Spoiling as little as possible... Holy crap, the CHILLS I had every time the UI did its thing. And the music! Such a clever use of the one-track limit.
WOW. The whole time I was in awe of everything. The art—massive respect for using a reflection to distinguish two characters! Mirrors are nuts! So much respect for the voice actor, too, for such two incredible and varied voices - especially given that you can't see the farmboy's face at all, but you just know how he feels anyway. And then the music kicked in and it set the tone for such a haunting and earthy tale. The entire time I kept repeating "this is so good" out loud, from start to finish. Such a poignant tale, and the story felt like the perfect length as well.
Bravo! This is the sort of game that inspires me to continue to refine my own writing. Utterly amazing.
That point about looking for recognition was so important to get across for Maya, and that their relationship is still a loving one despite everything—so glad you enjoyed it!
Ahhhh thank you thank you! I'm really glad you picked up on Maya's initial decision being the catalyst for their relationship being as strained as it is. And it is sad, to be sure, but also hopeful (I hope)!
Cozy and mysterious is exactly what we were aiming for—thank you so much for your comment! Stay tuned for sure, as we’ve got a post-jam update in mind and more to come!
Oh gosh! Firstly, thank you so much for such a detailed response! I woke up to see it (and then promptly crashed to catch up on sleep because I really needed the decompression lol) but I really appreciate you taking the time to comment.
I’m really happy to hear the story resonated with you so much! Maya and Maggie have so much history to them because I’m working through a lot of different things with their stories, and you hit on a lot of the nuance I wanted to convey. And you’d better believe there’s a longer story I want to tell with these two! I’m glad you enjoyed it, and thanks again!
Any pastel colors are fine for this game jam! Just make sure you join the Discord - you'll probably get a faster response to questions there, and that's where submissions are taking place.
At first it was the art style and satirical premise that had me hooked (fuck AI art!), then it was the sheer amount of expressions and creativity within the limits. Using the sprite as the painting, the effectiveness of that single sound effect... I have no idea how you got the ending backgrounds to be different. Hell, I only just remembered there's a 1k word limit, because The Perfect Portrait feels like it's the perfect length. It didn't feel like you were constrained by the limits of the jam at all.
And the endings, of course. Searching for the first ending was a time in itself, and wow this game only got more unnerving the more times I played through it. The UI was gorgeous and perfectly fitting. The shakes on the words for emphasis! And of course, Graey. The juxtaposition of his Victorian design (or at least old-timey, you know what I mean) and the premise of AI technology, with a healthy dose of the surrealism that folds in so well with the art style.
Overall—so creative and polished! And I'm so glad I found the first ending in the end. It was soooo satisfying to get his ass.
It's the way your poetry evokes some powerful imagery and emotion on its own, and the way the art and subtle choices you made (having lines appear on the left, the tints and the creative use of your background) elevates it.
This was lovely! The clean lines and bright colors of the art really aligns with the episodic nature of the story. I've always liked the snapshots over time format and this is a wonderful execution of it. You say so much about the complexity of mother-daughter relationships with the simple one-sided conversations in this game.
How comfortable are you with background art? I have a visual novel concept for O2A2, and I'm looking for a background artist for a soft, nature-based environment. If this sounds like something you're open to, message me on Discord at morimem022#5025 or email me at mx.matchva@gmail.com.