Glad to hear it :D It means a lot if the game could give you that sort of feeling when it’s so short :3 I tried really hard to build up atmosphere within the constraints of the jam’s restrictions on word count and assets, so it’s nice to know that it came across as captivcating ^-^
(Your game is at 19:28 (tho it has the warnings on the start). I also made a commentary one, tho it might be cursed, and a little different time.)
I love this vn/game. I love how every asset, despite the O2A2's limitation, is spot on. The VA really delivered and gave life to Styx, and perfectly spot on to this game's atmosphere and theme as well. Same thing with graphics and music/sfx, while it has inviting and comforting atmosphere and feel into it, it also has the sense of dread and ominous into it, yet can still be feel calming and melancholic as well. Overall, this might be one of the best O2A2 2024 VNs I played on this jam.
Thanks so much for playing it & featuring it in your video :3 I’m so glad you had fun with it & appreciate you taking the time to check it out + leave such a nice comment <3
It definitely wouldn’t have been the same without Vivian’s awesome voice :D
And it makes me super happy to hear that the comforting atmosphere also had a sense of dread to it because that and a calming but melancholic vibe as you say is exactly what I was aiming for, but it’s always hard to tell if I’ve managed to achieve what I’m trying to, haha.
I feel honoured that you would give it such high praise! Thank you:3 It really means a lot!!
I was confident about my game till I saw yours. to tell you I'm obsessed with it is an understatement. Everything about it was perfect. I can't wait to see more games from you.
You should still be confident about your game because it looks great!! :3 I really love the banner for the game page! It’s really neat (and I also kinda have a thing for puppet imagery, haha x3)
I’m glad you think this one is decent though :3 Thanks so much for taking the time to check it out & leaving such a nice comment. Best of luck to you in your future projects!
This was mesmerizing. I know I'm going to be thinking about this game for days. I absolutely love how dreamlike this felt, you've nailed the atmosphere, visual effects and sound. And Styx? I adore her, awesome job from the VA as well!
Ahh, that means so much to hear! Thank you <3 I’ve had It Paints Me on my backlog of stuff I want to play for a while now, I just never give myself enough time to actually play games cos I wind up getting carried away with working on jam after jam, forgetting to take proper breaks T_T But all of your projects look stunning!!
Since my PC is now broken and I’m kinda forced to take a break, I was hoping I might get some time to play stuff on the potato laptop if it can manage it x3
Snow White Ashes is another that I really want to play at some point. I adore the red/white/grey aesthetic! I originally wanted to use that as a colour theme for my Winter VN Jam project ‘Sapphire Snowe’ last year, but when I tried, it just didn’t look right, so I wound up falling back on blue/white instead >.< haha. You have absolutely nailed it though cos it looks beautiful :3
I’ve also realised that you are one of several devs I thought I was following, but turns out I must’ve browsed some of the jams while signed out of itch on my phone or something and then forgot to actually hit the button when I was logged in on my PC again, so gonna go do that now x3
Anyways, thank you so much for checking out this lil project, I’m so glad you enjoyed it :D It means the world that you think I’ve nailed the atmosphere because it’s one of the most important things to me when making games. It’s also one of the things I love the most in other games as a player! All of your projects look like they ooze atmosphere just from looking at the screenshots, hehe.
Ah, that's so kind of you!! I'm honoured my games caught your attention and I really hope you enjoy them! I'm sorry about your pc though ahhh ;-;
I totally agree on atmosphere--it's a really different experience when all the pieces mesh together and evoke just the right feelings and suck you into its world. It's something you do really well in your games, this one is no exception!
I remember the first time I saw the page for It Paints Me, and I just thought, damn… that looks stunning! The headers or whatever you call them with the highlighted parts reminded me of one of my favourite opening title sequences I’ve ever seen on a TV show (We Hunt Together) where they made parts of the neon signs go out so that it looked like a different word :3
I don’t know what it is about that sort of thing but it just makes my brain so, so happy, haha.
I’m waiting for the perfect night this week when it will (hopefully) cool down so I can put the potato on my lap in bed without it burning me x3 Lights out, tiny lamp on, hello there, backlog… it’s been a while! Bring on the horror :D
That means a hell of a lot re: atmosphere!! I think I might have to go retreat into a cupboard and cry some happy tears cos my heart can’t take such a grand compliment T_T Thank you so much again :3
Ahh I'm glad you noticed the headers, I have a lot of fun including little details like that. ;w; I've never heard of We Hunt Together but it's really cool how they used it here! I hope that the weather cooperates and again, you're so welcome, you deserve it!
Dang this was incredibly atmospheric and suffocating in the absolutely best way.
The visual design is incredibly dynamic. I really loved all of the different animations, from Styx' sprite movement to the various text effects and transitions. The slight movement of the background was an incredibly nice touch, and really made me feel as if I was "drowning in the depths." Styx's sprite is gorgeous, and the VA did such a fantastic job of bringing the character to life, especially with the added kind of "echo" post-processing effect - it added so much gravitasse to the voice. Styx is a compelling and magnetic figure, equal parts playful, charismatic, and frightening. There was simply a TON of thought put into the details of the game - and I loved how the start menu also changed according to what ending you got.
