Since I see you posted a similar thing on another project of mine, I can only assume there's something your computer really doesn't like about games made using Naninovel in Unity :(

What that could be I have zero idea without troubleshooting, and that would sadly be impossible at the moment as I am too unwell to get on my PC. It would also require me to export and send to you a separate dev build of the game for you to send me any error logs that your computer generates, so quite longwinded >.<

I know it's not helpful to say, but plenty of other people have played this and Darling Duality from start to finish without any issues at all,  so it must be something specific to your device :(

I appreciate you checking out the games regardless! I'm just sorry that they don't seem to work correctly on your computer for whatever reason cos that sucks for both of us T_T

That's  just one of the woes of everyone having different devices I guess. I know everything I make works on both my PC and on the family potato laptop (albeit slower loading on the potato) cos I test stuff for ungodly amounts of time before releasing, but that doesn't mean the games will run perfectly on every device out there, unfortunately. 

For big companies, it's not so much of an issue cos they can get a whole team to troubleshoot, but I'm just one person making games as a hobby x3

There are a billion different reasons that a PC could fail to run a game properly. I've come across a fair few bugs in other people's indie games I've played. Sometimes, I'll download something that has no sound at all, even though I've seen video playthroughs and know the game has sound. I know there's something my PC doesn't like about the game for there to be no sound for me, but I have no way of knowing the cause, and the dev wouldn't stand much of a chance of figuring it out without going through time-consuming tests.

Computers can be a nightmare sometimes >.<

Thanks so much for checking it out and taking the time to leave such a lovely comment! I'm so glad you had fun with it :3 

Tbh, it's a concept I'd like to explore in more detail sometime but in a different sorta scenario since this one was wrapped up in a lil bubble to fit the restrictions of the jam. I had a lot of fun with it though, so it would be cool to dive a lil deeper into that sort of dynamic with some brand new characters :D 

The ‘kidnapper' was heavily inspired by Jeritza from Fire Emblem, so that's why there are heavy hero X villain vibes in there, hehe. I loved Jeritza's character so much, but I was always left wanting more from the interactions with him x3

I'm glad you liked the troll ending cos I was a lil worried it might be viewed as too random or silly x3 but I just wanted to diffuse some of the tension from the rest of the story and explain some of the cheesy dialogue and such, haha. In the back of my head when I wrote the original O2A2 jam script, the troll ending was kind of the true ending to me, but I never really like to list stuff as ‘true’ just cos it's more fun for people to decide themselves what they'd like the truth to be!

Your comment also really cheers me up after I saw recently that someone left a bad rating on the game saying that the characters have no charisma x3 It means a lot that you thought the opposite <3

Thanks so much for checking out this one too! So glad you had fun with it even though it's just a lil mini-project :3

Cheers for checking it out :3 I'd love to explore a similar sort of relationship or concept in greater depth with different characters or something cos it was really fun to work on! I was just restricted with this particular story cos of the limitations of the game jam x3 but I'd definitely like to make something longer with similar vibes sometime!

Super glad to hear it :D Thanks so much for taking the time to check it out & linking the awesome video ^-^ Really appreciate you playing this one too <3

Unfortunately, this is the full release >.< (well, the 'Director's Cut' version is anyways) Since the game was made for O2A2 Jam with strict limitations on word count and assets, it was never intended to be any longer than it is.

That’s why I included the special extra ending in the director’s cut version :3 Cos I thought it was at least a nice way to sort of wrap things up and tie up some loose ends from the other endings x3

I’m glad you think it’s interesting though :3 It was a fun concept to work with, and something I’d definitely like to explore more in the future! It just probably won’t be with the character/s from this game. If I do end up expanding on the idea, it would be within a completely new story.

Thanks so much for your interest <3

Hehe, then you shall have him! x3 Thanks for checking out the game :3

That's awesome that you enjoyed the game :D 

Hehe, yeah, I had to include a bit of a curved ball as a special bonus in the director's cut :P

Cos the whole time I was putting together the jam version, I just had that ending in the back of my mind, but I knew it wouldn't fit with the original 1000-word limit for the jam, haha.

I'm glad you had fun with the extra surprise! And I'm super happy you liked the game in general ^-^

Thanks so much for checking out the game + leaving such a lovely comment <3

PS. Your English isn't poor at all :3 I could understand everything you said perfectly :D

Depending on which version you downloaded, you might not be able to access it >.<

You need to have the 'director’s cut' version for all endings to be available, as there is an extra ending in the director’s cut that isn’t in the O2A2 version.

If you’ve got the director’s cut version, did you try following the walkthrough guide here? https://melancholy-marionette.itch.io/the-hostage/devlog/567737/walkthrough-guide

It tells you how to get all the endings :3

Glad you had fun with it :D I’ve heard soooo many good things about Slay The Princess, but I haven’t checked it out yet >.< my backlog of games I wanna play is stupidly long at this point T_T haha. Just for VNs it's 100+ games... if you start adding RPGs in there too, well, it's a lot worse >.<

You’re not the first person to say that the Linux version is a bit weird x3 Someone recently played a different one of my games (Sapphire Snowe) and said that some of the UI and stuff was odd on the Linux version. Like the hotspot for clicking on stuff wasn’t central or something, but the game was still playable, thankfully.

I’m glad you were still able to enjoy the game at least :3 I don’t own a Linux system, so I have no way of testing on anything other than Windows :( I wish I knew what it could be that makes stuff come out weird on Linux though! Cos all I do is export Windows first for testing, and when I’ve done lots of testing and am satisfied that stuff is working how it’s supposed to, that’s when I then go and export a Mac & a Linux build to upload too.

Tbh not many people download the Linux versions, but I figured I’d keep exporting them anyways! :3

Thanks so much for checking it out anyhow ^-^

Also really glad that you enjoyed the game :3 Thanks so much for playing it and leaving such a sweet comment!

I’m actually working on a project atm where I’ve made an OST with sort of similar vibes to this one, haha + the project is quite dark, atmospheric, and ofc, includes yandere romance again x3 haha.

Hoping to release a demo/part 01 for the otome version for otome jam at the end of June! But will be making a full version that includes more options for choosing the MC’s gender & masc or fem romance the same as in The Hostage ^-^

If you happen to like the voice actors in this project, they both also play a main character in one of my other projects called Tunnel Vision :D 

Hope you are having a great month so far :3

Thanks for checking out the game! I’m glad you enjoyed the OST ^-^ It was a lot of fun to make!

I’m guessing you might be the same person who posted on the tracks on YouTube, but I will still answer in both places just in case it isn’t, haha. 

I would love to have this OST and all my other OSTs on Spotify :3 Sadly, like with adding games to Steam, it costs money to put music on Spotify T_T

However, I am looking at potentially getting an FLCloud subscription sometime later in the year, and as part of that subscription, you get free distribution on platforms like Spotify! The only catch is that if your subscription ends, the tracks will immediately be removed >.< So I’d kind of be stuck subscribing forever, haha. 

But yeah, hopefully, sometime later in 2024, I will try to get all of my music on Spotify :3

In the meantime, the tracks can either be streamed on YouTube, or downloaded from the game pages for a $5 donation (or downloaded from the supporter page for anyone who donates on Ko-fi or Patreon) :3

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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!

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.

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

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

Hehe :3

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!

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

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

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

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

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