having all the limitations, O2A2 is really freeing in a weird way cos I felt like it was more acceptable to go with a minimalist style, whereas outside of O2A2, I’d never really think to do that because I’m a very detail-oriented person x3 And sometimes I have ideas for games where I wind up dismissing them because I can’t flesh them out enough or I feel like they’d be too short to be entertaining, but then with O2A2, they’re supposed to be short, soooo, suddenly it feels acceptable, haha. I just wish I hadn’t disregarded so many of those lil ideas in the past cos if I’d kept em and written some notes, they could’ve been used for future O2A2 jams T_T

You're totally right though with what you said in your video cos the voice acting really does make it! When it's 100% dialogue like this, it just wouldn't be the same without amazing voice acting, and I'm so incredibly lucky to have been able to work with Philip and Emilie on this :3

Also, appreciate your love of the audio changing ears on certain lines :D It's the main reason I always tell people to wear headphones x3 because I always try to put at least a few in-ear lines in all of my games, haha. It might be a teeny tiny feature, but I'm a sucker for neat little audio tricks :P anything that helps boost immersion is a big + for me, haha. I wish I could do true 3D sound, but that's kinda impossible without supplying voice actors with dummy head mics, so faking it with in-ear stuff will have to suffice x3

Not gonna lie, it’s a big relief to hear you and a few others say that you like that extra ending xD Because it wasn’t part of the initial plan in my head, haha. It kinda just popped up and kept bugging me while I was trying to brainstorm the overall idea. I kept swatting it away saying to myself, nooo, it’s too silly, get in the bin x3 but in the end, I had to do it because it wouldn’t get out of my head x3 and since I knew I wanted to make a director’s cut version anyways in order to have a femme version of the character, I figured, ah well, might as well have it as a bonus ending for that, haha. And, of course, it gave me an excuse to make extra music tracks xD 

Also glad to hear you like that sorta stuff in extras too :3 I will always be a sucker for bloopers, but if there’s a director’s commentary on games/films, I will lap that up too, haha. Any sorta bonus content like that I always love to consume if it’s there cos for me, it often makes the pain of finishing playing a game or watching a film that I liked a bit less painful to leave behind if there’s extra stuff to watch/listen to, haha. It kinda sucks that those DVD extras-type things seem to be disappearing from Blu-ray discs nowadays, and just generally not even there on digital downloads >.<

Speaking of extras, I figured I'd respond to something you said after listening to the O2A2 challenges ramble about BGM just in case you might find it interesting, haha. You mentioned about possibly having 1 long bgm track that's like a few different songs stitched together, which is something I initially thought I might be able to do too, but the expanded rules explicitly state that you're not allowed to do that x3 It says that if it's multiple tracks in 1 like a medley or a megamix, or has clear shifts/phases to a different sound, then it's not allowed T_T So yeah, that was another of the many reasons I felt the need to make a director's cut cos I also wanted to make multiple versions of the 1 main track, haha. The O2A2 version does only have 1 bgm track in, but there are 6 (technically 7 if you count the reversed one) in the director's cut because I had waaaaay too much fun doing different mixes of the original one xD

Anyways, thank you so much again! You’re always so lovely, and your videos always make me smile :D + really appreciate that you leave stuff out and tell folks to go check it out themselves ^-^ Hope you do get a chance to make something for the jam one year!

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Finally another game! Really enjoyed it! Keep going with the awsome games
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Glad you enjoyed this one too! The title of your video made me smile :P Thanks for playing it as well and for always being so awesome ^-^ And cheers for encouraging folks to check it out too! Unfortunately, I think you got what I would say is probably the most boring ending on your first go, haha. But it was interesting to see that you did that tiny minigame first go cos I imagine a lot of people wouldn’t even think to click the first time, let alone successfully keep going with it cos the timer to click gets shorter with each one :3

I guess this is sorta minor spoilers about mechanics, so I’ll put it below!