===SPOILERS===
I really liked the use of "resets" here - at various points, Styx lets you "go" and when you start the game again, you're still trapped with them. It really contributes to that feeling of suffocation, that now that you're here, there's no escape. Styx is the perfect mix of playful and sinister - at times, you feel drawn to them as they affectionately call you "Friend" and assure you that they want to keep you here to protect you, but you're continuously reminded how easily they toy with your life. I appreciated that, no matter what, Styx never gives you a "cure" for what ails you - it is impossible for them to give you "life." The closest thing to a cure they can give you is to grant you a place at their side, in the place between life and death - a bittersweet ending.
I really appreciated how many endings there are in such a short playtime - every choice really seems to alter your ending in some way. I got all of the endings, and while I enjoyed all of them, Endings 2 and 3 were particularly memorable. The gradual transition of Styx's sprite as the souls of the dead strain against their dress is CHILLING. I found it interesting that the only choice where the MC escapes is the one where they never speak to Styx - indeed, the only way to free themself from Styx's games is never to engage in the first place.
Overall this was such an atmospheric and intriguing game. The combination of the background, sprite, voice acting, visual effects, and the writing was SO good. Fantastic work!
Ahh, thank you so much ^-^ It means a lot that you took the time to play through and find all of the endings, and then to come and write such a lovely comment/feedback too! Thank you <3
I do kind of wish I had time to learn more about text effects for this project because I would have loved to do more in that sort of arena, but it’s one of those things I don’t know much about still >.< haha.
Getting the loop right on the background was killing me x3 I tried so many combinations but the loop point just refused to behave in Unity even if it looked seamless in the video player T_T I had to put an extra effect in the end to try and make it look less jarring xD but I’m glad it worked out in the end cos I was kinda anxious it still looked bad at the point of looping!
Vivian did indeed do the most epic job of bringing Styx to life :D The game wouldn’t be the same without her amazing voice talent :3 I’m glad you think that the effects I applied added to the voice rather than taking from it because I spent a long time trying to get the balance to sound right, haha. In the beginning, it was just too much and overpowering the performance, so I had to do a lot of tweaking to try and get it to a place where it didn’t feel so heavy.
It always means so much when fellow devs have fun with anything I’ve made cos you guys know how much effort it takes to make these things, even if they’re just small like this one, haha, so it means heaps when you can see all the thought and details that have gone into stuff :3
It’s funny you should mention Styx calling the player “Friend” because in the first draft of the script, I had used the word a lot more than what made it into the final version, and a big part of the reason I cut down on the use of it was because I couldn’t get The Inbetweeners out of my head xD Every time I saw the word “friend” all I heard was the silly boys repeating the word in the silly voice that they do in the show x3
I’m glad you liked endings 2 & 3 because I almost cut one of them in favour of expanding one of the others, just because of their similarities, but decided to keep em both in the end, haha.
And I’m just super happy in general that you found it enjoyable overall :D I’ve had Karamu on my backlog of stuff I wanna play for a while now! I just never give myself enough time to actually play games, so my backlog is kinda huge T_T It looks so damn good though!!
Also, I just checked your profile again and saw MindMindMind which looks 1000% my cup of tea, so that’s on the backlog too now x3 I’m so behind T_T I wanted to check out everything from Stained Red and YanJam, but I’ve not even started yet.
It’s my own fault cos I keep jumping from one jam to the next without any breaks like an idiot >.< My PC is broken now though, so I’m hoping I might get to play some of my backlog on the potato laptop if it can handle it!
Weirdly, I thought I was already following you, but I must’ve come across your page in the past while I wasn’t logged in or something, so I’m gonna go rectify that right now, haha.
Thanks so much again for taking the time to play & leaving such a lovely comment :3
That’s so great to hear! Really glad you enjoyed it :3 It’s always super hard to tell when making micro-games like this if they’re engaging enough when they’re so short, so it’s fantastic to get such positive feedback :D
Thanks so much for taking the time to check it out & leave such a lovely comment <3
Truth be told I love these types of dark-themed games it's so hard to find them sometimes. Thank you so much for giving me such an experience! I wish I could support you in some way😭
I streamed the game on Twitch and hoped to upload the clip on YouTube. I'm sure you'll find lots of people out there who'd love your work just like I did!!!
Same x3 And I know what you mean! I check the ‘yandere’ tag on itch sometimes, but the thing is, I love horror in general, and the horror & psychological horror tags are kinda flooded >.< so that makes it difficult to find the sort of stuff I like!
