This was such an interesting game. The concept was something I never really thought of before, but I found very interesting. It was my first time seeing a yandere who didn't feel completely in love with their victim (very interesting). It was like obsessive hatred, where their desire to dominate the other was not fueled by romantic attraction (mostly). It was like reading a Hero x Villain story where the romance was completely optional.
My favorite ending personally was the "Troll Ending". It really added depth to the already very deep characters. It gave me a new perspective on the narrative and makes me want to play the game again through that perspective. Also, the coding of the game was really cool. Definitely a 5-star experience.
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
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.
Forgive my poor English that i don't know how to praise this amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing game!!!The art and the music and the voice acting are soooooooooooooo great!!!And the special Director's Cut Extra Ending is really surprised me!From being a little scared and 100%excited in the beginning to being amazed by the funny and cozy...@#$*(^*don't know what i'm saying.Anyways!It's really a great game and i love it veryyyyyyyy much!!!
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.
Turns out our silly MC is doing an 'enemies to lovers' roleplay haha!! I very very much relate to you, that's also right up my alley. It was nice to listen to your rambles about the game, I'm curious about the guy from fire emblem now. You successfully pulled me into the fire emblem fandom ( kidding )
SO far... this was very enjoyable ^^ Both fem and masc character were amazing ★
I wonder what their back story is... Did you talk about it on your rambles? Lol.
I'm also curious about those 18+ stuff ;} Usually I don't need the safe word parts but it's nice! Some games actually add an 'aftercare' kinda thing ( Like Obscura )
That’s nuts that games with aftercare exist :o I can’t even imagine ever needing that myself, but I know everyone’s different! Obscura is actually on my list of stuff that I really play at some point but just haven’t had time to yet!! x3
Sadly, Scream Camp (which was the 18+ event I’ve been to before) has been cancelled for this year :( Every. single. date.
They had some sorta issues with the landowners or something where they operate the show/experience, so it just collapsed >.< They did say that they’ll be back in 2025, but I won’t hold my breath because I’ve been booked in to take part in other 18+ horror events before that have ended up not running for one reason or another. They say they will be running X year, and then just don’t and you never hear from them again >.< I just wish they would be honest. If you can’t run the event, just say that T_T
But yeah, I can’t imagine ever using a safe word personally x3 I’m too stubborn, haha. I’d rather endure the pain or whatever than say the word. And besides, it’s all safe at the end of the day so it’s not like you’re actually gonna die or anything!
Although… I have seen multiple horror movies where the characters are going to scare events and it turns out there are real killers there xD So that is always in the back of my mind whenever I go to irl horror stuff because it could technically happen, haha.
I suggest trying out Obscura! I relate to you lots lol... I also don't feel the need for a safe word as I am VERY stubborn. Either way, I have never heard of scream camps! They sound interesting but I doubt such events would happen in my country as horror escape rooms are rare enough. That sounds really fun though! I'd join one if I could ^_^ Sounds really unfortunate that they're having issues with it!! I honestly did not expect a real life game event haha but this is news to me... I should research more about it I'm so interestedddd :D
Honestly my mind is in the wrong way considering I like your characters LMFAO so game events such as these sounds like my type of fun ‼️ Thanks for that ( even though I'm far from UK )
I definitely will whenever I get time :3 I have bumped it higher up my ‘things I need to play someday’ list, haha.
Well, if your mind is like that, mine must be too for coming up with these kinds of characters x3 hehe. I think what’s really cool about irl horror events, especially full-contact ones, is that while the actors are terrifying when they’re in character and doing their jobs, they often tend to be super lovely people when they’re not acting :3
I’ve always just found that to be extra heartwarming cos it’s like, they scare because they care xD
Oh!! Now I feel like you need to do a game set in a horror event! Just how interesting would that be ( especially the characters! ) ^_^ Haha just kidding! That made my brain spark up with an idea.
I love bloopers so much in general x3 They were always my favourite bonus content on DVDs when I was a kid, and I wished every single video game would include them, haha.
If only more game devs would sdd one!! I love listening to podcasts so I'd love some audio bloopers too <3 Those DVDs ... So real HAHAHA I honestly miss them so much!! It also felt like my childhood where I'm listening to a non-music radio DJ talking about the most random things ever while inside the car for a roadtrip.
It is certainly a fun trope to explore, haha. I feel like there’s not really enough of it in games x3 I remember back when I played Dragon Age Origins, I downloaded a mod that let you romance Loghain xD I wish it had been a real romance option in the base game though! The guy was a fun enemy to have, haha.
I’ve always had a soft spot for villains & antagonists in all kinds of fictional media x3 If they can be romanced somehow, even better :D
Hehe, you should check out some Fire Emblem stuff cos it’s awesome :P I still haven’t played the most recent one cos I’ve been too busy doing game jams >.< but I plan to at some point!
