The Shuddering
The Shuddering Is Out Now! (and my PC is dead again T_T)
Sooo, I suppose I should start with the good news! x3 Being the crazy lady that I am, I leapt right out of Otome/Josei Jam and into O2A2. It was all very spur of the moment, but an idea hit me, so I figured I'd run with it, haha. I wasn't sure if I'd manage to finish it in time, but thanks to some extra hours snatched to work while my family watched the football at the weekend, it was possible :D
Since it was made for O2A2, it doesn't take very long to see all of the endings and stuff :3 And while I technically made it in roughly just under a week, I still spent a hell of a lot of hours on it, haha. I knew I wasn't going to have all 10 days of the O2A2 Jam available to work on stuff, so I made sure to stay up and keep working on the days I did have free!
It still makes me feel a bit deflated when I realise you can finish the game in 15 minutes, yet it took probably around 40+ hours or something to make T_T (yep, I'm still unemployable, which is why I have that much free time to make stuff like this x3) But it is what it is, haha.
The Hostage / O2A2 2023
Thinking back to last year's O2A2 Jam where I made The Hostage, I wanted to try and create another mini-story that had a similar sort of surreal and suffocating atmosphere with a few linking themes :3
To help save time, I also took a bunch of the UI that I made for The Hostage and edited it to suit The Shuddering! So if you notice any aesthetic similarities there, that's why x3
No Director's Cut
Unlike last year, I haven't made a director's cut version of The Shuddering, not just due to a lack of time, but also because it didn't really feel necessary. Part of the reason I wanted to make a director's cut for The Hostage was to include the extra ending I had in mind, but also to give players the fem/masc voice option that wouldn't have been allowed under O2A2 rules (1 VA only!)
With The Shuddering, while Styx may have a feminine appearance, the character is non-human and has no particular gender. For that reason, Styx is voiced with an androgynous (but feminine-leaning) approach :3
With O2A2 being such a short jam, the hardest part was cutting down the initial draft to fit the 1000-word limit because it originally came out at 1437 words when I tried to follow my basic idea >.< Deciding what to cut & what to keep was much harder than typing up the whole thing. That's part of the fun of this particular jam though! It forces you to think more carefully about what's really necessary to tell the story you're trying to tell.
In the end, as much as I struggled to cut stuff, I did feel like I wasn't overly attached to what had to go. I don't think there would be much point in adding it back in for a director's cut really!
I have no PC again :(
Aaaand, now we arrive at the bad news x3
Right as I was getting to putting the finishing touches on stuff for The Shuddering, I turned my PC on in the morning only to be met by a continuous cycle of various blue screens of death >.< I spent the entire day (and a good chunk of the night) following different troubleshooting advice, even resetting Windows, but nothing helped.
The computer now either refuses to boot Windows at all because of a number of errors, OR... it boots Windows, but then restarts itself or BSODs anywhere between 5-20 minutes of being on, regardless of whether you're using it or it's left idle.
In the end, the advice I was given appears to suggest that the RAM is faulty and needs replacing. The thing is though, the PC isn't even 2 months old >.<
When my old faithful PC of 10+ years died back in March/April, I used all my savings to get a new one. The 1st one delivered was unusable as it had a fault that caused a horrific grinding/scraping sound from something inside the case when you powered it on. The company arranged a collection, rebuilt it from scratch, and sent out a 2nd one.
I've had no end of issues with the 2nd one too though :( The 'restart' option never worked, always just froze partway through the operation. Some days, it wouldn't boot Windows after being shut down overnight (no error codes or anything, just lights on - no display on monitors so couldn't even access BIOS), and sometimes the audio would cut out completely, then tell me that none of my media files could be played because of a corrupt system file or something!
It's a miracle I managed to get the LOVESTARVED demo done on it really, and I was in back & forth contact with customer support trying to get help, but nothing was ever resolved.
Thankfully, I had pretty much finished with the project files for The Shuddering when the PC became unusable and only had testing of exported builds + finishing the itch page left to do.
Sadly though, I have lost a small amount of data related to both LOVESTARVED and The Shuddering :( Nothing super serious, mainly just templates & presets I created to help me keep stuff like UI consistent whenever I need to make more, but it's still frustrating to lose.
So yeah, I've been preparing to launch The Shuddering & typing out this post on the old potato laptop x3 Which may be slow as a snail, but at least it actually works!!
The big problem is, I think I'm going to have to fight the PC company for a refund now >.< Even if they could fix the BSOD issues or offer to replace the RAM under the warranty or something, I've just completely lost confidence in the company to provide me with a reliable PC of satisfactory quality after all the stress I've had. I don't want a 3rd repair/replacement. I want my money back so I can buy a new one from somewhere that will sell me one that actually works properly :(
If I'm being completely honest, the stress is making me feel physically sick >.< It's the most amount of money I've ever spent on a piece of technology, and took me years to save for. I hate confrontation, but I can't afford to back down when it comes to getting my money back on this or I will be without a PC for heck knows how long.