Pretty much all of my projects are dark-themed, one way or another, even the ones with comedy elements in xD
Atmospheric psychological horror is probably my favourite horror subgenre :3
The biggest problem I have with tagging stuff as yandere though, both as a dev & a player, is that I’d prefer it to be a surprise x3 But then if people don’t tag yandere stuff with the tag, it would be even harder to find T_T
Anyways, you have already supported me by playing the game and taking the time to leave a nice comment! Honestly, it really gives me a boost to hear kind and positive words about my projects because I still have so much self-doubt about everything that I do x3
Any time I see comments like yours it immediately reminds me to stop listening to that evil voice in the back of my head that says I’m not good enough! And that is just priceless ^-^
Ooo, nice! I hope the stream went well :3 Feel free to link that or the YouTube clip here if you want to btw!
And thank you :3 It always feels like an impossible task to actually get my games in front of people, haha. I don’t do very well with social media cos I find it really overwhelming and draining even just making short posts >.< so I am kinda awful at promoting my projects and pretty much reliant on players spreading the word x3
The dialogue absolutely being on-point, and Vivian's voice hitting it out of the park - ranging from charming, lamenting, to absolutely unhinged - seriously incredible. That combined with the ocean background/videos, and your music (beautiful, once again) made this whole experience so wonderfully immersive-!
Huzzah :D Super glad you had fun with it!! Cheers for checking it out <3
Yeah, it just wouldn’t be the same without Vivian’s epic voice acting x3 As soon as I had the idea for the character, I knew I desperately wanted to cast her, haha. I’d been dying to work with her for a while, and I really hope we end up having the opportunity to work together again :3
I’m so glad you like the music too ^-^
I’m still excited to check out Our Lighthouse! I haven’t had much of a chance to play many of the O2A2 games yet cos I’ve spent most of this past week on remote support sessions with the tech team from where I got my new PC, and ultimately, it’s being sent back for a refund >.< The courier picked it up this morning, so I’m without a PC for the foreseeable future.
The lil potato laptop should still be able to run it at least :3 I just need a night where it’s not boiling hot in bed to chill out and play some O2A2 stuff! Haha. I have this weird habit where I can’t play games during daylight hours x3 Or if I do, I don’t enjoy them as much as playing in the dark!
This is truly a beautiful and well-crafted game. The voice acting is amazing, the aesthetic is really nice, and the music pulls it all together. I enjoyed it a lot.
Thank you so much <3 I’m really glad you think so! It definitely wouldn't be the same without the voice acting, haha. Vivian did an incredible job of bringing Styx to life :D
It means a lot that you liked the music track too! I got a liiiiittle bit carried away while making it and didn't realise it had gotten so long, but I had an absolute blast making it, haha.
Thanks for taking the time to check it out & for linking the video too :3
This was a really cool little game and Styx's character design is SO cool, I was surprised you put out another game so soon lol. I hope you're not pushing yourself too much
Glad you had fun with it :D Believe me, I was surprised myself xD It was just one of those spontaneous things, haha. Probably not the wisest decision, but it’s done now x3
I can’t really push myself much now anyways since my PC is dead again and being shipped back to the company for a refund T_T haha. I can use the potato laptop for some tasks, but it’s so slow that it’s impossible to achieve a great deal with it >.<
Thank you for always being so sweet :3 I hope you’re doing well yourself!
I ended up really enjoying your game! Great short story, music and the VA was a rly nice touch too! I also enjoyed seeing the sprite move around and zoom in and out really making use of only one asset! Getting all the endings was a little tough lol but interesting outcomes!
Yay ^-^ I’m so glad you had fun with it! And that's so cool you included it in your video too! :D
That was a lot of a fun moving the sprite like that, haha. It made me feel kinda lazy for not including much sprite movement in my longer projects, but it was so much work just for a short game T_T haha. Also, I feel like the movement suits Styx, but if I did that with human characters it would just look really weird anyways x3
Thanks so much for checking out the lil game <3
PS. I adore the thumbnail for the vid! It looks so cooool ^-^
Okay, seriously well done! Fair play to you for getting this out! Not only were you finishing Deadly Desires about a week ago, you made this and were doing it all with a janky PC and all the headaches that come with that.
To top it all off, the quality is excellent. Using the video background is a super idea to work within the limitations of O2A2 and it looked shimmering and infinite which nailed the atmosphere and suited the narrative perfectly.
The voice acting and the art for Styx were brilliant. The attention to detail made her come to life. I really appreciated the effect over the voice work but it didn't overpower the acting.
Loved the looping gameplay and Styx reacting to the players return. Your games never cease to amaze. Have another 5 stars and a well deserved rest!
And literal headaches too cos I was tanking ibuprofen for most of last week xD (with food, ofc, I’m not a total idiot x3)
Thank you, though :3 That really does mean a lot. I felt fairly proud of the lil project as things were coming to a close and I was testing, but when my PC died & it came to actually releasing it, I was suddenly filled with an all-encompassing dread that perhaps it was awful, or chock full of bugs since I didn’t get to test as much as I would have liked! >.<
That’s such a relief to hear about the VA and the effects I put on the voice too because that’s always in the back of my mind whenever I try to make FX for characters! The last thing I want to do is lose the actual performance the VA put in >.< so I’m super conscious of trying to ensure the FX aren’t overbearing. I couldn’t really tell with this one whether they were or not.