As a player, I still haven’t found the perfect game for me that gets the balance of story & romance just right x3 There’s always too much or too little, haha. I prefer stuff like Mass Effect and Dragon Age though where you can pursue a romance alongside the main story! As much as I love visual novels, the ones aimed at women seem to focus waaaay too much on romance for my tastes, and then it feels like the actual overall story just falls by the wayside >.< I think that’s why I fell out of love with the otome genre despite being a superfan for many years!
Glad you had fun with this anyhow ^-^ Thanks so much for checking it out & taking the time to comment!
Tbh, I can’t actually remember what I said in rambles x3 My memory is awful, haha.
Perhaps I'm missing out on a lot of stuff but the internet lacks slightly dark enemies-to-lovers romance ( but not fully romance genre ) games!! I agree with you when it comes to not really liking contents that focus too much on romance ( as a full-time otome enjoyer ) I've grown quite bored of it... Sometimes I just want something else while also having romance as some type of sub-plot!
I honestlyyyyy adore villains so so much... sometimes they feel too underappreciated and I felt myself leaning more onto the antagonist than the protagonist ^_^ They can have my heart atp !!! ★
AFter you mentioned Dragon's age I feel like I have two games to look forward to now ... My poor storage.
I relate to you so muchhh ahaha
Thank you for the somehow 'unintended' recommendations! I'll make sure to check them out :D I like them balanced so I might've found the right game for me!!
No worries, I also honestly forgot 😭
Until next time! Looking forward to more of your games if ever.
SPEAKING OF.... I didn't know you created a few of the games on my list! Amazinggggg I'll make sure to leave a feedback once I've played them :)) Hopefully they have bloopers too? Just kidding!
Oh, that’s so cool :D I hope you end up having fun with the other games if/when you play them ^-^ I don’t know which ones are on your list, but a lot of my projects actually do have bloopers in the extras sections xD I try to include them as much as possible, haha. It’s just sometimes, no one has any bloopers to send x3
Yeah, I wonder if I’m missing media with dark enemies-to-lovers romance cos I don’t really know how to look for it, especially in games cos I don’t think there’s a tag for it >.< The only way I’d really find out about stuff existing is if someone else found it first and then tells me, haha.
I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who played a lot of otome and got bored of it x3 For me, it’s too much of the same sorta stuff happening over and over again, but with different pretty art >.< I used to be OBSESSED with otome years ago, and now I just think I prefer indie horror VNs that happen to also have romance in them, haha.
The Dragon Age games are pretty good :D Though, the 2nd one wasn’t as good as the 1st or 3rd >.<
Funnily enough, I’m making a micro-game right now for this year’s O2A2 jam xD Hoping to release it at the end of the week cos the jam is only on for 10 days, and you have to make a tiny game with lots of restrictions, haha.
This was really good! It actually reminded me of Slay the princess! 10/10 but the linux version works kinda weird but nothing that didnt allow me to enjoy the game.
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
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
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
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 :'(
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!!
I can imagine it must be! Most languages I've tried to learn alone seem fine at first, and then they very quickly get quite complicated xD It would be nice to have proper lessons :3
So glad you had fun with the game though :3 I'm working on a project with a friend for a jam this year, but we're only trying to finish a demo version of it in time for the jam. We're hoping to have the full game out towards the end of the year or early next year :D
That's awesome you liked the title screen too :3 It was a lot of fun to make, haha. Thank you for all your kind words ^-^
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
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 >>>>>>>>>
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
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
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
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, 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
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!
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
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.
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?
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
: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
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 ^-^
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!
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
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.
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
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!!!
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!
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.
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
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
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
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!!
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.
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 😭😭
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
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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This was such an interesting game. The concept was something I never really thought of before, but I found very interesting. It was my first time seeing a yandere who didn't feel completely in love with their victim (very interesting). It was like obsessive hatred, where their desire to dominate the other was not fueled by romantic attraction (mostly). It was like reading a Hero x Villain story where the romance was completely optional.
My favorite ending personally was the "Troll Ending". It really added depth to the already very deep characters. It gave me a new perspective on the narrative and makes me want to play the game again through that perspective. Also, the coding of the game was really cool. Definitely a 5-star experience.
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
very fun, love the soundtrack and the va!
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
I wish the game was longer heh
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!
What a ride!! I really enjoyed this one; great job.
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
will you be doing a full release? this game is very interesting
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
highkey want him
Hehe, then you shall have him! x3 Thanks for checking out the game :3
Forgive my poor English that i don't know how to praise this amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing game!!!The art and the music and the voice acting are soooooooooooooo great!!!And the special Director's Cut Extra Ending is really surprised me!From being a little scared and 100%excited in the beginning to being amazed by the funny and cozy...@#$*(^*don't know what i'm saying.Anyways!It's really a great game and i love it veryyyyyyyy much!!!