Anyways, I just hope that The Shuddering doesn't have any bugs since I don't have any way of fixing them now >.<
And more than that, I hope you end up having fun with it if you choose to check it out :3
Get The Shuddering
The Shuddering
Lose yourself in a lonely entity's embrace...
| Status | Released |
| Author | Melancholy Marionette |
| Genre | Visual Novel |
| Tags | Abstract, Atmospheric, Cozy, Creepy, Experimental, LGBTQIA, Liminal space, Psychological Horror, Surreal, yandere |
| Languages | English |
| Accessibility | Subtitles |
More posts
- OST Release On Spotify & More!39 days ago
- Walkthrough Guide58 days ago
Comments
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Repeat this as many times as it takes before contacting the PC company.
“I deserve the working computer that I paid for. I deserve to be treated respect. I deserve a refund and have every right to be angry.”
Best of luck. Conflict is always hard, but this is worth the hassle.
Thank you for that :3 Especially the part about having every right to be angry because I always question whether I’m being unreasonable whenever any sort of confrontation pops up in life >.<
I had a migraine for most of the weekend, but when I felt better, I managed to type up a message to the company.
They got back to me this morning, and their response is pretty irritating as they’ve completely glazed over me asking for a refund :(
They’ve been all apologetic, stating that they assure me they will work with me to troubleshoot and get the PC working to the standard that it should so that they can restore my faith in the product and the company.
They aim to do that through remote support with live chat, followed by shipping it back to them for repairs and/or replacement parts if the remote support fails.
And I get why they want to do that because ofc they’re gonna want to try and fix it rather than refund me, but I feel like they’ve already had that chance >.< They sent out 1 faulty PC already, and this one is the 2nd build.
I know they did rebuild it rather than just fob me off by sending the same one back because all the components are positioned differently inside the case compared to the first one they sent, so it seems as though they were truthful when they said they would rebuild from scratch.
I feel like that was their chance to get it right though >.< I don’t really see why I should have to go through all the troubleshooting with them and potentially have it returned and sent back a 3rd time.
It’s frustrating that they completely ignored what I said really :( I’ve responded again saying that even if they could fix the BSODs with remote support, it wouldn’t restore my faith in the product because I’ve had so many problems with it that I have no faith whatsoever left. I repeated that it’s of unsatisfactory quality and that I would appreciate a refund so that I can purchase a machine that will work as it should.
Now I have to wait to hear back from them again >.<
Stay strong! This is difficult for most people and that’s what they’re banking on. You are right to be angry and right in your request for a refund. You shouldn’t have to deal with their shoddy work and you already gave them more than enough of a chance.
I apologize if this gets rambly - When I was getting my accounting degree, we talked a lot about warranties because of liability/taxes/blah blah blah. The real take-home for me was that companies sell people extended warranties banking on them not being used. Companies literally try to view it as free money. THAT’S why they are so difficult to deal with when you have to cash in on that warranty. They don’t want to have to invest anything in their ‘free money’. The thing is, it’s NOT free money, it’s insurance you paid for when you got the computer to protect yourself from exactly this kind of bullshit.
I know it’s hard, but stay the course. Your feelings are valid and worthy. Get angry, be blunt. Don’t worry about remaining polite or likeable. Remember that they are essentially trying to cheat you out of the money you paid for a working product.
I believe in you!
No apologies necessary at all :3 It was really encouraging to read! And I have a tendency to get rambly myself anyhow, haha.
The silly thing about their warranty in particular is, it comes as standard with the product. You can pay for an extended one, but every purchase has 1 year collect & return for repairs/faults, etc. And something like 3 years tech support.
But yeah, the first one they sent was dead on arrival, so that went straight back no questions cos I sent em a video of the horrific sound it made when powered on! I think it was a fan scraping on something, but I couldn’t see anything obvious, and I wouldn’t dare to try and tamper with it myself to resolve it anyhow.
They took that one back without question and completely rebuilt it from scratch. I swear this random bracket in the 2nd build is sitting in a way that it doesn’t support the graphics card though, it’s very weirdly positioned like it’s just floating and not doing anything!
After agreeing to allow them to perform the remote support session (which took around 3 hours >.<) the support guy, while lovely, wasn’t able to fix the BSODs. He said it seemed like the OS is screwed and needed a clean install, but also had concerns about the CPU & RAM.
He asked me how I wanted to proceed, so I straight up repeated wanting a refund, politely explaining again that this is the 2nd build, so it shouldn’t be unreasonable to want my money back rather than sending it back to then receive a 3rd potentially faulty one.
The guy was really helpful, went to speak to his manager, and they said it could be returned for a refund. They sorted that out pretty sharpish too! The courier came to pick it up earlier today.
I made sure to take a mixture of photos and videos of it being safely packed and sealed up because I’m kinda paranoid they might try to pin something on me and say it was damaged in transit due to poor packing or something like that. It just wouldn’t surprise me if they try to find a way to reduce the refund amount >.<
So yeah, progress has been made at least I guess :3 Now I just have to wait cos they said that they can’t process the refund until a technician has looked at the machine.