I know when I was testing different FX combos, I ruled a few out because they did seem like too much, haha. With there being around 5 different FX on Styxs’ regular voice in the final version though, I still worried it was too much x3 I did purposefully set them to come through at about 50% strength rather than full though to try and offset their power.
Thank you again! You are beyond amazing <3 I tried to rest over the weekend cos I had a migraine for most of it, and then when I felt better, I thought I’d go on a nice walk with my pops, but managed to fall over into some stinging nettles xD I think the world has it in for me at the moment, haha. Hope you got to have a decent weekend!!
Styx's a though cookie, I'll give them that. I kept wandering around endings 1 and 2 until I finally broke free with ending 5! I ended up checking the guide just to see the others :P
I really liked the watery feel of the game and it's options/endings. Feels reeeaaally on theme (you know, water, not the jam's restrictions xD).
The game design was great, it kept it dynamic while trying to get a new ending every time!
I really liked the music loop as well! Pretty atmospheric and, again, watery. Lol. And the visual fx for the backgrounds were pretty on point as well (played the regular version with video), including that nice detail of changing the main screen depending on the ending.
As for the voice acting, super on point. Paired with the movement of the main character and the expressions, it certainly made you, yes another pun, sink into the story xD
The best kind of rain :D Well, besides maybe a downpour of quokkas or something cos that would obviously be superior x3 I'm so excited to play a bunch of O2A2 entries! Since my main PC is buggered and even the potato laptop should be able to handle micro VNs, it's the perfect excuse to dive in later as a weekend treat :3
Ahh, yeah, that's why I figured I better make a guide cos I imagined ending 01 would be the one that is most commonly found, and with no save/load, I could see it getting kinda frustrating to keep going round in circles getting the same ending >.< haha.
I tried to make it sorta similar to last year's O2A2 project but simplify it more since I saw a few people got a little confused with The Hostage x3 but then I worried that maybe I made The Shuddering too simple to the point that it might be boring to try and see all the endings >.< So I'm glad to hear that wasn't the case at least :D
I could ramble forever about how much fun I had making that music track x3 I didn't realise it had gotten so long though xD Cos there was a point where it was pretty short, and I kept thinking to myself, I need to make this a little longer, and then somehow it ended up being probably the longest track I've ever made, haha. I think I just got a bit lost in it, which I guess is appropriate for the theme of the game!
I had been dying to work with Vivian on something for a while, so the second Styx popped into my head, so did Vivian's voice :D I was just worried it might not work out with everything being such short notice and a tight deadline, but Vivian was incredible :3
It was quite fun to try and match the sprite movements and expressions with the voice acting! I rarely use the easing parameters in Naninovel cos anything other than the default option for shifting sprites usually looks odd x3 so it was nice to mess around with that more here where it fit, haha.
Loving the puns x3 I would throw some back but my brain is barely functioning at this point! Although, there's a sort of unintentional one in the first paragraph xD
Thanks for checking this one out + always being so kind :3 It means a hell of a lot!
This was really cool! The visuals were great; the background is really creepy, and Styx has a great looking sprite! Well cast voice acting as well. What impressed me most is the sort of "loop" nature the game has; going back to the title screen, only to have the story continue when you press start is a really neat idea! I've gotten two endings so far, I really want to try and get more!
That's so sweet of you to leave such a lovely comment!! :3 I'm really glad you like how it's turned out :D
That main background for the story was one giant pain in the ass, haha. Well, the video version anyways cos I couldn't for the life of me get it to loop smoothly with the effects that I wanted to use on it, so I wound up having to try and cover the loop with the pulsing effect to make it less jarring >.< I guess it all worked out in the end though because it makes it look more alive, a bit like it's breathing and quivering x3
I'm also glad you like the looping nature of the story in general though cos I always worry that sorta thing could be considered annoying, haha. I tried to do something similar for my O2A2 project last year too, and I remember seeing someone play the game who thought it was finished when they got back to the title screen for the first time, and instead of pressing anything, they just force-closed the game T_T so there's that too, haha.
More importantly, though, I can't believe I missed some of your games!! Itch is supposed to notify me of that sorta thing since I'm following you :( I just saw that you released one for Winter VN Jam that's related to the Vamp Me! story from A Trick and a Treat, and I really need that in my life :D It's going straight on my list of things I need to get around to playing! All the Creeps of the Cosmos looks damn epic too!! I really need to actually start working through my backlog because there's so much I want to play >.<
Thank you for checking this one out and taking the time to write something so nice <3
← Return to watery embrace
Comments
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I really enjoyed Styx!! The visuals were also very fitting. I have to admit; I was a bit captivated.