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
Turns out our silly MC is doing an 'enemies to lovers' roleplay haha!! I very very much relate to you, that's also right up my alley. It was nice to listen to your rambles about the game, I'm curious about the guy from fire emblem now. You successfully pulled me into the fire emblem fandom ( kidding )
SO far... this was very enjoyable ^^ Both fem and masc character were amazing ★
I wonder what their back story is... Did you talk about it on your rambles? Lol.
I'm also curious about those 18+ stuff ;} Usually I don't need the safe word parts but it's nice! Some games actually add an 'aftercare' kinda thing ( Like Obscura )
That’s nuts that games with aftercare exist :o I can’t even imagine ever needing that myself, but I know everyone’s different! Obscura is actually on my list of stuff that I really play at some point but just haven’t had time to yet!! x3
Sadly, Scream Camp (which was the 18+ event I’ve been to before) has been cancelled for this year :( Every. single. date.
They had some sorta issues with the landowners or something where they operate the show/experience, so it just collapsed >.< They did say that they’ll be back in 2025, but I won’t hold my breath because I’ve been booked in to take part in other 18+ horror events before that have ended up not running for one reason or another. They say they will be running X year, and then just don’t and you never hear from them again >.< I just wish they would be honest. If you can’t run the event, just say that T_T
But yeah, I can’t imagine ever using a safe word personally x3 I’m too stubborn, haha. I’d rather endure the pain or whatever than say the word. And besides, it’s all safe at the end of the day so it’s not like you’re actually gonna die or anything!
Although… I have seen multiple horror movies where the characters are going to scare events and it turns out there are real killers there xD So that is always in the back of my mind whenever I go to irl horror stuff because it could technically happen, haha.
I suggest trying out Obscura! I relate to you lots lol... I also don't feel the need for a safe word as I am VERY stubborn. Either way, I have never heard of scream camps! They sound interesting but I doubt such events would happen in my country as horror escape rooms are rare enough. That sounds really fun though! I'd join one if I could ^_^ Sounds really unfortunate that they're having issues with it!! I honestly did not expect a real life game event haha but this is news to me... I should research more about it I'm so interestedddd :D
Honestly my mind is in the wrong way considering I like your characters LMFAO so game events such as these sounds like my type of fun ‼️ Thanks for that ( even though I'm far from UK )
I definitely will whenever I get time :3 I have bumped it higher up my ‘things I need to play someday’ list, haha.
Well, if your mind is like that, mine must be too for coming up with these kinds of characters x3 hehe. I think what’s really cool about irl horror events, especially full-contact ones, is that while the actors are terrifying when they’re in character and doing their jobs, they often tend to be super lovely people when they’re not acting :3
I’ve always just found that to be extra heartwarming cos it’s like, they scare because they care xD
Oh!! Now I feel like you need to do a game set in a horror event! Just how interesting would that be ( especially the characters! ) ^_^ Haha just kidding! That made my brain spark up with an idea.
Omgg... I just saw the bloopers and that was very funny 😭
I love bloopers so much in general x3 They were always my favourite bonus content on DVDs when I was a kid, and I wished every single video game would include them, haha.
If only more game devs would sdd one!! I love listening to podcasts so I'd love some audio bloopers too <3 Those DVDs ... So real HAHAHA I honestly miss them so much!! It also felt like my childhood where I'm listening to a non-music radio DJ talking about the most random things ever while inside the car for a roadtrip.
It is certainly a fun trope to explore, haha. I feel like there’s not really enough of it in games x3 I remember back when I played Dragon Age Origins, I downloaded a mod that let you romance Loghain xD I wish it had been a real romance option in the base game though! The guy was a fun enemy to have, haha.
I’ve always had a soft spot for villains & antagonists in all kinds of fictional media x3 If they can be romanced somehow, even better :D
Hehe, you should check out some Fire Emblem stuff cos it’s awesome :P I still haven’t played the most recent one cos I’ve been too busy doing game jams >.< but I plan to at some point!
As a player, I still haven’t found the perfect game for me that gets the balance of story & romance just right x3 There’s always too much or too little, haha. I prefer stuff like Mass Effect and Dragon Age though where you can pursue a romance alongside the main story! As much as I love visual novels, the ones aimed at women seem to focus waaaay too much on romance for my tastes, and then it feels like the actual overall story just falls by the wayside >.< I think that’s why I fell out of love with the otome genre despite being a superfan for many years!
Glad you had fun with this anyhow ^-^ Thanks so much for checking it out & taking the time to comment!