The really annoying thing is, while it’s great that they’ve finally agreed to refund me, it doesn’t change the fact that I’ll still be without a computer for heck knows how long :(
I spent hours researching other companies and reading reviews, and it seems like no matter where you buy from, people are leaving 1-star reviews about faulty PCs where customer support ignores them completely.
My experience with the company I bought from may have been a bitter one so far, but I guess at least they do respond to stuff >.< I’m kinda worried about attempting to order elsewhere because the place I ordered from had the highest TrustPilot score. I dunno whether I should give them 1 final chance provided they do refund me. Maybe see if they can build something with similar specs but use completely different components or something.
Thank you again for your advice & encouragement :3
Looks so pretty >-< excited af to play!!
Glad you think so ^-^ Here's to hoping there are no nasty bugs in it since I can't fix anything now until I get a replacement PC, haha.
I guess I could try opening the project files on the potato laptop since it's only a tiny project, but the last time I attempted to open Unity on the potato, it made an awful sound like I had gravely injured it somehow, then it turned itself off >.<
Hope you have fun whenever you play anyhow! Thanks so much for checking it out :3
I'll be sure to update u tmmrw if i come across any bugs after i get back from my road trip! <3
Rip potato laptop😔 We are praying for its recovery🙏
I already know there are some lil niggles, like the sprite temporarily disappearing if you skip through text fast manually, and the actual skip function sometimes getting stuck at wait commands in the script even if it's previously viewed text >.< but yeah, bigger bugs might be lurking cos since my PC died, I wasn't able to test as thoroughly as I would have liked T_T
As slow as the lil potato is & as much as I take the piss out of it, at least it actually works, unlike the new PC that might as well currently be a brick >.< haha.
Happy road tripping!! :3
Not me forgetting to download it before I left becuz I'm dumb af💀 I was gonna play it today when I had finally gotten back but I'm so fucking burnt out bc I was just looking for apartments all day with my bitch ass dad and he made that shit HELL🙄 I'll def be sure to play it tmmrw thooo >-< sorry lol!
I hope your weekend wasn't too awful in general >.< I had a migraine for most of mine, and then when it finally went away so I could go out for a walk, I fell in some stinging nettles xD
It wouldn't load at all😭 I had to task manager it bc it also wouldn't close lol
Damn, that's not good >.< The weird thing is, I know for sure that it works for other people because I've had some comments come in where folks have played it, plus my brother said his best friend downloaded it and finished it over the weekend. I also managed to test both the regular and non-video Windows versions on the potato laptop from start to finish, and in theory, if the potato can play it, anyone should be able to because the potato is baaaad, haha.
So I guess it's troubleshooting time! x3
Please don't feel like you have to answer btw!
I've had one or two reports like this on different games (a couple on Darling Duality, and 1 on Yandere Heaven), and I've never been able to get to the bottom of why stuff randomly won't play for a small number of people!
I used to think it was solely because some computers have issues playing video files in Unity games, as when I released a version of DD with no video on the title screen, the couple of people it didn't work for initially said it worked after that change :3
BUT
With the 1 person where it didn't load Yandere Heaven and they said they had to close it with task manager it's a total mystery because that never featured video files at any point >.< And it's my most played game for whatever reason, so I know it works for the majority of people. I never had a chance to troubleshoot why it didn't work for that 1 random person because instead of posting it in a comment, they just went and gave a 1* rating with an angry review, so I couldn't even interact with them and try to get it working for them >.<
Anyways, the first thing to ask would be which version did you download?
If it was the regular Windows one, it's entirely possible that just trying the non-video version for Windows might solve the problem :3
For some unknown reason, some people's computers just really don't like video files in Unity projects, so display a blank screen instead of the video that's supposed to play >.<
Secondly, did you see any splash screens? (made with Unity, the game logo, the o2a2 jam logo, and my dev logo)
If you didn't see any splash screens, the game probably didn't load at all, as these display before the title sequence.
Did you see a black screen with a white egg timer in the bottom right corner of the screen?
This is the indication that Naninovel is loading all the game scripts. Again, if this didn't happen, it means it probably didn't load the game at all.
Was there any music playing?
This one is important because if the BGM did play, it means that the game did load, but didn't display the background as it should.
If no music played AND there was nothing displayed, it probably means the game didn't even initialise.
Were there any buttons on the screen? (start/options/quit)
I'm asking this for the same reason as the music question pretty much.
If it wasn't one of the Windows versions that you downloaded, there's less I can do to help because I don't own a Mac or Linux system >.< I just rely on Unity exporting the builds so they function, haha. It seems from what other players have said that most of my Mac and Linux builds work, though apparently, the Linux ones can be a bit odd with buttons and stuff.
So far for The Shuddering though, I think I've only had feedback from people who have played/finished the Windows version.