Glad to hear it :D It means a lot if the game could give you that sort of feeling when it’s so short :3 I tried really hard to build up atmosphere within the constraints of the jam’s restrictions on word count and assets, so it’s nice to know that it came across as captivcating ^-^
Thanks so much for playing!! :3
Even though this is a short game but quality is more than the limit of 1000 words.
I'm glad you think so :3
Even though I can't speak your language in the video, I think your voice sounds beautiful and fits Styx really well! ^-^
Thanks so much for playing!!
PS. I love jellyfish :D
(Your game is at 19:28 (tho it has the warnings on the start). I also made a commentary one, tho it might be cursed, and a little different time.)
I love this vn/game. I love how every asset, despite the O2A2's limitation, is spot on. The VA really delivered and gave life to Styx, and perfectly spot on to this game's atmosphere and theme as well. Same thing with graphics and music/sfx, while it has inviting and comforting atmosphere and feel into it, it also has the sense of dread and ominous into it, yet can still be feel calming and melancholic as well. Overall, this might be one of the best O2A2 2024 VNs I played on this jam.
Thank you so much!
Thanks so much for playing it & featuring it in your video :3 I’m so glad you had fun with it & appreciate you taking the time to check it out + leave such a nice comment <3
It definitely wouldn’t have been the same without Vivian’s awesome voice :D
And it makes me super happy to hear that the comforting atmosphere also had a sense of dread to it because that and a calming but melancholic vibe as you say is exactly what I was aiming for, but it’s always hard to tell if I’ve managed to achieve what I’m trying to, haha.
I feel honoured that you would give it such high praise! Thank you :3 It really means a lot!!
I was confident about my game till I saw yours. to tell you I'm obsessed with it is an understatement. Everything about it was perfect. I can't wait to see more games from you.
You should still be confident about your game because it looks great!! :3 I really love the banner for the game page! It’s really neat (and I also kinda have a thing for puppet imagery, haha x3)
I’m glad you think this one is decent though :3 Thanks so much for taking the time to check it out & leaving such a nice comment. Best of luck to you in your future projects!
This was mesmerizing. I know I'm going to be thinking about this game for days. I absolutely love how dreamlike this felt, you've nailed the atmosphere, visual effects and sound. And Styx? I adore her, awesome job from the VA as well!
Ahh, that means so much to hear! Thank you <3 I’ve had It Paints Me on my backlog of stuff I want to play for a while now, I just never give myself enough time to actually play games cos I wind up getting carried away with working on jam after jam, forgetting to take proper breaks T_T But all of your projects look stunning!!
Since my PC is now broken and I’m kinda forced to take a break, I was hoping I might get some time to play stuff on the potato laptop if it can manage it x3
Snow White Ashes is another that I really want to play at some point. I adore the red/white/grey aesthetic! I originally wanted to use that as a colour theme for my Winter VN Jam project ‘Sapphire Snowe’ last year, but when I tried, it just didn’t look right, so I wound up falling back on blue/white instead >.< haha. You have absolutely nailed it though cos it looks beautiful :3
I’ve also realised that you are one of several devs I thought I was following, but turns out I must’ve browsed some of the jams while signed out of itch on my phone or something and then forgot to actually hit the button when I was logged in on my PC again, so gonna go do that now x3
Anyways, thank you so much for checking out this lil project, I’m so glad you enjoyed it :D It means the world that you think I’ve nailed the atmosphere because it’s one of the most important things to me when making games. It’s also one of the things I love the most in other games as a player! All of your projects look like they ooze atmosphere just from looking at the screenshots, hehe.
Ah, that's so kind of you!! I'm honoured my games caught your attention and I really hope you enjoy them! I'm sorry about your pc though ahhh ;-;
I totally agree on atmosphere--it's a really different experience when all the pieces mesh together and evoke just the right feelings and suck you into its world. It's something you do really well in your games, this one is no exception!
I remember the first time I saw the page for It Paints Me, and I just thought, damn… that looks stunning! The headers or whatever you call them with the highlighted parts reminded me of one of my favourite opening title sequences I’ve ever seen on a TV show (We Hunt Together) where they made parts of the neon signs go out so that it looked like a different word :3
I don’t know what it is about that sort of thing but it just makes my brain so, so happy, haha.
I’m waiting for the perfect night this week when it will (hopefully) cool down so I can put the potato on my lap in bed without it burning me x3 Lights out, tiny lamp on, hello there, backlog… it’s been a while! Bring on the horror :D
That means a hell of a lot re: atmosphere!! I think I might have to go retreat into a cupboard and cry some happy tears cos my heart can’t take such a grand compliment T_T Thank you so much again :3
Ahh I'm glad you noticed the headers, I have a lot of fun including little details like that. ;w; I've never heard of We Hunt Together but it's really cool how they used it here!
I hope that the weather cooperates and again, you're so welcome, you deserve it!
Dang this was incredibly atmospheric and suffocating in the absolutely best way.