Tbh, I can’t actually remember what I said in rambles x3 My memory is awful, haha.
Perhaps I'm missing out on a lot of stuff but the internet lacks slightly dark enemies-to-lovers romance ( but not fully romance genre ) games!! I agree with you when it comes to not really liking contents that focus too much on romance ( as a full-time otome enjoyer ) I've grown quite bored of it... Sometimes I just want something else while also having romance as some type of sub-plot!
I honestlyyyyy adore villains so so much... sometimes they feel too underappreciated and I felt myself leaning more onto the antagonist than the protagonist ^_^ They can have my heart atp !!! ★
AFter you mentioned Dragon's age I feel like I have two games to look forward to now ... My poor storage.
I relate to you so muchhh ahaha
Thank you for the somehow 'unintended' recommendations! I'll make sure to check them out :D I like them balanced so I might've found the right game for me!!
No worries, I also honestly forgot 😭
Until next time! Looking forward to more of your games if ever.
SPEAKING OF.... I didn't know you created a few of the games on my list! Amazinggggg I'll make sure to leave a feedback once I've played them :)) Hopefully they have bloopers too? Just kidding!
Oh, that’s so cool :D I hope you end up having fun with the other games if/when you play them ^-^ I don’t know which ones are on your list, but a lot of my projects actually do have bloopers in the extras sections xD I try to include them as much as possible, haha. It’s just sometimes, no one has any bloopers to send x3
Yeah, I wonder if I’m missing media with dark enemies-to-lovers romance cos I don’t really know how to look for it, especially in games cos I don’t think there’s a tag for it >.< The only way I’d really find out about stuff existing is if someone else found it first and then tells me, haha.
I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who played a lot of otome and got bored of it x3 For me, it’s too much of the same sorta stuff happening over and over again, but with different pretty art >.< I used to be OBSESSED with otome years ago, and now I just think I prefer indie horror VNs that happen to also have romance in them, haha.
The Dragon Age games are pretty good :D Though, the 2nd one wasn’t as good as the 1st or 3rd >.<
Funnily enough, I’m making a micro-game right now for this year’s O2A2 jam xD Hoping to release it at the end of the week cos the jam is only on for 10 days, and you have to make a tiny game with lots of restrictions, haha.
Hope you get to have a good week! :3
This was really good! It actually reminded me of Slay the princess! 10/10 but the linux version works kinda weird but nothing that didnt allow me to enjoy the game.
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 ^-^
And i am really love this game! Its definitely my type 😭😭😭 i want moreee i need moreeeee😭
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
I'm obsessed with the ost of this game! Pls post it on Spotify!😭
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
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 :'(
NVM I found ur youtube channel hahah ^^' <3
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
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!!
I can imagine it must be! Most languages I've tried to learn alone seem fine at first, and then they very quickly get quite complicated xD It would be nice to have proper lessons :3
So glad you had fun with the game though :3 I'm working on a project with a friend for a jam this year, but we're only trying to finish a demo version of it in time for the jam. We're hoping to have the full game out towards the end of the year or early next year :D
That's awesome you liked the title screen too :3 It was a lot of fun to make, haha. Thank you for all your kind words ^-^
Can't wait for the release of it then! Good luck with the development <3 And thank you for ur amazing games/ost <3
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!!!
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
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 ^-^
mwa 💞
not even gonna lie the male voice actor has a GRIP on me his voice was so perfect for this 10/10
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
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
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
RAH I CAN'T CHOOSE BETWEEN THE ENDINGS. ONE OF THEM IS SO INTRESTING AND THE OTHER IS ADORABLE!!!! AMAZING GAME AGAIN, THANK YOU!!!
Glad you had fun with it :D Thank you so much for checking this one out and for leaving such a nice comment! :3
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
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
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.
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
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
🤍GREAT GAME!🖤
<3 <3 <3 Thanks so much for playing it & happy holidays!! ^-^
This was tooo good. 10/10 for the sound track and visuals!
That’s great to hear! :D So glad you enjoyed it :3 Thanks for playing!
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!
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
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.
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?
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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
This was a phenomenal experience! I've never felt actually trapped by a game before!! And the special ending deserves an award!
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!
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!
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 \^-^/
I'm sure it's fine! I hope you get some rest! Happy Spooky Season♫♪
A very merry spooky season to you tooooo! ^-^
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!
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
me during the game: I can fix her!
me at the end: wow cute roleplay <3
Hehe :3
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!!!
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!
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
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
Really enjoyed It, Made a Part two And Will play it again
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
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
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
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!!
Im curious about the background music
You can listen to the soundtrack on YouTube now if you want to :3
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!
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
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.
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 😭😭
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!