SPOILERS






Just so you know about the repeated dialogue, I only did that to take advantage of the O2A2 rule that allows you to repeat blocks of text without counting towards the 1000-word limit if you do it via code, haha. Hopefully, it wasn't too irritating! Basically, the script is chopped up so that it plays in different orders, making new sentences from the same 1000 words, purposefully withholding some lines as it drip-feeds information until the full script plays in its entirety in the original intended order x3 It’s pretty weird and kind of repetitive, I know, haha. Though, the VA actually does different takes of some of the repeated lines in the version you played, so they are delivered with a different tone. But yeah, not something I’d normally do, just figured I’d give it a go for the jam :D

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No Worries i figured it was for some reason, and yeah didnt know what i was doing with the heart thingXD but still loved the game!

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Breaking lurk to say i love this!!! Even tbo its short its probably the best game ive played so far this year ^^ very good job keep it up!!

Aww, well, thank you for doing that and for checking out the project! Much appreciated :3 Happy you had fun with it :D

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You had me laughing so hard but also scared in a good way. really hope I got all the endings 10/10
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Dam i realized even my comment is kind of a spoiler also so i will put some space and say there is a spoiler below sort of! 








I just came to comment cos I felt the same way lol. Love this game so much I just played it all again!! Cool to see a vid for this but isnt the thumbnail thing kind of a major spoiler for what is maybe the funnest ending? Sorry im not the vid police I kno I should just shut up cos its not my place to say. Just i keep seeing random spoilers in vid previews and thumbnails lately and it really ruined a couple games for me so was thinking of that. If I saw your comment befpr playing this it would make a lot of the mystery just gone and that would suck . Lucky for me I already finished it last week lol

Firstly, thanks so much for replaying it :D


KIND OF SPOILERS BELOW









Secondly, weeeeell, you're not wrong really x3 I guess it kinda depends on how much attention people are paying to that sort of thing, but yeah, I can see how it would accidentally spoil stuff cos people might see the screenshots all black and red, then see that thumbnail and be like, hang on a minute, that's not the same... what's going on here?

Which isn't too bad if they just think that in passing and then carry on, haha. But if they study the image for long enough, then yeah, spoilers >.<

With any luck, people who are wanting to check out the game will just download it and play it before looking at comments or something x3

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Oh nooo!!! I didn't think about it that way! I think ima change the Thumbnail asap! I'm sorry if I was one of those people who ruin the game and also, I'm a youtuber and to me your opinion matters . How else am I going to grow silly. Don't sale yourself short love 

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You didn’t have to cos it wasn’t that big of a deal x3 but still, it’s super sweet that you did :3 Tbh, I hadn’t thought anything of it myself until I read that other comment. I didn’t wanna ignore the person who wrote it because I realised they technically had a point, but at the same time, I didn’t think it was bad enough to ask you to change it.

I don’t think it’s a problem I’ve ever come across personally cos if I’m looking at playing something here on itch, I generally read the page and decide just from that whether to download or not, and leave reading/writing any comments until I’ve finished the game. I guess I can see how it could become an issue though if you’re the type of person who prefers to read comments first or who watches a lot of stuff on YouTube, haha.

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Thank you! I just don't want to ruin the game but thank you for that. I know it's hard sometimes as a youtuber not to upset anyone but if i can change something that to me isn't that big then i'm okay with it 

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Glad you enjoyed it :3 Actually, you missed 1 ending cos you were playing the director's cut version :P hehe. The O2A2 version has 3 endings, so you were right there, but the director's cut one has 4 endings. The one you didn't see is probably the shortest, least exciting one though, so you didn't really miss much, haha. I'll say what leads to it under a spoilers thingy below!

Anyways, cheers for playing and I hope your poor voice gets some quality recovery time x3 Also, I really appreciate you mentioning about rating itch games btw! Cos I feel like a lot of people probably still don't know you can do that since it's not super clear on the site, haha.