The visual design is incredibly dynamic. I really loved all of the different animations, from Styx' sprite movement to the various text effects and transitions. The slight movement of the background was an incredibly nice touch, and really made me feel as if I was "drowning in the depths." Styx's sprite is gorgeous, and the VA did such a fantastic job of bringing the character to life, especially with the added kind of "echo" post-processing effect - it added so much gravitasse to the voice. Styx is a compelling and magnetic figure, equal parts playful, charismatic, and frightening. There was simply a TON of thought put into the details of the game - and I loved how the start menu also changed according to what ending you got.
===SPOILERS===
I really liked the use of "resets" here - at various points, Styx lets you "go" and when you start the game again, you're still trapped with them. It really contributes to that feeling of suffocation, that now that you're here, there's no escape. Styx is the perfect mix of playful and sinister - at times, you feel drawn to them as they affectionately call you "Friend" and assure you that they want to keep you here to protect you, but you're continuously reminded how easily they toy with your life. I appreciated that, no matter what, Styx never gives you a "cure" for what ails you - it is impossible for them to give you "life." The closest thing to a cure they can give you is to grant you a place at their side, in the place between life and death - a bittersweet ending.
I really appreciated how many endings there are in such a short playtime - every choice really seems to alter your ending in some way. I got all of the endings, and while I enjoyed all of them, Endings 2 and 3 were particularly memorable. The gradual transition of Styx's sprite as the souls of the dead strain against their dress is CHILLING. I found it interesting that the only choice where the MC escapes is the one where they never speak to Styx - indeed, the only way to free themself from Styx's games is never to engage in the first place.
Overall this was such an atmospheric and intriguing game. The combination of the background, sprite, voice acting, visual effects, and the writing was SO good. Fantastic work!
Ahh, thank you so much ^-^ It means a lot that you took the time to play through and find all of the endings, and then to come and write such a lovely comment/feedback too! Thank you <3
I do kind of wish I had time to learn more about text effects for this project because I would have loved to do more in that sort of arena, but it’s one of those things I don’t know much about still >.< haha.
Getting the loop right on the background was killing me x3 I tried so many combinations but the loop point just refused to behave in Unity even if it looked seamless in the video player T_T I had to put an extra effect in the end to try and make it look less jarring xD but I’m glad it worked out in the end cos I was kinda anxious it still looked bad at the point of looping!
Vivian did indeed do the most epic job of bringing Styx to life :D The game wouldn’t be the same without her amazing voice talent :3 I’m glad you think that the effects I applied added to the voice rather than taking from it because I spent a long time trying to get the balance to sound right, haha. In the beginning, it was just too much and overpowering the performance, so I had to do a lot of tweaking to try and get it to a place where it didn’t feel so heavy.
It always means so much when fellow devs have fun with anything I’ve made cos you guys know how much effort it takes to make these things, even if they’re just small like this one, haha, so it means heaps when you can see all the thought and details that have gone into stuff :3
It’s funny you should mention Styx calling the player “Friend” because in the first draft of the script, I had used the word a lot more than what made it into the final version, and a big part of the reason I cut down on the use of it was because I couldn’t get The Inbetweeners out of my head xD Every time I saw the word “friend” all I heard was the silly boys repeating the word in the silly voice that they do in the show x3
I’m glad you liked endings 2 & 3 because I almost cut one of them in favour of expanding one of the others, just because of their similarities, but decided to keep em both in the end, haha.
And I’m just super happy in general that you found it enjoyable overall :D I’ve had Karamu on my backlog of stuff I wanna play for a while now! I just never give myself enough time to actually play games, so my backlog is kinda huge T_T It looks so damn good though!!
Also, I just checked your profile again and saw MindMindMind which looks 1000% my cup of tea, so that’s on the backlog too now x3 I’m so behind T_T I wanted to check out everything from Stained Red and YanJam, but I’ve not even started yet.
It’s my own fault cos I keep jumping from one jam to the next without any breaks like an idiot >.< My PC is broken now though, so I’m hoping I might get to play some of my backlog on the potato laptop if it can handle it!
Weirdly, I thought I was already following you, but I must’ve come across your page in the past while I wasn’t logged in or something, so I’m gonna go rectify that right now, haha.
Thanks so much again for taking the time to play & leaving such a lovely comment :3
Loved it. The art was so pretty and the Voice Acting was just so good. Simply put, this game is Amazing!!!
That’s so great to hear! Really glad you enjoyed it :3 It’s always super hard to tell when making micro-games like this if they’re engaging enough when they’re so short, so it’s fantastic to get such positive feedback :D
Thanks so much for taking the time to check it out & leave such a lovely comment <3
Truth be told I love these types of dark-themed games it's so hard to find them sometimes. Thank you so much for giving me such an experience! I wish I could support you in some way😭
I streamed the game on Twitch and hoped to upload the clip on YouTube. I'm sure you'll find lots of people out there who'd love your work just like I did!!!
Same x3 And I know what you mean! I check the ‘yandere’ tag on itch sometimes, but the thing is, I love horror in general, and the horror & psychological horror tags are kinda flooded >.< so that makes it difficult to find the sort of stuff I like!
Pretty much all of my projects are dark-themed, one way or another, even the ones with comedy elements in xD
Atmospheric psychological horror is probably my favourite horror subgenre :3
The biggest problem I have with tagging stuff as yandere though, both as a dev & a player, is that I’d prefer it to be a surprise x3 But then if people don’t tag yandere stuff with the tag, it would be even harder to find T_T
Anyways, you have already supported me by playing the game and taking the time to leave a nice comment! Honestly, it really gives me a boost to hear kind and positive words about my projects because I still have so much self-doubt about everything that I do x3
Any time I see comments like yours it immediately reminds me to stop listening to that evil voice in the back of my head that says I’m not good enough! And that is just priceless ^-^
Ooo, nice! I hope the stream went well :3 Feel free to link that or the YouTube clip here if you want to btw!
And thank you :3 It always feels like an impossible task to actually get my games in front of people, haha. I don’t do very well with social media cos I find it really overwhelming and draining even just making short posts >.< so I am kinda awful at promoting my projects and pretty much reliant on players spreading the word x3
I legit have chills after that oh gosh-
The dialogue absolutely being on-point, and Vivian's voice hitting it out of the park - ranging from charming, lamenting, to absolutely unhinged - seriously incredible. That combined with the ocean background/videos, and your music (beautiful, once again) made this whole experience so wonderfully immersive-!
Huzzah :D Super glad you had fun with it!! Cheers for checking it out <3
Yeah, it just wouldn’t be the same without Vivian’s epic voice acting x3 As soon as I had the idea for the character, I knew I desperately wanted to cast her, haha. I’d been dying to work with her for a while, and I really hope we end up having the opportunity to work together again :3
I’m so glad you like the music too ^-^
I’m still excited to check out Our Lighthouse! I haven’t had much of a chance to play many of the O2A2 games yet cos I’ve spent most of this past week on remote support sessions with the tech team from where I got my new PC, and ultimately, it’s being sent back for a refund >.< The courier picked it up this morning, so I’m without a PC for the foreseeable future.
The lil potato laptop should still be able to run it at least :3 I just need a night where it’s not boiling hot in bed to chill out and play some O2A2 stuff! Haha. I have this weird habit where I can’t play games during daylight hours x3 Or if I do, I don’t enjoy them as much as playing in the dark!
This is truly a beautiful and well-crafted game. The voice acting is amazing, the aesthetic is really nice, and the music pulls it all together. I enjoyed it a lot.
Thank you so much <3 I’m really glad you think so! It definitely wouldn't be the same without the voice acting, haha. Vivian did an incredible job of bringing Styx to life :D
It means a lot that you liked the music track too! I got a liiiiittle bit carried away while making it and didn't realise it had gotten so long, but I had an absolute blast making it, haha.
Thanks for taking the time to check it out & for linking the video too :3
how long it was made it better hats off to you
This was a really cool little game and Styx's character design is SO cool, I was surprised you put out another game so soon lol. I hope you're not pushing yourself too much
Glad you had fun with it :D Believe me, I was surprised myself xD It was just one of those spontaneous things, haha. Probably not the wisest decision, but it’s done now x3
I can’t really push myself much now anyways since my PC is dead again and being shipped back to the company for a refund T_T haha. I can use the potato laptop for some tasks, but it’s so slow that it’s impossible to achieve a great deal with it >.<
Thank you for always being so sweet :3 I hope you’re doing well yourself!
Yay ^-^ I’m so glad you had fun with it! And that's so cool you included it in your video too! :D
That was a lot of a fun moving the sprite like that, haha. It made me feel kinda lazy for not including much sprite movement in my longer projects, but it was so much work just for a short game T_T haha. Also, I feel like the movement suits Styx, but if I did that with human characters it would just look really weird anyways x3
Thanks so much for checking out the lil game <3
PS. I adore the thumbnail for the vid! It looks so cooool ^-^
Okay, seriously well done! Fair play to you for getting this out! Not only were you finishing Deadly Desires about a week ago, you made this and were doing it all with a janky PC and all the headaches that come with that.
To top it all off, the quality is excellent. Using the video background is a super idea to work within the limitations of O2A2 and it looked shimmering and infinite which nailed the atmosphere and suited the narrative perfectly.
The voice acting and the art for Styx were brilliant. The attention to detail made her come to life. I really appreciated the effect over the voice work but it didn't overpower the acting.
Loved the looping gameplay and Styx reacting to the players return. Your games never cease to amaze. Have another 5 stars and a well deserved rest!
And literal headaches too cos I was tanking ibuprofen for most of last week xD (with food, ofc, I’m not a total idiot x3)
Thank you, though :3 That really does mean a lot. I felt fairly proud of the lil project as things were coming to a close and I was testing, but when my PC died & it came to actually releasing it, I was suddenly filled with an all-encompassing dread that perhaps it was awful, or chock full of bugs since I didn’t get to test as much as I would have liked! >.<
That’s such a relief to hear about the VA and the effects I put on the voice too because that’s always in the back of my mind whenever I try to make FX for characters! The last thing I want to do is lose the actual performance the VA put in >.< so I’m super conscious of trying to ensure the FX aren’t overbearing. I couldn’t really tell with this one whether they were or not.