SPOILERS BELOW








The one you didn't get is the one that happens if you successfully click on the heart enough times :3

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i just loved the game so much!!! the whole atmosphere made me so immersed, i got shivers down my spine all the time. and god damn, the whispers... guess that i fell in love :D and btw im SO OBSESSED WITH THE HIDE AND SEEK SONG it made me go so AAAAAAAKDSLFJSDLDOKSLFDSA A A A !!!!!11!11 u know? totally addictive. hope to see it on some streaming plataform so i can play it on repeat a lot! thank you for this intense experience that is the hostage, i really loved it! and sorry if theres some mistakes on my comment, english isnt my first language but i really liked the game so i had to say something <3

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Aww, thank you very much for taking the time to check the game out and then type up something so lovely! I really appreciate it :3 

Hehe, the whispers are something I’ve been trying to poke into my projects for a while now :P Ever since the first time I listened to a drama CD years ago that used dummy head mics, I’ve been kind of obsessed with trying to create more immersive audio with the limited resources I have, haha.

So glad you liked the hide & seek song ^-^ that was probably my favourite version of the BGM to make!! It was also the version that caused me the most problems trying to make it, haha. I have a lot of vocal samples from the same singer, and I just love her voice so much x3

I haven’t had a chance to yet, but I will be putting the whole soundtrack on YouTube sometime this month :3 And the proper higher quality wav files will also be available to download for all supporters on Ko-fi & Patreon once the OST is out on YouTube, or for a $5 donation or something from the game page.

Thank YOU for playing the game + for all your kind words! <3 And you don’t need to apologise at all! Your English is fantastic! If you hadn’t said it wasn’t your first language, I never would have guessed :3

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beautiful game as always!! so glad to see you back to making games and i hope you’re doing better, i had so much fun going through this when i finally got the notification :D

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Thank you for your kindness as always <3 I am definitely doing better than I was a few months ago, cheers :3 It was really nice to get back into making something! I did spend a good while wondering if I would actually remember how Naninovel worked xD

Glad you enjoyed this one too ^-^ It was a labour of love as usual, with much coffee involved x3 I hope you’re doing well yourself and that you get to have an excellent August! :3

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I loved this game so much; all the endings and the whole game design was so wonderful! I especially loved all the extra's and the 'troll' ending which was genuinely so sweet. I loved hearing your ramblings (you have a lovely voice btw), and the twist(s) in the game was fantastic. Thank you so much for creating and sharing this gem. :3 <3

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Thanks so much for playing it & writing such a sweet comment ^-^ It might’ve only been a short jam, but I still poured my everything into it and put probably more hours into it than I should have, haha.

I’m always surprised to hear that anyone likes my ramblings in the extras x3 I feel so silly recording them xD but I’m a sucker for like DVD extras myself, so I try to put whatever I can in there :3 That’s very kind of you to say about my voice btw! I have pretty much always hated my voice x3 so that makes me even more nervous about speaking!

Thank you for checking it out and being so sweet!

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I'm a simple man; i see marionette post a new game, i clicked it.

I can't believe i'm immersed with such a short game, but this one nailed it. Can't wait to see another games from you!

:D Thank you for the kind words and support! Glad you had fun with this one!

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The red graphics brings me back to the days of the Virtual Boy (yes, I am ancient) and truly is such a cool and striking mix when brought into the world of visual novels. The atmosphere was nothing to scoff at either. Awesome work!! :) <3

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I really wish I could say that that’s what I was going for, but I had to Google the Virtual Boy to see what you meant x3 I can certainly see why you’d say that anyhow, haha. I mean, according to what I read, I was alive when it came out, so I suppose that makes me ancient too xD We just didn’t have one in our house. My earliest gaming memories are of my parents having a Mega Drive, but I think the first thing I played on myself was my dad’s old Game Boy before eventually getting my own Game Boy Colour when I was old enough!

I mainly stumbled across the look for this project by accident while messing around with two-tone colouring and different sorts of old-school-looking filter effects, haha. Part of me wondered if it was a bit too weird to run with, but I thought it looked pretty funky so I couldn’t resist, haha.

Anyways, thank you so much for checking this out and for leaving such a lovely comment :3

I have to say, your O2A2 game is one of the ones that immediately caught my eye when I had a browse through the submissions page, and when I went and took a gander at the game page, I thought it absolutely sounded like my cup of tea, so I’m really looking forward to checking it out when I get a chance :3 I’m pretty sure I might’ve come across Pitstop in Purgatory at some point too and meant to add it to my list of stuff I wanted to play, but I must’ve been a doughnut and forgotten to at the time >.< Gonna go rectify that immediately!

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LOL well that's understandable, the console was like a huge flop basically, the only thing truly memorable about it is the unique graphics XD though they look way better in your game than on that actual machine LMAO

You're very welcome! <3 <3 <3

And oh, wow!! ;_; That's so sweet of you! I'm very glad to hear that and I do hope you'll enjoy the game(s) when and/or if you get to try them out! :) <3

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Oh dear x3 well, at least it had a memorable quality I suppose, haha. 

Took me longer than I hoped to actually get around to playing anything because, as usual, there’s never enough time in a day T_T but I did finally get to experience Guidelicious just now in a little break I gave myself, and I bloomin’ loved it :D More on that on your page though, haha. Oh, but I guess if I'm gonna say this, it's probably better to do it here rather than putting potential spoilers on your page sooo...


KIND OF SPOILERS BELOW





Gotta love those loops :P I had such a big grin on my face when I discovered we'd used a similar sort of thing in our projects there, haha :3

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Well you know what they say, great minds think alike! ;) Mweh heh! And also thank you so, so much!!!! <3 <3 <3

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I mean, your mind is definitely great, not so sure we can say the same about mine xD Mine is just made of blancmange or something x3 Still, thank you more :D

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PHENOMENAL O2A2 SUBMISSION. the way you were able to create such an immersive game with so few assets is unbelievably impressive!!! i'm absolutely in love with everything about it---art is amazing, va was phenomenal, and writing is Evocative. thank you for making and sharing!! 

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I’m not gonna lie, I very nearly cried when I read this x3 Thank you so much for taking the time to check out the project and for writing such a sweet comment. That really means a lot.

And as a side note… how on earth have I never come across your games before?! I just had a peep at the pages and they look incredible!! They’re all going straight on my list of stuff I really need to play at some point, haha. Actually, I need to look at everything that was submitted to otome & josei jam this year still because I kinda completely missed it and I imagine there are a lot of amazing games there :3

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it is a well deserved comment!!! i have been recommending your game to everyone i know LOL

and omg thank you so much q.q alaris is very much an outdated version right now that i am frantically trying to update with my new art and writing style LOL but intertwine is my newest game that actually has a Very Similar game mechanic to the hostage that you might like HAHA!! if you end up checking it out i hope you like it ahh! i’m still very much thinking about your game and how much i loved it >< (and yes the otome jam entries were phenomenal this year!!)

Aww, that’s so kind of you <3 I’m terrible at social media and stuff cos it just stresses me out, so anything like that is super duper helpful ^-^ hopefully if anyone does check it out they won’t be disappointed xD

Ahh, fair enough about Alaris! I will keep that in mind and go with Intertwine first then :3 I’m even more intrigued now you’ve said that :P I’m pretty sure I will love it though going by the page :D 

I really should do what my brother keeps telling me to and just have 1 day off per week where I don’t work on anything and I just play stuff from my giant list so I can actually start getting through it, haha.

He was literally just having a go at me for that the other morning xD My backlog has gotten pretty out of control cos even just my one for VNs I wanna play has reached over 100 things on it now I think >.< and that’s not including all non-VN games on my normal gaming backlog, haha. I just can’t for the life of me figure out how to properly overcome the guilt of playing things without beating myself up for not working on things T_T Part of the problem is also feeling weird about gaming in the day though, haha. I dunno why, but I just really prefer to do it at night, in bed, if possible x3 I think maybe it’s like an immersion thing cos I’m the same with reading a regular book!

Kind of scared to actually browse the otome jam page cos I feel like it will just make my backlog even bigger x3

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