I know when I was testing different FX combos, I ruled a few out because they did seem like too much, haha. With there being around 5 different FX on Styxs’ regular voice in the final version though, I still worried it was too much x3 I did purposefully set them to come through at about 50% strength rather than full though to try and offset their power.
Thank you again! You are beyond amazing <3 I tried to rest over the weekend cos I had a migraine for most of it, and then when I felt better, I thought I’d go on a nice walk with my pops, but managed to fall over into some stinging nettles xD I think the world has it in for me at the moment, haha. Hope you got to have a decent weekend!!
It's raining games around here? Looks like it is!
Styx's a though cookie, I'll give them that. I kept wandering around endings 1 and 2 until I finally broke free with ending 5! I ended up checking the guide just to see the others :P
I really liked the watery feel of the game and it's options/endings. Feels reeeaaally on theme (you know, water, not the jam's restrictions xD).
The game design was great, it kept it dynamic while trying to get a new ending every time!
I really liked the music loop as well! Pretty atmospheric and, again, watery. Lol. And the visual fx for the backgrounds were pretty on point as well (played the regular version with video), including that nice detail of changing the main screen depending on the ending.
As for the voice acting, super on point. Paired with the movement of the main character and the expressions, it certainly made you, yes another pun, sink into the story xD
The best kind of rain :D Well, besides maybe a downpour of quokkas or something cos that would obviously be superior x3 I'm so excited to play a bunch of O2A2 entries! Since my main PC is buggered and even the potato laptop should be able to handle micro VNs, it's the perfect excuse to dive in later as a weekend treat :3
Ahh, yeah, that's why I figured I better make a guide cos I imagined ending 01 would be the one that is most commonly found, and with no save/load, I could see it getting kinda frustrating to keep going round in circles getting the same ending >.< haha.
I tried to make it sorta similar to last year's O2A2 project but simplify it more since I saw a few people got a little confused with The Hostage x3 but then I worried that maybe I made The Shuddering too simple to the point that it might be boring to try and see all the endings >.< So I'm glad to hear that wasn't the case at least :D
I could ramble forever about how much fun I had making that music track x3 I didn't realise it had gotten so long though xD Cos there was a point where it was pretty short, and I kept thinking to myself, I need to make this a little longer, and then somehow it ended up being probably the longest track I've ever made, haha. I think I just got a bit lost in it, which I guess is appropriate for the theme of the game!
I had been dying to work with Vivian on something for a while, so the second Styx popped into my head, so did Vivian's voice :D I was just worried it might not work out with everything being such short notice and a tight deadline, but Vivian was incredible :3
It was quite fun to try and match the sprite movements and expressions with the voice acting! I rarely use the easing parameters in Naninovel cos anything other than the default option for shifting sprites usually looks odd x3 so it was nice to mess around with that more here where it fit, haha.
Loving the puns x3 I would throw some back but my brain is barely functioning at this point! Although, there's a sort of unintentional one in the first paragraph xD
Thanks for checking this one out + always being so kind :3 It means a hell of a lot!
This was really cool! The visuals were great; the background is really creepy, and Styx has a great looking sprite! Well cast voice acting as well. What impressed me most is the sort of "loop" nature the game has; going back to the title screen, only to have the story continue when you press start is a really neat idea! I've gotten two endings so far, I really want to try and get more!
That's so sweet of you to leave such a lovely comment!! :3 I'm really glad you like how it's turned out :D
That main background for the story was one giant pain in the ass, haha. Well, the video version anyways cos I couldn't for the life of me get it to loop smoothly with the effects that I wanted to use on it, so I wound up having to try and cover the loop with the pulsing effect to make it less jarring >.< I guess it all worked out in the end though because it makes it look more alive, a bit like it's breathing and quivering x3
I'm also glad you like the looping nature of the story in general though cos I always worry that sorta thing could be considered annoying, haha. I tried to do something similar for my O2A2 project last year too, and I remember seeing someone play the game who thought it was finished when they got back to the title screen for the first time, and instead of pressing anything, they just force-closed the game T_T so there's that too, haha.
More importantly, though, I can't believe I missed some of your games!! Itch is supposed to notify me of that sorta thing since I'm following you :( I just saw that you released one for Winter VN Jam that's related to the Vamp Me! story from A Trick and a Treat, and I really need that in my life :D It's going straight on my list of things I need to get around to playing! All the Creeps of the Cosmos looks damn epic too!! I really need to actually start working through my backlog because there's so much I want to play >.<
Thank you for checking this one out and taking the time to write something so nice <3
Aw, thank you so much! I hope you enjoy them when you get to them! <3 I gotta try out your Winter VN too!